#filena

[mostlymilkwood]

I recently watched the Eternal Filena OVA, and then started playing the SNES RPG for it, thanks to this clip going around twitter. I'm actually super curious if they really are the first sapphic marriage in anime, as I've rarely seen this series brought up in yuri history. A part of that may be down to the fact that the game is more known than the OVA, and that the OVA, while a fun watch, is not very good lol.

There isn't too much written on the English side of the things about what yuri was up to during the 80s, barring of course The Rose of Versailles, and Eternal Filena is absolutely riffing on that, down to both Filena and Oscar being blonde haired nobles who are raised to present as men and have to hide that they're women for various plot reasons. Incidentally this is how Filena is able to marry Lila in the first place, since everyone think she's a man, though she's already told Lila she's a woman when she suggest they get married (again, for various plot reasons, watch the ova or play the game!)

I wanna dive more into the proto-yuri era of the 80s and 90s at some point, as well as the evolution of marriage in yuri works but for now I'm going to get back to playing the Eternal Filena RPG to see if those girls get their happily ever after.

[superfamiblog]

Eternal Filena (Tokuma Shoten, 1995) English translation patch by satsu.

[caterpie]

Eternal Filena (1992)

[jewlwpet]

Cute

[what-a-connmotion]

Eternal Filena (1992–1993)

[inannasdream]

picked up eien no filena the game last night and i decided today to read the original light novels alongside it too and im glad i did bc in addition to the sapphic leads i am also greatly enjoying the mlm tinged rivalry between nest and barabbas as they fight over filena and try to figure out why they're both just so damn drawn to 'him'. they get lost in filena's eyes every other chapter and barabbas literally says (paraphrasing) "at this rate nest is gonna be able to do anything he wants with that battler even though IM the one who took an interest in him first" it's amazing

[emtmercy]

wow loving their vibe

[chaoticruinsgentlemen]

[thewisemankey]

Every and all Professor Ivy pics MUST be reblogged.

Ivy

[godfreygwilym]

some notes on how i've been running the brides

when i first set out to dm cos, one of the first things i was really determined to do was give them more in-depth backstories, since— with the exception of escher getting like one paragraph lol— they're basically just. creepy dolls. which i GUESS works with gothic horror but man i would really like to have female characters with personalities!!!!

*combination of my own interpretation as well as concepts ive integrated from other dms, so if you recognize something specific i probably got it from elsewhere

ludmilla vilisevic

physically in her mid-30s, and is aged roughly 230. i play her with an rp english accent, although in my mind she has a nigerian affect. she is very poised and calculating, and always tries to be the one in control of any situation. has a talent for shadow magic, and her own sentient shadow is the closest she has to a best friend. she also has a barn owl familiar named amicus and a cat named eupraxia. when she takes a human disguise, she goes by the name of filena voltanescu.

before ludmilla married strahd, her name was lumina. she is a wizard apprentice who was lost in the mists and stumbled into barovia. naturally very curious, brave and shrewd, she marched up to ravenloft despite all the warnings. her and strahd ended up having a very romantic relationship (despite lowkey reflags from strahd the whole time lol) for a long time since there had been a long spell of no tatyana reincarnation, although they eventually began to fall apart, partially spurred by her feelings of isolation and longing for her family outside of barovia.

at the point that cos takes place, ludmilla is very distant from strahd and is really only going through the motions/trying to stay useful, though she is determined to remain a step above his other partners in terms of superiority. she spends a great deal of her time researching and experimenting on mostly-unwilling test subjects (she is well aware at this point that what she is doing is cruel, but after two centuries she's become rather indifferent). she's very fascinated by the abbot's work.

in my game, strahd has given her emil toranescu, who is imprisoned in tsolenka pass. she is working on developing a method to transfer souls from one body to another— in my game, ismark is the true reincarnation of tatyana, and ireena merely looks like her.

anastrasya "anya" karelova

physically in her early 30s, anya is just over a century old. barovian accent, and extremely flamboyant and charismatic, she loves being the centre of attention. she has a natural talent for communicating with ghosts, who are often her captive audience. not much combat skill beyond what abilities she has as a vampire, but she has a wicked skill for charming people. in human disguise, she goes by ekaterina bogdana.

anya is from minor vallakian nobility, which comes with all the trappings of petty inter-family squabbles. she has had a terribly unfortunate string of bad luck with marriages, all of her betrotheds have met poor fates or ran off. on a fourth attempt, her parents arranged for her to be married to an older landowner who she did not care for at all.

while she was engaged, anya ran into ludmilla (in human disguise) by chance. they grew close quickly and began having an affair. eventually, ludmilla introduced her to strahd, and she was instantly enamoured. before the wedding, anastrasya's betrothed "mysteriously" died, and she was whisked away to ravenloft. at this point, ludmilla and strahd's relationship was very cold, and he became preoccupied with anya.

volenta popofska

physically in her mid-20s, and is about 65 years old. barovian, and has a very floaty and whimsical way of speaking, though very soft spoken and rather self conscious. she often comes off as eerie. her vampiric abilities are amplified, making her a very good rogue/assassin. in "human" disguise, she is called violet spivakhofska.

volenta is a tiefling who was born in a small fishing village on lake zarovich. her parents did not want her, and so she was raised by the village elder. when she passed away when volenta was a teenager, she no longer had any protection from the animosity of the villagers, so she fled. eventually she was picked up by a small group of bandits, who would've attacked her, but she convinced them to let her join.

she bounced around various groups of bandits and thieves for several years, finding a place but never truly fitting in. after one traumatic rejection, she went to ravenloft in search of strahd, who she had heard stories of since she was a child, and had often wished would come and take her away. to volenta's joy, strahd took a liking to her and made her his bride.

even still, volenta is an outcast due to her awkward and sometimes unsettling behaviour and knack for the macabre. strahd enjoys her, but does little to try and ingratiate her with his other partners, and so she remains self-conscious and eager to win his favour.

escher gerst

physically in his late twenties, escher has been a vampire for just over a decade. i play him with a german accent. he is usually very distant and melancholy, though he becomes much more playful when not around strahd. a bard by trade, as a vampire he discovers a natural aptitude for shapeshifting, spurred by a bit of neuroticism over not being able to see his own reflection. in human disguise, he goes by claudius belasco.

escher is also from outside the mists, the son of poor farmers who ran off to join a bard troupe. he loves stories and music, and has a knack for various instruments, but particularly enjoys the lute and the violin— strahd has gifted him two exquisite models. his troupe was caught in the mists, and unbeknownst to him, strahd began spying on them. outside the village of barovia in the svalich woods, strange orchestrated a wolf attack on the group, sparing escher so that he could swoop in and save him. when escher awoke in a plush bed in ravenloft, he became deeply enamoured with strahd, who he saw as a fairytale prince. they had a very passionate relationship with strahd lavishing many gifts on escher before convincing him to let him turn him into a vampire.

despite not being together long, however, strahd has quickly become rather bored of escher's antics, who became desperate to stay in his good graces to avoid being sealed into the crypts. after the revolt in the village of barovia, strahd took doru as a vampire spawn. escher and him would have been close friends, if escher wasn't so deeply self-conscious and paranoid over his own status. eventually, he convinced strahd to starve doru to the point of madness and return him to his father at the church. escher would feel guilty over this, were he not so deeply concerned over his own self-preservation.

also due to strahd's coldness toward him, escher developed a fascination with vallaki, where he often goes in human disguise. here, he took a human lover, a painter named anton. anton became involved with the feast of saint andral, when escher gave him a bag (secretly containing the bones) and had him deliver it to the coffin shop. during the chaos of the feast, unfortunately, strahd had anton killed— escher beseeched the party to bury him properly and behead him so he would not return as a vampire spawn.

[mostlymilkwood]

cannot stop thinking about this statement made on one of the few/only(?) Eternal Filena fan sites still online:

Chat is it yuri to kiss while naked in order to share body heat? Chat do you think their lips were cold? Chat did Akemi Takada capture the gal pal energy in this official illustration?

[superfamiblog]

Eternal Filena (Tokuma Shoten, 1995) English translation patch by satsu.

[semnomegusejogos]

Eternal Filena Super Famicom

[jewlwpet]

[sostar252]

breakdown of some major world events from 2023

Global Pandemic Recovery: The year 2023 marked a significant phase in the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic that gripped the world for over two years. Many countries intensified vaccination drives and implemented measures to reopen economies while managing ongoing public health concerns.

Climate Change Action: With the urgency of climate change becoming increasingly apparent, 2023 saw heightened global efforts to combat it. Various international summits and agreements focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, transitioning to renewable energy sources, and protecting biodiversity.

Breaking Down the Major World Events of 2023

[athomeinmybooks]