#but ultimately she is supposed to be based off of a cat

[dailypearldoodles]

for your consideration. Human tilly and human froggy and their horribly cursed little beast pearl <3

Day 272

Just Froggy for now because I'm still don't have a finalized design for Tilly, but I had a great time designing Froggy!

Although keep in mind we are only on episode 1 of limited life so Froggy's design will be subject to change if we get any new info about her or something lol

She's a Siamese cat so I made her a little thai girl :D i had a bit of trouble like, finding clothing or hairstyles that was like, from thai, was appropriate with what i wanted, and helped the cat silhouette because cat. but! i found a set of drawings by nalunalulove that was like, disney princesses in thai traditional clothing and that helped a ton :D

no backstory for her yet, again we literally only have a half episode of information on her lmao

also her colored sketch under the cut :D

[foralternateuniverses]

New au based on an anime I liked quite a lot when I was a teen (Dog Days)

Anime's summary: protag-kun gets summoned to another world by a dog-eared princess to be her country's hero its a world where the countries and citizens have pastry-themed names, and each country has certain types of animal people, the countries also have protecting wards to keep monsters away hero-kun is summoned to fight in a war, but the wars are literally just an sports events with magic stuff so people can't die, dog princess chose him cuz she used an interdimensional thingy and watched him participate in an America ninja warrior-style thing and did awesomely (he did not win first place tho, he lost to -i think was either his cousin or childhood friend- and she's summoned by the cat kingdom to be their hero in the second season. in the third, the squirrel dukedom joins the wars and summon one of protag's friends tho she's no athlete, she gets to use magic-tech)

So

the ASL brothers are the heroes that get summoned by the different countries also, the citizens who "die" in the war become furballs and are taken to be treated/rest until they can join again if they want, except the important characters, those get their clothes torn

Germa is the kingdom of the cat people, ruled by Sora (Judge was exiled after trying to experiment on their kids) , they're neighbours with Alabasta (rodents) and Whitebeard (dogs) there are, ofc, other countries but these 3 are the ones that matter and the ones that participate the most in the war games the first to be summoned is Luffy by Alabasta's princess Vivi, they've been in a losing streak and are desperate, so hero time it is the Whitebeard gets Ace and, lastly, Sora gets Sabo Germa and Whitebeard had been absolutely dominating the war games

Until Alabasta brought Luffy Ichiji and Ace met at the war game, ofc, Ace had had the intention of going straight for Luffy but Ichiji got in the way and they were pretty evenly matched, tho Ace ultimately won having been the first to ever tear Ichiji's armour -and clothes- off, giving the Germa -and just all- citizens the fan service they've always wanted -and winning himself Niji's undying hatred-

The brothers get to learn that not all in that world is fun and games when it's time to free Dressrosa but after they do Dressrosa joins in the war game and ends up summoning their own hero, their sister, Uta Oh, yeah, and Dressrosa citizens are mostly sheep and the like

Sora is also a bit of a tech nerd-mad scientist, she's just not that into doing human experimentation or weapons of mass destruction she rather make tech-advanced raid suits and spyware a la Totally Spies the raid suits are supposed to be nearly indestructible so the whole "Ace accidentally burning off Ichiji's clothes on international tv" (because the war games are televised, I think I forgot to mention that lmao, there are commentators and all that jazz) incident was a bit of a shock and Niji will have Ace pay for it, preferably with his life lmao

Robin would be a delight as a commentator actually, she works as an archivist/historian (she does fieldwork as an archaeologist/anthropologist) at Alabasta's royal palace but always makes time to be a presenter at the war games and appreciates Franky's (and Galey-la's crew) effort on designing and making the game's fields}

Now, back to acechiji

Ace keeps accidentally burning off Ichiji's uniforms despite how many adjustments and upgrades Sora does to them and is growing convinced that it must be on purpose theif powers come from god-blessed treasures that respond to their wills and desires which is why Ace's fire keeps accidentally burning off Ichiji's raid suits he does want him nakey but it isn't his intention to leave him nakey on international tv lmao

Ichiji starts aiming to burn off Ace's clothes in revenge but Ace has no shame and has won more times than Ichiji has + Ichiji ends up getting embarrassed if he overdoes it and helps Ace over his privates

All the siblings (+ Ace) also start bringing an extra something for Ichiji to cover himself Ichiji just trying to take them both down but Ace has no problem letting it all hang out lmao Sabo daring him to see who gets censored more on live tv

The moment either of them start moving the show editors have their fingers on the audio censor (for Sabo’s swearing) or image blur (if Ace’s outfit dissolves again)

the worst part is that Ichiji is the only victim of Ace's burning-clothes technique germa citizens love and hate in equal measure this fact and Ace suffers cuz no-one believes that it really isn't his intention to do that (in public)

Sabo keeps scolding him and apologizing to the Vinsmokes on his behalf

Marco: don't you think it's enough? I'm starting to feel bad for the poor boy

Ace, crying on the floor: IT'S NOT ON PURPOSE

his own fire is getting in the way of wooing Ichiji (and then there's Niji) meanwhile Nika is probably laughing in the distance -he is the god who blessed these treasures- it'll take a while but Ace will succeed Ichiji easily fell for his charms but his bruised pride gets in the way

the animal peaple also have omegaverse tendencies, for example, they go into heats

picture -> Ichiji going into heat and getting all handsy with Ace and rubbing against him in public and Ace is flattered but also incredibly flustered and confused until Ichiji is dragged away by his brothers so he can have his heat in peace and someone explains the whole heats ordeal to Ace

[imthepunchlord]

Did you watch Season 5 of Miraculous? What did you think of it?

I stopped watching Miraculous at s3, I didn't watch s4 or s5, but I've heard a bit about it. Technically can't really give an opinion but I can share what I think based on what I heard.

I heard Adrienette dating was not too bad, but should've been much sooner. I agree. Could've saved us a bunch of trouble and salt. I also heard that they had the most powerful kiss that adults literally could not tear them apart XD that was funny to hear.

I got to learn that melting Miraculous down doesn't count as destroying them so, who's going to tell Frodo the one ring actually isn't destroyed as apparently melting doesn't count as destroying. Who knew?

And I got to learn that Gabriel was able to make the wish, getting what he ultimately wanted terrorizing all of Paris for 5 seasons, is remembered as a hero, and Adrien never learns about it which is all a really big wth. From what I've seen, no one was happy about that.

Uuuuh... I heard Lila got exposed, but it was meh. I heard she now goes by Cerise? Which ok, let's just make this confusing character even more confusing. Also, how much you want to bet that Cerise/Lila will join them in high school, and there's a repeat of Marinette knowing that's Lila who is lying to them but no one believes her and thinks Cerise is someone entirely new.

Ummmmmmm... oh, I heard Feligami is now a thing? Very rushed and kinda creepy/weird? But I guess they did a decent job as I do see the occasional fanart for them. Personally, I'll just stick to Kagami with girls. That moment in Riptose stuck with me waaaay to much to really get behind her being more interested in boys. I will say, Adrigami did have some nice moments, and there's concepts there where I think they can work nicely off each other (Adrien needs to learn to grow a backbone while Kagami wants to rebel and make friends, they can help each other with that), so Adrien could be the only guy I could roll with for her, but still prefer her paired with girls more.

Also I guess Felix is now a hero despite stealing the yo-yo from Ladybug and handing off... 14 Miraculous to Gabriel. And presumably making him more dangerous/difficult, though he is an idiot so I don't know how much more challenging he got. As far as I know, it was pretty much like another Tuesday.

Oh and apparently there will now be 18 heroes in Paris as I got to learn through asks. I wonder how that's going to work, if at all. Place your bets on how often we'll even see those full time heroes, as they can't really take much attention away from Marinette and Adrien, but who knows. S6 is in that weird placement now that Thomas is no longer apart of the development of ML, so it's hard to say how different it'll go.

Oh. I don't like Tikki and Plagg's true forms. Kinda Digimon over complicated design, and biblical in aesthetic which I found weird when they're supposed to be tied to Taoism. I have yet to find anything similar to biblical angels in Toaism, so I feel like this design choice works off a Christian view more (which isn't surprising as Plagg works off the unlucky black cat, which is exclusively from Christian Europe roughly 400 years ago).

Additionally, Gimmi felt like more of a Nooroo true form, than a fusion of Plagg and Tikki. I think they should've brought the concept of Null back. I think they were a better thought of a fusion of Creation and Destruction as these two concepts brought together would just nullify each other.

So over all, based on what I've heard, it's a pretty negative view of s5.

[chronussy-bc]

Annon-Guy: Slightly off topic, but how do you feel about slapstick scenes in manga and anime in general (same gender, male on female and female on male).

I ask this because Train and Svene get into a LOT of comedic beatdowns with each other and recover in the next scene compared to when they get hurt for REAL. Even when Eve clocks people in the head, with criminals they get knocked out, but with the doctor after she was injured by that gunslinger, he just gets a lump on his head. Even when Kyoko tries to kiss Train, he clocks her on the head for even attempting to do so. Granted, this is mostly in the manga, but still.

You see, people take it too seriously, calling it full on abuse and saying it normalizes it, regardless if the relationship is platonic or romantic.

This is especially prevalent with Harsh Tsundere characters, mostly female ones who attack the male love for perverted reasons or out of jealousy, whether intentional or not for comedy purposes. In that case, it's a Double Standard as they're called.

Ultimately, I know we're not supposed to take it seriously, but I wanted to know your thoughts regardless.

I think it based on the context and the frequency of the action. In case of Train and Sven, it’s part of how their dynamic, like how siblings often fight. In case of Eve, it’s because she was having a nightmare and suddenly saw a foreign face when she opened her eyes, so she reacted reflexively. There was even a scene where she apologized about it. In short, they have a rightful reason to do it, and readers know that it would be acceptable to a certain extent if applied to real life.

In the case of Tsundere, it often stems from jealousy or is purely an expression. It can be cute if used for a reasonable number of times, but it’s obviously the opposite. It’s eventually become a cliché that no longer has the desired effect, and people grow annoyed about it. While we all get that it’s for comedy, watching it is tiresome. It’s like you have to watch the same youtube ad for 10 minutes in order to finish an episode. And since people cannot relate to the main character putting up with it despite doing nothing wrong, they tend to be more critical about it.

Unfortunately, this type of behavior is usually meant for female characters. Therefore, you gonna see hate aimed at female character more than male ones. It’s not entirely double standard, but rather a consequence of a stereotype in writing. Adding to the flaws, these tsundere characters are not commonly very well written. They are mostly flat, overly dependent on the male characters or take him as the only purpose to do whatever. With prominent traits of a tsundere be considered annoying, if they lacked redeeming quality, it would make it easier for people to hate them.

A good example of Tsundere is Rin Tohsaka from Fate series. While she might have been physical/harsh at some point to Emiya, she has other things about her as a character that make people love to see her on screen. I usually avoid series with this type of characters, so I can't recall any bad examples, but I'm sure that there are plenty. I have seen much backlash in this topic. Sometimes they are justified, sometimes they are just another thing for haters to bash about the character in question. But as I have said, if the writing were good in general, people would not be so against it. Even when the series is just the type for recreational purposes, the one with barely any plot at all, there are still certain standards.

Good character writing is also a reason I really love Black Cat, despite its simple, typical shonen plot. Eve could have easily been written as those Tsundere commonly seen in anime or been used for fanservice, but the author chose not to and built her character neatly.

[itsclydebitches]

Saw your ask about Curious Cat and it made me think about how some of the new characters we get introduced (Leo, Cordovin, Ace Ops, Curious Cat) or the old characters coming back (Ironwood) are villains.

I know this isn't a huge number and we get introduced with allies as well, but outside of Maria in Vol 6, characters like Pietro, Terra, Saphron and Happy Huntresses (ouside of Robyn) don't that much screentime as the characters who get revealed as villains later on. (Ok, this one isn't a really strong point as characters screentime has to do with their relevence to the plot)

I didn't mind with Leo being a enemy for the main characaters, because it showcased Salem's influance and how through fear she can back you into a corner, until there's nothing left for to do, outside of doing what she wants or dying.

But unlike with Ace Ops, Ironwood & Curious Cat, I don't feel frustration about him being a villain, because by the time we get to Vol 7-9, the main villains are pretty much established and introduced. And with that, I end up wanting to see more of them and how they will impact the plot.

So, why are we shoving characters like Ironwood, Ace Ops & Curious Cat into the villains territory, taking up the screentime, when we already have villains who could use more screentime to get fleshed out or maybe fleshed out a villain who is planned to have a redemption and join the good guys side???

I already got tired from that fight Cordovin had with our main ones and the last thing I needed in the later volumes was yet another interesting, new character be against Team RWBYJNR + Oscar & Qrow.

With the themes of trust and working together and the whole task GoL & GoD left Ozma with, you would assume they would be making allies, while also being careful so that another Leo incident wouldn't happen. But, nope. Nothing like that at all.

And if you think about, Volumes 6-9 follow pretty much the same formula Volume 5 had with it's new characters - character gets introduced and at some point are against our main characters.

I'm not saying it's a bad if it happens in the story, but this trope not only takes away the attention & a chance to get fleshed out from the main villains, but it's been present in this story for so long that it becomes dull and predictable.

If we ever get Volume 10, I might as well assume there will be a new character, who will later on betray the main ones.

Also with Curious Cat, it's kind of weird how Curious Cat is the main villain in this volume, while Neo, a villain since the early days has less than 15 minutes of screentime in Vol 9 and gets lesser punishment than Curious Cat.

Obviously every Volume needs its own selection of antagonists/villains for the heroes to face as they make their way towards Salem. So you're right, the problem is absolutely that RWBY keeps introducing new ones instead of utilizing what they already have, not that we have a large cast of antagonists at all. I know it's been said a million times before, but having the group face off against the Ace Ops and Ironwood while Salem and her henchmen are right there, just waiting around off screen, is really the epitome of this problem.

A sub-issue specific to RWBY is how continually adding in opponents also messes with the supposed importance of the shows allusions. Lionheart is based off a character who realizes he had courage all along. Ironwood is based off a character who realizes he had a heart all along. Curious is based off a character who is often annoying, baffling, and slightly creepy, but ultimately a neutral/benevolent party. Some of the others are a bit more complicated—Robyn becomes an ally even if it was A Choice to start things off with the group against the Robin Hood figure and, frankly, she doesn't do anything for the poor; RWBY at least tried to impart a moral message about friendship with the Ace Ops, similar to an Aesops fable, even if it crashed and burned—but the only allusion I'd say truly works is Cordovin, an antagonist based on a character who, when faced with a difficult situation (how do you feed this many kids?) responds with cruelty and violence ("whip" them and send them to bed without bread).

A story is a series of choices and each choice should have a reason attached, even if—like the early days of RWBY—the reason is just, "It looks awesome." However, more often than not I ask myself, "Why?" of RWBY. Why introduce more villains when you already have a whole collection that needs development? Why take all these good or neutral inspirations and make them Evil™ when so much else rides on playing your allusions straight? Why when you have problems like, "Our main girls aren't getting enough focus" is the response "So we'll toss in Jaune, and Neo, but Neo won't be the biggest threat that's the Jabberwalker, no wait never mind they're already dead, Neo is the threat, except when the Volume's villain is actually the Cat and the group's focus is on the handful of one-episode side-characters instead"?

When talking about the cast bloat I've seen a couple of people say, particularly in regards to Volume 9, that RWBY had to populate this new world, but no. They actually didn't. Not to this extent, anyway. As I've mentioned before, I've been working my way through Demon Slayer, a series that actually knows how to manage its characters. The structure of Protagonist + Two Secondary BFFs + One Hashira is more than enough for each arc, especially when the focus needs to remain on Tanjiro. So the story introduces one or two new characters that serve very specific purposes—usually providing the heroes with information about the latest demon mystery—and they get an equally small number of details that add a spark of personality... but they're left as mostly flat, background characters; providing depth to the new location without detracting from the main cast. The bulk of our time goes towards a) introducing the arc's villain, b) developing the Hashira, and c) developing the trio + Nezuko. At 11-ish episodes (roughly Volume 9's runtime) that's more than enough to juggle. If RWBY were writing it though each arc would have a slew of new characters facing off against the heroes while the main antagonist just kinda hangs around off-screen and the fandom keeps asking, "What happened to those other twenty beloved characters that were just left behind and forgotten?"

I'm not saying anime as a whole doesn't have a problem with character bloat, but at least most of the overwhelmingly large casts I've encountered maintain that structure, deliberately, of moving swiftly through a new collection of characters to show off their unique powers and personalities. RWBY tries to integrate the newcomers too deeply into an already full story, these newcomers frequently fill roles that should be going to established characters, and frankly.... the newcomers aren't very interesting. When I meet New Character #89164 in most anime I can at least look forward to that over-the-top personality and crazy cool ability; their very existence is entertaining. RWBY is like, "Here's a useless talking mouse we're going to kill." :/

[vidumavi]

Who of the married into Gondorian nobility trinity worked the best? Seems like there could be multiple answers here.

I think it really depends on how you define “worked best”! The reason I lumped Mithrellas, Berúthiel and Vidumavi into one category in my head is that to me, their stories (or how I think about their stories because lbr, the canon information is sparse here) all involve a strong sense of alienation and othering from the culture they’ve married into.

Vidumavi was probably the happiest with her life- she married her husband out of love, there are no hints that she did not have a loving marriage and a good relationship with her son and she died before the civil war started and her grandson was murdered. Still, she left her home behind to become Queen of a country whose nobility- including her husband’s relatives- considered her racially inferior, and no matter how happy she was with her family, that grief and anger and worry for her children and grandchildren would have probably followed her her whole life. But she did ultimately have a choice in coming to Gondor, which doesn’t seem true for Berúthiel, whose marriage was likely political and who despised her husband (both Vidumavi and Berúthiel have to change their names to Sindarin, though, an interesting parallel of having to give up parts of their identity).

(Most mentions of Berúthiel that we get have a sense of historical mythmaking and dramatization about them and I tend to read them as a wild, one-dimensional exaggeration by people who did not understand her at all. She should get to do a little bit of dark magic and cat-communing, though. As a treat)

Berúthiel was probably ostracized and treated as cruelly as Vidumavi, it’s just not mentioned because her entire role is to be a semi-legendary villain (and to be a vehicle for Jirts weird hatred of cats. Booo.). Her stint as Queen of Gondor ends with her husband possibly attempting to murder (??) her and like 20 years (?) later Gondor conquers her home, so whatever diplomacy might have been attempted by her family in marrying her off to Tarannon was probably no success. She gets one good hit in, though, by refusing her husband heirs (possibly through cat magic, we don’t know. this is one of those “Jirt scrabbled it onto the back of a receipt and it’s illegible to human eyes” drafts). And I suppose if “traumatize the population of Gondor so much that they whisper her name thousands of years later” was something she would have considered a victory (based if true), she won that one too.

Mithrellas is the odd one out here, mostly because we know so little about her and because she didn’t really have an impact on geopolitics, but I’ve always found it hard to believe that her marriage to Imrazor was a happy one. People who vanish into the night alone immediately after giving birth never to be seen again are probably not in a very good situation, though I go back and forth on how consensual the marriage was in the first place. She was entirely alone, lost in a strange country and had just lost all her companions when he found her and I think it would have been very easy for him to take advantage of her in that situation, even if she agreed to marry him of her own free will (I’m having thoughts about her and Berúthiel both rejecting motherhood in some way, but god help me this post is already long enough).

I love rolling these three around in my head and looking at parallels and juxtapositions between them. All three of them are in fraught positions with limited power despite their status, considered Other, all three are, in a sense, alone. I think Vidumavi “works” best, because she actually has a family around that loves her- she's the only one, I think, who wouldn't change much about her life if she looked back at the end of it- but of course the society around her is so bigoted that what should have been simply a marriage makes someone start a civil war that permanently destabilizes the kingdom.

[redwolf17]

Obviously without saying who they are because it would be too spoilerly, do you have any characters that at one point you considered killing off (like how you killed off Davos) but ultimately changed your mind? Soz if this has been asked before!

Hi there anon! Yeah, several characters had their arcs change from initial plan to final draft, and oops I wrote a lot about it xD

The specifics of the upcoming culmination of Jaime and Cersei's arcs have shifted a little over time, though remaining mostly the same in essentials. Buttons and Ser Pounce have always been safe, because they're based on my and my bf's cats.

At one point I considered an epilogue or prologue POV of a little bird killing Varys, which goes with one the TWQ themes being the importance of overlooked people, especially smallfolk, but I just couldn't make it work. When I discarded the idea, I straight up didn't have a plan for what to do with Varys, until I landed on the short and sweet concept of Cersei finally catching onto him and offing him.

I also changed my plans for Sandor Clegane. Early on, I toyed with the idea of him remaining with Cersei throughout Part IV, then being sent to kill Sansa with Ser Lyn Corbray early in Part V. Sandor would have turned on Ser Lyn, with both of them dying near to Sansa's camp before being found. The general concept was of a bad person/collaborator being able to make a good choice, in the end, even if he didn't get rewarded for it. Dying in a noble way would not redeem him, because one act cannot wipe out thousands of bad ones, but at the same time, it still matters. Much as I liked the idea, TWQ is already so crowded, and once I sent Sandor off to the Westerlands in Part III, I just didn't bother to bring him back. The choices we make and the importance of having the freedom to make them is still a huge theme in TWQ, as is exploring what redemption means, but I ended up exploring those concepts in other ways.

Shireen is incredibly sad and doomed in canon, and she was also going to die here. I ended up changing my mind, because 1) she almost ALWAYS dies in fics unless they're fluffy, and the poor girl deserves a life for once, and 2) my version of Stannis ended up being tragic and misguided, but not horrible enough to actually go through with burning Shireen. He flinched at the last second, and died in her place.

Myrcella and Tommen were originally supposed to live. At one point I considered Myrcella running away with Trystane, with her golden shroud being a wedding veil, and Myrcella being only metaphorically "dead" to the enraged Cersei, who disowned her. Ditto Tommen, who would have given up his crown in defiance of Cersei and then become a holy brother. I like the kids! I wanted them to survive, to defy the valonqar prophecy.

But. As the story went on, I reconsidered. The valonqar prophecy is central to Cersei, whose obsession with power prevents her from seeing that the way to avoid the prophecy could have been by giving up power. If her children didn't have golden crowns, perhaps they would not have golden shrouds, etc. Cersei's incestuous affair with Jaime was always going to doom herself and her children; they were born on a fraying tightrope, and their fall was inevitable. Their fate had to lie in Cersei's hands, because she sees her children as extensions of herself.

Letting Myrcella escape just because she's innocent and I wanted to spare her felt like a cop out. Further, given her and Trystane's youth and inexperience, a successful escape felt very implausible, and with feudal politics, there was no way in HELL that Team Aegon would let them marry. In ACOK, Cersei was willing to kill herself (and Tommen, in the show) rather than be taken captive and executed by Stannis. The more I thought about it, the more it felt right that Cersei might try to "spare" Myrcella similarly (while also trying to take out Aegon in the process). As for Tommen... well. Cersei's desire for power is so destructive that she (accidentally) destroys her last child, whom she loves, rather than allow him to surrender power and live in obscurity.

Lastly, the deaths of Myrcella and Tommen were necessary not just for Cersei's arc, but for Olyvar and Sansa's. There is no "nice" regime change, no bloodless invasion where the prior royal family gets to retire to a nice quiet little life because the new rulers are soooo good and pure and merciful. No, Olyvar and Sansa didn't personally kill either child, but their actions still led directly to their deaths, a mirror to the canon deaths of Rhaenys and Aegon and a parallel to the TWQ sacrifice of the decoys Jonquil and Gawaen.

There is always a cost, a price paid in innocent blood. Sansa saved Elia, and Elia saved her kids, but the decoys still died. Elia didn't intend for them to die, of course, but their deaths were a result of Elia's decisions, regardless of her good intentions. Good people can be selfish, good people can make mistakes. The "less important" kids died so that Rhaenys and Aegon could live, and Elia bears the blame and guilt for that, and for the subsequent death of Ashara Dayne. But awful as it is, Elia would still make that choice again, because the lives of HER kids matter to her more than the lives of Jonquil, Gawaen, or Ashara.

[arekayic]

thinking about a spider-man adventure time au…. like there isn’t a specific spider-man universe i’m using (it’s more of an amalgamation of TASM and mostly USM bc they’re my faves) but oh my god i’m going crazy….. details after cut. i do want to clarify that this is NOT a character analysis because im horrible at that, i CANNOT "read between the lines".

like like peter as finn obviously because of him being the mc,, i’m thinking deadpool being jake because (ignoring spideypool cause i don’t really care for it anymore AND dp’s flirting because finn and jake are BROTHERS.) spidey and dp have a similar dynamic as finn and jake also deadpool’s personality really fits jake as a whole. and copycat is lady rainicorn because dp deserves happiness hehe

gwen is totally princess bubblegum,, science girl,,, peter in this totally has a crush on her and everything happens the same as in canon. i'm also thinking felicia as marceline.. black cat the halloween queen hehe :3 she'll still be a vampire though but she's LITERALLY called black cat she's GOTTA be halloween themed.

next up is ice king i guess. i want him to be usm doc ock bc tom kenny lol, but the personality doesn't fit much.. but it'll be hilarious so i'm keeping it.. and since it's usm doc ock i want the gunthers or gunters or whatever to be the spider slayers lmaooo. kaine would the main gunter i suppose.

i kinda want USM miles to be BMO because i love both of them,, and usm miles feels (to me) kinda like a brother to peter and BMO is pretty much considered a brother to finn and jake (i think). NEPTR is random as hell but i kinda want amadeus cho (USM) to be him, probably only as iron spider though.

ok ok now my favorite casting,, HARRY AS FLAME PRINCESS... i'm a parksborn junkie and wow their personalities and relationship match up SO well with finn and flame princess it hurts.. and yeah i know that finn and flame princess break up but UGH they fit so well, so i must deal with it. i just finished watching s4 e1 so i'm FUELED on this right now RAAAAHHHH. i did draw something and i'll post it tomorrow if i remember teehee. this harry is totally based off tasm because i LOVE his design and character and they fit flame princess more than usm harry does. also flame king is norman because that fits GREAT.

i'm also thinking, on the subject of love intrests, mary jane as huntress wizard. now this mj i haven't based off of usm (and tasm doesn't have her) so i don't really have a basis for her. BUT. her and peter are always fated to be together so she of course would be what is finn's final love interest in normal adventure time ( :,) /pos) and i also feel mj's usual design would mix well with huntress wizard's. now i want to clarify i do not remember anything because i haven't watched adventure time in YEARS and my current rewatch is only in season 4.

USM ben reilly would be fern. i don't really need to explain why. *cough* 'clone' of mc *cough*

carnage is lemongrab because of that abhorrent screeching (that phrasing could apply to either of them lol). venom might be his brother but i can't remember him at all lmao so that might change

now now now i think that eddie brock would be peppermint butler (but make peppermint butler smile less) because of his general vibe and story. but i must say, i'm talking about eddie with NO venom. i think as a candy person he would be black licorice so his design could reference venom with his colors.

fast round now, flash should be lsp, prismo could maybe be played by doctor strange (USM!!!), mysterio could be magic man because LOOLLL, martin could be peter's dad in TASM?, billy should be iron man, cinnamon bun COULD be liz allen (cause of harry) but i feel bad doing that to her, abracadaniel could be USM moon knight just for the laughs. i have NO clue who the lich should be,,due to usm lore i want goblin but norman is already flame king soooo... ultimate goblin maybe?

and that is IT for nowww. i will keep posting more about this au under #rk's spider time au, and i will be reblogging this post if i have more info teehee anyways i am insane.. ALSO also most (not all) character relationships are ignored when i pick the roles because that fucks up some stuff (like marcy and simon being close even though felicia and doc ock barely have anything to do with eachother)

[bookofmirth]

Was sjm planning on making Mor and Azriel endgame or did she just want it to be Azriel has feelings for Mor and it’s one sided? Do you think I’m ACOMAF Mor had romantic feelings for Az, but it was complex/complicated? I’ve seen people say they were supposed to be mates/endgame, but I feel like maybe they weren’t going to get together and it was going to be revealed why, but I think sjm decided to do that by making Mor queer which isn’t okay. I think if she didn’t want to make Mor + Az endgame, then she could’ve either dropped hints in ACOMAF that she was queer or it could’ve been that she didn’t see him in that way. I’m sorry if this doesn’t make sense!

We don't know for sure, without a doubt what sjm planned for Az and Mor. She's never talked about it at an event that I know of. She's hardly talked about Mor, for that matter, other than saying she's excited to write her story. The best that we can do is theorize and guess what sjm's intentions were until she actually comes out and says what her thought process was.

I was talking with the groupchat about this a LOT today, and IMO sjm was flirting with the idea of them, decided against it, but then didn't decide until acowar why it wasn't going to work out. Perhaps they would have been like chaolaena, or feylin. There was something there, but not in the endgame way and perhaps she didn't come to that conclusion until later on, when she was drafting acowar? Maybe.

I agree with you completely that it's not really okay for her to have made Mor queer as a way to explain why they hadn't been together/wouldn't be together. Queerness isn't a plot device in the way that it seems she has been writing it. Case in point - Mor continues to only matter when she's causing other people romantic strife, which is fucking ridiculous. I judge sjm hard for this. Mor didn't need to come out in acomaf for it to be clear where sjm was heading with the two of them. It's a pattern with her writing, though - Oh look, Mor is queer! Oh look, Helion is Lucien's father and everyone is supposedly too dumb to have noticed! Oh hey, Amren remembered this random thing called the Dread Trove!

I do lean towards them being the original plan because 1) moriel had better, more iconic quotes in acomaf than other ships we are currently debating, 2) like you said, if Mor was always supposed to be queer, then it shouldn't have felt like it came out of nowhere in acowar, 3) it shouldn't require character assassination to show why two characters won't be together, and 4) she had super romantic images on her pinterest that she titled "Mor and Azriel".

SJM is a pantser, and I think this is a glaring example. Her intentions are suspect at best because her intentions do, can, and will change. Trying to understand her intentions as a writer can honestly feel like trying to herd cats. I also think that she starts things off based on aesthetic choices (e.g. Az pining over a woman for 500 years can seem really romantic), and then when she realizes she has to make it work in practice, she fudges things to get the characters where she wants them to go (e.g. wait, now let's make her a queer woman, ummmm but what do we do with the mess we've made of Az's character? Let's make him lean into it with Elain!)

I seriously, seriously doubt that sjm put the thought into making Mor homoromantic/bisexual as an organic, natural choice. I think that instead, she was just trying to cover her basis and explain Mor's actions (IE sleeping with men) and OF COURSE the only reason someone wouldn't want to be with Az is if they are GAY!!!!!

I have a lot of thoughts on this subject but ultimately, it's in my top three wishlist of the series: to know wtf she was thinking with these two characters.

[waheelawhisperer]

Watched V9E5, thoughts are below. This one sucked less than the others, I guess.

Based on the title, we’ll finally get WBY back to normal size. Please. Please. I’m so done with this plotline.

Weiss got to say “freaking”. Go off, queen. Let her curse for real now though

Okay so Ascending is the form of death in the Ever After. Once the process is complete, you don’t remember anything and take a new form.

The Cat acknowledges that the beings of Remnant die “for real” and beings of the Ever After do not. The show is drawing a pretty clear association between Ascension and what we understand as death in this scene.

Now we know what happened to the Red King. It seems Alyx did not have an overly positive effect on the Ever After, from what we’ve seen so far

So something remains after Ascension, some core of… essence? Something that informs your personality and actions going forward. Your memories and who you were previously disappear, but a part of you remains?

Fucking Rooster Teeth reference (specifically to the homophobic slur they named the company after). Jerk yourselves off harder. I would never in my life be proud of an association with that company.

“Exposition is boring” not if you’re good at it (you aren’t) and sometimes it’s necessary

Why is every ally fucking useless

God this cat is annoying

Little is sleeping again, but they’re actually less irritating when they’re quiet so I don’t mind it too much

Penny’s sword did come back after all. I thought the writers had forgotten Ruby was supposed to care about her.

Cool robot lady, nice

I don’t blame Ruby for not opening up to the stranger here. Like normally it would be an issue that she represses and denies all her trauma but she has zero reason to trust the strange metal chick

We’re really hitting the burden of leadership theme hard this Volume huh

Whose face was that in the dagger? Looks like Ruby is seeing the owner of the weapons when she grabs them

This must be Summer Rose and Summer’s weapon. Looks like we’ll finally get to learn some of the story behind her 10 years in

That was kinda creepy honestly

At least Ruby finally acknowledged that she’s missing Crescent Rose. Maybe now she’ll give a damn about finding it, or at least we’ll learn why she doesn’t

Oh, so that emblem is Summer’s and carries a mother’s promise? Would’ve been nice to know that sooner, but I guess at least it’s something that makes Summer feel like she actually matters as something other than a plot device.

I’ve seen people say Ruby parted with the emblem too readily compared to what it represents/should represent to her, and I get where they’re coming from, but I’m not sure I agree. This scene presents it as a desperation move where Ruby’s grasping at straws (and it’s a nice callback to the other symbolism trades we’ve seen so far), given how she's visibly panicking and we can hear her whimper as she tries to come up with a solution, so I think how well it works for me will ultimately depend on whether the show actually lets Ruby engage with the loss of her mother’s symbol.

Blurch why are you asking what a Jabberwalker is didn’t you literally mention it earlier in the Volume? If not, one of your teammates did

Okay so the Jabberwalker can permanently kill the denizens of the Ever After

Still can't hear shit this guy is saying. If only my torrents had subtitles...

Damn, that was a cold move by the Cat. I already didn't like them, but that was ruthless as hell. If they're willing to toss Harvey Birdman away like that, what happens when Team RWBY stops being interesting? I do not trust them in the slightest.

Ruby you have a fucking Semblance just gap close to the stupid parfait instead of running

Nice heroic introduction for what I assume is the Rusted Knight and his noble steed, which looks like something out of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Cool design tbh

Blurch’s reaction here is genuinely adorable

Once again Yang is the one keeping everyone on track and focusing on the objective. This has been a trait she’s displayed since at least Volume 7 and I feel like it really goes overlooked when discussing her characterization. She was the one who spotted the teapot lady earlier too.

At least the fucking Tiny WBY plotline is finally over it felt like an eternity despite lasting 2 episodes

Yang really does get the coolest finishers

Oh, so this was a Neo illusion? I was wondering how the Jabberwalker had escaped her.

Uh, hello? I can acknowledge the value of a tactical retreat, but did you guys not just justifiably call Ironwood out for running and leaving innocents behind only a few days ago and then insist that fighting back was a Huntress’s job? Hell, just last episode you talked about how Huntresses defend those who cannot defend themselves. Good look for the heroes, MKEK. Maybe they’ll go find another mansion to drink tea in while someone else fights and dies.

Then again I hate everything about the Ever After as a setting so I don’t care if all these clowns get eaten

Wow I wonder if there are any parallels here with the fall of Atlas

or if the narrative will engage with them

“I am so tired of leaving places in ashes” so stop doing that, nothing the show has done has sold the Jabberwalker as something that can duel even one of you, you could’ve at least tried to fight, the three combat-capable members of your team trashed the roided-up Jabberwalker with ease and Yang kicked the original's ass bad enough it ran from her in terror with one fucking arm, you could've at least made a fucking effort to fight the swarm of scrub ones

these writers are hilariously tone-deaf it’s like they think every inadequacy in their work is funny

Blurch is fangirling again this is one of the bits of humor that actually lands for me

lmao it’s fucking He-Man Jaune why is he this sad excuse for a DILF I already hate this choice

The music has been really uninspired this Volume

Best episode so far despite not being particularly good, mainly because it wasn’t outright offensive and never made me angry enough to pause and strangle the air in front of me while pretending it was one of the writers

Overall rating: Mediocre/10

[phanfictioncatalogue]

Attempt at Humor Masterlist

A Perfect Pair (ao3) - husbants

Summary: Dan, a struggling actor who works retail by day, and Phil, an ex-YouTuber-turned-porn-star, end up matched together on the new reality show, Perfect Pair.

Another Sleepless Night (ao3) - Cecils_Third_Eye

Summary: The outline of something distinctly bear-like appeared in the doorway. It was decidedly smaller than he thought the animatronics were supposed to be, but his frazzled, frightened brain refused to see reason. It took him longer than he cared to admit to realize that he was screaming.

...And that, somewhere along the line, Dan had woken up and was also screaming.

And the tiny bear animatronic thing in the doorway was screaming, too.

AKA

Dan and Phil play FNAF: Ultimate Custom Night and Phil finds himself unable to sleep.

Baby, I'm a Star (ao3) - cactusgal

Summary: Phil is a lighting designer. Bored with the community concert gigs he has worked for a couple years, he applies at a touring company. He is assigned to a popular band, the dreamx, to cover a world tour. Getting paid to work on nearly every continent: how rad is that? Phil's excited until the first day of rehearsal when he learns something vital: the lead singer is a complete twat. Will Phil quit his job? Will Daniel, the lead singer, realize how much of a dick he's being? Will they eventually forget their differences and become friends? Who knows. Only time will tell.

Loosely based on the song "Baby, I'm a Star" by Prince and has aspects of the film "Lost In Translation".

blind date gone wrong?! (not clickbait!) (ao3) - overmyhead

Summary: When Phil gets stood up at a blind date his colleague Bryony arranged for him, he certainly doesn’t expect the evening to end with a kiss in the pouring rain in front of a load of supermarket bins after almost sneezing his brains out.

Choking On Your Alibi (ao3) - zinther

Summary: When Dan had first responded to a stranger’s roommate ad, he figured they’d be like acquaintances living together; simply exchanging pleasantries now and then. However as it happens they had quickly become good friends. But what will happen when Dan walks in on Phil hooking up with another guy?

clumsy, not creepy (ao3) - natigail

Summary: Prompt: what if all those creepy things happening in your flat at night were ghosts who just bump into everything because they too need some light to see. also just clumsy ghosts who can’t help but push a vase off a table because they’re that clumsy. why do ghosts have to be creepy?

Enter Philip Michael Lester – the clumsiest ghost in the world.

And Daniel James Howell – the guy who didn’t believe in ghosts.

Well, until he met one.

date nights (ao3) - lionkid

Summary: Dan decides 7 years is too long. He's unaware that Phil feels the same way.

Do I Smell Pancakes? (ao3) - ExclusiveGorgeousGeek

Summary: Dan, a small time Youtuber, might just have a crush on, Youtube Star, Phil Lester.

And Dan's sister may or may not know about it.

Electronics and the Phil's who break them (ao3) - Fictropes

Summary: The first time’s an accident, a proper accident— a Phil forgot how to hold his cup and now he’s watching his coffee seep into his keyboard type accident.

eros (ao3) - deathlytireddan

Summary: "What are you, a drug dealer?"

Dan closed his eyes. "Not exactly that, no."

"Then what?" Phil watched him suspiciously. "An escaped convict?"

or

In which Dan is Persephone, a god turned mortal and wifi lover, and Phil is a confused, lonely human who really wants a date. (And was not born in 1887, thank you very much!)

i want the life i never had (ao3) - bugselfs

Summary: “I’m nervous,” she admits. “But it’ll be okay, right?”

Dan smiles at her. “Of course it will,” he promises. “And if everyone hates you and you have no friends because your old ones have all left you for the popular kids, you’ll still have me. And Miss Margaret.”

“Oh, great,” Sophia says dryly, cutting into her breakfast. “Good to know my only friends will be my geeky dad and the crazy cat lady that lives next door.”

“We don’t say crazy, Sophia. She’s eccentric.”

POV: Your 11 year old daughter wants to see the penguins but you just want to stare at the guy feeding them.

I'm low on charge and you need a date (ao3) - itsafuckingdeathwish

Summary: Phil, just about the most pastel person you could ever meet, gets convinced by his friend to meet somebody on a blind date at a coffee shop, who is hopefully not a psycho accidental animal abuser this time, but doesn't expect to end up with a date with the adorable, not-as-punk-as-he-thinks-he-is barista.

joy of man's desiring (ao3) - deletable_bird

Summary: in which piano sex. this was supposed to be a drabble. im sorry

missing the obvious (ao3) - Fictropes

Summary: Dan just wants this guy to stop ruining his game.

(or a reverse you've got mail)

rivers to cross (ao3) - Fictropes

Summary: And when he finally looks up it’s to a Dan who looks a bit speechless. “Sorry, have I missed something?”

That Time They Were Caught (ao3) - ExclusiveGorgeousGeek

Summary: A fangirl accidentally gets a video of Dan kissing Phil's cheek without them knowing.

She now has real Phan proof and isn't quite sure what she should do with it.

The 7 Second Challenge (ao3) - ExclusiveGorgeousGeek

Summary: Dan, a small time Youtuber, has kinda had a thing for Youtube star Phil Lester for awhile.

And when Dan suddenly decides to make his roommate Ruby play Phil's new app game with him, Ruby's more then curious to find out just what kind of intentions Dan might just have behind this not so innocent gesture.

The Great Golden Pig Debate (ao3) - husbants

Summary: Phil wants to bring the pig to the new house. Dan does not.

The One With The Fake Boyfriend (ao3) - ExclusiveGorgeousGeek

Summary: Phil hasn't been dating for awhile, though his mum is coming to visit and believes her son is currently in a long term relationship.

Dan helps him come up with a fail-proof plan.

The Pianist Everyone Is Talking About... Is My Husband (ao3) - natigail

Summary: YouTuber pianist Daniel James Howell is thrown into mainstream media's awareness with the release of his first album. Phil works at BBC Radio 1, who increasingly play Dan's songs more and more often, and he couldn't be prouder of his husband. However, no one knows that Dan and Phil are married as they have chosen to keep their relationship private.

By accident, Phil is thrust into his husband's fandom when his colleagues learn that he likes the pianist. Phil isn't sure how to tell everyone that he's actually married to the guy everyone is either praising or swooning over.

the tops only special (ao3) - Fictropes

Summary: “I like it.”

“Thanks.” Phil smiles. “Want a top?”

The Unfortunate Cactus Incident (ao3) - JudeAraya

Summary: Maybe he’d been with Dan too long, or perhaps this show was utter crap, but Phil was as skeptical as most when being told he could make his wishes appear if he only followed the five practices outlined in Doctor Charlatan’s newest book, called “Manifesting Your Desires.” Original. At least the book came with a money back guarantee.

Perhaps the good doctor was manifesting herself some money though, because before he knew what he was doing, Phil had ordered her book despite his initial skepticism.

Wait for Phil to Come Home (ao3) - Phanarchy

Summary: “Phil comes home and finds Dan talking to the plants about his day.” Or, “in which Dan first admits aloud that he loves Phil, to a bonzai tree.”

[historyhermann]

The Demon Girl Next Door Review

On July 1st, this supernatural slice-of-life comedy anime directed by Hiroaki Sakurai came to an end. This series, which recently concluded, is based on an ongoing six volume manga series by Izumo Itō of the same name.

Reprinted from Pop Culture Maniacs, my History Hermann WordPress blog on Feb. 7, 2023, and Wayback Machine. This was the twelfth article I wrote for Pop Culture Maniacs. This post was originally published on July 18, 2022. This article was originally supposed to be published on The Geekiary, but they rejected it, saying it was too similar to my previous review.

The Demon Girl Next Door tells the story of a demon girl, and her two magical girl companions, as they learn more about themselves and face unexpected challenges.

The last six episodes of this anime continue with the same levity as the first nineteen episodes, with continued comedic moments, especially when it comes to the relations between Shamiko (Konomi Kohara), also known as Yuko Yoshida, and two magical girls.

The latter have their own internal problems. Mikan Hinatsuki (Tomoyo Takayanagi) has a curse that causes others to experience calamities when she gets flustered. Momo Chiyoda (Akari Kitō) is on the precipice between the powers of light and dark.

Although Shamiko is similar to the protagonist of The Great Jahy Will Not Be Defeated!, Jahy, in that she lives in a run-down apartment, she isn't alone in this. Mikan and Momo move in next door, and they all live in the same apartment complex. None of them are well-off.

Shamiko also gains a support network, of sorts, apart from help the magical girls give her. She has school friends like Anri Sata (Sayaka Senbongi) and Sion Ogura (Ayaka Suwa). The latter is a lover of the occult. She is able to conjure up recipes to help Momo, especially to stop her from slipping to the dark side. Notes left behind by Sakura Chiyoda (Hisako Kanemoto), the elder adopted sister of Momo, and magical girl, who gave her energy to keep Shamiko alive, assist her in this endeavor.

In another similarity with Jahy, Shamiko works in a part time job. Unlike that series, in The Demon Girl Next Door the bar is staffed by two magical beings: a demon tapir named Shirosawa, and a Hula jing fox named Lico.

As it turns out, Shirosawa (Takashi Matsuyama), who runs the coffee shop. He even created the mascot of the shopping district when the cat form of Sakura inspired him. As for Lico (Ayasa Itō), she is a waitress at the shop and she often uses magical leaves to bewitch people who eat the food that she makes. This includes, at one point, Shamiko.

Similar to other series in Western animation, like Amphibia, The Owl House, Steven Universe, gen:LOCK, and Inside Job, memories, manipulation, and mindscapes are an important part of this series.

Part of this is shown in the fact that Lilith (Minami Takahashi), an ancestor of Shamiko, can appear in the dreams of Shamiko. She can even take over Shamiko's body if a switch is flipped on her statue.

Lilith often guides Shamiko and Momo, especially when they enter mindscapes. However, she can only be connected to such mindscapes for a short period of time, and her connection can get fuzzy at times.

Then, there's times when Shirosawa has psychedelic hallucinations caused by eating Lico's food. The same is the case for Shamiko.

In one episode, Shamiko and Ryo go into Lilith's dreamspace, discovering she has a lot of manifestations of her loneliness there. Ultimately, she ends up defeating them all by changing her magic rod into stuff from video games she likes.

The final episodes of the series focus on Momo and Shamiko going into the heart of Mikan, with help from Lilith. They vow to tell the protective demon inside Mikan, Ugullu (Fairouz Ai) to calm down and end her curse once and for all. They are able to successfully negotiate with Ugullu and get her to realize the damage she is causing.

In a nice end to the series, Mikan's school friends help her out, by coming late one night to summon Ugullu into a new body, and a dish made at the cafe Shamiko works at. Ugullu comes into a new form and Mikan accepts her as part of her family.

In a post-credit scene, Ugullu clear has found her place, coming to terms with her new identity outside of Mikan, no longer tasked with defending Mikan from evil.

Like any other magical girl, or magical boy, series, magical transformations are a big part of the series. Similar to the aforementioned The Great Jahy, the magical girls and the demons can both transform. Shamiko can transform into the "crisis management form" which gives her some additional powers. In contrast, Momo and Mikan have their own specific magical girl forms.

At other points, Shamiko's sister Ryoko "Ryo" Yoshida (Hitomi Ōwada) helps create weapons with her magic rod. She realizes that Shamiko's subconscious is holding her back and helps her get over her mental hurdles. This is in-keeping with the series playing off many common elements of magical girls in anime and manga.

Unlike Mikan, Momo has a dark form which is known as "Darkness Peach". She occasionally transforms into this form when she is teetering on the edge of dark and light. At one point, she struggles to keep the two separated, but Shamiko helps her, as does Sion.

At another point, Shamiko tries to develop a special attack and inherits a wand from her father which can transform into anything she wants. She is helped in this task by Shamiko, and in coming up with a super special move. Both seem to have some feelings for each other.

There is also talk in the series as to how magical girls are ordinary girls who make a pact with the light clan, with demons getting a token for each magical girl they defeat. All the while, Shamiko often utters her line "don't think this means you've won". In a funny reference to this line, Momo says it at one point, almost becoming an in-joke of sorts.

Even worse is the fact that Momo's "Darkness Peach" form can break anything she touches. It turns out that when she is happy and content, the balance between the dark and light sides can come to a balance. She even goes to a hot healing spring said to be of therapeutic value, but it turns out to be a healing waterfall. What she finds there is turned into an elixir by Sion, which ends up helping her later on.

Related to this are the magic barriers put on doors, either with magic by Momo, Mikan, or Shamiko. Hilariously, these barriers are just weak pieces of paper, but apparently have all sorts of magical power.

In the final scene of the series, Ugullu declares that Shamiko is the boss of Momo, who is overjoyed. It ends with Momo teasing Shamiko, as they both walk off into the distance.

Since The Demon Girl Next Door is based on a manga parody series, it is no surprise that the series doesn't really take itself too seriously. The characters are never in series danger. Instead there are occasional breaks in the fourth wall. There's even a hilarious shirt worn by Lilith on multiple occasions which says "my blood sugar level is dangerous".

At other points there are faulty recaps which don't make sense and fun interplay between Momo and Shamiko. This involves Momo trying to motivate Shamiko to do homework and the fact that Momo wants to see a baby tiger at the zoo.

Also comedic is Momo's reaction when she drinks disgusting potions from Sion. At others, the characters are saying that they don't have many lines of dialogue or when Lilith tries to send a picture of herself into the camera but it doesn't work.

Its also funny how Mikan, who lives alone, is afraid of cockroaches even though she is an all-powerful magical girl. Shamiko helps her, even assisting in cleaning up her trash. It is a bit amazing that Shamiko, who has only known Momo for a few months, is able to help Mikan more than Momo, who has been a friend of Mikan for 10 years.

In some ways, Mikan is socially awkward. In the show's next to last episode, she worries about her school introduction as a transfer student. It ends up going well, however, with Anri helping her. She ropes in Momo to help with prepare with sports day preparations.

Family is an important theme in The Demon Girl Next Door too. Shamiko has a tight family, with a loving sister, Ryo, and mother, Seiko Yoshida (Sayaka Ohara). She has a smile on her face, no matter how absurd the situation is. In an interesting twist, Joshua (Hideyuki Umezu), the father of Ryo and Shamiko, was sealed in a cardboard box by Sakura, the same box they eat many meals on!

Family is important to Momo too. She deals with the past actions of her sister and tries to figure out why she did what she did. She and Mikan find a chosen family among Shamiko, her family, and many school friends.

While some have argued that the series is a "mid-tier offering" with animators told to not "overtax their assets", the series has a certain charm to it. This is due to the fact that J.C. Staff, responsible for recently ended The Executioner and Her Way of Life, and series such as Edens Zero, Sweet Blue Flowers, R.O.D.-The TV, Azumanga Daioh, and Revolutionary Girl Utena, animated this series. While the animation of this series does not have the same quality as the aforementioned series, it still fits with the slice-of-life vibe.

The show's voice actors have voiced characters in series ranging from Bloom Into You to Akebi's Sailor Uniform. Many of these series, and others, like Adachi and Shimamura, Asteroid in Love, Kageki Shojo!!, have direct and indirect yuri themes.

Others are about socially awkward characters, like Hitori Bocchi no Marumaru Seikatsu and Komi Can't Communicate. This undoubtedly set the groundwork for their voice acting in this series. The same can be said for those who voiced characters in slice-of-life series like Chronicles of the Going Home Club, Kin-iro Mosaic, Gabriel DropOut, and Let's Make a Mug Too.

I loved that some of the voice actors in this series voiced characters in Bodacious Space Pirates. The latter is a niche sci-fi adventure anime which has two supporting characters (Lynn Lambretta and Jenny Dolittle) in a romantic relationship.

The series director, Hiroaki Sakurai, is just as talented. He is known for directing comedies like Kodocha, Di Gi Charat, Di Gi Charat Nyo!, and Nanaka 6/17. He also directed a ninja anime, Jubei-chan: The Ninja Girl, and a magical girl parody, Majokko Tsukune-chan. This directing experience, and that of other series, undoubtedly had a positive impact on The Demon Girl Next Door.

While the final episode of the series is a fitting season end, there is a possibility for continuation. A third season could be focused on the continued adventures of Mikan, Momo, and Shamiko. Another season would continue to be slice of life, with a continued focus on trying to make the town a place that's easy for everyone to live in as the narrator says at the end.

Perhaps even Momo and Shamiko could be shown as more than ambiguously together. They could be even closer like the protagonists of Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid, Kobayashi and Tohru. It could be more than "shipping fodder" between them then, with often fanservicey outfits of Momo, Shamiko, and other characters. This series does not have any explicit queer representation, just heavy subtext.

In the end, while The Demon Girl Next Door is not my favorite anime series that I've watched this year, it is still a must-see for those interested in magical girls, demons, supernatural themes, and yuri subtext.

The Demon Girl Next Door can be watched on HIDIVE.

© 2022-2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

[bisluthq]

https://www.tumblr.com/bisluthq/757818239425396736/i-think-the-newold-lyrics-from-my-boy-makes-it?source=share

That's actually an interesting perspective I hadn't thought off Nat. I'm just not sure it fits in this case, because if she were to play pretend and be unhappy about it like you said, it wouldn't make much sense to say that she felt more in those moments. Also in the og lyrics, she says "in those brief moments".

Tbh I don't really know what exactly she means about playing pretend with Matty. Like pretend they were married or about to marry? They only even lived kind off together for less than a month. But since he was following her around, it was also more convenient.

I guess the “brief” part makes it sound more like Matty but my whole point is one wants to play again from before you realized you’re playing. When I *know* I’m playing pretend then it’s not that fun anymore and I know I’m unhappy and something is about to change/is changing but there’s a period of time before I realize that. In that moment in his kitchen, where I realized the whole evening was something of a pantomime, I’d have loved to go back to an hour before that where I hadn’t known that. Because if I’d known I’m unhappy, if I’d known I didn’t want to be there, I wouldn’t have gone. I’d have made up an excuse or I’d have made plans with someone else and pretended those predated these ones or I’d have attended as a guest and not run around up and down all night or stayed up washing the dishes. I’d have plopped down and drunk wine and maybe, if I was being generous and kind, offered to take a run down to the shop when the booze ran out/was running low or maybe I’d have suggested going out out at that point or whatever. But I didn’t because, up until it all felt unreal and a touch silly, I was doing what I thought I was supposed to be doing and being a great girlfriend and shit. Up until the ball finally dropped, I had wanted to be there. I had wanted to make sure everyone had a nice time. I had wanted to make sure everything was tidy and neat. And I did feel a lot in those moments - again, there were a lot of firsts he and I had and I think that specific night was the first time I’d ever gotten to be the girlfriend™️ co-host. Because up until then, shit either happened at my place and frankly I was and remain more nihilistic on completely my own turf like here’s some alcohol and here’s an ashtray and I’m very possibly gonna fuck off and play on my phone at some stage idk how this is gonna go OR it was at his mum’s and that was like me “helping” not really having responsibilities idk because it was HER HOUSE right so idk the height of my responsibility there was not leaving a mess after myself and his friends coming over there were her guests fundamentally and not mine) and unreal as it ultimately felt, I suppose I did enjoy it? If I hadn’t at all, I’d have left? I wasn’t married to the guy, I didn’t live there, my own place was within reach like it obviously wouldn’t have been a good idea to drive home because I wasn’t wasted but I also had been drinking but I could’ve done a myriad things had I known I was miserable. I didn’t really know that though like until it came to washing up. So I guess I had, at that point, felt more when I played pretend?

I’ll give another relationship example of this same feeling. In early 2020, pre COVID, my ex and I went to her family party. Can’t remember what the occasion was - someone’s birthday I suppose, or maybe like a UK based relative was visiting idk that isn’t important to the story time we’re doing now. Her and I had broken up end 2019 but then like decided to “work on it” and I dated that other girl but like we had a co-signed lease and we had the cats and we’d been together a long time and shit like I figured maybe we could figure it out because we’d been together a really long time and when I was seeing that other girl one of the things that struck me was she was very sensible and practical and very sweet and very functional but I couldn’t really see us being best friends whereas my ex and I 100% were and as I’ve said have remained on good terms. Anyway, here we were at this family party and all around me were these people I’d known for years by this stage and who were pretty much my family too. We had an extended family group chat even that I was on (and the guy who managed the GC didn’t add people to it easily like you had to really be around for a long while before you got added to it) and we were talking about things that had happened (we didn’t tell people about the problems we were having) and everyone was making plans for the year ahead (lol @ those not because of our problems but because of how 2020 went down ultimately) and it also hit me there like idk I’m playing pretend. I like these people, I know these people very well, they’re all very nice humans, but I probably shouldn’t be here. This isn’t where I necessarily belong in this moment or in my life in general. No offense to these people but like I’m maybe not meant to be here. I do think I felt a LOT though and I did love her and I care about all those people so I guess I felt a lot when I played pretend there too?

maybe this is a weird me thing that other people don’t feel or don’t experience but idk man it’s such a specific and recurrent feeling for me that I don’t know what it means for Taylor but it is probably always gonna mean this for me.

I also, at the risk of sounding lovey dovey, kinda expected to feel this way with my bf’s latest surgery because this month has been such fucking hell for the both of us and I kept expecting to have that moment of “I really don’t know if I want to be here or I’m here out of a sense of moral duty/obligation/responsibility because I’m obviously not gonna ditch the dude who was calling an ambulance for me two weeks ago” but I never felt that - I did actually want to be there and I did actually want him to come home and I wanted to go home with him so I guess for now I’m not playing pretend in this scenario but I’m also not sure I feel MORE or if I just feel like I’m where I’m supposed to be currently and don’t want to change all that much about my life (except the whole job sitch like obviously I can’t just work 3 hours a day that’s just not financially feasible but other than that it’s all good).

[imthepunchlord]

I hope it’s okay for me to send this, but going off of what you’ve researched and how you’ve set everything up so far, I do believe that the only change you need to make is switching Bee and Fox between Bagua and Wu Xing.

Like you said, power-wise both the Fox and the Bee have about an even number of pros and cons for going into either, so it really does boil down to Trixx just feeling more important than Pollen at this point in terms of their personalities themselves and how much attention those personalities are given in-show. Along with the pros you’ve given for having the Fox be the Earth Wu Xing, the Bee going into Bagua is good because it still fits for the Earth slot there that’s not too weak or too strong of a placement with both the powers and the kwami tied to them in consideration. Bonus, it evens out the number of bugs to mammals in the Wu Xing (Peacock was gonna be the odd one out anyway since there’s five slots) and adds another to Bagua so Mantis isn’t left hanging.

Concerning Turtle and Butterfly switching place too, I don’t think that’s necessary for many of the reasons why a Bee-Fox swap is. With Wayzz and the Turtle in general, they just don’t FEEL nearly as important as the Butterfly and Nooroo due to how they were handled in-show, especially with the main villain holding one and the background mentor holding another. Plus, the switch would throw off not only the Butterfly being powerful enough where both Ladybug and Cat are needed, but why Gabriel would even bother with it over Peacock regardless of possible sickness seeing as it’s not one of the ones he needs to make a Wish or even in the top tier of power.

I also don’t think you need to mess with the number or meaning of the Wu Xing, Bagua, or Zodiac slots. Not only does that make life more complicated for you, but switching that sorta stuff up for these real-life ancient systems for what are supposed to be in-universe even more ancient godly beings feels kinda… wrong?? Like, it’s why the canon handling of the zodiac, Wu Xing, and yin yang and how they relate to each Miraculous bothers me so much; it just feels like NOT the thing anymore y’know?

In any case, I hope my ramblings are of any use to you, and please feel free to reply with your honest thoughts either way.

(P.S. If it helps concerning Duusu, after her Miraculous is fixed, it's revealed that her erratic behavior really was partly a result of the damage to the Peacock Miraculous, which she comments as being like there was "chaos in [her] head" and she was in a nightmare. Now that her mind is completely cleared, she can still be quite emotional and a bit scatterbrained, but to a lesser extent than when her Miraculous was broken.)

Yeah it's ok, I don't mind feedback and having thoughts shared with this, cause it will be something I'll be going back and forth on. So having outside feedback helps.

And you do bring up good points. This is to work off what's seen in the show while also making changes to secure it works out better (like Butterfly, Ladybug, and Cat adjusted to be on that same level of power, cause based on what Butterfly can do, Peafowl too, it's hard to believe LB and Cat are the "two most powerful"). And between the two, Fox does have more significance. Between Trixx having a defined personality and to Fox actually tied to more plot relevant characters. Bee's importance really comes down to who has Bee, which ultimately in the grand scheme of things, Chloe and Zoe aren't so important. The former definitely got far more attention than she really needed given she wasn't going to be redeemed or be a big bad.

The nice thing too about having Bee with Bagua does allow flexibility in where Bee can go, so if I feel I need to move some around placement wise, I will have that option.

Like Bee can match with any of these. Fox though is more limited in placements.

And good point with the debate for Turtle and Butterfly; by my research, Turtle should be a very significant Miraculous, it's a sacred animal in China, one of the few equals to the Dragon. But show wise it is more of an after thought. So Bagua is a good middle of the road for it.

And yeah, messing with official numbers would be best to avoid. The only one I think could be done in adjusting the numbers is the Bagua set, while it is officially Eight Areas, there is the unofficial 9th area, the yellow center representing balance and vitality, yin-yang. Earlier ideas actually had Dragon be the unofficial 9th member of Bagua, which works really well as dragons are tied to the number 9, and the initial idea was that Dragon was the most powerful, the one that represents yin-yang as a unit, and is the one all 3 tiers circled around. And the trade off to being the most powerful was that this was the only Miraculous you can't make a Wish with. And while Dragon was the unofficial 9th member, hidden under the yin-yang symbol in the Miracle Box, Turtle would've taken Dragon's slot in the Zodiac, allowing a loose reference to the Four Symbols within the Zodiac, and work off Turtle and Rabbit being an immediate pair. Or, allowed there to be 2 serpent based Miraculous: Cobra and Snake.

Ultimately decided to not change up the Zodiac and let it be, and just stick to there being 25 Miraculous instead of 26. It would've been a number difference but it also is still a good size number of Miraculous to exist and work with.

Anyway! Thank you for sharing your thoughts, it was helpful and brought up some good points I didn't think about. And thanks for letting me know about Duusu post her Miraculous fixed. That's good to know.

[wcrpconfessionbooth]

yeah timberclanner in fe here from what ive seen in threads only five people are active at all from the colony that aren't already members of timber

i think the mods need to actually like ask them about the way the plot is going because even for me to be honest its a bit of a slog playing as the place keeping a bunch of cats prisoner knowing they are innocent ooc and having no set time when this small group is gonna stop being treated poorly

the discussion of food was a bit of a one off and not really about denying them food but almost worse as its more of a "youre fed and housed what are you complaining about it could be worse" and considering how picky rps are with tagging youd think theyd want to tag a mindset plenty of people have experienced from their own parents

Hey anon,

Thank you for reaching out in such a pleasant manner, my friend! I definitely agree that mods should communicate with those directly affected! I know a lot of staff teams can get defensive over secrets and plots that they have going on.

But the thing is, that ultimately secrets are only part of the reason why people will stay in a roleplay group like this! If you know that in _ weeks this plot will wrap up, that is not an inherently bad thing to know since right now everything is all up in the air. That can be stressful and rp is, most importantly, supposed to be fun!

Thank you for the clarification for the food part, too! And, yeah, I do agree that with how usually I see trigger warnings for 18+ groups, I don't think it's unreasonable to let people know things like emotional physical and mental abuse will be heavily involved. Usually you can like, opt into that. But it seems that the colony kind of got shoved into a box (based on the xenophobia claims).

As clarification here, for people not in Forgotten Elegy, please read through and acknowledge that neither side has actually given me like concrete anything. It's kind of just he said, she said. Not that I don't believe these anons, but it is important to note!

Mod Water

[the-cat-chat]

May 20, 2023

We Have a Ghost (2023)

The discovery that their house is haunted by a ghost named Ernest makes Kevin's family a social media sensation. But when Kevin and Ernest get to the bottom of the mystery of Ernest's past, they become targets of the CIA.

JayBell: Based on the reviews, I was expecting something lightly entertaining and a few good laughs. Also, I admit that I enjoy David Harbour in the things I’ve seen him in, and I like Anthony Mackie. So what went wrong?

Well first off, David Harbour doesn’t talk in the movie. And I think the movie really needed it. Sure, he can act physically with expressions and movements, but it wasn’t enough for me. Honestly, I’m not sure why they couldn’t have the ghost talk. Just keep the amnesia so he can’t share important plot information early.

As for Anthony Mackie’s character, I think they made him too much of an asshole throughout the beginning of the movie. I know the message was supposed to be “parents are human too, they make mistakes, blah blah,” but I just didn’t like him. So while he has a change of character in the last bit of the movie, as a viewer, I still haven’t forgiven him.

One of the biggest problems of this movie is that they tried to focus on too many things. For example, the CIA bit isn’t needed at all. Besides jolting ghost-David Harbour into recovering some memories (which could be done in a different way), you could remove that entire plot line and be the better for it. The kid (Kevin) could still even go on a little road trip with ghost-David in an attempt to find the truth, just without the CIA as a conflict.

Plus, I’d remove the entire relationship with the neighbor girl. She was a fun character, but ultimately spread the plot too wide. It also felt forced between the two young actors. Instead, I would focus specifically on the relationships between father/son and ghost-David Harbour and Kevin. The movie needs to remove everything unnecessary in order to get to the heart of a more focused plot.

Now for the random issues. What was with Kevin’s random singing? For some reason, Kevin has this thought that his singing plus guitar playing will “summon” ghost-David. I found those out-of-the-blue singing moments so incredibly awkward to watch.

I haven’t read the short story this was based on, but perhaps the writers felt too beholden to the original short story. Which I get. But some essential changes needed to be made to make this a good movie. However, I am giving the movie some props for the twist (which I liked).

Rating: 3/10 cats 🐈

Anzie: Upon watching this movie, all I could think other than OMIGAWD, was NO, and is this a JOKE, and AM I BEING PUNISHED??? So needless to say DON’T DO IT. And DON’T let the promise of David Harbour trick you. Bc he’s just as guilty as whoever allowed this movie to exist.

This was suppoppose to be comedic relief for us. But all I feel like is that I need my head examined. The story is insane- you know why??? There’s like a bazillion different plot points that they spend like six minutes on them jump to the next and mayyybe revisit 45 minutes later for like 2 more minutes. It feels like total whiplash but bc it so dumb it’s not even like it causes injury to the overall movie. (I will grant exception to the plot twist at the end bc that was the only intriguing plot element and I guarantee you that it was probably from the original short story not the movie people). Alsoooooo why’s there got to be a mini awkward romance between the kids- I don’t remember their names - forgive me- and it made even weird by an NON TALKING FIFTY SOMETHING GHOST WITH A COMBOVER. I didn’t need that cringe in my life. I have my own awkward experiences, thank you very much.

My next digression is how did any of the actors agree to be in this? Were they blackmailed? Bc that’s the only thing that makes sense. Do I need to discuss David Harbour anymore?Bc they did him dirty. And they did us dirty. Nuff said. But honestly that combover? And the not talking? What were they thinking??? And I will never bc able to look at Anthony Mackie again without associating him with this evil, annoying, scammy, wormy dad character. Yeah I said it wormy. Even though his character redeemed himself? I’m not even talking about Jennifer Coolidge’s appearance.

Alssooooo the CIA??? That was all a bit dumb and stupid. Right?? Should I say more? I really don’t feel like it, I almost can’t wrap my head around it. It was just an unbelievable, unnecessary plot tangent. Like they don’t care - now they care to the extreme. Ugh.

Ohhhh and why’s there random singing and guitar playing??? Just out of the blue. Twice. And never again. For like 30 seconds. Weird.

The biggest sin. It’s 2 hours long. The next biggest sin. We watched it. My biggest sin. I gave The Lobster 0/10 Lobsters and I feel like I might have been harsh?? Not really but ummm at least you get Colin Farrell with mustache and not David Harbour’s combover. And that is at least something.

Rating: -5/10 Ghosts 👻 (I’m not apologizing)