#especially since we won't see her for a while in the anime

[epickiya722]

All I ask for this fourth movie that Miruko at least has a cameo. Just at least shown once. I can't go on with another movie NOT showing her. Not a fourth one, DON'T DO THIS TO ME!

[darinawrites]

๑—Telling squid game characters you want a cat—๑

Characters: Se-mi, Hyun ju, In ho, Dae ho, Thanos, Salesman

A/n: This was requested a while ago, but Tumblr is weird and I can't find it </3 hope you still read this. Also, the damm tags don't work 😭 can someone tell me what's wrong and why they won't work constantly?

┆彡Se-mi

*ੈI see Se-mi as the biggest cat person ever. There's something about those small creatures that have a soft spot in her heart. So, of course she'd be overjoyed if you suggested it before her.

*ੈHer favorite would be a black cat, they're the cutest and cuddliest for her.

*ੈOverfeeds the cat once you buy it. She can't help it, one small pleading of a meow and the snacks are already out. You'd have to remind her and she'd understand to be more resistant in the future.

*ੈBuys only the essentials, but the most high quality ones you could ever think of. She doesn't believe a cat needs so much, but she does think they need good material.

*ੈBuys small white bows to clip it on the kitty, the contrast so vast. It reminds her a bit of the style she has, like a small reflection of herself.

*ੈThe cat will be sleeping on the bed, no buts.

*ੈShe will treat the cat as like a child she birthed herself. She isn't amazed of the idea of getting a child, so this would be a great substitute! Her kitty is the one and only child she needs.

┆彡Salesman (can we get this guy a name)

*ੈWouldn't be fond of the idea. He doesn't like animals generally, a pet wouldn't be ideal for him and it would take a lot of convincing for him to even let you speak out your idea.

*ੈAgainst all odds, you did somehow manage to get the small kitty. But be prepared for even more work. Do not expect him to do anything, it was your own idea.

*ੈBuying food and essentials. Vet trips and feeding. It's all up to you, you should've known what you were signing up for.

*ੈHe does not even acknowledge the kitties existence. Everytime it purrs as it rubs against his leg once he's back from work he doesn't react, not in the slightest. Despite your pleads, he simply answers that the pest is lucky enough to even live with you.

*ੈMaybe one day his cold facade would fade away (it won't).

┆彡In-ho

*ੈWouldn't oppose the idea nor be fond of it. He's indifferent and couldn't care much about a pet, especially since he's filled with work most of the time. He'll get you one if you want to, but don't think he wanted it.

*ੈRarely does anything with the cat. He'll do basics like feeding it, but doesn't go beyond that. He doesn't really see much in the ball of fluffy cotton.

*ੈGives you as much money as you want for the cat, while he doesn't care much for it he knows they take a lot of work to properly take care of. Doesn't know a thing about anything you're buying, so he just hopes its only essentials that are draining his wallet (they're not).

*ੈOver the time, he will grow fond of the cat. Against his own wishes, he starts to like the purrs, the fur, the accidental bites. He won't ever admit the care he grew to have, it's a just a pet, no?

*ੈBut his indifferent facade can't fool you. You saw the way he spends more time with the little kitty, letting it in his office, letting it crawl on his hand to pick it up. You won't say anything, but a small smile would come up at the thought of your cold husband warming up to the pet.

*ੈPicks the cat up in his lap any chance he gets. It's so relaxing to feel the vibrations of purrs against him as he softly strokes the fur while doing his work.

┆彡Hyun ju

*ੈNever thought of the idea. She was content with the both of you, the suggestion of something else never popping up in her mind.

*ੈYou have to give her a little time to think about it. This is a big responsibility, something she's a bit nervous about to mess up.

*ੈ"Are you sure this is what you really want, and it will make you happy?" once you nod in response and she reveals that she'll get you a cat, you're ecstatic.

*ੈAfter hours of deciding, you finally chose a small white kitty! She wouldn't care much about the type of cat she'd get, so she gave the authority to you to pick one out.

*ੈSpent hours of research to know what its trying to say. If she should pet it or it's uncomfortable, if the kitty's hungry or not. You just know she's trying her best. <3

*ੈLazy mornings with her and a fluffy cat on your thigh while her big arms cuddle you is all you've ever needed.

*ੈThe difference between the small kitten in her huge palms always makes you melt.

┆彡Thanos

*ੈTruth be told you were the one hesitant to tell him, despite the immense joy you'd get from a kitten. You weren't sure he would be responsible enough, but at the end you gave in to the desires and told him.

*ੈOf course he'd say yes, he loves any type of animals. Even if more exotic ones would be his preferred ones. As long as you're happy and have a pet, he'll put it aside.

*ੈBuying the most energetic orange cat you've ever seen. He needs an energetic companion, one that matches him.

*ੈAnd you just know he will give it the stupidest and absurd name you've heard. There's no stoping him, sadly. But you'll somehow grow used to it.

*ੈBrings the cat everywhere, especially in his recording studio. They're inseparable, seen always together. That's his buddy now, even adding some of his meows to his songs once he has the chance to.

*ੈVictim of overfeeding #2. Everytime it comes up to him he simply gives him a snack. What else is he supposed to do?

*ੈYou also have to tell him to be careful when he cuddles kitty, that man is practically squeezing every bit of life out of the poor thing.

┆彡Dae ho

*ੈDae ho is definitely a dog person. Despite his love for all animals, he'd still prefer a dog over a cat. But he wouldn't oppose it, not at all. Especially once he sees how happy it makes you.

*ੈYou'd play a little game and whoever wins decides. And to your surprise, you actually won against him! (he let you win to see you smile)

*ੈHe'll be honest, he wasn't exactly fond of the little brown kitten you brought back. But seeing your smile and the glint in your eyes made him appreciate the cat a little more.

*ੈAnd, don't worry. It won't take long before he's swooning over the sight of the kitty. The little disappointment of the loss of a dog not lasting long as he's now in the trance of the big goopy black eyes the kitten has.

*ੈAlways cuddling with it. He can't help it, the fur so fluffy and the size smaller than his hands, it's too much for his heart to take.

*ੈEqually shares the chores of the cat. He isn't one to do nothing nor everything, you're both equal and both love the kitty.

*ੈChooses the cutest and most meaningful name he can muster. Something that will always remind himself of you when he calls out for the cat <3

[iamtheonethinginlifeicancontrol]

I have thoughts on this week's episode of Ranma 1/2 (ep 11)!

I thought that the re-framing that the anime did of Shampoo and Akane's match was very interesting. Choosing to have Akane lob a desk at Ranma and then have him hit in the head by a football (holy head trauma, Batman!) was such an interesting change to make! Ranma being unconscious for a minute or two before running off in search of Akane gave the match more time to occur, built more suspense, and gave Ranma himself more urgency in his search.

The rest of what I have to say contains spoilers (can we say this of a manga series that finished in 1996?) for the end of the manga, under the cut

I'm a die-hard 乱あ shipper and have been since I first read Ranma 1/2, so this episode delighted my little shipper heart. There are some small but significant deviations from the manga that I wanted to expand on, and one particular change that is narratively significant in light of manga canon.

Putting aside the issues of Shampoo's newer fixation on Ranma-as-male as her future husband per Amazonian law and how that impacts the dynamics of our tsundere couple in this ep, I'm choosing to focus on the scenes related to Akane's showdown with Shampoo and the changes that the anime made from the manga (and why I'm living for them).

As mentioned, the decision to knock Ranma unconscious is an interesting change to make, but I'd argue that it works well and was a well thought-out deviation from manga canon. As I said above, it gives the match more time to occur—whether that impacts the duration of time that the Xi Fa Xiang Gao technique takes is yet to be seen. It also builds suspense for the audience, especially in light of the younger generations/newer audience members who may be interacting with Ranma 1/2 for the first time. Most importantly, though, it gives urgency to Ranma's search for Akane that isn't quite there in the manga. Sure, he's worried as he runs after Shampoo and Akane after he gets delayed (by Akane slamming a window in his face lol), but the time that elapses between the two girls going off to fight and Ranma going after them is very short. Maybe 30 seconds, 60 at the very most. I'll include a panel below to illustrate this:

And of course, I'm not arguing that Ranma isn't worried about Akane or fearful that she'll get hurt. But there's a fairly significant difference in how this is portrayed (see below) versus how the anime chose to approach this.

For one thing, the framing is very different. Akane getting injured, while of real concern, is being shown in a humourous way; her facial expressions (like the swirly eyes) and Takahashi-san's characteristic "るーみっ��サイン" (rumic sign) are used for comedy, to make it seem like any hurt Akane might incur won't be too serious. Plus, while Ranma does try to diffuse the tension after Akane grabs P-chan from the tray and gets the Kiss of Death for her trouble (lol Shampoo just gives those things out like party favours, doesn't she?), and tries to avert the fight between the two girls, the time that passes doesn't truly allow his concern to sharpen further. As seen above, Ranma's worried-but-determined. He's not flooded with anxiety (or particularly intrusive thoughts imo).

However, the anime chose to allow Ranma to actually lose consciousness at the beginning of the girls' match. We don't (and probably won't) know how long Ranma was actually unconscious, but it certainly was long enough to warrant his frantic search for Akane.

And frantic it is! This man starts running around the entire campus yelling her name, escalating to screeeeaming by the end. Please see below (subs are Akane's name [あかね] and onomatopoeia/sound effects for running and heavy breathing):

But don't worry, guys, he's super laid back, super chill. Jk just in these screenshots alone, he's calling/yelling her name 10 times.

Let's talk quickly about framing here! This is pretty starkly different from how the manga frames these scenes. The colouring is dark, the sky is cloudy, there's no lightheartedness to be seen, and Ranma's frantic and anxious, underscored by the, uh, musical scoring. The anime is treating this as Serious Business, which does make a lot of sense, given that Shampoo chased onna!Ranma all over China trying to kill him, and that experience is what's informing Ranma here. He has an interspersed imagination spot (see below) of Shampoo hitting Akane point blank in the chest with one of her chuí, and we see Akane exclaim in pain, fall to the ground, and remain motionless. He's panicking because he knows how dangerous Shampoo is, and he's afraid for Akane. He doesn't want her to get hurt; he wants to protect her wellbeing, especially because he's seen that she's less concerned with that than he thinks she should be. His insult from the skating arc makes another appearance here: he calls Akane "鈍い女" [nibui onna; slow/dull girl chick], which in his imagination looks like Akane leaving herself completely open for a sternal strike? But his anxiety is informing this mental image, so he's probably imagining a worst-case scenario. I'd hope that his opinion of Akane's capability would be higher, but I digress.

After he stops running about and screams Akane's name in desperation, he quickly hears Ryouga-as-P-chan's voice, he dashes toward the sound, finding Akane unconscious on the ground: fears confirmed!

And here's where, to me, it gets really interesting. We see that Ranma is calling Akane's name and cradling her in his arms; very different to this scene in the manga, where he's on his knees next to her, calling her name and saying, "hey, [untranslatable word that could best be read as] just..." (see below):

And in the anime, this becomes what I think must be an intentional reference to the end of the Saffron arc in the last volume of the manga (38). Ranma says the same thing in one of the last scenes of that story arc, cradling an unconscious Akane in his arms, calling her name, and begging her, "起きろよ、あかね" (okiro yo, Akane; wake up, Akane], among other things. See below for comparison of the manga (upper left-hand panel, specifically) vs the anime:

And here's episode 11's parallel:

Well, gee, what does Ranma screaming her name while holding her with tears in his eyes remind me of? I'm glad you asked! It's the next panel in the manga!

Spoilers, but really.

I've reached my pic limit on this post, so I can't compare and contrast much more, but I do have more to say on this parallel. Might make another post later, so that I can show more pics for illustration.

Whether I make that follow-up post or not, my immediate thought when I saw this in the episode was both that it was an intentional reference to Jusendō, and that it was intended to be the first of a pair of narrative bookends (i.e. recurring or similar scenes meant to refer & compare to one another within the narrative to illustrate something, whether character growth, story progression, relational changes, etc). If we do get the Full Ranma Series animated (may it please God), this is both foreshadowing and bookending, and I'm delighted by it!

Also, even if we don't get to see the Jusendō arc animated, Yamaguchi Kappei will have had the opportunity to play a version of that iconic scene from the manga and do his best "Akaneeeee!" scream.

[and-claudia]

Against All Odds pt. 11 (Joel Miller x fem! reader)

General Warnings for later on: The main story will have an age gap between Joel and the reader (Reader will be 25 once we get to the main storyline), this will also be your warning that it will eventually be an x pregnant reader (if that’s not your jam, I’m sorry) there is also going to be more graphic/trigger parts later on so please always to be sure to read the warnings BEFORE reading. This story will also be 18+ and TO BE ON THE TAGLIST YOU CAN NOT BE AN AGELESS BLOG (i do actually check that) also there first hand full of parts are all prologue so Joel won’t actually be in it for a bit

warnings for this part: SMUT (+18) (I felt like yall had been starved long enough) PinV, unprotected sex (not that this matters anymore), Nudity, mentions of hunting/killing animals (that is separate from the smut just so we're clear...)

word count: 2700+

gif not mine

It was painfully quiet as we walked. I desperately wanted to ask if Ellie was okay, but I knew she wasn't. I also didn't want to force her to talk. So, I let her be for now. Hopefully she'd come to me when she was ready to talk about it. 

I looked up into the sky to see where the sun was. Since I didn't have a watch, it was my best guide to what time it was. Right now, it was right overhead, noonish if not past it. We had been walking for a long time, and no one had eaten before we began. I knew, even if no one wanted to, we'd have to eat something soon just to have the energy to keep going.

"He-Hey, maybe we should stop for a bit, eat a little something. Keep our energy up until we stop for the night?" I suggested. 

It honestly sounded like I was shouting because of how quiet it had been. 

"That's probably a good idea." Joel said. 

"Not hungry." Ellie said, turning around to look at us. 

"You need to eat something." Joel said. 

"Yeah, just a little bit. Okay?" I said gently. 

She sighed but nodded. 

We found a shaded spot and sat down. I took the opportunity to loosen my bootstraps as Joel got the food out. It was running low, and I knew it, especially when Joel barely took any for himself. He probably thought I didn't notice, but I did.

"Take your own advice. You need to eat too, Joel." I said. 

"I'll be okay." He said. 

"No... I hate to be that person, but even if we ration what we have left, we will be out of food within what three days at best. What are we going to do when we run out?" I asked seriously. 

"Hunt." Joel said simply, "There will be rabbits and squirrels along the way. Easy enough to shoot, not too hard to skin. We'll survive."  

I only nodded. The idea of eating a squirrel definitely made my stomach do a flip, I could handle rabbit easily, but a squirrel would be pushing it. Although I knew I wouldn't have an option when it came down to it. 

"How clean do you think creeks are 'round here?" I asked. 

"Decently. Hasn't been human activity for a good while to pollute them. They'll be clean enough to rinse the grime off, for sure. Those spare clothes still in your bag?" Joel asked and I nodded. 

"Won't be clean clean, but at least the ones we're wearing can be cleaner. But it will eventually get too cold to do that. But hopefully we'll make it Wyoming before that." Joel said. 

I nodded. 

"I don't know about y'all, but I suggest we find one of those creeks before we stop for the night. I'd like a chance to get the dirt and sweat off me." I said. 

"I agree." Ellie finally chimed in. 

“Alright. I’ll scout one out where we can stop for the night as well. But we’ll have to take shifts. No one wants to be caught by others out here alone and… you know…” Joel trailed off. 

“Okay, well, if Ellie is comfortable with it, I can keep an eye out while she rinses off, and you can set up our camp for the night. Then she and I can switch, or you can come keep a look out for me, and then I can watch for you.” I suggested. 

I figured it would be best for me to be on the lookout for both of them, which would make things a hell of a lot less awkward for everyone. 

“I’m fine with that. Just as long as you two promise not to have sex while you two are being lookouts for one another.” Ellie said. 

I rolled my eyes in amusement as Joel shook his head. 

We finished up our food before getting ready to leave. I was grateful that this time, the walk wasn’t silent. 

“Since we’re gonna have to hunt from now on, will you show me how to use the rifle?” Ellie asked. 

“I’ll think about it. Why don’t we start with trappin’ first? It’ll help us conserve our ammo.” Joel said. 

I honestly hadn’t thought about that. All of our resources were severely limited now. Food, water, ammo, shelter. Everything was going to be in short supply. And winter was fast approaching. 

“Should we try to set a goal for each day on how far we want to get? No offense, but I don’t want to still be walking nine months pregnant.” I joked, though I was serious. 

“I was planning on taking it day by day. None of us were preparing for this, so we won’t be able to go nonstop for days on end. Figured we could try traveling for a day or two, then rest and continue on like that. It’ll hopefully keep us from getting burnt out.” Joel explained. 

“Not a bad idea.” I agreed. 

Eventually, the sun was beginning to set, so Joel took us deeper into some woods and found where the creek was. I was actually surprised at how clean it looked. After ensuring that the surrounding area was, in fact, clear of any people or Infected, Joel informed us that he’d go off a good ways to set up our camp for the night while we took our turns using the creek to rinse off. 

I let Ellie go first. I found her clothes in my bag and laid them on a rock for her for when she was finished. I let her take her time and didn’t rush her. I kept my eyes on the treeline, watching for any movement. 

“Want me to get an area set up to hang our old clothes to dry at camp?” She asked, walking up wearing the new clothes. 

We had also decided that rinsing our old clothes would be the best thing since we only had a few outfits each. They obviously wouldn’t be actually clean, but it would be better than just putting dirty clothes back on. 

“Yeah, that’s a good idea. Do you want to wait until I rinse off, or do you want Joel to come keep watch for me?” I aksed. 

“Can Joel? I just need some time alone with my thoughts…” She said, rubbing the back of her neck and not making eye contact. 

“Of course. And Ellie,” She finally looked up at me, ��If you want to talk about anything, and I seriously mean anything, I am here, okay? I can’t promise I can fix whatever is happening but I can definitely listen.” I said sincerely. 

“Thank you.” she said quietly and nodded before walking us to where Joel was. 

“You two done already?” He asked as we walked back. 

“No, she’s going to switch with you now so I can rinse off, then you can.” I said, giving him a look not to question it. 

“Okay. Well, let’s go then.” He said, dusting off his hands as he stood up from where he had been hunched over, laying out rocks to make a small fire. I noticed a dead rabbit next to him, meaning he miraculously managed to get us something decent to eat later.. 

“Everything okay?” He asked once we were a good distance away. 

“Yeah, she just wanted some time alone to think, and so I let her.” I explained, and Joel nodded. 

“You want to go first?” He asked once we got back to the creek. 

“Yes, please.” I said, making him sigh through his nose in amusement. 

Joel found himself a spot to sit against a tree while I dug out my clothes and laid them down before stripping out of the ones I had been wearing. As I took my bra off, I let out a sigh of relief. 

“You know, that’s the one thing I didn’t think to grab an extra of…” I said with a sigh. 

“I give it another month or so before that one doesn’t fit anymore.” Joel said from where he sat. 

“Eyes on the trees, bud, not on me.” I teased before walking down to the water. 

I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t freezing. It actually felt amazing. The water wasn’t moving fast at all, so I was able to walk out to the middle of the creek, where the water came up to about halfway up my breast. I began using my nails to scrub some of the dirt off my body when I heard a twig snap over by Joel. When I turned to look I was surprised to see him standing up, taking off his boots. 

Silently, I watched as he undid his shirt and took his jeans off. He set his old clothes on the bank by mine so they’d be closer for when it was time to rinse them. When he caught me staring, I raised a questioning eyebrow at him to which he just smirked as he waded into the water. 

“What?” 

“Joel, you're supposed to be keeping watch.” I said, shaking my head, though it was no secret that I wasn’t actually upset by any means.

“It'll be fine. Come're.” He said, grabbing my arm to gently pull me to him. 

A small laugh escaped my lips as I pulled up against him. 

“Hi.” I smiled up at him as he continued to hold me to him. 

“Hi.” He was smiling, too, at this point, a real, genuine smile that I hadn’t seen in a while. 

“So what, now, if someone sneaks up on us, we’ll both be caught off guard and naked?” I joked. 

“I don’t know. I think those would be more than enough to distract anyone.” He said, looking down at my breast. 

I playfully shoved him away. 

“I am supposed to be getting the grime off of me. I suggest you do the same.” I said, turning my back to him. 

He didn’t stay away from me for long. Without warning, he was grabbing my arm again to turn me to him, but this time, I was met by his lips on mine. A small gasp escaped my lips before I melted into it. My hands found their way up around his neck as his traveled down to my lower back. It was as if we couldn’t get close enough to each other. 

As we continued to makeout, his hands slipped lower, passed my ass, and down to the back of my thighs. He pulled one up to his hip, and I knew what he was trying to do. So, I used my other foot that was still down to gently push off the bottom of the creek enough for me to jump and wrap both of my legs around his waist. His kisses traveled away from my lips and down to my neck, which I gladly gave him access to. 

“Shit, Joel, please just fuck me.” I said as he worked on leaving a mark on my collarbone. 

“Way ahead of you, sweet girl.” He said before thrusting up into me. 

I had to actually bite down on my lower lip to keep from moaning out loud. Joel gave me a second to adjust to the feeling of him inside of me. But once he felt my body relax against him, he didn’t hold back. I buried my face into the junction of his neck and shoulder as he thrust up into me relentlessly. I could hear him cursing and saying my name in a breathy voice. I hadn’t even noticed one of his hands gripped my left thigh a little tighter as his other one came down between our bodies and found its way to my clit. 

Admittedly, I am a little ashamed of how sensitive it was. It had been a while since me and him had had sex, and I definitely hadn’t had time to myself recently. However, it seemed like to him no time had passed at all because he knew just how to make me come undone. 

“Fuck, Joel, m’close.” I said. 

“Me too…” “Inside.” Was all I was able to request as my walls tightened around his cock. 

He wasn’t far behind me either as I felt him release. He continued to hold me, not pulling out just yet as we both caught our breaths. Even after he slipped out of me and lowered me down to stand in the water, he continued to hold me against him. I looked up at him to find him already looking down at me. 

“I love you, you know that, right?” He asked, just barely above a whisper. 

“I know. I love you too, Joel.” I whispered back before leaning up to kiss him softly. 

After a few more minutes of just holding onto one another, we eventually knew we’d have to rinse our old clothes and get dressed in the fresh ones. I decided to just leave my bra off for the night to give myself a break. We gathered up everything and began walking back to camp, hand in hand. Once again, we both had smiles on our faces. 

When we got back, I hung both of our wet clothes on the branch Ellie had set up as our makeshift drying rack. Joel went over to start skinning and preparing the rabbit to be cooked. As I was hanging the last of the clothes, Ellie came up to me. 

“You two disgust me.” She said. 

I knew there was no way she heard us, so how’d she know? 

“What are you talking about?” I asked, playing dumb. 

“Look, I may not understand men, but I am pretty sure there’s only one thing that can get a man as grumpy as him to get him sliming like that.” She said, nodding over to where Joel was sitting, working with a smile still on his face.” 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Ellie. Now, help me with the water canteens.” I said, walking over to grab them. 

Ellie caught my wrist, making me stop short. 

“What’s that? Hm?” She questioned, pointing to where the collar of the flannel I put on didn’t quite cover the mark Joel had left there. 

I could feel my cheeks heating up, “Damnit, Joel!” I said, loud enough for him to hear and look up. 

“Y’all are nasty.” Ellie said in disgust, but I could tell she was trying not to laugh along with us. 

“You’ll understand when you’re older.” I teased. 

She shook her head, “Like hell I will.” She shot back, “Let’s just go fill up the water.” 

We both grabbed the canteens and walked back down to the creek. 

“Wait… I don’t want to drink from the sex creek. That’s gross.” She said, scrunching up her nose at the thought of it. 

“Don’t worry, the water is constantly moving. Besides, we were downstream.” I teased know that she definitely didn’t want to know the details. 

“I mean, if it puts him in a better mood for a while… just keep it far, far, away from me.” She teased back. 

We finished getting the water and headed back to where Joel had finished skinning the rabbit and was getting ready to cook it. I was pleasantly surprised at the taste. It was definitely far better than the shit we used to get given in the QZ. 

“I say tomorrow let's turn more North, get up into Nebraska, then start West again.” Joel said, causing Ellie and I to nod. 

I let out a yawn. 

“I don’t know about you two, but I am beat.” I said, stretching slightly. 

“I bet you are.” Ellie teased, causing me to roll my eyes. 

“Whatever.” I shook my head and stood up, “I can take a watch shift later if one of you wants to take one now.” 

“I’m not too tired yet, so I am going to stay up for a bit.” Ellie said, and I only nodded at her decision. 

“Me too. Go get some rest.” Joel said. 

I bid them both a goodnight before walking off to find somewhere half-decent to sleep. 

Ellie’s PoV 

Once I was sure Yn was out of earshot, I turned to Joel. 

“I want to talk about what happens after we find your brother in Wyoming.” I said seriously. 

sorry this one was a bit shorter... also this is your warning that I am devating from the events in the show...

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@shotgun-shelby

@joeldjarin

@catsareawesomek @harriedandharassed @keileighr @summerchicken @letsdisneythings @mrsyixingunicorn10 @theoraekenslover @xmistress-bunny @cherrycosmos392 @yasmin123123

[adachikiyoshi]

Rating (almost) every Cherry Magic iteration

Manga, Japanese Drama, Chinese Radio Drama, Japanese Drama Movie, Thai Drama, Anime

After rewatching (almost) every iteration of the story multiple times, I've compiled a list of my personal reviews for each adaptation (and the manga) and how much I would recommend them, what they each did well and what they might have lacked.

Manga:

Personal Score: 9.5/10 (only because it's still on going)

Objective Score: 9/10

Skipability: 0, you can't understand the whole story without the manga and also, you're missing out.

If you're reading this post, you probably know the plot of Cherry Magic, so I won't explain much about that. Since this is mostly to rate the adaptations in comparison to the manga, I can only emphasize how important the entirety of the manga is to understand cherry magic. Doesn't matter how many adaptations you've watched, I don't think you can truly consider yourself a fan if you don't engage with the manga. It's the only version where everything has the proper time to be fleshed out, especially in regards to Adachi, Kurosawa and their relationship. Toyota's writing as the story goes on is something to marvel at and unfortunately, the adaptations have yet to reach that far to represent it properly. The art progression is also noticeable and even if the art style puts you off at first you can see and appreciate the improvement.

Japanese Drama (2020):

Personal score: 9.5/10

Objective score: 8.5/10

Skippability: Maybe a 2-3, you can still enjoy the story without it but it's worth seeing how the drama influenced the manga.

Arguably the most popular and most successful iteration of the story, the Japanese drama of Cherry Magic deserves every bit of praise it gets. Before I get into the pros and cons, I need to contextualise the environment the jdrama was created and aired in because recent conversations lack nuance on that aspect. The Cherimaho drama was produced and aired on TvTokyo in 2020 and it was the station's second BL drama, the first being the incredible slice of life gay cooking drama, What Did You Eat Yesterday? So, wanting to replicate the success of that, the creators wanted to focus on the human drama aspect of Cherry Magic without, of course, toning down its LGBT themes. And they did exactly that. And they did that very well. The execution, while not flawless, was incredible start to end. The way they adapted the characters into a more toned down environment felt natural, and not too far off from their original characterisation. It's a visual feast and among all adaptations, it has the best and most memorable soundtrack. The strongest point of this adaptation has to be Kurosawa as well as the way more minor characters were handled and fleshed out. The progression of the relationship feels natural and they managed to adapt the manga's fast pace in a way that doesn't feel rushed on film form.

As for the weak points, it all comes down to the second half of the show, which I feel I need to give context for once again: Cherimaho drama was created when the manga was merely at volume 4 (in events, that's their first date) and Toyota had shared with the writing team her drafts for volume 5. So, after the confession, the drama had to create original plot lines which, while not bad, did feel different from the strong beginning of the show. The most complained about is the rushed handling of Tsuge and Minato's relationship, which was to be expected as they had so little interactions at that point in the manga. And, of courss, the thing the jdrama is notorious for: the lack of a kiss scene. Was it disappointing? Yes. But believe me when I say that it's literally not as a big deal when you watch the entire show. The show does not shy away from its queerness and there is nothing in their actions that could be interpreted as platonic. This poor production choice (which we can assume was implemented by someone else, tvtokyo has also removed straight kisses from adaptations for some reason and also it Was the height of covid) should not sully your experience with the show and in no way does it take away from its queerness. This version also features an asexual character as well as a mini arc for them so it's clear that the writers knew what they were doing and they were doing their best and it's so clearly conveyed in the gentleness of the show. It is also evident in the movie sequel, but more on that on its time to review.

All in all, I would say you need to experience the jdrama as it becomes a set point for the manga; the story shifts in the best way possible and it's all thanks to the jdrama and its unpredictable success.

(Though nothing beats watching it weekly during COVID)

Chinese radio drama (2022):

Personal score: 9/10

Objective score: 9/10

Skippability: Above a 6 since it's not really influential but I am not exaggerating when I say you are missing out maybe the best spin on the story thus far.

Cherry Magic's first and best foreign adaptation to date. First of all, we need to acknowledge how bananas it is for a niche yaoi manga to get a chinese radio drama because of its drama's success. Second of all, it's hilarious and incredibly romantic and the best and most creative take on the story. The localisation made for some interesting changes in the story and when it came to original plot lines, they nailed every single one. It's been a hot minute since I rewatched it but it's such a memorable piece of media. It's extremely underrated considering how accessible it is (thank you naina <3). Audio form foreign media may be hard to get into but the radio drama deserves every second of your time. Literally the only weak point I can mention for this adaptation is that it's not a visual medium and it's hard to get used to at first. But the voice acting, the character writing, the music, the manga and original plots— everything was executed near perfection.

Oh and it's just fucking hilarious. Like, extremely so.

Japanese Drama Sequel Movie (2022):

Personal score: 9/10

Objective score: 8/10

Skippability: 0 if you've watched the jdrama.

Cherimaho the Movie was announced on November 28th 2021 for a, later revealed, April 2022 release. And us international fans were able to watch it on November 8th 2022.... And yes, it was worth it! A manga loyal sequel to the jdrama, which had an original ending, was a bit hard to execute so there are points you have to suspend your belief. But this sequel was a nice last peek into the relationship of jdrama Adachi and Kurosawa and a well done farewell to the jdrama franchise. I was especially moved by the tackling of the reality of a long term gay relationship and the way the characters handled it. The movie is essentially split into two halves and both are crucial for Adachi and Kurosawa's development. If I had to mention a weak point, besides one or two scenes, it would be that I would love for certain events and character actions to be more in line with the manga but I am also aware that those changes were made to fit the characterisation already set by the Japanese Drama. Oh and the no kiss thing is still an issue somehow. But again, the rest of the story being good enough makes up for it. Still questionable production choices.

Thai Drama (2023-2024)

Personal score: 4/10

Objective score: 6/10

Skippability: 10, only recommended out of morbid curiosity.

Harsh score. What did the show get so wrong? I will admit being biased against it at first. Right after the movie had just dropped, a new adaptation is announced and almost immediately steals the spotlight. It doesn't help that it's produced by GMMTV, who, along with japanese channel MBS, I consider the most annoying BL factories (with the rare exceptions) for fans and shows alike. I also wasn't thrilled that the casting was decided on a pre-existing couple rather than which actors would fit each individual character best. But I tried to look forward to it, especially since the cast and crew insisted that this was a manga adaptation rather than a remake and that they would go beyond the plot lines the japanese drama did. I had some gripes with the jdrama in comparison to the manga so that was good to hear. After a while, they dropped a few trailers and I decided that my worries were probably for nothing and that the show seemed interesting and we produced. And it surprisingly was! For a few episodes, at least. The localisation is very well done. Adachi's living situation, his transport to work, the work environment— vastly different from the original setting but successfully adapted to Thai culture. This version is a lot more lighthearted on about everything. At first, this was a fun spin. Focusing on its comedy, since it's a strong point of the earlier story. But, as the show went on, that wasn't necessarily a good thing. The strong point of this adaptation was the first few episodes as well as the production quality. It's visually beautiful as far as settings, Tay and Jan go. The runtime being longer kind of worked in their favor, as each episode would cover more ground (with exception ep1 which managed to adapt like 15 pages into 50 minutes). Another strong point is the handling of Tsuge and Minato—although their age gap wasn't properly conveyed, the chemistry they had, even if they were a bit out of character, was fun enough. Unlike the Jdrama, the writers here had a clearer visiom of what they wanted to do with them (and they also had like 7 more volumes of content).

Unfortunately, this is as far as my praises go. The weakest point of this show is its main character. Adachi, in this show Achi, is the most unlikeable protagonist I've seen in a hot minute—and I was watching Ossans Love while this was airing. Generally, he's not even that bad ; but he's kind of run of the mill stereotypical uke archetype you'd find in those manufactured BLs, pretty opposite of what Adachi is. He goes through no character development as he begins pretty much at where Adachi ends and he's just so uninteresting to follow. The actor didn't do a great job either but to his defense, he wasn't given much to work with. Kurosawa's counterpart, Karan was way better, at least but he can't make up for the protagonist. The completely made up heterosexual ship between Fujisaki and Rokakku (Pai and Rock here) was a pain to watch especially since they tried to keep Pai's independent nature from the Jdrama (where she was canonically aroace) which just made her disinterested in Rock's advances until the very last episode where she's suddenly into him–if i wanted to watch a badly paced heterosexual couple I wouldn't be watching a BL, respectfully. But besides all that, I think this adaptation was a wasted opportunity. It clearly had budget and time. But it relied heavily on the Jdrama instead of the manga and well, that's fine for fans of the drama but promising manga accuracy and delivering an even more sanitised version of the jdrama was just a huge disappointment. Why should I relive the japanese drama? What's YOUR take on the manga?

Also to clarify rumours I've seen spread around, Toyota was not involved in the making. The japanese side that needed to approve the script was not directly reporting to Toyota because another company has the rights to distribute the Cherry Magic IP, she wasn't as involved in negotiations and stuff as people claim she was, especially considering she learned of the show's existence a few days before the general public did. The usage of AI art in the drama's promotion despite Toyota being vocally anti AI was also a point of disconnect that left a bitter taste in my mouth. But also I acknowledge that Cherry Magic Thailand exists mostly for Thai fans, probably in a similar way the 80% of my country's tv shows are remakes and honestly good for them, I'd love to have a CM remake in my culture even if it's not "perfect" and I'm sure parts I personally found confusing as changes make sense in a way I cannot understand, hence why the objective score is pretty higher than my personal score.

Anime (2024)

Personal score: 8.5/10

Objective score: 7.5/10

Skippability: 4, cute and loyal enough so it's worth checking out

The much anticipated Cherry Magic anime was something, alright. I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish but it, unfortunately, has some glaringly big problems when it comes to its animation. For the runtime they were given, they were able to include much more than I thought they would and even if the pace tended to be faster than expected at times it wasn't as much of a problem; I love Cherry Magic a lot and I believe its strongest narratives begin after volume 5 or so and I'm glad we had the chance to see a little of that as well. The voice acting is definitely the greatest thing about this adaptation. In most of CM's adaptations, Kurosawa's actor tends to always stand out more but the anime for me is a bit more balanced; both Kobayashi and Suzuki are extremely talented and passionate in this. Thankfully, the same passion is also transmitted in the english dub, which is so fucking funny. A lot of people were disappointed with the last episode, as they fast forwarded some things for a grand finale but I'm willing to let it slide because at least they are self aware about the impossibility of a second season and chose to show some highlights we might not have gotten otherwise. Plus, they're making up with the movie so, we'll see! Back to the animation though, some episodes were criminal to sit through. It's sad because this treatment is likely because CM is a josei bl manga and animation projects like that tend to get the short end of the stick a Lot. That piano BGM *you know the one* was also frustrating at times. And I wish the colors popped a little more, yknow?

Honorable mention: Audio Drama (2019-)

I can't score it because I listened to it once on a bus ride and I'm not even sure I finished it. I'm sure I'll come back to it.

Happy Cherimaho The Musical to all those who still celebrate <3 And if you made it all the way here, don't forget to check the Cherry Magic Masterdoc <3

[missingscript]

I am going to talk about my favourite things from chaos theory and of course, the downsides, and my personal opinions!! (Opinions based around the benrius/yasammy topic) So major spoilers ahead under the cut!

Goodsides :D

While chaos theory is a kids show, it definitely displays more mature content, something camp cretaceous did not show! This includes blood, and visual character death (Daniel Kons was specifically gruesome), and description of mental issues, this is specifically PTSD, implied depressive states and breakdowns, the show dives deep into the world of surprise, watching it i was shocked in a good way when a scene came up. Kenji's breakdown was perfectly animated and portrayed.

Each character never faded into the background and they were all equally focused on throughout the season. The show also focused on relationships between the campers, and their families. Specifically Sammy's. Each character has their own comical relief line even when in a dangerous situation. The campers never matured, only grew, they stayed themselves and still act as a group! Same way they did on Nublar.

The plot twists are bonkers, I was not expecting the DPW to be up to sketchy business, nor did I expect suddenly blossoming romance between characters. The budget is definitely higher than it was with camp cretaceous, I couldn't tell if some scenes were animated or real. Beautifully portrayed landscapes.

Overall, the show deserved every amazing rating and my personal rating is an 11/10.

Downsides D:

My first itch was the one-sided romance with Darius and Brooklynn. It certainly was a plot twist but I feel that it was absolutely unnecessary and could've been kept platonic. I feel it would be more heartbreaking and deep if Darius sent her voice messages as a friend, telling her that he's sorry and telling her things about his day. That one scene threw me off on the episode, not because I'm an angry benrius shipper but because it very much could've been kept platonic and felt unnecessary, but was written and played into perfectly. I have absolutely no criticism of the actual writing.

(this was talked about on the discord) - It feels like Brooklynn used to be independent and a baddie in camp cretaceous until she started becoming the love interest, and then it felt like she just became dependent on Kenji and unable to do things herself, so I am hoping that if we get a season 2, that we really get to see Brooklynn not be the love interest and work independently. And I genuinely hope that it won't turn out into another klance situation with Brooklynn, because she was super overhated before, and some angry benrius/benji shippers WILL hate her for "getting in the way of a mlm ship", which is not the case.

My last point was with Darius' health. Darius never got that shine through and we really never got to see how he coped with Brooklynn's death or after the island. They show little cracks but never unpack his full health, which I do hope we get to see in future seasons.

Other than those three points, I really do have nothing to criticise because it was perfect.

Personal opinions/hopes on ships :3

I really do hope we get to see more yasammy content specifically how they build up their relationship more, especially comforting scenes like we got in Ben's soggy van. And Sammy telling Yaz about her family not being in contact, and I would really love to see their relationship play out further and elaborate on the family situation!! :)

-

As I autismed a little too hard and have had a hyperfixation on Benrius since 2021(?), it's not to say I didn't have my hopes up for their relationship in chaos theory, but I also can't say that I expected them to be canon. What maybe the directors could've done is provide that teeny bit of fan-headcanons, because from what I've seen, alot of people from the fandom headcanoned Ben as a gay man, so instead of a girlfriend he would've had a boyfriend. Or they could have Ben lie about the girlfriend because he may have worked out he likes boys, and has internalised homophobia. But back to benrius, they had ALOT of chemistry in camp cretaceous, and for me it was a little disappointing that their relationship dwindled down a little. What I am hoping (manifesting) is that Ben realises his feelings for Darius, and has issues coming out to him and confessing.

Despite my opinions and criticism, the show is definitely worth the watch and deserves every thumbs up from the viewers. I thank everyone who worked on chaos theory and put their best effort into it. 11/10 show. Thank you.

[melminli]

My Girl

pairing: maki zen'in x fem. reader

summery - being in love with your best friend can be difficult sometimes, maybe even more when you're both girls.

word count: 1.8k

contains: wlw, grumpy black cat x happy golden retriever trope, fluff, angst, internalized homophobia, comfort, modern au

She had been an outsider since the day she was born. Someone who didn't belong, someone who didn't conform to the norm. Her family made her feel that way since the day she was born, and so she grew up in a pretty pessimistic world. She got used to her situation. Well, she kinda had to. It wasn't a hard pill to swallow since she didn't know any different and was used to dealing with the situation. Her parents might rather have one strong boy than two weak girls, and she might rather have other parents. Guess not everyone can have what they want.

Maki watched you with a longing look while you were fooling around with inumaki at some store window a little further away. You smiled as you excitedly pointed your finger at various objects and pulled the arm of the boy next to you to draw his attention abruptly to something else every now and then.

After a while, she turned her eyes away from you in shame, having been watching your figure a little too closely and paying a little too much attention to your various facial expressions.

You were a new reason for Maki to feel like an outsider in this world, and this time, it scared her a little because it wasn't the situation she was used to. If she knew that I think about her like that, it would certainly make her sad. She thought to herself and then sighed. I should just not think about her, maybe not think at all.

"They spend a lot of time in front of that store, I'm afraid we won't be able to get them out once they go in." Yuuta laughed next to her while scratching his head a little worriedly. His eyes then wandered to the sign again. "I didn't realize those two were so into this sanrio stuff."

Maki looked at him out of the corner of her eye before adjusting her glasses. "She's liked sweet stuff ever since I've known her, whether it's stuffed animals or food. Inumaki says it's not really his thing, and he just doesn't mind going along with her, but I think he secretly likes all that stuff, too."

Yeah, from Yuuta's observations, that explanation seemed accurate. "That stuff doesn't really seem to be your thing, though, and yet you didn't object when she said she wanted to visit this store. If it's one of us who asks you to hang out, you're never in the mood." He playfully referred to himself and the other boys.

She shrugged her shoulders uninterestedly. "That's because I don't like you guys. Don't want to waste my time." Maki said without hesitation and sent an arrow into Yuuta's heart. "Although well, I guess you're not entirely wrong. Sweet stuff isn't really my thing. But that's okay, I don't mind. We sometimes do things I like as well."

Yuuta recovered and raised an eyebrow with interest. "Yeah? Like what?"

The time a few weeks ago were you two were at the movies together came to her mind. "We watched a horror movie a while ago." She said, grinning slightly at the memory.

The boy looked a little irritated. He knew that you were quite the scaredy cat, especially when it came to jumpscares. "Really? That doesn't sound like her."

Maki shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah, I was surprised too when she offered to go with me after mentioning that I wanted to see it." She admitted. "It was kind of cute though, she hardly dared to take her hands off her face. I don't know what made her do that to herself. Really can't figure out what's going on in her head sometimes."

Yuuta had to stop himself from sighing. It's so obvious, though. "Yeah, it really is a great mystery....I also want to emphasize again that I think it's really mean of you how you prefer her to all of us." The boy pouted slightly. I mean, I understand why, but she still doesn't have to say it like that.

"It's different with her." She said directly as her eyes turned back to your figure, who finally decided to storm into the store and waved excitedly to her to signal it. "...she's my best friend."

The black-haired boy looked somewhat doubtful at his friend, who made her way over to you. "...sure." He said with narrowed eyes and followed her. Me when I'm lying.

Green eyes looked down at the small plush toy pendant in her hand and stroked her finger through the fabric. What was the name of that thing again...was it Kuromi? Maki asked herself inwardly, not knowing exactly what kind of animal it was supposed to represent as she inspected it from different angles. It doesn't matter, you bought it for her the other day from this store you went to. She didn't remember what yours was called, but you had the pink version or whatever.

"Hey Maki, are you ready to go? Sorry if you had to wait a while, Jun was holding me up a bit. I mean, I swear to god she's really cute but also so pushy sometimes." You sighed and set off as she got up from her seat on the bench. It had become routine for the two of you to go to the café near the school building every Tuesday since you both got out early and liked to go for drinks together.

"That's all right. You always write me a hundred messages if you're being really late." She teased you and knew that it always secretly bothered you that you were always runnung somewhat late since you just didn't really have a good sense of time.

You avoided her gaze. "I'll pretend I didn't hear that." You just replied and stopped on the sidewalk when you both reached the red light.

Maki didn't even try to stifle her grin. "So, which one was Jun again?" She asked you because she couldn't always put a name to the stories you told her.

"She's the one who always asks me what kind of guys I like so she can link me to one of her friends." You said a little annoyed at the memory and walked across the intersection as the light changed to green. "I don't know what her problem is, to be honest, like how about just someone who's halfway a decent person, huh? From what she told me about her boyfriend, I doubt she knows anyone like that."

Maki just looked to the side a little uncomfortably at the subject. I shouldn't have asked, ugh. She didn't like being reminded of how you could probably have something like a boyfriend someday. Even though you hated men and were always ranting about them, it somehow seemed like that in the end, the pretty girls with a sweet personality like you always ended up with some weird asshole.

She tried to shake the thought out of her mind as she held the door open for you. No, not even over my dead body.

That sounded like a nightmare. She would never let something like that happen. Maki continued to be a little lost in thought as you ordered for the two of you (a sweet iced coffee and a hot black coffe with sugar), and when a good seat became available, you just told her to sit there quickly while you waited for the drinks.

"Here you go." You said and sat down in front of her after placing the two cups on the table. As you took a sip of your sweet coffee, you noticed something unusual. "Huh? Look." You said, pointing to your cup. "Someone has written down their number."

Both of your eyes turned to the counter where a barista guy waved charmingly at you. "...hey, do you think he's attractive?" You asked playfully after overcoming your confusion.

Maki turned her slightly annoyed gaze to you. "No, not really." She answered you curtly and couldn't help but think of more scenarios in her head. First, that girl from your class who wanted to set you up with some guy, now some guy who came up to you out of nowhere.

She didn't want to think about it - she never wanted to, which is why she always blocked it out. You rarely talked to her about your love life, mainly because no one really interested you, and that was enough for Maki not to worry about...this stuff. But if others were interested in you like today...who's to say you wouldn't want to try it out at some point?

"Really? He's kinda hot, though." You replied, slightly surprised, as you played with your straw. "What's your type, then?"

"I like them more cute." She replied bluntly.

You blinked and looked around as if you were casually asking. "Cute? Like cute guys?"

This time, she didn't hesitate. Not like all the other times, because even if Maki might have many regrets in her life, she didn't want to put seeing you with some boy on that list. "No, more like cute girls."

It might be that the whole world would reject her for it, and she would forever remain an outsider, but maybe that didn't even matter. As long as she felt like she belonged by your side, the world and whoever else could reject her as much as they wanted, because how happy could such a world really make her?

Maki couldn't control everything, even if she might have liked it that way sometimes, but maybe that wasn't such a bad thing. Yes, this isn't too bad. That's what she thought when she felt her heart warm up by just looking at you.

Maybe I can have a little control, though. Over this. Maki took your hand in hers as a slight blush spread across her cheeks the moment your eyes met. " - like you. I like cute girls like you."

[auraisereigh]

"Watching the stars"

Chapter two

Brennan Sorrengail x Riorson reader Blurb: Now that Brennan and Star are hidden away from the world they find comfort in each other for the loss and grief theyre both feeling, all the while theyre supposed to survive in the wild. wc: 3.1k ☆ SPOILERS FOR THE EMPYREAN SERIES. Grief and loss, Survival. Let me know if i missed something. Uses pronouns: she/her. i use Star as a nickname as y/n sounds weird, and i'm awful with names.

Star's masterlist main masterlist

The next morning I wake up from a pitiful attempt to sleep.

Kind of hard with a dragon breathing down your neck.

It's still early, the sun barely up but after a week hiding in this cave and hunting in a selected area it looks and sounds like most people left Aretia. With other words I can start hunting in a larger area, after all it's difficult to keep a dragon satisfied.

Brennan is still asleep but Marbh is awake so he can give the message to him. I take my bow, arrows and my bag and leave.

If I'm quiet enough I should be able to get a good stack of food for us and the orange dragon that now lives in a cave way too small for it's ego. Most animals should still be out and not hiding, especially since it seems most people left. Animals will notice the silence and appear more.

☆

And animals guaranteed, enough for the three of us. I collected all the food by a tree closer to the cave so I don't have to keep dragging it all back in one go from a farther distance. I look in the direction of the cave, judging by the sun it should be around midday. Slowly one by one I put the animals in the huge bag I took with me, the one my dad packed for me In case something would go wrong... I stare at the bag, the memory still fresh in my mind.

"A survival bag?" I ask my dad, a small smile on my face as I raise my brows at him. "For what? You wanna do another camp trip? Friendly reminder that last time didn't go exactly as we planned." My voice holds amusement. But he looks... dead serious.

"I made it for you in case something goes wrong." My face falls. What is he talking about? "I... I don't understand. What could go wrong? I know we've had a few... things go wrong, but our army is in place. We're prepared." The way he looks at me says he hasn't been completely honest, which makes sense as Xaden and all the other children are gone, moved to a safe place that no one knows about.

"We might have put the army in place but that does not mean we will win when they attack. I'm not risking you getting captured. I have a proposal for you-"

I snap out of my trance, boot steps that crunch leaves and branches making me stand in high alert. It's not Brennan, it can't be. I pull an arrow and lay it on my bow, but I don't aim just yet. From where I'm standing no one can see me through the high bushes by the tree. So whoever is on the other side won't see me. More crunches of leaves. More than one person. I crouch down near the bushes when I hear them talking.

"I don't care how long it takes, I want you to find her." A deep, gruff voice says. "This place is ash. If she was still alive she would've burned when we burned her home." Another one responds, he sounds more on the frightened side. "She's his daughter, his heir and first in line, I want her to watch it happen." The first person bites out again. "Find her." Then all boot steps sound farther and farther away. I lower my bow, trying my best not to make a sound.

They're looking for me. Who? lies beyond me but someone is looking for me.

☆

I'm back by the cave when the sun slowly starts to fall.

Brennan is awake and sitting up against a rock, aside from small conversations we don't talk that much. I suppose he is also going through his own grief.

I drop the bag, making Brennan flinch. He must have been deep in thought. He looks up at me, his messy auburn curls sticking out everywhere. I know he's hungry but I know he won't voice it.

I get to work quietly. Unpacking, skinning and roasting the animals.

Good thing about having a dragon in here. Unlimited fire. And I don't have to put in a single effort except ask.

It's almost a routine now, I hunt, come back, unpack and make the animals ready, Marbh roasts them, we share and at the end of the night I put the fire out and we sleep.

☆

Two nights later Brennan and I sit quietly, eating, while Marbh enjoys some bigger meat I found. Your welcome.

"He always talked about you." Brennan's quiet, rough voice breaks through the fog in my mind. I look at him, my face not showing a single emotion of what I'm feeling.

"Naolin. He always talked about you." He is quiet for a moment and then continues. "Every time he received your letters, or when he wrote one for you. He would always talk about you. Memories, things that reminded him of you. When we sat outside watching the stars..."

A part of my heart cracks, I had kept Naolin from my Thoughts, not wanting to mourn now, I had to stay alive, I can't do both.

I don't respond. I continue eating quietly, not wanting to let my thoughts wander to too painful things.

☆

Over the following days Brennan and I find ourselves talking more, simple topics nothing too deep that could possibly open healing wounds. I managed to get him out of the cave yesterday to get some fresh air. We walked to a lake with a giant carrot following us. We sat down, enjoying the quiet sounds of the water.

With a dragon breathing down on me, cozy.

We're nearing two weeks here, we're both tired but it's too risky going to the open mountains near Riorson house, who knows what's waiting for us there.

☆

I didn't go hunting today, there was no need as I managed to get enough for a few days. It was an opportunity to actually get some sleep that I couldn't deny.

Somewhere in the evening I feel two hands shaking me slowly. I open my eyes, easily recognizing Brennan's face. He looks slightly panicked and before he can say something I hear an extra pair of Boot steps. I immediately take my bow that had been laying right next to me, an arrow close by as I aim at the figure. Was it the person who had been looking for me days prior?

I hold my aim, my eyes adjusting to the light. The figure doesn't move, it holds its hands up in, surrender? Peace?

My eyes finally adjust to the light. My eyes widen slightly as I take him in. My bow lowers and my hands shake slightly.

"Felix?"

☆

taglist: @honethatty12

I currently have five chapters finished for them and I'm also working on a playlist for them. <3

[dumbkid4ever]

The Allmighty Chameleon Lord K'uhul Ajaw

Ajaw modern hc! In which:

I introduce to you my speculations for what it would be like if Ajaw was in a modern world without vision, dragons and gods, so just our worlds basically. Heads up, he's not human.

- is a chameleon

- Kinich found him on the streets in a dumpster and took him home out of pity. He planned on giving him away but since all animal shelters rejected him and he couldn't exactly just throw him on the street again, the boy just kinda kept him

- way smarter than the normal chameleon due to being experimented on in a lab with poor living conditions

- he can understand human language and even write short words, but for some reason the only words he knows the spelling of are insults. The longest word he can write is "motherfucker"

- he loves fruit juice, especially from cactus fruits

- will steal any food that he gets his hand on and shove down everything that isn't too heavy for him from the table. He enjoys seeing Kinich annoyed, it's basically the only interesting thing in his life

- has learnt to fake separation anxiety, enough to fool the vet, and Kinich for a while, so that the human can bring him outside to see the world

- sits on Kinich's shoulder when they're out of the house and never leaves that position unless Kinich puts him down first or unless he's at a place Kinich passes by often. He knows that if Kinich can't find him easily, he probably won't make too much effort to search for him, no Kinich means no food and comfortable shelter, which is why he always stays close

- changes his color sometimes to express himself, through trial and error Kinich had learnt that yellow means he wants something, to which he will then ask simple yes no questions and Ajaw will answer in either red, which means no, blue, which means yes, or purple, meaning wrong but he's on the right track

- for example: Ajaw turns yellow while Kinich is working night shift.

"Cactus juice again?" Red. "Is it cold? Do you want your blanket?" Purple. "Either cold or blanket... You want to go to sleep?" Blue. "Alright then, go to sleep, but you won't be in your bed until I'm done here." That wasn't the answer Ajaw wanted, so he turned to his normal green and slaps Kinich with his tongue repeatedly. "Ugh- hey! If you don't stop I'll put you in timeout, would you prefer that?" The chameleon turned red again and the tongue assault stops. "That's what I thought, be patient and wait until we're home."

- yeah Kinich always brings a little blanket with him in case he doesn't go home until it's late, which means it would get cold, too cold for the chameleon's comfort

- when Ajaw gets too annoying Kinich puts him in a sack, not unfamiliar to the mora bags we get as quest items, that he always carries in his pocket, the chameleon has learnt to associate the word time out with an undetermined time frame of darkness after a year and roughly knows how far he can go before he's put into the bag

- Kinich had made him a little bed on his night stand because Ajaw caused a ruckus every time he's put into a cage for the night (or just in general because of trauma from the lab) either by making chameleon noises or slamming himself against the cage multiple times

- of all of Kinich's friends (Mualani, Kachina and the traveler twins) he likes Kachina the most, because she always has snacks for him

- when Kachina is present, he'll be sitting on her shoulders more often than not

- Kinich had tried to give Ajaw over to Kachina before but her parents didn't allow her to have him as a pet, since they already have dogs at home (modern tepetlisaurus), which might be dangerous for Ajaw

- of all of Kinich's friends he likes Mualani the least because she keeps catching whatever he throws to the ground and she always finds a way to make Kinich less annoyed. Well, Kachina does the latter too but she gets a pass because she gives him snacks

I may do a modern human au next, hmu if you're interested. Until next time and have a good day.

Modern human au is out

[aihoshiino]

Rie Takahashi Interview (Oshi no Ko Anime Guidebook: First Report)

In the recently released First Report guidebook, a number of key staff members from the Oshi no Ko anime project were interviewed about their work on the show - so you can imagine my excitement when I saw that not only was Takahashi one of those interviewed, but that she had a lot to say about her performance as Ai and how she interpreted her character. I just had to translate it!

I will say up front that I have no intention of translating the other interviews in the book - this one took me long enough as it was and I fully admit it was pure blorbo bias that kept me going the whole time lol. Given that an English release of Glare x Sparkle is already in the works at YenPress, I imagine an English version of First Report might not be far behind so be sure to support it when it comes out. I'm just impatient lol.

As usual, this TL is a combo of my own comprehension, various online dictionaries such as Jisho.org, some MTL and me collapsing, weeping into smarter people's DMs to beg for their help. If you catch any mistakes, please let me know!

Anyway, enough rambling. Check out the interview behind the cut!

Please tell us about your favourite scene and line from episode 1.

Since Ai only appears in the first episode, I really wanted to make every moment count, so each and every one of her lines are special in their own way. It's hard to choose just one, but as a fan of the original work, the line "lies are an exceptional form of love" was one I was especially particular about. Since it's the line that truly encapsulates everything about Ai, I wanted to make sure that one stuck in people's minds.

You've said in the past you were an 'Oshi no Ko' fan even before being involved in the project.

While I was reading the original work, I actually admired Akane-chan the most. Obviously, I loved Ai as well, but being a voice actress myself, I was particularly interested in how a genius actress like Akane-chan prepared for her roles and what performances she'd go on to give. The chapters where she rises above all the online harassment especially left a huge impression on me. Anyone who's worked as a creative or even just in the public eye probably knows what a pulse-pounding experience it can be when you see slanderous comments about yourself - feeling like all of society has turned its back on you and you have nowhere to belong, and not being able to talk to your parents about it. It was depicted with such care and detail that I ached with her as I read it. But then, seeing her rise back up and declare "I don't want to quit like this" gave me a lot of strength. I wanted to become an actress like Akane-chan, who could come back to acting no matter what struggles I went through.

Since I loved Akane-chan so much, when I heard there were auditions for 'Oshi no Ko', I thought "I want to play her!". I even had the thought of 'Since the original work touches so deeply on what it means to be an actor, if they don't get a good actor for this, I might end up hating Oshi no Ko!' (laughs)

As a result, when I was cast as Ai, I knew I had to step up my game. I told myself, "If I'm going to play Ai, I need to give it my everything. Anything less won't do." I gave it my all with that in mind.

Did you audition for the role of Ai?

Yes, I did. But I couldn't get Akane-chan out of my mind, so I gave her a shot at the table audition. When I was preparing, I went over the manga at home and tried voicing each character and scene and there's a part in episode seven where Akane-chan mimicks Ai as she says "I sure am sleepy. We record way too early". When I tried that scene, I went "Hold on, maybe I really am the best fit for Ai?"

I guess my hunch was right because I didn't even make it through the first screening for Akane (laughs). Because of that experience, I'm deeply grateful to (Iwami) Manaka-chan for playing my beloved Akane-chan. I love both her work and her approach as an actress, so I'm thrilled to be working alongside her. I started off as a troublesome hardcore fan thinking "If they don't cast good actors for 'Oshi no Ko,' I might end up hating it!" but now I'm just like "thank you, voice actors!!" (laughs)

Were there any scenes you thought would be particularly difficult to perform based on the script or the original work?

So, I prepared for the role by going over volume 1 of the manga, the scenes where Akane-chan channels Ai and the short story, but there wasn't much more material at the time (laughs). So just preparing for the role was tough.  During recording, I sometimes checked in with (Akasaka) Aka-sensei about Ai. Now the story has progressed and Ai's character has become more defined, I secretly get a little nervous every time I read a new chapter. "I hope my performance in episode 1 wasn't off... I hope...!" (laughs) Obviously, Aka-sensei and the team were present during recordings, so my portrayal was probably fine but a revelation about her could still catch me out (laughs)

What sort of things did you hear from Akasaka-sensei?

There's a scene where Ai talks to her ex on a public payphone. I had to make sure there was the right amount of distance between them, and whether or not Ai still had any attachment to or fondness for him. I'm the sort of fan who enjoys analyzing the original work so I had mixed feelings about getting told the answer (laughs). But because I knew all the ins and outs of her backstory, I could contextualize her behaviour and the things she says and does.

Another scene was when Ai was scouted off the street and talked about her past, mentioning being abused by her mom. She wasn't saying it with the sense of "it hurts, I can't take it, I want to die" but instead she weaponizes it like "look at what I've been through, poor little me, right?". I tried to make my performance a balance of resilience with her vulnerability.

Also, I was directed to keep the monologue before Ai gets stabbed "emotionless", so I ended up giving a much more detached and matter of fact performance than I'd initially planned.

Were you mindful of the differences between Ai in her private life and Ai on stage when performing?

The tricky part of portraying Idol Ai is that if I make her too distinct, she'll stop being Ai. For example, if I play her as an innocent, optimistic idol, she'd be Ruby, not Ai. I focused less on "what to do as Ai" and more on "what not to do". In "Viewpoint B," Ai says, "The "idol" Ai is pretty much the complete opposite of who I really am, but she's the person I'd like to be." so that was the feeling I used as my reference when portraying Idol Ai. Incidentally, in my work as a performer, I purposely try to avoid drawing a line between my public and private self. So for Ai as well, the switches between the real Ai and the idol Ai feel surprisingly seamless to me. It's not that there are two distinct faces, but that Idol Ai exists inside the real Ai so it's more a question of which side of herself she shows at any given moment.

Ai’s fans in the original story only know the Idol Ai. What do you think draws them to her?

Like in the lyrics of YOASOBI's song "Idol," she's nonchalant, carefree, and easygoing. I could've portrayed Idol Ai as more cutesy, bubbly and flirtatious, but I felt that wouldn't have a convincing appeal to characters in the story like Gorou-sensei and the otaku who support her. I wanted to make sure it was believable that idol otakus in this world end up falling for her. I think it's her more laid back vibe, not the hyper energetic or "look at me!" type, that charms people.

So what would you say is the appeal to fans in the real world who know her full backstory?

Firstly, Ai-chan's overwhelming visual appeal. When you think of shocking pink and purple, you think of Ai! (Yokoyari) Mengo-sensei’s art is so powerful, and the glittering animation is also fantastic. I also find Ai's professionalism in her work really appealing. While she has the cuteness of an idol, she's not just cute—she works with an incredible level of dedication and professionalism. I admire and love her for everything, including her behind-the-scenes efforts. It's impressive, she’s really cool! 

I’ve ended up with a lot more respect for the word ‘idol’ as a result. In the past, when my voice acting involved singing, dancing, and participating in unit activities, being described as an "idol voice actress" didn't quite sit right with me. But now, I realize how honorable and responsible that title is. Idols work hard behind the scenes, constantly smiling while singing and dancing, and performing so brilliantly. If there are moments when I'm called by the same title as those incredible idols, I feel I need to make an effort to match their quality, or it would be disrespectful. It really motivates me to do my best.

There’s a line in Ai's monologue where she says "I wanted to love someone, I wanted someone to love." Why do you think Ai wanted to give love rather than receive it?

It could be that she's looking for somewhere to belong, hoping that "if I can love, I might be loved in return". Ai's history of abuse and mistreatment likely made the love she received feel very different from the love most people experience. I think it all stems from Ai thinking of herself as an abnormal person - she might have believed that to be loved, she needed to become someone who could genuinely love others. It’s a bit of a chicken and egg situation with a lot of complex feelings. That’s just how I interpret it, though.

And in the end, she realizes her love for the twins is not a lie.

I think that Ai loved the twins all along, not just in that last moment. But the word “love” was like a curse for her, so she couldn't actually say it. That feeling only intensified after I watched the anime. There's an anime original bit where Ai kisses the twins on the foreheads and says, “I'm off,” when she leaves for work. That's the kind of thing you can only do with love - she was just too scared to actually put it into words. Though she was able to express her love fully in her final moments, it’s still sad it took such an extremely situation for her to be able to say it. If it’d never happened, or if she’d simply put the door chain on, she might never have said it. She might have always struggled to say those words. But it’s thanks to the twins she learned how to love. Even the love she has for her fans, that she derided as a lie, was always true. And when she told Ryosuke-kun, “I want to love you,” I think she was already loving him even then.

In the audio commentary included on the Blu-ray & DVD bonus disc, I was struck by the mention of Ai being so nervous before she says “I love you” to Ruby and Aqua, that she takes a deep breath. What sort of direction were you given for that line?

There wasn’t any direction, actually. During the recording, my focus was entirely on expressing Ai’s breathing after being stabbed, how much blood she was losing, and the urgency of conveying her final words. It was an intense experience. It’s a rare moment as a voice actor to feel like me and the character I'm playing have our hearts beating in sync, but this was one of those times. I think I was genuinely nervous myself as well. I could feel my heart pounding and my chest clenching like when you’re about to make a confession. That feeling still hasn’t left me.

Additionally, in the last monologue of episode 11, where Aqua reflects on Ai's words after she was stabbed, we couldn't use the original recording from the first episode. The recording from the first episode captured a raw and genuine emotion, as Ai was gasping for breath. So we re-recorded it with the intention that the more it resonated warmly within Aqua, the more unforgettable those words would become for him. I wanted to make sure that Ai’s final words would leave a lasting impact, something Aqua would revisit in his mind over and over again. Personally, I approached the recording with a deep sense of love, like passing the baton and saying, “Thank you, everyone, for your hard work in the first season.” There was a lot of warmth during that session, not just towards the twins, but towards the entire cast, staff, and the "Oshi no Ko" project itself.

What were your thoughts upon reading 45510?

I got to the end and I was like “Don’t delete the blog! I want to know more!” (laughs) The entire story felt like a box that really shouldn't be opened. Everything from the meaning behind the password numbers to the fact that Ai left behind a blog wanting to reconcile made it feel like Ai really, truly wanted to love the other girls in B-Komachi even when they were jealous of her.

In the anime, we only get a brief moment of interaction between Ai and the other members - that moment during dance practice, when one of them says, "You look kinda down, Ai-chan" and Ai replies with a smile, "That’s not it. I didn’t get to eat lunch!" So I was careful that Ai’s response didn't feel sour at all. If the sigh she let out before they spoke to her had even a hint of annoyance, it would’ve been a reason the other girls took offense with her. I felt like Ai’s invincibility should’ve been the main factor for their issues with her.

It’s just a brief interaction in the anime, but ‘45510’ really fleshed out that distance between Ai and the B-Komachi members. I based my understanding of these boundaries in her relationships on ‘45510’ and ‘Viewpoint B’ and I also read ‘Oshi no Ko: Spica, the First Star’ to get a fuller picture. The more I read, the more I understood - Kana Arima’s got the right idea!

YOASOBI’s song ‘IDOL’ closes out episode one.

The music itself was impactful, but the music video that was released after the first episode aired was something else altogether. We watched the first episode together with the cast, and then, after seeing the music video, I felt overcome by Ai’s presence all over again - I was left speechless by how powerful the experience was. "Oshi no Ko" really is an immersive experience. I mean, you willingly open YouTube and relive Ai's death yourself. Even after everything was conveyed in the main story, the music video introduced new layers of emotions and concepts. Seeing how YOASOBI's song "Idol," which was about Ai, resonated with so many people really made me realize all over again just how significant Ai's impact was!

And then you yourself sang IDOL at the Strawberry Productions☆Fan Thanksgiving Festival 2023 (FanFest).

For me, "Idol" is a challenging song to sing even at karaoke. So, when they asked me to sing it at the FanFest my initial reaction was, "Oh, that might be too much!" (laughs). It’s not a song that you can easily perform live (laughs). It's a song that only an incredible artist can pull off, so when I thought about singing it live on stage, I was like, "Really? Me?" But when I saw the setlist for the live part of the FanFest, I started feeling like, "Actually, I think I should give it a shot." As a performer, I had some reservations about whether I could deliver the quality it deserved, but the "Oshi no Ko" fan in me couldn't resist. I was like, "Everyone wants to see Ai's voice actress sing 'Idol'" (laughs). After a lot of back-and-forth, I decided to go for it. I understood how Kana Arima felt when she joined the new B-Komachi. The joy of being relied upon by the team and the desire to meet the expectations of the work won out in the end.

Between “Our Sign is B”, “HEART's♡KISS” and “STAR☆T☆RAIN”, which is your favourite B-Komachi song?

That’s a tough one since they’re all A-side quality! (laughs) It was like, "Wow, B-Komachi is seriously awesome!" You can really feel the passion from the music team, like they were determined to bring the world of "Oshi no Ko" to life through these songs. It was also surprising to see how the series expanded from the manga into this whole new realm of music.

Was there anything specific you focused on while recording the project’s songs?

I tried not to change my tone just because it was a song. My focus was on making sure that when people listened, they could immediately recognize it as Ai's voice. At first, it was really hard to come up with a solid idea of what "Ai singing” sounded like. Usually, she's a pretty laid back and carefree, but she can’t exactly sing like that during a live performance. Ai’s a pro when it comes to entertaining the audience and enjoying the moment with them so I was constantly trying to find the right balance between Ai’s characteristic nonchalance and the high energy of a live idol performance. The first recording I did was for "HEART's♡KISS," and honestly, I ended up putting too much force into the opening line, "I'll send you a cheer." Since the song's theme is about sending everyone good vibes, I got too intense with my delivery. I got an ‘OK’ on that take but when I listened back to it, I felt that it wasn’t quite right, so I asked to redo just that part. If people didn’t immediately sense Ai at the very start, I worried that they wouldn't feel her presence throughout the entire song.

If you were to send a message to Ai, what would you say?

There’s so much I’d love to say to her, it’s hard to pick just one thing. Still, I think Ai was really happy in her life because she got to say "I love you" in the end. Even though her life might seem tragic to others, the feeling that stuck with me from playing her was a sense of incredible contentment. So, I’d probably just want to have a casual chat with her and watch over everyone together. Oh, but I’d definitely tell her to keep that door chain locked!

[gartenofbanny]

Overture is the first official episode for Hazbin Hotel, and after nearly four years of waiting, somehow, this episode is very bad. I'm not going to provide a summary of the episode but instead I'm going to provide what I liked and what I didn't like. So let's get started.

Positives

The animation for this episode is pretty good. While it isn't really as smooth as Helluva's and has some noticeable errors, it's still well animated for the most part.

Adam's part if the song is honestly a fucking bop and thankfully the genre is different from most Helluva songs.

Lute is my favorite character in this episode. She's a cold, stern Exorcist who hates demons. I have no clue why she isn't the leader, but Adam is considering how seriously she takes being an Exorcist and how professional she is for the most part.

This little bit with Niffty having stage fright is pretty funny.

And that's it for the positives now onto the negatives.

Negatives

One of the things I really hate about this episode is that it reveals WAY too much so early on. In this episode, it's revealed that Adam and the other Exorcists like killing Demons essentially doing it for sport, rendering Charlie's redemption useless, Exorcists are able to fucking die, and Adam has moved his schedule from another year to 6 months for the next Cleanse.

I honestly expected the first episode to show Charlie trying to redeem demons, a twist like that would've worked if it was like halfway through the season.

This episode, for some reason, has two plotlines when it would've been better if it just stuck with Charlie meeting the Exorcist one. We spent some minutes of this episode with Vaggie trying to make a TV commercial for the Hotel, however we never get to see the commercial itself, so what was the point?

Secondly, why would Vaggie and Charlie ask Alastor to make a television commercial for them? His entire thing is radios. It's like having a powerlifter do a track video. They're both completely different skill sets with their own benefits.

Also, if Alastor really does hate televisions THAT much, then why was he entertained when Katie and Charlie fought in the pilot by watching Televison?

I'm honestly unsure whether or not the pilot for Hazbin Hotel is canon. Adam states that it has been a week since the cleanse, Vaggie states that they recruited Alastor for the hotel last week, and the pilot takes place some time after the Cleanse. While the Helluva Boss pilot isn't canon anymore, it's up in the air whether or not the Hazbin Pilot is.

This fucking cat is still confusing. It literally just appeared in this episode with no explanation of how it was made or came to be or what it even does.

Adam, as a character, is one of the most irritating I've ever seen. He embodies those "If this was written by Vivziepop" memes, his singing voice is top notch, but as a character, he doesn't act any different from the demons he's supposed to kill. So it makes me question what's even the difference between Angels and Demons.

Last but not least, Adam says that there won't be a Demon left alive to kill another Exorcist.

And right off the bat does Adam know that killing every Demon in Hell is literally impossible? As long as humans die, Sinners are going to keep existing. Unless if Heaven decides to make everyone into angels, which is highly unlikely. And Lute says herself that Charlie and her family are exempt from the yearly cleansing, so they're not truly getting rid of every possible threat in Hell.

Overall, I'd give this episode a 5/10. It's a very rough start, especially since Vivziepop and her writers had nearly 4 years to write this out, but it's just very messy.

[booradigm]

Hey!! I've been loving your derrick eckart posts and the one where derrick exaggerates Penelope's mistakes. I didn't read the novel so I totally didn't know that was a thing😅😭

But why do you think they didn't mention that details in the manhwa? And how often do you think Derrick blamed Penelope for her mistakes. Did he do it to make others hate her to make her miserable and drive her out of the house or to make her dependent on him in some twisted way?

And what do you think about Derrick being in 'love' with Penelope. Anyway love your posts

Frankly, manhwas not having much details compared to its novel ver. is common, and the reason for that is the SAME as why animes usually fall short compared to their manga counterpart:

Time and budget.

Being 100% true to the source material when you are trying to make it come to life is NOT easy, ESPECIALLY when there are deadlines to meet with satisfactory results.

For example, compare this scene from the manhwa ver. to the novel ver.:

Now, the novel:

Both led to the same outcome, with Siyeon getting access after showing that she was part of the Eckarts.

But there is a point here that wasn't shown in the manhwa, and that would be about how the duke is a VIP in the BLACK MARKET who would BUY SLAVES occasionally, as well as how Siyeon doesn't like it.

However, we're talking about time and budget here, and there is NO DOUBT that drawing the ENTIRE narrative would take MUCH MORE time AND budget, as then the artist would NOT ONLY have to dedicate a panel that showed the duke buying slaves and Siyeon being uncomfortable at the thought, but then they'd ALSO have to retain it in their character for the rest of the story, otherwise it will look like it was forgotten about despite being brought up.

THAT is why it was cut out.

While details like these are important in FLESHING OUT the characters, they AREN'T essential to the MAIN story, since - as we can see here - the RESULT of Siyeon's progress (she got into the auction house) was fine even without it.

That is why their characters are reduced to their 'main' personality, or the developments (from the romance, to worldbuilding, etc.) are rushed compared to the novel. Since, rather than to consistently treat them as fully-fledged characters, it would be easier to just treat them as plot devices and ONLY save the truly important scenes in, such as the attic scene with Reynold (which was so important to the plot that barely any detail was changed from it).

When you think of it like that, it makes sense why Siyeon's more sympathetic and emotional aspects aren't going to be shown UNLESS it serves the MAIN plot, presenting her to be more logical in order to avoid needing to draw more scenes that overall won't contribute too much.

Simply put, in this 'dish', while the sides put more flavor and depth into the taste, they aren't 'needed' in the main course, and since the chefs don't have the budget to prepare them, they just make do with the time they were given.

---

As for how often I think Derrick blamed Penelope for her mistakes, I think he did it THROUGHOUT their time together, much like Reynold's case. Both of them were clearly hostile to her ESPECIALLY when the duke ISN'T around.

For WHY he blames Penelope, it's because his low opinion of her makes him genuinely believe she is guilty.

Penelope had a "wicked behavior and terrible manners" and spends a lot of the money he (and Reynold) thinks she had "NO RIGHT to spend so lavishly." And so he thinks so LOWLY of her.

The entire REASON why Derrick is SOFTER to Siyeon compared to Penelope is because Siyeon was acting like a civilized person, instead.

Also keep in mind that while he knew he doesn't like it when she refers to him as 'brother', he didn't even know WHY that is.

Derrick doesn't shift blame to Penelope with the intention to make others hate her or make her miserable. He doesn't think of things from Penelope's perspective, only about what the CONSEQUENCES of her actions on the Duchy are.

When he DOES belittle Penelope, it can either be to protect the Eckart name's reputation, or to vent out his frustrations about her.

It's NOT about "making her suffer for being a shameless replacement," like Reynold's intentions are, he's too prideful to ever stoop to being so 'childish.'

As for if Derrick belittled Penelope for the 'purpose' of making her dependent on him, that COULD be part of the reason, but it's more likely he did it for DAMAGE CONTROL; to be able to control how the narrative goes and make it easier to clean up another 'stain' on his house.

Derrick was RAISED to be the next Duke, and so the damage to Penelope's reputation automatically goes to the very duchy. He couldn’t have 'wanted' Penelope to be hated, since if that happens, then the Eckart duchy would be damaged along with her.

It was just like in the court trial.

What he wanted most WASN'T to disgrace her, rather, to just get through it as fast as possible.

The reason he didn't listen to Siyeon's accounts was because it was the "best and most efficient way," to protect his house, which, while she IS part of (hence, making her part of who he has a duty to protect), that DOESN'T mean he'll put her OVER the duchy.

After all, he scolds EVEN Reynold and the Duke, putting the Eckart name over them. It's not JUST Penelope that he prioritizes the family reputation over.

He's not like Reynold who goes out his way to bully Penelope in a "Serves you right for trying to steal my sister's place, bitch," manner. Derrick addressing Penelope is more of a "I don't hate you, but the House of Eckart comes first. Stay in that cell until I fix this and don't cause more trouble until I bail you out."

I CANNOT stress enough just how many people mischaracterized him on this part. He is NOT sadistic like Callisto, people!

Like yall, I don't like him either, but if you're gonna hate, can't you do it ACCURATELY instead of PROJECTING your own "bad guy" idea onto him?? If there was ANYONE among them who ACTIVELY antagonized Penelope, it was REYNOLD.

But at the same time, BOTH of them are highly loyal to their family name, and are capable of genuine care (I'm looking at you, cringy-ass gachatubers that swap their personalities to make Reynold the passive one while Derrick is the childish one when it comes to Penelope).

In conclusion, while Derrick wants Penelope to depend on him, that's NOT his reason for belittling her. He just thinks it's 'REASONABLE' to compromise things to protect the Eckart reputation, and THAT is his justification for not defending either Siyeon in the trial, and Penelope in all previous incidents.

He genuinely believed it was the best option for his house.

---

On another note, I DO think ALL of the Eckarts wanted Penelope to be dependent on them, NEVER allowing her to leave on her own, NOR allow her an allowance despite agreeing to buying her extravagant things (even if they don't like it).

While none of the Eckarts cared enough about Penelope, they still DIDN'T want her to leave.

After all, while it IS true that she spends a lot, what difference will there be if she spends it by herself versus if she gets permission to have it bought FOR her?

The difference is that they'll KNOW and be able to STOP her if they wanted.

NONE of the Eckarts (before Yvonne returned) wanted Penelope to ACTUALLY leave. The duke literally BUILT HIGHER WALLS when she tried to sneak out before.

At first, I thought it was for safety purposes, but no, they just didn't want her to leave.

Penelope is always kept in the manor and only allowed to go to events that she was explicitly invited to.

It wasn't even Siyeon asking for money that triggered them. They only got outraged AFTER they get the impression that Penelope was planning on 'LEAVING'.

While none of the Eckarts cared enough about Penelope to see how she's doing, or give her proper care, ALL three of the Duke, Derrick, and Reynold WANTED Penelope to remain DEPENDENT on them.

Because they don't want her to leave.

And regardless of whether Derrick's 'love' for Penelope is true or not (or if it was EVEN Penelope he 'loved,' seeing as he treated only Siyeon better), one thing for sure is that he WASN'T consciously aware of it when it was Penelope.

I think of it in a similar way as to how the affection scores work and hint at. Just as how the 5 target leads or literally everyone ONLY liked her when she was Siyeon, it's because WHO they like is Siyeon, NOT Penelope.

Callisto loves Siyeon, not Penelope. Vinter loves Siyeon, not Penelope, Eckles loves Siyeon, not Penelope, and so on.

As nice of a thought as it is that Siyeon's husband would love her even when she was FULLY Penelope, that just ISN'T true; because the traits he loved about her was Siyeon's.

(I reached the 10 pic limit, damn you Tumblr.) Here's the specific parts I meant in chapter 134:

[In the beginning, it had been nothing but a passing amusement to Callisto. He’d found it amusing, the way Lady Penelope had lied through her teeth and did her best to keep the obvious deception alive.

He’d looked forward to seeing her, wondering what clever little pretense she would think of next, and it had made his horrible existence in the capital mildly bearable. His amused interest in her had not waned even after the hunting tournament. If anything, his curiosity regarding the girl who seemed to shudder at the mere sight of him had only increased.

When Penelope had appeared caked in makeup and put on her silly little act, one he would have been able to see through from a mile away, he’d even thought her cute. He’d believed the rumors at first and expected that she was just an arrogant commoner who’d been lucky enough to be adopted by the duke, but now he couldn’t seem to forget about the way her tiny lips timidly talked back to him every time they met. And that had led him to act impulsively…]

I brought this up because it HAS to be made clear that Siyeon's very CHARACTER is the REASON why 'Penelope' was 'loved' by the end of the story.

We ALL know Penelope would NOT have acted as 'cutely' as Callisto thought Siyeon did. She would have acted EXACTLY like the "arrogant commoner that was just lucky enough to be adopted by the duke," he believed her as, and he wouldn't even be able to force her to spend time with him like he did to Siyeon because Penelope would NOT have cared about keeping up appearances and following etiquette.

Callisto wouldn't have liked Penelope because she wouldn't have been 'interesting' and 'amusing' to him like Siyeon was, and given how Penelope grew up, she WOULDN'T have liked Callisto, as well, because the way he thought lowly of her was EXACTLY the same as how everyone around her treated her.

And just as Callisto wouldn't have liked Penelope if she didn't act like Siyeon, this sentiment would have applied to EVERYONE else, INCLUDING Derrick who ONLY started treating her well AFTER Siyeon transmigrated to her body.

Yes, the Eckarts might have 'cared' about Penelope, to an extent, but NONE of them GENUINELY and wholeheartedly loved Penelope. Not like they did Siyeon. Because it was ONLY Siyeon they TRULY loved.

Just like in Callisto's case, if we were to believe that Derrick ACTUALLY loves her, he would ONLY 'love,' Siyeon, as well. At best, he subconsciously saw Penelope as a woman and part of the Eckhart House, but he NEVER liked her as much nor treated her as well as how he did to Siyeon.

[rainbranch]

THIS IS MY CRY FOR HELP!! CLEMONT PLEASE COME HOME IN ZA...

I may have girlfailed him but ya win some ya lose some... by the time i make a yt video abt za theories/speculation i'll probably work the design out

I have a lot to say tho so hit keep reading for off the wall ramblings

First more doodles..

The doodles kinda have to do with some clemont related theories but honestly im j playing around with hcs and whatnot rn.

I do have a lot of questions about Quasartico.. like what are they doing on top of lysandre labs? Thats it

Hc abt where this puts clemont? If the timeskip is around 12 years he could be like 25?? I want him to either be a professor now (but i dont think we would need to replace sycamore) or just heavily involved in the wild area or energy related research. If he's involved with the plot I expect a bit about him being a terrible runner. I dont really think there's any reason to see his quirky inventions like the anime, especially since there's a lot of Civil Engineering going on, he definitely is still going to have things to say about Mechanical and Computer related things- but they can do a lot and won't really be affected by his anime portrayal.

Speaking of the anime- there were 2 separate times where an evil team attempted to manipulate Anime Clemont to use his technical knowledge for evil- i think we could see that on a larger scale here... I don't know how evil Quasartico is and tbh i have no clue. (I will be looking into ORAS postgame and emerald now though because i do believe there is a good chance we will be dealing with a Rayquaza-Zygarde rivalry/juxtaposition-- especially bc that is already being explored in the anime rn AND ITS THE YEAR OF THE SNAKE...)

As for Bonnie i beg and i pray she's doing her own thing. I would be happy to see her again and maybe specializing in pikachu clones?

Idfk what the game is actually gonna be about though- probably gentrification or corruption of technology and people being blindly reliant on it. Maybe even theres going to be a natural disaster that causes a lot of the tech to go down and the protags have to clean stuff up bc the city didn't have a backup plan. Only thing throwing me off is the promotion match thing at the end of the trailer. No clue what thats about lol!!

I have had ideas about a Clemont & Bonnie timeskip before.. tbh that top left side profile is kinda peak... this one was for my fan region which is based on a fantasy region from a different universe that is LOOSELY based off the American midwest. In this one he woulda been working with umm physicists? While Bonnie finds out about the judicial system. These r a little more closely characterized as their anime versions (esp with Clemont's pokémon lol). Uh the region is the Elogh region if i ever bring it back

PRISIM TOWER IS RIGHT THERE HE HAS TO BE HERE PLEASE CLEMONT!!!

If u read this whole thing u have full permission to discuss theories and speculation in comments and reblogs im so cuorirous.

[ilikekidsshows]

Since you mentioned the name several times now I looked up who Nikki Maxwell is. From the basic description of her on her wiki page I can kinda see some similiarities to Marinette and now I wonder if you have some more in-depth comparisons between the two to share that would explain your remark on Marinette beeing a copy of her. I think the description of the character doesn't make her seem particularly unique and a character-type I'd expect to appear often in these kind of youth novels.

---

Sure thing! Here's some fun facts about the Dork Diaries series, one of the most best-selling kids’ books of the 2000s, that have been translated into 50+ languages, including French:

Nikki's iconic look is having her hair in pigtails.

She often babysits a small girl with pigtails.

She is a good artist.

She is, despite her poor self esteem, very talented in many areas.

She is extremely clumsy and prone to getting into embarrassing situations.

She gets overly embarrassed about the most inconsequential things.

She has a tendency for highly exaggerated panic spirals, where she comes up with imaginary scenarios that are full of fantastical events and are often illustrated in an anime/manga style.

She gets mad easily and it can take her a while to get over perceived slights.

She’s a bad liar but people believe her anyway.

She is a huge hypocrite, who often does things she claims to not do. (Unlike Marinette, her internal narration almost always points this out.)

She has a crush on a boy in her class, mostly based on the fact that he is nice, and her rival in school also likes him.

Brandon, said crush, is very popular but still a loner, and socially awkward.

MacKenzie, Nikki's rival, is a rich blonde bully who wears diamonds often (and very familiar-looking sunglasses at one point). Despite her vast resources, she always loses against Nikki in whatever they're competing in.

MacKenzie is a more classic “queen bee”, than Chloé, but does get called such canonically.

MacKenzie eventually transfers schools because she stopped having power and prestige over her classmates.

Nikki's biggest character flaw is a lack of communication, where she puts off telling people things she thinks they won't like hearing. (Unlike Marinette, she actually has to make it up to people when they find out she's been lying to them.)

A typical plotline in Dork Diaries is that, despite being well-liked, having devoted friends and caring parents, Nikki often hides her problems from them and struggles needlessly.

Nikki eventually gains a secondary love interest, André, who looks eerily similar to Luka in illustrations, in addition to having Astruc's favorite French guys' name.

Nikki's classmates include characters named Max, Chloe and Zoe, with Chloe and Zoe being closely associated with each other. (You know what I always say: two is a coincidence, three is a pattern, and we're now counting four same names.)

Many of these things are, to be fair, very basic school drama protagonist cliches. However, when it's this much similarity between two supposedly unrelated characters, especially with some of the highly specific similarities here, like the animesque imagine spots, it's a pattern and not a coincidence. Is the pattern that there's some template both Nikki and Marinette are based on (like how Vegeta and Hiei’s similarities are because they’re both based off the same older character), or did Astruc copy his protagonist from a mega hit of children’s, especially girls’, literature to try to copy that success? Who knows. It's not like we can expect Astruc to be honest about whether or not he copied Marinette's personality from literature.

I know Astruc hasn't actually read the stuff he claims to have read, so that's a point in favor of Astruc being a too lazy reader to copy someone else's work. However, he must have grown familiar with all these tropes somehow. You can’t hit this many hallmarks of a genre without being somewhat familiar with it, and this genre is the most prolific in literature, and there is research data showing that children often prefer either books or television, so he could reasonably expect the audience not to realize how copy-pasted Marinette is.

Miraculous and Dork Diaries share DNA. How directly they’re related I can’t tell, because I’m not that knowledgeable about the school drama genre.

[seirei-bh]

I'm trying to calculate or at least approximate in headcanon the ages that I think each character is in New Gen

First according to ep 5, Ysaline is 22 years old, since she says that she was 9 when her sister Tasha was 3, and now her sister is 16, (although since each sucrette is customizable, I think each player can have the freedom to decide what age prefer to imagine that they have their sucrette in New Gen, and that's what I'm going to do with mines)

Anyway, this also gives us a clue as to at least Thomas's current age. And also this other important fact: Thomas is 10 when OldSucrette (Lynn) is 17. So they are 7 years apart.

And there's supposed to be a 3-year time jump after Love Life to the special crossover ep. Since Lynn is 26 in LL, she is 29 in that special ep.

If we subtract 7 from 29, then Thomas is 22 years old. The same one as supposedly Ysaline canonically.

Now, it is much more difficult to estimate the age of the other characters. The only clue we have is that Elenda said in ep 4 that she was 6-7 when Devon was 10-11. Taking into account that many stories in video games, books and animes sometimes tend to use even and round numbers in big time-skips so that readers can easily remember the dates, it makes me assume that 20 years have passed since that time. So Elenda would be 26-27 and Devon about 30-31. Now the problem is that we don't know if Roy and Devon are the same age or if Roy is younger, we only know that they went to the same high school and so did Elenda, and these three met each other since they were kids, but I'm inclined to think that Roy and Devon were more like friends in a sense of older-younger brothers, since Devon seems older due to his features and behavior, so perhaps Roy is the same age as Elenda. I can be wrong though, and Roy and Devon being the same age, but this is what I think for now~

We also don't know Amanda's age, but due to her features, she appears to be around the age of Thomas and Elenda. Although Elenda in a scene from ep 3 defines herself as "the fairy godmother of Devenementiel" and says that she was there from the beginning, while Amanda seems like a recent member of the company, which makes me think that perhaps Elenda is a little older than Amanda.

Jason could be either Roy's age or Devon's age, but I'm inclined to think that it would be more convincing for Jason to be Devon's age, given his features, and since they are both company bosses and direct rivals, it would make sense for them to be the same age, and olders than the other crushes.

And Brune seems from her features to be somewhat older than Elenda, but perhaps not as old as Devon.

So my final conclusions are:

Thomas: 22 (the only age probably canon for now) Amanda: between 22-24 Roy: 26/27 Devon: 30/31 Jason: 30/31

Elenda: 26/27 Brune: 28~

There are other possibilities, of course. But the only thing we can be quite sure of is Thomas's age, being 7 years older than Lynn and the same as Ysaline, and that Devon is 4 years older than Elenda. It's also possible, for example, that they are all 22 except Devon and Jason being 26, but Rayan Zaidi is 33 in UL and Devon and Jason's features seem -at least from my pov- closer to that age than in the middle of the twenties~

Anyway, I'd like to know the opinion based on these calculations and/or headcanons of other players regarding this topic 💜

I guess we won't know until they confirm it in the game, if they confirm it in future eps, however if it is never revealed, I'd really like to know what the canonical ages of each crush are. So @chinomiko if you ever see this, please it'd be wonderful if you could answer this some day, or at least if these ideas are close to the canon. I know that the age of each character is something that doesn't have too much importance since everyone can imagine what they want, but I am especially curious about Jason and Devon <3 Besides these details are always useful for fanfic material.

[bluestar22x]

Maze Find

Summary: When your dog runs into a corn maze, you run into Frankie Morales

Pairing: Frankie Morales x F!Reader

Rating: General

Word Count: 900(ish)

Warnings: None, pure Hallmarky fluff

Author’s Note: This is my submission for jolabrew + withcheese fall challenge ( @goodwithcheese and @jolapeno ) - I picked Morales Mocha with corn maze mishap (more like meet cute).

xxx

"Biscuit, where are you?" you called out, eyes scanning your surroundings, trying not to panic.

There wasn't much to see beyond corn stalks, given you were in a corn maze, but you had to try.

Your new dog Biscuit, a rescue from the local animal shelter, had managed to wiggle his way out of, you could admit, his too loose collar to chase after a squirrel during your afternoon walk.

The last you'd seen of him, about three minutes ago, was his wire haired sandy colored body slipping into the corn field, which was unusually busy due to the time of year.

The owner was hosting a corn maze, open to anyone, for a small price. A price the farmer had waivered for you when you explained why you needed access to his field.

You hadn't seen the dog since his initial escape, and you were starting to worry that he was no longer even in the area. Hounds were well known for running off far.

You were nearing the end of the maze when you turned a corner and sagged with relief, finding Biscuit sitting in front of a tall man with a well trimmed beard and a Standard Heating Oil cap perched on top of his head. A nearly fully eaten ice cream cone was in his right hand, a paper shopping bag in the other.

"This wanderer yours?" he asked when he saw you appear, an amused expression on his face.

"Sorry, he got off the leash," you explained, "Saw a squirrel and it was too hard to resist."

He chuckled and you smiled at him as you approached and slipped Biscuit's collar back around his neck, tightening it in the process. You liked the sound of the stranger's laughter. It was warm, hearty. "Thanks for distracting him while I caught up."

"It was purely by accident," he told you, shrugging. "He was interested in what I'm eating."

You nodded. "Ice cream is a weakness of his."

The man's lips curved up. "Mine too."

"So what are you doing in the maze?" you inquired. "Got a lost dog of your own?"

He had to be either a farm hand or a parent, but you were curious. He was very easy on the eyes, and you were pretty sure you'd never seen him around before. The town wasn't so small that not knowing him was impossible, but still.

"No, just a lost kid," he said, "Except not actually lost. I can see from here where he's hiding." He glanced over your shoulder. "Nic come on out. It's time to head home."

A young boy, maybe four, shot out from between the stalks to your left. "Aww...already?"

"Yes, already," the man said in a tone you immediately recognized as fatherly stern. "Your mom will kill me if we're late."

You cocked an eyebrow at him and he laughed. "She won't actually kill me, but Nic's mother is planning to take him to see a movie tonight and she doesn't like being late to anything."

"Ah, Nic's mother," you repeated. That didn't sound like they were still together. You shouldn't care, but you did. Because he was handsome, especially in the green plaid shirt he was wearing, and seemed nice.

"Yeah, we divorced three years ago. On good terms. But she likes her schedules."

"Can I pet your dog?" Nic interrupted.

You grinned at his politeness, most kids didn't ask, even though they should with strange dogs. "Of course, Biscuit would love it."

Nic kneeled down and started petting him under the chin and the dog flipped over to expose his belly, making everyone laugh.

"Looks like you've made a new friend," you declared, grinning.

"He's so silly," Nic said, "What kind of dog is he?"

"A Basset Fauve de Bretagne," you answered.

The young boy blinked at you, confused. "A Basset what?"

You chuckled. "It's a French breed. You know France?"

The boy nodded. "Mrs. Bran is teaching us how to read maps."

"Oh...interesting."

"It's...okay."

You laughed again at his honesty. "Well, I promise the country is more interesting than its map."

Nic's father gave him a few moments more to stroke Biscuit then repeated that they had to go.

The boy pouted but did as told, heading out for their car at the end of the maze.

"Thanks again..." you trailed and the man took the hint.

"Frankie. Most people call me Frankie."

"Thanks again, Frankie."

"I didn't do much, but I'm glad to have helped..."

You gave him your name and smiled again. "Help is help."

You rummaged through your purse after and pulled out a pen and notepad.

"Those still exist?" Frankie joked as you put ink to the lined yellow paper. His dark eyes were curious as you jotted down something on it - your phone number.

You weren't usually so bold, but if he wasn't interested he just wouldn't call right? No big deal. But you'd regret not making an attempt at a date. You'd been single for far too long.

You passed him the note. "I'd like to thank you over coffee or something. My treat. Just call me when you're not busy sometime?"

He smiled and folded the paper up nicely. "I think I'll take you up on that offer. Let me drop off Nic, his mother's house isn't far, then I'll call."

"Sounds good."

You shared warm smiles and parted with your boys.

As promised, Frankie called a few hours later.

xxx

Tagged: @harriedandharassed

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Main Masterlist

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