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thebestsetter · 2 months ago

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Doing the "Oh Mister Todd" trend with Blue Lock boys

- A/N: If you don't know what trend it is, just search: "Mister Todd couples" on tktk!

- Characters: Isagi Yoichi, Rin Itoshi, Bachira Meguru

Isagi Yoichi:

"Yoichi!" You shouted from your bed, trying your hardest to surpress your smile and the giddiness that were almost papable in your voice "My love, can you come here?"

"Sure! Coming in a minute, babe!" You heard your boyfriend answering from downstairs. You then quickly got up and began setting up your phone, smiling hard all the while.

Here's what happened: you were blissfully scrolling through Tik tok while trying to pass time in a (pretty boring) afternoon, when, all of a sudden, you came across one of the cutest videos ever: a couple doing the "Mister Todd" trend.

You had already seen it a couple of times, but never had the chance to do it with Yoichi due to his (sadly packed) schedule. Lucky you, he was on a break from football right now, and was washing the dishes while you relaxed cause, according to him, "While he's here, you won't have to worry about the house chores anymore. He's here to soften your load", he said. (He can be the hero of Japan, sure, but that doesn't mean he can't wash plates and cutlery)

"What is it, love?" He said, entering the room and still wearing a silly "kiss the cook" apron you bought so he could avoid getting wet (how the hell do you wash spoons without getting wet??). He dried his hands on his pants and asked "Do you need my help with something?"

"Yup!" You said, popping the 'p' "I need you to sit right here!" You pointed to a chair that was in front of your dressing table

"Sure...? I don't really get where you're going with this, but I trust you anyway" he said, smiling suspiciously.

When he sat down, he finally took notice of the phone that was propped up against the mirror. He then smiled and waved to the phone, even though you still hadn't began to record.

"Okay. Now, I'm gonna need you to sit still and look pretty. Think you can do it, pretty boy?"

It doesn't matter how long you guys have been dating for. Everytime you call him "pretty boy", Yoichi becomes a blushing and stuttering mess.

"S-sure!" He said, the words coming out rather bashfully and forcefully. It made him more shy then he'd like it to.

Giggling at the effect you had over him (and from how cute your boy was), you pressed the record button and began mouthing the lyrics.

"Oh, Mister Todd"

You then kissed him.

His eyes widened.

If there was one thing Isagi has NEVER grown used to, it's your kisses (and, frankly, he doesn't think he ever would) . The feeling of your lips on his skin feels like heaven on earth, and it always leaves him feeling dumbfounded and lightheaded (in a good way).

"I'm so happy"

Followed by another kiss.

He was literally burning up. His cheeks, his ears, everything in him was red. A bright, strong red. And only you had that effect over him.

"I could" Kiss

"Eat you up I really could" Kiss

Slowly but surely, a smile began spreading across his lips, his eyes sparkling with the love he held for you. It was a wobbly a smile. A lovesick smile. An absolutely helpless smile. A smile that portraied exactly how head over heels for you.

"You know what I'd like to do, Mister Todd?"

His eyes left the camera and began staring at you. His gaze was so strong it made you feel nervous. And what you didn't know was that it didn't reflect 10% of his love for you. His feelings were so, so strong that he was sure you'd never get it. You were his everything, and he was so glad he had met you.

"What I dream?" Kiss

"If the business stays as good?"

Gathering all the courage he had, Isagi gently cupped your cheek and leaned in, locking gazes. He then began slowly reaching for your lips, his eyes quickly leaving yours to stare at your mouth. He smiled at you, finally closing his eyes and then leaning in, kissing you like his life depended on it.

You got so distracted by the overwhelming amount of emotion that Yoichi put in the kiss that you totally forgot your phone.

Sadly, nothing lasts forever, and you eventually had to pull away. You both stared at eachother for a while longer, surrounded by a gentle silence.

"Send me that video, pretty, please?" He said, voice as quiet as a mouse. If you didn't stop to analyse the break in his voice between the pretty and the please, you wouldn't even get that he was complimenting you. And that's one of the things that drove you insane for Yoichi: he was smart. So, so smart.

"Okay" you agreed, relutanctly letting go of his face and reaching for your phone, still a little dizzy from the kiss "There. I did it"

"Thanks." He said, and then looked at you with a (stupidly attractive) smirk "Also, if these are the kind of trends you're gonna do with me in the future, don't hesitate to call me. I loved it."

He then kissed you again. So full of passion. So full of love. So him.

Sadly, once again, he had to pull away.

"Welp, those dishes won't wash themselves. You should sleep, sweetie." Yoichi said, kissing your forehead "Don't worry, I'll come lay with you in, like, 30 minutes. I'll also be here when you wake up."

"Okay then. I'm gonna go ahead and lay down. I love you, Yoichi"

How he loved hearing those words coming out of your mouth.

"I love you too, babe."

He smiled, turning off the lights and closing the door.

You then went to sleep with a mind full of him and him only, still feeling his lips on your forehead.

Oh, how you loved being able of calling him "yours".

Bonus!:

"Damn it!" Yoichi said, breaking yet another plate he tried to place on the kitchen counter and accidentaly slipped from his hands. He really didn't want to make any noise and end up waking you up, but he had no control over this! You left him so dazzed!

With a sigh, Yoichi stared at his phone. He contemplated for a minute, but ultimately decided to grab it. Putting in the code to open the phone (your anniversary), he went to the galery and clicked on the video you just recorded.

"Just once" he thought.

The music echoed through the whole room, until it abruptly ended. The only sound that could be heard was Yoichi's heart, beating strongly and indomitable.

"Once is too little. I'ma watch it twice"

The sound began. The last kiss was heard. The beating of his heart became louder.

"...three time's the charm, right?"

17 times. That's the amount of times he watched that damn video, blushing and smiling like a lovesick teen girl all the while.

"I love you" he whispered to no one in particular, but it was obviously meant for you. "Man, how did I bag you?"

He hugged the phone close to his chest and looked to the stairs, giddy over the fact that, when he went to the second floor, you would be there on the bed, just waiting to cuddle with him.

He was so happy to be called "yours".

Rin Itoshi:

"No! We can't go there! The monster's gonna get us!"

"Don't worry, my love. I'm strong enough to protect us from that scary monster!"

Boring.

That's the only thought that was running through your head while you and Rin were both cuddling on the couch, a crappy horror movie in the background. Every friday you do this, and sometimes you pick a bad movie, but damn, this was worse than bad! This one was terrible!

"This movie sucks" you sighed, frustrated. You then reached for his phone and began using it, since you both usually shared phones "I'm not gonna watch it anymore"

"We've watched worse ones" He argued, still focused on the movie.

You then started to scroll through the endless abysm of internet, using the movie as background noise so the room wouldn't fall totally silent.

Then, like a gift from God, an interesting video appeared in your for you (you had your tktk account logged in his phone, since he rarely used his).

'Mister Todd, huh?' You thought, lifiting an eyebrow.

Smirking like you're a little kid planning something naughty (which, honestly, you kinda are), you got everything ready in your phone and stared at him, batting your eyelashes

"Rinnieeee" you slurred "I need your help"

"What?" he answered, not taking his eyes off his phone "What do you want?"

"Sorry, let me rearrange the sentence: Rinnie, my love, my one and only, could you please lend me a loving and helping hand?"

Sighing like he was tired of your shineningans (even though you both knew he could never be tired of you), Rin finally paused the movie and stared back at you

"What is it, love?"

"That's better" your smirk got even bigger. You quickly gave him the phone, which made him shot you a confused look "Now, sit up and hold the phone in front of us, like we're taking a selfie"

"Why?"

"Just do it!"

Still a little hesitant, he complied. You then hugged him and said:

"Okay. Relax and start the video"

He didn't even have the strenght to question anymore (he was actually just curious about what the hell you were trying to do), so he just did what he was told.

Instantly, a song started to play in the background. He was still very confused about the whole thing, so he just stared at you. You then began to sing while staring at the camera.

If there was one thing about Rin Itoshi, was that he usually didn't show his emotions. He was good at hiding them through his body language, not letting anyone know what he truly thought about most situations. He was impartial most of the time, shooting a serious (almost angry) expression at everyone.

If there was another thing about Rin was that his eyes betray him. He just can't seem to force them to stay neutral. If he was sad, they'd get red. If he was angry, they'd burn like fire. If he was happy, they'd shine.

And he was over the moon right now.

When you kissed him after the first line of the song, he didn't react. It was just too fast! One second you were looking at the camera, and the other your lips were touching his cheeks. Sadly, just as fast as it happened, it ended.

Luckily for him, you did it again. And again. And again.

By the fourth kiss, Rin was utterly speechless. He was feeling lightheaded, his eyes carrying a rare spark in them. His teal orbs were intensely staring at you, trying to convey all the love he felt for you and didn't usually show.

It was so intense, so strong that you felt like fainting on the spot. He looked at you like a kid looking at their favorite toy, like a homeless man looked at a five-star meal, like a dog looked at it's owner after not seeing them for weeks. He looked at you like you were the only woman in the world, like you were the most beautiful thing he'd ever laid his eyes on. The spark in his eyes shined brighter than the brightest star you've ever saw.

A subtle smile crossed his lips, his gaze never wavering.

He could feel his face burning, and he was sure he was so, so red. He must look ridiculous, he thought, but strangely, he couldn't give a damn.

When he remembered he was recording though, his first instinct was to cover his face.

He gently but firmly nuzzled his head between your neck and shoulder, trying his hardest to not let his face show. Sadly, his (burning red) ears could still be seen.

When the last line of the song came and you kissed him for the last time (on the hair, since he was hiding his face), he put down his phone and sighed.

"Did you like it, Rin?" You giggled, passing your hands through his hair

"Mhm" he hummed, shy.

"I'm glad you did" you grabbed his face, lifting it (which earned an unsatisfied "Ughh" from him) and giving his forehead a kiss with an exhagerated 'Mwah!' sound. "I love you Rinnie"

"...I love you too" he said, hugging you hard and burying his face in your shoulder again, this time even deeper than before

A comfortable silence settled in the room. Tired from the day, you drifted off in Rin's arms, feeling his strong hold in your waist. You really did love your boy, even if he acted like a nonchalant prick sometimes.

Bonus!:

Usually, when you wake up, the first thing you do is check your phone for any e-mails, texts or any important notifications. Normally you get, like, 100 at max, since Rin never made your relationship public. That's why, normally, you do expect some of them.

What you didn't expect was that you'd get Tik Tok famous overnight. All thanks to your boyfriend, Rin Itoshi.

You remember that account he never uses? Yeah, it seemes like he finally found an utility for it.

"Off the market." The caption read. It was probably an indirect answer to a news article that got out the week before about how he was "going out with some model girl from Vogue"

You quickly widened your eyes and then ran to the comment session of the video, wanting to see what the 2.7 million people that liked it thought about it.

It0shis_lover: HELLO??? WDYM RIN'S DATING SOMEONE???

nonickyet<3: THEY'RE SO CUTE UGHHH

Isaa.Ichi: Hey, so this is actually insane! Never thought he'd have the balls to actually show his relationship

↳ Itoshi_Rin.: Why don't you go train to try and get at least closer to my level instead of commenting about my relationship online?

↳Isaa.Ichi: I don't need to. I'm already better than you, fcker.

THE._MONSTER: I HOPE HE'S TREATING YOU RIGHT, POOKIE!! DW, I'LL BEAT HIM UP IF HE EVER HURT YOU

Hiorinn_: Wow.

Ryushidou: If you ever get tired of him, just hmu 😘

↳ Itoshi_Rin.: Kys

↳ username: DON'T SAY THIS, RIN!!

username: OKAY, I WAS NOT EXPECTING THIS

↳Itoshi_Rin.: Sorry

Laughing hard, you put the phone down.

Shit, you loved him so much. And he loved you too. That was something you hoped would never change.

Bachira Meguru:

"Meguru! Hahahaha! It's too high!" you said, laughing while your boyfriend, Bachira, pushed you in the swings of an empty children's playground.

"Don't worry! If you fall, I'll catch you with my strong and manly arms" he said, even though he slowed down.

After a while, your swing came to a halt. He sat on the one beside you, holding the chains and looking at the sky

He began humming a melody you knew all too well (it was his favorite song, after all), gently rocking himself.

Surrounded by his gentle singing, you got lost in your thoughts.

You didn't want this date to be over, so you were trying to think of something to make sure you both would still have time to do something fun and that took at least some time.

You didn't have to think too hard, though, since you quickly remembered a trend you saw on tik tok that you'd like to do with your boyfriend.

You got up from where you were sat and propped your phone against a slide's stair.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Bachira asked in a curious way, also getting up and going to where you were

"Something that i'm gonna need your help to do" You smiled, clicking the button and beggining the timer. "Just stay by my side, okay?"

"M'kay!" Bachira said, standing beside you and smiling at the phone

The melody began playing.

Even though he was a chronic internet user, his "For you" didn't have any romantic videos. It mostly consisted of memes, so that's why he never saw this trend.

If he knew that the romantic part of tik tok had trends like this, he'd have started to watch it's videos a lot sooner.

When you kissed him for the first time, Meguru Bachira felt like he would die from happiness.

His body felt like it was shaking, and his thoughts were going a mile per hour, even though all of them had the same theme: you.

He still tried to stay still, though, since it was what you asked him to do.

When you gave him the second kiss, he couldn't take it anymore.

"My turn!" He said, using his hand to put your cheeks together and making your lips pucker up.

He then began kissing you everywhere. Your lips, your forehead, your eyebrows, your eyelids. Everywhere his mouth could reach.

He wanted to show his love for you. He wanted to convey at least half of the strength of his emotions through his kisses. That's why he gave you so many.

The music continued. His kisses also continued. The music stopped. He couldn't care less: he continued kissing you.

Each kiss was a gentle "thank you". For staying with him. For loving him when nobody else did. He loved you. He loved you so, so much.

With one last exhagerated kiss on your lips, Meguru pulled away, but quickly hugged you right after

"I love you" he exclaimed "I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you." He seriously felt like crying "Stay with me, please"

You laughed, reaching for his cheek and kissing it.

"I love you too, Meguru" you smiled at him "And you don't need to worry. I'm not goimg anywhere"

In that empty playground, you both proclaimed your love for one another, sealing with kisses a gentle promise:

You would never leave the other alone.

Bonus:

"Isagi! Help! I lost my phone!" Bachira said, looking through the whole dressing room for it

"I'm gonna try and call it" Yoichi said, doing exactly as he said right after

"Oh mister Todd

I'm so happy

I could

Eat you up, I really could!"

"Found it!" Bachira said, holding his phone up "It was actually inside my bag"

"...sure" Yoichi said, sweating. Curious, he asked: "What kind of ringtone was that?"

"A very special one, Isagi. A very special one..." Meguru said, looking up at the sky and hugging his phone close to his chest like he was in a movie.

"...okay then...."

Man, his bestfriend sure was strange sometimes.

- Can you tell I lost motivation on Bachira's part? 🫠

ALSO, Rin's part has a kind of "smau". It was heavily inspired by another writer here on tumblr. Their name is @sanaexus (if you don't feel comfortable being tagged, just send me an ask!!), and you should totally read their stories/smaus, they're excelent!! Really, I love their smaus smm

Masterlist

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centrally-unplanned · 3 months ago

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Japanese website Forest Page is shutting down ~today, a tragic loss of "Heisei otaku memories", as so many are calling it. Launched in 2003, Forest Page was a "Geocities for mobile", a site that hosted user-created websites and gave them tools to allow non-coders to make them. In practice, it became one of the premiere places for fanfiction in Japan, with the stories hosted on author-created sites.

It wasn't quite the Fanfic.net of Japan, as for one the Japanese fandom just never centralized quite the way the 2000's western one did, instead being spread out over a half dozen or so sites. But additionally, it wasn't initially popular for fanfic so much as cell phone fanfiction, because in 2000's Japan the "cell phone novel" was a specific thing. These websites were being made for flip phones, not smartphones, and not only would people read them on those phones, they would often write them. None of that was very conducive to the creation and consumption of a "traditional" novel; so starting in the 2000's Japanese writers started making stories fit for the medium, namely:

Very short

A huge focus on dialogue and inner thoughts, with no/minimal description or scene detail

Using a limited POV of a specific character

Often employing the medium-as-message, like using emojis, structuring the story as IM's or emails, etc.

Also they all had huge gaps between lines, I'm not really sure what that is about:

Probably for readability on the phone given the small screen size? But it was absolutely part of the genre. A few of these novels actually made it big, got movie adaptations, people wrote articles about the "cultural phenomenon", it was the 2000's so Hiroki Azuma had a take on it of course, and so on. It slotted neatly into the vibe of the time of technology changing culture, paralleling discourse around otaku in the same era.

In fanfic those trends met up, and anyone familiar with fanfiction probably read that list of traits of the cellphone novel and thought "oh, this is perfect for fanfiction". Skipping out on description? I don't need it, I know what they look like already. Focus on conversation and POV? Perfect for shipping fics. Short lengths? Yeah, we are shortcutting to the good stuff, that is the point. Mirroring trends in the west, Forest Page's userbase was ~95% female, and the most common content on the site was romantic or edgy-dramatic stories in the franchises you'd expect. The closure page linked above actually summarizes the site's history by year, and lists the biggest fandoms:

Which is exactly what I would expect from a female otaku fanfiction website. Congrats to Pirates of the Caribbean for making it though, freeaboo's represent.

I do think the fact that the site was a website hoster as opposed to a fic hoster did align with the way the Japanese fandom was more "creator focused" and embraced the media mix more. There were "fic circles" a la doujin circles who made their own pages, people would make fanart, fan video games, and so own to host alongside it, and all of it was centralized to the creator; it made following them-as-a-person just a little bit easier. Most websites were simple text, but others did have the full Geocities experience:

Something that was somewhat common were basic visual novel concepts where the reader could make choices, or even insert their own name so they would be the "MC" of the story:

(Dream novels are in fact their own thing in Japan) My understanding is the site was quite popular through the 2000's and into the 2010's, though over time the "cellphone novel" as a concept fizzled out. People got smartphones, more people got PCs, and the constraints didn't make sense anymore - you can read ebooks and normal websites on your phone now after all. You can probably draw a line between these kind of stories and the webfiction/light novel boom of the late 2000's/2010's, something that was equally born on the internet, that streamlines the novel to "shortcut to the good stuff" but without the need to fit on a flip phone's screen. Though I will admit my own understanding of their histories shows them more as two sides of the same "youth demand for new literature" coin.

In 2017 Forest Page launched Forest Page Plus, a new service fully optimized for the smartphone era; but it did not transfer over all the old content, starting the clock ticking on the original Forest Page. My understanding is that in June they announced Forest Page was officially closing down; and from what I have gathered from reminiscing writers on twitter, they did not provide any easy, one-touch way to save any of the content, so people are archiving Wayback Machine links or sharing tips on how screenshot-save stories (I think the rub is they gave people a way to transfer content to FP+, but most don't want to do that, as places like Twitter & Pixiv are the content kings of this era).

As of tomorrow I would bet the large majority of the content will be gone; quite sad given both the quantity of stories there and how many got sometimes millions of readers. I am sure most of the biggest stories are archived at least, but particularly the early stuff was a very ephemeral genre, one that doesn't make sense to revisit once you aren't a 16 year old teen writing and reading fics on a flip phone in between classes. Which means another legion of the ghosts of the Wired is being born today. May we pour one out for a fellow online community that lived and died!

#forest page #otaku history #history of the internet #If some group did do a big archiving of the site that would be great to learn - I don't claim to be an expert on the site or anything

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project-sekai-facts · 2 months ago

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no i think that other anon had a point, there was a regular constant nene-centric hate train that lasted basically daily until around curtain call that received multiple trending hash tags and a huge target was nene and rui's dynamic. they wrote all kinds of insane shit insinuating "rui is nene's slave" and that they "made up his backstory in RMD exclusively for nene." like it's a very real thing that a decent portion of japanese fans get super ship warry and misogynistic as hell about nene in general

it got so bad they sent violent threats directly to clpl's emails and sent hate to machico

oh. i see. i knew about the nenehime stuff and the rep she had for getting loads of 4*s and no reward cards etc and getting focus in mixed events even if they didn't have her as a card, but i didn't know the fandom was that bad about it. someone pointed out in the comments of the post yesterday that rui is a pretty popular yumejoshi target in japan (he ranked 1st or very high on multiple inter-fandom polls), so that probably factors in somewhere since a m/f ship gets in the way of x fem!reader. but yeah that makes more sense as to why clpl had held off giving them a cover for so long.

#asks

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jeonscatalyst · 2 months ago

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Tokyo 2017 was the turning point for JK and you can tell. He was bouncing through the hallways after uploading GCF Tokyo. Using a queer love song to get his feelings across. He was so in love he was sick to his stomach with butterflies and throwing up rainbows. I also think about during Jk's stationhead live on GCF Tokyo anniversary day (right before their Japan flight announcement) and how he teasing about people keeping up with the date & little did we know the man had already planned his trip back with Jimin. We didn't know, but he did. You know he was smiling like a little devil when he was talking about it. He was so real for that too, acknowledging it when he knew there were a ton of people talking about it and it was trending and people celebrating the Jikook anthem video of all videos lol. Makes me love him even more. JK really wanted to go back and during GCF Tokyo's anniversary month. No wonder he kept saying he was so happy. So many memories for him & them, now they have new ones to add to their collection. I'm gonna cry.

100% agree!!!

#jikook #jimin #jungkook #are you sure #jikook blog #my asks

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lilly-chou-chou · 1 year ago

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Lolita fashion: A guide for beginners and love letter to seasoned Lolitas (Fashion guide part ll)

Hello everyone!! Few days ago I had made a guide for people interested and doing gyaru fashion (interested people please visit my account to read about it <3) moving on I was intrigued and ready to take on the world of Lolita fashion as well, I hope this guides helps newer people and makes other old followers of this amazing fashion culture realize that it is all about fun and feeling pretty. Some may agree with this and some may not either way I am posting this <3

(Kindly please stop sending d#ath threads regarding this post. Kindly also refrain from sending comments saying I deserve those threaths please 🙏🏼)

My guides start from here on. So as a lot of people know, this culture of fashion was started by taking inspirations from Rococco and Victorian era. Over the years this subculture of Japanese fashion has definitely evolved and this subculture has given birth to many sub styles like most famous being sweet Lolita, gothic Lolita and hime Lolita.

So now that you know the gist of this style let me educate you further that the reason Lolita fashion exists is purely just for fun. People especially women wanted to feel that elegance and olden time beauty and dressed up in Lolita just for fun!! So no. 1 rule of Lolita is to have fun. Enjoy what you wear and buy.

Yes, when you first begin it is necessary that you browse through the summary but make sure to ONLY browse through the history of Lolita fashion. Never pay too much attention towards rules of Lolita because again just like gyaru fashion it was and has always been foreigners who police others and are way too anal about rules when as a matter of fact the whole reason Lolita and gyaru existed was to have fun! Of course but only gyaru had a backstory of opposing with stereotypes of women in Japan.

I am here to tell you that I have lived in Japan during the hype of Lolita and gyaru (also being an avid follower of both fashion culture since the age of 4) and having talking with foreigners and locals I suggest you to only LIKE ONLY listen to locals because they truly know what's up. My guides are filled with my experience and what they have told me.

So let's talk about rules like lace and materials and shit. What I have been told and have been doing my life is that pick any lace design that you feel pretty in because in the end even back then Lolita fashion magazines and shows would only tell you what a typical Lolita would wear like poofy dress and small details like pretty wigs and such but people in streets be it Harajuku or Shibuya or etc etc didn't follow these rules themselves and they were covered in latest Lolita trends from head to toe.

The magazines and such only give you an idea of what you can do or typical image of a Lolita fashion follower. That doesn't mean you have to do exactly that. Things like "stop wearing that" "your lace is ugly" "wow you purchased dress from Amazon? Fuck you" "that dress quality sucks you are NOT a real Lolita" is all doing of foreigner Lolita fashion followers.

I am so sorry if you ever encountered any of these people but Lolita girlies in Japan will never harass you like this.

Plus buying stuff from Amazon is OKAY because even though these days there are many affordable Lolita dresses and accessories, it is okay to still look for options and I understand that some people don't have budget and just because you are tight on budget doesn't mean you should be left out. YOU ALSO DESERVE TO FEEL PRETTY! Amazon might not be authentic if that's what you can afford atm then go for it please, enjoy and have fun because you were to meet other Japanese Lolitas they will say things like "wow I didn't know these days Amazon sold such good quality Lolita dresses" never feel guilty for buying off brand.

What people don't tell you is that these days even brands break some of the rules from Lolita fashion and honestly if the household brands break them then you also shouldn't feel bad about messing up. I just want Lolita fashion culture to be welcoming and I don't want beginners to be afraid and I don't want old members to feel the need to be always classic authentic.

Even the queen and ambassador of foreign affairs kawaii aka president of Japan Lolita Association Misako Aiko who has been doing Lolita fashion for 25 years also mixes and matches from different fashion and breaks so called rules like poofy dress shape, owning few dresses with no laces, hair usually styled in a simple way, not always wearing a blouse or a head wear etc etc.

In conclusion if the president of Lolita fashion and household brands are breaking rules then you should also not feel guilty for few little things here and there. Aim of Lolita fashion is to feel pretty and have fun. You are the prettiest person alive, embrace it and have fun with this style. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Do what makes you happy and don't ever feel guilty about buying off brands because sometimes food, shelter and bills is important and that is understandable.

I love everyone of you. Hope my guides help you a lot <3

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lilyginnyblackv2 · 9 months ago

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Buddy Daddies is going strong for winning Best Original Anime awards! 🎊 👪 🎊

It won Best Original Anime for the Anime Corner Awards:

As well as Best Original Anime in the Crunchyroll Awards:

Sadly, Buddy Daddies didn't win in the other two awards it was nominated for (it lost to Spy x Family in both, with Must Protect Character going to Anya instead of Miri and Comedy going to Spy x Family).

But seeing it win Best Anime Original was great, since that award was handed out at the actual Award Ceremony, not pre-show, and they showed clips and had a small speech by the creator, etc. It was nice, though the god awful English voice over was just painful.

I tuned out of the awards after Buddy Daddies won, because I don't care about the rest of the awards. The awards were painfully bad:

Too much talking

Too many supposed anime celebrities that I didn't know

And the same like three anime winning everything (pretty much the same three anime that won everything last year too).

That being said, the Crunchyroll Anime Awards still holds some level of validation: actual Japanese people involved in the industry are present for the Awards. So, I'm glad Buddy Daddies got some love and recognition, especially since it didn't really catch on big in Japan. This award allows the ones who worked on it to really see how beloved and popular it was with the international community though!

Buddy Daddies is up for a number of different nominations in the Anime Trending Awards too (it got a single nomination in Best Drama over on r/anime and with their awards, but I don't expect it to win anything there, lol).

Hopefully, it will win some of its Anime Trending nominations as well, but we won't get those award winners until March 10th, so still a week or so off. I'll update this post then though! 😊

#Buddy Daddies #BD #anime #anime awards #Crunchyroll #Anime Corner #Congrats to Buddy Daddies!

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imustbenuts · 9 days ago

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nuts reads trigun in jp 14 - trimax' vol 1 theme is big on family

i mean, thats obvious, but it didn't ping on my radar as much until im sitting here chewing on what im reading.

ive written in part 7 with the first hint of filial piety, 12 with a lost in translation bit about vash calling sheryl and lina his family, and 13 where wolfwood comes across as a guy who is taking someone's child(daughter) away to elope for marriage. the tl;dr of all of this is that trimax' vol 1 seems to be a set up for exploring themes and what "family" can be defined as.

i uh, suspect japanese idea of 内外 uchi-soto is at play here. (ie in-group and out-group but family) it seems to be lowkey tied to that and the themes of 'otherism'. the kanjis for them means, in 内, and out 外.

the uchi 内 is the 'us', and it is most commonly used in the context of home and family.

the soto 外 is the others, the ones who aren't part of the family.

there's absolutely more ways uchi-soto can be used than just family. village, organization, etc.

so while i dont have a concrete answer of how fucked family dynamics exactly are in japan, i can say its at least pretty fucked in a lot of asian countries affected by ww2. this is further compounded by a lot of classism, traditionalism, trauma, shit mental healthcare, absurd rapid economic growth, the whole turd rainbow, that its not uncommon for many born in say 1900s to 1980s to be... pretty messed up.

i mean, the long term results of gunboat diplomacy, opium wars and colonialism will do all of that, yeah.

i think its why knives here vaguely gives me that abusive old asian turd vibe:

domestic abuse is... not exactly uncommon, honestly. again, dont live in japan so i wont pretend to know for sure, but similar culture and the same capitalism trajectory makes me think its got similar trends. also a lot of these DVs can rooted in toxic masculinity, power trips, ego, and anxiety surrounding productiveness/money.

yeehaw:

(quick note: another reading of 内 uchi can be nai. is that why studio orange named him nai....??? 🤔 and gave him a onesies pajamas and made him a hikkikomori?)

so thats knives. he kicks and slaps his little brother around and even cuts off his arm to the point that a lot of vash's behavior can come across as an abuse victim survivor. he shares the uchi with vash and their sister plants, while everyone else alive on NML is the soto. the outsiders.

and then vash seems to define his own 'uchi' as... the entirety of humanity, or at least an uchi with no 'soto'. no outsiders than maybe himself. its debatable if you want to read this as a result of his abuse, if vash inherently leans towards this, or a mix of the two. like how things are depicted in stampede.

i think the characters that highlight these themes nicely are Sensei/Doc and Brad. im skipping and not rehashing stuff from my prev post, but yeah its. all there.

.... Of course I would We're family (身内). And it's all the same to him. Vash The Stampede's concept of "family (身内)" is absurdly wide.

i mean, check out brad's bubble in here where the Family is expressed as 身内 miuchi. more in the tone of "one of ours". nightow could have just used a bunch of other words like 家族 kazoku, 親身 shinmi, 親戚 shinseki that leans closer to blood family, but nah. nightow just picks 身内, with the 内 to highlight the in group out group family culture dynamic going on.

this is then followed up with this panel

man.

i wanna whack knives with a steel chair.

#trigun #trimax #trigunbookclub #im so slow on these posts #weh

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blubffsd · 2 years ago

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— MOMENTS THAT KEEP US HUMBLE

summary: another tiktok trend with Kylian.

—Okay, let's start now, shall we? –you ask Kylian and he just nods as he approaches you so that the camera focuses on both of you.

You press the button to start recording but quickly pause because neither you nor your boyfriend can stay serious.

—But stop laughing.

—You are also laughing.

You two take a deep breath and start recording again, both doing your best not to laugh.

—Well, we are going to say moments that keep us humble, right? –Kylian nods, you point at him so he can speak first.

—The time we had a picnic on our second or third date and ended up in the hospital because there was a beehive and you're allergic.

Kylian was feeding you a strawberry but you got up quickly when you saw a bee on the tablecloth you were sitting on.

—What happened? You feel good? –he asked and you pointed terrified at the bee and he frowned.

—There is a bee –you exclaim desperately and start running.

—If you run they will chase you –you heard Kylian's scream but you ignored him and kept running, making him run too.

Hundreds of bees behind you two.

Second date: spend the night in the hospital.

—When we were doing karaoke and a kid yelled at us that we sang horrible.

You and your boyfriend completely drunk, after having seen a sad movie and with a microphone in your hands, nothing can go right from there.

You both were holding each other sobbing while some song was playing in the background, you don't even remember which one of course.

The only thing you know is that you both were very out of tune and your crying made your singing incomprehensible.

And the scream of the kid who was there saying that you guys sang horrible was enough to make you two come off the stage crying even more.

—When we went to a restaurant in Japan and it took us more than 20 minutes to order our food because we were embarrassed.

You and Kylian were sitting across from each other smiling awkwardly as you glanced around.

A waiter passed by you and you were about to speak to him, but he walked too fast and you couldn't say anything.

Your boyfriend laughed at you again, it was the third time it happened to you. Besides, he was making fun of you because when the same thing happened to him a few minutes ago, you didn't stop joking about it.

—If we continue like this we won't eat anymore, I'll go order the food –Kylian spoke as he got up from his chair.

—What language will you speak? –he looked at you for a few seconds and sat down again.

—I can wait for someone to notice.

—The time you got mad because according to you I was hugging a boy and it was my friend who had cut her hair –Kylian turns to look at you with narrowed eyes and completely indignant.

—These were supposed to be embarrassing moments for the two of us.

You shrug, chuckling slightly as your boyfriend shakes his head.

—The time Antonella invited you to her house and you thought the mate was matcha.

You feel your cheeks flush at the memory of that moment, and the uncontrolled laughter of your boyfriend making fun of you doesn't help.

—Doing this is not so much fun anymore –you say pouting as you stop recording.

#kylian mbappe #mbappe imagine #kylian mbappe fanfic #kylian x reader #mbappe x reader #mbappe one shot #mbappe #football imagine #football one shot #football x reader

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thisthirstisreal · 6 months ago

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Do people not understand that the Infinity Castle as movies would be a lesser situation for fans??

Each movie lasts 2 hours. Mugen Train was around that duration and it spanned 6 episodes worth of content. If there are multiple movies, say 2 movies, that will be 12 episodes of content. You guys want the entirety of Infinity Castle to be animated into only 12 episodes????Entertainment District Arc was 13 episodes long (including the 1-hour first and last episode). Infinity Castle has almost double the manga chapters of Entertainment District.

And nothing will kill the hype more if there's a trilogy of movies. Each movie for one upper moon? That's horrible pacing. I can accept waiting a year between two parts of Infinity Castle, but to wait for three parts? One of the greatest highlights of Infinity Castle is seeing the nonstop, high-intensity action and how Gotouge keeps the momentum going. One Upper Moon per movie is just too glacial a pace and it's going to feel slow and dragged out.

And even if they went down that route, Shinobu vs Douma will still need to be in the first movie because it happens before Akaza vs Tanjiro. And no, you can't reshuffle it because there's an important tidbit about Akaza not eating women that Douma tells Kanao. So the second movie will ONLY feature Douma vs Inosuke and Kanao. You guys tell me how the fuck that's going to work. The only way is by adding gratuitous amounts of filler beyond what would be satisfactory.

In other words: neither two or three movies work for Infinity Castle.

Y'all talk about Ufotable getting better budget for movies as if Entertainment District Arc's animation quality didn't easily rival Mugen Train. The budget won't make any difference -- the only difference is that the pacing is going to be fucked up and either too slow or rushed. The only genuine upside I can think of is not having to wait for episodes weekly and getting everything at once and experiencing it in a theatre setting.

But do you guys genuinely prefer an inferior product just for the brief experience of instant gratification? Why can't we be patient just for a better end-product? Once KNY the anime is finally complete, you're going to be revisiting an arc with sloppier pacing than what could have been. All because you cannot wait weekly and just so you can get a few hours of great theatre experience.

It's just disappointing and you should know that the movie is going to release first in Japan before a belated international release and our first glimpses of amazing moments may be trending potato camrip images. It's horrific.

The moment the movies are announced would be the moment of collective loss for Demon Slayer. You can fuck up any arc but you cannot fuck up Infinity Castle. This is Demon Slayer's magnum opus. Only a long season can give the treatment this masterpiece deserves.

#demon slayer #infinity castle #giyuu tomioka #tanjiro kamado #tengen uzui #sanemi shinazugawa #obanai iguro #kimetsu no yaiba #kny #my post

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kerizaret · 7 months ago

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I have a hc that Saki picked up A LOT of various skills or knowledge while at the hospital that was just fun or distracting and a way for her to spend the days there and not be bored. Some of these are useful things, but others are just... completely random

Sure, she might've not had a chance to learn how to cook... But she can knit really well instead! The grandmas she met at the hospital were a huge help. All of l/n have at least one sweater hand knitted by her

Math was hard to learn when you didn't attend school a lot, but she found she's picked up learning languages a lot easier! So, she's been learning some by herself. She's really good at English and knows some Chinese too. She's even managed to pick up a little French because she thought it's classy. She's watched a lot of videos and movies and dramas or donghuas in original languages, and regularly listens to an English podcast on fashion. She ends up helping an embarrassed but very grateful Tsukasa with his broken English a lot later on, too, because she cannot listen to him. She's also practiced a lot of tongue-twisters which she can say really fast now, in all Japanese, Chinese and English

Also, sign language! She's learnt some basics of JSL

Obviously she's been following the trends a lot to see what's popular to wear right now, but then she got dragged into the hole that is fashion history... Now she can accurately describe you from memory what was commonly worn by any social class in various eras in Japan and also some in France (it's known as the country of fashion, after all! It's also part of the reason of her picking that language to learn), and knows the biographies of a lot of important fashion figures

She can fold very complicated origami deisgns by heart and also do miniature origami models. She's got boxes full of old origami sculptures(?) shes made over the years. She's also given a lot of them away to other patients when they were upset or when some were leaving the hospital, and also gifted some to all her doctors when she was finally discharged herself

She's TRIED to learn lockpicking, but the doctors once caught her sneaking out at night trying to pick at some medicine cabinet to practice and the conversation following it was so awkward that she didn't try it again...

She knows a lot about flower language (thanks to Ichika. They discussed that a lot whenever she came to visit her and brought a new bouquet in tow). She can solve a Rubik's cube in under a minute and shuffle cards really quick, too. She even knows a few card tricks. She can twirl a pen, which she later does A LOT in class, quote several poems from memory. She's learnt to write basic calligraphy

Because y'know, sometimes you need to do something new and/or time/thought–consuming to distract yourself from the bad and painful stuff. And in the end it's still something she can use now and be proud of and that she can share to make others happy, too. And just have fun

#theres probably a lot of other fun or interesting skills i could mention but i can't think of them right now #feel free to imagine any other ones you eant for her #those are just things i thought woukd be fun for her #saki tenma i love you you need some fun stuff too #keri rambles #prsk #tenma saki #someone take these characters away from me or else

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theultimatekamehamehavoc · 29 days ago

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Spoiler Blather Ahead So Be Warned! I personally feel the tragedy would lowkey strip a part of Makoto's identity/make him grow out of this part of himself faster than he would if the tragedy didn't happen. Basically, Makoto mentions how he's a trend follower. His interests are dictated by what's popular. However, with the tragedy, he would be physically incapable of being in tune with the times. As the Ultimate Hope, Makoto would be quite busy. Sure, maybe he could keep up with a few things going on in the world, but he's already far behind by the time he becomes the Ultimate Hope. All of the survivors are. Due to their memories being wiped, they dunno until they are basically face to face with the Mastermind that a year has already passed and they have forgotten that part of their lives. So, they're all be out of the loop both in the state of the world AND whatever hip thing's popular. Furthermore, as time progresses, they all will be busy, having minimal time to keep up with the kids! They got work to do. Not to say that all of them would be out of touch millennials. For Byakuya, I feel he would be very in tuned with the stocks and the state of both Japan and the world. He would already have no interest in the trends of the common people. Not saying he wouldn't learn some stuff from the others but he'd just be that guy that the others would have to explain this new commoner stuff too. There's Kyoko who doesn't care for trends either though being more in the loop than Byakuya. Since she's a detective, being informed of current events would be helpful. Say there was a new app on phones that was shrouded in controversy. By knowing of it's existence, it'd be an aid for any potential cases with it. Kyoko's got good foresight and all. She would by no means be an expert with the trends of course, she too being busy with other tasks, but she'd at least know some info. Meanwhile, I feel Aoi would be in tuned with some stuff but not all. I can see her really being in tuned with swimming related stuff, it being her Ultimate and all and something I don't think she'd drop. So, she'd be the one to update the others on sports news and content. Meanwhile, Hiro is the type I feel would be clueless regardless but also somehow know current trends perhaps via predictions or by chance. Then there's Toko as well who I feel would be a bit more in with the times with her writing, knowing what's in but also staying in her lane. So, she wouldn't know the latest game the kids are obsessed with but she'd know the current books that are out or who the newest rising authors are. For Makoto though, I feel that, once he has time to understand what's going on, he'd be lost a bit on what's trendy. Not saying he wouldn't know anything or wouldn't participate. I feel that he'd be the type of guy who'd go watch Barbie and Oppenheimer for instance but he'd have to be updated a bit since he's a busy man now and can't fully dedicate his time to seeing what's in and what's out. He's not an unemployed teen; he's the Headmaster of Hopes Peak! Though, I feel that he'd be a bit updated on stuff due to the students but still a tad confused simultaneously. Some specific ways I feel he'd turn out during this stage of his life are the following: A) Makoto likes what was popular back in the early 2000's-2010s maybe due to nostalgia, coping, or just out of familiarity. B) He learns of new media, gaining a new sense of taste, maybe becoming akin to new songs and movies from the other survivors or from his students like learning about Vocaloid, indie Internet shows, and kpop. C) He actually becomes akin to new stuff going on (it's just in his genes to be a trend follower) and abandons the old content. D) A mix of the A) and B) where he ends up liking a mix of things, Makoto still liking old content from the 2000's era he remembers enjoying and liking the newer media. This isn't a definitive thought though and I would be happy to see others interpretations on this concept!!! An older Makoto and company would navigate the world, trying their best!

#danganronpa #danganronpa spoilers #danganronpa makoto #makoto naegi #danganronpa kyoko #kyoko kirigiri #danganronpa byakuya #byakuya togami #danganronpa toko #toko fukawa #danganronpa aoi #aoi asahina #danganronpa yasuhiro #yasuhiro hagakure #thh survivors #havoc rambles

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heareriissmau · 3 months ago

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title: what happened in kyoto? pairing: uraraka ochako x bakugo katsuki word count: 4,034 genre: fluff, comedy, a bit mystery, quirk accident synopsis: in which uravity is entangled in a dating rumor with great explosion murder god dynamight, who she apparently met secretly in kyoto. ochako doesn't remember anything, so katsuki helps her remember.

rumors. the bane of ochako's existence. well, not really. though, she does have a fair share of crazy rumors surrounding her since her first few months as a public figure. that she came from a wealthy family; absolutely bonkers. that she was the first woman to go to the moon; conspiracy theory at most but a nice try at least. that she floated mt. lady in her giant form and when she released her, it quaked the earth's core so bad it led to a tsunami.

point is rumors always had been strange.

as strange as this article shoved into her face via mina's phone in the middle of lunch break. ochako had to squint and pull herself back from the phone to focus her sight on the led screen.

DYNAVITY CONFIRMED?: PRO-HEROES DYNAMIGHT AND URAVITY SPOTTED LEAVING SAME APARTMENT IN KYOTO

her eyes squinted even further by the absurdity of it all.

"it's trending, ochako!" mina exclaims, unapologetically amused by the whole thing. the phone now in her hands, ochako slides the window to the trending page and sees a handful of words trending on twitter related to this specific article.

OCHAKO URARAKA

BAKUGO KATSUKI

URAVITY

DYNAMIGHT

COUPLE GOALS

oh. ochako's favorite singer is trending, too. did something happen-

"why were you in the same apartment together?!"

"mina, we haven't seen bakugo in three months. he's europe, remember?" ochako says matter-of-factly, further investigating updates about her favorite singer. turns out it was a pre-release announcement, which she already knew. she returns the phone. "how in the world could i possibly meet up with him? and in kyoto?"

her argument was true. a team was assigned for a project mission a few months back, led by katsuki. it was a volunteer type of project, which ochako obviously didn't sign up for. her quirk is enough to give her enough nausea, let alone taking planes to go to the other side of the world. plus, momo, tsuyu, tooru, kyouka, denki, shoto, and mezo already put their names on the roster before ochako thought about it.

last time she checked their (class turned into) agency group chat, their mission had already finished weeks ago. denki and the others insisted on having some more fun before going back to japan, so maybe there's a part of ochako that's a bit envious she didn't join.

let's track back. she has not seen bakugo and company for almost four months now, however ochako forgets the person she was talking to is mina. "i don't know? maybe you two were actually in a secret relationship we had no idea about." mina humors herself, knowing full well the rumor is stupid but insists on annoying ochako anyway.

"i would love for you to let me eat my lunch in peace."

"girl, this rumor is on rampage. what's peace anymore once you step out of this agency?"

"i'll just deny it."

"with the help of who? your boss?"

"uh? yeah?"

"ochako... bakugo is our boss."

ochako pinches the bridge of her nose, staring at her untouched bento box. "never mind then. my other boss."

then said other boss spawning inside the breakroom like this is a whole comedy skit purposefully hurting ochako's overworked brain. "europe team is coming home tonight," izuku announced to the girls with a bright smile on his face. he takes the seat across ochako to begin his lunch break.

"must be exciting to see your boyfriend after a long while, uraraka," he teased.

"we are not turning this into a bit." ochako considers clocking out immediately and floating herself into space.

"where the hell did the person get this picture from anyway?" mina zooms in the picture, observing the masked and capped heads of the rumored couple. noting that the height difference is similar to ochako's and katsuki's. "is somebody out to get you, ochako?"

ochako raked her mind for any possibility she's been in kyoto with katsuki. "have i ever been to kyoto, actually?"

izuku looks back at her and swallows the katsudon down. "don't look at me like i know where you are all the time."

"you're supposed to be my best friend in this situation."

"i am your best friend." izuku shrugs, "but whatever happens in kyoto, stays in kyoto, i guess," and casually sends mina into hysterics.

ochako misses when izuku was a shy, stupid mess around her.

⸻

her patrol ends a lot peacefully than anticipated. not that she wanted it to happen, but she was fully expecting to have reporters shoving themselves into her personal space and asking unwanted questions.

maybe the rumor wasn't as big as social media platforms made it out to be? it wasn't a bad assumption until eijiro and hanta bombarded her with an interrogation halfway through her patrol because they apparently heard about the rumors through fans?

and they resorted to asking her instead because katsuki was leaving them on seen? ochako had to be honest with them. it might be true that it was her and katsuki in that picture (because it really did look like them but that's besides the point), but they are definitely not dating.

she doesn't remember being affiliated with katsuki in any other way aside from being friends, so it couldn't be anything serious.

the image was taken ages ago, too (cleared up by a thread under that very tweet, which doesn't really help anything). only hilariously posted today for some reason. people were that bored, ochako guesses.

she shuts her locker after changing to her casual clothes. hell class agency wasn't strict with dress code so it helps to go back to a regular person after hero work, or at least what the girls demanded izuku and katsuki to implement as one of the house rules during the making of their agency.

getting ready to go back to her apartment, ochako checks her phone for updates on their group chat. it seems the europe team is back, and the girls initiated a welcome home party at mina's place. ochako now knows whose bed she'll be crashing onto for the night.

"if it isn't my rumored girlfriend."

not his. that's for sure.

ochako stumbles upon katsuki at the main hall on her way to the elevator. "what are you doing here?" she asked. it's 6pm, an hour past since she clocked out for her second to the last shift of the week.

the hall is eerily quiet with them being the only people sucking the oxygen in the entire room. she hadn't been expecting to see him again this early. as much as ochako was aware, europe team didn't need to head to the agency once touched down to japan. they're very much permitted to go straight to a three-day break before adjusting back to their usual shifts. plus, there's a party going on.

then again, katsuki wasn't a party person. leave it to eijiro to probably pop out of nowhere and drag his ass to mina's apartment. except eijiro already clocked out ages ago.

katsuki deadpans, "not even a welcome back? you wound your boyfriend, cheeks."

ochako stared at him like she's looking at a literal alien, whose head was shaped like a goddamn toe.

katsuki snorts and lifts up a hand to pinch her cheek. ochako wonders if europe air infected his brain somehow, "welcome back to japan, i guess. have tsu and tooru headed home already?" she notices he arrived at the office empty-handed. he could've gone straight to the office after dropping off his baggage at his apartment. if it seemed he wasn't here for izuku nor eijiro, what is he doing here then?

"yeah, off to pinky's." he stuffs both his hands inside the front pockets of his comfy-looking black hoodie. wait, since when did he steal her backpack and sling it over his shoulder? "you going home? let's grab dinner. i'm starving."

so, this is happening now.

they sat down in a pub, a few blocks near the office. as suggested by ochako since katsuki asked her what kind of food she wanted. mapo tofu would totally hit the spot right now, and it just so happened the guy who asked her out was craving the same thing.

she opened the conversation about the type of food they had overseas as they waited for their orders. ochako knew katsuki wasn't usually fond of small talk, but it surprised her to see him actively respond to any curiousity she had about their trip.

"y'know, if you're this curious, you should'a tagged along," he raises an eyebrow at her, while she furrows her brows and bashfully looks elsewhere. "there's always a next time."

"right."

for any average person, this will be considered as a date. not because it's a man and a woman sitting at the same booth together. no, no, no. but because, of all seats available, katsuki chose the one right next to ochako. this woman even remembers the way this man pushed the cushioned, wooden chair a bit closer to her before he sat down. she could've been hallucinating too, however, the way their shoulders always collided was enough to confirm she wasn't hallucinating.

is this a date? god, please give ochako an answer right now.

but what's gonna happen once she finds out it is a date?

"ain'tcha a bit stiff over there?" she jumps at katsuki's remark. her eyes landed on his on reflex, and she found him in a white oversized shirt that hung over his shoulders snugly. that hoodie looked good on him, dang. it's a bit hot in this pub, considering it's a public location. maybe that's what pub stands for?

she's so famished it's distracting. "you look nice."

... ochako.

seemed to be having way too much fun, katsuki snorted a laugh and turned away from her. ochako was clearly tired as she slumped in her chair and pouted at his reaction. "for someone who got off an airplane, you're awfully energetic."

"my bad." he composes himself and wipes a tear. "sorry 'bout that, cheeks.

"just missed you, is all."

...

"wh-"

"two orders of mapo tofu-"

ochako remembers how to breathe.

now what in the world just happened?

the waiter placed the orders on their table as ochako examined her situation. look, between friends, saying you missed them is normal. missing your friends is normal. is she friends with katsuki? yes. does she also miss katsuki? yes. but has katsuki ever been open with his emotions like this? no. has he ever said to anyone, anyone at all, that he missed them? no. was ochako the first one (at least of her knowledge) to be told by katsuki that he missed her?

yes.

alright. this has got to be a date.

he pushes a plate of mochi before her. she looks up at him. "that's yours," katsuki says, "my treat today."

'today'??????????

ochako is on a fucking date.

"thanks." she sends herself back to earth. "guess i owe you one?" and flirts? she guessed?

"sure, but i'll pick where to go next," the fucker smirks at her.

"not somewhere expensive, though. i'm saving up." this is going well.

"alright. how you feel 'bout the ramen shop across the street?"

"okay."

"then my turn after."

"have something in mind?"

"there's this garbage movie i wanna see. let's shit on it."

ochako bites her lip from smiling like an idiot, "sounds like a fun date," and slips on her words.

"'course it is. i'm fucking amazing at planning anything."

she turned to him as he gulped his glass of water. he set it down with a smirk.

"even dates."

it's been over thirty minutes and ochako finds it hard to wrap around her head that she's having dinner with katsuki and smoothly planning their next after-shift dates. no. how in the world did the conversation lead to this anyway?

has katsuki bakugo always been this smooth?

"you need to stop hanging out with kaminari," she blurts out in disbelief and she's pretty sure she's a lot pinker than usual. the man dared to laugh at her.

"i take it's working."

no.

what's working?

what's going on?!

what the hell is this tension brewing between them right now?

ochako spiralled over dinner, until she remembered the elephant in the room. her eyes widened after recalling whatever happened at lunch break. katsuki was so good at flirting that it slipped her mind that these two have a dating rumor and the next thing he does after seeing her is flirt with her?!

all this was happening way too organically!

"kyoto?!" she shouts, grabbing his shoulder for dear life. "have i ever been to kyoto?"

i nEvEr BeEn To OoVoO JaVeR- WHAT A STUPID QUESTION, OCHAKO!

"i'm not your stalker, cheeks. how in hell would i know all the places you've been?" the woman inwardly smacks herself in the face, and she does not like how amused her literal boss looked.

oh, my god. this is also her boss. jesus fucking chr-

"why?" ochako wished he would keep his mouth shut for a hot minute and let her think. "wanna go there, again?"

her eyes widened the size of saucers at his question. the bowl of mapo tofu in front of her now forgotten. "you know something?"

katsuki blinked. ochako sputtered as he turned his whole body in her direction. he looked so serious for her liking that she wanted to turn back time to three minutes ago when they were play-flirting.

"i'm sorry. it's just the picture in the post looked real and mina and deku sounded so sure it was us on there. also, deku was cryptic all of a sudden. i really have no idea if i ever been to kyoto. let alone being there with you. you know, because i don't think we hang out that often? just the two of us? this is the first time i hung out with you actually-"

she feels a gentle squeeze on her right hand over the table and sees it's katsuki's hand. "you're blabbering like a machine gun. calm down."

being told to calm down by katsuki bakugo sure is something.

"i had a dream like this before." ochako just lets herself blabber at this point.

"what?" he lets go of her hand.

"you being nice to me."

katsuki had to laugh. "you fucking dream 'bout me?"

ochako shifts in her seat and goes back to her food. she needs that mochi now. "except you're nice to me. it's hard to think it's actually you, or it being a dream since it sounds nightmare-ish."

he snorts and settles his arm around her chair behind her. she notices he already finished eating. ugh, men. "harsh. you should be aware of how much i tolerate you, cheeks.

"it's obvious how sweet i am to you."

ochako choked on her food, which merits a laugh from katsuki. it's literally happening again. there should be something that shifted in europe. there has to be. was he lobotomized?

"can we go back to kyoto, please?"

"pleading now? that's cute, but i just got out of a plane. can't afford another god-forsaken trip."

"that's not what i meant!"

katsuki roars in laughter much to her embarrassment. the pair have now caught the attention of the other patrons of the pub, recognizing the two heroes. hearing various whispers made ochako uncomfortable and had the whim to take her mochi to-go while forcing katsuki to get the bill already.

it would've been an actual nightmare if reporters went and ambushed them.

so here they were. aimlessly walking down the pavement, side-by-side. so close they might as well hold hands. perhaps not aimlessly as ochako notices this is the way to her apartment. he's walking her home.

"lemme just get it outta the way," katsuki begins. ochako listens.

"ashido posted that picture."

"a-"

"she's the one that took it, too."

ochako was beyond baffled but let him continue. it still didn't explain what happened before, during, and after that photo, but she's sure gonna get mina for whatever this was.

"anyway, listen to what i'm about to say. carefully." katsuki stops in his tracks and avoids her eyes, rubbing the back of his neck. "i ain't gonna repeat all this so your loss if you don't pay attention." ochako could've been hallucinating but she saw the way his ears tinted in red underneath the streetlights. katsuki's blushing.

"our agency went to kyoto for all might's birthday. where'd we get the time to do all that? i don't fucking know," he huffs. "i confessed to you that night we left all might's apartment together.

"how we ended up alone together was kirishima and ashido's 'slick ass' plan. that's how pinky ended up taking a photo of us together. i wasn't plotting to confess to you that night, fyi. it happened anyway." katsuki takes a second to check on ochako's reaction. to put it positively, she's short-circuiting.

that's enough confirmation that he had her full attention. "if you're wonderin' if those two idiots know i confessed to you, they do. izuku, too. for some idiotic reason." her own best friend knew. noted. "the reason you don't remember is you got hit by a kid with the most fucked up quirk i could not make up.

"a selective memory loss quirk."

ochako's fingers grazed through her hair and pulled it from the scalp. there was absolutely no way all of this was true. then again, katsuki is anything but a liar. ochako was actually thankful she got this bomb of information from him. if it were anyone else, she wouldn't believe all of this.

"anything that happened that day? wiped from your brain. even those times we planned anything for all might's birthday."

that's not important anymore. "who was the kid?"

"what?"

"did you find the kid?"

"yea?"

"can this be reversed?" ochako wanted to wipe the kid from the face of the earth but that would mean contrasting everything she fought for in the war during their first year.

"nah," katsuki gently takes her hands off her scalp and smooths her hair. "the kid's a spoiled brat. his parents didn't sign the waiver to reverse his quirk on you so you're stuck not knowing."

"but did i ever give you an answer?" ochako was almost pleading.

a corner of his lips tugged upwards. "no. you didn't."

now ochako hates herself.

"you avoided me the rest of the night."

oh god.

"so bad that you collided with that kid in the hallway and you made the brat incredibly fucking upset, he used his quirk on you. then you were unconscious until the ride back here."

ochako wants to die. "none of you helped me remember?"

"y'think i want to relive and explain to you the most vulnerable moment in my life the following days it happened? i think fucking not!" katsuki was beet red. "do you have any idea how awfully embarrassing that was? confessed, didn't get an answer, got fucking avoided, and cockblocked by a stupid little 8-year-old. all in one night."

ochako realizes something. "is that the reason why you suddenly avoided me for a whole month?" all that and he reverted back to normal around her.

for about a week.

"yea, then i got izuku's help organize the mission on europe because i needed to be away from you."

tears welled in her eyes. "i'm sorry, bakugo."

"it's not your fault, uraraka. it's the situation i hated." he lifts a hand to wipe a tear that escaped down her cheek. he pinches her. "still couldn't stand to look at you without getting mad.

"doesn't change the fact how i missed you a fuckton. i had to be in fucking paris of all places, with that dumbass kaminari makin' smooching noises with his dumbass girlfriend."

ochako was finally smiling. "did you ask mina to post that picture?"

"hell no. that nosy bitch is always up on my business. she demanded i make a move on you yet couldn't wait before i land on japan."

"that sucks. i wanted a private relationship, too."

katsuki smirks a-fucking-gain and leans closer. "what's that supposed to mean?"

fight back, ochako. fight back. "wait, if mina hadn't done all that, would you have never told me anything?" she changes the subject, inching back to keep a platonic distance for now.

she watches him heave out a sigh. "no idea, do I still wanna inform you how much i wanna gobble you up whenever i see you? dunno." maybe that was too much information. then again, this whole conversation had been a surge of stark mad info everyone but ochako knew about.

"i'm not asking for a response," katsuki notices her uneasiness. "i get this is a lot to take in. and you know what? i ain't gonna risk another dumbass accident happening to you.

"just know how much you mean to me."

somehow, the mere fact that katsuki bakugo has been in love with her this entire time and, quite frankly, fumbled hard after confessing might be the most mind-boggling fact of the night.

they shared the silence that engulfed them. ochako wasn't sure what to say. this was the first confession she ever experienced in her life. was he even confessing? was he just letting her know? will she avoid him again after this? was the way he flirted with her earlier did the trick somehow? and then it hit her.

ochako tilts her head, "aren't you supposed to be my boss?" katsuki raises an eyebrow at her sudden question. "yea?"

"this is a weird power dynamic, mr. bakugo."

and this is a weird way to flirt.

"we've been long-time friends before i became your boss, cheeks. the hell are you talkin' about?" ochako giggles and waves a hand at him, before gesturing at him to continue their walk back. "you into stuff like that? didn't know you were kinky, damn."

she hits him.

and slides her hand down to his, slipping her fingers between the gaps of his and keeping her pinky hover. she hopes katsuki can't hear how her heart thumped up her throat from the nerves. "i still have a lot of questions."

he gives her hand a squeeze. "i'll answer 'em."

maybe not from the nerves. she huffs, remembering the goddamn elephant in the sidewalk. "and we need to do something about the rumor mina started." she sees katsuki giving her a look from her peripherals. "you're courting me, okay! i didn't answer yet. plus, i did say i wanna keep my private life quiet.

"but i am interested in you. do i feel the same before i had my memories wiped? i'm not sure. i can't remember," she laughs. "i did miss talking to you when you started avoiding me, and i missed your presence even more when you guys left. so i'm really happy you stopped by the office tonight."

she turns to him with the brightest smile that rivaled the sun and how it reflected it's light at the stars.

"i missed you too, bakugo."

"aw, fuck," katsuki manages as he melts down to a squat on the asphalt, covering his face with one hand with the other still squeezing in ochako's grasp.

"wh- what's wrong?!"

"you're so fucking cute." his voice muffled inside his palm. a tint of red spread all over his face down to his neck and it's all ochako's fault.

her smile widens, "c'mon, get up! i still have work tomorrow." the sky has already gotten pretty dark. it must be so late.

"no. i'll call in sick for you tomorrow." he rises up to his feet and drags her down the street. "lemme intrude your apartment for the night, 'kay?" he looks back at her with a mysterious glint on his eyes and ochako did not like it.

"hUh?!" she pulls back. "no! we're not doing that! and don't just decide my sick leaves on your own!"

"cheeks, i just wanted to squeeze you in my arms. why are you resisting so much?"

she stares at him.

he smirks at her

she frowns.

"pervert."

"FUCK OFF!"

katsuki did nothing more than squeeze ochako inside his arms in her bed that night.

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celestiachan · 2 months ago

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underrated 3ds and ds games you can get on hshop and archive.org right now for free

Style Savvy: Styling Star is an eshop exclusive 3ds game that released after the Switch. Way after the Switch. It released on Christmas. It is the worst selling game in the Style Savvy franchise. A shame, because it's the best one. It is a fashion game where you dress up different customers who all want to become singers. There are styles in it that I hadn't ever heard of before playing it. It has gothic lolita, gyaru, pop kei, girly kei, and lots of other j-fashions that I didn't know about before playing it. And there's lesbianism in it. I am not joking. There are actual fictional lesbians in this Nintendo published game. Go play it

Boxboy, Boxboxboy, and Bye-Bye Boxboy are three eshop exclusives, with the last one being released after the Switch. I'm noticing a pattern here. They were developed by the same studio as Kirby, and they (debatably) share a universe. The gameplay of the first game starts off slow, but there is a plot twist halfway through the game. This trend continues to a point where I would consider Bye-Bye Boxboy to be a horror game. There is a fourth game on Switch called Boxboy + Boxgirl, but I would recommend saving that one for after you beat the 3ds trilogy. Oh yeah and the main character is a guy and you can make him wear bows and dresses and makeup. He's gnc af. The only other thing I have to say in regards to its plot is to look very closely at the box behind the player character in the first level of the first game.

Hotel Dusk: Room 215 and Last Window: The Secret of Cape West are two visual novel puzzle games for the DS. You play as Kyle Hyde, who is a complete and utter asshole. He is a salesman who used to be a police detective. He shot his partner (who he was probably gay for) 3 years ago and quit the force. Now it's 1979 and he's spending a night at Hotel Dusk for his job. The second game takes place in the apartment building he lives in. Uh oh! His landlady sold it and it's going to be demolished next month. He spends his last week there investigating the unsolved murder of his father. This one only released in Europe and Japan before its developer went out of business. Sad! This is maybe the only video game that has a novelisation of itself inside of it. They really leaned heavily into the visual novel aspect. Also the soundtrack and artstyle of these games are absolutely gorgeous. Please play them

#xenon screams #3ds #hacked 3ds #3ds hacking #ds #style savvy #style savvy styling star #boxboy #boxboxboy #bye-bye boxboy #hotel dusk #last window #hotel dusk room 215 #last window the secret of cape west #kyle hyde #cing #nintendo #hal laboratory

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transgamerthoughts · 7 months ago

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a night at poe's masquerade

Last night I made a quick tweet about how I think Persona games (particular from Persona 3 onwards) tend to be fundamentally conservative games. In worlds filled with magic powers, shadow selves, and literal gods there's an understanding that many of the most villainous people you can know are folks in positions of social/political power who weaponize their status in order to prey on those beneath them. This is a particular focus of Persona 5 but it extends even back to back to a game like Persona 2 and characters like Tatsuzou Sudou. Although these games acknowledge the social structures that lead to particularly vicious kinds of abuse, there is tendency for our protagonist to then fold themselves into those power structures. In games that focus less on real-life political allegory, there's still pattern of protagonists eventually accepting the societal roles that they're initial chafing against. It's a very common occurrence in the series. clockwork!

Persona 4 is the chief culprit here. Yukiko struggles with the idea that her presumed inheritance of the Amagi Inn is an imposition on her life but makes peace with that fact and eventually prepares herself for that role. Chie confronts Adachi, shocked that anyone who chose to be a police officer would do so for selfish reasons or betray the ideal image she holds of that job. Though confronted with the ways in which the system enabled Adachi's murders, she ultimately decided that she wants to become a police officer. Just as some examples. there's more. it's a fraught game in many ways

(I'm not gonna talk about Naoto. That's a minefield. as a trans critic people ask what I think about Naoto quite often. my answer is I like Naoto quite a bit and while I appreciate the queer read I don't need her story to be actually about transness. my tongue in cheek deep position here is that I think she's the damn coolest thing in the Dancing All Night opening movie. absolute fire!)

Persona fans are totally reasonable human beings. by which I mean that they might be the most electric and fuckin' absurd fandom I've ever encountered. While some people agreed with my read of the series, many others swarmed in. Which is fine enough. That's just what happens when you're visible on Twitter. I don't really have an interest in outlining the series in gross detail although, contrary to many accusations, I have played all the mainline games. One thing that can never be hurled my way is a suggestion that I don't play videos games. This criticism doesn't arise out of nowhere though I admit I didn't exactly expect it to become a trending topic floating in the "For You" tab. I was tweeting before bed.

Lesson learned! this fandom is wild! So it goes!

I've been thinking about people's responses and I want to venture into fraught territory to talk about a particularly bad habit I see from many fans. Which I think can be extended to things like ongoing debates about localization as much as they can apply to this little tempest in a teapot. Which is that I've grown somewhat concerned with he ways in which RPG fans (intentionally or not) exoticize Japan as a means to defend their favorite games from critique. It's kinda bad!

and I'm gonna risk a ramble exploring the topic… and I wonder how tumblr in 2024 will compare in reaction to hellscape of twitter

Something you often encounter in these discussions is an implication (sometimes a direct suggestion) that it is impossible to really engage with Japanese media as a westerner. That there's too many layers of nuance and too many centuries of ingrained tradition for anyone who has not engaged in lengthy study on the topic to penetrate. Often, this is framed as a desire to simply put things in cultural contexts. respect it and give due seriousness! Which is fine. I absolutely think if you wanna talk about something like the portrayal of the Japanese justice system in Judgement, it probably helps to… y'know… know details about the Japanese justice system. If you want to talk about how a game approaches gender, an understanding of certain social mores is important. No one debates this; it's important to understand art as arising from specific material conditions and places.

This is not really the approach people take however. Instead there is an insistence that the cultural difference between Japan and western nations is essentially insurmountable. Which has some bad implications. I think people are well meaning when they're like "hey, you gotta watch this YouTuber talk about Shintoism and JRPG boss fights for over an hour" but it comes at the cost of painting the culture as something of a puzzle to solve. and make no mistake: I'm glad anyone is doing the work but there's a bit of strangeness at play when folks are like "well you're American" and then tell me to watch criticism also made by Americans. especially since I do have a educational background that includes the study of world religions. i've studied plenty of this! and it's not impossible for me to have grasped.

the world is beautiful and nuanced and specific and full of vibrancies. but these things are not so singular that we can't connect with them or come to know them. and those nuances and specifics and vibrances don't create a protective ward around works. if anything, they're invitations to explore something new. if I walk away from Persona with a position that you don't agree with I promise that it's not something that's happened in haste. It used to be my job to think about games. and I've thought about Persona a lot! it's not inaccesible.

When we start to paint a culture as being particularly foreign we inherently exoticize it. We drape a degree of mystery over it which implies there is no universal connections found in art. Of course the concept of "police" is different in Japan to some extent as is the expectations that go into inheriting a family business. yes, the social nuances of a classroom differ. But Japan is not so alien to the western critic that we can't look at popular fiction and spot patterns. I certain don't need a 17 anime consumer to write me an essay on honne and tatemae or whatever in order to understand what's going on in the Midnight Channel. It's an easily observable truth that Persona often identifies issues within Japan society while also (particularly in Persona 5's case) concluding that these problems are not a consequence of specific power structures but rather moral failings of certain bad individuals. That's the text. Even when it wants to suggest otherwise.

Here's a little snippet from Persona 5. On face value, it seems to contradict what I'm saying. "Harper, how can you say that it only cares about individuals when it outright says that society itself needs to be addressed!?" DO YOU EVEN PLAY THESE GAMES YOU BITCH?! The answer is that the game does not have a model or idea of what it means to change society except vaguely to inspire people to more individual action. be nicer. stand up for yourself, speak your truth, do things for your own reasons. which has a radical element to it in the context to be sure but we've spent a huge portion of the game seeing how the abuse of power, particularly power placed in certain positions and social strata

a change of mindset is good but… is that sufficient? I'm not entirely convinced. not if this game want to truly deliver on everything it has explored. (side note, a lot of folks were like "why are you focusing on p5 so much here?" and the answer is that it's recent, representative of the series' values from the last decade or so, and because I'm a tired adult in their 30s who has stuff to do and isn't obligated to make a 300 tweet long thread breaking down multiple scripts. if you want me to do that labor, you better pay me for my time. otherwise I don't care to appease fan who have no plans of truly entertaining what I'd do anyway. no breakdown I do could please them)

but you fight Yaldabaoth Harper! You kill the collective gestalt representative of the status quo!. okay sure but the metaphorical battle falters as the game ultimately imagines many of our heroes (for instance Makoto, who also decides to become a cop even after her sister leaves the profession to become a defense attorney) are content to slide into the power structures as they exist. they've simply become "good apples" in the same basket that held the bad ones What does it matter if you kill the metaphor when you don't carry through elsewhere? It's not simply some vague human desire to be exploited that created the various monstrous villains we face throughout the game. There's real material circumstances, systems and long-held powers that gave them the carte blanche that enabled their abuses! Be they financial, political, or even sexual.

We might layer nuances on top of this of course. Notions of reticence to change or valuing of tradition, attitudes towards elders. But when we do so it's important be careful. When fans imply impenetrabilities in the works by virtue of cultural difference, there's a risk of veering into a kind of Orientalism. One which mystifies the culture and turns it into a kind of "other." Distant, strange. This sometimes comes paired with a kind of infantilization of creators but that's a different though similarly fraught topic that I think is particularly best left in the hands of the creators themselves. I'm not the person to talk about that!

Nevertheless, a frustrating part of the response to my tweet today has been a rush to say "This work functions that makes it necessarily elide your ability to critique it."

I'll be an ass and generalize. It's mostly people with Persona avatars making this suggest. That Persona, as a Japanese work, is imbued with an ineffable quality that magically allows it to side-step what's ultimately a pretty timid conclusion. Many of these folks are younger players, self-identified as such in profiles, who clearly have a deep connection to the series. It means something to them. But I'd rather they simply say "hey, I found this thing particularly moving at an important moment in my life" rather than conjure an impassable ocean between myself (or really anyone) and the work in the event they find flaws.

Otherwise, you just get this:

Stories are not merely about what happens on the journey. The destination does matter. It means something when the king grabs his shining sword and fights off the orc invaders or whatever. A value system is suggested Similarly, it does means something when Chie becomes a cop. (This is just a shorthand example mind you! But you hopefully get the idea!)

I don't think games or any work of art need us to defend them. The trap of fandom is that you often turn to any possible means to justify what you love. For Persona, a series which does have the decency to explore cultural issues, that same cultural specificity is often weaponize by fans (largely western fans even!) to deflect certain problems. This process inadvertently portrays that culture as a mystery, a shrouded thing that we cannot ever criticize. It's one thing to dig into some of those contextual specifics but it's another all-together to imply these specifics provide a mean to abrogate certain analyses. and I think navigating the line between due deference and something deeper and stranger seems to be something many of the fans reacting to me... have not managed. I had a peer talk to me about this situation and their feeling was that the animated members of the fandom that were coming at me, many of whom are self-identified as young and western, were kinda treating Japan like it was a land of elves. which it's not! it is a place on Earth and yes we need to take strides to understand and respect certain specificities... but we can't mystify an entire people. especially if the purpose is to turn those people and their culture into a shield. a means to justify and validate the specialness you see in a franchise.

I call Persona conservative because it cannot imagine a world in any other shape that what we have right now. God dies but nothing actually changes. I don't think it's enough to say "well, they defeated the god! and they needed the collective strength of society to do it! people did change because without that change of heart, the heroes wouldn't have the magical juice to fight the Kabbalah monster!" to toss Makoto's words back at the series: victory against a single god is meaningless if the true enemy is society.

If you can't show me what that grand spiritual change means for society, then I think you've kinda failed. you've certainly failed if the conclusion is that the world after that change is functionally the same and it doesn't really matter to me if "they talk about this in Strikers or whatever" because you can't offload your thematic snarls to side games. if the main stories you tell can't resolve this tension, that's a problem. these are often very beautiful games. they certainly have amazing structure and systems. but I don't think it's controversial to say they often hedge their bets at the end. and there's no impenetrable cultural wall surrounding the games that leaves the criticism off the table.

that's just What Happens. and it's fine for us to acknowledge flaws in even in things that contain beauty or meant something to us

really. it's fine.

#persona #casual game crit #fandom

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