#genuinely its just really depressing imo

[youreaclownnow]

Okay so something dawned on me tonight. I've really been pondering ep 49 and now that I've calmed down from my initial state of being very upset (because I got triggered by it lmfao) I've come to realize. It's literally just pretty wrapping paper on what's really a tragic ending. It's literally like any other gundam in the sense of, at its core, it's a story about the trauma we face and cycles of violence. I feel like I was lied to by the Fandom and went into it expecting a truly happy or at bare minimum HOPEFUL ending. Boy was I wrong. I didn't pinpoint why the first time and assumed it was just the me not liking rain. But this time I've come to realize exactly why it gets me feeling the way it does. The fact that the last shot is an announcement for the 14th gundam fight is really like... something. It's so blatant that it went right over my head. Everyone has suffered SO MUCH all for the cycle to repeat once more. I hate watching the episode but I can't deny, it ultimately IS fitting.

[sentientsky]

So Everything Everywhere All at Once huh

[through a mouthful of my own blood] yeagh. i'm actually so normal about this movie [i trip and fall and a bunch of scenes fall out of my pockets]

additional thoughts and infodump below the cut lol!

No, but genuinely, this film is so fucking incredible!

And I'm glad to see we're on the same page, 'cause I every time I watch this movie, I also spend the last 15-20 mins weeping uncontrollably lol

There are so many facets of it that make me feel as though my heart is clawing its way out of my chest: The enduring message of hope and resilience and compassion—that nothing matters on a cosmic scale, and that things are going to knock the air out of our lungs and leave us reeling with pain. But we create meaning. We are not alone and we are not fundamentally unloveable or worthless or wrong. And we are deserving of care and for people to try to understand and SEE us.

It also (imo) deals with depression and suicidality in such an evocative and important way. Jobu's apathy and exhaustion is so relatable. And the scene where Evelyn reaches into the bagel to pull her daughter back from the precipice of self-destruction? Instant tears. Sobbing uncontrollably.

I also really love the way it subverts the notion of masculinity as something that is emotionally closed-off and dismissive. Waymond is a hero by virtue of his compassion and gentleness (Pop Culture Detective has a really good video on the topic here)

And of course, the mommy issues. A woman traveling through all of time and space—ripping a hole in the side of the universe—just to get her mother to see and accept her? To have someone understand her? Painfully relatable. Send help.

I could go on, but it's pretty late here and my brain is starting to power down (also I don't want to clog up my mutuals' dashes lol). SORRY anyway thank u for this ask, i LOVED it ajskjfskdgds

[irlkokichiouma]

ghdsfkjghdsf is that a common thing?

I don't really get how he'd be misdiagnosed anyway; it would need brain scans, especially since it's so rare at his age, and if anything it would have been misdiagnosed as other conditions for a while. Only going off cry-stars here- I have no expertise myself- but she's said that can happen and there was a recent case in Japan where a young guy's dementia was mistaken for depression for ages.

If we doubt Komaeda's FTD it can only be via doubting his honesty imo (but I still think he's telling the truth). I also love seeing analyses of him through the lenses of other disorders as comorbid instead of alternative diagnoses- especially autism, but I've seen interesting takes wrt OCD and BPD too- but canonically I feel like bvFTD, extreme post-traumatic stress and political radicalisation adequately explain his issues.

TO BE FAIR it probably isnt As common as i think it is, i just saw one reddit post thst explicitly claimed the FTD was a misdiagnosis and that it totally makes way more sense for komaeda to have autism and bpd, and a surprisung number of people... agreed? for some reason??

which i need to state for the record a) i am autistic myself and b) have absolutely zero problems with headcanons, even if they arent ones i ascribe to personally

what i DO have a problem with is people erasing canon neurodivergencies and/or erasing traits CENTRAL to a character in order to square-peg-round-hole the headcanon THEY have as the most correct one

"nagito has ftd and was autistic before that?" cool! neat! seeing how those two disorders being comorbid with each other could be really interesting!

"nagito does NOT have ftd, the devs were wrong, they actually wrote an autistic character and didnt realize it" stop talking.

this is very like, misanthropic i guess but after SO MUCH SHIT ive seen it just speaks to an unwillingness to empathize with or relate to anyone that isnt exactly like you. and you cant just headcanon real people around you with Misdiagnosed Autistic (most.... times....) so this pops up in fiction

like. i am autistic! i also have two (2) personality disorders, and neither is bpd. this has led to a non negligible amount of autistic people completely stereotyping my other disorders as evil in order to prop themselves up ("i thought i was a narcissist/sociopath, which wouldve been awful, but really i was just autistic! phew!!" with implicit, sometimes EXPLICIT value judgements being made)

i have had a friend i had in real life, to my face, say he didn't believe i had either personality disorder and really i was secretly just autistic

...if we had been better friends, maybe he would've known me well enough to know that that's almost... comically untrue. lol

so in my opinion there do exist a certain minority of autistic people who see autism as the only neurodivergency that Matters, or at least the one that matters the most. and the only way they can feel any sympathy for anyone else is if they are also autistic

and i know this is a minority! and i just see it a lot because i am an autist in fandom and a lot of other autistic people are also in fandom! AND that this is a mindset prone to ANY minority- most people think their Problem is the Worst Problem, it just... happens. however i am just as irrational and prone to biases as anyone else and ive chosen this as my completely irrelevant hill to die on

that one reddit post made me so goddamn mad bc of All This PLUS its double insulting when someone says "i have a special interest in psychology!" as a way to say theyre extremely knowledgable, and doing genuine analysis with the lens of "i am looking at the text and trying to make an objective diagnosis" and then STILL DO THIS!!! because they have this veneer of "im just a guy asking questions" before diving right into a weirdly consspiratory subset of "everyones an idiot about mental health except for ME"

...which tbf i dont think that about myself. i am very good at writing a wide variety of mental illness due to a combination of research and life experience BUT i could really only tell you like. actual non-surface level FACTS about aspd and to a lesser extent, npd. because thats what i chose to focus on. there are far and away lots more people that know more about me about other things, and im fine wit that

i am however also aware of this extremely hyperspecific social phenominon. and thus it is my burden to bear. my mountainous molehill.

also r/danganronpa just fucking sucks like in general. every time i see a kokichi opinion there i get a little closer to pulling the trigger. i think the real moral here is reddit is garbage and should not be used for anything other than product reviews

(also fwiw i agree w ur personal take at the end, with a lil bit of ocd tendencies that like, started off manageable and nowhere near diagnostic level badness, since things he might do to manage his cycle and even the constant thinking about it are very much reminiscent of obsessions and compulsions. but ftd in of itself can cause ocd symptoms so after that it got... worse. thats my personal take on it ^^)

[w0mped]

I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently, and this feels like the proper place to say:

Outside of art style and soundtrack, there’s no reason to watch Evangelion.

It wants to be so many things and fails at every single one.

Do you want a post apocalyptic show that delves into the major ramifications of 2 previous events and a possible third??? Evangelion’s not that. Half the time it forgets that the first or second impact even happened!!! They’re in a new version of Tokyo and so much is done to make everyone forget that their world has *RED OCEANS* and *MILLIONS OF CASUALTIES*. The apocalypse is ignored. I understand that some of that is themeing, yknow what do governments and people in power hide from us, but dude at some point it gets jarring when they have a whole episode about the red oceans and then they’re never seen again. The show doesn’t even tell you its lore. Subtext and context are definitely interesting ways to deliver information. Natural world building rocks, but there’s a difference between that and what Evangelion is. Evangelion has so many conversations that just kinda loop in on themselves and don’t help explain anything. I had to look at the wiki to understand anything that’s going on.

Do you want a cool mecha anime where they fight stuff and win the day? Evangelion’s not that. We get crumbs. Absolute morsels. Tiny bits and pieces of genuinely amazing fights. Again this isn’t an art rant the arts awesome The limitations on the Eva’s usage gives a reason behind it, but there’s a severe lack of mecha in this mecha anime. I understand that mecha anime do this where the mechs are a metaphor and all that. There’s merit to sneaking people into a drama by having cool explosions and robots, but the writing can’t carry the show. When they do fight, it’s ok…definitely not worth all the talking and philosophical bs. Philosophy is fine but it needs to be actually demonstrated. And will they explain the mechs at all? Not unless you mean WE PUT YOUR MOMS SOULS IN THE MECHS????? AND THATS WHY YOU CAN PILOT THEM???? I am willing to suspend my disbelief and engage with he story but that’s insane.

Do you want a character driven drama dealing with depression, anxiety and self improvement through hardship? Evangelion’s not that. 90% of the characters have no depth, and the ones that do aren’t that complicated. Shinji’s the most compelling and his journeys probably the best in the show….but Asuka and Rei are nothing… Asuka is the must stubbornly written character. I understand that the point is to show her immaturity and differences from Shinji, but that should not come at the expense of character depth. The fact that her and Shinji go through the same experiences and she doesn’t develop at all is frustrating. Rei, on the other hand, does nothing. She makes no active choices and is in a hospital bed more than she’s in the plot. So what if she’s a CLONE OF SHINJIS MOM?????? if she has no impact of the plot. If she died in the first episode, nothing would have changed. Kaowru is his own bag of worms but at least there’s a consistency. Misato, Kaji, and Ritsuko have their moments and actually offer a unique parallel to our current trio if you fully ignore Rei and Ritsuko but whatever. Will this ever be explored? A little? There’s some backstory about them but it’s extremely shallow imo. Kaji gets a decent amount of depth bc he talks about the plot with Shinji. He makes an effort to be a character. Penpen has more distinct character traits than the majority of the cast and that’s WILD.

Do you want a show with an ending????? Evangelion’s NOT THAT. Both the End of Evangelion movie AND the original series ending and notoriously confusing. The ending of the original series was meant to evoke a sense of overcoming your fears and connecting with others. Is this demonstrated well?? No. They do a bunch of trippy stuff and have an actually really wholesome sequence where everyone is in a different more classic school anime, but forget that they have to…yknow…conclude the show in a satisfying manner. The last 2 episodes feel entirely separate from the main show. I know about the production problems but that doesn’t make up for this There’s no through line. The writers were just like “uh oh yeah this needs to end. Now it ends now it’s over done good bye” and tried do cram all the philosophy into the final 2 episodes. On the other hand…the movie is made out of spite. The entire end of Evangelion film is made to tell the audience to go fuck themselves. I’m not reading into anything that’s the creators words. It’s a kill fest that is just there for the sake of being sad. There’s no plot and no explanation of anything occurring in any way. Just “look everyone turn to orange Fanta or get shot :3”.

If you want a show with depth that cares about its viewers, watch Code Geas or Madoka Magica. Genuinely masterful in their execution and theming.

Edit: this came off as super harsh yall, my b. New to tumbr so I don’t know the etiquette. Evangelion has value in what it’s trying to portray but there are parts I felt dropped the ball. I’m glad people like it, it’s just not for me :)

[assiraphales]

HELLO HI let me start this off by saying i love your posts so so much they are so silly

Anyways since opla season 2 has been confirmed, what are some things you REALLY want to see? Im genuinely curious

so i'm assuming they will start off with loguetown and end with alabasta. i'm hoping that since the first season was so successful netflix will order a FEW more episodes (ideally ten or more) but I have to stay realistic so I know every detail won't translate to screen

a lot of the anime loguetown arc was filler (zoro mopping the marine's floors, luffy running around lost and drinking milk at a bar, sanji entering a random cooking competition) and I know there's a few things they're unlikely to skip (zoro aquiring kitetsu & hopefully throwing the sword in the air to see if it'll chop his arm off, luffy on the executioner's platform, smoker) but i really they have time for

-nami n usopp bonding. especially the moment where usopp faced off against daddy the parent bc not only was nami there supporting him/willing to fight for him, but it also was a glimpse into his complicated relationship with his father. daddy the parent quit his job so he could spend more time with his daughter, while yasopp completely abandoned usopp. it was also so cute when they were fangirling over sanji together -i'm so excited to see inaki laughing with his head in the stocks seconds away from death I just know he's going to devour that scene -there probably won't be time but it would be funny if we see luffy n zoro on their lunch date with a combined zero dollars in their pocket and buggy ends up covering their bill without knowing who they were -i'm can't wait to see who they cast as smoker!!!! their casting has been honestly great so far so i'm looking forward to the reveal

laboon the giant whale. LABOON THE GIANT WHALE !!! I know in the grand scheme (at least from a standalone season perspective) he's not that important to the plot. but by god !!!! give us the depressed whale that luffy gives the will to live back to!!!! practical effects are very important to the one piece team I think they can figure it out

whiskey peak is going to be controversial but I hope luffy n zoro's fight goes EXACTLY like it does in the anime & manga (aka they're so in sync that they're punches are meeting in the middle and they're yelling in unison & five minutes later they're laughing about the prospect of meeting a warlord). this arc also requires the writers to let zoro have his funny guy routine because him hecking the agents is so good

while I don't know if we'll see zoro fighting a triceratops and saying "oh so u do three sword style too" we NEED to see him do his stupid pose in the wax. season ruined if not. (jk but its very high on my list)

chopper my wittle cutie. I know we'll see him no matter what but I'm banking on a puppet. i'm pretty sure its already confirmed that they're using practical effects for him, but I heard maybe prosthetics which could be a hit or a miss

nami and vivi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! karu!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm truly on the edge of my seat to see how they'll handle zoro n sanji's rivalry considering they've made the decision to base it around their relationship with luffy. the girls WILL be fighting

similarly excited to see live action sanji fawning over not only nami but also his little meow meow luffy (fantastic change from the anime imo)

crocodile better be the greasiest motherfucker I hope he's absolutely vile. i can't wait to see him wearing a FUR lined coat in a desert

I also know they're going to go off with pell's character design

ACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[crow-of-paradise]

I finished The Way of Kings and IIII'm feelin' it!!! Yo girl is going THRU it!!!

This book is great for the saps. The Sentimentals. Dare I say cheese-lovers. Moved easily to tears by acts of goodness and humanity. (<- all me) Maybe bc it is so lacking in our real lives - and this from someone fortunate enough to have some amazing people in their life, I still think we can all want to be better for ourselves and others, because it's the right and good thing to do. In the end, it's the heart of the book, imo, that stays with me the most. Kaladin, Dalinar, Bridge Four, struggling to do the right thing, keep hope alive in the face of despair like a small sputtering candle in the dark (or highstorm, as it were). When I finished and was gathering my thoughts, there's a lovely quote by Mr. Rogers that immediately came to mind:

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’”

And this book has plenty of both (the scary and the helpers). It’s a very hopeful story at its core, despite realizing some people felt put off by the “depression simulator” (as the first review, of all things, I watched called him!!) that is Kaladin during most of the book, lol. But hey! I'm into that shit! I was deeply moved by his struggles and how he kept finding reasons to care, despite himself, like a wild instinct he’s unable to control. He’s gotta be one of my favorite fictional characters of all time, THE LOVE I HAVE FOR THIS MAN IS INSANE. So I'm hoping that the story continues with its main philosophy and theme centering hope prevailing in the end. I'm locked in, so I guess we'll see soon enough lol.

Also I fucking love beginnings. Some people loathe them - they’re too slow, there’s not enough happening, there’s too much to learn. When it’s done WELL, I eat that shit up, and TWOK does it sooooo well. When I first started reading it, I was constantly praising its accessibility, how easy it was to understand and visualize and keep up, as someone who does NOT read a lot (particularly not a brick like this). That is a constant throughout the rest of the book! I personally really meshed well with Sanderson’s writing style, and that was besides his amazing skill with a large and compelling cast of characters, all of whom have their own subtle arcs and development which were satisfying to read and I value most in the media I enjoy.

I found out about Sanderson in the most random way! I was RPing in Final Fantasy XIV lol (2022/23 was... a time) and I really wanted to work on my combat writing skills. I think I looked up recommendations for this and Brandon Sanderson’s name came up more than once (and yes, this book is a war epic, and the battles are long and brutal, and so captivating to read), along with The Way of Kings being the most recommended, so I filed away his name and the book in the back of my mind. I would see his work out in the wild and pick it up, balk at the size, but it wasn’t until earlier this year when I bought the mass market paperback that I actually decided to try it out - read a few pages, then bought the larger trade paperback bc I am Old and my eyes suck, also there are gorgeous illustrations to appreciate. I just wasn’t vibing with any of my attempted reads at the time (ACOTAR, Emily Wilde tho I do wanna try this one again, among others). I think I was craving something Epic, and I was fresh off season 2 of House of the Dragon and the latest FFXIV expansion and I wanted a book to take to Iceland with me (this massive tome did indeed travel with me lmao, and I didn't get far what with the long exhausting days of that trip, but I did manage a few pages and even more scuffs and dings along the way). So yes, this did largely scratch that itch and then some! I’ve said it 100 times but I’m not a good reader - it’s so hard for me to maintain the focus required for it long enough, though I do try. To me it’s nothing short of a GENUINE ACCOMPLISHMENT that I not only conquered this monster but did it relatively quickly during a stressful time of the year, and LOVED it. Books as a storytelling medium is such a large untapped well for me, so I mourn not being able to devour them like other bookworms do because I know there are some gems out there (audiobooks are worse for my focus to grasp onto funnily enough lol).

In light of that, this book really just feels like a small miracle that happened to me. It means a lot and I’m so grateful. (told you I was a sap!!!) And I'm so sad Words of Radiance is still being shipped to me. But I have another lovely book I'm reading (The Honey Witch by Sydney J. Shields) for book club with my bestie (shoutout to @bisummers I'M STARTING MY PAGES TOMORROW) so I will be occupied until then... and hopefully it gets here soon. :)

[keikakudom]

What if your Alastor genuinely started to feel love for Vox? Like what would he do? If he realized he was in love with Vox? Would he attempt to Atticwife Vox? Or chain him?

***WARNING: this answer does go into heavy/dark themes.

Woooh, okay so I had to search what "Atticwife" meant, but this question literally sat with me for two days when it was first sent in. I even consulted my bestie(not into fandom) about it.

From my understanding, I think it means "when the partner/significant other forcibly keeps the other against locked away their will bc they're mentally not well/insane(?)".

Initially, here are a few reasons why I think that wouldn't happen/I don't see it working for RR!AU:

I think of Alastor liking the free little things that Vox does as entertainment. He likes to see what Vox does with Hell as playground. Free-roaming gerbil style.

Maybe he would try to cage him once for the heck of it, but I genuinely think(despite all the fanon interpretations and how canon Vox is all leading into that he's insecure and pathetic) that Vox and Alastor are equally matched and Alastor would not have a feasible way of keeping him there for one. I WILL DIE ON THIS HILL. I swear in canon that they are setting up Vox to be underestimated. Like, yes radio waves/radio has power over TV signals--but literally face it, nobody WANTS radio. Only TV does. Even if TV disappears, the masses are not going to go back to radio. Radio has its purpose but in the modern age and from what it looks like in HH too(since TV/Vox is so popular) radio as a ruling media is already over, it's relegated to a supporting role now because TV is just so convenient and straight up better with so many more uses.

And I dont think Vox's way of thinking is "wrong" or that he's far gone, since he's never been actively suicidal. I only made him mention that line in the fic because Alastor was so blindsided by HIS way of thinking that Vox needed to voice his side for Alastor to think of Vox's perspective for once(also in the fic I made Alastor SHOW that he cared) aka, in the end they both communicated in the way that the other prefers (show vs tell). RR!AU Vox is characterized as only to have maybe, PASSIVE suicide ideation. Its like, he wont ever think about dying unless his mind is empty--so putting him in an isolated/empty place would make it worse/allow his depressive thoughts to fester because he's not busying his mind.

So if you want to go with a fluffy route, if Alastor really romantically fell in love with Vox, I want to say he'd tone down the blatant stalking and go for a traditional and appealing courting way(probably asked Rosie for advice) that finally respects Vox's current feelings...would Vox reciprocate? Eh, too little too late, maybe.

That said, I'm fascinated by this scenario so I'm going to entertain it as a what-if , LOL. It's going to get very toxic and strange, even more-so from hereon out:

Let's say we take what Vox said in the fic for verbatim(wants to stay on DND forever, chasing after death), and that Alastor planned for this ahead of time.

First, it would be an environmental shock to Vox because he's so used to constantly being around people, and just DOING stuff...there's some symbolism here about how great white sharks have trouble being kept in zoos/being kept in captivity.

A lot of people would look for him. Hell politics would go haywire. I think Vox would busy himself in his thoughts about how to deal with his own absence too, all concerned for the power vacancy and things that are piling up, if he couldn't find an immediate way to escape. It's really hard to think of Vox ever doing "nothing" IMO.

(Even if he sits and watches TV all day, he goes all giggly and dramatic. A big reason why I push this in RR!AU. I find it so interesting to have a character/personality so animated also having deep nihilistic thoughts. He would not curl up and spend days not doing anything, more like 'OK NEXT NOW WHAT'.)

Then let's say Alastor introduces daily stimulation with Vox. In order for him not to do anything drastic. Playing chess with him, asking open-ended questions...Vox starts to crave those singular interactions everyday so badly. Because it's his only fix to do something.

In any case, it would turn into a very unhealthy and co-dependent, Stockholm syndrome-y relationship. Subsequently, 'Atticwife'....

This was a very wild question to answer, but thank you for sending it! It was pretty fun to imagine a possibility where this played out.

[wavetapper]

So what's Severance about? Give us the pitch

i am extremely bad at explaining things but

Okay so the show is a sort of dark comedy/scifi/thriller about an office where the workers have to undergo a medical procedure called Severance, which splits their memories in half- essentially creating a version of them who is always out of work (an 'Outie') and a version of them who is always at the office (an 'Innie'). The company they work for (that also provides the procedures) is sinister and weird and there's a lot of bizarre mysteries surrounding the office and the work they do, and a lot of the show is spent slowly uncovering that.

Reasons I liked it as much as I did are like

It explores grief and depression in a really compelling way, and it actually presents pretty interesting reasons as to why someone would want to be severed beyond just "work sucks"

The characters are all fantastic and their relationships with each other are fun to watch develop as Things Happen to them (Irving in particular has a really sweet arc with one of the other characters... i wont say who because it was fun to go in blind and watch it develop but severanceheads know who im talking about)

It does really fun things with its premise, like its not just a "wouldnt this be fucked up" sort of set dressing- they really go into it and that makes me grin. There's a minor character in some of the later episodes which is just horrible to think about because of something that's revealed about her aughghh

It's weird! It's really weird! The way it's shot and coloured is really quite stark and surreal, its a visually fascinating show. It does a great job at making things appear just slightly Off even when they're supposedly fine

Despite some pretty intense things happening, it's a genuinely funny and honestly at times quite a sweet show

It's like 9 episodes atm with a second season on the way in january so it's not a huge commitment if you wanna get into it. It is a bit of a slow burn at first, but I was really hooked by the mystery and characters so that wasn't an issue for me- episode 3 is where it starts ramping up imo

It does contain flashing lights as well as a few other things worth putting in a content warning- i wont put them here in case you want to go in blind, but if youre worried about potentially sensitive material then its worth looking up

also the creator cited the stanley parable as a direct influence and 1) thats one of my favourite games of ever and 2) you can absolutely tell when you watch it

t;ldr i like watching adam scott look like someone just shot his dog off camera for 9 episodes straight. also hellyyyy <3

[llycaons]

hl really is so boring. like it was fun in the moment when reading the novel for the first time but then there’s a post-novel clarity where its like huh the relationship is actually so shallow. idk how ppl can compare hl and wx and think hl is better (even tho novel wx has major issues too). but comparing it to cql wx? its not even a competition, cql wx wins by far 💀

for REAL. hualian's big strength is that they have fabulous chemistry. every scene with them together is genuinely really fun and silly and I can tell very easily how much they care about each other, which is why despite my griping I actually do enjoy a lot of the romance scenes in the book. but if you're looking for something deeper, or even something real....it's just not there. it's all fantasy and idealization and hyper-devotion to the point where you have literally nothing else in your life that you care about or think makes life worth living. hc giving xl his ashes and saying essentially 'if you die, there's no point to me living' is actually really sad. xl inspired a traumatized child to live and then instead of actually living his life that child just devoted himself to xl utterly...it's just a self-fulfilling loop. hc never found anything else that he cared about or loved or was passionate about to really live for. he died for xl MULTIPLE times and he never appreciated his existence beyond xl's presence, which is honestly one of the most depressing endings a traumatized child can have

also you're so right when you say it's shallow. hc like 'gege is absolutely perfect and beyond reproach' and xl is like 'hc is so funny and we get along so well' and sure you have the dramatic "I saved your life/I'll kill for you' backstory but that didn't make it more interesting, it's just made it more dramatic. their principles, their morals, their life experiences, their perspectives and goals and respective places in life - it's not that those things are incompatible in the relationship, they're just irrelevant to the relationship. so like...what does any of this matter besides 'well they're happy now!' I personally like when characters care about each other for actual reasons that tie into the themes of the stoy

and yeah, despite its issues novel wx was extremely compelling and their dynamic for the most part made sense bc they complemented each other rly well and there were such good romantic scenes in the book i shan't lie. and like if two characters have never actually had to deal with genuine issues in their relationship because they just accept the other as perfect the way they are, its a very fragile and unstable dynamic because they have no idea how to resolve conflict or come to terms with being angry at each other. yet another reason wangxian is so much more stable and rewarding than hualian. they know what it's like to truly be opposed to each other, disagree with each other, hurt each other, and they found a resolution to that. not that they're perfect but in comparison, they've put in the work

and comparing hl to cql wx is really funny to me actually. real hydrogen bomb vs coughing baby situation in terms of like...themes...knowing each other...growing as people together...living meaningful lives...yeah idk how mdzs/cql fans moved on the tgcf and got into the romance because it's so much more simplistic and, imo, unappealing

ty for the ask!

[unfortunatesal]

The Teal Mask DLC for Pokemon Scarlet & Violet fucking rules

So, I haven't mentioned this here, but I genuinely do like Pokemon Scarlet & Violet. It's... deeply flawed for sure. The game is a buggy mess, the level scaling (or lack thereof) is atrocious, the way random encounters are handled fucking sucks with you running into shit constantly and it's just. not very challenging.

But it has a huge, huge plus that to me, makes up for all of that, and it's one that I'm strongly biased towards. Though... it's technically two: the plot, and the characters.

Now, Pokemon has never been bad at character design, really. The characters are always endearing and cool and whatnot. But besides some exceptions like N and Bianca, they're never all that interesting, at least to me. They're not much more than pleasant. But Scarlet & Violet has *great* characters, it's by far its strongest suit. The gym leaders aren't anything deep, but they do have such distinct and memorable personalities that they just... stick with you. Maybe it's recency bias, but I could tell you that Katy is a sweet old lady, Brassuis is a massive theatre kid, Iono is an energetic vtuber, Kofu is a goofy uncle, Larry is a depressed businessman, Ryme is... I guess a rapper, honestly Ryme isn't that interesting imo, Tulip has extremely bad vibes and I do not want to be near her, and Grusha is a jaded cynical twink with PTSD. These are all great!

And those are characters from the "bad" storyline, the one with little to no narrative merit! The Team Star storyline absolutely rules and is just, genuinely really good and the way it slowly unpacks an unflods the actual reality of what Team Star is and what happened with them is just, wonderful. I love the direction it goes in and the message it conveys. And the herba mystica storyline is! Okay! It's fine! People seem to love it but I just think it's kind of okay. I will say that Arven's storyline is general is great, but it only really reached that point when you get to Area Zero which is a whole other thing and is also just, great.

And the rivals, or rival-like characters, are fantastic. I especially love Nemona who is an austistic yandere icon (but only yandere in the Pokemon sense, where Pokemon battles are everything and are considered an almost intimate experience at times in Scarlet & Violet as a whole???)

Nemona is absolutely my favourite rival, or *was*, until the Teal Mask DLC came along and introduced two rivals that, ahem, rivaled her. Both are just massive, massive hits in my book, and... I want to talk about why, because they have been living rent-free in my head and the yare 2 of the 3 elements that make the Teal Mask DLC so great, the third being Ogerpon herself, which I will get to later.

OH BY THE WAY I WILL BE SPOILING THE TEAL MASK DLC SO IF YOU'RE INTERESTED IN IT, DO NOT READ

So, the first notable rival is Carmine. And she definitely acts like a Pokemon rival in the classic, Gary / Silver, huge asshole kind of way. As soon as you meet her, she tells you to get the fuck out of her village and challenges you to a battle. She's kind of a dark Nemona in a sense, in that she takes the tsundere approach instead of the yandere approach. She totally doesn't love battling you or spending time with you or anything, obviously not! There is so much romantic tension between you and every single Scarlet & Violet rival and it fucking rules, especially since it manifests so differently for all 3 of them.

But... eventually, Carmen warms up to you, and you start getting along with her. She helps you out and becomes a reliable partner, and ends up having absolutely no qualms being friendly with you. The thing is, though... Carmen never stops being an asshole. She continues to be kind of a bitch throughout the entire story! She just becomes a bitch in a very endearing and likeable way, and directs that bitchiness in a productive, fun, and even helpful ways, and that's just wonderful. She's pretentious, quick to anger, looks down on everything and everyone, and I love her so fucking much

And then, there's Kieran, Carmen's litle brother and also my precious son. Kieran is kind of the opposite of Carmen. He doesn't seem like a rival at all. He's just a shy and nervous kid who clearly likes you a lot and wants to be friends and get along with you. Just a sweet little kid with anxiety! Extremely likeable, extremely endearing, you can't not love the kid

But then you learn he has a huge fixation with Ogerpon and other creatures that are demonized and treated as outcasts. Still endearing, but gives him a lot of depth! And, oh god, my boy has the BPD and he is absolutely FPing Ogerpon. He gets increasingly upset and incomfortable with you getting close to Ogerpon when he isn't able to, and starts sulking and running off, and man, I've been there. I know what it's like and I feel for Kieran so much.

This all comes to a head when you catch Ogerpon, and add her to your party, thus preventing Kieran from being close to the creature he loves and admires so much. After that, he starts to lose it, and becomes an extremely compelling rival who straddles the line between friend and antagonist. The cliffhanger ending suggests that he'll continue to spiral out of control for the next DLC and god, I am so here for it. I love his story arc so, so fucking much and I cannot wait to see what they do with it

And then, there's Ogerpon. Ogerpon is a precious little creature who was deeply wronged by the village, deomized and cast aside from the start. The mian antagonists of the arc, the Loyal 3, took advantage of her status as an outcast to kill her only friend and steal what was most precious to them, causing her to fight back, and be cast as the villain for centuries as a result. And. Fuck. I love Ogerpon so much. I love her story, I love the way it's resolved, I love how it ties into Kieran's character and the final fight against Ogerpon herself. I used to not know what to say when people told me what my favourite Pokemon is. Now, I know, and I'm so grateful fto the Teal Mask DLC for that.

[xserpx]

I just finished last argument of kings......

it has been. a narrative. that I am being normal about.

It do be that way. LAOK leaves ppl throwing the book across the room like "Is that it?! But what's the point?!" It's a depressing ending for sure, the way he gets you invested in these awful people and dangles the possibility of lasting change in front of them, only for most of them to slide back into old habits or die. It makes the whole 'epic' part of the fantasy feel redundant. But because it's expressed in the text, with the entire search for the Seed coming to nothing in BTAH, and Jezal being puppeted through this grand narrative only to realise he would probably have been happier had he kept his original ignorance intact, that sense of pointlessness is the point. All this effort for nothing but questions, and the only person who "wins" is the inquisitor.

Do you have a favourite character? I love them all, but especially Jezal. He's just a smol littol guy 🥺❤️ and his ending is glorious in its tragedy IMO. That scene with Bayaz is just insane. It's been a decade since I first read it and I'm still not over it.

I also have a soft spot for Glokta & Ardee. There aren't many moments of genuine sweetness in the book, particularly when talking about Glokta, but his proposal was fricken adorable, and the way they can help each other is heartwarming af.

I also love Dogman's ending, where he has to confront his own judgement about Logen, again there's a meta theme: getting invested in awful people, [Glokta voice] why do we do it, what it says about us (if it says anything), where do you draw the line? The way he gets defensive when Red Hat calls Logen evil is fantastic, and the idea that "once the fighting stops, men who only know fighting end up fighting themselves" is something he returns to several times throughout the series, and is one of my absolute favourite themes of his.

Speaking of which, do you have plans to read the rest of the series? As much as I love the First Law trilogy, I think the series as it stands now, with 9 main books in 3 separate trilogies and a short story anthology, it is very much starter, main course, dessert IMO. I think the standalones (aka the Great Leveller trilogy) are where Abercrombie really hammers down his style and technique, and the Age of Madness is delightfully decadent. As good as the characters are in TFL, there are so many even more amazing POVs to come.

[namtanlovesfilm]

Wanted to start this by saying that I usually agree with your opinions (or even when I don't, I can at least see where you're coming from) but that's not the case when it comes to your opinion on Only Friends because I completely disagree and just wanted to add my two cents. You said that it wasn't relatable to the queer community but I'm sorry, the queer community isn't a monolith, there isn't one universal way that every single queer friendship group functions. Just because it wasn't relatable to your experience, it doesn't mean that it wasn't relatable to many other queer people's experiences. For example, one of my friend groups consists of gay men and the stories they've told me (and some of which I witnessed with myself)? Not that far off from OF (aka everyone getting with everyone, behind people's backs as well, and most of them are still on friendly terms now). It's perfectly fine that you didn't personally relate but you can't say no queer person/community did.

I also saw depth to a lot of characters and I could relate to several of them in different ways and everything in the finale made sense to me for those characters. For me it achieved what it set out to do: entertain, while also make me connect/care about some of the characters. It didn't do that for everyone (you included) but please don't claim it's a "bad show" as a general statement just because you didn't get anything out of it because a lot of people did. (My friend who struggles with depression and is currently going through a depressive slump found comfort in seeing Ray progress to a point where he's much happier at the end of the series because it gives her hope that she can get to that point soon too.)

Is Only Friends a brilliant, amazing, showstopping, incredible show? No. But it's not bad, far from it. It certainly has its flaws but the sudden hate it's getting is not warranted imo.

hi, first of all, it's fine to disagree lol, though it's always a bit jarring to me when people feel the need to let me know they disagree with me bc clearly we simply have a different taste & opinion. when I share my opinion about a show, I do it on my blog but never go on others' blogs to either defend a show I liked or trash a show I didn't like, but anyways. I have NEVER, EVER said that the queer community is a monolith & that all queer representation needs to be relatable to ME. in fact, a lot of my favorite queer media are HIGHLY UN-relatable to me lol. I never implied that only friends' flaws comes from it being unrelatable or unrealistic? in fact I believe it to be realistic since it's made by queer men & has recurring topics that p'jojo especially has used in previous shows of his, especially since the story of only friends is inspired by real-life events. in fact I said that I WISH they'd have leaned into the queer community aspect of it even more bc it was the one point in which this show differentiates itself from friend zone, so yeah. don't really know where you got that notion from. secondly, like it or not, I can claim any shows I've watched are bad in my opinion. once again, media is subjective & I did not like only friends so for me it IS a bad show. is it the worst? no. did I HATE it? no. did I have a good time in front of it? also no. also from a writing standpoint I'm sorry it IS objectively bad and FAILED at what it set out to do, especially considering the show itself doesn't seem to know what it set out to do in the first place. moreover, sudden hate? I've been criticizing only friends since it started airing lol, I'm not jumping on any bandwagon, and in fact it's more so the fandom that's catching up to the fact that this show is not very good. now, I'm genuinely glad that this show helped you & your friend and that you liked it! that's great, of COURSE this show is gonna have its fans, and in fact it has a lot of them! however it seems to me as if you've taken my (justified) criticism of the show to heart for a reason that only you fully know, and I hope you can investigate why that is. I truly value you as a long time follower of mine & I hope you can agree to disagree with me on that one even though I must admit this ask seems a bit jarring & personal to me. wish you all the best :)

xxx

[shigayokagayama]

rec request anon:

I, too, love kind of depressing and existential things and I’ve actually seen and loved quite a few things you’ve listed so I will 100% check out your other recommendations! It’s so incredibly funny to me that you recommended hospice because that’s actually one of my favorite albums ever and I have never heard someone mention it before.

also…another weird question but have you ever watched the good place? because that is absolutely Not dark and dreary, but it Is pleasant and funny and existential. genuinely one of the best shows I’ve ever watched (acting, writing, one of the most satisfying conclusions in the history of tv imo). sorry, I’m legally required to bring it up because it and mob psycho are like this 🤞as my all time favorite pieces of media and I think people who like mob will generally like the good place. They have similar heart. I promise it is worth it, there is sooo much more to it than just that one big plot twist. (so sorry to be a good place ad, I just need to share the love).

also thank you for taking my question so seriously, I really appreciate it <3 <3 <3 wishing you all the best!!!

i did actually watch the first three seasons and really enjoy them :D i was waiting for season 4 to come to netflix and then i got distracted and forgot it existed for a really long time and i dont have anyone to tie me down and make me watch the rest of it so its on my watchlist w better call saul and some of the other shows ive abandoned

[witchoil]

act 3 thoughts i guess. incoherent discussion of spoilers below the cut.

there were things i enjoyed about episode 7 purely by virtue of it being something new and FINALLY explaining like half of what happened in act 2. ekko FINALLY getting some screentime!!!!! unfortunately this also meant more heimerdinger. timebomb cute. vander/silco real.

however episode 8 immediately erased whatever grace i could have given this act from ep 7. it was a slog and a clusterfuck. the caitvi sex scene in particular was absolutely infuriating in every way, from the way it came out of left field while vi had way more important things she was already upset about to the absolutely cringe-inducing music playing over it to the fact that it happened in a FUCKING JAIL CELL I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH. i didn't enjoy the jayce stuff at all, but can admit that's probably personal preference because i've never really liked him. but the caitvi stuff. unforgivable lmao.

by the time we got to ep 9 i was just begging for it to be over. this episode was stunningly beautiful to look at but absolutely painful to watch from beginning to end.

how to even begin to get into the politics of all of that. completely handwaving EVERYTHING piltover has done to zaun to come together to fight an underdeveloped and deeply problematic big bad outside threat. others have already pointed this out in the tags, but dressing zaunites up in cop costumes just to kill them to PROTECT PILTOVER. what the fuck. i'm genuinely speechless.

additionally i remained so mad about ambessa/the noxians becoming the big bads that i couldn't even sit back and enjoy the big battle on its own merits i was just cringing the whole time.

also like. everything with viktor/machine herald just made no sense to me from a character writing standpoint. if i could be bothered to rewatch i would try to do so with an eye towards understanding his whole arc but on first watch it felt completely incoherent and only made sense in the context of machine herald being a foregone conclusion.

but jayvik got un-divorced so yay i guess!

i wish i could say something meaningful about all the mel stuff? her powers were cool, although it would have been baller to know literally anything about how they worked. i guess it was cool to see her finally come into direct conflict with her mother. but ultimately absolutely no narrative closure for her, imo

and of course. jinx. if i had a nickel for every time i had to watch a mentally ill character get killed off because they're too damaged to live, well, i'd still be fucking depressed.

putting sevika on the council only to show the other councilors giving her the stink eye was so bleak and sad, insane way to twist the knife after everything else they did to her this season.

and man. poor ekko. wtf. on top of barely getting any screentime this season, everything that happened to him was just so tragic and at the end we don't even get to find out whether or not the tree and the community around it exist/are going to survive in any meaningful way. very cool.

absolutely hateful that caitlyn got the last words of the series but also completely in keeping with everything else this season has done and shown itself to be about so can i really be surprised??? she was the writer's room's favorite character and it showed from the beginning to the end of this season, i say with a heart full of bitterness.

[whentheycrypositivity]

ECHO VN FINISHING THOUGHTS!!!

okay, so. wow. fuck i love this vn so much and im so inspired to write. like holy fuck this was great. jennas route is just. so amazing? like guh. probably my favorite route though leos has like my 2 favorite scenes. so like my ranking rn based off enjoyment mostly is

Jennas route

Leos route

Flynns route

Carls route

TJs route

ECHO SPOILERS FOR THE REST OF THE POST. BE WARNED.

and heres why. jennas route is the most solid and just like. addresses a lot of the secrets in the game, and obviously, the ending is the most fulfilling. they all leave echo together, and no one in the group dies. i really loved the scene where the tulpa of chase fucking walks into view. it was so fucking unnerving genuinely it made my neck hairs stand on end. it was downright horrifying. the lead up was fucking phenomenal as well. also the shit with socket man basically protecting the group was SO GOOD!! like jenna basically getting it not to kill heather and it saving the group from brian was just. god i love it. it shows that flynn is still in there. i really like jenna being explored more as a character and it was just like. genuinely nice to play through. second is leos route. the fucking. mine. scene. holy shit dude. one of the best scenes in the goddamn game. also the train scene where chase is sobbing for himself and samuel. definitely the most impactful scene for me i really liked them being connected like that. it was just great, like holy shit. leos route was like the first time experiencing the hysteria in town, and it was just... chefs kiss. mwah. such a good route. third is flynns bc obviously flynns is absolutely phenomenal but personally i enjoyed jenna and leos more. im not sure what to say about flynns other than that he deserves better, and I love him and the lore implications. carls route! It definitely could've been better. good ending was too lackluster, imo and could've been a lot better, but i know carls route was the first written, so obviously, their writing got better as it went on. the bad ending was better, imo but ended pretty suddenly. i feel like it would've been better if we could've seen some of the aftermath of everything, honestly wished jennas route had an epilogue as well, but oh well. i choose to believe they're all besties and doing amazing. tjs route was definitely my least favorite, its not bad by any means it just like... It's a bit slow, and then the ending is depressing, so like. good, but that's why it's last. tj also is probably my least favorite of the gang, nothing against him. He's just like... less interesting to me i guess?

but yeah overall fucking amazing game. i would kill for more cgs, but wow, just. amazing. play it if you haven't, it's great. and yeah, that's my review! feel free to ask me any questions, and I'll reply :3

[imheretocryandiwill]

How the fear works (and how it doesn't)

There will be major spoilers for the game

Guess what? I played Firewatch and I was absolutely terrified. But the point is, the game isn't actually about fear. I think it's about acceptance, about need to keep moving forward. But that is not what I'm trying to express here.

Before I begin, I want to explain a few things: I never played a horror game or watched a horror movie, and I didn't know what kind of game I am playing. I prefer to go into games almost blindfolded.

First of all, Firewatch is downright beautiful. The way it uses light and color is astonishingly perfect. Water, forest, sunsets - the scenery in early hours of game is charming. It has its haunting moments in that cave, but other than that - all is well. And, to no one's surprise, when things start to change - we have a major shift in environment. And we spend more time during night hours. Works for storytelling and for atmosphere.

Music is, in a way, simple, but charming. I enjoyed it a lot during calm scenes, and it becomes haunting during tense scenes.

But the main reason why Firewatch was so scary to me - except my easy-frightened personality - just how realistic the game really is. Not talking about style here - hyperrealistic graphics are quite boring imo, and it is not the case here anyway. I'm talking about story and characters.

Firewatch is a first-person game, where you play as Henry - middle-aged not so fit white man. He is kind of depressed, he has some problems he'd like to avoid, so he takes job in the woods. Every time you climb, you can see his body - and he is no superman. He is vulnerable, he can fall and hurt himself, and every time he is scared - it feels genuine. He behaves like a normal human.

So when you find out that you are being watched, that is rather terrifying. We are lured out by someone from our tower, we find scripts of our talks with another firewatcher, and eventually we are knocked out from the back. It is genuinely scary to know how fragile we are - Henry is no fighter, he doesn't have any weapon, we are in danger, and the culprit and his motives are unknown.

And that is the moment when your fear at its peak - because as soon as you find that geological station - it is gone. Maybe Henry doesn't really know what he is looking at - but I do. And that is not scary. The horrific unknown is gone, it is destroyed, and all that's left - some sci-fi-ish bullshit. And because previous act was full of realism - the absurdity of ''experiment'' that Henry thinks he was subject of kills any fear whatsoever.