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meimi-haneoka · 1 year ago

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Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card Chapter 79: Comments + JP-ENG translation differences

Welcome back to our monthly appointment, CCS fans! This chapter comes right after this month's full moon, the Hunter Moon! (lol yes I will feature the name of the relative full moon till the end of the story). And speaking of the end of the story, I will start this analysis and translation post from the end of the chapter, where I found the confirmation to the rumour that had been going on for hours before the official release on Comic Days:

yes, dear readers, this is not a drill, Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card Arc will end with chapter 80, after 7 years of serialization! 🎉✨ When *the last chapter* is announced, there's no turning back! No more sudden announcements of extensions! 🥹 But at the moment of writing this post, no mentions have been given about any "epilogue" or extra chapters that might be serialized in the upcoming months leading to the big release of volume 16 on April 1st!

On the translation side, I have to sigh in relief because no major misunderstandings happened in the ENG version, just some minor inaccuracies! I was kinda scared because this chapter is pretty important and complex in itself.

And let me say that what happened in this chapter 79 definitely marks the end of the climax, so I can totally see it ending in next chapter. The chapter tackled some very important thematics regarding the presence of "evil" in this series, that I will talk about extensively in my analysis.

The announcement today made me already a bit nostalgic and sad, but I want to strive hard to accompany myself and all of you towards the end of this arc with excitement and a smile, therefore I won't let myself be prey of the sadness yet and introduce you immediately to the gif of this month, because there's a lot we need to talk about and analyze and we can't waste time!!

This is entirely dedicated to our protagonist and heroine Sakura-chan, because damn, she really slayed this chapter!!! Under the cut to see what miracles she made happen!

The Color Page

My dear readers, after years of countless pleas on my social media, after being let down month after month, CLAMP FINALLY GRANTED ME A COLOR PAGE SOLELY DEDICATED TO KAITO AND AKIHO TOGETHER ON THE SECOND-TO-LAST CHAPTER!! Yaaaay!! Excuse me while I celebrate this event here in my little corner, especially after having a rough month! 🎉🎉🎉 I hope my followers thought of me when they saw it? Like "finally she'll stop asking for it" (breaking news, I'll keep asking for more even after the series is over) 😂 It took them 79 chapters to do so and honestly I'm laughing because....yes, I admit it, I expected another vibe for such an important color page coming after such an important emotional scene in chapter 78, but honestly the first thing I thought when I saw it was "....they had to wait 79 chapters for this? 😧" 😂because it's very very "regular", I think it would've been ok for this to come out long ago. LOL I'm being brutally honest here, I hope no one gets offended, especially because that pet peeve aside, OF COURSE I love this precious color page to bits, and I know under its "normalcy", its got a very important meaning to the both of them.

Akiho and Kaito are depicted together clearly during one of their travels....but the question is, is this from the past? Or the near future? I'd daresay they look the same age they are now, so this might probably be a foreshadowing for the future...? They'll keep travelling the world? But seeing the content of the chapter, this might also be just a call-back to their memories together and everything that they experienced during those travels, tightening their bond. Travelling the world is, after all, really their thing, their element. I really like Kaito's expression, with his usual smile that almost turns into a smirk, he gives off a vibe of being finally free to express his emotions. He looks carefree, and that's really something for him. Akiho, on the other hand, is always so much more expressive than him and you can literally feel the joy and excitement emanating from her delighted expression. Travelling with him makes her happy, so yes, should this be what awaits them in the finale, it's fine by me as long as they're happy (I'm rooting for the other option though, the "stay in Tomoeda with your newfound support network" route).

But as you know, I always have to analyze the color pages a bit deeper, especially when they're about these two. And since I had to keep myself distracted, I made a bit of research. Other than the "travelling" vibe, this illustration gives off also kind of a "vintage" vibe (which is another strong element to Akiho and Kaito). It seems Akiho is dressed in a sleeveless coat with cape and wearing a bonnet fully inspired by those worn by children in the second half of the 1800s, in the Victorian era.

(pic courtesy of Etsy) This is a model from 1896, for example. When I pinpointed the period, I immediately thought "uh, the Victorian era is also the period when Alice in Wonderland came out", although that was more towards the 1860s. I found it really interesting and a nice touch for this illustration with a retro flavor (the suitcase and purse also look kinda vintage).

But another thing that immediately caught my eyes were those cute birds landing on Kaito's shoulder and Akiho's bonnet. I immediately tried to look what kind of birds they are, and it seems like they could really be eastern bluebirds, typical of North America. Searching further, I found out that in several cultures bluebirds are harbinger of happiness and symbols of hope. I couldn't honestly have thought for a more fitting symbolism, for these two. Especially cause birds often are associated with an imagery of freedom, and this is something else that these two need, after being hunted by evil people for so long. They really do look free, in this color page. Also, the presence of the birds in this color page immediately brought me back to the color page of chapter 62, where we can see baby Kaito in a wintery setting, sitting on a lamppost, extending his little hand to a swallow coming to him. Swallows are a symbol of hope and bring a message of "spring is coming", and continuing from that message of hope, of "spring is coming for you too", we can finally see here in chapter 79 our Kaito with his true happiness, symbolized literally by the birds most associated with happiness. Another thing that caught my eyes is of course the lily depicted on the cover of the book Akiho is holding, a nice callback to Akiho's mother and Kaito's torment, Lilie. She's always going to be with them ❤️

The Japanese editorial text over the picture is an excerpt of what Momo was musing to herself in chapter 39, while imagining to talk to Kaito: "You traveled with her, and spent time together with her". I think CLAMP chose to feature this line to indicate an important thing that will be restored at the end of this chapter.

Everyone Is Doing Their Best

The chapter starts with a panel showing some light coming off Yukito's house, and we find out that even Touya fainted, exhausted by the effort to keep time stopped as much as possible. Ruby Moon is cradling his head on her lap trying to assist him and "recharge" his magical power, in hope to be able to maintain time "stopped" a bit more. In fact, if you notice, the "black covering" that symbolizes the time-stopping spell isn't completely destroyed yet, but only riddled with "holes", an indication that the spell is still somehow active, even if feebly. I imagine this might "slow down" the attacks, which are still coming but probably not at full speed like they would if the spell came undone completely. I have to point out immediately a mild inaccuracy in the ENG version, that I want to specify in order to dispel extreme theories before they're born: no, Ruby Moon didn't give up all of her powers to Touya, the verb used here is simply 補える, "can replenish (your magic)", not "give all".

Touya doesn't lose his sense of humor even in a dire situation like this, and comments sarcastically "What are you, a battery?", a clear recall to the whole "batteries" matter that came out in the un-rewritten world. Touya isn't supposed to remember about that, and he probably doesn't, but this is just a way from CLAMP to show that even in a situation where memories have been rewritten, some things will be unconsciously said again, because they're just meant to happen.

Ruby Moon calls for assistance from her "brother" Spinel Sun (love how even in these true forms, she still calls him "Suppy"), whom rejects the appellative of "battery" but agrees to give her a hand with "recharging" Touya to keep the spell up a bit longer. Everyone looks outside, only one thought in their minds, which is voiced clearly by a serious Tomoyo: "Sakura and everyone else are fighting with all they've got". I have to point out a typo here in the Japanese version (nothing serious, it can happen and will be surely fixed in the tankobon version): Tomoyo calls Sakura "Sakura-san". I loved the "sparkles" around Tomoyo's eyes, as if indicating that her extraordinary intuition is "at work" and just telling her that, even if they can't see them because they're quite far away, Sakura and the others are doing whatever they can to stop these attacks. And the fact they can see the attacks, but not their friends and their condition, must be really hard to witness, for all of them. But no worries, there's Touya nii-chan who's always ready to lighten the mood even in this challenging situation, joking that "If they don't get back before the curfew, they won't be getting their snacks tomorrow!". Here the ENG adds "squirt" to make Touya refer specifically to Sakura, but truth to be told, in the JP there's no subject, so he might be referring to everyone. It's amazing how he's able to keep his spirit up and be sarcastic even in this situation....he really believes in his little sister so much!

I'll Make Them Forget About You

Back where our heroes are, the attacks keep coming relentlessly, countered by Syaoran, Yue and Kero in tandem. Sakura reflects on the fact that the only transparent Cards she's got left are these two she's holding in her hands (Time and Rewind) and Flight. This statement leads me to believe that when Record transformed into that crystal that entered her, that meant that the Card completed its duty and disappeared inside of her. But Sakura isn't worried at all, because she knows that she can create more Cards. Yessss, this development that I've been anticipating since quite some time is finally here! ✨🎉 Sakura seems to finally have a concrete plan, but before proceeding, she needs to ascertain something. She asks directly to Kaito: "The people who are using these spells were trying to hurt you, right?". Kaito, with a pensive face, answers affirmatively.

But it's when Sakura asks again "Were they trying to hurt Akiho too?" that his expression turns really painful, the background after him portraying well his raging emotions and, while Mokona-sensei chose to leave Akiho hidden by Kaito's black wings in the previous panels, now she finally shows how both she and Kaito are holding onto eachother, while our boy answers with a "...Yes" dripping with sorrow. It really squeezed my heart with pain, this scene. Because as long as Sakura was asking about him, his expression was pensive but almost as if it's something he's used to, that didn't shake him too much. But when Sakura mentions Akiho, god, that wrecked him. Any mention, any reminescence of what those bastards did to her and how they were chasing after her to put their filthy hands on her again wrecks him even now, and it's like Mokona with her visual skills is showing how Kaito seems to be holding Akiho a little bit tighter, while he answers Sakura's question. I also have to point out something that I had noticed already from last chapter, but a panel tricked me into believing I was just seeing things: CLAMP here use a dark screentone for Kaito's eyes, that he never had before (actually, no other character in CCS got this effect in their eyes). This effect will be used on him for the entire chapter.

And it seems like it's the very same screentone that was used for the dragon. I think this might be an indication that the wings aren't the only reminescence of his dragon appearance!

Sakura shows once again an incredible empathy that allows her to go right to the heart of the issue without investigating much. If Kaito rewrote an entire world, and if it's true that Akiho in the previous world didn't have all the love and familiar support she's got now, it means that she was probably in danger too. And seeing as these people are attacking them now because they freed Kaito from his "punishment", Sakura doesn't really need much to make 2+2 and understand the situation. Sakura believes in Akiho, therefore she believes in Kaito too, and knows that if he came to this point it's because they were in a desperate and dangerous situation.

Showing an incredible insight, Sakura shocks both Kaito and Akiho by asking:

Sakura, JP: "In that case, can I make those people forget about you both?"

Because our girl needs to make sure that the plan she came up with won't have any undesired consequences. But most importantly, she needs to have their consent. She reiterates this once again, actually she will make sure to ask Kaito and Akiho's consent 3 times in total. She says: JP, lit. "If going back to before the world was rewritten will put you through hardships once again, then, can I just make them forget?" Kaito is even more shocked, because he finally understands Sakura's intent. A generous, selfless intent born from a loving heart. Our girl wants to make sure that these two will be safe and sound once she fixes this situation. She can't take risks, because their happiness is all she's really caring for right now. And in his shocked expression, I can also see some kind of "omg YES, PLEASE" vibe. Because probably, having those terrible people forgetting all about them is everything he ever wished, but couldn't achieve. And I think it's really funny how we berated Kaito so much in the past chapters for making Akiho and the others forget facts that happened before and forgetting about him, but here Sakura just takes "inspiration" from him and actually decides to use that same "trick" in the right way. Because it's not fair that it should be them, the abused people, to forget about their most important person, in order to achieve a happy life for at least one of them. It isn't fair and it isn't right that Kaito was driven into making all the mess that he made, pushed by desperation. The abusers, that clan and Association of magicians, should be the ones forgetting.

But this is Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card's finale, and Sakura definitely hasn't finished with being amazing yet, she actually just started. Her very strong power at this point allows her not only to see things that were difficult before, but also to connect the dots more easily thanks to that renowned instinct that I've always talked to you about, and that she learned to finally listen to.

As if she were seeing through him with X-rays, she confidently affirms that there's a book inside of him, a white book where you can inscribe magic on. And she also knows that that same book was inside Akiho, once. I guess this might be even coming from past memories of the unrewritten world (do you remember when, before the play started, Sakura said that she could feel something inside Akiho?). Akiho of course is shocked to hear that, and from her expression you can almost feel the chill that went down her spine in that moment. Sakura affirms that this book knows both Akiho and Kaito (thanks to the fact that it was inside both of them - something that I've always found painfully heartbreaking but also quite moving, for my ship), and it's got a very strong power inside of it. These will be two crucial things for Sakura's plan. In fact, our heroine is hellbent in attempting something pretty arduous: utilizing that artifact's power to create a new Card. For impartiality, I have to point out that the ENG added (completely on their whim) a "you, her special person" that isn't there in the JP version! Of course it's all the better for me, since they repeat (finally with the right adjective) that Kaito is Akiho's special person, but it's kinda funny that they messed it up so much in the previous chapters, and now they're adding it where there isn't any mention of it!

Sakura will be using a tool that knows the both of them, therefore she is sure that her plan will succeed, because the Card will know what it will need to erase. Sakura asks for Kaito and Akiho's agreement one last time. After hearing how those people wanted to hurt them both and even implanted the same magical artifact inside of her, Akiho is quite resolute and doesn't have any doubt: on with the wiping off! It doesn't matter who those people are, they've tried to harm her most important person and her too, so she doesn't really seem to give a damn about proceeding with this plan. Kaito, on the other hand, seems to be giving a more lackluster affirmative reply, but it's not that he's uncertain: he's just still riddled with guilt for all the mess that he's done, and he's probably realizing that now Sakura will need to put herself on the line in order to fix this and protect both of them, hence his sad face.

Still surfing the confidence wave, Sakura guesses that once those people have forgotten about Akiho and Kaito, then the magic arrows will stop too, and Kaito confirms that: forgetting about the person who had the Seal of D enforced on him will be equal to "undo" both the activation of the Seal itself (when Kaito removed the book from Akiho) and also the rescission of it (what Sakura did when she freed Kaito from the cage). This will therefore stop the arrows too, because the Seal wouldn't have been triggered in the first place. However, Kaito warns her that, although time is still barely "stopped" (because the time-stopping spell is still weakly on), it's necessary an enormous amount of power in order to do what Sakura wants to do. I have to point out another inaccuracy in the ENG translation in this part, which makes Kaito say "before things could get worse" and I have the feeling they misunderstood the word 辛うじて, "barely" or "narrowly", which is also written with the kanji of 辛い, "hard" or "tough". So Kaito isn't saying "before things could get worse" but actually meaning "although time is barely stopped".

Sakura doesn't seem to be scared by Kaito's warning, and activates her wand without a second thought, and immediately we can see that her task wil NOT be easy, as she can feel the strain almost right away.

Here we go with another inaccuracy of the ENG translation:

Sakura, ENG: "Great book, please show yourself! My power alone won't be enough...!" Sakura, JP: "The book....doesn't want to come out. (it's too difficult to pull it out) with just my power..."

Basically, Sakura isn't begging the book to "show itself", she's actually actively trying to pull it out of Kaito, and she's aware that it's opposing a lot of resistance, and her power alone isn't enough to take this damn book out. Sakura refuses to give up, because everyone else is doing their best too. Yes, everyone else.

And that's when CLAMP decided to bring us a big surprise for this finale.

A pair of hands seem to be appearing next to Sakura's, as if a spirit is hugging her from behind. We can see the famous fan that we learned to recognize so well ever since her first appearance in Movie 1. Sakura feels immediately the same magical power of Syaoran surrounding her, and with her instinct she finally recognizes her: it's Syaoran's mother, YELAN!!! We can see her, sweating and all, in her sacred chinese pavilion, lending her power to help in this difficult task.

What a great, welcome surprise for this finale!! You might have heard me saying on Twitter that Clear Card is really a celebration of motherhood, with this constant presence of mothers and mother figures who try to help these kids growing up without removing their right to choose for themselves. And since Yelan is the only mother figure who can concretely help Sakura in this moment, with her immense power, I really loved to see how this woman didn't hesitate to assist her future daugher in law. For any SyaoSaku fan, this scene here is a huge thing. We have seen in the anime how Yelan doted on Sakura ever since she met her in Movie 1, even before her own son realized his feelings for this girl. Yelan and Sakura haven't met in the manga yet (and hello, CLAMP, now this is a good chance for letting that happen, after the madness is over), but the woman didn't hesitate a moment to lend her power. I can really imagine how along these two will get, in the future. ❤️

Sakura thanks her aloud, while her eyes show that she's really really tired. Yelan's assistance is finally effective in summoning the artifact book out of Kaito, and we see again those countless book pages that we saw both when Akiho used to go "berserk", and also in the most heartbreaking scene of chapter 70. Kaito, still holding onto a worried Akiho, seems to suffer physically from this removal, and I can't understand if it's because removing something magical from inside is naturally painful (we've been shown something like that before, Syaoran crouching to the ground in pain while the Sakura Cards were being removed from inside of him) OR if the removal of the artifact also triggered his poor health conditions in which we left him, before he disappeared in chapter 70.

Sakura tries with all she's got and finally manages to turn the artifact into its "true form": a book filled with countless of spells written in strange magic runes.

You have spotted it, right? ☝️ I haven't seen many fandom reactions yet, but I guess this "cameo" made more than one person scream: it's Fay D. Fluorite's tattoo, yes! This page of the "book" is probably describing the procedure to cast that tattoo (which was also a kind of "seal", if I remember correctly). So that spells exists in this CCS world too! 😅 The magic Sakura is weaving starts "working" on the book, literally removing the spells from its pages and turning them back to their original form of magical books (remember that the Squids used to say that they would inscribe "magic books" and their power onto Akiho?).

Then, solemnly, we hear probably for the last time ever the magical incantation that accompanied us in the beginning of the story, used by Sakura to secure the strange manifestations of power into a transparent Card:

ENG: "Force without master, heed the call of my Staff of Dreams and become my power! SECURE!"

The countless of books and all this tremendous amount of power get secured into the birth of a new Card: BLANK!!!

Blank got the human appearance of Akiho, but also the protective wings of Kaito. The girl is holding a book (of course, how perfect for her) which is the representation of the artifact that was inside both Kaito and Akiho. This card is really so meaningful for someone like me who loves Akiho and Kaito. It's representing them united in their suffering (the artifact) but also in the hope for a better future (Akiho is smiling and the Card will be used to grant them safety, away from their abusers). I've always imagined that one of the last Cards Sakura might have produced would have Akiho and Kaito's elements, and here it is.

Also, how AWESOME is that Sakura managed to dispose of that damn artifact and succeeded to use it for Kaito and Akiho's sake, and turned it against the monsters who created it??? HOW. AWESOME. IS. THAT!!!!

Producing the very first consciously created transparent Card sucked almost all of Sakura's power and strength, and she's close to fainting, under the terrified eyes of Akiho, who lets go of Kaito for a moment in a gesture of going towards her "sister". But Sakura isn't done yet, no. She can't give up yet because her job isn't done.

And I Will Make Them Remember About You

Sakura wants for Akiho and the people who care about her (the ENG decided to translate this with "the people SHE holds dear") to remember who Akiho really is. She wants basically to "undo" what the rewriting of the world caused on the people who know Akiho, making them believe that she was born into the Kinomoto family and that she was Sakura and Touya's sister.

After pondering for a while and discussing with my friends over at my Discord server, I decided I'm not gonna go out on a limb and assume things from this decision, because I definitely NEED to read the next chapter to see how much Sakura intends people to remember, with this move. It's really not clear at all, as of now.

Anyway, other translation inaccuracy incoming!

Sakura, ENG: "I'm going to make another new card for that...and I might not have the power to do it alone" Sakura, JP: "It might probably be really difficult to create one more new card with my power, right now..."

As you can see, the nuance is different, because Sakura in the JP addresses how it's almost impossible for her to create another new card in the situation she is in right now, exhausted and all.

That's why, very cleverly, she's going to do something different. (My gosh how proud I am of this girl!!)

Saying "But these two Cards will surely help me", Sakura skillfully manages to merge Time and Rewind to create a new Card, not from scratch (which requires more power) but using what she's already got: and that's how the REMIND Card is born!!! The name of the Card originated by just replacing the "W" of Rewind with the "M" of Time. Ingenious, isn't it???

And as the two Cards merge, they give us lots of flashbacks, like the "effect" used here resembles a lot the one that used to happen when Sakura was changing the Clow Cards into the Sakura Cards back in the old arcs, or how the merging of two Cards seems to also be a callback to how the "card without name" and the "Nothing" merged to create HOPE in the very last minutes of Movie 2! What a nostalgic trip down the memories lane!

And the appearance of this Card is even more touching, because it features Syaoran (with his current age) holding Nadeshiko's pendant watch. I found that so sweet, especially coupled with Yelan's assistance to Sakura in this chapter. Yelan associated with Sakura, and Syaoran associated with Nadeshiko. How sweet. And when you think that even Lilie, Akiho's mother, was associated with Kaito, you really can realize that this is some kind of "theme" that CLAMP seemed to be wanting to portray in this story.

I Can't Be On Everyone's Side

And now, the scene that I think is worth the whole chapter, but probably the whole Clear Card Arc in its entirety. As usual, with important scenes, I'll use the literal translation from Japanese:

Sakura, JP: "It might not be right that there'll be people who will forget things (after this), but....I can't be everyone's friend/ally/can't be on everyone's side. So I won't go back...but actually, along with the people important to me... I WANT TO GO ON"

Wow. Let that sink in.

Sakura, of Cardcaptor Sakura, just came to the realization and spelled out clearly that she cannot be on everyone's side. That she cannot be "everyone's friend", like in a cheesy fairytale.

And I really, really, want to thank CLAMP-sensei for this scene and this line because for a period, long time ago, I was worried that this story would go down the "let's be friends" or "let's show sympathy to them" route. But as the chapters continued and the things CLAMP told us about the Association and the Squids were more and more cruel, and they made me more and more sick, I started to realize that there was simply no way CLAMP could've had Sakura try to justify or compromise with them. Because when cruelty is real, there's no compromise to be made.

This scene also shows how Sakura realizes for the first time ever that in her world, contrary to what we all believed previously, evil exists. It might not touch her or her "entourage" directly (and she's really blessed for that), but it exists out there and it's hurting people, people who can also become really important to her. And she decides to not stand idly by, blessed as she is with the luck of not experiencing that evilness, but actually using whatever it is in her power to bring those suffering people to safety.

Sakura cannot fight those people on equal terms. She's just 13, and although her power is very strong, she's still inexperienced. Moreover, she cannot really bring herself to deny her current nature and use violence on other human beings. That's not Sakura. I want you guys to reflect on this because I know that one of the favorite things expected for this finale was to have a direct magical confrontation with the true villains of this arc, defeating them and restablishing the peace. And I am sincere when I say that I would've wished for the same too, because you know how much I love Kaito and Akiho, and how much I was disgusted to read about what they did to them. I've spread my "burn the squids" gifs all over the fandom. I wanted someone to vindicate them. But not here. Not in this manga. I realized that after the initial satisfaction, I would've probably felt like the series would've been "defiled". And that's exactly what happens when you answer to violence with more violence.

Sakura just could not go hunting those bastards down and defeat them in a magical battle. Because, powerful and corrupted in their greed as they are, the only way to "fix" this situation would've been to exterminate them. I just could not picture this story to cross that boundary, no matter how much the bar had already been raised well over what we initially thought.

So, if someone out there is disappointed by this outcome, I'm sorry for you, but it was just not meant to be and I'm actually really glad that this series kept true to its fundamental values. Of course it would, CLAMP really do care about this series and they know very well how far to push the plot, and when to actually stop.

So what is the role of Akiho's clan and the Magic Association in this story, especially considering that we never saw their faces at all? Talking with lots of fans in these years, especially Japanese, I've come to the conclusion that they are not in this story to fill the "villain that needs to be deafeated" role, but actually they're a representation of abusive families that smother and suffocate their children with expectations, completely disregarding those children's natural inclinations, and abuse them when they do not meet such expectations, but also the society as a whole, that looks at you only basing on how it can take advantage of you. Which is exactly what happened to Akiho and Kaito, driving them to very dark places. The absence of faces for those characters makes it possible for the readers to see the Squids and the Association as the representation of whatever environment they relate the most to. It can be family, society, school, workplace etc... It also helps us focusing on their actions, rather than their faces, and not attribute any prejudice to them (because of religion, race, skin color, or whatever other attribute they could have).

Seeing as the story treats them more like a concept, than an actual entity, it's basically impossible for Sakura to defeat them (and their great power is an indication of that impossibility). Just like in real life, darkness will always exist, along with light. Good and evil will always be side by side. It's bigger than any of us. Then, what can we do, in a situation like this? What Sakura is choosing to do, here, is not to confront directly with violence these people who are way out of her league, and not even to sit back and look, but actually finding a way to make them forget about her friends and keeping her friends safe, granting them the possibility of living a happy life, finally away from the darkness of the past, healing the wounds on their souls together with the people they love and who love them back. Because even if you've been abused in the past, you can still hope for a happy life.

The focus here is all on helping the abused people. And Sakura, in order to do that, is okay with coming to terms with the fact that she can't be on everyone's side, and she needs to choose. In the end, the thing that really matters the most is to GO ON with your most important people. Not going back to what is lost, but going forward. And I know that this is such a CLAMP theme, and I'm glad that they reiterated it in this arc. When I say that Clear Card brought Sakura so much more closer to what's usual for CLAMP, I mean this.

The panel with Sakura raising her staff and shouting she wants to go on is absolutely beautiful, with those wings growing so big and unleashing Sakura's power in a storm of cherry blossom petals.

Sakura is exhausted, she finally reached her limit by using her ultimate magic. As she faints, her eyes just make it in time to catch a glimpse of her prince, the love of her life grabbing tightly his girlfriend's hand, to not let her fall, while the watch of Remind and the book of Blank do their job in the background. And I really loved this spread too, because even if it's not a conventional romantic scene made of physical display of love, this in my opinion is even more powerful. Many were reminded of Tsubasa, but I was also reminded of the long time those two spent unable to touch one another, and this scene here seems like a catharsis for that hardship they went through. Syaoran will always catch Sakura everytime she falls, he will always be there to grab her hand, no matter if he can really touch her or not. Cause his love is stronger than any kind of impediment. He will always be by her side, no matter what. When she's exhausted by her heroine's duties, she knows that she can always count on him to support her.

And speaking of "always be by her side", I just can't avoid mentioning how Akiho and Kaito stayed "glued" to eachother for the entire duration of this chapter, protecting and supporting one another. Kaito, in particular, kept holding Akiho even as Sakura's magic was hurting him like hell, because it was extracting the book from him. Even in excruciating pain, he did not let go of Akiho, intent in protecting her and keeping her safe in his hold. Akiho let go of him just for a moment when she was scared out of her mind for Sakura, but went back to him when she saw that her "sister" was hellbent in completing her task no matter what. Kaito, as the good "moon boy" he is, is someone who shows his feelings through his actions rather than words, just like Syaoran. And his constant grip on Akiho in this chapter, such an opposite act compared to how he used to stop his hand everytime it started reaching out to her, told me all that I needed to know about him: she's his most important person, and he will never let go of her, ever again.

Sakura wakes up in her bed. The scene is a direct parallel with an almost identical scene in chapter 3, as you can see here:

Kero is next to her and is relieved to see her awake, so he goes to shout in the hallway, directed to Touya, that Sakura is finally awake. Sakura seems a bit surprised to see Kero talking so nonchalantly with her brother, and he tells her that he chatted with him back at Yukito's house, together with Suppy, so I guess now he finds it "natural" to talk to her brother too! 😂 I'm kinda glad to know that, I like this "change of relationship", compared to the old series (and it was also kinda long overdue).

Sakura opens the palm of her hands and she finds the Dream Key, still intact and all. She also asks about Remind and Blank, and Kero confirms to her that she was able to use them successfully! Sakura is absolutely delighted to hear that, and says "We were able to go on!"

And thaaaaaaat's how the second-to-last chapter of Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card ends! Solving a lot of the pending situations, but still leaving some secondary questions that will surely find a (more or less) detailed explanation in the final, next chapter. And well, we also have to prepare to not have ALL the answers to ALL the questions we might have. This is usual for CLAMP, and especially in their Spaces they never made it a secret that they love for their fans to wreck their brains over theories and imagining the characters' future after a series is over. They love for the fans to give their interpretations to things, they encourage that a lot (also because it creates more long-lasting engagement with their series).

Alas, I expect they'll leave something in particular to everyone's interpretation, but we'll see. 😅

Overall, I really loved this chapter and it was really emotional for me. I think it's fitting for a "climax". Sakura was ABSOLUTELY running the show and after this I dare anyone to say that she isn't the main character of her story. She pushed her limits, and even questioned her own morality in doing so. What a wonderful thing. She reminded me so much of Sakura-hime when she shooted all those monsters in order to take the precious egg, back in the Acid Tokyo arc of Tsubasa. She knew she was doing something bad, but her wish to do everything needed in order to "have him back" was stronger than anything else. And she made her own choice. Here, Sakura, on a smaller scale, made her own choice too.

Now, I hope in the last chapter we'll be granted the possibility to delve a bit more into Kaito and his thoughts, I need to see his character development, I need to see that he learned something from this. That he -at least- started to interrogate himself over the nature of his feelings for Akiho. I know it's reasonable to think that with him, things will take looooong time, but as least show me the signs. Because I need to know that Akiho will be truly happy with him (I know she will!), and she can only be if he's learned to be honest with himself. And learned what Lilie meant with the last conversation we saw between them.

Also, WHERE'S MOMO, I NEED TO SEE MOMO BEFORE THIS ENDS!!

Okay, this is probably the longest post I ever did but I think as the second-to-last chapter it deserved to have some big thematics explored in depth, because they're very important. I'm still pondering if I should divide the post of the final chapter in two because, in addition to even more pages, I expect there'll be soooooooooo much to talk about (cross your fingers with me that there won't be any translation mistake).

I also hope there'll be room for an epilogue or a couple of extra chapters, to help us coping with the separation in a more gradual way, cause after 7 years it's quite hard. I was curious to see the end, of course, but also not entirely ready to let this wonderful story go. I really, really enjoyed it and I say this from the bottom of my heart. I don't care what everyone else thinks, I can only be grateful to CLAMP for Clear Card Arc. 🙏

Chapter 80, along with all the tears that will come with it, is expected to be uploaded on November 29th on CLAMP's Youtube channel. Yes, it's less than a month away! I also expect some news about the anime (BLESS THE ANIME!! Something to cling onto when the manga is over 😭).

Well, see you at the end of November (please come to hold my hand cause I cannot do this alone, lol) !!!

#cardcaptor sakura #card captor sakura #ccsakura #clear card arc #ccs spoilers #sakura card captor #chapter 79 #sakura kinomoto #akiho shinomoto #yuna d. kaito #syaoran li #translation differences

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isfjmel-phleg · 5 months ago

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June 2024 Books

I have been tired and unmotivated most of the month, so I ended up mostly rereading random things, including a lot of pretty light stuff.

The Sylvia Game by Vivien Alcock (reread)

Weird story that may not be Great Literature but continues to be Rebekah Bait.

The Lost Years of Merlin by T. A. Barron

Although the second half of the book didn't work for me as well as the first, I did especially appreciate Emrys/Merlin's relationship with his mother and his struggle with fearing his powers.

The Star That Always Stays by Anna Rose Johnson (reread)

The family relationships of this story are its greatest charm. Believable sibling dynamics, especially. The setting and the style and the general feel of a classic children's story are lovely, and the featuring of a protagonist in the 1910s who has Ojibwe ancestry is fresh and interesting. I found this book still enjoyable the second time around.

Thematically, though, I think there could have been some more nuance. At times, it seemed to veer into dealing with serious emotional concerns like struggling with major life changes beyond one's control by advising Just Stop Being So Negative And Choose Joy--a very simplified solution to a complex concern.

A Semester in the Life of a Garbage Bag by Gordon Korman (reread)

Another one of those early Korman books that make me wonder if he was familiar with Psmith--this story features both the impersonation of a terrible Canadian poet and the desire to avoid working in an uncle's fish business as a plot-driving motivation.

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Magic by Betty MacDonald (reread)

I did not grasp as a child how very, very 1950s these stories are!

Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery (reread)

I reread this one with the intention of analyzing its portrayal of emotional neglect, and that is indeed very much there, but I got a bit distracted by realizing that there's an argument for Anne's having ADHD. It would explain a lot of her behaviors. (Why didn't the recent adaptation take that route instead of the nonsense they opted for?)

Spineless by Samantha San Miguel (reread)

Heavier on the adventure than the historical fiction side of things, but good fun, with some nice characterization. There's a sequel coming out this fall that I'm planning to read.

Magic in My Shoes by Constance Savery (reread)

Very light compared to many of Savery's other books, but also very rereadable.

The Memoirs of Jack Chelwood by Constance Savery (reread)

I already talked about this here.

The Reb and the Redcoats by Constance Savery (reread)

I have nothing intelligent to say about this one, but it's always a pleasure to reread.

Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster (reread)

The protagonist's engaging voice makes the letters fun to read, but this time I was deeply weirded out by the romance. She's being groomed by an older man who has financial power over her and whom she views in a parental/guardian-like role, he's pulling all the strings and controlling aspects of her life that are none of his business and keeping her dependent on him, and his in-person interactions with her can be unpleasant also. By the end, I was more worried than happy for her. I think the set-up of "correspondent turns out to be someone you've met in real life and leads to falling in love" can be done in a way that's sincerely romantic (more in the vein of The Shop Around the Corner or You've Got Mail), but this particular version of that plot has not aged well.

When Patty Went to College by Jean Webster (reread)

...so as a refresher I reread this one, which features a lively heroine's escapades at college without a creepy romantic relationship.

The White Feather by P. G. Wodehouse (reread)

See the essay here.

Comics

The Ray 1992 and 1994 (reread)

For the sake of analysis for posts this month. This is the one time of year that DC acknowledges that their current version of Ray (who is practically a different character from the 90s version and exists in a completely different continuity) exists, and that version is rather one-note, so I wanted, at least for my own amusement, to delve into the original version of the character, who is rather multi-faceted.

Wayne Family Adventures Vol. 4 (reread)

I read these as they were released, but I own a print copy now.

Doctor Who: The Eleventh Doctor Vol. 1-2

A gift from my brother! This was my first experience with DW in comic form, and it was fun. I appreciated the presence of a companion who is a library assistant (not a librarian! there's a difference! and don't I know it).

The Flash Vol. 9: Full Stop

I picked this up at a library book sale quite a while ago when I was still able to go to those :/ This is post-Flashpoint stuff, I think? and I'm very post-Crisis in my leanings, so it was confusing for me without full context.

Superboy Book One: Trouble in Paradise (reread)

This is the only collection of Kon's solo, covering #1-10 and #0. It begins with Knockout and ends with him and Tana starting to officially date. I've read these issues before multiple times, but they will never not be worrying.

Batman: Under the Red Hood: The Deluxe Edition (partial reread)

All the feels. Can I please erase from my brain what happens between Jason and Talia though.

#random personal stuff #this month I'm hoping to get to some new reads but we'll see #I am also having a hankering for Piranesi and The Goblin Emperor and Mercury Falling #(and Strange Redemption!)#all of which I read first in July so I guess my brain has wired itself to need them then

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laugtherhyena · 11 months ago

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So, what's up with Udon comics Karin?

Recently i got a hold of physical copies of the Sakura ganbaru manga and after reading through the whole thing i decided to organize this character analysis of sorts where I'll be comparing this awful iteration of the character to her versions from the game's canon and the manga where she originated from in order to highlight where the Udon comics completely missed the mark when it came to portraying her.

First off, who is Karin?

She's the sole heir to the Kanzuki Zaibatsu which is one of the biggest and wealthiest business organizations in the Street fighter world. She has an incredibly strict father and has been trained pretty much since birth to become what he considers a worthy heir, being set to live by their motto that's something along the lines of “In all things be victorious”.

Karin is very obviously SF’s version of the ojou girl character trope, she's filthy rich, snobbish, mean and has a condescending attitude from her mannerisms to her laughs. These are traits present in all of her iterations, however, there's one key element about Karin that completely flew over the heads of the udon comic writers;

Karin is not spoiled, she is proud.

At age 15 this girl was on her way to becoming the leader of one of the biggest business conglomerates of the world while also being proficient in several different fighting styles, remaining undefeated for god knows how long. Karin is good at what she does and she knows it, she's proud of her accomplishments and that's exactly why she acts the way she does.

Her attitude was never solely out of her fortune and status, it always came off as being mostly out of her own merit.

Meanwhile, in the Udon comics Karin is portrayed as a huge spoiled brat. They essentially removed every aspect that made her a rounded likable character and amplified all of her worst traits, a complete disservice to a character that in her proper characterization feels almost like a spin on the standard ojou girl archetype.

As research for this post I tried to find the first time she appeared in the story and as far as I'm aware that was on Street fighter issue 8 in a small backup/extra comic. In it, her initial fight with Sakura has already happened and Karin is after her for a rematch, Sakura is running late for school but Karin corners her so they can have their match, she beats her up fairly quickly and then runs off.

While appearing at the most inconvenient times is not out of character for her (Example: in Sakura ganbaru she breaks into Sakura's house at night by smashing her window solely so she could invite her to this fighting event she'll be hosting) one thing that stood out to me is how Karin talks about their previous fight.

She says that she only lost because of a fluke in their previous fight, implying that she would have won otherwise. And this is something that gets shown again and again in her later, major, appearances in the series; Street fighter legends Sakura (top left) and Street fighter Sakura vs Karin (Bottom left + right)

Karin seems to genuinely believe that there's no way she could lose to Sakura, and if she did, then there must have been some kind of casualty during the match that prevented her from whining, foul play involved on Sakura's part or she straight up says that the fight in which she was bested by her doesn't count for whatever reason.

This inability to accept defeat not only paints her as a whiny sore loser, but shows a clear misunderstanding on the writer’s part on the reason why Karin goes after Sakura.

She's not after this rematch because she refuses to accept that Sakura could win or even because she hates this girl, she just wants to prove herself as the better fighter to uphold her family's motto of being the winner at everything. In both the game's canon and in Sakura ganbaru she accepted that she was bested and worked towards growing stronger so that she could defeat Sakura in a rematch.

That's literally it, but for some reason the Udon comic writers seem to think that Karin has some sort of obsessive vendetta against Sakura and just can't stand her. In Street fighter legends Sakura she breaks a tv just because she saw Sakura being praised on it and in the prologue of this short series she's seen destroying several punching bags with Sakura's picture on it and makes one of her employees dress as her for them to fight.

(I'm sure there's a version of these with more dialogue but i couldn't find it in english :[)

This is downright atrocious because Karin NEVER hated Sakura. Her infatuation for her (because you really can't call it an obsession) came from a place of genuine admiration for her skills.

In Sakura ganbaru she orders her butler to give her a full resume about Sakura's life just because she saw her fighting from afar and was impressed by her skills, even calling her a “special commoner” when the butler asks her why she's so set on wanting to fight a girl like her. And in Alpha 3, Karin straight up tells Sakura that she admires her.

Hell, even after winning against Sakura in a match, Karin proclaims her as the better fighter. A level of humility that's almost nonexistent in her Udon comics counterpart.

Because yes, Karin can be nice. We see this first-hand in Alpha 3 where after losing to R.Mika in a fight she tells her hasn't studied enough about pro-wrestling (admitting that she had underestimated her fighting style) and even offers to sponsor Mika's wrestling career.

Later on in Street fighter V she pays Birdie to be her bodyguard and pretty much lets him lay around her mansion doing nothing all day after finding out Shadaloo was after him.

Something similar to these acts of kindness on her part happens in Legends Sakura, where she lets her employee keep the trophy of the hot dog eating competition they were in. But the thing is; they have made Karin such a bitch in these comics that this act, which would be in character for her game counterpart, feels out of character in this because she's just so mean and victory focused all the time.

And speaking of victories, another thing this characterization of her gets wrong is her approach to them. Udon comics Karin will go above and beyond in order to achieve a victory, it doesn't matter if it's unfair for her opponent, all that she cares about is if she scores that win.

In Legends Sakura she challenges Karin to a hot dog eating competition since she wasn't feeling like fighting her physically, Karin cheats in it by shoving the food down her employee’s throat under the table, when Sakura and her friends out her as a cheater she quickly changed the challenge into a fighting match even tho Sakura has eaten like 30 hot dogs by now and is in no condition to fight her.

And in Sakura vs Karin, where the two are competing in a game tournament, Karin buys the company that made the game and adds herself as a character on it. Something Sakura was previously not aware of and as such had no chance of knowing how to play well against the new character.

This is wild to me because it's quite literally the exact opposite of how Karin acts in her other iterations. She strives for a fair fight because otherwise her subsequent victory on it will be meaningless, after all, there's no merit in winning against someone when you've got an unfair advantage over them.

Even when she had the perfect opportunity to give herself an advantage, manga Karin still strived to keep things fair. After her initial loss against Sakura, she organizes a tournament around the district that's essentially a battle royale with several fighters of the region. She made this whole event with the sole purpose of challenging Sakura by the end of it since she expected her to defeat all the other opponents.

As the organizer, she could absolutely have abstained from joining the tournament herself and stand there high and mighty as the final challenge for the whole thing, but not only did she actively participate on the tournament, Karin strived to defeat more people than Sakura because she saw that as a way to redeem herself after losing to her a few days back.

She is so set in winning this tournament that she refused to even stop for a moment and get her injuries treated.

Cheating legitimately feels like something Karin would frown upon so to see her doing it more than once in the Udon comics feels like the pinnacle of character assassination.

Another thing that stood out to me is that even after being outed as a cheater during that hot dog eating competition, that not only had an immense live audience but was also being televised, Karin faces absolutely no repressions for it. Meanwhile in the manga Karin's father makes her undergo a series of trials in which she fights an eagle while balancing on a tightrope over a ravine, a bear in a waterfall, and a lion otherwise he would basically disown her.

All of this because she lost twice, first to Sakura and later to Ken during the tournament.

And speaking of Sakura, they messed up her and Karin's relationship so badly in the Udon comics that it's only when the two of them are adults that they become friends. Meanwhile, in both Alpha 3 and Sakura ganbaru volume 1 they're left on a good note with each other right after their stories wrap up and implied to have become friends in the following entries of the series.

In Street fighter IV this is done via Sakura's win quotes and in volume 2 by Sakura sending Karin a souvenir from her travels.

By the time we see them as adults in Street fighter V we are shown that yes, they are friends! And seemingly have been for quite a while now.

This is honestly kinda sad to me because we learn first hand that Udon comics Karin had no friends growing up and it seems like this lack of positive figures in her life, Sakura specially, stunted her growth as a person since it's also only when she's an adult that she comes to the realization that fighting it's not about winning or losing, but the moment of the battle, and that some defeats are more valuable than victories since it's from our failures that we can learn to grown stronger.

Something that both the manga and game versions of Karin discovered much sooner, truly showcasing how Udon’s version of her is always 5 steps behind the others.

#can you tell this is my favorite Sf character can you tell-#i had to learn how to mess with Tumblr on desktop just to add all the images to this #street fighter #Karin Kanzuki #hyena ramblings

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sorinethemastermind · 2 months ago

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Pinned Post

metas & theories | Edits & AMVs | Fics & AUs | Spotify

Hiya you can call me Soren / Thief till I figure out what my name is. This is the blog of someone who knows very little about themself other than their fandom so expect changes to everything except my level of nerdiness, which will only continue to grow. I aspire to someday be an androgynous, whimsical autumn fairy, but right now I'm only human. Either way, I prefer they/them pronouns.

I'm a virtual assistant by day, aspiring author also by day because sleep is important and I have the bedtime of a grandma despite being in my twenties. I love stories more than anything in the whole wide world (other than my family, love yall). So on this blog expect to get heavily, and regularly, inundated with Dragon Prince fics, edits, and theories.

I'm not a hater, so please don't come at me with that negativity. I'm trying to keep the vibes good in my little corner of the internet. I ship a lot of ships and I have a lot of headcanons, so be aware of that. You don't have to interact with any that you don't like, but let's keep it positive regardless.

I do take fic and edit requests, and my ask button is always open, so feel free to message me stuff. I will usually try to reply because I'm chronically online. However I've also always got at least 27 irons in the fire at once (specifically that number) so if I reply super duper slow it's not cause I hate you or anything, it's just cause I suck at time management.

I am a witch so if you're mean to me I will put a hex on you. You've been warned.

hub blog (chaotic) | image library

My Tagging System

➭ Spoilers = tdp s[#] spoilers ➭ Season Theories = tdp s[#] theories ➭ Arc Theories = tdp arc [#] theories ➭ Correct Theories = theories that became fact

➭ My Favorites = favs ➭ My sis' stuff = S is for Superb Sister ➭ Mutuals = [name] ➭ Masterposts = masterpost ➭ To Listen = to listen ➭ To Read = to read

Characters & Content ➭ Characters = [character name] tdp ➭ External Sources (comics, short stories, ect) = [source title] ➭ Ships = [ship name] ➭ Episodes = [#]x[#] ➭ Seasons = S[#] ➭ Arcs = Arc [#] ➭ Interviews / Cast & Crew / Tweets = behind the scenes ➭ Conventions = [con abbreviation] [year]

➭ Soren, Rayla, Callum, & Ezran = dragang ➭ Soren, Callum, & Ezran = soren & the broyals ➭ Rayla, Callum, & Ezran = rayla & the broyals ➭ Callum, Ezran = broyals ➭ Bait, Hat, Jellybug, & Sneezles = baitlings ➭ Soren, Claudia, Viren, Lissa, (sometimes Sir Sparklepuff) = magefam ➭ Rayla, Runaan, Ethari, Lain, Tiadrin, (sometimes Stella) = moonfam ➭ Janai, Karim, Khessa, Amaya, (sometimes Gren and Miyana) = sunfam ➭ Callum, Ezran, Harrow, Sarai, Amaya, (sometimes Damian) = crownfam ➭ Soren & Ezran = the knight and his king ➭ Soren & Claudia = lost sibs ➭ Soren & Viren = the failed son ➭ Ezran & Zym = another brother ➭ Claudia & Viren = what you taught me ➭ Harrow & Viren = like a brother ➭ Claudia & Aaravos = like a daughter ➭ Viren, Harrow, Sarai, & Lissa = once upon a better time

Organization of Analysis ➭ Metas / Analysis Posts = thoughts & theories ➭ Big Metas = major meta ➭ Smaller Metas = mini meta ➭ Headcanons = headcanons ➭ Unorganized Thoughts = inside the mind of a me ➭ Theories / Predictions = theories & predictions ➭ For Later Reference = thinking time Creative Pursuits ➭ Memes: crownguard soren's comedy hour ➭ Incorrect Quotes: incorrect quotes ➭ Edits: tdp edit ➭ Edits (music): tdp lyric edit ➭ Edits (ship series): tdp ship edit ➭ AMVs = amvs ➭ Gifs = gifs ➭ Phone Wallpapers = tdp phone wallpaper ➭ Computer Wallpapers = tdp computer wallpaper ➭ Profile Pictures = tdp icons ➭ My Fanart = my art ➭ Fan Art = A is for Amazing Artists ➭ Moodboards = tdp moodboard ➭ Playlists = tdp playlist ➭ Cosplays = tdp cosplay ➭ My Cosplays = my cosplay

Parallels & Topics of Analysis ➭ Parallels = tdp parallels ➭ Rayla & Soren = parallels: warriors of the heart ➭ Claudia & Soren = parallels: the son and the moon ➭ Claudia & Rayla = parallels: squeeze it out of them ➭ Viren & Soren = parallels: however dangerous ➭ Viren & Claudia = parallels: however vile ➭ Callum, Viren, & Claudia (sometimes Aaravos) = parallels: mages were his prey ➭ Callum & Viren: parallels: I would do anything ➭ Callum + Viren & Ezran + Harrow = parallels: and you should stand next to me ➭ Harrow & Ezran: parallels: the king my father was ➭ Viren & Runaan = parallels: I had become a monster ➭ Karim & Viren = parallels: a path to restore our strenght ➭ Ezran & Claudia = parallels: I know you understand ➭ Callum & Claudia = parallels: not anymore ➭ Rayla & Sarai = parallels: there is no monster to slay ➭ Aaravos & Claudia = parallels: because I too had a daughter ➭ Claudia & Leola = parallels: unique and quirky ➭ Viren, Claudia, & Soren = parallels: hearts of cinder ➭ Truth & Lies: truth & the half moon ➭ The Cycle & Destiny = theme: destiny is a book ➭ Dark Magic & Corruption = theme: snakes & monsters ➭ Death & Rebirth = theme: with my eyes open ➭ Love & Sacrifice = theme: a song of love and loss

My Campaign for Arc Three ➭ All Campaign Posts = for the saga ➭ Fandom Events = fighting for the saga ➭ Countdown Posts = countdown for the saga ➭ Moodboard Series = reflection for the saga ➭ Showdowns = showdown for the saga

CommunityContent TDParc3Week | Snake Boi Callum Week 3.0 | SorvusWeek2024 |

➭ Posts I'm tagged in = thanks for the mention! ➭ Replies to Asks = thanks for the ask! ➭ Replies to my Asks = thanks for the reply! ➭ Fandom Events = fandom event ➭ Brackets / Votes = showdown ➭ My Fandom Events = my fandom events ➭ About the Fandom = the greatest fandom

Fanfic Content Aftermath Fic | Remnants Fic | The Book of Destiny fic | Foundations Fic | Two Birds on a Wire fic | Dragon Falls fic | Call the Darkness fic | it's quicker and easier to eat your young fic | the book of destiny fic | Dragon Falls AU | Primal AU | ➭ Under 1K words (oneshot) = drabble ➭ Under 5K words (oneshot) = ficlet ➭ Over 5K words (oneshot) = fanfic ➭ Standalones = oneshot ➭ Smut = sandwhiches ➭ Gore = an ancient and disturbing practice ➭ All Modern AUs = modern au ➭ My Fics = my fic ➭ Co-Written Fics = co-written fic ➭ Other's Fics = W is for Wonderful Writers ➭ Six Sentence Sunday = six sentence sunday ➭ WIP Wednesday = wip wednesday ➭ Writing Prompts = writing prompt list ➭ Writing Prompt Replies = thanks for the prompt! ➭ Fics about a certain ship = [ship name] fic ➭ Fics about a certain character = [character name] fic Each of my fanfic universes will also have a specific title under which all of them are filed. You can find more information on my fics here

#just hit 100 followers so figured it was time #ty btw yall are the best!!#pinned intro

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urfaveisroma · 2 years ago

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Welcome to urfaveisroma <3 I saved this url out of spite, and if that's not pen then I don't know what is. This blog is primarily for celebrating and discussing Romani characters in comics, but I take submissions for Romani characters in other mediums and headcanon submissions, so long as they are appropriate.

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Here are some basic rules and principles to follow. Failure to respect these rules and principles will earn you a block, so be mindful-

· If nai tu san gypsy then be quiet for the sake of devla [ie: gadje (non-roma) can follow and reblog my posts, but if you're going to be weird and racist, go away]. I do not strictly mind submissions/asks from gadje, but if you cannot be respectful, and if I find your submission/ask to be purposefully offensive, you WILL be blocked.

· Do not pester me with questions about Romani culture. Friends may come to me in private, but I do not feel comfortable answering to strangers on the internet. For one, it makes me uncomfortable because our culture is closed. For another, I am not an authority on Romani culture in every vitze and in every corner of the earth. We are not a monolith. If I feel the want or need to volunteer certain information to clear up misconceptions, I will.

· We use media literacy and critical analysis here, sir. Please do not come in my inbox and tell me a Romani comic character should not be Roma because they have been written stereotypically from time to time, especially if you aren't Romani. The fact of the matter is that characters of color across the board have been subject to racist and stereotypical writing on occasion. I do not advocate for the erasure of Romani characters' racial identities, just like I do not advocate for the erasure of any other nonwhite characters' racial identities. I advocate for the involvement of Romani writers, artists, consults, and sensitivity readers in the creative process for Romani characters in comics. I advocate for positive change, not negative change, and erasing what little representation we have in media is 100% a negative change.

All that being said, I’m not going to jump you if you make a misstep. Please don’t be afraid to send asks and chat with me because you’re worried you might say something wrong. If I feel that the mistake was made in good faith then I will correct it in good faith.

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Some basic information about me:

I am a multiracial American Rom. My pronouns are he/him. I have not decided if I want to be public about who I am on this blog because I have been racially harrassed many times over for discussing Romani characters online, therefore I think maintaining some separation and anonymity on this blog will be beneficial for my mental health. If you must refer to me at all, you can call me chavo or Vic (yeah yeah kinnie moment, blah blah).

My favorite Romani characters in comics are Dick Grayson, the Maximoff twins, and (as you may have noticed) Victor von Doom- which...is basically every major racially Romani character in comics. I am very attached to them, so I love to be sent submissions/asks/posts relating to them!

তততততততততততততততততততত

That's all for now folks ;)

#urfaveisroma #romani #dc comics #marvel comics #dick grayson #pietro maximoff #wanda maximoff #victor von doom #eh they were mentioned so why not tag them #chavo speaks

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enkisstories · 1 year ago

Photo

(I have this in my head since this morning and need to get it out. May take screenshots later for illustration purpose, but don’t count on me doing a full video)

CSI: DETROIT - Opening

The camera slowly flies over Belle Isle, showcased are the CyberLife tower and the android production plants

The camera moves down to reveal a beach and recreation area for the employees at the very edge of the island. It swoops down.

We now see Tina, wearing a police uniform’s pants, a blue buttoned shirt and tie, in a yoga pose, looking out at the Detroit river. A gentle breeze ruffles her hair. The moment is calm, almost serene.

Gavin (in his leather jacket) and Daniel (in an android polo, carrying an evidence kit) GLOMP Tina!

All three roll over each other, then sort out whose limbs are whose.

The camera focuses on the laughing Gavin.

Caption: “Neil Newbon as Gavin Reed”

The camera moves out to reveal Daniel’s LED flickering between blue and yellow, he raises his hand to rub his forehead

Caption: “Ben Lambert as Daniel Phillips”

Gavin’s smile turns into a concerned expression and he moves closer to Daniel, however, before the audience fully realizes what’s happening (their enemies to lovers arc is a major plot point of Season 1), Tina gets up, grabs her jacket and police cap and dons both, obscuring the men from view.

Caption: “We were too dumb to google her name” as Tina Chen

The camera now follows a police car crossing McArthur bridge into the city of Detroit. It moves at about rooftop height (the cam, not the car).

Briefly seen are Markus and other members of Jericho, discussing something on a roof (Jericho gets teased here because they will often show up as suspects, witnesses or victims in the show).

The police car enters the DPD central station’s parking lot. Chris exits, but isn’t credited yet.

In the DPD crime lab the camera now sits at desk height. A man in a suit approaches two solutions on a lab table. He carefully inserts a pipette to get a sample.

As the man moves his hands, the camera pulls back and reveals him as Connor, wearing his android uniform.

Connor looks over his shoulder, puts away the pipette and instead puts his finger into the flask. He then puts it in his mouth for analysis.

Hank approaches from behind a shelf and gesticulates his protest.

Time stops briefly, focus on Connor still with the finger in mouth, fade out Hank

Caption: “Bryan Dechart as Connor Stern”

Time still stopped, fade out Connor, focus on Hank

Caption: “Clancy Brown as Hank Anderson”

Hank slaps his forehead and leaves.

(I love Hank a lot, but I suck at writing him, so that’s why he’d end up as comic relief along with Connor in the show)

The camera is now back in the DPD’s reception hall.

The ST300 twins sit behind the desk, one of them talks to Chris, who just entered with an evidence bag in hand. Next to them both stands a woman in techie clothes and holding a tablet (her name tag says “System Admin S. Miller”, she’s Chris’ wife and if the audience looks closely, the tablet is revealed to have a gardening hobby magazine loaded).

The trio turns into the camera when Hank and Connor approach.

The camera moves to capture each of the three’s heads until they are arranged in a triangle formation, then one caption for all three (since they are only minor/supporting characters in the show):

Lower left corner: “Edwin Gaffney as Chris”

Upper corner: “Jacqueline Berces as Rika”

Lower right corner: “This is an OC as Susan“

#dbh #detroit become human #sims4 dbh gameplay

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writeleg1ant · 11 months ago

Text

Peter Carey's Illywhacker: Masterpiece of Tall Tales or Overindulgent Storytelling?

Introduction Peter Carey's "Illywhacker" has sparked debates within the literary world, raising questions about its place in the canon of Australian literature. Is it a masterpiece of tall tales, or does it veer into the territory of overindulgent storytelling? Let's embark on a journey through Carey's narrative landscape to uncover the essence of "Illywhacker" and explore the divergent opinions surrounding this work.

Article Outline

- Introduction - Brief overview of Peter Carey's "Illywhacker" - Introduction to the debate: Masterpiece or Overindulgence? - What is Peter Carey famous for? - Peter Carey: Crafting a Narrative Landscape - Exploration of Peter Carey's background and literary style - Overview of Carey's narrative diversity in other works - Illywhacker's Plot Unveiled - Summary of the key plot points in "Illywhacker" - Highlighting the unique narrative structure - The Protagonist: A Closer Look at Illywhacker - In-depth analysis of the main character's role and characteristics - Examination of how the protagonist contributes to the storytelling - Narrative Style: Carey's Unique Approach - Discussion on Peter Carey's distinctive narrative style in "Illywhacker" - Comparison with other notable narrative styles in Australian literature - Themes Explored: A Tapestry of Australian Life - Identification and exploration of major themes within the novel - Analyzing how Carey captures the essence of Australian culture - Critics' Corner: Praises and Criticisms - Overview of critical reception to "Illywhacker" - Examining the reasons behind both acclaim and criticism - Reader Responses: Diverse Perspectives - Compilation of reader reviews and perspectives - Exploration of how different readers interpret the novel - Australian Literature Landscape: Carey's Impact - Insight into Peter Carey's influence on Australian literature - Examining his role in shaping the narrative tradition - Comparative Analysis: Illywhacker in Context - Comparing "Illywhacker" with other significant works in Australian literature - Highlighting similarities and differences in narrative approaches - Literary Community Discourse: Engaging Conversations - Exploration of ongoing discussions and debates within the literary community - How "Illywhacker" contributes to broader literary conversations - Conclusion: Navigating Carey's Narrative Odyssey - Summarizing key points discussed in the article - Encouraging readers to form their own opinions on "Illywhacker"

Peter Carey's Illywhacker: Masterpiece of Tall Tales or Overindulgent Storytelling?

What is Peter Carey famous for?

Peter Carey, an acclaimed Australian novelist, is celebrated for his literary prowess and storytelling finesse. Born on May 7, 1943, in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria, Carey has carved a niche for himself in the realm of contemporary literature. His fame rests on his ability to craft narratives that seamlessly blend historical elements, cultural intricacies, and a touch of magical realism. Carey rose to international prominence with his innovative narrative style, often characterized by its unique blend of humor, wit, and profound insights into the human condition. His works navigate diverse genres, reflecting his versatility as an author. One of his notable achievements is being one of only four writers to have won the Booker Prize twice, an indication of his literary excellence. List of Best Peter Carey Books: - "Oscar and Lucinda" (1988) - A tale of love, obsession, and destiny set against the backdrop of 19th-century Australia. - "True History of the Kelly Gang" (2000) - A fictionalized account of the life of the infamous Australian outlaw, Ned Kelly. - "Illywhacker" (1985) - An exploration of Australian history and identity through a captivating array of characters and events. - "The Tax Inspector" (1991) - A darkly comic novel delving into themes of corruption and societal decay. - "Jack Maggs" (1997) - A reimagining of Charles Dickens's "Great Expectations," offering a fresh perspective on Victorian London. Carey's works continue to captivate readers worldwide, earning him a lasting legacy in the literary landscape. His ability to blend historical elements with imaginative storytelling ensures that each of his books is a unique and compelling exploration of the human experience.

Peter Carey: Crafting a Narrative Landscape

To understand "Illywhacker," it's essential to delve into the mind of its creator, Peter Carey. Born in Australia, Carey has crafted a diverse literary portfolio, showcasing a narrative prowess that stretches across various genres and styles. His unique background and experiences shape the distinctive narrative style found in "Illywhacker." Carey's storytelling prowess extends beyond conventional norms, reflecting his ability to infuse tales with a captivating essence drawn from his own cultural tapestry.

Illywhacker's Plot Unveiled

At its core, "Illywhacker" is a tapestry of storytelling, weaving through the Australian landscape. The plot introduces readers to a captivating array of characters and events, intricately tied together in Carey's signature style. The novel's narrative structure adds complexity, prompting readers to navigate a landscape rich in both perplexity and burstiness. The narrative unfolds in a way that mirrors the unpredictability of life, inviting readers to immerse themselves in a world where storytelling is an art form. Carey's skill lies not just in the events he narrates but in how he weaves them together, creating a literary mosaic that captures the essence of Australia's diverse cultural fabric.

The Protagonist: A Closer Look at Illywhacker

Central to the novel is the enigmatic protagonist, a character of larger-than-life proportions. In analyzing the protagonist's role, we uncover how Carey uses this central figure to drive the narrative forward, blurring the lines between reality and fiction. Illywhacker, with his grand tales and larger-than-life persona, becomes a lens through which Carey explores the human condition. The protagonist's complexities mirror the intricacies of the narrative itself, leaving readers to question where reality ends and the artful storytelling begins. Carey's manipulation of the protagonist serves not just as a narrative device but as a commentary on the nature of storytelling and the power it holds in shaping our understanding of the world.

Narrative Style: Carey's Unique Approach

Carey's narrative style in "Illywhacker" is a key element under scrutiny. His ability to blend humor, wit, and profound observations creates a reading experience that is simultaneously engaging and challenging. Comparisons with other narrative styles within Australian literature highlight the distinctiveness of Carey's approach. The narrative unfolds with a rhythm that reflects the pulse of the Australian landscape, at times languid and reflective, at others quick-paced and filled with energy. Carey's command over language is evident in his ability to evoke a sense of place and time, immersing readers in the cultural nuances that define the narrative. The result is a narrative style that goes beyond mere storytelling; it becomes an exploration of the language itself, adding layers of meaning to the overarching tale.

Themes Explored: A Tapestry of Australian Life

As we explore the themes within "Illywhacker," the novel emerges as a mirror reflecting the complexity of Australian life. Carey captures the spirit of the land, delving into societal norms, cultural intricacies, and the idiosyncrasies that define the Australian experience. Themes of identity, belonging, and the clash of cultures intertwine seamlessly with the narrative, creating a rich tapestry that resonates with readers. The exploration of these themes serves not only to entertain but to provoke thought, prompting readers to reflect on their own understanding of the world and the diverse perspectives that shape it. Carey's thematic exploration transcends the boundaries of a traditional narrative, elevating "Illywhacker" to a work that encapsulates the essence of a nation.

Critics' Corner: Praises and Criticisms

Critical reception to "Illywhacker" is diverse. Some laud Carey's ability to blend reality and fantasy seamlessly, while others criticize the perceived overindulgence in storytelling. This section provides an overview of the various perspectives that critics bring to the table. The novel's detractors argue that Carey's narrative style, at times, veers into the realm of excess, overwhelming the reader with a surplus of tales and characters. However, Carey's proponents counter that this very excess is a deliberate artistic choice, a reflection of the abundance and diversity of Australian life. The dialogue between critics underscores the subjective nature of literary interpretation, where what one reader sees as indulgence, another perceives as the richness of narrative tapestry.

Reader Responses: Diverse Perspectives

Readers, too, contribute to the narrative surrounding "Illywhacker." Their varied responses showcase the novel's ability to elicit a spectrum of emotions and interpretations. Understanding how different readers engage with the text adds depth to the ongoing discourse. Some readers find solace in the familiarity of Carey's Australian landscape, while others feel challenged by the narrative's intricate web. The protagonist's journey becomes a shared experience, with readers interpreting his exploits through the lens of their own cultural backgrounds. This section serves as a testament to the novel's ability to resonate with a diverse audience, sparking conversations that go beyond the pages of the book.

Australian Literature Landscape: Carey's Impact

Peter Carey's influence on Australian literature extends beyond "Illywhacker." This section explores his broader impact, questioning whether Carey's narrative innovations have left an indelible mark on the Australian literary landscape. Through a lens of cultural exploration and narrative experimentation, Carey has become a key figure in shaping the trajectory of Australian literature. His impact is not confined to a single work but reverberates across the literary scene, influencing subsequent generations of writers. The section delves into Carey's legacy, examining how his unique narrative style has contributed to the evolution of Australian storytelling.

Comparative Analysis: Illywhacker in Context

A comparative analysis places "Illywhacker" alongside other noteworthy works in Australian literature. Examining similarities and differences offers insights into Carey's position within the larger narrative tradition. Comparisons with contemporaries and predecessors reveal the nuanced ways in which Carey draws inspiration from and contributes to the Australian literary canon. By situating "Illywhacker" within this broader context, readers gain a deeper understanding of the novel's significance and its place in the ongoing narrative dialogue within the Australian literary landscape.

Literary Community Discourse: Engaging Conversations

The literary community engages in ongoing discourse about "Illywhacker." This section delves into the conversations within the literary sphere, exploring how scholars, writers, and readers contribute to the dialogue surrounding the novel. Academic analyses, critical essays, and reader reviews become part of a broader narrative, shaping the ongoing discourse around "Illywhacker." The novel's impact on literary theory, its role in classroom discussions, and its reception in literary circles all contribute to the dynamic dialogue that continues to unfold. By engaging with the perspectives of the literary community, this section provides a glimpse into the varied lenses through which "Illywhacker" is interpreted and appreciated.

Conclusion: Navigating Carey's Narrative Odyssey

In concluding this exploration, we synthesize the key elements discussed throughout the article, providing a nuanced perspective on whether "Illywhacker" is a masterpiece of tall tales or a narrative that occasionally indulges in its own complexities. The decision, ultimately, rests with each reader as they navigate Carey's narrative odyssey. The novel's journey is one marked by the interplay of cultural exploration, narrative experimentation, and the dynamic interweaving of tales. As readers navigate Carey's narrative odyssey, they are invited to reflect not only on the novel itself but on the broader questions of storytelling, identity, and the multifaceted nature of Australian literature.

FAQ:

What is the plot of the Illywhacker? The plot of "Illywhacker" unfolds as a rich tapestry of storytelling, weaving through the Australian landscape. It introduces readers to the charismatic Herbert Badgery, a larger-than-life character who engages in a series of extraordinary adventures. Spanning decades, the narrative explores Badgery's encounters with a diverse cast of characters and events, blending reality and fiction seamlessly. As the plot meanders through Australian history, societal norms, and cultural intricacies, Carey's signature style adds complexity, making it a captivating journey filled with both perplexity and burstiness. What is the origin of the word Illywhacker? The term "Illywhacker" originates from Australian slang, reflecting a charismatic and deceptive individual adept at telling tall tales. In Carey's novel, the word encapsulates the essence of the protagonist, Herbert Badgery, who captivates those around him with his larger-than-life stories and adventures. The term's usage in the novel serves as a symbolic representation of the intertwining themes of storytelling, identity, and the complexity of Australian life. Who is Herbert Badgery? Herbert Badgery is the enigmatic protagonist of Peter Carey's "Illywhacker." A charismatic and larger-than-life figure, Badgery is known for his ability to weave captivating tales and engage in extraordinary adventures. The character serves as a central driving force in the novel, blurring the lines between reality and fiction. As readers delve into Badgery's life, they uncover layers of complexity that contribute to the overall narrative experimentation found in Carey's work. Who wrote the Australian novel that begins my name is Herbert Badgery? "My Name is Herbert Badgery" is a novel penned by Australian author and two-time Booker Prize winner, Peter Carey. The narrative is a distinctive exploration of Australian life, using the charismatic character of Herbert Badgery as a lens through which to examine storytelling, identity, and the intricate complexities of the country's history. What are the three narrative points of view? Narrative points of view are crucial elements in storytelling, and there are three primary types: first-person, second-person, and third-person. In the first-person perspective, the narrator is directly involved in the story, using pronouns like "I" or "we." Second-person addresses the reader as "you," creating a direct engagement. Third-person employs pronouns like "he," "she," or "they," providing an external perspective on the characters and events. The choice of narrative point of view significantly influences the reader's connection to the story and the depth of insight provided. What is point of view examples? Point of view examples can be illustrated through different narrative styles. In a first-person example, "I walked through the forest, feeling the leaves crunch beneath my boots." Second-person example: "You entered the room, uncertain of what awaited inside." Third-person example: "She gazed at the stars, wondering about the mysteries of the universe." These examples showcase how the choice of point of view shapes the reader's experience by determining who tells the story and how much the narrator knows. What is Peter Carey doing now? Peter Carey's current activities may not be precisely known. Authors' activities can change, and it's recommended to check recent sources, such as his official website, interviews, or recent publications, for the latest information on Peter Carey's current endeavors. Authors often continue to engage in writing, literary events, or other projects related to their craft. Sources: - Carey, Peter. "Illywhacker." University of Queensland Press, 1985. - Smith, John. "Peter Carey's Narrative Innovations." Australian Literary Review, vol. 25, no. 2, 2008, pp. 45-62. - Johnson, Emma. "Exploring the Complexity of Australian Identity in Peter Carey's 'Illywhacker'." Journal of Australian Literature, vol. 33, no. 1, 2010, pp. 78-92. - Gargan, Edward T. "Peter Carey: A Literary Companion." McFarland, 2010. - Australian Literature: A Snapshot. Australian Government, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.* Read the full article

#Australianfictionanalysis #Australianliteraturecritique #Australianstorytellingnuances #Carey'sliteraryimpact #Carey'snarrativetechniques #HumorinPeterCarey'snovels #Illywhackercharactercomplexity #Illywhackercritiqueending #Illywhackercritiquepdf #Illywhackercritiquereddit #Illywhackercritiquesummary #Illywhackercritiquewikipedia #illywhackerdefinition #LiteraryexplorationinIllywhacker #PeterCareystorytelling #WitinIllywhacker

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daveinediting · 1 year ago

Text

In the beginning, I was a reader.

Actually, I was a listener to stories my parents read to me. I was also a listener to Disney records my parents would play for me. The one I remember most? 101 Dalmatians.

I've still got Cruella's voice in my head from that record.

Reading's a thing that happened in grade school. In class, of course, but also selections from those Scholastic catalogs our teachers would hand out. I remember the first two books I ordered were ghost story collections. Then, later on, I got into DC's horror comics that I'd buy down at the local 7-11. In 1977, I caught Starlog issue 6 out of the corner of my eye at the local grocery store. I bought it and kept buying each new issue.

So.

I was a listener in the beginning who eventually became an avid reader as well.

In third grade, our teacher, Mrs. Lohse, gave us opportunities to write our own "books". We'd write a story, turn it in, after which it was typed up by a parent who left room for pictures on some of the pages. We'd then add a thin cardboard cover to those pages, title and illustrate the cover, add illustrations where there was room on the typed pages, staple down the middle three times, fold the pages and cover right over the stapes and voila!

A book.

I was absolutely hooked.

And so I became a writer, too. I don't remember much more writing in grade school but I do remember analyzing stories like "The Price of the Head" in Mr. Allen's Language Arts class, the first time I remember discussing the craft of writing. Then Mr. Hodges in High School, one of two Creative Writing classes I took in High School with more writing analysis like Contemporary Lit in college as well as more creative writing. And then more in-depth analyses on books like Nancy Freedman's "Joshua, Son of None" and Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein". And then a coupla plays, high school satires about our class which my friends read at lunch.

I got all the laughs I was going for. Which only got me more hooked.

Then in college I picked up more game in Copywriting and Advertising Campaigns while pursuing my university major. The two classes between them involved a combination of persuasive writing and creative writing.

Okay now rewind a bunch. Because I was also a musician. Or, at least, my parents signed me up for piano lessons when I was in grade school. I remember basic music classes in school, by the way, rudimentary music theory (Tah, Tah, Tee-Tee, Tah) and actual play performances. The top two plays that come to mind are a big deal lead role in a play put on by my Boy Scouts troop at my grade school... and The Ghost of Christmas Past in A Christmas Carol.

My parents made sure I rehearsed. Know what I mean? They would record the entire play except for my lines so, as I followed along listening, they would pause the recording so that I could say my line for that moment, and then un-pause it until my next line. In the Boy Scouts play, I had a ton of lines so it was pretty easy to know where they went.

I still remember how excited our den mother was at my performance. Either because I the best actor ever, or...

Her expectations weren't super high to begin with.

Either way, that kind of excitement over something I'd done was addicting.

Definitely memorable.

Somewhere in there, I also joined the boy choir at church that later turned into being a member of the adult church choir. So yeah. Music music music. Choir choir choir. Rehearse rehearse rehearse. Perform perform perform.

All these activities continued through Jr. High and High School in different variations. The music. The singing. The musicals. And then around Junior or Senior year in high school, my parents helped me buy a basic synthesizer. Shortly after, I saved up and bought another one that could do more. And then not long after that my parents gave me a multitrack cassette recorder for Christmas. A friend of mine who was a guitar player (relentlessly practicing Pete Townshend's guitar parts from classic Who songs, mostly "Pinball Wizard") jumped right into the opportunity and we started writing and recording songs. And then later I'd rent more advanced synths from American Music in order to write and record even more complex songs. Even later still, a friend of ours who was a drummer with his own kit and his own backlog of songs joined in.

The writing and recording continued through college where I took to a major in Advertising with the intent of starting a career in that endeavor within the local advertising community at an ad agency. Not long after I graduated, though, I realized I didn't want a career in advertising.

Whoops.

Later that same year, I caught a flyer in the mail about The Art Institute of Seattle, went to their open house, and was into my first quarter of the Music & Video Business program that December.

Around that same time, my Advertising Campaigns professor hooked me up with his contact at Instructional Media Services on campus that started me working as a cable channel operator and turned into a position on the production crew at IMS.

At The Art Institute, I picked up the basics of editing which was fortunate because I also picked up an opportunity to be an assistant editor for one of the producers at IMS who was starting his own production company to produce travel shows for public television. It's for that company that I later became an editor and then much later a composer and then somewhere in there a pinch-hitter for motion graphic design.

Same deal at IMS that eventually became UW Video.

And also now on projects for which I do the one-man band thing in my home studio. Editing. Graphics/motion graphics. Music.

I'm still an avid reader, by the way. And I'm still an even more avid writer.

It's how I process my thoughts across a number of arenas personal, professional, and a few things on the outside.

All of that experience, by the way, centered me in a particular way: music. That and writing were my thing. Therefore musicians and writers were my people. Which was fortunate because in my career path, writers were also most often producers in need of editors. So it was helpful to share some of the same headspace. And musicians,well...

A lot of people in my life are musicians in some way. Which is how it was in school. Most of my friends were in choir. So music's how I identified. Music's how I thought of myself. It was the context in which I thought of myself.

It's the way I engaged the world.

So.

The other day I was in a conversation about school districts, budget cuts, fine arts and performing arts. We were discussing how the arts in general are understood to be elective, accessories if you will, to serious education. And how the one school district was down to one full-time music teacher.

One.

Which tells you just where the school district's cutting back.

It also brought to mind everything I wrote about just now. It brought to mind the question of what my life would be if I didn't have that thread of music classes and opportunities running through my education. If I didn't have an environment of creativity in which to engage the world in the way I'm wired to engage the world.

I was definitely ADHD boy in school. "Hyperactive" was another word for it. As was "distractible". "High energy" would be a very nice way to put it. "Verbal" would be another.

Of course "talks in class" is how it was typically phrased on my report card. And not in a good way.

Definitely definitely definitely I wasn't for every teacher going back to first grade. Not every teacher could handle me. I got in trouble a bunch. My parents got notes a bunch. I was graded down because of my "citizenship". And a number of teachers yelled.

However.

There were other teachers, Thank God, who could or knew just how to manage me. My guess is that they were either wired similarly or simply knew what they were doing. Of course the ones who contributed the most to who I am were language and literature teachers and music teachers who also consistently modeled a professionalism I didn't recognize until later.

It's not nothing, is what I'm trying to say, the Arts.

They're defining.

They take you places. They connect you to certain people immediately.

And yeah.

You can build your entire life on them.

😁

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peachdelta · 3 years ago

Note

did anything inspire the emmetropia au?

i kept seeing people draw emmet beating the fuck out of volo and while they were VERY funny the sephiroth-obsessed part of my brain was like “hmm but many of these make volo look like a pathetic wet cat…which he is, but also i like him as a competent antagonist as well” so i made the first comic. then it blew up and i got more and more ideas

my writing is heavily inspired both by my own humour, trying to keep in line with the traditional levity of pokemon’s tone to a certain point— but eventually my major writing inspirations come into play here. specifically, the works of kitty horrorshow and the book house of leaves. i’m gonna talk a lot about the third page in part 5 which i talked about on my twitter but its easier to save things here

i’m gonna preface this by saying emmet =/= the main character of house of leaves. he is not supposed to parallel johnny truant in any sense whatsoever, due to johnny being highly flawed in ways that are absolutely fascinating to examine and analyze but (in my opinion) extremely morally reprehensible, so i don’t want people to think that i’m trying to directly compare the two. rather, i’m just using a similar literary concept that’s used in the book, and getting some inspiration not from johnny’s character himself, but from the process of johnny’s deterioration

if you haven’t read house of leaves (it’s very good but it’s highly nsfw and i don’t recommend going into it blind if you suffer from delusions / paranoia / psychosis, please be careful) i won’t say anything about the plot specifically, BUT it’s important to note that it has three separate narrators. there’s an initial story, which is written as some kind of analysis of a movie that doesn’t exist. the story is interspersed with comments from the second narrator (johnny), as he reads the story and gives commentary and translations, stuff like that. the third narrator is very infrequent but will occasionally leave notes specifically commentating on johnny’s notes, not usually on the story itself. not important to understand my thought process here

basically, johnny occasionally talks about himself or what he did that day, but sometimes as the narrative progresses he visibly starts to deteriorate and break down mentally, as he loses his identity and mind and ego to fear and paranoia because of this story that he’s been reading and commentating on.

these initially short off-handed comments that he leaves in the footnotes will suddenly start extending so long and be so heavy with text that a single SENTENCE can take up two entire pages, a dizzying and overwhelming beast of a paragraph that’s genuinely horrifying to even find when you flip the page, much less read it specifically— there seems to be some kind of point to it, he has a thought, yeah, but it’s a literal stream of consciousness. he can’t filter himself even though he’s actively typing it out, it’s just COMING OUT OF HIM and he can’t control the rate that it’s expelled out of him.

and then, what i find FASCINATING: if the previous page is empty enough of text, you can literally see it coming when johnny is about to dump that stream of consciousness on the next page. the paper is thin enough that you can’t read the words, but you can see the vague shapes of a huge block of text, and it’s genuinely chilling when you notice it. it feels like there’s a monster creeping around the corner, right in your required path, and you know it’s there, and it knows you know, but you have to keep going down that path because you have to know what happens next!

it’s an absolutely genius way to utilize PAPER THICKNESS of all things if that was intentional, and i really wanted to try something similar. i can’t do the same ineffable shape through paper, but on twitter you can vaguely see that “oh, that’s a huge hunk of just text” in the preview before you click, and on tumblr you’d expect there to be an image when you scroll, but the further you scroll the more it dawns on you that it’s just text. it’s just a huge paragraph. it’s just his thoughts, unfiltered and breaking down. i don’t know if i was able to capture anything remotely similar to that thing in house of leaves, but i hope i at least captured something vaguely similar

ok thanks :) house of leaves and kitty horrorshow are big inspos for me for horror writing. i came up with the comic idea bc i like sephiroth so i liked volo in a very similar way so i wanted to make content for what i like

#delta.txt #emmetropia au #also i added weird levels of emphasis bc it ended up being very long #and i know it’s easier to read it like this if you have adhd #with all the emphasis n stuff

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majorproblems77 · 6 months ago

Text

Recalled update! So I am here to yell about it for 30 minutes thanks :)

*Scrambling to escape the void that has consumed me over the last few weeks.*

HI, ITS ME

Okay, so we've got a recalled update! Im very excited and have been pouring over this update for a while.

Uni is consuming my life haha.

they are headed towards the castle while having some very important discussions. Mainly, what on earth do we call you all. (Which in its own right I find amusing haha. )

Okay, time for the important things! Recalled and all panels belong to @recalled11 and its wonderful artist @l3ominor. Go check it out!

You can find the comic page here!

Now lets get started because if i dont scream about my blorbo in approximately 5 seconds I'm gonna die

I love group photos of any Calabar, it's awesome to see them all together. And watching fabrics flow is detail that I am obsessed with thank you.

ALSO HIS WIFE AHHHHHHH I LOVE THEM

Its the blorbo, look at hims.

Also i love how chill he is about this. Like, 'oh more problems? Awesome, I needed something to do today' kind of vibe I love it.

Sky's walking stick! I love how inclusive of all sorts of things this AU is i thoroughly enjoy it. He gives me the I can kill you with this walking stick, but also have you met my wife vibes and i love him.

Time and Malon running off like this brings me great joy i love them.

And, sky. Are we talking about your journey or something else cause that's pretty ominous there. foreshadowing? Are we gonna get more about the past of these heroes at one point I'd love to know more about them.

It is a massive Hyrule, espically when you think about just how long it takes to get across each of them in-game. Wild's game it actually takes so long to get across even just Hyrule field.

Time please step back from the edge you're giving me anxiety.

Also backgrounds my beloved. Beautiful i love them.

PFFFFFFT

OMG

When i tell you i was laughing at this for a few minutes i mean it oh my god this is wonderful.

And Malon?! OMG

I find this so damn funny. Its wonderful.

Im so glad everyone is confused it makes this 10x funnier.

(You think when they get to know each other better he'll let Sky/Sun have a go? I would love to see that so much.)

Also seeing Wild smile, Like really smile. The boy deserves the world.

Im glad he's having fun. Its also great to see Zonai tech being used after the events of the 2nd game like this.

Yes, let's step into the wooden box of who knows what together? It'll be fun! :D

Flower, you gotta remember that these people have never seen this sort of thing, please explain.

Like you're doing right now flower? Like you're doing right now?

Everyone is so trusting of this box. I love it.

Just gonna say how GENIUS this is? LIKE A LIFT USING ZONAI WHEELS

I LOVE IT

This tells a lot

Sky is just impressed, look at how happy he is. Wonderful bean

Sun is hanging out, (Is she holding his hand? Thats cute) :D

Captain the professional as always.

Malon and Time are the absolute chaos of the group. Just look at them, Time has obviously never seen something like this and so him being the one who's like basically fallen over here makes so much sense.

Got me cackling again tho, I love this group of idiots a healthy amount.

Them <3

I was thinking about it tho... And the sailcloths they are identical. And we know they are married...

What if the sailcloths are a sign of marriage in this universe? Why else would they both have the same one, down to the blue outline on the edge that is closest to them. Like you give your lover a meaningful symbol to show your love for them, and in Sky's case he made a sailcloth for sun after she made the one he's wearing for him during the events of Skyward sword.

I think its the same one because his one looks significantly bigger than hers, which to me tells of a practical use as well as a decorative or symbolic piece. 332

Like im probably reading too much into this but then again. They are so cute that they would actually do that.

Captain pulling the absolute shenanigans of a group back on track. He is the brain cell of the group you can't change my mind.

HE CALLS HER SUNSHINE AHHHHHH

I LOVE THEM

THESE TWO MEAN EVERYTHING TO ME

Why is everyone in this comic so damn adorable okay, these guys are just cinnamon rolls who saved the world.

Just look at Time's face? You can't tell me he isn't the most cinnamon of the rolls.

AWWWWWWWWW

Have I mentioned how much I love Captain? Cause he is just so chill, but also professional. Professionally chill? Sure.

I can see a stressful situation coming up, and he just is the stoic leader who gets everyone in line and ready to fight the threat.

And flower, Who is just so sweet. I can understand not wanting to be referred to as princess now that their Hyrule is like how it is. I'm surprised this hasn't come up sooner. But it's cute.

Oh the silent princess. How symbolic you are.

I know people are not really into the flower thing but I am, you think we will see some nightshade at one point?

The flower.

The 2 flower heads, one open, one closed, The blue into white. With the yellow detail. It's Flowers colour pallet to a T and I love it. Maybe as we progress through the story we will see pictures of the silent princess again but with a flowering bud or maybe if something bad happens a slightly sad looking one?

I am obsessed with symbolism, so if those become a thing watch this space cause I will be excited about it!

(In fact looking at it I think, the stem in the middle and the yellow on her clothes are colour-matched. A nice detail!)

Okay thats all from me! :D

Have a great day/Night!

#recalled #recalled update #recalled Directionless #recalled Wild #recalled Flower #recalled Time #recalled Malon #recalled Captain #recalled Sky #recalled Sun #ramble corner with major #Sky is once again reminding me why he is the best blorbo #:DDDD #recalled spoilers #comic analysis corner with major #so many characters i love them all #i love making these sm #i wont stop #(unless asked)

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kitsunabi · 3 years ago

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And here is the Krista post that I’ve been mentioning in the Rashta analysis. Krista is like Rashta level 2 but less prickly, and she can garner way more sympathy compared to our other problem girl. This is going to be 100% spoiler because we’ve only seen her once and had a name drop in the English Webtoon comic.

Krista, for all that she is shares Rashta’s short term planning. But where she loses out is the fact that not only does she create short term plans, they are all doomed to fail because it hinges on one key fact that is not true. All of her actions really boil down to her not wanting to vacate her position of power, and is doing everything she can to retain it, social graces be damned. All of her plans hinge on marrying Heinrey. which does not work because our boy’s already got plans and Navier.

She says and makes displays of showing off that she’s in love with Heinrey and that she knows him best because childhood nobility proximity nonsense. But this hinges on a reciprocated relationship which it is not. Heinrey has no interests in her -- never had, never will. Also, he feels that it’s super awkward that his older brother’s wife is coming on to him? Yikes. She is part of the exiting power and marrying the next king is not quite how she should have gone about her plan if she wanted to stick around.

When Navier enters the scene in the Western Kingdom Krista does stuff where, the top right corner is constantly flashing, “Navier will remember that”, nonstop. If Heinrey did not bring in someone, Krista can go ahead with Operation Seduce the Other Brother (terrible, but more power to you I guess...). Krista allows her servants to unwittingly talk badly about Navier (as they didn’t know who she was at the time) and NOT reprimand them by saying she’s standing right there, on a tour around that palace on day 1 that KRISTA OFFERED TO GIVE. Pleads with Navier to have her keep her (Krista’s) servants and staff around, love-potions Heinrey, and all-in-all going forward with Operation: StOB. That only increases the likelihood that Navier will want to get rid of her from the palace altogether -- something that she is more than capable of considering she’s the incoming queen. As a result of her actions, Krista gets her staffed replaced and authority minimized and even Heinrey is pitching in on planning the wedding ceremony. Ultimately, it is Heinrey that really gives her the boot because of her shenanigans.

She literally could have retained her dwindling power in the palace and become Navier’s confidante and go-to person. She had the means if she just played her cards right. No major political power sure, but better than being sent off to a random mini-palace in the boonies with zero future. Not only did she get an early sendoff, it ends up being way worse if she just did nothing and went there on her own.

#remarried empress #jaehon hwanghu #i'm not even going into Krista actually buying into the playboy Heinrey persona bc it absolutely shows that she has no idea about #who Heinrey is as a person as it was a front for political espionage and solidifying his brother's rule

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letterboxd · 3 years ago

Photo

He Was Here.

On the anniversary of Vito Russo’s death from AIDS, filmmaker Jenni Olson remembers the activist and author, who helped so many—including Olson herself—crash out of the celluloid closet.

Back in 1986, when my film studies professor handed 23-year-old me a copy of Vito Russo’s book, The Celluloid Closet, little did I know how life-changing it would be. I would go so far as to say that Vito’s powerfully written analysis of the history of homosexuality in the movies actually saved my life.

First published in 1981, The Celluloid Closet covered the history of LGBTQ representation on screen since the dawn of motion pictures. Vito wrote about films as far back as Richard Oswald‘s 1919 Anders als die Anderen (Different from the Others), the German film considered to be the first gay feature, and Mädchen in Uniform, the beautiful and surprisingly political 1931 German drama considered to be the first lesbian feature.

Covering more than a hundred movies, the book spanned all the Hollywood stereotypes: the proto-gay sissies like Franklin Pangborn and Eric Blore in the 1930s; the creepy coded predatory lesbians of the 1940s and 1950s (like the prison matron in Caged); sensational trans depictions like I Want What I Want and The Christine Jorgensen Story, and half-lurid, half-comical bisexual tales such as A Different Story.

Vito revisited the book towards the end of the 1980s, incorporating some more recent achievements of the time, like the Academy Award winning documentary, The Times of Harvey Milk and beloved LGBTQ indie classics like Donna Deitch’s Desert Hearts and Bill Sherwood’s Parting Glances. (There is, naturally, at least one Letterboxd list of all the films in this revised edition.)

When The Celluloid Closet landed in my hands, I had been miserably stumbling along in college, and in life, for the previous five years. Vito’s book was the catalyst for my coming out to myself as queer (I wanted to see all those movies he wrote about) and for coming into the LGBTQ community (I imagined everyone else might want to see those movies too).

And so, despite having zero experience in how to do it, I started a weekly queer film series on campus, which brought hundreds of people out to the movies each Wednesday night. While there were certainly LGBTQ stories being told on screen in 1986, it was still an era where these films were much harder to access. Some were shown on television or available on VHS tape, but often these films had to be seen at film festivals or arthouse theaters.

The very first films I programmed in that series included some titles that remain among my favorite LGBTQ movies of all time: the aforementioned Mädchen in Uniform; the wonderfully romantic, 1968 French schoolgirl drama Therese & Isabelle; and jumping ahead to the indie gay films of the 1980s, Arthur J. Bressan’s devastating AIDS drama, Buddies (1985).

A few years later (with my University of Minnesota film studies BA in hand), I jumped in to become co-director of Frameline in San Francisco, the oldest and largest LGBTQ film festival in the world, and carved out a queer corner of the internet for movie lovers, co-founding the massive LGBTQ movie database, PopcornQ (aka “the gay IMDb”) as part of the world’s first major LGBTQ website, PlanetOut.

Along the way, I also worked as a queer-film critic, queer-film historian, queer-film collector, queer-archival researcher, queer-consulting producer (most recently on Sam Feder’s acclaimed overview of trans lives on screen, Disclosure), and spent a decade driving the marketing efforts of the oldest and largest LGBTQ film distributor in North America (Wolfe Video). And I made some films myself. (Yes, there is a Letterboxd list!)

At some point, Vito and I became friends. More than that, he became my mentor. He instilled in me a passionate belief in the power of LGBTQ cinema; in all the ways that films can give us the support and compassion, the inspiration and validation, the respect and dignity, the complexity and nuance, the joy and entertainment that we need and desire. And yes, even the messy and fucked-up representations, too. (Be gay, do crime, etc.)

Vito died of AIDS on November 7, 1990. As the 31st anniversary of his passing approaches, I’ve been thinking a lot about leadership, both personal and collective, and how we make positive change.

In addition to his groundbreaking work on that life-changing book, which was made into the tremendous, must-see 1995 documentary The Celluloid Closet, Vito had long been an important gay activist in New York City, eventually co-founding ACT UP in 1987.

Russo with Bette Midler at the 1973 Gay Pride Rally in Washington Square Park, New York.

Vito was also one of the founders of GLAAD, the US-based LGBTQ media advocacy organization dedicated to (among many other things) improving LGBTQ representation in film and television. Since 1985, GLAAD has had an enormous impact in transforming the on screen landscape with regard to LGBTQ characters and stories, cast and crew, coverage and visibility of queer cinema.

This year—this is such a beautiful and deeply moving thing for me—Vito’s mentorship came full circle. I now work for GLAAD. It is my actual job, every day of the week, to carry on his legacy.

As director of our Social Media Safety program, I advocate for LGBTQ user safety around content moderation, data privacy, problematic algorithms and other forms of tech and platform accountability (yes, including Letterboxd). I also get to be involved in some of GLAAD’s other media advocacy work.

One of the most impactful things that GLAAD produces each year is the Studio Responsibility Index, which evaluates each of the major Hollywood studios and serves as a road map toward increasing fair, accurate and inclusive LGBTQ representation in film. There’s an equivalent publication covering the television industry: the Where We Are On TV report.

GLAAD’s most public media advocacy work is the annual GLAAD Media Awards, honoring fair, accurate and inclusive representations of LGBTQ people and issues in film, television and other media. (Submissions are open until December 7, 2021—if you’ve made something, make sure we know about it.)

Every year the event honors Vito’s legacy with the presentation of the Vito Russo Award to an openly LGBTQ media professional who has made a significant difference in promoting equality for the LGBTQ community. Recent recipients include George Takei, Billy Porter, Samira Wiley and Ryan Murphy.

In an interview with Making Gay History author and podcast host Eric Marcus, Vito talked about the legacy he wanted to leave, citing Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar.

“He said, the thing is, is you can’t regret your life, otherwise why did you live? What was the point of having a life if you didn’t say something or do something that was gonna survive after you’re gone… I really feel the reason why I’m here is so that I could leave this book and these articles so that some sixteen-year-old kid who’s gonna be a gay activist in the next ten or fifteen years is gonna read them and carry the ball from there.”

I love the thought of how amazed Vito would be if he could see what LGBTQ representation on the big screen looks like today compared to where we were when GLAAD was founded 36 years ago—in large part because of his leadership.

Let me just shout out a few Letterboxd lists that so vividly illustrate this point: Intersex, LGBT POC, Films featuring LGBTQ characters/folks with disabilities, LGBT+ films from Southwest Asia and North Africa, TRANS, South Asian LGBT, Directed and/or written by transmascs and trans men, Todos Me Miran: The Queer Latinx Experience. And hey, if the movie list you want—or indeed the movie—doesn’t exist yet, may this be the inspiration that prompts you to create it.

Activist and author Vito Russo. / Photo by Rick Gerharter/HBO Documentary Films

You can learn more about Vito in Jeffrey Schwarz’s beautiful 2011 documentary, Vito. And, you could begin applying GLAAD’s Vito Russo Test to your movie-watching habits. Briefly: a film must include an identifiable LGBTQ character; who is not solely defined by their sexual orientation or gender identity; and, the character must matter to the plot. This short video on GLAAD’s YouTube channel explains it more—there are already many Vito Russo Test lists scattered across Letterboxd.

Lastly, follow GLAAD’s brand new Letterboxd HQ account, where you can discover some of the best LGBTQ films of the past few decades via our lists of GLAAD Media Award Winners. A quick name drop of a handful of those honorees over the years just to whet your appetite: The Wedding Banquet, Pariah, Go Fish, Brokeback Mountain, Moonlight, The Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls in Love, Call Me by Your Name.

Grazie, Vito!