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treesap-blogs · 2 years ago

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Happy Saturday, everyone! Review of “The Lost Dreamer” by Lizz Hurta!

Hello, Tumblrians! My apologies for the sheer number of reviews last week, I was trying to clear all of my reading queue before I read The Wicked Bargain :). (Review won’t be in a while though, I didn’t wanna have a reading void and as a result restocked my reading queue for the next two weeks oops.) (Eh, it’s fine, it’s mostly fun!!) I’ll be changing up my format a bit, too! Although this is purely for fun, I’m not a fan of how I don’t sound qualified or put-together a lot of the time.

(No epic Story Discovery Backstory for this review! I just stumbled across it during a trip to the library closest to my house.)

Published in 2022(most of my reads are very recent), The Lost Dreamer is a YA fantasy novel taking place in ancient mesoamerica, following two perspectives, Indir and Saya. We don’t really know how the two perspectives are connected, besides them being in the same world and both characters being Dreamers at some point, until the last quarter of the book. (Dreaming being a practice where people essentially connect themselves to the spirit realm, almost always to prophesize, it’s rare for a Dreamer to actually interact with a spirit inside. It’s mainly done to observe the fates of their home/land and anyone they know.) Indir’s a Dreamer who works for the Fire Temple, and lost her ability to Dream after Dreaming for the former king before he died, while Saya’s a Dreamer who goes around village to village with her mom while she tries to pass her abilities off as her own. I was intrigued by the premise of this, it seemed very unique and I appreciated the added bonus of the dual perspectives! (That was something I liked in Hunted By The Sky, I was looking forward to it here too once I put that together.)

It took me a while to get through this book, though, literally due to the fact that its pacing was very slow. I saw complaints about that in the reviews, but I thought “it’s only 380 pages or so! How bad can it be?” and ugh I definitely underestimated that. Now, while I get that not all stories have to be fast-paced(Our Wives Under The Sea is a different genre/demographic but fits that pacing), and authors have different ways of fleshing out their worlds and introducing their lore(see: Dune), this book seemed to just be a standalone? A standalone that ends on a cliffhanger, granted, but a one-and-done thing nonetheless. Needless to say, I found that frustrating and it made this a tedious read.

Also! This is nitpicky, sorry, but I thought the perspectives were also confusing in the context of trying to connect them together. I was unsure if Indir’s events were affecting Saya(or vice-versa??? I thought from the Lost Dreamer talk Indir would find her on her journey initially), if they were unintentionally following each other, that kind of thing. It was explained by the end, though, which I thought was..strange, but explained the timeline of the perspectives, so.

SPOILER SECTION’S BACK, BABEY!!! (end of it will be listed ^^) seriously tho huge spoilers

So it turns out, Indir and Saya’s stories are not happening at the same time. Indir’s is years behind Saya’s and, essentially, history to her. Indir is revealed to be Saya’s actual mother; the one that paraded around Saya until she ran off to go on her journey was one of Indir’s former friends until she kidnapped an infant Saya. Indir figured out somehow that her daughter was going to be the Lost Dreamer, and was trying to find her all this time.

What the fuck????

Not to say that the twist came totally out of nowhere because there’s bits and pieces where you might be like “Celay might not be her real mom because she’s been relentlessly cruel this whole time and lies about everything!”, “when the spirits mentioned Saya’s mom making sure she was safe, it could be a different person because Saya doesn’t really address Celay as her mother anymore”, and I thought the second thing actually, but I was thinking it would be like a..chosen family thing? Not that route.

I don’t know what else to rant about in the spoiler section, sorry y’all 😭literally just wanted an excuse to be like “the ending was weird what was that”.

And then we get some kind of tease that they’ll go back for the first time since The ChaosTM that left a scar in Indir’s childhood, but the story ends. It’s like sequel bait but with no sequel???!!

Raugh.

END OF SPOILER SECTION!! I did not have a lot to ramble on about, actually. I am running out of ammo. I am drained as I write this.

Basically, for those who didn’t read the spoiler section, I just said the ending was weird and I didn’t like it lol.

Do I think this is a bad book? No. I do not think so. It just wasn’t my cup of tea, although I can see why other people may enjoy it because it has an interesting plot and background to it. It felt like it was mediocrely executed for something that had a lot of potential, and I’m pretty bummed about that. I’m worried I might be too harsh on it, though, as this is just Lizz Huerta’s debut book, so I’ll allow her some space to hone her craft before judging her as an author.

Book Rating: ⭐️⭐️½ or ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 stars.

-Paz, signing off!

(Book trigger/content warnings: Childbirth scene, verbal and some physical abuse from a parent, mentions of kidnapping, animal cruelty, violence.)

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thescrapbookingscientist · 1 month ago

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Bimonthly Media Roundup

- King's Maker (Webcomic) - I'll talk more about this next time after I finish it, for now I love the concept and character designs and think there's some good ideas here in both visuals and individual scenes, but overall think the execution is pretty flawed in actually displaying court politics and the effect on the people as a whole given how little we see of anyone not directly involved in the rich boy love drama.

- Wicked (Movie) - I gotta admit, I went in with low expectations but this movie really surprised me, it was genuinely very good. I had some issues of course, I think they stopped songs too often, I was hoping to get more school life scenes between Glinda and Elphie, I thought the Boq plot line was underdeveloped, but those didn't really affect my overall enjoyment with how good everything else was. The pacing was surprisingly good even with the long run time, the costuming and set design was fantastic as was the choreography, the chemistry between Glinda and Elphie was amazing and every actor did a great job in their rolls, both from an acting and vocal sense. The Menezel and Chenoweth cameos were admittedly pretty self indulgent but honestly I enjoyed them, it was neat to hear them sing together. Honestly would pay to see it again, hate to encourage the splitting movies into 2 parts trend but maybe that was the right call here to keep the non musical sections interesting. I will remain skeptical of part 2 given it's the lesser of the two soundtracks but I am still very hyped to see these versions perform 'For Good'. Overall a win for musical theater fans.

- Ennead (Webcomic) - Everyone is allowed to have a piece of media that they like but would never recommend to anyone they know and that's Ennead. I adore the setting and art, I like a lot of the characters and their designs, I do actually like the protagonist and the main romance as problematic they are, and I genuinely think the plot is pretty interesting. But man does it have a lot of content that I would not want to try to justify to my peers like geez. Other than just being kinda egregious I'd also criticize the Eastern beauty standards of making the half cast lighter than they should be and being a bit embarrassingly self indulgent at times, but I will still be eagerly awaiting each chapter.

- The Case Study of Vanitas (Anime) - While this had a rough start it get's more interesting the longer it goes, I like most of the central cast as well as the vampire hunters and their dynamics, Vanitas's backstory gives him very poor babygirl energy, Noe just straight up IS babygirl, and I still quite like the designs and aesthetic of the series overall. I still don't think the narrative progression or sense of humour is great but I'm more positive on it overall than not, we'll see how the rest of the series goes.

- EPIC (Musical) - I've been listening to random tracks from this for awhile now and finally decided to listen to the full set list. It's pretty good, a lot of good vocal talents, the songs are mostly catchy with a few standouts, it's got the usual leitmotifs that we all love, and plot wise it's always got interesting stuff happening courtesy of its Odyssey adaptation. I really don't gel with it's themes or have a strong attachment to most of the case, but I'll reserve judgement until the last saga comes out. For now I'll say that most of the songs by gods or monsters go hard and that Morgan Clae's cover of Get in the Water haunts my soul in the best way.

- Arcane (TV) - Will also wait to give final thoughts on this but man the contrast between Jayce and Ekko's alternate reality trips was so funny every time it cut between them. Like I understand it was emotionally devastating for both of them but Ekko is over here living in ideal future dreamland then it cuts to Jayce eating raw meat while crawling around on a cave floor. Insane choice.

- Dandadan (Anime) - Still fun so far, like that each introduced cast member retains the idiot ball of being stupid and silly and that the aliens got a chance to be sympathetic.

- Dungeon Meshi (Manga) - Farcille placed #2 in the top tumblr ships of 2024! Let's go Lesbians!! They deserve that for real.

- Genshin Impact (Video Game) - Okay so Fontaine has by far been my favorite region plot wise, like wow the story is dynamic and unique and interesting with an actual full interconnected story and likable complex characters who have genuine emotional moments with eachother like wow, who knew Genshin could do it? Landscape wise I haven't explored the majority of the region and still have a bunch of side quests to do, but I do like the whole cast and hope to see them in more events. I've had Navia as one of my favorite units for awhile and now that I've seen her story I can say she's one of my favorites in the game, a really good character to watch and play as I love her. I also just got Neuvillette, so excited to use him.

Listening To: EPIC concept album (All of them), Hard Sell and The Well by The Crane Wives, Re:Your Brains by Jonathan Coulton, Stick Season and Feeling Good by Reinaeiry, Red Wine Supernova and HOT TO GO by Chappell Roan, Wicked Soundtrack, Dream Girl Evil by Florence and the Machine, Ruler of my Heart Sua cover from Alien Stage, Dial Drunk cover by Chloe Breez.

#weekly roundup #textpost

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nazmulbd00m-blog · 2 months ago

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#IFTTT #Hollywood News – FNNEWZ

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greensparty · 2 months ago

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Movie Reviews: Gladiator II / Wicked

This week I got to review two big studio releases. After last year's successful Barbenheimer release of both Oppenheimer and Barbie, two of the most successful and critically acclaimed movies of last year, many Hollywood insiders are looking to the release of both Gladiator II and Wicked as being this year's Barbenheimer. SNL's Weekend Update recently joked "So get ready for ‘Glad-dicked." I'll save you the suspense and just tell you this, Glicked or Wickiator is nowhere close to Barbenheimer!

Gladiator II

Ridley Scott is one of those directors where even when he's not as great as his best films (i.e. Alien and Blade Runner), I'm always interested in what he's doing and how he's going to take it on. I worked on his film American Gangster in 2006. Months before production began, I worked for one day in the costume dept. Then a few months later, when one of the crew members in another dept. needed to leave for a week, I filled in for a week (not going to name names or the department). While it wasn’t the greatest experience for me, I was quite impressed with the film itself. But I digress. In 2000, Scott made a film that was both a box office hit and a critically acclaimed hit with Gladiator, which won the Oscar for Best Picture. It was a sword-and-sandal epic about a gladiator Maximus (Russell Crowe) trying to avenge the murders of his family. I saw it in the movie theater in the Summer of 2000 and it was one of the highlights of that Summer. A year later on The Sopranos, Ralphie was a big fan of Gladiator and took his fandom too far. As much as I enjoyed the movie, I found it hard to believe it won Best Picture in the same year as such movies as Almost Famous, High Fidelity and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. But now after years of rumors of a sequel, Gladiator II is opening 24 years since the first one.

movie poster

Taking place 16 years since the first movie, Paul Mescal (who was excellent in Aftersun) stars as Lucius, the son of Maximus (he was played by Spencer Treat Clark in the first movie), now a grown up. Another general who trained under Maximus is Marcus, played by Pedro Pascal (so good on The Mandalorian). Not going to get into spoilers, but after a battle, Lucius is forced into slavery and bought by Macrinus, played by Denzel Washington (always good in anything he's in). There's also Lucilla, Lucius's mother played by Connie Nielsen (reprising her role from the first film), who sees her son in the arena. That's about all I can say about it without getting into spoilers.

My friend I saw this screening with said he liked it, but that there was a lot of things that went over his head and it seemed they condensed a lot of facts and info, suggesting it might've been better as a mini-series. My friend was right about that, but the bigger issue I had with this movie is that it can't get past the shadow of the first movie. I don't even hold the first Gladiator up on a pedestal as much as some people. I mean it was good, but it's not a movie I return to that often. But this one, it felt like I just couldn't stop thinking about how much better the original one was. Now credit where credit is due, any scenes of fighting and battle scenes elevated this movie in a big way. And as much as the cast was good, it is truly Denzel's show even in a supporting role, he is showing everyone how it's done. But at 2.5 hours it was way longer than it needed to be. It was shorter than the first one but felt way longer. In recent years we've seen a lot of sequels to movies that came out more than 30 years ago. This wasn't even 30 years old, but it felt like - well, we waited this long for this? Really?

For info on Gladiator II

2 out of 5 stars

Wicked: Part I

If they only knew in the year 1900 that over a century later there would still be adaptations of the book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in 2024? The book about farm girl Dorothy getting swept up into the Land of Oz has entered the English lexicon in so many ways, i.e. "We're not in Kansas anymore!" or "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain" just as examples. There have been countless adaptations in film, TV, theater and more. The most famous and greatest was 1939's The Wizard of Oz, a perfect movie from start to finish! It was an early film I saw as a kid. My older sister once met and got an autograph from the Wicked Witch of the West herself Margaret Hamilton. But I digress. There's been a lot of different attempts at a sequel over the years. In 2013, Sam Raimi tried it with a prequel Oz the Great and Powerful. As much as I love Raimi that was a letdown, but was visually stunning. One such attempt was the Broadway musical Wicked that premiered in 2003. It was a big huge hit in the theater world and now it is getting the big screen adaptation from director John M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians). The first installment Wicked: Part I opens this week from Universal.

movie poster

The film opens with Glinda (Arana Grande) the Good Witch of the North informing citizens in the Land of Oz that the Wicked Witch of the West is gone. This is not a spoiler since it happens towards the beginning of a movie from over 80s years ago (I think we're past the statute of limitations on spoilers from that far back, right?). It, then, goes into a flashback of the young Glinda arriving at Shiz University, where she meets Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), a woman born green who later becomes the Wicked Witch of the West. This is like an origin story, where we learn that the Wicked Witch wasn't always wicked and the Good Witch wasn't always good, as they room together and work together under Madame Morrible (Michele Yeoh), the head mistress at Shiz. I've probably said too much already, so I'll refrain from the rest.

I brought my son to see this and he really enjoyed it, having seen Wizard of Oz earlier this year. I felt that it was a bit long at 160 minutes. For a movie that's already being split in two, this part could've been a little shorter. The production design is off the charts. The cast shines, but I do wish we got to have more Michele Yeoh, who makes everything she's in better. As a life long fan of Wizard of Oz, this was kind of cool to get into the back story of these supporting characters. In the end, how good this one is really depends on the next one (which is usually the case when you see a movie that's been split into parts). But let's raise a glass to the musical of the year (after the "MacArthur Park" portion of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice that is!).

For info on Wicked

3 out of 5 stars

#gladiator ii #ridley scott #wicked #wicked part I #john m. chu #movie reviews #film geek #the wizard of oz

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themovieblogonline · 10 months ago

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Boondock Brothers Return for a Universe Expansion

Remember those legendary Irish vigilantes, the MacManus brothers, wreaking havoc on Boston's bad guys? Get ready, because Deadline just dropped the bomb: The Boondock Saints are coming back! That's right, the cult classic film is getting a major reboot, courtesy of Thunder Road, the powerhouse production company behind the John Wick movies, no less! They're joining forces with Dragonfly Films, who own the rights to the franchise, to create a whole new "Boondock Saints universe." Here's the thing: This ain't just a straight-up sequel. Original creator Troy Duffy, who directed both the 1999 film and the 2009 follow-up "All Saints Day," is stepping aside from the director's chair. But fear not, fans of the original cast! Norman Reedus (aka Daryl Dixon from "The Walking Dead") and Sean Patrick Flanery are suiting back up as the iconic MacManus brothers. The hunt's on for a new director to take the helm, but hey, with Reedus and Flanery back in action, you know it's gonna be epic. While a new director takes the reins for the film, Duffy isn't out of the picture entirely. He's planning to write a series of Boondock Saints books, keeping the story going strong in a different format. This Boondock Saints revival is part of a bigger trend. Remember "Road House"? Yeah, that classic action flick is getting a reboot too, with Jake Gyllenhaal starring. Looks like there's a fresh wave of love for these old-school action heroes! The new Boondock Saints project is being produced by a dream team, including Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee from Thunder Road, and Todd Myers and Peter D. Graves from Dragonfly Films. Plus, Shaun Redick and Yvette Yates Redick from Impossible Dream Entertainment are joining the party. And it wouldn't be complete without the original creators, so Troy Duffy and Don Carmody are also on board as producers. Executive producers include Reedus, Flanery, Charlie Morrison, and JoAnne Colonna. Rounding out the team is Nat McCormick of The Exchange. Thunder Road has a proven track record with the John Wick franchise and its spin-off series "The Continental." They just premiered Dev Patel's action flick "Monkey Man" to rave reviews, and next up is "The Ballerina," a John Wick spin-off starring Ana de Armas and Keanu Reeves. Talk about an action-packed crew! There was a previous attempt to make a Boondock Saints sequel a few years back, but this time around, they're going all in with a universe expansion. The original film had a rich backstory, and this new project promises to delve even deeper into that world. Here's the best part: the people behind this reboot are super passionate about it. Basil Iwanyk, from Thunder Road, says they're excited to build on the existing mythology and introduce the awesomeness of the Saints to a whole new generation. Todd Myers, from Dragonfly Films, has been dreaming of adding to the Boondock Saints story for over a decade, and now it's finally happening! Both Reedus and Flanery are pumped to reprise their roles. Reedus is looking forward to sharing this new chapter with the fans, and Flanery says with this dream team at the helm, it's gonna be the best Saints movie yet. So, dust off your peacoats, Saints fans, because the MacManus brothers are about to reload and get back to cleaning up the streets, their own special way. Source: Deadline Read the full article

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finleyforevermore · 8 months ago

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I'm gonna start fucking crying oh my GOD I ADORED THIS SO MUCH!!! :D

I know you're busy KitKat, it's perfectly ok that this took a little while!! I can wait, don't worry 💚💚💚💚💚

With that being said, EEEEE LITTLE SIS I LOVE YOUUU I LOVE THESE

You can expect a lot of angry rambling about why Anaïs Michell shouldn't have cut the earlier versions of Epic III from Hadestown in the future dkshhsbs

This is gonna be kinda weird to say but I'm neurotypical? 👉🏾👈🏾 so I don't think I stim, or if I do without knowing it, it's probably in different ways? I do understand the mixup though, I know a LOT of neurodivergent people, so it's not very hard to get lumped together with em /lh /nm

I'd tell you about all my favorite things with star symbolism in it (COUGH COUGH indoctrinate you into liking Chonny Jash COUGH COUGH)

I can see us wishing on the star and then desperately trying not to tell each other our wishes even though we REALLY wanna tell our wishes to each other (bc it's been said if you make a wish then tell it to someone else it won't come true)

You'd make the best cookies ever I just know you would <333

"there's like..there's like a completely different scoring system that this Thing is being measured on. And on that scoring system this Thing is a masterpiece." "What's the other scoring system?" "..you know, I don't know-"

I love all your plushies very dearly<33 I'd introduce you to mine too!!

Trust and believe I will be losing my mind the entire time while we watch the Spiderverse duology bfkshshsh

Every so often I'll just dramatically whisper "Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd" to you or "There's a waarrr going on out there somewhere and Andrey isn't here" and then watch as you get confused "what war?? Who's Andrey?? Where is he??"

We're going to memorize Wicked whether you like it or not-- /j

Or if there's any musicals we both enjoy (like Hamilton as it seems!), we'd memorize that!

I WILL be converting you to a Hadestown fan, mark my words /silly

I'd try and get you into all my favorite stuff like pushing you down further through the Tally Hall rabbit hole

I will not stop trying until you listen to at least two songs from their first album (which is probably the more popular of the two)

I'd casually drop lines from CCCC (Chonny's Charming Chaos Compendium, cover album inspired by Tally Hall) and then whenever you get confused I'd go "and this is why you need to listen to the album so you'll understand what I'm talking about--"

Whether you listen or not, I WILL be rambling about all my ideas for if it was a musical (or if Hawaii Part II was a musical >:))

That's all the addendums I could think of! XD thank you for indulging me, little sis, I adore these <333

Can we do the "if we were irl friends" thingy too please? 🥺👉🏾👈🏾 /nf /lh

VIOLENTLY (read: gently) GRABBING YOU BY YOUR SHOULDERS. FIN FIN. OMIGOSH. I WAS WAITING FOR THIS. not like,, waiting for you to say it,,, but waiting for the opportunity and motivation to do this!! i think this whole thingy is super cute and silly in the best way possible and it's super fun too (≧▽≦) (≧▽≦) !! SHAKING YOU SHAKING YOU SHAKING YOU OFCOURSE WE CAN !!!!!!!!!!!!

songgg.... meteor shower by cavetown!!!

we'd take turns rambling about our interests!! do i know anything about hadestown or musicals?? not reeaally... would i listen with 100% focus and be as excited as you because i love being around you and engaging in your interests and enjoy your presence overall???? ABSOLUTELY!!!!! (≧▽≦) (≧▽≦) (≧▽≦)

sub-hc to the one above,, i have a STRONG feeling we'd stim together. if you were comfortable and wanted to do it,,, we'd be shaking eachother and flapping our hands talking about our interests!!

i live in a desert country so there aren't any star-seeing places ((is that what they're called??)) that i know of, but if we lived in a place that had good stargazing spots ((I FOUND THE WORD!!!)) and you were on board,, you'd find me excitedly yapping off about what i researched about it while we're on our way there!!

i'd pack desserts and pastries that we baked together (because of course we would) in a silly little picnic basket decorated with stickers and we'd lay down a blanket of your choice on the grass,, enjoying our treats and talking about anything!! if we're lucky, we might catch a shooting star :3

speaking of which?? us baking together would be CHAOTIC

two teens left unsupervised in a kitchen, what will they do?

try their hand at baking from scratch the best they can, of course!!!

there's constant laughter coming from the kitchen, and by the end of it,, we'd be covered in batter, sugar, and flour. ... we'll clean that up later—

the end product would look scuffed and absolutely nothing like the inspo pic we found on either pinterest or google while nomming on icecream, but we'd still find it silly after laughing at it and take it with us anyway!! (つω`｡)

what we wanted...

WHAT WE MADE LMFAOAOAISUDHDHDH

[quietly, in awe, staring at the finished product. "what on the floating, spinning rock we call earth have we created." "a masterpiece."]

it's okay, we made an extra batch of cupcakes and cookies anyway. (*´▽`*)

i'm 100% introducing you to all my plushies. yes, all 8 of them. and my three cats. there is no escaping. /j /lh

i'd grab my childhood sofia the first blanket (that i still use) and an extra soft blanket for you if you didn't bring one after we get home from stargazing and we can watch both [into the spiderverse] and [across the spiderverse] back-to-back while snacking on whatever caught our eye in the store on our way home!!

you'd come over with both your hands free and leave with bags of the snacks and treats you liked and a random plushie that reminded me of you :3

we'd watch musicals together and you'd probably introduce me to your favorites; then i'd end up randomly spouting lines that got stuck in my head over and over again. like you'd be minding your business and i'd stare at you and very, very quietly go, "i came as soon as i heard, whaaaat, angelicaaaa all the way from london?? daaamn—"

eventually, we'd get to a point where if we rewatched a musical together enough, we'd act out the lines dramatically as they play in the background, scream-whisper-singing along as if we were the ones on stage.

sorry for taking so long to finish this finnfinn,, i got caught up in life stuff!! highschool exams are breathing down my back.... no......... MATHEMATICS PLEASE YOU'RE MY LEAST FAVORITE SUBJECT!!!!! NO!!!!!!!!! /silly BUT I WILL PREVAIL RAHHHHHHH!!! (≧▽≦) (≧▽≦) (≧▽≦) i will be officially free for summer friday next week!!

#finnie finleaf!!!#< prev tags #AWW THAT'S A NEW ONE 💖💖💖💖#kitty/kit/kat! 😸

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animanightmate · 4 years ago

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I wrote an essay about the importance of rage, kindess (as opposed to niceness), and justice as highlighted in Pratchett's work, and posted it in a group of Pratchett fans on Facebook. It went like this:

This one [is directly relevant to Pratchett and his work] and covers: Anger and Kindness, among other things.

It's taken me a while to work it out, but one of the reasons why I still engage so strongly with Pratchett's work is because of these two themes running through the thoughts and actions of pretty much every main character to whose point of view we get to bear direct witness. That, and the notion of Justice as opposed to Mercy.

Pratchett's main characters are almost all angry, often as a ground state of being - Granny Weatherwax and Commander Vimes springing immediately to mind. Polly Perks (and, to be fair, pretty much everyone except perhaps Lieutenant Blouse in Monstrous Regiment), Archchancellor Ridcully, The Patrician, Susan Sto Helit, Esk, Glenda Sugarbean, Agnes/ Perdita Nitt, Angua von Uberwald, and Tiffany Aching, to name a few more, are people to whom rage comes easily, and is a motivating force. Even those who are seen as generally more easygoing or placid of temperament have illuminating moments of anger which tip them over the edge to somewhere inspired, and that click of fully engaged rage is often a pivotal moment (for a near perfect example: Magrat's core is revealed to be sheer, molten ire when her personality is ablated by the Faerie Queen).

That's not to say that inchoate choler is venerated - the malicious, bubbling spite of Corporal Strappi is vilified as destructive, and the ever-seething, undirected bile of Mister Tulip is likewise outlined as useless because he is unable to focus it himself (hence depending on Mr. Pin's guidance).

Which brings us to kindness. Pratchett's heroes have all realised, at some level or other, that anger is a force that can - and should - be used for good. Weatherwax and Vimes, in particular, are constantly vigilant against the darkness inherent inside themselves which could snap at any moment under the weight of a wicked world and set it alight for a better one to be rebuilt from the ashes. They know that they shouldn't (it's pretty much treating people as things, after all), but that's ever constant. That's not to say, however, that the anger is never shown, utilised openly, or acknowledged by those around them. Vimes and Granny have both owed their survival against powerful, wicked creatures to rage's primal surge, but also to the enormous, almost terrifying love they bear the world.

Granny tells us that kind is not the same as nice. Nice is pretty, petty, and a lie. Nice is slapping an attractive plaster over a wound without cleaning it properly first, or dealing with the thing that caused the injury in the first place. Nice paints a gloss over injustice and asks us all to be quiet for the sake of those for whom the world works just as it should. Nice is self-delusion, and a wilful one at that. Which isn't to say that we should never indulge in a little of that - peel every cover off the world and it's too much, too raw, all at once, and we all need our masks in this world of fake it til you make it - but the Turtle cannot move if it never acknowledges the epic tides against which it must strive, and the Turtle Moves. It must.

Because justice moved Pratchett and, through him, all his finest creations. His villains were remarkable for their ability to subvert justice, to delude - themselves and/ or others - and to take and take for the sake of sometimes strange, but, all too often, all-too relatable motives. Money, power, comfort and, above all: control. And his heroes were glorious for their ability to see past the smoke and mirrors, the age-old inequities held up as a normalcy that must be protected at all costs, and tear through unjust conventions to make the necessary changes for everyone to step that bit closer to being truly free, with all its inherent terrors and responsibilities.

Pratchett wasn't nice, or whimsical - he was angry and (increasingly explicitly) vocal about justice in his works. And none of his heroes - our heroes - are either. They are kind, they serve justice, and they kick arse on behalf of those with less power, but they are neither nice, nor insipid, nor silent. And neither should we be.

Change is uncomfortable. Change feels like a death, which is why, no matter how positive the shift, we all move through the grief cycle of denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance and exploration. True bravery is being afraid of the pain of righteous change, of letting go of who we were, of bidding farewell… and doing it anyway.

Be brave, [Pratchett Fans]. Be bold and angry and loud about justice, and strive for true equity.

The Turtle Moves. And so should you.

#terry pratchett #discworld #Anger #Justice #mercy #Kindness #granny weatherwax #sam vimes #Essay #Social inequity #Pratchett quotes #Anima rages #The Turtle Moves #oc #essau

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skinnyducky · 3 years ago

Text

class act // v.h.

requested by @lovesicksofi

a/n this was quite difficult to write. i felt like half the time i was info-dumping and i didn’t want anything to feel redundant or like it was slowing the pace down. however, i tried my best and i think it’s good. i hope this what you were expecting and wanting !

vinnie hacker x plus sized!actress!reader

Word Count: 1544, edited

WARNING: fluff, mentions of death (not real) blood (fake) and stabbing (fake), language, and sadness... i think that’s all.

---------

You were sitting at the makeup chair in your trailer, watching from the mirror as your makeup artist added blood to the corner of your lips. Today was the last day on set for you as your character in your highly anticipated drama film was meeting their demise. It was bittersweet, but after working for a good three months, you were finally happy to get it over with.

Being an actress was something you dreamed of doing. You went from being the sun in your elementary school’s “food chain” play to starring on Broadway in hits like Mean Girls or Wicked. Now, you were hitting the big screen. Though, when people found out about you, as happy as they were to have another talented actress in the business, they had a lot to say about your weight. You were more curvier, more fuller than most of the women in your field, and you faced a lot of criticism for it. No matter how good your acting was, you were always just the “overweight” girl.

At first, those words hurt, and it made you feel as though you wouldn’t make it in the industry. But then, you realized you had been working your ass off to get to where you are today. You damn sure weren’t about to let some snide remarks get in the way of you achieving your dreams. So, you kept pushing and pushing. Now, you had a leading role in a movie, starring alongside Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt.

“I think I need a little bit more pink in the eye.” You said to Andrew, your makeup artist. He rolled his eyes at you and continued to add blush to your cheeks.

“You’re dying, Y/n, not going to the club.”

You shrugged. “Nothing wrong with wanting to look good before I get stabbed.”

“Har, har…now tilt your head.” Andrew sneered, putting on my mascara. “So, where’s Jen? I miss her rants about contracts and stuff.”

“She’s with another client of hers. Something to do with dropping an album or whatever, I don’t know.”

Andrew snickered, screwing the top onto back onto the mascara. “She’s managing music artists too? Isn’t she quite the manager.”

“Tell me about it. I get lucky if she ever she shows me any attention.” You laughed as you pulled out your phone and started scrolling through Instagram. You went through and liked a bunch of pictures until you stopped on a certain person’s photo. A smile plastered itself onto your face as you admired the shirtless shot of your boyfriend, Vinnie.

“Is that the boyfriend I hear so much about?” Andrew grinned.

“That’s him indeed.” You answered with a smile. “His name’s Vinnie.”

You and Vinnie had been together for a good year. You both met at some sleazy influencer party. With you both clinging to wall, clearly not wanting to be there, you two made small talk. You chatted it up about everything: from favorite colors to Elmo, your conversations were wild. At the end of the night when you were getting ready to leave, he asked you for your number—much to your surprise. With glee, you gave it to him and thus led to a beautiful relationship. Of course, there was hate, people questioning what he was doing with you and mocking you because of your weight. But you weren’t focused on that. You had a gorgeous boyfriend and a blossoming career right in front of you. Jealous fans were the least of your worries.

“He’s a cutie, Y/n. You bagged a baddie.” Andrew joked, spritzing some setting spray on his masterpiece. “So, when can I meet him?”

Just before you could respond, the door to your trailer opened. You turned around and shrieked with excitement as your boyfriend wandered in. “I got lost and met Margot Robbie.” He said, causing you and Andrew to laugh. “Hey, babe.”

Vinnie stepped beside you and planted a kiss to your forehead. “Hey, baby!” You squealed. “This is Andrew, my makeup artist.”

You pointed towards the MUA who merely waved at Vinnie before pulling out his phone. “He’s not really social,” you said. “So, what are you doing here? I thought you were doing a sub-a-thon?”

“Well, I was going to, but I decided to come visit you instead.” He replied, moving to stand behind you. He wrapped his arms around your shoulders and rested his chin on your head. “Aren’t you happy to see me?”

“Of course, I am. I’m always happy to see you.”

He grinned and went to kiss your lips but before he could Andrew stopped him. “Not on my watch, sir. That took an hour and a half, and I really would like to not spend another one redoing it.”

You snickered, turning to Vinnie. “He takes his work seriously.”

“Duly noted.”

You and Vinnie shared a laugh and talked for a minute before you were called to set. After getting dressed in your tattered dress and fishnets, you left your trailer with Vinnie following behind you. Now, you were standing in the middle of a trashed hotel room with Brad Pitt across from you and Margot Robbie standing a few feet away. Vinnie stood with the crew as your director explained the scene thoroughly to you.

“Ginger”—he pointed at you—“is being attacked by Paul”—he pointed to Brad Pitt—“and Susan is banging on the door to help you, but it’s locked. When she opens it, you’re already dead, got it?”

You and the other two nodded before the director rushed to his seat behind the camera and yelled, “Action!”

Once the camera’s started rolling, it was like a shift for you. No longer were you Y/n, you were your character, inside and out. As Brad’s character, Paul—safely—flung you across the room, Vinnie couldn’t help but feel a little pained. He knew you were acting but seeing it, it hurt him a little. Margot’s screams rang throughout the set as she banged against the door. “Don’t hurt her, Paul!” she cried.

Tossing you onto the floor, Brad stood over you menacingly. “You wanna screw me over, bitch!” He shouted, gripping the straps of your dress as he pulled out the fake pocketknife in his back pocket.

“Please don’t do this, I’ll do anything. Please,” You cried, gripping onto Brad’s wrist. “Don’t, Paul…don’t do this!”

Vinnie gulped back a sob as he watched the scene unfold with tears pricking the corners of his eyes. Why am I acting like this? He thought. This isn’t real. But it felt real, all too real. It no longer felt like he was on movie set, no cameras or crew. To him, you weren’t playing a character, you were still Y/n…and you were being hurt. He couldn’t take it; he wanted to intervene and save you…but he couldn’t…and that broke his heart.

Soon enough, the epic moment came, and Brad plunged the “knife” deep into your abdomen. You let out an ear-piercing scream, sending chills down everyone’s body. Your breathing hitched as blood poured from your partly opened lips. And then…your body went limp.

“CUT!”

And with that, you we’re back to Y/n. The director ran over to you and pulled you up off the floor. “That was fucking amazing, oh my god! I’ve never worked with anyone who could convey that much emotion before!”

“Thank you!” You blushed. The rest of your cast and crew members flocked around you, complimenting you on your incredible performance. However, as you looked around, you noticed a specific someone missing from the small crowd. As you humbly accepted everyone’s praise, you said your goodbyes and went to search for you boyfriend around the set. When you didn’t find him, you headed back to your trailer. Before you opened the door, you heard the sound of soft cries. With furrowed brows, you walked into the trailer and there was your boyfriend, crying into a pillow on your couch.

“Vinnie? What’s wrong?” You cooed as you sat next to him and rubbed circles on his back.

He shook his head, keeping quiet. “Vinnie, just tell me. I’m not gonna judge you or anything.” You said.

“All of that…I know it was fake and it was just acting, but it felt so real. Seeing you just…die, it hurt me, y’know? I don’t know if it’s because you’re fucking good at what you do or if it’s just boyfriend instincts but, seeing that and knowing I couldn’t do anything to stop it…it was painful.”

“Oh, Vinnie.” You sighed, wrapping your arms around him. “I’m still here, babe. I’m alive, okay? Nothing actually happened to me.”

He nodded into your chest. “I know, but it was too real. I just had to leave.”

“And I understand. Had I known you were planning on coming, I would’ve warned you ahead of time. I didn’t know seeing me acting out a death scene was going to leave you like this. I’m sorry.”

“Y/n, you have nothing to be sorry for. It’s just me being worried over you.”

You smiled, “Well, you have nothing to be worried about.” You placed a kiss on top of head and started to stroke his hair.

“I’m safe.”

“And a damn good actress.” Vinnie added.

“That too.”

#vinnie hacker imagine #vinnie x reader #vinnie hacker x reader #vinnie hacker

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blackhazefanblog · 1 month ago

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Thank you sm for making this list for me! ❤ There are so many and I'm very grateful! I wanted to respond in kind with a list of my own and it took me a while as well, but I'm finally finished!

List of Manhwa recommendations by Black Haze fans for Black Haze fans!

I'll add some of my own to the list so we all hopefully have things to read to fill the void of waiting for BH's rerelease! 🙏

Since my own tastes are pretty diverse categorising was kinda impossible; but know that I'm suggesting all these based on genre, themes, or tropes being similar to Black Haze in some way (I'll mention how in my commentary after the respective synopsis). But they'll generally have historical and/or fantasy elements with little to no romance and feature friendships / family relationships.

I'll link mine straight to Baka Updates since they usually link out to other sites with official releases. Most are manhwas and I've tried to stick with them, but there'll be the odd manga or manhua if I feel like it really fits Black Haze well. Ones in pink have female leads, ones in blue have male leads and purple have both male and female lead.

They are also in no particular order bc they vary far too greatly from each other and thus I entirely failed to organise this, so treat it as a treasure hunt and maybe you'll find some gold in there somewhere!

Chang ge xing

Shortly after astrology predicts destruction to befall the Tang Dynasty, a coup d'état led by the crown prince Li's very own brother kills him and his wife and sons. Li's daughter, princess Yongning, manages to escape, but is soon declared dead alongside her family. Full of wrath, the princess who is skilled in martial arts and war tactics swears to avenge her family and take back the throne; thus she takes on different identities and traverses the world on her journey to change a world which also slowly changes her.

This is my personal fav comic after BH, well suited for those who enjoy smart and strong, capable MCs enriched by multifaceted identities exploring a historical epic filled with political intrigue and family drama with a storyline focused on character development. I also highly recommend this series for the people who like Rubymonter's character and want to see more of a teenage girlboss politician princess fighting a men's war splendidly. Also, much like BH, it has also been on indefinite hiatus for over half a decade! Yay! (Ok so that's not a good thing- but you can't deny the similarity 💀)

The Vampire Lord's greatest wife

Sylvania is a noble daughter disguised as a lowly maid named Miria. She had always lived in misery ever since her entire family was wiped out by vampires. But since marrying the mysterious Count Alaric and learning his true identity, Sylvania's life has changed forever. Who really is Alaric, and will she be able to survive politics and conflict within and without his life safely as a powerless human?

About an MC who promptly finds herself thrown into the midst of political drama of nonhuman creatures which could easily decide the fate of the whole human race itself. So she finds herself potentially the last stand for humanity, while being unsure of whether she can survive the chaos she's in herself. Also, the Vampire King has two very different and opposing personalities to him with no control over the switch from one to the other, complicating his internal and external affairs alike. 👀 One might question me recommending a story with "GREATEST WIFE" in the title, but I assure you, it refers to how nearly all of the vampire lord's previous wives have met their ends due to political schemes, and now his first human wife faces the challenge of trying to survive the dark intrigue she's embroiled in.

I tried to become a loyal sword

To save her younger sister Aria from her illness, Cassmire Crisis became a mercenary, wielding a sword and shedding blood to pay for her medicine. But when Cassmire suffers a fall one day, memories of her past life as Aria’s wicked stepsister come flooding back. Rather than take up the role of villainess again, Cassmire vows to protect Aria this time and grant her a safe and happy life, vowing to protect her as her loyal sword! But all of her sister's destined love interests also seem to have gotten entangled in her own life instead!

Hear me out guys: She is the female version of the Black Magician. Becoming a skilled mercenary at a young age hunting monsters for a living and becoming famous far and wide for her black aura, and despite hiding her identity for the sake of peace in her life she soon finds herself facing a crazy harem of guys who are obsessed with her after being saved by her. Though admittedly, unlike BH, the guys are romantically interested in her as well. But if it's any consolation she also has the romantic awareness of a brick wall and cannot tell that any of the people that are in love with her are such and they have all thus been friendzoned indefinitely. In the meantime our MC is dutifully dedicated to protecting everyone, to a worrying degree that she is disregarding herself in the process.

Nurarihyon no mago

Rikuo grew up in a house full of yokai, so he always thought they were cool. But the kids in his class talk about yokai like they're bad! When his grandfather announces Rikuo as his chosen heir to run the Nura clan, Rikuo is torn between his human nature and his duties as a yokai. The rest of the clan's not so crazy about a wimpy part-human as their ruler, particularly Gagoze, a high-ranking yokai who would rather eat a human than be ruled by one.

Features a part demon (youkai) and part human male protag who not only has differing personalities between his two sides, but also drastically different appearances. It features him dealing with the dualities of his life as a normal human school boy, while secretly being the next leader of his demon clan. I will admit, this series doesn't go as far into exploring the dichotomy between his personalities, the conflicts in his differing lives, or politics of the demons as I would have liked, but it still works with some of the same ingredients that Black Haze does.

Shuumatsu no laughter

When corruption consumed the world, a demon with 101 mouths appeared to destroy the world, but some persisted in fighting it and after seven days of struggle the demon was destroyed. Or so they thought. But immortal people bearing the mark of "mouth of the demon" began appearing in the world, invulnerable to death. A man bearing the demon's mouth named Godot, has blackmailed a town extorting food and supplies, and in exchange promises not to harm the inhabitants. One day another man also bearing the demon's mouth appears, accompanied only by a young girl whom he calls his sister, though such people are not known for having families. Claiming to be an demon eater, he promises to rid the town of Godot once and for all. Who is this young man, and what are his intentions? How does he plan to kill his fellow immortal, Godot?

Another dark fantasy featuring an intelligent and cool level-headed male protag, who fights with his wits rather than his fists and plans, prepares and takes precaution; exploring a story about humanity and what makes someone a human or demon ...including a lil' twist about which the main character himself is. It also delves a bit into philosophical and psychological elements, with an undercurrent about the theme of love, family and belonging.

Uglyhood

The world is being assimilated by a crazy religion, and to stop it I have become their satan. The religion is controlled by aliens, and people don’t have a clue. The world says that aliens don’t exist, but they are everywhere. How am so I certain? Because I am also an alien.

A series starring an OP protagonist who is wanted by an authoritative cultish organisation that governs their world, it has a lot of memes and silly comedy but underneath it all is a dark story with themes of religion, politics and psychology as the protagonist explores the reality of the world around her and who she really is. Just like the protag's fighting style, the plot packs quite the punch as it's one of those stories that will likely leave you reeling from the deep drama inside even as you're laughing over the hilarious comedy outside.

One step closer to the demon king

When the infamy of the Demon King echoes to the ocean's depths, Yuria, the king of the sea, decides to venture onto land and challenge them. However, the very act of gaining two legs robs her of all her power, transforming her into a helpless child. Now faced with this unexpected twist of fate, can Yuria rise above this setback and defeat the Demon King to claim her place as the most powerful being in the world?

An amnesic human(???) MC who has troublesomely spotty and unreliable memory but seems to be an originally strong entity currently bound by a small mortal body tries to organise and order a main cast of chaotic characters none of whom are remotely normal or sane as they embark on many hilarious misadventures as affairs gradually lead on to a more serious and dire plotline.

Lime Odyssey: The chronicles of ORTA

Lime Odyssey: The Chronicles of ORTA follows the journey of an ordinary high school student who is thrown into the fantasy world of Orta and must embark on a journey to find a magical fruit called LIME to return home.

One of my first manhwa, and still one of the most memorable. It stood out to me early on for featuring a more caring and chivalrous ML like Rood is, and having the plot that it did: You know the anime movie "Your name"? Yeah, the girl gets isekai'd into the body of a guy in a fantasy world... except his conscious is still there too and they are able to communicate with each other as they try to navigate their unfortunately conjoined lives and journey on a mission to make a wish to return to their own bodies. A brilliant set up for a ton of comedy, and boy don't we get it! Much like BH it makes you laugh early on at all the well-timed comedy until the rest of the plot with its tragedy reveals itself and leaves you crying and screaming in equal measure for the second half of the story. It also features unexpectedly well crafted intricate plot-twists, characters with complex motives and motivations, hidden identities, tragic bromance, and dragons.

A ranker's guide to the good life

In a world filled with towers, dungeons, and monsters, some people have awakened with special powers. While these hunters risk their lives in battle and climb the world rankings, Jio Gyeon is happy to just sit back and enjoy a simple life of leisure. But Jio has a secret—she’s the strongest hunter in the world. But when a time traveling stranger warns her of humanity's bleak future, will Jio finally take action? And what enemies are waiting for her to reveal her true identity?

This is a relatively new series and we haven't made as much headway into the plot yet, but I feel like including it due to me falling in love with the series bc the MC reminded me of Rood/Blow: Becomes the number one strongest around at a very young age but hides her identity to live a peaceful life, possesses a pet dragon, has the personality and reclusive nature of a cat, wears loose comfy clothing including lots of hoodies, possesses short black hair and eyes that glow a different colour when powers are activated. We have yet to see more of the story, but it seems like it focuses on her being the strongest person around and encountering newfound complex situations that can put even someone like her in trouble, while dealing with the mental burden of the power she has as she feels guilt of being involved with people she could save, clashing with her ideals of staying aloof and out of trouble.

Villains are destined to die!

Playing Daughter of the Duke’s Super Love Project as the easy mode heroine, Ivonne, makes charming the male characters a breeze. But once you switch to hard mode and step into the shoes of Penelope, the misunderstood villain, it’s nearly impossible to even stay alive! So imagine the shock of suddenly waking up in Penelope’s body—you know right away that your life is on the line. With love interests who will kill you if their affection meters drop too low and the inability to speak without choosing from pre-selected dialogue, it quickly becomes clear that Penelope’s chances have been rigged from the start—and this villain might just be destined to die!

Much like how BH satirises several fantasy shounen cliches, this series does quite the same with romance shoujo cliches and very much feels like the spiritual female counterpart to BH. They both feature an MC trying to survive a tragedy story while dealing with a harem of diverse psychos presenting various unique challenges to deal with, whose feelings for her often bring more harm than good due to their self-interests. Plus both stories go unexpectedly deep into realistic human relationships and themes of family, loyalty, love and trust. But not without a sensible and sassy protag bring us some comedy the whole journey!

How a mage welcomes death

For the past 300 years, Ente has fought against the dragon, Caliesto, as the reigning Magnus. When she finally slays her nemesis, she welcomes death with open arms, hoping to meet her beloved teacher in the afterlife. But instead of finally gaining the eternal rest she has long yearned for, she opens her eyes in the body of Melissa Tiony, the richest bachelorette in the empire. Ente realizes that her lifelong mission has yet to be fulfilled, as it is impossible for her to die so long as Caliesto still breathes. She must find a way to regain her magic and finish him once and for all, and the first step to doing so is attending the Academy of Magic in the city of Kastium. Ente sets out on another journey, hoping that this one will be her last.

In a lot of ways this feels like a manhwa featuring a genderbent Rood: It's about a cool and smart protag who used to be a famous OP black haired mage but now finds their soul transferred into someone else's weak blonde and blue eyed body, and then enrolls in a magic school experiencing the value of simpler things in life like having friends and fun, all while hiding her true identity and continuously trying to unravel the mysteries of how things came to be about her situation and resolving the looming danger that threatens the safety of the world. Also yes she does appear to have a love interest, but she neither knows nor cares about that (just like Rood). There also is a dragon, though it's unfortunately the antagonist.

I became the Demon King's right hand, so I'm altering the story!

An office lady falls from a building is reincarnated into another world where she ends up at the Demon Kings castle. The Demon King was her favourite character from the novel that made her days bright in the past, can she save his future from the destined tragic ending she read before?

For all the Blow fangirls who wanted to jump into the story and save yo man from the tragedy tag, this is for you! That the Demon King in the story looks a lot like our own is the icing on the cake! I myself had a blast reading this because the FL's feelings were something waaay too hilariously familiar to me in how her monotonous everyday life brightened by reading this fantasy comic where the Demon King is her favourite character and is horrified to find out he's going to die hated and misunderstood in the end. More than once I've wished I could get isekai'd into Black Haze to help save Blow and it's great to see someone else living out that dream.

The children's teacher Mr.Kwon

A gangster boss from the city decides to lay low and go to a rural school to teach a class of five young children, oblivious that his past may get in the way of their future.

Ever considered what BH might be like if Blow had to lie low by going undercover as a teacher instead of a student? WELL! Look no further! I would have to say Kwon is more like the Demon King himself as the MC though, as he's a powerful overlord of his people who doesn't show much emotion but gets attached to the people around him without realising it and consequently doesn't know how to deal with that very well as he feels unworthy of being near the people closest to him. Much like BH it kicks off with a ton of comedy hijinks to make you laugh before dropping lore, drama and tragedy to tug your heartstrings.

Dadadadan!

One is super shy around girls. The second just hates them. The third couldn't care less unless she’s 2-D. Welcome to Dadadadan, a slapstick school life comedy following the antics of three males and their troubles with the enemy – females. Though the trio can’t stand to be near the opposite sex (either out of hate, disinterest, or difficulty), the girls themselves have no problem migrating to them!

If you enjoyed the main Helios Idun trio's comedy slice of life antics living together at the school dorms and wanted to see more, this is for you! Easily one of the best comedy manga I've ever read, starring one of the most iconic all-boys OT3s. Much like BH it's extremely chaotic bizarre in the situations they find themselves in despite being entirely logical, and some of the stories go on to explore deeper and darker drama on occasion. (I would also like to mention that though it looks very shoujo-y on the surface, it's just the art and the series itself has no actual romance at all.)

If you try out any of these and liked them, please do let me know! 👋

List of some of webtoon and manhwa recs.

First of all I should probably say that my favorite type of stories (so the type you might find in the list bellow) is ’tragedy comedy adventure’ without any romance, but possibly a lot of bromance | tension (ok some BL slipped by me into this list). And rather self destructive mc for the sake of their goal (often to the utter despair of the people who care about them xd). Bring forth conflicts and battles of will and rising against destiny !

@blackhazefanblog I did this for you! It took a while. Even if I think you’ll find the ones in [The Fantasy Kind] are the most likely to have similar vibes to black haze. : D

All summaries are from Baka-Updates or WebtoonLine. The links are either towards WebtoonLine, or towards the original official site (or official english translation if i found it).

The Fantasy Kind

Black Haze (Ongoing)

A long time ago, a portal to another world was opened, and those who acquired special abilities along with marks began to be called mages. After the incident known as "that day", the first-class mage from Ophion, known as "Blow", has become very famous. One day, he receives a very special mission: to protect the second son of the Artian family, who suffers from being called a "monster" at the magic school "Helios"! Thus, Blow enrolls in Helios under the name "Rood Krisch" to hide his true identity...

My all time favorite. I learned english thanks to it < 3. And it just group so many of my favorite tropes in one story ☆.☆

I’m not that kind of talent (Ongoing)

A talented individual who is respected by many and welcomed anywhere? Not at all! A bloodthirsty battle fanatic who knows no defeat? Couldn’t be further from the truth! In reality, Deon Hardt is a sickly human who coughs up blood from receiving the tiniest bit of stress and gets sunburns from standing in the sun for ten minutes. But due to an unfortunate misunderstanding, he becomes “Demon Arut,” the notorious 0th corps commander of the demon army and the demon king’s joker. Caught in a war between humans and demonkind, Deon must find a way to survive!

I discovered that one this year! I love comediy and tragedy mixed together, and that one fully achieved that, from making me laugh to absolutely destroying my heart seriously i am still hurting. Well this is a tragedy. Be warned. But a delicious one. (My heart TT.TT).

The Ember Knight (Ongoing)

When Nagyunn’s twin brother, Najin, is murdered before his very eyes, he vows to avenge his brother’s death by assuming Najin’s identity. But although the two may look alike, when it comes to fighting, Nagyunn lacks the talent and skill his brother possessed. In order to successfully execute his plot for revenge, Nagyunn resolves to train himself to become the prodigious knight-in-training his brother once was. Will Nagyunn be able to keep his identity a secret before others begin to catch on to his act?

Another one I discovered ’recently’ = last year. I absolutely adore the fact that the mc rely fully on wits and bluff. He will never get a cheat skill to get as strong as others- he just has to play his card rights (which happen to be a bunch of overprotective knights wishing he stopped going in front of the blade path). So he gotta bluff. A lot. Including playing betrayal at every corner, and i sure love betrayal :3. That and it’s a revenge story ~

TAL (Complete)

They walk like ordinary people, they talk like ordinary people but in fact there is nothing ordinary about them since they can materialize an image they have on their mind... They call themselves Chachaoong which also means Shaman and they do not know how or when they came to this world. It is now a time for their current king to choose the future one and so he did by choosing Yu Jin an ordinary human...? Many of the Chachaoong can not tolerate a human ruling them and now the poor Yu Jin not knowing what suddenly hit him, is trying to avoid the Chachaoongs who are trying to kill him!

This has been my second favorite after Black Haze for a long time, because I got a soft spot for escapists xd. All the more escapists with consequences catching them back faster than they can run until they’re cornered ☆.☆ Fight until the end against a fate you are doom to surrender to ~ I love it.

Catharsis (Complete)

Fear is a powerful emotion that can end up overtaking one's life. Leon thought he knew that. But when he's thrown into the demonic realm that Catharsis governs over, he'll learn that there is more to “true” fear than he could ever have imagined... But will he learn how to face it?

That one also stayed in my mind for a long time. The ending is more ’open’ than I would have wished, but well, there is no sequel yet so let’s call that an ending. Appart from that i loved the mc, and he has synesthesis which give really cool result in webtoon format (yay colors). In a world where nightmares take physical shape, the mc get attacked by nightmares and end up being recruited by the agency fighting nightmares bcs they feel smthg off about him.

Crepuscule (Complete)

Lark is different from the rest of the kids. He has red eyes, just like Vampires do, and he is bullied by the other kids for it. One day he meets Setz, a genuine Vampire of a Noble clan who is the only one that doesn't call him a monster or bully him. Eventually they become friends, but when Lark finds out he may have to return to the orphanage, Setz decides he does not want to lose his friend, so he invites him to his home... The world of the Vampires.

Another webtoon i grew up with as a teen. It isn’t my all time fav, but i still quite enjoyed it enough to reread it a few times. Must be the blond mc that reminded me of Rood xd. Or the fact that he is super weak in a world of monsters. Or the reason he has those red eyes. (Such delicious angst amidst the comedy). Are those just a trope I enjoy? XD

Godly Bells (Complete)

Divine Bells - they choose their own masters and they determine the status, prestige, and influence of the countries their masters rule. The presence or lack of these Bells also has great consequence in the lives of each country's royalty. In particular, the personal and political futures of King Hong-Ryeong seem doomed without a Bell, but at equally great peril if he obtains one. But are the Divine Bells simple magical charms, deities of great powers, or something else altogether? And when the owner of three of the eight existing Divine Bells dies, leaving them to choose new owners, where will the resulting turmoil lead?

Another blond mc i grew up with as a teen and reread a few time. And another ’king’ who is ’weak’. It’s in a fantasy world, where divine ’bells’ give each king (and thus each country) power. The mc country hasn’t been chosen by any bells for years, so quite look down upon. Until three bells at least or smthg choose the mc. And then they become people, with their own agenda. The mc didn’t want the attention but well can’t convince the bells to drop him xd. Which is why i loved this story. Once again, can’t escape fate even when you didn’t want it ~

Aegis Orta (Complete)

Val is an ordinary high school student who dedicates his life to God. His peaceful days however have to end when he learns about who he really is..

Very much in the same vibe of Godly Bells and Crepuscule, only I discovered it later and thus have less memories of it (bcs reread it less). It’s another blond character with red eyes that get ’fate’ thrown at its face ~ well. Demon powers. Same.

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I’m not gonna put Mxtx’s works here (Heaven Official Blessing, Mo Dao Zu Shi, Scum Villain Self Saving System), but they’re great too. If you love comedy and tragedy and don’t mind BL too much. Go for it. I usually don’t enjoy romance that much but it didn’t bother me with those works, bcs it’s presented so naturally into the story rather than harassing us every second. Phantom Paradise is also a BL, although entirely different vibe. It’s what would happen with matriarchat instead of patriarchat but all the toxicity remain - only gender roles are reversed. As for why I enjoyed it so much... I guess I am still somewhat sensitive to fan service ? XD

I also feel like I should mention UnderPrin, even if it didn’t make it all the way to my favs, kind of similar vibe to Catharsis and Aegis Orta. I’ll also mention Makai Ouji: Devils and Realist which is a manga but another blond character in the same vibe of the earlier ones, who refuse his own power XD. And Pandora Hearts because its my favorite manga ever. I even prefer it to Black Haze (but I think someone who liked one would also like the other?).

#black haze #reblog #recommendations #chang ge xing #TVLGW #I tried to be her loyal sword #cassmire the loyal sword #nuramago #shuumatsu no laughter #uglyhood #one step closer to the dark lord #one step closer to the demon king #lime odyssey #villains are destined to die #a ranker's guide to the good life #how a mage welcomes death #dadadadan #the childrens teacher mr kwon #the whole post is just everyone going ''How is this series like / good for people who like BH??'' and me going ''But wait! I can explain!''#I am the most desperate saleslady trying to sell you all unpopular series no one else reads lol #but I swear they're all very good... take it from someone who says BH still tops everything else here #hopefully with the diversity here everyone can manage to find something that suits them #I think Villains are destined to die and NuraMago are the only ones that have any fame by and large #the rest are ''if you know it you know it. if you don't you don't'' category #but I am a big fan of all of them... so if you liked any of these and need another fan to talk to I'm here lol

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