#bleh! human interaction is hard lol

[wicked-ghoul]

Bouncing back and forth between the regular Hazbin Hotel tag and the critical tag because I don't really vibe wholly with either side!

I'm loving the show, a lot actually, but I think it's very flawed and want to engage with critique of the show...but it seems like a lot of people (not all, obviously, but a lot) are split on their feelings on the show and I think both sides (lovers or haters) are sick of each other so there's very little middle ground...

The fans are sick of the negativity so they lean into the positive stuff which is fine, but I find a lot will praise/give a pass to things that I just don't think are good/passable...

The haters are sick of the praise and giving passes to certain issues in the show which is understandable, but I find people having issues with things I either don't think are problems or blowing things out of proportion...

And that's just in regards to the show itself, that's not even getting into everything regard Viv but I'm not brave enough to go into any of that! lol

I'm just bummed I don't feel like I have a lot of people to talk to about the show. The people who love the show seem to not wanna hear/not agree with any critiques, and the people who are pissed at the show don't seem to want to hear anything positive about it.

I'm tired... lol

[fracturedgodhead]

I am going THROUGH it rn #16

I don't know why, and this might be something for my therapist, not tumblr, but for some reason, I was wildly emotional today. I cry very little (I wish I cried more) and I almost cried five times today. I don't know what the deal is. It might be that I'm trying to kick my two easiest unhealthy coping mechanisms (reddit and idle games lol), but I am feeling unstable.

Anywho, I have an idea for what to do for the song. I like the idea of "thanatosis" or "Apparent death" as an album title for an album about that concept, or at least how it presents in humans. Masking and fawn/freeze response mostly. The practice of producing false outward presentation for the sake of safety. I don't know if I'm qualified fully to represent such a sensitive topic; a certain thing my own sister told me is ringing in my head pretty loud... I'm going to though. I just hope that I don't hurt people... or make them feel like they're not valid.

That feeling has got to be worse than death I think. Being in pain and being told that it's not real, or not that bad. I love the line "If you hate me, I think you should kill me" that comes up in 4lung's 'cluster a-ok' and a similar line somewhere in either STOMACH BOOK or Vylet Pony's discography (I can't remember. ええと、*bleh*), but I think that the concept also extends, so like "if you dismiss me, I think you should cut me" or similar. Just the idea that people should not be able to distance themselves from the consequences of their interactions using social contract. If you claim to care about me and tell me my problems aren't real, you may as well be the one holding the knife, and if you hate me, you ought to take responsibility for my death.

Actually, I think I'm articulating it wrong. I think it's more so a parallel to the biblical concept of "hating someone is killing them in your heart", but abstracted and generalized. You ought to take responsibility for the catastrophization of the consequences of your feelings and how they affect people. It's not realistic or reasonable, but it has such a seductive, punk affect to it; I wait desperately for a chance to apply it. Next time someone tries to bullshit me, I will demand that they kill me.

You message me a death threat, I send my address.

Serve your purpose, hater. This is your role, and this is mine.

Alright, those were some very vague and rambling ideas, time to turn them into actionable plans I guess *groan*.

One of the biggest problems, or I guess it's a few in a trench coat. I have no clue which of the few ideas I have in mind I want to make, and I have no idea how to make it, once I decide.

I think Vylet pony's music is probably the best template for this specific subject matter. She has such a vibrant and fun sound, even when talking about some of the darkest subjects I've heard of. Monarch of Monsters is... well I can't call it fun, even without the lyrics, but it still manages to be energetic and bouncy despite its dismal subject matter. I like it a lot, and I think it works well with the Taxxonian concept of undermining your own seriousness to get past the (automatic) defenses of the listener.

If you start your song off with a scream, that sets a completely different mood and tone than starting it with a bark, and for the listener, that effects how the entire rest of the content is interpreted. I think BONNIE (Vylet Pony, CUTIEMARKS) hits me so hard for this reason. When I first listened to it, I imagined some butch lesbian pony in a dive bar with her band singing about someone she knew when she was younger, and had strong feelings for (platonic or romantic, either way works with the song), but never confessed, and either ended up drifting apart or the friend died. The subversion of them being ponies makes the line:

"for a while I would ask 'should I fucking die' or 'who am I, should I live tonight'"

hit like a fucking cement truck. My Little Pony, or basically any kids show for that matter, doesn't discuss suicide, especially not this intelligently, so hearing it in a song with the setting and characters presumably being those from the show (or a variation of) just fucking steamrolls me every time.

I want to capture that.

I need a subversion then...

I don't know of one. I simply don't have an easy... silliness that I can draw from, all the silliness I have is recent, and I'm still learning. I want to make deeply evocative music thoouuugghhhhh.... Maybe I'm just not there yet. Maybe I just need to make what I can now.

Alright, so this is the plan: I make a song where I just try to get familiar with the software, and music in general. I will use mostly synth stuff (because that stuff hits like ASMR for me, frission for days lol), but I also need to include some instruments and vocals. I need to learn right now :c.

So, basically, forget everything else, I'm just making music to learn for now.

[arlecchno]

IM SO GLAD YOURE ALSO LOVING SUMMERS FIC IM LIKE ACTUALLY SO IN LOVE WITH IT (insert me going batshit insane) alsooo do look forward to more stupid banter in the middle of supposedly serious situations , they are the best and there are more . stan mcs little water creations tbh

bleh , honestly all my other writing works are old and i think pretty shitty at this point but i can link you to some if you really want (or i could write you a short story / drabble , i feel like thatd be less embarrassing on my part lmao , lmk if you want that) about my games though ... 1 2 3(WIP) the first two are well over a year old now , plus primarily unedited , so dont mind any possible grammar mistakes or generally terrible story flow (i swear ive gotten better since these 😰) and the third was also created last year (for a school project) , im slooowly chipping away at finishing the code haha ...

I ACTUALLY COMMENT ON MY OWN DOCS AS WELL !!! there arent much of them because .. well i havent wrote much outside of my private dms LOL

i also think it is insanely fun to comment on my own work

aand ive contacted my friends (aka my two and only true loves /p /hj) about the kinnie thing .. and one of them sent me this to fill out

youre not wrong actually haha , am i that easy to read ?

im an ambivert , i dont like seeking out social interaction irl unless its one of my close friends or im just that bored , but i do get really loud / energetic when i am comfortable (i think you can tell that by how much goddamn energy i put into these asks) but my "social battery" still drains relatively fast i cant handle people very well lmao honestly , my and cynos reasoning for making our terrible jokes align a bit , although most people (apart from my irl friends apparently ???) dont find me intimidating , my main motivation when i slip in puns is to get people to laugh at how terrible they are , because im well aware theyre pretty bad (or all my friends just have the same broken sense of humor i do) . but yeah , i guess now theres two people on my genshin kin list now why do i kin both of the artificial humans in the game -

lets play a game where we ask eachother random questions , so its easier to end things off lol , got a window in your room ? if so , rate the view it has !

- jellyfish

yes the summers fic is so good thank you very much for recommending me it 😖🫶

AND YOOO THOSE GAMES ARE CUTE HAHA i liked nel and akira!!! also impressive how you did 2/3 of them in scratch,, i've had very little experience with it from like a few years back when i took a computing class and damn was it hard as hell 😵‍💫😵‍💫 so kudos to you man

glad i'm not the only one who comments on my own fics on docs LMAO and like you said, it's insanely fun!!!

the way that you're technically all of the above in the bingo 😭😭😭 and that drawing is sooo pretty!£8483£!!£! is that you or an oc of yours? (either way i've been eyeing it ever since i started typing here, hehe)

sooo i basically predicted what you're like irl?

i think for the most part it's because i'm a bit similar to you in some sort of ways, i'm only ever close with my closest friends and can get tired by interacting with people sometimes 😞 but the downside is that everyone finds me scary HAHA 😭😭 my friends had told me a bunch of times on how intimidating i look, when i really just have a normal expression on my face... apparently they said i always look like i have murder on my mind 🚶‍♀️

you now have another addition to the kin list, congrats 🤗

GREAT GAME!!! i do have a window in my room but it doesn't really have a great view... i'm currently living in a shitty apartment for the time being and the only thing i see from the window of my room is my neighbour's unit from my apartment complex 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️ so i'd probably give it a 3/10 T-T

now, a question for you! what's the most silliest thing that you currently own? (it can be a purchased item, a gift you got, etc)

hope you're having a great day jellyfish ^^

[juniaships]

How would the writers do Jora, Kaysha and Vanessa dirty?

They wouldn't have any meaningful development or simply erased from the story just for the crime of being black female characters lmao but to be more specific:

Jora

- She wouldn't even exist because there's no named black female characters in the classic continuity lol

- lighten her skin tone

- Suddenly Cured

- ends up turning evil because hey if her powers are considered bad in other media than SHE has to be bad too

- her origins are retconned to alien heritage because heavens forbid we have a protagonist who is actually full-human or have their own motif

- only role to be a member of the ben harem

- written off as worthless & undeserving of the hero's love

- weak and useless because she's shy and timid and totally incapable of fighting back

- no growth or development

- her powers are played as a joke

- slimmed down to look like a literal Black Gwen

- last minute paired with alan or cooper as a consolation prize even though she has a close friendship with those two

- used as an obstacle to gwevin/benlie/whatever

- nerfed or nothing

Kaysha

- Would be slimmed down because fat people doing exercise and combat are too "unrealistic"

- food jokes and how unattractive she is; she's trying too hard to be feminine

- whitewashed

- Her relationships with the other turtles and characters wouldn't get any attention in favor of having her interact only with Leo

She and April have a love triangle/straight hate each other even though Kaysha was the first outsider to support April & the Ninja Turtles

- flirts with EVERY guy even ones she canonically sees as friends or brother-figures

- the dumb bimbo instead of a kind bubbly kunoichi who takes her duties seriously

- Killed off for man pain or should i say turtle pain

- paired with mikey just because of their similar personalities or a center of the love triangle involving leo and raph fighting over her (well actually 👀👀)

Vanessa

- total jerk to everyone around her even her love interest

- tries to force her views on other people

- secretly evil/working for her father Regis Blackgaard (whom in "canon" she hates with icy rage)

- hates people of other religions & atheists

- or she is a hypocritical zealot who looks down on connie, eugene and katrina

- Token who simply exists to solve all the white people's problems while getting nothing in return

- only exists to be Jason's love interest; has no character arc outside of romance

- her former past as a nun and her current career as an artist gets no attention at all

- somehow hates all of Jason's past love and takes any moment to talk down to them

- easily accepts j*ll*an's nonsense and become insta-besties even excusing the latter flirting with her husband

- all of her quirks such as her using an umbrella in broad daylight, love of coffee ice cream, and desire for adventure are erase in favor of...

- ...becoming the local Fun Police all because she's a bit more serious and mature than majority of the cast

- killed off so jason can get with *bleh* j*ll*an

- very disrespectful towards john whittaker, jack allen & tom riley even though she holds them in deep respect all because they're old white men

[strongsassysexysloane]

some very random questions

I know this isn’t the way it’s “done” but Im in an almost writing mood and no one ever asks the ones I want to answer. 

1. how many pillows do you sleep with? I currently have seven pillows on my bed but I can have up to ten at a time. Minimum requirement is two but i won’t be happy about it, I’ll usually grab a hoodie for extra comfort. - EIGHT. I forgot Eeyore

2. do you believe in soulmates? Maybe? Do I think it’s all about romance.. no. 

3. would you ever kiss a stranger? I think I have... But define stranger. Walk up to a random in the street? Probs not. Someone I’ve known for a week but hardly know anything about and we got drunk and we kissed.. yes. 

4. describe your dream house - I have man a dream house, cabin in the woods on a lake, tiny house, massive yacht, treehouse... mansion with like seven levels and one level is just a pool. Take your pick. Oh, shack on the beach. 

5. do you usually use cash or card? Card. Cash is disgusting! Think about how many hands it’s passed through. Bleh

6. do you enjoy driving in general? Yes! Until some idiot does something stupid. Driving the back roads through the mountains or bush. Yes please with the tunes pumping! Mooing at the cows as I drive past. Tmi lol

7. do you like your name? if not, what would you change your name to? Yes? Sometimes I wish is was spelt differently but I’ve never really wanted to fully change it. I do prefer my shortened name though. 

8. what’s your favorite cuisine? FOOD! Italian. Pizza, Pasta and Pastries. 

9. how often do you get massages? Not enough. I need a partner so I can have massages again. 

10. do you play video games? if so, what games? I use to be obsessed with Guitar Heroes III but on the controller (DONT @ me!!) but since getting a switch I’ve played Legends of Zelda Breath of the Wild over and over and over. It has cut into many a writing time. Soz. 

11. do you prefer to color with colored pencils, crayons, or markers? Markers, so satisfying. 

12. what other fandoms are you in? Unsure if im in ANY fandom at this point. But ill contribute to TV Shows such as NCIS, NCISLA, The Bold Type, Arrow and Doctor Who.. 

13. do you have a signature in your style/everyday outfits? No? I do like hats, beanies, short brimmed fedoras, snapbacks... I’m most comfy in jeans and tees/hoodies. 

14. do you have any pets? if not, do you want some in the future? A small doggo and two fishies. Numerous friends and family dogs/ pets that I love. I’m known for going over peoples houses and interacting with the dog before the human. 

15. do you give objects you own a name? (car, house, plants, etc) If you dont. Byeee. 

16. do you like the weather where you live? As I prefer to live in a cooler climate but also swim. It makes life hard. Australia has a good winter down south which I would love to live there one day. 

17. if you could wear one color for the rest of your life, what would it be? No. 

18. do you like making small talk? Depends on the person and my mood. 

19. what’s your favorite social media platform? Instagram.

20. have you ever been to hawaii? Yes. Twice. 

21. name a fashion trend that you absolutely hate - I have many and all of which I can’t think of right now. 

22. name a fashion trend that you absolutely love - Again my mind is blank. If you really want to know suggest some and I’ll answer yes or no.  

23. what was the last text you sent? To my friend “You need to get Netflix and watch Shine on Me w/ Reece, episode 3 P!nk”

24. when making plans, do you like to organize or go with the flow when the time comes? More towards the organise.

25. what do you want to name your future kids? NOPE

26. do you have a type? I use to think no. But i definitely lean more towards brunettes (Jack Sloane is ONE BIG FUCKING EXCEPTION TO THIS), glasses <3 and they need to have similar interests and opinions etc. tmi? ahaha 

27. when was the last time you kissed someone? I’m assuming we are meaning on the lips, as in a person I was dating? So in that case last year? Time is a fucking blur right now. 

28. how often do you cook? As often as I can/want. 

29. do you think __x__ is overrated or underrated?

30. do you always remember your dreams? Depends. Ill remember most immediately after I wake up but then some disappear. Nightmares are more likely to remain. 

31. do you believe in ghosts? Yes, the good kind? 

32. would you ever want to move outside of your country? Yes, did and done it. I recommend it. 

33. describe your first love - childish, complicated and friendship. 

34. more peanut butter or more jelly? Equal!

35. do your irls know about your tumblr account? They know about it but they dont KNOW KNOW about it. >.< 

36. do you prefer hot or cold beverages? I swing both ways.

37. when was the last time you finished a book? Earlier this year. 

38. what would you want your wedding colors to be? Pizza and Donuts. My partner can pick the rest. 

39. how long do you let your nails grow? I don’t. Barely a nail really... but i’ve heard that’s a good thing in some areas

40. if you could stay at a certain age, what age would you pick? 25?

41. who do you think has it easiest: older siblings or younger siblings? Younger i think.

42. how often do you post on social media? Too often. 

43. do you enjoy big groups? Eh. Take it or leave it. Of dogs? Yes. 

44. do you like it when you’re awaken by the sounds of birds chirping? No. I’ve had pidgeons living in the roof above my room for too long. GO AWAY BIRDS! There are much better ways to be woken up tbh. 

45. which hand is your favorite? Left?

46. how many people do you follow? Stalking is illegal..

47. how many followers do you have? Enough :)

48. how many drafts do you have? None on here.. in my stories, too much. 

49. do you hang or fold your sweaters? both. 

50. even numbers or odd? Both, even for volume on tv, odd for favourite numbers... I’m weird. I know. 

[vocaotome]

Interactive Queer Fantasy Novel Review - Moonrise

A couple months ago I was invited to try out Moonrise, a text based urban fantasy interactive novel by Natalie Cannon. Although I usually stick to visual novels, since I had played and enjoyed other choice of games before, I decided to give Moonrise a try and write a review for it.

While the game had an interesting premise with smooth, enjoyable prose and witty modern humor, my overall experience has been a rather mixed bag, probably because I don’t appear to fall into the specific audience for the game. I’ll give a vague outline of the plot and share my impressions while trying to not give too much away. In order to prevent constantly switching between “the player”/“you”/“us” etc, when referring to the character we are playing I’m going to use “Heather” (a name from the list of choices available, you can also type in whatever you wish) and “she”.

Full review under the cut, or on wordpress if you prefer it instead.

Gameplay

The basic gameplay of Moonrise is the same as most games on the choice of games platform, all text with no graphics and only stat based choices. The game offers the option to choose between she/her and they/them pronouns at the very start, but as per the basic game premise (supernatural celebration of queer femininity), player cannot identify as male in this game so no he/his pronouns. Choosing between cis/trans/other/not saying is also available, though I felt that there was an assumption that the player is not cis or at least is someone who is pretty invested in using specific pronouns (early game it's mentioned that "you" talked to Alice about your pronouns).

While the game description claims that the main character may be asexual and there are dialogue choices which allow you to refuse romantic advances saying you are asexual, I felt that the narration didn’t really reflect that since there were many parts in the common scenes (regardless of route or picked choices) where you express strong attraction towards beautiful women. The 3 love interests were pretty likable and varied in their backstories and personality, although I wish all of them got equal amount of screentime (your roommate inevitably gets more scenes than the otherworldly goddess you meet in the last chapter). You can date just a single person or multiple people at once.

The players also get to choose between being “Fierce” (20% initial boost to Bloodthirst, Uncanny, Defense attributes) or “Civilized” (20% boost to Empathy, Responsibility, Snark attributes). The choices throughout the game either raise these attributes further or improve your relationship with the love interests.

For those who are concerned about homophobia, Moonrise very briefly mentions the existence of homophobic people but for the most part all the characters treat LGBTQA+ people as very normal (example: Heather finds Alice's puppy love for a girl in her class very cute), so no need to worry on that account.

 Plot

The pace of the game is pretty fast right from the start, we begin with “Heather” directly being thrown into a situation where the player has just transformed into a wolf. Another werewolf called “Alice” soon finds us while Heather is confusedly struggling between canine instincts and human reason. I really liked the part where "you" still are convinced that you are a 100% pure wolf and are completely operating under that impression, lol. All the wolf related terms also are rather endearing, time to refer to all my close friends as my packmates <3

At first I was a little bit wary of Alice, who is revealed (within 5 minutes of playing) to be the one to have turned Heather into a werewolf, but she grew on me very quickly, especially with her youthful admiration of Heather and the open vulnerability she shows to us. I’m also grateful to her for helping Heather turn back human, the idea of getting stuck as a wolf forever (which Alice mentioned happening to some people) sounded pretty disturbing. (I did giggle at how Heather was like “bleh, wolves have it better, no student loans”)

Alice returns together with Heather to Heather’s home which she shares with her best friend and roommate Rosario, the first LI we run into. I liked Rosario’s character and sense of humor a lot (random: I bust a lung laughing when the narration mentioned them lightly smelling of weed), though I wish the narration used less jargon when explaining Rosario’s lifestyle as an adventurous and dynamic queer person (this issue popped up a couple of times later in the game too, though not frequently enough to be a deal breaker). The below paragraph made me stare for a solid minute before I managed to comprehend everything.

Rosario is super relieved to see Heather safe and quickly warms up to Alice, and in order to develop a relationship with Rosario (also if you’re interested in building up your empathy stat, very useful for diplomatic options) we must be friendly towards Alice and let her stay in our home. To be honest it's hard to be an asshole to Alice, she’s a cutie. I liked it when Alice was described during this scene to have corkscrew hair and dark skin, yay for varied designs!

Anyway, around this time we learn that Heather is a doctor-in-training working for their residency. I laughed at the part where after picking a choice, the prose apologized to me for doubting that I'd call work to inform my circumstances.This is the point where the free part ends.

Regardless of whether we go to our job, meet our coworkers and interact with patients, or go all SCREW U to your job and hang around in a park (irresponsible, imo, you’ve been missing for a day because of this whole wolf business), you run into the second LI, Chika, a seemingly cold and quiet young doctor who works in the same place as Heather and is actually also a werewolf.

She also seems to have harbored a strong crush on Heather for quite a while, even during routes where I've acted very distant towards her so far she pretty much immediately confesses and we get the option to kiss her. Personally I prefer more buildup in romantic relationships in my stories, but I guess this isn’t surprising considering that we have already spent about 2 chapters on the prologue and this is a short game consisting of only 8 chapters.

The next few chapters are a mix of slice of life situations where Alice, Rosario and Heather blossom into a pretty cute makeshift family, with optional scenes of bonding in wolf form with Alice. Alice also gives us a lot of information about the vampire and werewolf lore of this world, and informs Heather about the 2 opposing factions of the supernatural society: the masquerade, who prefer to keep the human and supernatural worlds separate and operate as an organization under strict rules of secrecy, and the rogues, who prefer a wild and free approach in life and wish to go public about the existence of supernatural creatures.

Not gonna lie, the masquerade sounds amazing on paper, being their part apparently means getting your university tuition paid and guaranteed jobs after graduation, that sounds like a dream lol. However they are a bit to stuck up for Alice’s tastes, especially because of her foster parent who is someone high up in the Masquerade and pretty unpleasant. Rogues sound rather bad at this point since Alice mentions being “hunted” early game and they are supposed to be the ones “after” her.

In Chapter 6 we run into Cassandra, a vampire and the foster parent mentioned above, who pretty much kidnaps us to her place. Over the course of a very tense and threatening conversation, she gives us plenty of reasons to NOT consider signing up for the masquerade, though I think that was the opposite of her intention. The game's description of Cassandra's attitude towards young people like they were "particularly ugly vase that begs to be shattered" sounds so accurate to how some old people act lol. We have to escape Cassandra by choosing either diplomacy or violence, and choosing the wrong option that you don’t have enough attributes for can get you killed.

(Random: Cassandra being portrayed positively in some future scenes after claiming to eat her servants is unnerving. I hope that was a joke ;;;;)

If chapter 6 was the one familiarizing us with the masquerade, chapter 7 is the equivalent part for rogues. We meet up with Chika who is relieved to see Heather safe (even out of her route she acts way too familiar when it comes to physical distance with Heather, her cold queen settings vanish when it involves the person she likes, lol), and reveals herself as the leader of the rogues. We get a bunch of information about the rogues’ motivations and plans, and the misunderstanding that they want to harm Alice is cleared up.  (It’s also possible to get some more explanation earlier in the game if you acted all wolf-y right from the start and went on a solo wandering trip which Chika joins)

After the conversation Chika springs a sudden offer for a date on Heather, which made me giggle during the walkthroughs where I rejected her hard. It was extra funny because we had been talking about serious stuff™ right until that point. It is possible to go on a date with her and have a sexual encounter afterwards. All dates in this game can end in sex, but it is optional.

There is a scene with Rosario where we hang out and have some heart-to-heart talk soon after the encounter with Chika, and this can end up being a date depending on our choices, regardless of whether we are already dating Chika or not. I think there is a malfunctioning romance flag here because Rosario talks as if I’m dating Chika even if I have refrained from ALL romantic choices with Chika.

At the start of chapter 8 we are forced to choose between the masquerade and the rogues, though considering the way the representatives from these groups (Cassandra and Chika) have treated us until this point, choosing the masquerade seems like madness.

~~~~~~~

If we choose the Masquerade, Alice and Heather visit Cassandra again to join the society. We meet people other than Cassandra who thankfully are pleasant enough, and suddenly a masquerade member came to seek Cassandra’s help and we ended up being asked to help perform some ritual to teleport somewhere and rescue/steal Dracula's brides??? What? I was very confused during this part because the story flow suddenly became very fast and I was having difficulty keeping up.

During this mission there is a possible dead end (ironic, the people who we went to rescue end up accidentally killing Heather), but as long as things go smoothly, we encounter Ishara, the last LI who a special werewolf from some other far away place (planet? dimension?) and treated like a goddess by the supernatural community because of her special powers and JAW DROPPING BEAUTY. She likes the way Heather treats her casually unlike everyone else, and there is another sudden date offer.

After the rescuing of Dracula brides, we get a slice of life-ish scene with them, Cassandra, Ishara and Rosario in a coffee shop. This is where we finally get some backstory on Cassandra and learn about some of her positive points, being a lesbian Robin Hood of sorts isn’t something I expected from her XD

Although I don’t think it’s possible to keep your relationship with Chika intact in this path, you can talk with your other 2 love interests about the nature of your relationship (open/closed, romantic/queerplatonic). There was one playthrough when I somehow found Ishara sitting on Heather’s lap and kissing Rosario, wild.

Before the final fight, there is a brief scene where Chika meets up with Heather and is quite heartbroken over her choosing the masquerade. Soon after that the day comes where we face off against the Rogues who have decided on a kill or get killed approach.

~~~~~~~~

If we choose the Rogues instead, there is no falling out with Chika (she’s ecstatic to have Heather join them) and we visit the Rogues’ hangout instead. After some socialization we embark on a journey to find Alice’s biological dad who is a powerful but loner werewolf and a possible valuable ally for our fight against the masquerade. This course of option made a lot more sense to me than the Dracula bride thing in the masquerade route.

We manage to locate the man and he joins our cause (I laughed at Alice and his naked reunion, the side effect of transforming between wolf and human forms), not only because he’s annoyed by the masquerade’s way of doing things but also because he suspects them being involved in the death of Alice’s mother and Alice becoming a werewolf (werewolf genes aren’t hereditary). In the Masquerade route Cassandra claims to not have done it, so I’m curious what exactly happened.

We also run into Ishara while on this mission (I’m curious how she is here instead of wherever she was during the other route, how exactly did the butterfly effect work?), and similar to the Masquerade route, get the chances to flirt with her and go on a date. It was interesting how Ishara sex scene has a little more detail than others, and extra text about being trans if your character is trans too (If you are cis she just mentions it during the date).

After the mission there is a party where we can do a lot of socializing, and similar to the masquerade route, confirm with your love interest(s) about the nature of your relationship. Then once again it is the time for the final fight, only this time it’s the Masquerade attacking us.

~~~~~~

I must admit that I was somewhat disappointed with how brief the final fight was. The few paragraphs leading up to the fight are pretty much the same in the Masquerade and the Rogues version, then we simply get to choose between persuading for peace, fighting to kill or to defend. Every one of these choices only have one paragraph explaining the result. During my first playthrough this caught me by surprise as I was expecting to actually read a tear jerking speech about living together in peace, not just a super concise summary. The epilogue is also basically just that, a sentence each about the final fate of the characters who stayed with you until the end.

 Final thoughts

Writing: The prose is where the game shines. The usage of uncommon (but not unknown) vocabulary in the more metaphorical imagery was lovely.

However, there are places where some unfamiliar LGBT terms or custom pronouns caught me off guard and made me pause to look stuff up. Personally I believe using too many technical terms in stories makes dialogue sound a bit forced and disrupts narration, but thankfully such instances weren’t very common in moonrise.

The humor was great, me frequently laughing over random things while describing the plot should be proof enough of that. The worldbuilding was done with a lot of care and the flow of plot was pretty logical for the most part, but towards the end I couldn't comprehend the logic behind some events and even after multiple playthroughs I haven't found any explanations for a couple of things, like the real mystery surrounding Alice's mother's death.

Characterization: Characterization was good but varying in quantity- Rosario and Alice were pretty well rounded character development wise and I loved their cute family-like interactions. I was all AWWW when Heather called the place with them her home ;v;

Compared to that Chika felt more of an enigma, but her date and the optional running off into the woods scene still gave her some chances to develop (though it mostly confirmed that she was a good person wishing for freedom and we didn’t really learn much about her personal emotions aside from liking Heather). Poor Ishara got even less chances, so all I managed to grasp was her loneliness. All three of the romance interests shared the issue of overly rapid romantic developments though, though in varying extents (repeat: poor Ishara).

Some side characters like Cassandra got detailed backstories, but it’s hard to grow to like her after experiencing ends where we got killed at her hand over something small. Because this story is only available in the masquerade path and there is no foreshadowing about her positive qualities before the route split, a lot of people might simply never play this path.

Player customization: I also wish the game description didn’t imply that the player character can be customized a lot. Considering how it was implied that the player had an abusive family and is trying to become a doctor because she wants to do and be “better’, imo the already present backstory is too defined for story to be immersive. I personally don’t seek to self insert so it’s not a problem for me (I PREFER this to a blank slate), but it may be for others who came into the game with wrong expectations.

One more thing I would like to see implemented in future versions is choosing if I was polyromantic/polysexual or not at the start of the game. Regardless of whether the player has locked into a romance route or not, "you" still keep thirsting after the beautiful possible LIs that cross your path. I found that rather distracting during my first playthrough since I was playing the game while planning to develop a monogamist cis lesbian character and I felt a disconnect whenever it happened.

Ending: Lastly, the ending. I don’t mind the short epilogues, but the description of the “final fight” was simply so short that it felt anticlimactic, so I will just hope that the ending will be more extended with detailed scenes in a later version.

In summary? Good prose, interesting worldbuilding but too-short romance and rushed ending. Worth a read if you like modern fiction with fantasy supernatural elements involving lots of queer characters and aren’t overly critical in your evaluation of the flow and logic in a story. The game is really cheap though, the amount of content you get is definitely worth $1.99, so if the game sounds like your cup of tea go ahead and try it out!

P/S: A short guide on maxing out the relationship points: being nice to the LI is a given, go on dates with them, and pick the following choices which might not seem obvious (I might be missing some choices that seem obvious to me but actually aren’t orz):

Chika: Ask Naoki to move but politely, Hold her hand (during date), Ask to come up for “coffee” (sex/literal coffee), Don’t choose the masquerade (duh)

Rosario: Embrace her, We let her (Alice) live here, Yes, spar without hurting

Ishara: Compliment, Flirt Back

[bucketofchum]

Aaaahhhh, I'm so glad you liked the series!!(was kinda worried sending the request, cause not everyone likes those kinda shows haha) The last five chapters got really intense /.\ Do you have a favourite character? (possessed anon lol)

I’m gonna put this under a read more bc I don’t wanna spam people

So I don’t usually like starting new shows or things bc I get too invested and stuff, as you will soon understand from what I have to say.Like I said, my first impressions were kinda rough - I’m not really a big fan of the premise of losing weight and having people find you attractive because of that. That’s why from episode 1, I started identifying with Mutsumi. His looks are relatively plain, but his very first encounter with Serinuma are very cordial and polite. From the get go, everyone else (besides A-chan) had pretty gross interactions with Kae.Then I watched episode 2, further cementing how much I identified with Mutsumi. Thus far he has shown no romantic interest in Serinuma but seems to enjoy her company quite a bit. He just likes hanging out, and he’s very friendly, and he shows the rest of the boys much the same cordiality as he shows her - I appreciate that a lot because I would do the same.

By this point, I had grown bored of the premise, so I went to read what happens on wikipedia. I was kind of disappointed to find that Mutsumi ends up falling for her anyways - seems no one is immune from her charms. Eh, ah well. I probably should have let it drop there, but I think I went into the tags here on tumblr… and… got very heavily spoiled by a certain page from Chapter 45. idk why it just struck me so much - I didn’t even really know the story or how they got to that point? It just hit me a lot. So after about 2 hours of just scrolling through the tags on tumblr, I decide to go back and reread the wiki episode recaps and stuff. And then I decided to rewatch only the episodes based on Mutsumi (5, 7, 10, 11, 12). Hm.

I have really really mixed feelings when it comes to characters I identify very strongly with. This guy might as well be a manga version of me, which makes me glad to see myself on screen but also uncomfortable a bit. I really like his ambiguously loving relationship with Serinuma but also with everyone (love for humanity). But it’s clear that she affects him a lot.

I guess I get uncomfortable because I can see my his life playing out like mine played out? And I could see my life played out in this anime/manga and I just… don’t want him to be hurt..? When you put yourself out there, you risk getting hurt. And this is his first experience loving.

I know that if she ends up with anyone else, he would support her 100% because that’s all he wants - is for her to be happy and for her to have what she wants, even if that means having no one but her fictional romances aha. But also I’m afraid if he ends up with her, things won’t go well and it’ll hurt so much more. 

Bleh, sorry. This was a bit much and it got a bit personal ^^;

On the other hand, Nishina and Serinuma have a great relationship. I think it’d be pretty rad if they ended up together (won’t happen) because like with Mutsumi, both of them just really really genuinely care about her and want her to be happy. [I could go into how these two are different from Igarashi but that’s a story for another time - or another post I guess if you wanna hear me ramble about that.]

So anyhow, in animes or shows where I end up identifying too strongly with a character, it’s hard for me to say who my fave is. Because the easy answer would be to say the character who is…me. But that doesn’t necessarily mean the happy ending is the ending that the fans want, you know? idk sorry ignore me.