#but like even tho it has it's flaws one of my favourite games that it close to my heart is an otome game called dandelion wishes brought to

[ghost-rattan]

Things I think bsd characters would be like while dating them

Inspired by things my bf dose and I do (Aku and chuuya inspired by bf dazai and atsushi inspired by me)

Warning: none just fluff

(Sorry if my gramma is bad)

Akutagawa

Masks a lot but feels safe with you so he doesn’t

Spoils you like you mention some thing you want BOOM next day it’s at your door

Amazing at listening! He loves your rants about stuff you like

Rants to you about work so you know every one at the mafias tea

He also rants about stuff he likes! Bro will talk about his little hypertensions to you all the time (I head-cannon him with autism)

You hate the people who hurt him (dazai)

He thinks that he’s not worth the kindness you show him but he really is!

Sucks at swimming but he tries (he’s secretly a cat)

On topic with cats he adores them <3

Man is smitten by you like you can’t do any thing wrong in his eyes

Chuuya

Kindest mf to you and the people he cares about

He hates being hated by others tho so he will pretend to be nice even if he hates them (only exception to this is dazai)

He fell hella fast for you (but you fell first let’s be fr here)

He tried to flirt but failed cause you didn’t pick up on it cause hey home boys hot you where to scared he was out of your league (he thought the same dw)

You confessed cause cause your friend picked up he had the fattest crush on you and when you did chuuya was like 😟😳😀😏

He will always say he’s gonna propose to you because hey you confessed it’s only fair!!

Will legit do any thing for you! Oh you wanna play this game BOOM he’s playing it with you! You want some new shoes good thing he is at the shops rn!

He will spend as much time with you possible!

If long distance and he can’t visit you prepare for sleep calls!

With that tho he will visit you all the time

Dazai

Dumbass is all I can say. You will be doing some thing ANY THING and he will make a dumb joke about it! Oh your hungry? Prepare for hi hungry im Dazai!

He loves listening to you ramble it’s his favourite thing! He loves seeing you excited and happy over what ever you are talking about!

He also masks a lot but with you he is his true self

He finds ways to make you smile all the time!

Once even made a scrap book of things that reminded him of you! He was hella embarrassed but kinda proud of it!

If some thing shitty happens he will rant about it a lot to you cause he needs to get it out and understand what went wrong or how he could have prevented it and a bunch more what ifs!

Big spoon! He loves cuddles and he loves having you in his arms it means so much to him!

Atsushi

Puts you on a pedestal because you are perfect and he can’t see a single flaw in you

He has a wall of photos of you him and his friends!

He’s low key done with peoples bs and like dazai rants to you about it a fair few times because he blames him self for everything that went wrong

Good cook! He likes making sweets!

Will talk about things he loves in big rants and Ofc will listen to your rants!

He doesn’t have good social knowledge so he won’t pick up stuff if you are hinting at it

Talks about you all the time to any one who will listen

Keeps notes of things about you

He sleeps early and if you have bad sleeping habits prepare for him to help you fix them but if you can’t he will happily just sleep while you do what you want :)

makes sure you take care of your self! Need I say more!

[on-a-lucky-tide]

Curious what you'd say about Soap for the character ask game. You haven't really spoken about him as much as the others so I'm curious :O (id love to hear about every single character tho i wont lie to you but i have a feeling you'll get asked about those lol)

@nekrosmos asked for Soap too.

Honestly? There is unfortunately a reason. I lingered around fandom for a good few months before I got involved at all. I saw some behaviour from his fanbase that I didn't like and so I made the conscious choice that he's not a character I'd probably be creating much for. I love the art, happy to support creators, etc. Besides, there are so many delicious, delicious rarepairs to love and create for and plenty of gallant, productive, devoted Ghoapers.

He's quite compelling though, and I've got quite a few thoughts and headcanons, and I'm happy to write prompts with him. A few friends on Discord really love him and I like to create for them too, cause happy friends give me the fuzzies. So, you know, a story idea might grip me by the balls and I'll wack out a long form thing.

favorite thing about them

His journals.

Reading those finally gave me a connection with his character that I hadn't developed previously. But they really show how driven he is, how much he wants to be the best he can be, so he's not a burden, so he doesn't let anyone down. He's constantly striving to earn his place to the point that it kills him in the end.

I think he genuinely struggles with wanting to be liked (as part of 'earning his place'), and I think he is often too much for people. Ghost giving back as good as he gets is a comfortable relationship because the line for Ghost is way, way in the distance; Johnny doesn't have to worry like he does with 'normal' people. Neither of them is fuckin' normal.

Price giving him a chance would have been the first step towards the hero-style worship he has for him. "What? Me? Ye want... me? Aye, aye I will be the best fuckin' dog ye ever had, I will bite my own leg off for ye." Everything Soap does is to prove that Price didn't make a mistake. That he was a good investment. And Price, the sly fucker, knows it. He sees himself there.

least favorite thing about them

I wish they had given him a stronger accent and leaned more into that in the games. In fact, I wish that for all of them.

I also think that Soap has capacity to cause great harm without even realising it. Like, we get glimpses of it; he's nearly court-martialled for punching out a copper. In his single-minded pursuit of something, I reckon there could be a lot of collateral damage.

He lacks confidence but will cover it up by being an arsehole and doing arsehole things (such as smuggling a girl on base to impress The Guys). I say I like "least favourite"; I think this makes him compelling as a character. He's not all sunshine and rainbows. He's just as gritty, professional and flawed as the rest of 'em.

favorite line

"You sick bastard..."

"My kingdom for a suppressor..."

"Price?... This belongs to you, sir."

brOTP

Gaz & Soap

OTP

Uh... none really. Ghost/Soap?

nOTP

Don't have any strong feelings on any.

random headcanon

He's really bad at team sport. He showed no interest in any when he was growing up. Gym? Running? Swimming? Anything where the only competition is himself and his own limits? That's where Soap's head is.

unpopular opinion

Honestly? I don't know which of my opinions would be unpopular. Probably the 'not sunshine and rainbows' one, maybe?

song i associate with them

favorite picture of them

[pink-strawberry-kissess]

I don't know if this has been asked or if you've talked about it, - and I do apologize for any clumsiness in how I sound - but do you think Ada would have any complicated feelings regarding how she's been objectified, sexually or otherwise, in-universe, whether it's by someone like Simmons, people she's worked for etc?

i'm gonna ramble a bit here so sorry in advance lol-

i think that the trauma she experienced from simmons is one that's glossed over a lot. especially the people who are like AdA doEsNt hAve AnY tRaUmA

people are SO FUCKING QUICK to baby leon, but if it's a woman- oh NOOO she doesn't deserve the same thing

one of my major gripes with a lot of people who "aren't happy with ada's redesign" (characterization, voice, style) etc. (ALSO YOU CAN GO PLAY THE OLD GAMES BTW THEY STILL EXIST. ) bother me a lot

it's 2023. can we not have ada be an actual woman character with likes/desires/dislikes/flaws/and a personality that isn't just "sexy asian spy lady" like have we regressed so much that when capcom literally designed ada to be almost completely covered from her neck down was a way to have her be less sexualized? (btw for the people mad about that, she still has her alt outfit!!! so stfu!!!)

also she was still sexy af??? she doesn't need to be literally naked for her to be sexy. (also there needs to be more talk about consent imo cause i really feel like the way people talk about ada makes me think they do not understand consent)

ada's always used her sex appeal in varying degrees in the games/movies. but it was always to her advantage (almost in a way so that she wasn't objectified unless she wanted it that way)

in regards to her damnation outfit and her re6 outfit, which i argue are still sexy but not as revealing as her re4 outfit. i think that was also capcom in a way to modernize her outfits but still have it be her. like okay i know people love her og re4 outfit, but it makes NO SENSE. and because of it, it's one of my least favourite outfits because of how impractical it is. i don't mind her re4r alt outfit though, it's still fuckin hot but yeah (i still think the og re4 dress is really cunty tho skfbsfjs it's good, it's just not my favourite, og re2 is also one of my least faves, the flats and the dress + leggings combo)

also yeah to go back to her trauma, i really wish we saw what she felt at the end of re2r, especially if she thought she was going to die. like- how traumatic is that. the way she also fell, but took the time to comfort leon before dropping. SHE DIDN'T CARE THAT SHE WAS GONNA FALL, SHE COMFORTED LEON FIRST

we still don't know if she knew that she was going to be fine or not. if she fell into water (which i hc more cause she's not seen with a hookshot prior so i don't really hc that she had it the whole time.)

i see that as a common hc that she had one that wesker gave her so that she could get out and survive the fall, but i just legit think she fucking fell. landed into water or something that made it so she was okay. and then figured out how to get out later. (with the help of wesker)

but yeah i do not hc the hook shoot reason.

ANYWAYS MAYBE WE'LL GET TO SEE IT??? SEPARATE WAYS INTRO??? PLEASE??????

also it's clear to me that simmons was fucking obsessed with her and she had to literally break ties with him because he was fucking insane, she knew he was a lost cause. i don't think she'd even entertain him at all, to work with him, so it seemed as she cut ties as soon as she could. i do think that he harassed her a lot, but it's also probably traumatic when she discovers that simmons killed hundreds of women to try and clone ada.

uh im eepy but i'll talk about this more later maybe lol

[penguin--person]

what’s iwatex and what’s it about you’re the only person I’ve ever seen posting about it

ouhehe!!! iwatex my good friend iwatex:) iwatex stands for ' I Was A Teenage Exocolonist ' and it's one of my favourite games ever maybe. i'll try to keep this spoiler free !! tho there will be spoilers for. the intro i guess

i was a teenage exocolonist a timeloop game. you play as sol from the ages of 11-19, who grew up in space. near their 11th birthday they land on vertumna, a planet very distant from earth. the game centres around the struggles the new colony goes through as it finds its footing in this new world. you can help shape this colony, and who knows, maybe even lead it!

it also explores its timeloop mechanic very well. i cant go too much into this without going into spoiler territory, but i do like it very much. on another, unrelated note, this game can be replayed many times.

it also focuses on sols relationships with the other people of vertumna. you grow up alongside them, watch them grow, grief, laugh. a thing that i really like about iwatex is that you do not have to date any of the characters to unlock their 'max level' of friendship. you can! you'll unlock different dialogue/scenes/opportunities if you date them, but i dont think thats a flaw. i also very much like that they can just like reject you. if you give a certain character a flower and tell them "not even this flower is as beautiful as you" or smth, that negatively affects your relationship!!!! awesome.

this is them as children, as you first encounter them ingame

there are many different things you can do in iwatex. you can explore the new planet, you can rebel, you can get pets, you can grow your skills, you can affect vertumnas future !! dude you can pet your pets.

the art is also very wonderful, id say. i love the character designs. awesomes.

my favourite character is congruence:)

shes not a major character but i love her

theres many things i love about iwatex, but most of them would be spoilers. iwatex has awesome themes and has many endings and is definetely worth playing if youre thinking about it. if it sounds like your kind of game. theres a lot of reading btw its a visual novel mostly.. its also a card playing game!:) i like it. you can turn card playing off/Put it on automatic, so you dont have to play those if you dont wanna.

it has gutwrenching scenes and joyful scenes and has made me cry and has just such a wide range of things it can portray id say.. its not a perfect game id say, it has its flaws, but i like it:)!!!

hope i anwsered your quastion sufficiently, lmk if you have any more questions!!

[rin-sv14]

A very random first post, I know. But I'll be listing what I like about my favourite characters (yes, this is an excuse to talk about my pookies) from series, games, etc.

(4 characters only though, I'm lazy)

Miya Atsumu (Haikyuu!!)

Literally my first love.

The moment he appeared on screen, I was trying my best not to smile cuz my entire family was sitting in the living room. If I did, they'd of course ask why I'm smiling..

Who can blame me, tho? He's pretty, cute, majestic, gorgeous, breathtaking, handsome- 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙪𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙮𝙖𝙥

I've always looked towards personality more, and he just so happened to be my type. Like LITERALLY

Of course everyone has flaws, including personality flaws, but I've never minded people like him (yes I'm aware he's fictional 💔)

Dramatic, stubborn, impatient, childish? It's fine. Cuz me too.

But really- I don't really know how to explain it, but even though he has many personality flaws, it's nothing most people can't handle. He was and will always be my #1 favourite hq character.

Itoshi Rin (Blue Lock)

Sigh.

Cutie patootie

"Hey, what do you mean?"

Alright alright, I'm pretty sure at least half of us can agree that he's pretty (so is his brother 😻)

Tbh I don't even know how I fell in love with this emo boy. No, I don't even know if I fell in love with him or Sae first.

Whatever. HES PRETTY, CUTE, BEAUTIFUL, HANDSOME, GORGEOUS, PERFECT, AMAZING, BREATHTAKING, EARTH SHATTERING, EYE POPPING, MIND BLOWING

I can treat him better than Sae

His eyes are so pretty :((

Listen I love Sae too but I'll never forgive him for making the spark in Rin's eyes disappear. (That is, until they show us his backstory in spain and then I'll decide if I wanna forgive him or not)

His behaviour is questionable sometimes but it's fine cuz it's Rin

I'm literally meant to be with him. His name is Rin, and one of my nicknames is Rin.

Heneedstomarrymealready

Fushiguro Megumi (Jujutsu Kaisen)

MEGUMI

MEGUMIIIIIII

ITS MEGUMI

HES MEGUMI!!!!!!

HOW CAN ANYONE DISLIKE HIM?

MEGUMIMEGUMIMEGUMIMEGUMIMEGUMI

Ok I'll stop. "Megumi" doesn't even look like a name anymore

He's so cutie patootie

I'm actually so obsessed with him. I need a Megumi in my life

He. Is. So. Pretty.

Do I even need to say more?

I love him

I love him.

Yes, maybe I'm going insane

Just like the others, he's HANDSOME, PRETTY, BEAUTIFUL, CUTE, SCRUMPTIOUS, GORGEOUS, PERFECT, BREATHTAKING, SOUL CRUSHING, FACE REDDENING, EARTH SHATTERING, EYE POPPING (like nobara, sorry 🙏🏻), ADORABLE, ATTRACTIVE, LOVELY, FINE, ENCHANTING, CHARMING, ANGELIC, CAPTIVATING, EYE CATCHING

I just love him

Rafayel (Love and Deepspace)

Do I even need to explain?

IM ABSOLUTELY FERAL FOR HIM

THIS MAN HAS ME ON MY KNEES

HE'S SO PRETTY??

HIS EYES

HIS FACE

HIS SMILE

HIS CHEEKS!! I WANNA SQUISH HIM TO DEATH!!!!!!

One thing. He suffered a lot more than just waiting for MC 800 years. And no he's not a red flag.

BUT ANYWAYS!! HE IS ALMOST LIKE ATSUMU. I THINK I HAVE A TYPE 🏃🏻‍♀️🏃🏻‍♀️

EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS MAN HAS ME SCREAMING, CRYING, RIPPING MY HAIR OUT.

HES JUST SO PRETTY

He has more patience than me actually

Do I need to mention everything he's done for MC?? He's the best frfr

Don't get me wrong tho, I Iove the other two as well. Rafayel just always stays on top.. of me

Yes.

I'm married to him btw, none of y'all can take him 😻😻

Am I aware that they're all fictional? Yes. Am I still going insane for them? Also yes.

[banghwa]

Filter is so insaaaane you're so right. I think it's Jimin's most self-revealing and introspective song. I love him (he's my bias 💕) but his biggest flaw was always his biggest strength, he's always been driven by external validation and craved attention (I don't mean it in obnoxious way! In the "that's what made him a performer that's what made him a beast on stage" way), he's always demanded a lot of himself and staked his worth on how well he does (enneagram 3 king 🥰), it must have been on some level EMBARRASSING to admit it all, to lay all your cards on the table, to say "I've been performing magic tricks for years to make you love me, I captivate you and have you wrapped around my finger and I am terrified of the moment you figure me out and get bored of me because then I won't exist without your eyes on me", he can be EVERYTHING because fundamentally he feels like he's nothing. Is it not enough, being the same thing is boring, I want to merge with you, I want to win you over and I want you to save me, you have your one chance of getting close to me and knowing me, I'm kind of arrogant but also so desperate for your love that I'll be your type before you realize what's going on. Is it any surprise that Jimin is a self-proclaimed Slytherin even if he's known as a sweetheart and kind and caring, he's all desire. Look at yourself!! Why don't you want more, that suits you, babe!!!

Anyway he's insane and I love him

filter rly is like. like its not even among my favourite bts songs but every line is just. insane. youre so right tho being driven by that validation and that desire to satisfy by all means necessary is smt jimin has talked about a lot. so its so interesting how he approaches something that for so long has been really difficult - and even painful to translate into music. like the more i think about it it makes SENSE that he didnt like lie bcs that song is soooo vulnerable. its ugly. it mustnt have been very fun to record. and now he takes that same fear and those other really complicated feelings and like. i mean whats really fascinating to me is that he doesnt make it into something 100% redemptive or positive or 100% tragic either. its sooooo nuanced and complicated and i REALLY dont think he's given enough credit for just. the complexity of what he communicates through his work so far. like its so flashy and dramatic on the surface but in a way that is so uncanny and visceral and Too Much and desperate and controlling. its a power struggle its a reappropriation of a dynamic in a way that doesnt place him in a vulnerable position its weilding control through submission its alllllllllllll a game. its so sick and twisted park jimin let me get into your mind.

[foxstens]

played some indie metroidvania demos and i have Opinions

haak - the only one on this list that is actually out. this isn't super popular i think but i have seen it mentioned a few times on r/metroidvania as a game with amazing movement. yeah... i don't agree. i did like the music and the visuals but the game had too much dialogue, a confusing health bar, and the movement just felt okay, nothing special to me. the aiming grappling hook thingy i did not like at all, it's not very keyboard friendly and is ultimately why i don't want to try the full game. and the thing is you can make a keyboard-friendly aiming ability, ori did it 8 years ago lmao

paradiso guardian - this is coming out in a few days, it's apparently going to have both a sfw and nsfw version, and it has the lgbtq+ tag on steam - obviously i can't not play it. as for the game itself, it is very heavily inspired by the gba castlevania games, and while it has really nice music and art, it also has the problems those games had such as clunky movement, endlessly spawning enemies, no way to deal with enemies above or below you, at least in the beginning. the starting weapon doesn't really have range and it's very slow, so i hope they'll fix it in the full release. honestly i hope i'll end up liking this.

constance - easily my favourite of the ones i've tried. i didn't play a lot because the default key bindings are abysmal, but it looks incredible, the animations are extremely smooth, the music is wonderful, and the story sounds interesting. it seems like you'll be relying on one resource to do multiple actions which kind of sucks but hopefully they'll refine it before the full release. the dev also seems very open to feedback which is nice.

the last faith - i've had my eye on this game since back when i first played blasphemous, because visually it's very reminiscent of that game, but i wasn't really a fan of the demo. the movement felt weird, the voice acting was pretty annoying, and honestly it felt way too reminiscent of blasphemous for me. but it still looks like it has potential, so i'll be keeping it on my list.

nine sols - this one i've had on my list for a while as well since visually it's very reminiscent of okami, and i'm so mad it took me so long to find out it has a demo. this game is about as amazing as expected, even the demo supports four freaking languages and the keys are fully rebindable. it of course looks and sounds incredible, and its only flaw is that the dash doesn't work in the air and it has a long cooldown. that's it, otherwise perfection. i cannot wait.

awaken: astral blade - it's a bit rough around the edges, it has some of the flaws afterimage had but it looks and sounds great, and it's honestly a lot of fun. it seems to have flown under the radar but i'm really looking forward to it.

astra: fading stars - i can't say i loved the beginning of the demo and the movement of the protagonist is a bit... off for some reason, however it has beautiful music and the weapon you use is really nice. you can swing up and down and it has great range, i love it. the bar is on the floor when it comes to a basic weapon but it's surprising how few games even have this. very chill, i love it

aestik - it got some flak bc apparently it's too similar to hollow knight but honestly? i liked it. it seems to have its own identity imo and i had a lot of fun, and there's nothing wrong with games taking inspiration as long as they don't turn into whatever lotus knight wanted to be lmao.

there's a bunch of other games on my wishlist that don't have a demo or an announced release date so it's really only now that i'm in a ~shortage of stuff to play :/

the future of indie games seems really promising tho, especially for metroidvanias

[yukiteruakari]

This whole chain of reblogs is reminding me of my dislike for Makoto. I seriously do not like Makoto as a character. I feel like he had a lot of potential, but for most of the time, his actions rub me in the wrong way. For being the beacon of hope, he sure does give me a lot of despair. People always bring up how he said, "It's not Leon or Sayaka's fault but Monokuma's fault!!! 🤓☝️" to show that he cares about Leon too, but that's just not true, is it. The game "allegedly" wants us to put Leon and Sayaka on the same level, without even letting us hear Leon first. If Makoto did indeed care about Leon and saw him as a victim like he literally claimed to do so, 11037 would be about him as well. He would've mourned his death, too. He would've tried to understand him and not think about Sayaka 24/7. Those two were literally in the same situation (being taken advantage of by Sayaka), and Leon's was WAY WORSE than Makoto's. "Aww, how could've Sayaka want to frame me? 🥺🥺" mf she tried to KILL LEON. Yet he just doesn't even... try to emphasize with him? Even Byakuya did more than you since he said Leon's "murder" was an act of passion (like Mondo's) and not a cold-hearted one. (Just his opinion tho, the manga clears) This guy, being the protagonist, is kind of the reason why Leon gets hate tbh. If Hajime was the protagonist, my man would've been TREATED👏WELL👏 Did you see the official art of them being buddies? Yeah, let's give Kazuichi to Makoto and Leon to Hajime pls pls pls.... let them be bros... they're both very "no-nonsense" and cool characters. It's kind of a reason why Hajime is my favourite protag. I had a theory about how Hajime might've been Leon's very early version (Kodaka said he used to resemble a protag before they changed him)

I would've liked him if Makoto was given some actual flaws but his only flaw is being "too naive" which isn't even a real flaw what the fuck?? I would've liked it so much if Sayaka and Leon survived and became the best friends of Makoto (no Naezono here cuz it was written for some shock value and has no narrative potential other than that tbh, those two share NO themes) and Makoto would get his optimism like that... since in the game, Makoto's optimism kinda comes out of nowhere. I wrote something like that here if you want to check it out. For a self insert character, he is incredibly unrealistic. All Hail Hajimemes

People who see Mondo like that genuinely have zero media literacy. I can't think of a reason why Mondo would be hated tbh. Chihiro is a good character (not really. He is a mesh of some tropes), but he is so overrated and, like Makoto, has no negative flaws. Chihiro is also another character that I don't see surviving the game tbh.

Other than that, Kiyondo is so fucking lame. Extremely lame. What even is that. What. Ew. I get that Danganronpa is a wacky game, but my god. I seriously can't stand the writing sometimes. Kiyondo isn't even badass like Mondo, he's just pathetic.

All the blackeneds in THH are somewhat weird (talking about the first 3) because they all look like they'd totally kill someone? Leon, Mondo, and Celeste. It's just very weird. This is supposed to be a murder mystery game, right? Now that I think about it, maybe Leon's appearance is the reason why people think he was cold-blooded? Evil of some sorts? Don't you just look at those three without knowing about the game and say "they'd definitely kill." Except Leon's just a wannabe and is actually the dorkiest person ever. Does Danganronpa hate its rebel characters or something? Because it's always the uptight ones that get the spotlight. Boring.

Like I said, Celeste being the killer is predictable and boring. She would've been way better as the victim. I could see it from a mile away and I'm pretty sure everyone did. Hey Danganronpa what happened to subverting expectations lmao

Tbh I don't think Sayaka is underrated at all. She has pretty big numbers on pixiv and has rabid fans who are extremely fucking scary. They also ship Naezono which is kinda lame because why would you like a ship where your favourite character is used as a shock value and a stepping stone for the protag's character development lmao

Anyway Makoto Naenae u suck. Don't even get me started on the "Makoto Harem"... ew...

Danganronpa Manga Rant- Leon and Sayaka:

@yukiteruakari told me about a Danganronpa Manga edition, and OH MY GOD!!! Thankyou so much for this bro omg.

I'm only up to "Junkos" impaling, but it's so much better than the one I have.

I'll put some screenshots below, and the link too because so far it's translated to English.

Why the Manga is better, what it could do for the fandom:

It gives Sayaka and Leon so much more development as characters and seeing as Mondos case is next we might get to see what they talked about in the sauna. (<- there are so many fan theories for that one, and I'm excited to finally get more lore.)

It's hard to be a Danganronpa fan in 2024 because it all happened 14, 12, and 7 years ago. So like... Spike aren't going to just start explaining more lore on twitter randomly because they feel like it, Danganronpa is done, but this manga helps us understand the killers motive.

If ALL of the fandom read it I'd probably assume the "Mondo Brother Killer >:(" cliche that some of the fandom define him as would be gone, because it has his POV instead of a Monokuma flashback and a shitty animated clip of him doing it "for no reason" other than being "strong-strong-strong-strong-strong" (from the canon game and animation 2014.)

LeoXSaya Rant, Manga>>>Animation:

And yes, Sayaka was revealed to be a bit more of a "snake" (she isn't btw) but her motives were humane and we only thought she wasn't because Makoto is the protagonist and wouldn't think bad about any of his friends.

It also gives Leon haters a reason to stfu and enjoy his character design and small role while it lasts, and it's better than playing his FTEs because he's just gloating about picking up chicks and being better than everybody at Baseball despite hating in from what I've seen.

Also, the art is just BETTER.

The dialogue is just BETTER!

They gave Sayaka a reason to invite Leon over. Because in the anime and game yes it's "wow Sayaka is so hot" on Leons part, but wouldn't that mean Leon would've been the person to invite her to HIS room instead?

But in the Manga they explain her thought process, anybody who hasn't read it will probably just go "Sayaka's dumb for inviting a STAR ATHLETE to try and kill!" but she's smart because if she had killed him she already had an alibi. "We were friends! We bonded over music and drank tea together!" or something... saying that, Sayaka couldn't WIN because Makoto knew about the room swapping ofc. And she'd leave evidence and whatnot.

*Sighs* The Animation Butchered Our Boys...:

(BOYS BECAUSE THE ANIMATION BUTCHERED SO MANY CHARACTERS AND GAVE THEM PISSY MOTIVES AND SHIT-)

I hate the anime alot, but the thing that PISSED ME OFF THE MOST (about 1-1 of the animation) WAS LEON'S REACTION. He was having a mental breakdown, which was fine and accurate... probably good as well instead of him screaming "stupid" then losing it halfway through the word and realising his fate quietly.

They give him a moment of remorse.

"I didn't want to... I mean she... she was tring to... kill me... right? I just... didn't know what else to do... okay...?" (quote end)

but then he gets mad.

I don't know about you, but on first watch this ruined it for me. "He's just screaming now..." like... it makes me mad for almost no reason.

He was about to have a very humane moment of "I didn't have a choice..." he's looking down at the pedestal thingy in the court, he's defeated, he's sad, he's been caught. He's in despair.

Then he yells at the others "you would've done the same thing in my shoes!"

And you know what the writers did instead of making him cry after that? Anything... would've been better, but this is the dam animation we're talking about...

"I DIDN'T HAVE A CHOICE OKAY! THE CRAZY SKANK WAS GOING TO KILL ME, WHAT WAS I SUPPOSED TO DO?!"

He did have a choice...

The manga gave him a choice, he tried to save Sayaka. Then he ended up killing her, ON ACCIDENT. That line alone contradicts the fact of any of that happening, he and Sayaka had just bonded hours earlier.

Like, this is my opinion and I've never heard anybody talk about this before, BUT THE WRITERS NEEDED TO WRITE LEON BETTER!!! The game wrote Leon fine, but the animation was a second chance at giving him development!

I liked him trying to escape the court room though. That was a nice touch that I don't think was in the game.

BUT BROOOOO HE CALLED SAYAKA A SKANK HOURS AFTER ADMITTING HE WAS CRUSHING ON HER, DANGANRONPA ANIMATION WHERE'S THE LOGIC!

Like, the scene made me so mad on re-watch and I can't pinpoint why!

Like instead of this: https://youtu.be/CbQ6McYz7U0?t=59

(Good animation though imo, the closeup expressed his emotions nicely-)

HAVE THIS THOUGH, THIS IS SO MUCH BETTER!

IT JUST HITS WAY BETTER-

Anyway, that's my rant of the day because why not.

The game itself had issues, but compared to the animation it was just so much better, and makes me want to give it a 7/10 instead of a 6...

[bmpmp3]

THE PROBLEM with me is I’ve always had a tendency to get really, really into painfully niche things (sometimes its niche in the sense of obscurity but most of the time its just niche in the sense of like, nobody’s all that interested lol) which in theory is fine like im enjoying myself and i end up with a decent amount of interesting stories to tell BUT ALSO i just discovered that Girls’ Fashion Shoot has been delisted from the 3ds eshop and now I’ve been thinking about the nicola model series of games nonstop for the past two days and like WHO am i supposed to TALK to about this!!!

[aro-aizawa]

man for how really shitty 2012 was for inclusivity/shitty behaviour, some really great things were made regardless of that

[themegalosaurus]

Uh, for the Sam Winchester Ask Game... 6. What do you think about Sam’s ending? - Also, I love your fanfiction.

Thank you for reading my fic and I am glad you enjoy it!

RE: Sam's ending, I actually love it. This was a surprise to me bc I was semi-spoilered before the final episode and was really dreading what was going to happen but even though the spoilering was more or less accurate it somehow turned out good?? Truly a mystery but I am glad for it. I particularly loved that Sam had a kid and that the ending part was so focused on his relationship with his son. One of the things I didn't like in S15 was how crowbarred in the Sam/Eileen relationship felt (and that is not a slight on Eileen, who I loved when she was first introduced but who I never felt had romantic chemistry with Sam; but even if she had, how you gonna just have a normal romantic relationship when one of you has deliberately been brought back to life by God to manipulate the other? Eileen died! You both should have effed up relationships with your bodies and that should impact on how you operate! Give me a messed up Sam/Eileen and I might have been on board)

anyway I digress

but I was really worried it would be like a super heteronormative Sam and his lady wife marriage and so then I loved that what was actually really important was his relationship with his child, and Sam getting to be a parent. Because (and shout-out to @chiisana-sukima for articulating this to me really well and persuasively in the aftermath of the final ep) then it makes sense of the whole storyline with Jack, whose rship with Sam was one of my favourite things about later seasons SPN, and who of course largely due to Sam's parenting was able to save the world. Sam sees that he can be a good dad and that he can raise a child well and not harmfully. So you get Dean Jr (why that name tho, LORDT, not everybody calls their kids after the 4 people they knew in their life) who knows about hunting but doesn't seem to be driven by it, who is secure enough in his relationship with Sam to let Sam go.

And I love that blurry wife was blurry and her relationship to Sam is super ambiguous (no family pics in the final scene etc), which means we can imagine all kinds of unorthodox or queer or flawed or just human futures for Sam, so maybe she's a girlfriend and one of a series of short-term rships while he raises his kid alone, maybe she's a babymama who is also his friend, maybe she is his loving wife who predeceases him, could be anything, it's all good.

And I liked also that the final scene where he reunites with Dean is just the two of them and not the overpopulated roadhouse nonsense that Dabb originally planned. Thank you Covid for one good thing ahahahahaha

(sam ask game)

[lesbianakaashi]

The Forgotten Shounen: Katekyo Hitman Reborn

This is not a “Why you should watch/read khr” or anything like that. This is just me going into the deep dive and throwing my findings at you. I’m making this because khr used to be my favourite series when I was 15 (I had plushees, posters, tradingcards, the art book etc) and now as an adult I constantly find myself baffled at how unknow it seems to be.

1. Okay first what is khr?

Katekyo Hitman Reborn! or just Reborn! is a series by Akira Amano which was published in Weekly Shounen Jump from 2004 to 2012 (with 42 volumes) and got an anime adaption which run from 2006 to 2010 on Tv Tokyo (with 202 episodes and one OVA).

2. What’s it about?

Khr is a parody of the italian mafia and plays in a world where the mafia is heavily influencial. The protagonist is the japanese middle schooler Sawada Tsunayoshi who is known as “No good Tsuna” because of his failing grades, general weak and cowardly personality and weak physics.

He becomes aware of the mafia world when a 2 year old baby called Reborn arrives at his house claiming to be the greatest hitman and declaring himself his home tutor. Reborn was send by the 9th head of the Vongola famiglia who is ready to retire and looking for a new heir. Which of course, is supposed to be Tsuna and now it's Reborns job to shape him into a worthy sucessor.

Tsuna rejects the violence of the mafia world and refuses the position as the 10th. Thanks to Reborn and his general craziness Tsuna meets different people and starts to make real friendships. Reborn wants 6 of those friends to be Tsuna's future guardians, basically a group of people which will be closest to him in the vongola famiglia. Tsuna might have no interest in those positions but the friendships he builds with them become really precious to him.

Reborns arrivial also brings in the enemies of the Vongola family which leads to Tsuna being forced to engage in battles. Generally Tsuna openly avoids fights and prefers to run away but will put himself in danger for his friends' sake or because of something Reborn did.

Through out the series Tsuna matures and gains strenght but he never becomes a power fantasy. He's just a guy with many flaws who grows through the human connections he makes.

Personally I think the relationship between Reborn and Tsuna is one of the best student teacher reltaionships in all of manga only topped by Mob and Reigen from Mob Psycho 100. Especially the last arc really underlines their unique relationship to me.

Furthermore, khr offers a new and unique battle system: The flames. I'm not gonna go into to too much detail but the general idea is that one fights with their dying will flame which basically turns off your the savety switch so you can fight with everything you have. The flames are seperated into different categories such as: sky, storm, mist, rain, sun, lightning and cloud and have different attributes asigned to each one. Tsuna's use of the sky flame and his transformation when using it is still one of my favourite shounen transformations to this day.

3. What happened?

The series did really well and then not so well over the course of its serialisation. After the manga got an anime adaption it increased in populairty and video games, light novels, and other products such as CDs were created based on the series. Reborn is one of the best selling series of Weekly Shōnen Jump and has sold around 30 Million volumes overall. It was and still is very popular in Japan but rather unknown in the west.

According to the article "The Rise and Fall of Weekly Shonen Jump: A Look at the Circulation of Weekly Jump" khr was the 10th bestselling series in Weekly Shōnen Jump, with a total of 7 million copies sold in 2007.

This number increasing to 15 milion in 2008. Which placed khr into the 4th best selling series of 2008 in Japan.

Between 2008 and 2010 those sales declined but still kept strong with khr as the 6th top selling manga in 2009, 8th best selling in 2010 and then 24th best selling in 2012.

In November 2014, readers of the Da Vinci magazine voted khr number 17 on a list of Weekly Shōnen Jump's greatest manga series of all time.

After the anime came to an apprupt stop in 2010 for unknown reasons the manga sells took a visible hit. (Apparently the studio wanted to put the anime on halt because they were busy with other projects and give Akira Amano time to develop her story but I couldn't find any source for this claim) Furthermore, the rushed last chapters of the manga in 2012 declined the popularity of the series even more. There's no offical statement as to why the manga was ended in such a way but it's reasonable to assume that Jump either cut it considering the decreasing sales or Akira Amano choose to end it for personal reasons.

Nontheless, Tsuna not being included in Jump Force (a fighting game where you can play as different characters from Jump) in 2019 even tho he made it in earlier Jump Stars games also underlines the decreased interest in the series.

Rumors on a reboot or anime adaption of the last two arcs surface from time to time but are genereally unlikely. Artland the studio which made khr has gone bankrupt around 2015-2016. It might be taken on by another studio but rather uncommen especially with such an old series.

4. Art style

The khr anime ended over 10 years ago and the old art style might not be appealing to newer audiences.

Especailly because the anime adaption follows Akira Amanos old art style which heavily developed within the years. Here a picture comparing characters in the new art style:

A modern anime adaption in the new art style would be aesthetically pleasing. It would probably look similiar to Psycho Pass since Akira Amano did the concept art for this series.

(My personal art student hot take is that both art styles are unique and fun. Up to this day Akira Amano still has my favourite art style and even if the amount folds in the characters clothing is a little extreme I love it dearly.)

5. Criticism

The show is not without flaws and even if I greatly enjoy it it wouldn't be right not to adress them.

Daily Life Arc:

A lot of people view the first 20 to 25 episodes as fillers and quickly lose intererst in the series. This is due to the fact that Akira Amano inteded the series to be a gag manga and focuses the first chapters on world building, character introduction and comical narratives. It's rumored that the decision to develop the story into a battle shounen was made because the sales weren't doing well enough at first. So the first chapters/episodes may seem titidious but are necessary for the story and the development of the characters. The tonal shift from a more gintama like gag manga to a darker battle focused story can also be offputting to some viewers.

Either way a lot of people blame this arc when discussing why khr never got an english dub or didn't end up on Toonami. I've also read that the manga never finished serializing in the north america. However, it finished in other western languages like german and spanish.

Censoring:

The anime censors A LOT. From Gokudera's smoking habit, Yamamoto's whole character arc which deals with heavy themes such as depression and suicidal thoughts. The general bloodiness of the manga was censored and sometimes whole chapters and characters were left out even if those were important to the devolopment of others.

Filler episodes:

Out of the 202 episodes the anime has around 29 filler episodes which makes roughly 14 %.

Sexism:

Even if Reborn was written by a woman most female characters are rather flat and their storylines often tied to a male character in one way or another.

Genereal things:

Khr, like many other long running series, is sometimes criticised for a lack of world building or unpopular narrative choices.

6. Hope?

Khr isn't exactly dead. As stated before the series is still very popular in Japan and still gets new merch pretty regulary. There are also petitions floating around for a reboot or a new anime season but those never get a lot of traction. Furthermore #Reborn2期アニメ化 (#Reborn2ndAnimation) used to get some traction on twitter not too long ago. Last year the Anime News Network did a poll on which anime the readers would like to see a rebooot of and khr placed second.

Either way here's a collection of recent khr things I could find.

- In 2018 a new bluray set was released in north america

- The khr stage play reached yet another new season

- A mobile game was released last year

- Currently ongoing anime cafe event called "Concerto di Vongola"

- Last month there was an event with the former VAs and stage play actors where they discussed their favourite khr episodes.

- There has been an increase in blind reacts to the openings on youtube which might bring in a new fan base. The biggest one I could find had around 90k views and was made in 2019. On this note check out the soundtrack. The first openeing Drawing Days by SPLAY still makes me go insane (but I'm biased of course)

There also renewed hope for a new season/reboot because Shaman King, Inuyasha and Bleach got anounced for new seasons after a long hiatus. It's important to keep in mind that the circumstances for those series are differnt tho. For example bleachs new anime is often tied to the immense success of the gatcha game.

7. Conclusion

Khr is a series which used to be a flagship for Weekly Shounen Jump and is deeply beloved by it's fans, especially in Japan. It influenced other shounen series like bnha. It would be nice to see it gaining a bigger fanbase in the west :)

[sdv-player-9]

Sebastian

I was going to make a post about how sad it was that everyone wants to leave Pelican Town in Stardew Valley, but then I got caught up in reading Sebastian’s dialogue on his wiki page and I just-

You know what makes me really sad? Even more than everyone wanting to leave? Sebastian.

- “If I just disappeared would it really matter?”

- “What’s the point of going outside? I’ve already seen it all.”

- “Why does everyone like Maru so much? Sure, she's smart and friendly, but don't they realize it's all just an attention-grabbing scam? Sorry...”

- “I was this close to moping in bed the entire day. Kinda wish I had, now.”

- “Hey... It's hard to think of new things to talk about, sometimes. Even after you know someone. ...Sorry.”

I think he’s depressed. Like, how do you say those quotes and mean them and not have something hurting you inside?

Also these:

- “I was thinking... people are like skipping stones. Eventually we’re going to sink.”

- “I usually stay inside, but I do go to the beach now and then. Pretty much only when it's raining, though. For some reason, staring off into the bleak horizon makes me feel... I dunno. Like it's worthwhile to keep pushing on, I guess.”

- “Nothing surprises me anymore... nothing makes me laugh. Yeah, I know... I'm being a little dramatic.”

I’m starting a petition to add a new character who’s a therapist and has a room either in the clinic or in a new building. We could do with one of those.

But then I read further into the dialogue, because it’s mentioned quite a lot that Sebastian wants to move to a big city and work there and I was wondering if that was ever addressed, or if he just kind of lives with this guilt inside him that he hasn’t done what he wanted to with his life. And I found this (dialogue is from when he and player are married):

- “The older I get, the less I'm drawn to the city. It had a certain mystique to it, once. But it turns out that was just a romantic fantasy. The city's so busy, so full of people... I don't belong there. I'm a loner.”

And it makes me kinda sad that he does abandon his dream, but then (dialogue is from when he and player are married):

- “I did some work on the laptop today. I was actually brainstorming some ideas for a game I want to make. With your farming income, I can afford to do what I want with my life. It's pretty amazing. Thank you.”

And if you read his dialogue from after the player marries him (if you do) it’s just- it’s so sweet??? And he seems so happy??? And it just???

- “Living here with you is teaching me to come out of my shell a little bit. I think it's good for me.”

- “I couldn't sleep last night so I went for a night ride on the motorcycle. I need to stay independent, even though we're married. That's just how I am. I still love you, though.

- “Hey...want some coffee? I needed some...woke up early from a nightmare and I just couldn't fall back asleep.”

- “I'll just watch you from here. I enjoy watching you.”

- “This is so different from my old life, but I'm really starting to like it. I feel like I really belong here.”

- “I often felt unappreciated at home...but here I feel like I really belong. Thanks for making me feel welcome, [Player].”

- “Hey. I just hung out around the house, today. Nothing interesting... The view from our house is perfect. You can see the sun setting over Pelican Town from the front porch.”

- “I may be a reclusive guy, but I'm always happy when you're around.”

- “Hi, [Player]. Good to see you. It's comforting when you're around.”

- “Hey. I couldn't sleep last night so I took a walk to the caves. I found this ...want it? I just have trouble sleeping sometimes, it has nothing to do with you. I love you.”

And there are just so many more and it’s beautiful. He’s my favourite character. Go read all of his dialogue, even if you aren’t gonna marry him in the game.

I don’t know where I was going with this. Sebastian makes me sad.

-10 minute timeskip-

I went to try and find an image with one of his quotes to put at the end of this post and instead came across a bunch of Reddit posts about how awful he is and honestly they have a fair point ngl

- When married to the player, he keeps his frogs inside the house even if the player asks him not to

- Doesn’t consider Abigail one of his friends, because he has a crush on her

- Literally makes an effort not to get along with Demetrius and Maru, even though he’s had at least 10 and possibly 20 years to come to terms with this

- Apparently when you’re married he also just kinda vanishes on a Friday and also complains about mess a lot

However I then read a ton more people with good fair points that go against this so

- Keeps his frogs in his office. That’s fair enough. He can have his own stuff in his office

- Doesn’t consider Abigail a friend cause he isn’t sure if she’s into him, and it’s also okay to grow away from people you once wanted to be close to

- Demetrius does blatantly prefer Maru and rarely mentions Sebastian. It’s not Sebastians job only to fix his relationship with Demetrius. Demetrius could’ve done something, and so could Robin and Maru

They didn’t say anything about the final point but that’s cause it was from a different post

I also learned that everybody loves Elliot and there’s an even split between the people who like Shane and the people who don’t

In conclusion, I have no conclusion. All of the characters are flawed, which is good, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be problematic because some of them are.

Might switch who I’m trying to marry tho lmao

I did find this funny though:

[king-there0f]

1, 8, 13?

@mystery-salad

Thank you for the ask!! Oh man…its been a while since I’ve looked at my askbox and there is….so much in here yall get ready for a backlog of accidentally unanswered asks.

1) What was the current story release when you started playing?

Unofficially I started playing during the beta! My first character was a Norn Elementalist and I played it over at the house of a guy I really hated because my beta key didnt work but he had offered to let me use his if I came over. So my first play experience was on a wonky green TV screen sitting on the gnarliest couch you’ve ever seen while a bunch of guys tried to impress me with how many words per minute they could type. Classic.

Officially tho I started at launch! It was all so new and exciting and I was so fresh off all the leading preproduction hype. As an avid GW1 player I was so excited for continued lore and was also sinking deep into the nostalgia and missing my friends who used to play with me. It wasn’t dissimilar from when I started GW1. Where I started playing alone but was determined to rope other friends into playing with me. And this was before I had even really gotten much farther than character creation haha. Despite how I feel about the personal story now (which is not that its outright bad, just that its kinda boring) it was really fun back then! I crafted all my characters’ stories to fit into it somehow because I had this weird idea that I had to for some reason, but they’ve all changed drastically since then.

8) Do you have any items you keep in your characters’ inventory for purely sentimental reasons?

I cant think of anything specific I keep in anyones inventory for sentimental reasons but I do keep a very cluttered inventory. I’m what you might call an in-game hoarder. You never know when those random item drops might come in handy! This one even has flavor text! What do you mean its a junk item?!

I am guilty of playing the game sub-optimally for character driven reasons though. Like how I refuse to elite spec Matthias because None Of The Ranger Elite Specs Suit Him And I Was Really Hoping EoDs Would But It Still Does Not. 🤣

13) Do you have a favourite story episode (including expansion chapters)?

Tbh I’m really fond of a lot of the stuff they did with season 1 and Im really glad its playable again! I think it can be hit or miss for a lot of people but back then it was really impressive and immersive how many big, lasting changes they made to the world during the events of LW ssn 1. The battle for lions arch was big and dramatic and felt high-stakes. There were some awesome locale introduced and some really interesting narrative ideas. It wasnt all good, and a lot of it had its flaws, but it was still exciting to see things being altered and affected by the story on such a big scale.

[kpopmakesmequestionmylifechoices]

Kingdom Round 3: "Plagiarism", rigged voting and fanwars.

[Disclaimer: It is possible that for fans of certain groups I'll come off as offensive. I like each of the groups, I possess albums of TBZ, SF9 & SKZ, and I watched HOURS of content/debut programs of ALL the participating groups. Nevertheless, I will ALWAYS say my honest opinion. If you want to fight me, you're ofc allowed to do so but I hope you're all mature enough to not feel offended by opinions.]

Act 1: Tbz, where do your ideas come from?

So what I've noticed is that there's a massive difference between tbz behind the scenes and other groups'. Not only in this episode. So far, tbz simply DID NOT show how they create ideas, stages, how they practice. They picked a song, fooled around, and then met up with RTK members. It was cute sure, but it had NOTHING to do with the stage. The other groups showed practice scenes, showed their ideation process, showed who taught them and how. The boyz didn't. No practice, no ideation. Only song choice. We didn't see them practicing the choreo, we didn't see how they even got the idea for this stage. Their behind the scenes footage sadly has NOTHING to do with their performance. I really wish we could see them practicing and coming up with ideas.

Another big problem I see with this, is that they literally don't explain where their ideas come from. Now for people who know Game of Thrones (GoT hereafter), it probably appears rather obvious that the previous and also this stage was inspired by GoT, right? The white walkers? Ice and fire? The throne? The freaking red wedding??? I can't be the only one who sees a connection between their stages and GoT. ATEEZ said they were inspired by Pirates of the Carribbean. SF9 said they were inspired by film noir and showed how they worked with an actor on their storyline. iKON explained how they associate inception with dreams and put together their ideas. But TBZ didn't freaking talk about any of this. Either it was never recorded, or it never was aired. In any way, it's extremely suspicious in my eyes. Moreover it's just pretty shit to not say where your idea comes from. Especially not when you even name your stage after the iconic red wedding... Now IF they were NOT inspired by GoT, then it would be some... extremely huge coincidences... especially the stage title is just a bit too much tbh. But more to that stage later.

Edit: It came to my knowledge that according to deobis, Cre.Ker will post the content after Kingdom on tbz social media. Whoever took that decision needs to be fired tbh. If the content will be released, I'll link to it and add some few words to it.

Act 2: The good, the bad, and ... All hail king Juyeon?

Let's talk about the performances now.

SF9: What I dislike is the fact that as I stated in my previous Kingdom post, they are forced to do such dramatic musical/movie stages to even be recognized as part of the show. Moreover, I found it weird and unfitting that they held guns during the group dance parts, to me it seemed a bit off. Also, at times, their energy level seemed a bit low.

What I liked is that even tho it was a MASSIVE set, the performance still was extremely easy to understand and follow. They all looked insanely good tho, SF9 simply is mature and manly. I liked the concept, it was fresh because it for once had no fantasy vibe but actual criminal mafia energy. My favourite parts were Jaeyoon's fighting scenes because they were very well choreographed. Altogether, I really enjoyed it and also found it interesting how they referred to the Boyz crown scenes on RTK.

The Boyz: In my eyes, this is already the second GoT inspired concept they did. Not a fan of this. Moreover, I'm a bit pissed that it looks as if they are selling all that as their own ideas. As I said before, I believe this is GoT inspired, the name at least definitely was - but it's never said that the inspiration comes from there, because we literally have no information about where their ideas come from and if it's even their own ideas. To me it has the bitter aftertaste of wanting to hide sth the viewers aren't supposed to see. But this is not tbz fault but the fault of whoever writes/directs/edits their footage.

With the title of the stage given, I actually thought I'd see a wedding. But what I've seen was a woman in a bird cage. And then many more women. I failed to see what this all had to do with a wedding, and I moreover failed to see the connection to "THE" red wedding. And I failed to understand the plot once again, and because they didn't explain it beforehand, I'll never understand it.

What I liked is that the performance was way less dramatic than it was ever before. It didn't seem like a stunt show anymore, it didn't seem overdramatic anymore. It was easier to focus on the performance. Sadly, I noticed that this "downgraded" (aka slow-paced and less dramatic) stage was unfortunately underwhelming in comparison with what they did before - which was sth I predicted from beginning on. At some point you can't go bigger anymore, and if you tone it down it'll automatically seem underwhelming.

Edit: It's sad that they have this pressure to outperform themselves because they've won RTK. But honestly, it was clear that the winner would have this pressure on them. I don't see why I would pity them for this, after all, each of the groups feel pressured anyways and I rather feel sorry for ALL groups together because this whole ranking/competition thing is just unnecessarily stressful. But once again, I don't understand why you all blame MNET for this. Don't forget that the companies have contracts with MNET and knew that shit would go down. If you blame any bigger instances, then please also the companies who put their idols on the show. It's not like they got forced to make their groups participate.

My biggest criticism this time however is the fact that they give the most screentime to Juyeon (and Sunwoo because of the rap parts), and the rest of the members barely appear, or basically aren't shown at all. I already felt before that there was a strong focus on Juyeon, but now it's srly showing very clearly. I really like Juyeon, but I don't find it fair. I think that doesn't do justice to the other members, which deserve screentime as well. In conclusion, tbz on kingdom is an extreme mess in my eyes, with lots of communication- and management flaws.

iKON: I belong to the group of people who heavily prefers THANXX over inception, so I was a bit sceptical about the song choice. They really made a YG version out of this tho, I was pretty impressed. The stage concept was pretty nice, iKON surely knows how to use light. Now the stage seemed very inspired by Inception (the movie) which makes a lot of sense - but wasn't communicated either. Just mentioning this because I critisized tbz earlier, so I think the same applies here to some degree. I didn't recognize the song anymore tho but I found it pretty refreshing. In my eyes they did the best so far in making another group's song their own. This could have been an iKON song for sure. As always, a fun stage.

My personal ranking will follow after the other stages.

Act 3: About cheating and faking.

The Voting looks as follows:

Views: 1. SKZ 2. iKON 3. ATEEZ 4. BTOB 5. TBZ 6. SF9

Online Voting: 1. SKZ 2. SF9 3. iKON 4. BTOB 5. ATEEZ 6. TBZ

Btw if anyone knows the overall voting, please comment or send a message, because I somehow missed it?

I said it before, and I say it again, this entire voting is rigged and I totally don't care about it anymore at this point because it's absolutely not trustable. Experts didn't know about the budget differences, who even are the experts, why did SF9 get zero on-site votes, and then ofc the fans who created 50 accounts to vote...this voting is a joke. What I can totally not understand is how ATEEZ and TBZ can rank last for online voting. Sth seems off here to me, especially the fact that SF9 ranks last in views but ranks 2nd in votes? I'm sorry to say this but I think that's the result of the ZZZ fanwar. My assumption is that there must be a big mass of people who purposely voted NOT for TBZ & ATEEZ, and my guess is - no offence - that those were stays. In accordance with the fanwar, they didn't give their 2 other votes to the other ZZZ groups but to whatever other group. Or in general the ZZZ fandoms purposely not voting for each other. That would explain extremely well why SF9 could suddenly rank 2nd. I'm tired of this voting, of fanwars and all this drama and I decided to not care about the official voting anymore.

If you got to this point, I wanna let you know that I feel very blessed that you made it through this long post hahaha. Thanks! And for the next week, I expect BIG THINGS. I'm the most excited for BTOB. Them covering back door is the most absurd thing I've imagined for a long time hahahaha. But Eunkwang with tattoos really is a good sight, isn't it ;)?

[dissonantdreamer]

I am going to get a lot of hate but I really need to get it out of my chest, I don’t like Joel that much, especially from the first game. That being said, if people like him, I have nothing against them.

To me, especially in part 1, Joel was such an asshole, obnoxious piece of shit, I really had a hard time connecting to him.

And worst of all, he reminded me of someone that I know in real life who I really don’t like and he really left a bad taste in my mouth. Part 1 was one of my favourite games of all time and only because of Ellie. Joel’s death was made to illicit anger from the player and honestly, his death really didn’t affected me that at all but when I saw Ellie entering that room and seeing her so broken, that elicited so much anger from me. It wasn’t until part ll, that I saw a different side of Joel, a more vulnerable, supportive, loving side that I really liked. Playing TLOU2 in its subsequent playthroughs, Joel’s death brought the emotion ND was looking for, I didn’t even need Ellie, tho, Ellie bring there really hits hard, at the same time, I started liking Abby, so, yeah, I was bit conflicted .

Of course, he was not perfect in part ll either, but it really showed me a side of Joel that i , personally, never saw in part 1. Even Joel and Ellie’s relationship was something I had a hard time seeing the appeal of because again, most of the time, he was an asshole to her, it was not once but twice when he wanted to get rid of her. And he told Ellie to repress her feelings and she kept bottling it up and she eventually blew up in part ll, not in health way. I am not saying their relationship was toxic, I am just saying that their relationship is very flawed, it’s not perfect or “ father-daughter relationship goals” people think they are. Because a perfect father-daughter duo won’t lie to her after she confronted him about one of the most important things in her life. Part ll made me really like Joel, so I don’t really understand or agree when people say that Joel was disrespected and blah, blah.

Because as someone who doesn’t like Joel from the original, part ll seriously changed my opinion on him.

Anyways, sorry for the rant. Hope you’re doing well, take care!

Well, said anon. I got thoughts on thoughts on thoughts about this ask and under the cut they go cause there are so many of them and it's a true ramble:

I think it's valid not to like Joel in Part I. He wasn't supposed to be a likeable person. Even the good things he's done has been for his own selfish reasons. He was a good a father as he could be, single and trying his best to be there for his kid while starting he own business, and we get to see that in the beginning through photos and how much Sarah loves him. But he's still human. That's what makes these characters feel real and why this series is so good. They feel real. Joel's world is rocked in a way he never could have expected, his daughter dying in his arms. That changes anyone, and without any sort of therapy, his mental health is going to tank.

Joel is bitter and hurt, he hurt his brother, he became a hunter to survive, hurt innocent people, killed innocent people, tried to kill himself. He's lived a life where he can't answer certain questions Ellie asks. Part II we see that even the worst people we know can be better if they have the chance, the space, and the support, to heal. Jackson was good for Joel, he was a protector to the community and he had time for hobbies, like wood working and teaching guitar. He was able to grow in a way that was taken from him. We see glimpses of that in Part I, finding comics for Ellie, the giraffe scene, teaching her about football, trusting her to cover him, but the final scene shows that he still is a broken man. Ellie was never going to fix that.

Joel and Ellie live in a broken world, their concept of love and trust is twisted by the people they encounter. No one you meet is entirely good or bad, they too are operating in the gray morality that we see throughout the series. It's easier to push forward when you compartmentalize your feelings, easier to cope with what you've done. Those don't go away and both Joel and Ellie have to face that at the end of the game. There is no perfect father. No perfect mother. We place this idea that the adults in our life know what they are doing, but they like us don't know what the fuck to do. They do what they think is best and it isn't always what's best. They hold information back thinking it helps and in the end you took a perfectly good kid and gave it poor mental health. Even parents who are "good" still fuck up. It's trial and error, erring on the side of error. You can only hope what you're doing is the right thing, and you won't know until it's too late to fix.

I can't speak for others, for me Joel and Ellie's relationship was never goals for how a parent and child should be. It was realistic and honest. It reminded me of what my father went through with me, made me see how he tried, and how I would be affected if I ever lost him. It doesn't absolve him of the things he did, in the same way that the way Joel's death affects Ellie doesn't absolve him of what he'd done. It's the forgiveness that willingness to look someone who messed up over and over trying their best, facing their worst, and saying "I don't know if I can forgive you, but I'd like to try." that is the closest to redemption you can give someone. That what happens next is entirely up to you and if you want to fix what you broke.

Joel got what was coming to him, his past isn't erased because Ellie chose to give him a chance. He wasn't disrespected. He's done worst to other people. The tragedy of the story is that we don't get to see them heal. Joel has a chance to do better and Ellie has the choice she never got. That's taken from them at the worst possible time. As much as it hurts, that's how it is in the world. Nothing is promised to last. Which is why you have to do what you think is best every day and hope to all fuck you're doing the right thing.

Your criticisms of Joel shouldn't be met with hate. It's healthy to look at your favorite media and see elements you don't fully agree with and discuss them. Joel isn't perfect. We want him to be, because we're playing as him, and later playing as someone who loved him, flaws and all. Complex characters bring out complex feelings and some people allow themselves to ignore the complexity for the feelings that are easiest to feel. It's easy to attach yourself to a heightened version of a character, we put the wrong people on pedestals all the time. It's human.

No one in the world of The Last of Us can escape the inevitable just because they saved someone or were saved. Same as it is in the real world.

In the end all you can do in the world is try.

thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts anon.