#but that would make him the same age as maomao?
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kimboo-york · 11 months ago
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Yes, yes, Ah-Duo looks very much like a certain "pretty guy" but I also want to point out that she also has the same effect on all the palace's handmaidens that Jinshi does. 😊
(I have not read the light novel or the manga, so I have no idea if Ah-Duo and Jinshi are related or not but...)
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smallnico · 2 months ago
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can you tell esper is uhhhhh. ill?
got tagged by @beecreeper for the character insp meme! (check out his here!!) this was a lot of fun, there are a couple of honourable mentions i'll get into under the cut, along with some elaborations for the curious.
list of names, L > R 1: harrowhark nonagesimus -- the locked tomb saga 2: isaac -- castlevania (netflix series) 3: cole -- dragon age: inquisition 4: blackbeard -- our flag means death 5: (bingo free space) 6: seven of nine -- star trek: voyager 7: katya zamolodchikova -- real life / unnnhhhh 8: paul muad-dib atreides -- dune 9: maomao -- the apothecary diaries
1: harrowhark nonagesimus -- the locked tomb saga
if you've read the locked tomb, this one's pretty self-explanatory. but i took a lot of inspiration from harrow's grief-sodden religious zealotry for esper's pre-tadpole self, and i think about harrow the ninth every time i write from esper's perspective during the events of the game. it's the amnesiac goblin madness for me. esper would also absolutely put their bone marrow into a soup to kill someone if that was something they could do. they're extra like that
2: isaac -- castlevania (netflix series)
i just fucking love isaac, man. he's such a fascinating character, taken from a place of pain and degradation into the service of a mad god-figure hellbent on destroying humanity, then banished and forced to just. figure out for himself what he wants to do with his life. and it turns out that what he wants to do is relate to the hellbeasts he raises to use as soldiers, and let them try to eat strawberries and live in houses for a change, take a chance at living as something other than vessels of violence. i love him. that's really all esper wants, too -- to find a peaceful existence after a lifetime of pain and brutality and monsterhood.
3: cole -- dragon age: inquisition
cole is such a vibe. he lives in the attic staring unsettlingly at people and reading their minds and exhuming their pain so he can help them with it, including with his knives. he has that unearthly creepy vibe that esper projects, as well as their tendency to poke around in people's private emotions and their slight uncanny distance from human morality and ethics. making cole more human also ends up around the same for esper -- cole is never quite all the way there, but happy to be truly Among the people whose souls he reads and finally able to experience those things for himself.
4: blackbeard -- our flag means death
apart from the leather and queerness and propensity for violence, blackbeard was also a big influence for esper's journey from "yeah, this violence thing is fun for me, besides it's not like i can Leave this life, i'm stuck here so i might as well enjoy it" to "actually even though it's fun it's also exhausting and all i really want is peace. maybe even a monster like me can love and find a community that loves me."
6: seven of nine -- star trek: voyager
god, where to start? "i was a child who was raised to be perfect, my humanity and individuality were completely overridden and my very body was used as an object for unimaginable violence, and now even though i don't know how to be a Person anymore, i'm cut off from everything i've ever known and i don't know what to do." and now, like seven, esper is just trying their best to build a personality out of the leftover scraps they have with the help of their crew of misfits and weirdos. also, perpetrator trauma -- like seven, esper doesn't feel Guilty about their past actions, but it does haunt them, and they don't really know what to do with it. also, i didn't mean for the two images of esper and seven here to make them look exactly the same, but hey.
7: katya zamolodchikova -- real life / unnnhhhh
this one's more of a bit. i watch unnnhhhh with my wife a lot, and every now and again katya will just say something that makes us both go "that's esper-coded". she has that slightly imperfect balance of genuine darkness and unhinged silliness that esper also teeter-totters between, which results in a specific kind of charisma that you kind of have to see to understand.
8: paul muad-dib atreides -- dune
esper's pre-durge and pre-tadpole backstory draws a fair bit of inspiration from paul's narrative arc lmao. he starts out life as a male heir to a bloodline of female psychic specialists, trains with them, and ends up sacrificing his humanity to fulfil a violent divine path pre-ordained for him. real evil messiah hours. esper has way fewer qualms about killing from the start, and the match isn't perfect, but this is an inspiration, not a stencil.
9: maomao -- the apothecary diaries
another weird one, but probably the most purposeful inspiration on the board here. when i was first playing as esper and trying to sort out their personality, i was also watching apothecary diaries, and maomao's feline predilections and sense of mischief and flawless composure and cunning without ambition had me completely enraptured, so i thought, what the hell. she also shares some backstory elements with esper as the [spoilers] bastard daughter of a disgraced but extremely talented courtesan and a creepy war tactician. like esper, maomao just wants to keep her head down and make enough money to fund her special interests. they also both drink poison for fun (at least, esper does pre-tadpole). i think the main thing they diverge on is that esper thinks poison is for basic bitches.
honourable mentions
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jimmy "pickles" hoffa -- jimmyhoffathecat
just look at him. that's an esper. photo credit here
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tilly -- my parents' house
pretty self-explanatory for any cat owners out there. esper acts like a cat in general, but they specifically act like this cat. she's so influential and talented and perfect.
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towa "murase" -- slow damage
this one is an honourable mention instead of being on the board because i didn't meet towa slowdamage until like 3 weeks ago (well after esper was already realized), but the two of them have so many specific things in common it's actually ridiculous. convergent evolution at its finest.
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fenris -- dragon age 2
esper and fenris have very little in common story- or personality-wise, but i can't deny that he was a huge visual influence, especially for pre-tadpole esper. i mean, come on. look at him.
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yelena belova -- black widow, hawkeye
i'm not much of an mcu person, but the concept of the black widows in general did influence a lot of esper's pre-durge backstory, and i like yelena. she's like a more charismatic and more down-for-murder natasha. she's not a specific inspiration for esper as a character, but they do have a rhyming vibe.
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selcis aureus, umbras heltor -- exodusbound
hello, it's fantrolls! i disqualified selcis and umbras from the inspboard because they're literally other ocs i had a hand in creating, and a lot of the things they have in common with esper aren't public, but they both did (and exodusbound did in general) have a lot of influence on esper as a character. i can't help that i like themes of alienation and life persevering in spite of it all in my characters. art shown here by my wife barbelzoa!
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espurr -- pokemon
literally a pokemon, not a character. special place in my heart though because i literally named esper after this thang when i first made them in the character creator. they just had the same dead eyed stare and psychic magic, so i went, yeah, that'll do.
thank you so much for reading this much if you did!!!!!
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fategoflatass · 10 months ago
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I feel like this is the closest to domestic bliss that we'll be getting when it comes to these two (besides the lap napping scene), yet it doesn't fail to contain Maomao not understanding the basics of human feelings (at least, when it comes to love). Which is endearing and frustrating at the same time, although that's what you could get when you raise a child without the proper emotional support.
Which also makes me think of how similar yet different they are from each other: in one hand, you have a guy who was most probably (haven't reached that part yet) raised without an ounce of love (or, at least, not as much as a kid his age needed) and taught to see people, and thus himself, as tools what are not worth getting attached to. Thus, he grew up with this bottomless hole inside of him that seeks to be filled by this one girl he's obssesed with because she gets to see through his façade, yet she won't give him the time of the day.
On the other, you have this same girl who grew up without proper parenting from her parents and whose feelings and emotional needs were ignored by the courtesans in favour of their labour. This would lead to her adapting to the circumstances and thus becoming a seemingly emotionless person who has a hard time expressing her feelings or understanding others'.
Both of them are victims of their circumstances. Circumstances of which the adults had full resposibility of, yet they decided those kids' well-being was the second, third or even last priority. They were innocent children at that time, yet they have to pay the broken plates.
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recentanimenews · 4 years ago
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J-Novel Club Licenses Five New Light Novels and a Pair of Manga
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  J-Novel Club held a fresh announcement livestream on November 13, taking the opportunity to reveal five new light novel series with immediate digital launches, as well as two new manga titles that are both set to launch next week.
  Here's a breakdown of what was revealed, starting with the two light novels that are officially live now on the subscription service. 
  The Apothecary Diaries 
by Natsu Hyuuga with Illustrations by Touko Shino 
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    Synopsis:
In the East is a land ruled by an emperor, whose consorts and serving women live in a sprawling complex known as the hougong, the rear palace. Maomao, an unassuming girl raised in an unassuming town by her apothecary father, never imagined the rear palace would have anything to do with her—until she was kidnapped and sold into service there. 
  Though she looks ordinary, Maomao has a quick wit, a sharp mind, and an extensive knowledge of medicine. That’s her secret, until she encounters a resident of the palace at least as perceptive as she is: the head eunuch, Jinshi. He sees through Maomao’s façade and makes her a lady-in-waiting to none other than the Emperor’s favorite consort… so she can taste the lady’s food for poison! At her lady’s side, Maomao starts to learn about everything that goes on in the rear palace—not all of it seemly. Can she ever lead a quiet life, or will her powers of deduction and insatiable curiosity bring her ever more adventures, and ever more dangers?
  The Ideal Sponger Life 
by Tsunehiko Watanabe with Illustrations by Jyuu Ayakura 
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    Synopsis:
Yamai Zenjirou is your everyday office worker in modern Japan. One morning, he suddenly finds himself summoned to a tropical world where dinosaurs roam the land. He is told that this is the kingdom of Capua and the person who summoned him - its monarch, Queen Aura - wants him to marry her and leave his old life behind for a life of carefree extravagance as her prince consort. The reasons for her offer are many and varied, but she needs an heir, and she wants him to be the one to provide it! 
  If he accepts, he’ll never have to work again, lazing around in luxury with no worries other than securing the kingdom its next monarch. Certainly, sleeping with the buxom beauty is far from a hardship, but is everything really as it seems? He’ll also need to give up everything he knows on Earth. Is he ready to drop it all at a moment’s notice for her sake? And how well will he be able to navigate the politics, people and culture of this new world if he does?
  My Friend’s Little Sister Has It In for Me! 
by Ghost Mikawa with Illustrations by tomari
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    Synopsis:
If a girl teases you, that means she likes you!
  Unfortunately, Akiteru knows from experience that isn’t the case. Because every girl he interacts with shows him nothing but scorn, and he’s not scored a single date from it! Luckily, he’s more concerned with securing a spot for him and his game-development buddies at his uncle’s business. But when his uncle throws him a condition that involves playing the part of his daughter’s boyfriend, Akiteru has no choice but to take it.
  What will his best friend’s sister Iroha, who bullies him relentlessly, think of the news? Find out in My Friend's Little Sister Has It in for Me!
  Are You Okay With a Slightly Older Girlfriend? 
by Kota Nozomi with Illustrations by Meruchi Nanase
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    Synopsis:
First-year highschool student Momota Kaoru just saved a beautiful highschool girl, Orihara Hime, from a train molester. One thing leads to another, and they end up going on a date! They have a lot in common: they both love video games, they both jam to their favorite songs on mixtapes, they were even both born in the Year of the Snake.
  Except... Orihara’s first game console used cartridges... and her old mixtapes are all on MiniDisc... and, oh, her birthday is actually 12 years before Momota’s!
  When her secret comes out, she thinks it must all be over... but will Momota really let something like a little age gap get in the way of his love for Orihara? Find out if love really can transcend generations in this sugar-sweet romantic comedy!
  She’s the Cutest… But We’re Just Friends!
by Akamitsu Awamura with Illustrations by mmu
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    Synopsis:
Kai Nakamura has the average range of otaku hobbies for a high school boy, but the buddy he shares them with is far from ordinary... Kai’s best friend in the whole world is Jun Miyakawa, his classmate known as a super hottie.
  Though Kai and Jun just met when they enrolled in high school, they hit it off with passion for all the same hobbies! When they’re together, the pair never have enough hours in the day. Kai and Jun can’t get enough of each other’s company as they chat about video games and manga or sing anime songs at karaoke.
  Love is fleeting, but friendship is forever in this "just friends" rom-com filled with flirty fun!
  The two manga titles below will launch on J-Novel Club next week.
  Der Werwolf: The Annals of Veight ~Origins~ 
by Yuuchi Kosumi / Original Novel by Hyougetsu 
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    Synopsis:
Veight was reincarnated as a werewolf mage, and is now the Vice-Commander of the Demon Lord’s third regiment. His task seemed simple: capture and hold a remote commercial city. But the tension caused by mankind and demonfolk coexisting is the source of endless conflict. As a former human himself, he’ll need to leverage his ability to understand both sides in order to work with the human viceroy and maintain order!
  Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf! 
by Shimo Aono / Original Novel by Makishima Suzuki 
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    Synopsis:
Kazuhiro has one hobby, sleeping. His career and social life come second. Since his youth, he's spent his nights dreaming of adventures in a wondrous world. On an evening like any other, he heads out to explore an ancient ruin with an elf friend of his. Their investigations soon get put to an end when they are doused with a dragon's fiery breath. Waking up from his dream, he finds those dreams may not be as imaginary as he thought! Join Kazuhiro and his elf friend on new adventures, this time in Japan!
  Source: Press release
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Joseph Luster is the Games and Web editor at Otaku USA Magazine. You can read his brand new comic, MONSTER FLIGHT, at subhumanzoids. Follow him on Twitter @Moldilox. 
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