#but hey she's a storyteller

[aliverse]

nate and spencer for the soundtrack ask…im being so brave rn - @come-along-pond

u could have literally asked for anyone else but i'm proud of you anyways.

Opening Credits: Love Runs Out by OneRepublic

Hey, I Kinda Like You: Everyone Adores You (At Least I Do) by Matt Maltese

I'm Going to Kiss You Now: Electric Touch by Taylor Swift ft. Fall Out Boy

Falling in Love: You Are In Love by Taylor Swift

Your Place or Mine (I assume this is the sex scene): I Can See You by Taylor Swift

Naked in Bed (I assume this is the after scene): Pretty Boy by The Neighborhood

First Fight: Moon Song by Phoebe Bridgers

Maybe We Should Take A Break: You're Losing Me by Taylor Swift

I Want You Back: Back to You by Selena Gomez

Will You Marry Me: The Great War by Taylor Swift

First Child: I Will Wait by Mumford & Sons

We're Getting Older: Look After You by The Fray

If You Die, I'll Go With You: You & I by One Direction

End Credits: This Love by Taylor Swift

Here's their actual playlist!

Send me a ship and I'll give you a soundtrack to a movie about their relationship!

[seawitchkaraoke]

Ppl saying the bad kids attacking the ratgrinders with as much vitriol and anger as they are doesn't make sense and like... One, have you met teenagers but also there is literal rage in the air and the ground and a god of rage is coming through the ground like... Idk if this is intentional on the intrepid heroes part (they're certainly clever enough roleplayers for it to be) but it absolutely makes sense for the literal rage particles in the air to affect them, as we've been seeing it affect people all throughout the season

[wavebiders]

it's wednesday!!!

Cassie sighting in Wonder Woman❤️

[mmmatchasims]

[lostusagis]

Namida

@jiraipink

 It was a pretty calm day. Odd Jobs didn't have any clients, so no work. Kagura was sitting on the couch next to Gintoki leaning her head against his arm while they watched anime together. Every so often they would both make comments making fun of one of the characters, which is something Kagura immensely enjoyed.

 However, the peace was interrupted by the sound of the sliding door to the apartment being torn from the hinges and tossed across the hallway.

 Kagura didn't even have to look to know who it was. Gintoki however, did look with a mix of annoyance and surprise.

“Why the hell can't anyone in your family be normal?!” He'd say with exasperation, since he was the one that had to pay for a new door.

Kagura didn't say anything to that, and just sighed. “Kamui, I thought you were going to be with Namida today.” She paused the anime, and checked through her phone.

 Kamui had walked inside, then tossed Gintoki off the sofa like a ragdoll before replacing his spot. The samurai mumbled something angrily under his breath before leaving.

“Just shut up, alright? What are we watching? Jojo? Huh…. Haven't seen that in awhile.” He reached for the remote, but Kagura quickly snatched it before he could get it.

“No, no.” She side eyed him, “What happened? You're obviously really upset, and you said you'd talk to me more when you're upset like that.”

Kamui clicked his tongue and turned away, leaning his cheek into his hand while leaning on the sofa’s armrest. “I said I'd try, I don't feel like trying today and it doesn't matter. I'm fine.”

“No you're not.”

“Yes I am.”

“I can tell when you're lying dumbass, wait-” Kagura paused, realizing why Kamui came here.

“Ohhhh…. Namida’s with one of her clients right now.” Given that when Kagura said this, she noticed Kamui getting more pissed off she knew she was right on the mark.

“Awww, you're upset you can't be with her? Upset she's on a date with a-” Kamui tried punching her but she expected it and immediately dodged it.

Kagura rolled her eyes, “You're so easy to read.”

“I'm NOT upset.” Kamui was clearly trying his hardest to deny all the accusations.

“Look, it's fine if you are. It sucks when plans don't work out.” She shrugged, “Although, she seems the type that she wouldn't cancel out on any plans she has with you. Did something happen?”

 Kagura looked over at her brother who was still turned away, though noticed the stupid pouty expression he had on his face.

“I… didn't actually plan anything….” He practically forces out, 

“Then it's your own fault. She's not going to be available 24/7, she has work you know.”

He'd huff childishly, “Her job is stupid anyway. I hope she quits one day.”

Kagura quirks a brow and looked at him confused, “......Why?”

“Going on dates with a bunch of different guys that don't even deserve to look at her, or even breathe the same air as her. I bet a lot of them are just worthless nobodies who deserve to drop dead. I'd love to kill them personally.”

 YIKES. This again. Her brother was giving off very scary yandere energy. Concerning for Namida. Hopefully this doesn't lead to any issues later down the line because he seemed like he genuinely loved her. The first time she's ever seen him interested in anyone romantically actually. Even though he's too stupid to realize he loves her. It seems to be mutual from what she's seen at least.

“I'm sure Namida has her own reasons for working as a rental girlfriend. You don't really have any right to complain. It's not like you're her boyfriend.” It's not a job Kagura would do herself, but if Namida had no issues with it then what was there to complain about?

“I'm her best friend though….” Kamui looked like a kicked puppy when saying that, as if being her best friend was a rank above being her boyfriend.

“Wow, you're really stupid.” She'd look at him with absolute disbelief over his idiocy.

“How…?” Kamui asks when looking over at her, confused.

“Nevermind. I have been meaning to ask you though….. when the hell did you two start becoming friends? I remember you two really disliking each other. So much so, Namida joined that club with me.” Kamui didn't normally open up to others, so she wanted to know what happened that made them so close with each other.

 Kamui didn't answer, and instead looked down shamefully while his face steadily became red. This…. was not a side she expected to ever see of him.

“Kamui? What happened?” She'd ask again, staring at him intently.

 He sighs out, “One of her co-workers had pissed me off and I threatened to hurt her, which made Namida really upset…” Kamui didn't like thinking of her being upset with him, so it took him a bit to continue and Kagura waited and listened quietly.

 “She started avoiding me so whenever I went to bother her at work, she was never there. I didn't encounter her until I saw a group of samurai hurting her and possibly trying to kill her.” Anxiety filled his features when thinking back to that day.

Kagura was starting to see where this was going.

“I lost control of my Yato blood, and ended up killing all of them. Namida kept trying to stop me though…..” His cheeks felt so warm, feeling the embarrassment when speaking about something that meant a lot to him.

“Instead of getting scared and running off, she was persistent in stopping me. Even hugged me which eventually got me to come to my senses. And.. we talked about stuff. I might've disliked her at first but I think I started liking her over time, I just didn't want to admit it.”

Oh, a yandere AND a tsundere. Her brother was major cringe, and an unexpected character type. But this did sound sweet. She was about to speak but he kept talking.

“What made me REALLY like her though was… well… I went to bother her after we had visited mom…” Kamui awkwardly rubbed the back of his head, since this was something he was especially ashamed over. 

“She caught me crying in her office, and… she dropped everything so she could spend time comforting me. I tried really hard to push her away, but even when I hurt her she for some reason didn't want to give up. Shes seen me at my worse and didn't turn away from that despite how I get when I'm upset…” He felt himself getting emotional, even sniffling a bit. This wasn't something he'd tell just anyone.

“Her words and comforting touch made me feel… really warm. Like how it felt with mom…” fists clenched tightly over his pant legs, frowning.

“Over time we just kept getting closer and closer. I think about her all the time now.”

Kagura looks at him curiously, “Why do you look so sad over that though? She seems to really like you too.”

“I keep doing things that hurt her and make her cry…. The same way I hate seeing you cry is the same way I hate seeing her cry. It makes me feel worthless. It makes me wanna die.” A hand threads through his hair, his features filled with despair.

“But sometimes things slip out, sometimes I forget not everyone can handle how blunt I tend to be. How insensitive I am. But I wanna be nice for her…. I wanna be someone that makes her happy. I want her to smile everyday, she sometimes has this sad look in her eyes and I want to help her with that. But I can't do anything right.” He buried his face into his bandage covered hands, as the sniffles only ensued. Kagura couldn't help but feel for him. From what she's seen, he's always been closed off. The closest relationship he had before Namida was Abuto, but Kamui seemed to be close with him only to a certain extent. Since again, he keeps himself closed off. His heart is fragile and he keeps barbed wire over it to protect himself. She's pretty sure if Namida ever broke off their “friendship”, it was going to be horrendous. Kamui tended to criticize people that fall in love, saying such feelings were worthless. Yet, became this obsessive idiot the minute HE began to feel those kind of emotions. What a mess.

“You know…. All friends argue. Sometimes feelings get hurt, but as long as you apologize and try to be better then I don't see a reason to feel bad.” Kagura gently placed a hand on his back,

“I've had arguments with all my friends. Gin-chan, Shinpachi, Soyo-chan, yeah. Its normal. You're not really good with feelings and I'm sure Namida gets that. I'm sure she also gets that you're trying hard to be a good friend too. I'm also sure she wouldn't like you saying those harsh things about yourself.” Hell, Kagura didn't like hearing it. She never did, so she could only imagine how Namida would feel.

 Kamui would lift his face from his hands, his eyes were red. He'd sniffle when staring at the ground.

“You know… when I'm with her I don't get any of those negative thoughts. I only think about what's happening in the moment, about how happy being around her makes me. I feel like everything is okay. Which makes upsetting her even worse.”

 Hearing the way Kamui talked about Namida was so surprising. The love he had for her, in a way, seemed really pure despite the obsession. Maybe it was the fact that Kamui was awful at handling feelings, and from what she's seen he feels everything intensely. Maybe at a certain point, the obsession will become less intense once he processes his feelings correctly. He didn't even know he loved her after all.

It wasn't her place to try talking to him about that either, him and Namida had to figure that out. Because Kagura knew damn well Namida was in love with him too. The yearning looks, the flustered expressions, the fact that she almost always saw them holding hands…

They were so CRINGE because they claimed all of this was friendship. Friends didn't talk about each other the way Kamui spoke about Namida.

 Kagura pulled him into a hug, which Kamui immediately collapsed into it, hugging her back tightly. 

“Are you scared of her hating you?” She'd ask softly with a sympathetic frown. Kamui nodded. Kagura rubbed up and down his back soothingly.

“Have you really come to like her that much?”  Kamui nodded again to her question.

“I don't think I can handle ever losing her…” The way he said those words made him sound so broken. Even if he wasn't right to be so pissy over her having a client, it made sense WHY. He found solace in their time together. Although, being so reliant on Namida like that did cause concern. Kamui wasn't exactly the most sane of individuals. It made sense for a normal human to fear him, especially because of how he constantly let his Yato side influence his choices. He was violent. Dangerous. The likelihood of a human wanting to be around that was really little, Kagura's been on earth long enough to conclude that much.

 She wouldn't fault Namida for one day deciding she didn't want to deal with that. Even if it did seem like she really loved Kamui. She's mainly seen the good sides of him. 

“Hmmm, my brother actually getting this attached to an earth woman? Never thought I'd see the day. Would've expected it to at least be someone you could fight.” Kagura lightly teased Kamui while still comforting him. Moments of vulnerability like this, she usually holds back on the usual insults.

“Be quiet. You wouldn't get it.” He mumbles from where his face was buried into her shoulder.

“Nah, I get it pretty well. Didn't say there was anything wrong with that though.” This could be good for him if he learned how to properly process his emotions. Otherwise, Namida will have a hard time.. Kagura couldn't help the increasing worry after this conversation, for Namida. She was just a human. An innocent human. Kamui had so many issues.

“Maybe as long as you're completely honest and open with her, things will be alright.” When Kagura says that, Kamui pulled from the hug to look at her. Eyes red, puffy and all.

“....I'm always honest with her though.” Kamui would say but Kagura looked at him skeptically, which made him avert his gaze from hers.

“I just prefer to keep my negative feelings hidden, so I won't ruin the time we spend with each other.”

His words make her sigh tiredly, “Have you seen her upset before?”

“Yeah.”

“How did you respond to that?”

“I comforted her, and tried to help her feel better.”

“But YOU don't want to be upset around her, and only want to be cheerful when you two are together.”

“Yeah.”

“Fucksakes….” She mumbles under her breath. “Kamui you're basically lying to her, if you two are good friends I think she'd prefer you don't do that.”

“It'll just be me acting stupid and whiny, there's no point.” This is exactly what Kagura meant, he has so many issues.

“Is that what you think when she's upset?” 

Kamui looked like he got worked up over that, “No? Why would I be? I wanna support her whenever I can after all.”

“Do you not hear yourself? Kamui, Namida isn't going to think you're stupid and whiny for showing your true feelings. People who care about you won't attack you for having bad days. Please stop thinking that. You literally came here because you're comfortable enough showing me how upset you are. Am I making fun of you for it? No. Namida won't either. If she comforted you before, it means she'll probably do it again if you let her.” Why were men so intent on hiding their feelings? Idiots. All of them.

“I just want her to be happy, I don't want her to deal with how much of a disaster I am….” He sounded ashamed. Kagura knew well he hated how emotional he really was.

‘I emptied myself’ her ass. He's so frustrating. Not only is he emotionally dependent on her, but he feels the need to put up a front still, despite Namida clearly not minding seeing him during his more vulnerable moments.

Kagura didn't know what to say anymore, her head hurt. All she could hope for was that things worked out for both of them. Hopefully Kamui doesn't become problematic with his obsession. Hopefully Namida doesn't end up hurt. Hopefully all three of them can still be close. She really likes Namida….

Admittedly, Namida chose the absolute worst guy. People don't really choose who they fall for though, it just happens. Or something like that.

 She runs a hand down her face. She'll slightly root for them.

 There was a deep inhale and exhale, “How about we watch some anime until Namida is free? Getting your mind off it for a while might help.” Kamui would nod to her suggestion so Kagura went ahead and restarted the episode.

 While the opening played, Kamui mumbled “Thanks…. Kagura. Talking to you really helps, but I'm sorry I'm always so frustrating.” He forced a smile.

“If you're grateful don't use that fake ass smile with me. But yeah, no problem. Like I told you, I'll support you through anything.”

Even this mess he currently had going on with Namida. Which would hopefully end happily for them.

[wreckedhoney]

cant fuck with fandom takes that defuck extremist characters. blorbo set fire to multiple buildings killed dozens and will do so again. every incident is accompanied by a rant about some warped issue or pathetic self perspective and a lot of bared teeth. then enough people who watched the same thing i watched will just.. not register that this is an angry personality. objectively bad and toxic. among other things. like suddenly seeing takes about this genuine asswipe being a normal chill person. where did u see this. what happened. where is my genuinely unwell off-putting blorbo. who the fuck is this

[its-wabby-stuff]

Renet mention in the comic!! Is it time for her debut?

This is my Renet! She has the inherit ability to look into the future. They are the product of a Yokai/human relationship and abandoned by both worlds being deemed too “human” for Yokai and too strange for humans. Big Mama took her in for her own purposes and kept her locked away.

In the Bad End timeline, she was trained under Master Michelangelo, and eventually, passed on their foresight to him. Shortly after, during a mystic time traveling mayhap, Renet disappeared. This was like 8 years before the end of the world.

Back to the present, Renet appeared maybe a year after Casey. They then went on to train Mikey in the same lessons they had learned from him in the future. And now they are the same age! This was to tie in her “time travelling apprentice” thing!

Their pronouns are She/they.

[holocene-sims]

next // previous

july 20, 2021 7:30 a.m. ireland

[grant] but what actually made you leave? what was the motivation?

[aoife] well, you spend your whole life doing one thing and it’s a real swift kick in the bollocks when you’re forced a change in trajectory. one minute, you’re farming land in your family’s name, and the next, you’re meant to marry and tend someone else’s land in someone else’s name.

[grant] that makes sense. it's a total directional change. and you were already independent, so going into a partnership is kind of losing all that you’re used to. it doesn't matter how you find the relationship, you still have to make concessions.

[aoife] see, you’re smart!

[aoife] but my parents didn’t feel any of those were worthy problems. they had plans for me and i ruined them. they had different ideals of what i could do to help them as an adult. i won’t blame them, though. every parent has dreams for their children and we all push them too hard once in a while. find me a parent who hasn't done that.

[aoife] and for my father, well, i suppose he felt like he'd done everything in the world in his power to make a perfect country, and i think he took personal offense to me disagreeing with one part of the way things were.

[aoife] but i sacrificed everything for our family farm. i don't believe i slighted anyone. i did what had to be done. for one, i barely went to school, never finished even primary school, because my work was the priority. i gave up the only chance of an education and more, and i was meant to walk away from the fruits of my labor.

[aoife] i was young and somewhat bullish. in the heat of it all, i felt betrayed by their asking me to marry.

[grant] and they did, too.

[aoife] they did.

[aoife] now me? i was so hurt, i told them i'd first live with the yanks in america before i'd give up my name and my family for some man.

[aoife] but are those two options not the same?

[grant] i guess one is by choice, though.

[grant] but did you, um, leave to make a point?

[aoife] what point?

[grant] like, “this is how desperate and serious i am, please let me stay at home with you."

[aoife] and now you're too smart. but you’re bang on.

[grant] did they ever get it?

[aoife] they died resenting me.

[aoife] never mattered how hard i tried to prove i wanted to do right by them and look after the family, they never understood. there’s that rehearsed betrayal line. my siblings didn’t come up with it alone.

[aoife] i kept my surname. i taught my children, my grandchildren, and now my great-grandchildren to know irish and i'd death glare at you if you dared use the colonizer’s tongue without good reason. i retold all the stories i heard as a girl, brought you home for visits...

[aoife] i did everything for you kids that they taught me and wanted from me, but it never made them happy with me again.

[aoife] listen, my parents were glad you all existed and to their standards, had good times with you here, but yes, they’d still look at me like they were embarrassed of me.

[grant] but they were just casually cool with seámus and róisín being in america?

[aoife] oh, jesus. i don’t know. they knew seámus hated farming, so i suppose they knew his whole life he’d never stay, and róisín...well, talk about egos. she has notions.

[aoife] their leaving was no surprise. mine was.

[grant] something something, you were a good girl and did everything asked of you your whole life, so they thought you’d do it one more time.

[grant] and now a whole bunch of people make fun of you for the things you did do "right" because suddenly, those things weren't "enough" to please them. you disappointed someone once and they let it stain every other part of you.

[grant] do you still wish you hadn't left? do you wish you lived here?

[aoife] i love you so dearly but that is a question only a man could ask.

[aoife] very bold of you. never ask me that again.

[grant] that was stupid. i'm sorry. i didn’t mean it that way but i see your point and agree. we did just have a whole conversation about how making the decision as a woman to leave and break up a family’s standing fucks up everything.

[quietwingsinthesky]

hi not to complain about a poorly written game from a decade ago, but can we please talk about how egregious it is setting the dinner chapter directly after separation in beyond: two souls? i have gripes about how poorly this game utilizes it’s non-linear narrative in a lot of places, but this stands out as the worst offender to me while replaying it. directly after we reveal Ryan (already the face of the CIA that we know will later go on to hunt Jodie down and who “used her”) as also the man who tears Jodie away from the only home/family she’s really had, we jump directly into. them in a romantic relationship.

Ryan is not just some guy Jodie could have as a love interest. He represents a very negative, very exploitative force in her life. Hell, going linearly, you have Jodie yelling at him not to touch her in The Embassy straight into the hijinks of The Dinner. It’s jarring and not in a meaningful way. Not purposefully, at least. Like, Aiden getting Ryan to leave the apartment during The dinner is one of the requirements for the “be evil whenever you can” achievement, right next to literally trying to kill children. There’s so much dissonance between what we’re told (Jodie and Ryan’s relationship is Normal And Fun And Sexy, Actually) and what we’re shown (Ryan is the face of the agency that takes and uses and hounds Jodie all game, and no relationship they could possibly have would ever be on equal footing.)

I really think, and bear with me because I know this chapter has Issues™️ too, that The Dinner would have benefitted greatly from being directly after Like Other Girls and taking place before we learn just how the CIA got ahold of Jodie in Separation. The two chapters obviously tie-in together with the consequences of the events of Like Other Girls falling directly on Jodie’s relationship with Ryan in The Dinner, while also having a thematic tie in Jodie desperately wanting to pretend, if only for a night, that she can be a normal person with normal relationships. It would also have led to a stomach-sinking moment in Separation where Jodie meets Ryan for the first time chronologically and you realize just how connected that relationship is to Jodie’s exploitation by the CIA. If you got Aiden to ruin their chances, then you might feel a little better about that. If you let them get together, you’re going to feel uncomfortable, and you should! (And if Like Other Girls prevented that outcome, again, poorly handled in-game, but at least it would come full circle just how violating this has been for Jodie. I cannot emphasize enough how much Jodie is seventeen in Separation, and the first line Ryan says to her (not about her. to her.) is for her to quit her adolescent whining and pack up to get drafted.)

(I also think that if the game was half as good as its potential, we wouldn’t have gotten some random SWAT guy hunting Jodie down. We would have gotten Ryan doing it. I think that would have provided a much needed layer to their relationship that’s hinted at at the end of Separation and The Mission. Ryan has manipulated her, but at the end of the day, Jodie & Aiden can fuck him and anyone else up that tries to harm her.)

[fiendishartist2]

guys what if i want to make my own apollo justice game.

[silverselfshippingchaos]

this is one of my favorite k.yohei moments!!

[ashennightingale]

imo good character-establishing things to have for pcs are like

- the usual why are they on this adventure, why are they w this group, etc

- what's one personality trait that drives them to do the stupid but fun thing

- what's one aspect that might make them act in ways contrary to how they do normally (including Not doing the stupid thing if it wouldn't be fun)

that last one is beneficial for the collaborative aspect of ttrpgs: if everyone else wants to do x, & as a player u wanna cooperate but ur pc would be opposed, how can u navigate that? there's still times to dig ur heels in, but often I've found more value in establishing Why or How my character can be convinced to go along w smth anyway

also just. ppl contradict themselves sometimes, & having even a simple sense of that in ur pcs can both make rp richer & assist in collaborating w the other ppl at ur table

[ace-malarky]

Happy STS!! Could you share a fun fact, line, or character detail you really like but you think is quite subtle? - @trixierosewrites

Happy STS!!

I have never written anything subtle in my life <3

but maybe that's because I'm the dumbass writing it so I know what's there

but wait ok so, I shared a piece - what, a couple weeks ago now? - about Setareh who is an NPC in my dnd campaign and like. ok so that's just a short thing and doesn't have all of the context but essentially if my players were focusing they could, perhaps, tell that

Set already knew Aewyth before being in the cell

no one was particularly fussed when they broke him out and went on their merry way

he knew things that, considering they hadn't met him before, he shouldn't have known

also then Bituin rocks back up (and Citlali, when they met her) just. knowing things that he certainly shouldn't have known that they did traipsing around with Set

and part of this is on me! I am very bad at visual description and setting in stuff on the fly when I am telling the story rather than writing it, so I didn't start to mention the similarities this set of characters have in terms of like. I think they have the same eyes & other tells.

but like. I gave them this so;

 (Setareh is crowing, telling Aewyth that he’d told her so, that he’d seen this coming, that she should have listened like Aszaccixl had. She ignores him, as she’s probably right to do. This must look strange (he wonders, briefly, if he should depart and find Aszaccixl, and explain things, but this – this is so much more interesting)).  It is Carric, at this point, who speaks up with Aelfswild’s name, and Setareh crows even more because he knew it, he told her-  Aewyth shoots him a glare and he quietens, still grinning. She offers them a squad of men, just as soon as they return from… damage control, to take to Aelfswild’s base of operations, but they persuade her that perhaps it would be best if they went alone, so they didn’t arouse suspicion.

n ok that was the novelisation after the session, but I mentioned it in game as well lmao

But yeah. big fan of characters knowing things they ought not to, y'know?

[butrememberthesong]

actually on a similar note

[kindred-spirit-93]

HOO BOI. i desperately want to write volumes about this topic alone but ill stick to a tag rant because is have so much studying lol.

demeter they could never make me hate you. you were imo the only sensible person in the myth(s) actually and a good mum. fuck u zeus

The story of Hades and Persephone isn't an abduction romance, or even a tragedy of not being able to be in two places at the same time. It's about how fucking wild it would be to have a mother who gives a shit about whether you're dead or alive, and whether you are happy.

[oatmealaddiction]

Okay but the weirdest thing about the whole "Brotherhood is better you should skip 03" discourse that's become commonplace now, it sort of forgets the world Brotherhood came out in and why you should watch the original Fullmetal Alchemist. When Brotherhood came out, the original Fullmetal Alchemist was one of the most beloved and most watched animes of all time. Brotherhood assumes you the audience have already seen it because of course you have, everyone has seen it, so it skips important information and speeds the story up because it doesn't want to bore you with things you already know. Have you ever wondered "hey why does the first episode of Brotherhood kind of suck, and why am I being introduced to like 50 new characters, and why are they acting like I know what the hell an alchemist is?" It's because Brotherhood thinks you've seen 03.

The first 7 or so episodes of Brotherhood constitute dozens of chapters in the manga, and the first 25 or so episodes of the original Fullmetal Alchemist. The Nina Tucker episode in Brotherhood, in FMA 03 takes up nearly three episodes. Yoki gets a backstory in 03 and it's genuinely one of the best episodes and taken directly from the manga and Brotherhood glosses over it because: duh, you've already seen it. And so if you skip the original you miss out on dozens of really great character building episodes like Ed and Al meeting Hughes for the first time and getting to spend a whole episode helping him free a train from terrorists, or Ed and Roy having a duel that expands on the relationship they have, or episodes where the brothers just help out random people in towns before the major story gets going.

The original also paces itself quite a bit better than Brotherhood and is more in line with the mangas storytelling. In the manga we don't find out about The Gate until nearly two dozen chapters in, and the same goes for the original anime. Like, that's a twist reveal in those stories, and it's weird that the most watched series is the one where they tell you all about The Gate in the first two episodes because they assume you've already seen the original show.

What's more, people don't know that Hiromu Arakawa helped write for the anime while she was still in the middle of writing the manga, and as a result was inspired to write scenes in Brotherhood that the anime did first. That scene of Edward getting impaled by a falling beam? Directly inspired by a similar scene in the original anime. There's a lot of little instances of that and they're great when you can recognize parallels and things in Brotherhood that are direct references to the original anime, but people don't notice any of that anymore. Because the original anime is just an automatic skip these days, and it's a bummer because people don't realize what a giant it was back before Brotherhood was released. They treat it as *bad,* not realizing it was one of the most beloved anime of its time and the problems people take issue with have a lot more to do with personal taste than any kind of actual flaw in the writing. Brotherhood was never meant to dethrone it, and the original anime was always supposed to be part of the viewing experience which is why those first few episodes of Brotherhood are so fast paced. So like, please stop telling people Fullmetal Alchemist 2003 is a skip, or it's bad, or you don't need it because Brotherhood is better. Regardless if you think Brotherhood is better or not, the original wrote Brotherhood's check. It was huge, it was beloved, and Brotherhood is *banking* on the knowledge you've seen all of it and loved it. And trust me when I say there is so much to love about the original series. It's still my favorite branch of the FMA franchise, and it's worth your time, I promise you.