#genuinely really happy with the anime adaption this season though

[popcornered]

Season 6 Episode 1 - A Quiet Beginning

Or not, because we were robbed, so I fixed it. First image is a fake screenshot, based on the panel from the manga.

[readreactrant]

Hello, just want to say, thanks for your recs and reviews. I started Yatagarasu because of you, and I love it so much.....The story and characters are all amazing... I did not see the plot twist at all until the end....

Also, Yukiya and Wakamiya's dynamics are just so great....Found a new fav ship from the series....Thanks again, @readreactrant ....🤩😆

Oh, have you watched "Delico's Nursery" (maybe you'll like it, too)....?

Tf is a Delico's Nursery?!

Is what I would ask if I was uncultured 😏

More on that soon.

Dnana my precious you are very welcome, and I'm so happy you like Yatagarasu, helping people find some underrated shows they'll enjoy is definitely something I can’t help but be a lil stupid passionate about. Especially in a season that just seems to be choked with generic isekai and het incest/pseudo incest romance anime.

The queers, when will our generic gay isekai incest fantasy start 🥲😭 (More on Wistoria wand and sword in another post.)

Glad you like the ship too, let us all manifest them becoming popular so we might have some fics, fanart and doujins 🙏

I'd do it all myself but I'm in a writing slump and my art could give Satan nightmares.

Moving on lmao...Delico's Nursery is...all I would ever want from a vampire centred baby sitting anime.

I genuinely wanted to talk about this when I had draft and screenchots sorted out but fuck it we ball!

Imagine Buddy Daddies but Vampires with four dumbass homosexual fathers instead of two!!! What more can you ask for?!

"But Ren, they have/had wives 🤓☝"

Have a cup of whimsy once in a while is all I say to that.

If I had to pick 2 things I gripe with it very rarely those would be the names and the way the animation does my boys' faces so dirty at times.

They literally look like they're in agony in some still frames so be prepared for the plot, the ✨DRAMAAA✨ and character interactions to do some heavy lifting at times. Settings though are drop dead gorgeous with the most immersive atmospheric feel to them, everywhere is so washed and somber like I'd expect a vampire world to be, no shade to Case study of Vanitas, execution is key and both shows are nailing their moods for me.

Now for the names...tf name's their child Dali Delico??? Sounds like some Italian deserted I'd eat without hesitation.

Know who else I'd eat (out) without hesitation???

Gayhard Fra. (I know that's not how his name is spelt but it might as well be correct).

He is blond, he's a tsundere and his outfit is literally too sexy for me to think straight. Full coverage ain't hiding that snatched waist and the fact he would degrade me only makes it hotter. Not mention his son is absolutely the most adorable thing ever oh my God 🥰😍

Other members in our team of hopeless dads are *checks notes* Dino Classico and Henrique Lorca.....

All I have to say is, Behind the name probs wasn't used in the writer's room cuz these might have a sort of relation to the characters but they sound dumb, I'm sorry 😶

Now I'm done dissing names and simping for Gayhartron, go and watch Delico's Nursery I BEG OF YOU, ITS ACTUALLY GOOD RN. I really don't think it'll be disappointing but what will be is if we don't get a season two cuz it didn't turn a profit so move move move!!!

I don't have much to say rn without spoiling cuz this show is definitely something you should watch for yourself, unlike buddy Daddies though, I know it won't be for everyone, especially the animation. It seems like it's an anime original, or adapted from a stage play (I might be thinking of another show don't sue me) cuz I couldn't find a manga on my sites, so yeah if things don't end this season, our chances of getting more hang in the balance.

The opening is a bop though so stay every episode for that and the cute kids if nothing else interests you.

Thanks for reading my word vomit as always, and Dnana it's a pleasure anytime 💕

[linklethehistorian]

Linkle, I must know, what are your thoughts on Mori as a character? His actions and motivations?? Id love to hear your opinion, btw that last chapter of cherish was great!! I loved it so much!!!

Ahhh hello there, anon, thank you so much! 🥺😭💕💖🥰 It’s such an honor to get a message like this from someone who is reading the fic. 💕🥺💖🥰💕🥺💖🥰 I’m so glad you liked Chapter 12; it definitely has one of my own personal favorite scenes, tbh (but I won’t take up your time talking about that right now lol). Having a fan base for Cherish is truly lovely; I’m so blessed by each and every one of you. 🥺💖

As for your question, I’m always happy to share!

Before I say anything at all on my opinion, though, I’m first going to make it clear that I am completely setting aside that one…particular matter that has been discussed to death by the fandom for the moment, because I fear far too many people tend to forget that it is entirely possible to make any remotely positive commentary on a fictional character without that actually somehow meaning you condone his alleged…preferences. For the people in the back that need to hear this out loud to be set at ease: I in absolutely no way do.

Now with that out of the way for a bit, let’s talk about the rest of Mori. I’ll throw it under the cut, though, both for length and for potential spoilers of multiple light novels (Dark Era, Fifteen, Storm Bringer, etc.) and obviously the manga up to his last appearance in current arc. Oh and obviously the typical Mori-related trigger subjects. Yeah.

Honestly, on a general note, these days I think Mori as a character is super cool; I’m not sure where precisely I’d rate him on the list of characters because I honestly like nearly every character in BSD and think they’re pretty awesomely written, but on a general scale of 1 to 10, he’s a very solid 8 or 9 for me.

My first introduction to him was…admittedly not at all the best possible representation of him.

When I first joined the fandom, I began my journey through the series by watching the anime adaption of Dark Era, at the behest of a dear friend who said I would be best off doing so before I watched the rest of the show (of which there were only two seasons at the time) and then reading the manga, in order to get the best and most meaningful experience; it is not something I remotely regret, and in honesty, I would probably wholeheartedly recommend any new people to do the same, if they intended to start with the anime. Regardless, though, this decision did have the impact of making me immediately strongly dislike Mori as a person from the very start, given what he did to the orphans, Oda, and Dazai by extension.

Really, I wouldn’t say that I came to see him in any particular shades of grey motivation-wise until I watched the episode titled Double Black, in which there was the first reference of what would have become of the Port Mafia and Yokohama as a whole had he not usurped the throne to the organization so many years ago.

After that, I began to look at him with a bit more understanding and curiosity, horrible and ruthless though his nature may still mostly have been. Fifteen (specifically the light novel, NOT the anime) — which it should be said, I think is the best existing canon representation of Mori in terms of giving us a good look at his thoughts and motivations — only amplified that outlook and interest for me, and I think it alone is largely to thank for why I enjoy him as a character as much as I do in current time.

Although he’s definitely not someone I’d feel particularly comfortable writing an entire story solely around — as I don’t believe I’m expert nor absurdly passionate enough to do so compared to some genuine Mori fans that I know are out there out there — I nevertheless really, really do enjoy writing him, especially in Cherish (which is only the second time I’ve written him, if I’m honest — at least, in anything I’d consider publishing, anyway).

There’s just so much potential in him plot and personality-wise; he is incredibly flexible of a person in terms of his thoughts, mannerisms, motivations, and actions, which makes it super fun to explore and play around with when telling a story. I’d say he easily has one of the most fun personalities among the BSD ensemble, purely because of utterly unpredictable it can be; on one hand, he has moments where (at least outwardly) is capable of being extremely friendly, outgoing, generous and unassuming, and yet on the other, he is very much always inwardly observant of all that is going on around him and capable of quickly switching to being cold, calculating, and openly cruel at the drop of a hat. But even then, usually, his cruelty doesn’t come in the form of physical violence; it’s often emotional manipulation, intimidation, taking your fears and weaknesses and using them against you to get him whatever he feels he needs in the present moment. Sometimes, it isn’t even outwardly visible that the switch of gears happened; he knows how to poison you in the sweetest and most unassuming yet effective way possible — whether that poison is literal or metaphorical. He’s definitely the kind of person who could sing you to sing to sleep every night and kiss your cheek every morning even as he’s secretly plotting your demise. lol

That being said, I think a lot of the fandom, in their hatred for him as a person, tends to mischaracterize him a lot, rather than looking at it objectively. I’ve seen a lot of fics and general fandom takes that portray him as a sadistic person who is cruel simply for the sake of being cruel and does terrible things to others purely for the enjoyment factor, but that is 100% not who Mori is; canonically, Mori does what he does mostly, if not entirely, out of what he feels is necessity as the leader of the organization. Now, I’m not saying there may not be parts of him that enjoy certain things he does — it’s certainly more than possible, and even highly probable — but his actions as godfather are driven by achieving what he feels is the optimal solution, not by personal pleasure and amusement; as a matter of fact, in Fifteen, he even made it clear when speaking to Chuuya that he fully acknowledges a lot of what he does is morally reprehensible — he just feels that it is his duty to commit these atrocities for the ‘greater good’ of the organization, and that the end therefore justifies the means.

The thing is, there is a character in BSD who is exactly the way this portion of the fandom characterizes Mori, and he was even a member of the Port Mafia, so if people really wanted to canonically explore this dynamic of a character who wholly gets off on tormenting people, causing suffering and probing others’ heads rather than doing it as just a business practice, they absolutely could still do it and be true to canon by writing about said other character; it’s just that it’s not a convenient truth that a lot of the fandom wants or likes to face — because that would mean acknowledging that it was everyone’s beloved Dazai and not the oh-so-despised Mori who used to think in such a sick and twisted way during his days in the criminal underworld.

Granted, some people do write both characters very well and very accurately, and I applaud them, but I do find it frustrating when the fandom reduces either Mori to this purely evil, sadistic villain who is bad just for the sake of being bad, because he is so much more interesting as he truly is in canon.

It’s this dichotomy where his dedication to the overall well-being of his people and company is admirable and even understandable, yet at the same time his individual actions when you look at them from a moral perspective are pretty much all morally reprehensible in some way, shape, or form — if not in every way. The same is true of his time in the army; as a general concept, his desire to protect Japan during the Great War was on the whole admirable and understandable, we know that he was well-meaning about it, but at the same time, no matter how desperate the situation was, what he did to Yosano and his entire army was absolutely disgusting and unacceptable — especially because it came so easily to him to do it and he made no apologies for it nor expressed any guilt over the suffering he caused later on.

Do I think Mori is, on the whole, a good person? Absolutely not. Do I think that he sometimes has the best of intentions in mind with his schemes? In the grander scheme of things, yes; it’s just that he mostly doesn’t care who or how many he has to hurt to achieve that so long as it’s slightly less than his net gain from doing it, which in turn cancels out things enough to prevent him from ever being labeled as being or acting as a “good person” at any moment.

I think the best, most objective description of him is to say that he’s pragmatic and ruthless.

…And then obviously there’s the part that everyone in the fandom discusses to death — about the main universe version of him being into little girls. Not a whole lot to say about that; it’s gross, it’s wrong, it’s unforgivable, it’s morally reprehensible, and it’s chilling and disturbing and it definitely completely disqualifies him from being labeled a good person even if he had been able to earn that title from something he did somewhere along the way.

That being said — and I know this is probably going to be controversial to a lot of the fandom, so let me say upfront that I’m not saying that that isn’t 100% a valid and understandable reading of who he is and the way he feels based on all the evidence throughout the series, nor am I trying to convince anyone otherwise — purely because it is fiction and therefore all made up to begin with, at least for my own personal comfort, I typically choose in my own personal readings to just look at him as someone with a particular weakness for little girls because he’s fatherly — although I make no effort to claim that to be the objective truth, nor does such interpretation affect or influence any of my writings in any way; it’s simply the way I prefer to engage with BSD on my own personal time — outside of my writings.

As a matter of fact, in my one fic, Bittersweet Belief, he was intentionally written with the intention of being portrayed as a groomer, and in Cherish, his ‘tastes’ will be portrayed no less nor more suspicious than how they are in canon, and therefore it will never be fully, directly addressed, but may be interpreted however you wish.

I do not need people coming to me providing evidence of why they believe there is no way to look at it differently, as again, I am not arguing that it is objectively untrue in any way that Mori is written to be a pedo in BSD, and when in public spaces among other people talking about it I don’t even try to say otherwise, much less convince anyone of it. I understand fandom etiquette and I am not trying to erase anything about him from others’ perceptions in order to make him more “likable”. I am just engaging with BSD, whenever I am personally reading it and watching it, in the way that is more comfortable for me. Nothing more, nothing less.

Anyway, yeah, Mori’s a super fun character to write and observe in the BSD world! I think there’s a lot of depth to him and he’s very well-written — probably among my top past antagonists purely for the super interesting personality and the purely pragmatic outlook to life and business.

[the-sappho-of-lesbos]

What's your favourite anime/manga? Or, any that you'd generally recommend?

My favourite manga and subsequently anime too will forever and always be Fruits Basket. I don’t think I can express the impact that series has had on me (probably both good and bad lol). I never get tired of it and watching the new adaptation always makes me happy.

Another manga series called A Cruel God Reigns is AMAZING. Lots of trigger warnings though it’s an intense series.

Nana is also very up there. The anime and manga are both so beautiful. It’s such a shame the manga probably won’t be completed though.

A manga series that meant a lot to me in High School (and the anime adaptation as well) was Kase-San and Morning Glories. I know everyone and their mum recommends this manga , but it was the first time I really connected to an F x F story at that age.

Not technically a manga but Papa Wolf and The Puppy is such a cute and wholesome read about a dad and his adoptive son.

I can’t remember heaps of it so it might be more problematic then I remember, lololol, but I know I liked it enough to get the Japanese editions of it lol, it’s a manga called Ookami Wa Hans No Kaori.

In high school I was also obsessed with Darker Then Black. I think the first season is better but the second one is still really good!

Clannad + Clannad After Story is an AMAZING story. Absolutely well worth it. One of the few anime where you really get a pay off fro watching it and aren’t left hanging.

Kanon as well (though it’s by the same studio so I guess that’s not a surprise)

Run With The Wind is the superior sports anime and no one can convince me otherwise. Genuinely such a gorgeous, heartfelt and inspiring anime. No lose ends either!!

As for movies I think my all time favourite is Wolf Children. But I also very much love The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Your Name, Howl’s Moving Castle, The Wind Rises, Spirited Away, When Marnie Was There and Whisper Of The Heart.

Fushigi Yugi has to get a special mention for being my first anime. I was so in love with it. It might be a little campy at times but it holds a special place in my heart and I think a part of me will always love it.

I can’t think of any more off the top of my head so I’m assuming I got them all lololol.

I hope you have a lovely day ☺️💕

[swordshapedleaves]

Once again I have opinions on new seasonal anime no one asked for!

Thoughts on the 14 new shows I tried under the cut.

Shows I'm Excited About

My Happy Marriage

It's an arranged marriage romance with magic, though there wasn't any magic overtly present in the first episode. It has these relatively subtle references to fairy tales that I really like and the animation is really gorgeous. Looking forward to this one!

Zom 100

An office worker is so burnt out that the actual zombie apocalypse is a fresh change of pace. The energy is great and the animation is gorgeous. I love zombie media that's aware of zombie media. I also really like the OP, which is the same group that did the OP for Yamada 999 last season.

Shows I'm Optimistic About

Ayaka

This show looks like the anime adaptation is a fantasy BL visual novel but is apparently an original IP. I dunno why the MC's dead dad's will banished him to a childhood of trauma off island only to return when he's just old enough to start dating but I hope it's so he can end up smooching some of these color coded magical boys.

Dark Gathering

It's spooky! I feel sorry for any ghost fighting show that's going up against the second season of Jujustu Kaisen but this one seems way more of a creepy comedy than an action show so hopefully it finds its own niche and excels there.

The Gene of AI

As someone with memory problems this first episode made me super uncomfortable! It's doing what good science fiction should do, which is using future tech to tackle uncomfortable philosophical questions, but it remains to be seen if it addresses them thoughtfully. I will say though that the idea of someone who loves me crying uncontrollably because the fact I forgot a new recipe for scrambled eggs means I'm not really the person she knew really hurt. I have genuine fears about my memory problems ruining relationships and seeing it done so ham-handedly feels bad. Definitely gonna keep watching though because at least it's interesting.

Helck

This is a fantasy anime about a big strong muscle guy who is trying to become the King of Demons. Even the first episode couldn't pull off any visual appeal so I have low expectations but I'd like to have a fun time cheering on our Conan rip off who's going off script by trying to join the side of the demons.

Noble Farmer

This is a series of shorts by and about mangaka Hiromu Arakawa of Fullmetal Alchemist fame. She is the scion of Hokkaido dairy farmers and is passionate about her roots. The first episode felt like it was paid for by a dairy farmers association but Arakawa is so charming I don't even mind.

Undead Murder Farce

This show has great vibes and a fun premise. All the yokai and oni and such are being eradicated as part of the Meiji restoration. A couple of them are trying to survive and also solve a murder of sorts. The vibes are great but the animation is kinda mid.

Shows that Cater to my Bullshit Specifically

The Most Heretical Last Boss Queen: From Villainess to Savior

That name is awful but the Otome game villainess reincarnation micro genre is my jam. This villainess cries a lot and I'm hoping for a good time as all the people who were her enemies in the game fall in love with her.

Sweet Reincarnation

I love cooking shows and also fantasy stories so when they get smushed together I'm almost sure to have a good time. This feels like a less clever Ascendence of a Bookworm in a lot of ways. Person is killed by their specific interest falling on them, only to reincarnate into a world where the thing they love is very expensive and out of reach at their current status. So they simply use their knowledge of our technology to reorder society in a way that allows them to feed their special interest. This time it's a pastry chef who loves sweets instead of a librarian who loves books. His new name is Pastry.

Stuff I Tried That Didn't Make the Cut

Am I Actually the Strongest?

His sister is obviously the reincarnated Demon Lord. Looks boring.

The Masterful Cat is Depressed Again Today

It's like Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid without the charm or the sex appeal, plus the camera work is weirdly unsettling.

Reborn as a Vending Machine, Now I Wander the Dungeon

This one was also boring. It was one of the first shows we tried this season and I've already forgotten it for the most part.

Reign of the Seven Spellblades

Magic school with a 20% death rate, and one of the freshmen this season is a Samurai. I might watch a second episode if I have time to kill but there just wasn't anything really exciting in this first episode to get me past the Harry Potter but Edgier vibes.

[ekebolou]

...I got tagged in a thing. I never get tagged in a thing! So I’m going to do the thing.

8 Shows to Know Me By...

Okay, so this is pretty hard, but I’m going with some instinct here... Like @afhenley​ said, I also had a regulated TV watching childhood. And I got sucked in to anime right when it was becoming much more widely available in the US, so I had that nice weird mix of bootlegs sourced from older dudes who suspiciously only had friends in highschool and below and like... TV dubs.

But I guess I should start with

Gundam Wing

DID YOU GUESS THAT THE LEGACY ANIME ABOUT MILITARY PHILOSOPHY AND INTERPERSONAL CONFLICT THAT WAS ALSO A WEE BIT GAY WOULD BE INFLUENTIAL? well then you get a cookie.

The Adventures of Pete & Pete

I don’t know if it’s actually a forgotten classic, but it feels like a forgotten classic and I own the DVD sets. Grunge-alternative influenced, slightly gonzo semi-fantasy about suburbia’s inherent nonsensicalness and... friendship.

The Haunting of Hill House

Blatantly stealing this from Henly to appear somewhat modern. But also I loved this show. It’s a good example of how fundamentally different something something can be when you change the message, but that doesn’t necessarily make it bad. I am still waiting for a really good adaptation of the actual story though. Very happy to rewatch this a million times in the meantime.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Yes, I chose the seasons 3-6 image over the station because I wanted people who weren’t familiar to be able to see the CAST. the CAAAAST. So I watched a bit of Star Trek as a youth as reruns came on TV, but did a watch through of all the series from TOS until Enterprise killed me. DS9 is so good. So good.

Horatio Hornblower

Honestly some of this is just stuff I own. This is an obvious choice when you realize I am into maritime history. and a huge nerd. The pictures are getting bigger because I don’t know what I’m doing.

Ren & Stimpy

LOOK, it was either this or Beavis and Butthead, and I think this one edges them out because I wasn’t technically allowed to watch MTV late enough to catch Beavis and Butthead. You want to talk about problematic creators? here’s a way to, through what was genuinely a discomfiting and absurdist and hilarious show. As far as I know Mike Judge is cool. But I did watch this one more. and quote it occasionally.

Queer as Folk (American version)

Yet another show I watched when I wasn’t supposed to watching TV and only when special preview weekends or deals meant that our cable company was carrying it for free. But I met nice people through Queer as Folk and learned a lot and also saw a lot of penises. or very nearly. it was hard to tell through the snow.

PBS Mystery

Probably part of why I love Edward Gorey (or at least, a large part of why I’m familiar with him - I might love him because his work is great). This is a weird one because it was kind of treat, but I also kind of hated it? Like, you never knew what you would get, and it was cool, and I loved watching it with my Mom, but it was never regular thing and sometimes my little kid brain just wasn’t turning at the rpm that let me enjoy it.

Aaaaaan... I dunno who I should tag. I don’t know who’s already done it, and who would be interested, but I guess it is fun? and I am curious. Always, tags are optional - no need to respond if you’re tagged, but if you want to: @nanavn​, @dharmagun​, @astronicht​, @leakingoven​, @marisolinspades​

[sokuroda]

i haven’t done another one of these in literal months. it is January and the last I posted about things I completed was in November.

Mob Psycho 100 S3 -

my favorite show ever. I don’t even know what to say. i only got into mob like 2 years ago and im so glad i did. i sobbed at the ending. it was very bittersweet but i was so so happy for everyone. mob’s growth made me so so happy. genuinely just such a good show and i got my brother and my friend to watch mob too and they really enjoyed it. this is kind of a ridiculous statement to use in regards to a show but yknow, if i loved mob psycho less id be able to talk about it more. just so many emotions. the finale happened and one of my friends got several voice messages of me crying and just talking about it. i would really like to read the manga for it at some point, and i do plan to read the reigen spin-off as i do actually own it.

Cowboy Bebop -

I started watching this a few years ago and never finished so I thought I should finally come back to it, and it was worth it. It’s so good. The last few episodes made me sad. Just all the, lore episodes I guess, generally caused me a lot of pain. Ed and Ein leaving broke my heart. And honestly Faye’s backstory really got me. THE SONG THAT PLAYED DURING THAT PART TOO!!! SO GOOD. and don’t even get me started on Spike :( I did really like the cowboy episode though, the one with the YMCA or Young Men’s Cowboy Association. was a good episode, and the fridge lobster creature episode haunts me to this day.

Spy x Family - it’s just wholesome. always makes me laugh and is really a no thought head empty show and i enjoy that. i do keep up with the manga for this but it’s always nice to see it animated.

Chainsaw Man - obviously very positive thoughts about this one I love chainsaw man. Suffering from actual brain rot. the vibes are very different from the manga, it’s more cinematic ig but I do think it’s a great adaptation. The intro and all the outros are so good. Especially the Hayakawa family outro. I loved the voice actors. BEAM!!! His va is so good. I love just all the insane laughter from all the characters it brings me so much joy. I love chainsaw man !!!!

Vinland Saga - my brother is so into Vinland saga. And he has told me about it before. I thought I’d watch it because I knew a new season was coming out, and obviously he had hyped it up so much. And it was absolutely worth the hype. I binged like 16 episodes in a day and would have finished it in a day if I didn’t go see Puss in Boots ( which very good btw) It’s in my top 10 now, im not really one come up with a top 10 or anything. But if I had one Vinland Saga is definitely up there. I liked like all the characters. Thorfinn is great. Askeladd is so fucking cool. Canute and Thorkell phenomenal. Can’t believe thorfinn is so short too, like bro is minuscule im ngl. but anyways !!! Even like Bjorn I enjoyed. I was genuinely sad when he died. But anyways. I love Vinland saga too!!!

Kekkai Sensen/Blood Blockade Battlefront -

This wasn’t bad at all! Idk if I’ll watch the second season, but the first one wasn’t too bad. I did start watching it solely because of the outro, and yknow what the outro is really good and does make me very happy so I do stand by that decision. Was not expecting to hear Zoro’s VA in this so that was a pleasant surprise. Zapp overall was just a wild character, and he had a tiny ass waist like wtf was that all about. Anyways, was enjoyable overall.

Terror in Resonance - this show is so good. from what i can remember the music in it is good. There was a song I really liked but idk what it’s called unfortunately. It’s a good show to just binge. I liked it a lot. I cried at the end. I wasn’t expecting that to happen given like the premise of the show, I went into the show just thinking it was about terrorists, and to certain extent it is but also it’s more than that. Anyways, I guess I should’ve assumed things wouldn’t all be wonderful and happy by the end, but man… lots of really cool things within this show and overall just enjoyable though, so id definitely recommend!

currently watching - attack on Titan, one piece (im at thriller bark), buddy daddies, bungo stray dogs s4, and Vinland Saga S2

[5-pp-man]

I've hit the 3rd ep for all of the things I'm watching (except for 1 but shhh). Crazy. As per the rule, I guess I'll write down my thoughts for them now.

Atarashii Joushi; Fun and heartwarming in a very tame sort of way. It reminded me of CDD a lot in the first episode, but I feel like it's really making itself stand out now. Also, the 3rd ep made me cry. wtf.

Bullbuster; Very interested to see where this goes with the island plot. I like the touch of realism for how the company operates. Kataoka is actually my fave character so far just because he has such a strong presence, lmao

Dekoboko Majo; It's your standard over the top gag anime (which I like! it's just stupid silly fun) I do like the allusion to a deeper plot though

Hypmic; I already loved Hypmic and I never even expected another season, so I already feel spoiled. I love how they're weaving all the divisions into the ongoing plot, it's actually done pretty well? Though the anime original group (TBH) feels a bit jammed into the story, but it's only natural when you've got something with a plot like hypmic (that's already jammed full with contrivances, lmao) Also, Dotsuitare Homos episode when? (probably next week. yippeee ^u^)

Kamierabi; It's starting to become apparent with the 3rd episode that the plot in this show. Might not be that great. But I love death / high stakes games, even if they're kinda shitty. The animation isn't nearly as bad as everyone wants you to believe though.

Kamonohashi Ron; Ron he is so sillay <3 I love detectives, I love buddy teamups, this is a winning combo in my book. Their banter is super manzai-like though, very dry / reaction based humour. Which I think is funny but not when overused (is this show overusing it? not rlly as of now thankfully). Also, very intrigued by what the hell happened to Ron

Kawagoe Boys Sing; Uhhhh this only has 2 eps rn but the 2nd one was already so much better than the first. I love IT kun and Otome kun, excited for the rest of the cast to be introduced Ok I've seen the 3rd one now and in the very first sentence from Adachi I heard it was Kimura Subaru. I'm so happy he's here!! It was a good call to get him for this show since he's a great singer (in English too so it was nice hearing him in the ed this time!) Just an aside I actually think it's really nice how cool everyone is with all the weird quirks the characters have. Like, they consistently see Otome's feminine traits as a genuinely cool thing, and it's such a breath of fresh air compared to other shows

Migi to Dali; This is def up there as my fave this season, I loved Sakamoto so I'm super happy that Sano san's other work got adapted as well. May she be freer where she is now. Her strange brand of humour will forever be one of my faves, and having it mixed with a mystery this time is like a dream come true

Undead Unluck; I'm watching this one w my brother and I'm glad, it's exactly the kind of stuff we tend to watch together. The animation for this one goes crazy hard btw.

Watashi no Oshi; I wasn't feeling the first 2 eps all that much (they were funny and had a few good moments, but they weren't fantastic or anything), but goddd the third one was so good... and the 4th was really funny. I'm enjoying this one more and more each week :) also the op is super catchy

Yonkyoudai; This one is really sweet, I love the usage of different animation styles to evoke certain emotions, and the way it often mimics children's drawings works so well for this story. I get all teary eyed watching this one every time...

[red-dia]

Something i find oddly funny is Studio Orange’s Twitter. HNK is like their redheaded step child that they actively just ignore despite numerous people asking how they’ve been doing. They’ll post a lot of their other stuff and like supportive comments, but then they pretend that HNK never existed, despite the show being asked for for every post they make and HNK being their big break. But to be fair, if they liked a bunch of comments regarding HNK, people would assume that they are hinting for a second season.

I mean, yeah, I think it's a complicated issue?

On the one hand, the HnK anime was pretty influential for orange, it's their first major adaptation before they were known for Beastars, and I'd say it's a pretty good success (putting aside criticisms from people who would've preferred HnK to be a 2d anime). It's a solid project and I genuinely think it made them grow a lot. That's why they bring it up every so often, even if it's getting a lot less relevant as time goes on and they have new projects and new challenges to look forward to.

But yknow what isn't cool? When people remember you for one (1) thing you made, and refuse to acknowledge anything other than that. I'm not saying it's the case for EVERYBODY who follows them, but im gonna keep it real with you, i always purposefully dodge the replies on orange's tweets because EVERY time HnK is brought up, it's on a tweet that's totally unrelated to the series. And it ranges from curious, innocent comments like "what about HnK s2?" to replies that are a lot more accusatory and sometimes attack the studio for prioritizing other projects.

And like. This is batshit insane to me for so many reasons, like, it's not NECESSARILY orange's choice to make a second season or not. There's so many reasons why it could not work: Ichikawa deciding the anime doesn't embody what she imagined and she isn't interested in seeing more of it, or maybe she doesn't want it to be adapted until the manga fully ends. Or maybe it was never meant to get a second season and it was just a way to promote the manga. There's like 1000 reasons why S2 might not happen that do NOT involve orange, not to mention, they DID say back then that they would be happy to work on more HnK things. So, yeah, I can certainly see why they'd stay away from a series they worked on 5 years ago, if any reference to it had the potential to get people riled up even though orange, as a studio, can't just manifest a new season out of nowhere.

And EVEN if orange was somehow responsible for a second season not happening, well. That's still not a reason to be disrespectful to their other projects honestly! It's a good thing they keep making really good anime. Constantly reminding them of something they made a while ago isn't gonna help, I'm sure

[diavolosthots]

Request are opeeeeeen yay

Oh, well, could you please do a comforting scenario with Belphie and a depressed MC that's usually very cheerful but not right now (y'know, because of✨ Seasonal depression✨) with a lot of fluff and love?

Thank you in advance, and thank you also for all the things you write! It is amazing!!!

Requests are not open, this is from last time. Also i love how you go to emo boy for seasonal depression haha

Warning: mentions of seasonal depression

As the Seasons Change (BELPHEGOR X GN!READER)

As if life wasn’t already complicated enough as it is, it also just had to throw yearly change at you. The warm, fun, light, bright, and outdoors-y stuff was suddenly replaced by cold, long nights and tons of darkness. Now, for some people, this was great. Who doesn’t prefer shorter days and more sleep? But to people like you, this just put you into a spiral of moodiness. Everything that you looked forward to in Spring and Summer suddenly got taken away and it wasn’t… it just made you feel bad, you know? Things are dying, animals go into hibernation, and people are dressing more darkly. It’s almost as if the world decided to be emo for 6 months out of the year and as much as that is okay, it really isn't. You liked the sunshine and warm days with the softest of breezes. The beautiful flowers and trees and animals that come out to play. Of course, people also just seemed happier. It’s beautiful, to you. Besides, the Devildom already gave you a shock with its constant darkness but you somewhat got used to it, up until Diavolo decided that he needed to “keep up with the human realm” and decided to bring winter down here. So now instead of dark and hot as hell, it was dark and cold as hell. Seriously, it may not be affecting the demons too much but how did he think his two human and two angel exchange students would react?

Still, you can’t blame it all on Diavolo. The guy was trying to do something nice by bringing a little bit of human into the Devildom, probably forgetting that not all humans react the same way to sudden change and or dark and cold dynamics in general. Bottom line is, you were less than pleased. Your moods spun out of control ranging from sadness to anger to not feeling worthy. It was a confusing time and right now, the most you could feel was ‘okay’. “Lucifer, why don’t demons get weirded out by the sudden change in temperature?” You hoped that the eldest could give you some type of explanation or maybe even a little bit of sympathy so you didn’t think you were the only one, but he only shrugged. “Demons adapt easily. We have to, otherwise we’d be tormented by our own minds.” It wasn’t exactly the answer you were looking for and Lucifer could tell, but it didn’t take away from the fact that that was the only answer you would be getting out of him. 

You hated this, genuinely. You even tried talking to Diavolo about it but it seemed to fly right over the guy’s head. “Haha isn’t this fun? I forgot what the cold feels like!” No, Diavolo, it’s not fun. Did you know that some people prefer the cold and get depressed over summer too??? No??? Well, then don’t assume! Of course, you didn’t say that to the Demon Lord because although he himself never scared you, you were terrified of what Barbatos may do had you disrespected the future King like that. You felt alone because even Solomon preferred the dark and although the angels are being of light, they didn’t seem to be affected much by this either. Was it just a human thing? Maybe just a you thing? The more you thought about it, the lonelier you felt and the brothers began to notice your change in behavior. How couldn’t they? They felt bad for you. Beel tried to cheer you up with food, which usually made you laugh, but now you’re just turning away from him. 

Belphegor is the only one who somewhat seemed indifferent, although his looks at you lasted a little longer than usual. Usually you’d annoy him with your constant happiness and ability to jump around everywhere, so now that it’s gone, it’s weird that he actually kind of misses it. “Come cuddle with me.” “Belphie I do---!” But he didn’t even care. He just grabbed you and then dragged you up into the attic with him. That’s probably the most exercise he’s done in a while: dragging someone up the stairs, but it was worth it. Kinda. Maybe. “I didn’t ask. I told you.” You rolled your eyes at him because when does he ever ask? He just does his thing and seems endlessly happy with that, although something told you that was the biggest lie. 

“I don’t want to cuddle.” Now he’s rolling his eyes, falling down onto the bed in the attic and holding out his arms to you. “Maybe you don’t want it, but you definitely need it. Stop fighting with me.” you groaned but gave in, falling down beside him, trying to keep at least some space between the two of you, but Belphie didn’t care and immediately rolled closer, putting his head on your chest. “Stroke my hair and tell me what’s wrong.” What? See this is why you and Belphie rarely ever hang out. He’s so demanding, so needy, and you swore he rivaled Leviathan at times. Levi would beg you to stay until you would, though, and Belphie would just have a death grip on you. Right now you didn’t know which was worse. “Belphie I don’t… I don’t want to.” “Fine then just hold me, but talk to me.” You sighed, wrapping your arms around him because that seemed like a fair compromise and he was already half on top of you so what’s the point of arguing? 

“I just… my emotions are all over the place. I’m sad and then I’m angry. I get annoyed and then I get lonely… it’s because Diavolo changed the damn weather…” You felt stupid for saying that out loud and you could almost guarantee that Belphie thought the same thing, but he didn’t say anything, instead waiting for you to go on. “I just got used to the dark and the hot of the Devildom and now it’s… it’s dark and cold and it feels lonely and empty and I can’t cope with that. He did it to be ‘hip’ or whatever with the human world but he fails to realize that just because it happens naturally up there, doesn’t mean people like that.” “So you got seasonal depression.” You nodded, slowly beginning to let your fingers run over his back while he wrapped himself around you. Well, he more so climbed fully on top of you and snuggled his face into your neck. It tickled a bit so you managed to let out a little giggle, but it disappeared just as quickly. 

“Yeah… I was… you know I could’ve gotten used to just having dark and hot all year around but then he goes and does this and I can’t feel happy right now… everything is just so sad and gloomy. Spring just started in the human world and yet Diavolo decides to start late and extend winter…” Belphie snorted, finding amusement in your words. He has his own opinions about his Demon Lord, including the fact that that guy is a huge himbo, but he could never voice that out loud. Not when he knows Lucifer lives under the same roof as him. “He sucks. But you know… this does give you an excuse to just lay with me all day.” And yes, he truly believes that’s a good thing. Why wouldn’t it be? No expectations, just sleep and cuddles. He pulls his head out of your neck and leans up a bit, kissing your forehead before looking at you. “Just stay with me. I can make you sleep until Lord Diavolo decides winter is done. He’s going to get tired of it sooner or later.” 

You laughed softly at his proposal, shaking your head a bit. “I don’t know if you’re aware but humans need to eat and drink and you’d have me play sleeping beauty, meaning I’d die due to the lack of food and water in my body.” Belphie only shrugged, laying his head back down and snuggling closer. He was behaving like a baby right now, but a cute baby, who wouldn’t let you go. “I don’t see the issue, but suit yourself.” Of course the Avatar of Sloth wouldn’t see the issue. You rolled your eyes again and then poked his sides before holding him tightly. “You’re warm….” “I know.” Another eye roll but you also couldn’t help but smile. He’s such an idiot but at least you’re not alone right now. “Maybe I’ll take you up on that offer… for just a little bit.” 

Belphie smiled into your neck, kissing it gently before closing his eyes, “I thought so.”

[arcane-ish]

One more thought from the Necrit interview with the people behind Arcane.

To me this really shows why Arcane works and why Dota: Dragon’s Blood didn’t. 

I really enjoy Dota 2 as a game, I actually would say I like some of the stories, design and ideas more than League, but: 

1.) League obviously has given a lot more thought to their lore for a lot longer

2.) They hired people who are passionate about the project and the lore

3.) They say that even though they are of course open to it appealing to new fans, their first priority was making the fans happy and giving them something genuinely cool

Dota: Dragon’s Blood is not a terrible show. I might even watch the second season. But compared to Arcane is just feels anemic. It feels like Valve found a talented animation studio and hired them “okay, please, translate our lore into something vaguely structured, so we can introduce our setting to new audiences. 

(I remember they even released a patch where they rethought their new player experience and asked players to be nice to any newbies who might be coming in via the netflix show [genuinely wonder if that was ever a thing]) 

As a result, the studio took some of the character, reworked them into fairly stock fantasy characters, gave them new relationships and then added some kind of fun flourishes that at least to me feel like it came from them rather than from Dota. A side effect btw was that they of course didn’t pick any of the more quickly high personality characters, they picked the ones they think could fit well into a generic high fantasy story and be cast in the roles of “hero”, “antagonist”, “heroic love interest”.

Like I said, it’s not a bad show. But it just isn’t even in the same category as Arcane. Arcane feels so much more vibrant. And yes them embracing the fan perspective and hence also embracing the quirkier side of their lore (butch pink haired girl with oversized gauntlets, hyperactive Harley Quinn type chick, evil chem scientist) helped with that a TON. 

So in the end, Dota Dragon’s Blood is... surprisingly decent for a video game adaption. 

Arcane on the other hand is ... actually genuinely good. 

[masterhandss]

Who do you think katarina will end up with?

Anonymous asked: Who do you ship katarina the most with ?

I got these two questions consecutively, I'm assuming they are coming from the same person so I'll combine them to a single reply, if that's okay.

People who have been following me since the first season can probably tell that I really like Geordo x Katarina (GeoKata) the most out of all ships. At first it was mostly just because I have an unintentional biases towards characters with blonde hair, which is why favorites were GeoKata and MariaKata, but then when I slowly got into the series more, my biases permanently shifted to the G-boy.

I'm not really a fan of laying out why I like certain ships through test to be honest. I usually get super frustrated when zine mods ask contributors to explain why they like a character or ship for contributor spotlight graphics because I can never really say everything I feel correctly hgdsjsdgfj, which is a good thing someone had already asked me a similar question before so I'll just copy paste my response here if that's okay :DD

TLDR; I ship Katarina with Geordo (Maria, Sora and Cezar behind him), and I think Katarina will end up with Geordo :))

You didn't really ask why but I'll give it anyways :)) -> major light novel spoilers, by the way <-

I'm not really the most deep person, if a ship has the bare minimum of something that I like (a trope or a hair color combination) then I stan it hard. That's why I used to be so equally adoring to both Maria and Geordo, because hurrdurr blonde hair hurrdurr. But the more I read the books and got into the community, I eventually liked him more than Maria. I didn't understand how or why at first, since Geordo and Maria are undergoing a very similar character arc: both characters wants to become better people in order to become worthy of Katarina (Geordo emotionally, and Maria physically? magically? in terms of her position/social status? I can't think of a right word but you get it). Again, Maria and Geordo's struggles are similarly written but one of them is more compelling to me. I feel like Maria's problems are easier to solve (her inability to rely on people, her attention seeking and her desire to be more magically powerful) imo, since she's already a well-liked figure in the Ministry and she's already a high-level magic user. Geordo's though; the series doesn't put too much attention on it, but despite the fact that Katarina gave his life color, he still somewhat sees the world in a desaturated light even post-childhood according to the novels and his lack of empathy still prevents him from completely absorbing all the colors. He's still learning how to see and he is happy that Katarina is always there to help him learn how.

I just love the irony that Katarina sees Geordo as a Perfect Prince and feels that she is inferior and unworthy of him, but then Geordo also seems himself as flawed, inferior and unworthy of Katarina and sees her as someone perfect. Geordo constantly wants to be better for Katarina (and for the people around him), and in time, maybe he could become a motivation for Katarina to be better too (on Katarina's side though, because on Geordo's she doesn't have to because she's already perfect the way she is). Geordo, while being self-centered and aggressive in his pursuits, isn't always selfish and thinks about what Katarina wants too. He'd fight tooth and nail for her and will do whatever he can so that Katarina will love him in the same way, but that doesn't mean he wont respect her decision if she falls in love with someone else, he just wont lose without a fight that's all (and fight, he'll give that's for sure).

Geordo is crazy in love with her; wants to protect her happiness, keep her safe whenever he can, and is even willing to both fight to become king and throw away the life he currently knows if it means he can live a life where he and Katarina can be together wherever she is most content and happy. He wouldn't lock her up in the castle like a caged bird like what Keith and some fans of the series thinks, whenever he does have thoughts like that like in Volume 6, its his internal response to the lack time they can have together alone, rather than being indicative of how he wants to treat her (like in his desire in Book of Desires, he conjured up a literal honeymoon because a honeymoon is the only time where he can spend it with her alone without someone butting in! It's weird and exaggerated, but his desire is simply to just be able to spend a day with her and be able to pursue her romantically without the threat of people like Keith and Mary).

Katarina sees him for himself, and she extends her hand of friendship to him despite all her fears of her bad ends involving him. She knows he's a "sadistic prince" but doesn't always tie him to that title. Out of everyone, Katarina has just as bad, if not worse, initial impression of Geordo compared to almost everyone around him (Others sees him as a Perfect Prince while she sees him as a Sadistic Prince and Future Murderer), and yet she accepts him and wants to learn more about him. She supports him and wants him to find happiness in love with Maria, even if it means she'll get exiled to another country or to a far off farm! (i'll edit this with citations later)

I can't help but want that for him, someone who there for you through thick and thin, who supports him despite everything she knows about her future involving him. Katarina is everything he would ever want in a partner: someone who isn't disturbed by his past, can see through his fake smiles, constantly cares for him, sees him beyond his princely façade, is one of his first friends who has helped him create friendships with other as well that prevented him to wallow in isolation and hate of the version of himself that society created for him, is genuinely interested in him as a person, is endlessly fun to be around and unpredictable, and is overall beautiful inside and out.

Again, a lot of Maria and Geordo's struggles are very similar to each other, but I'm more interested in Geordo's side. I find it more compelling. Geordo's scenes always almost provides something new, we get to see him angry, flustered & embarrassed, scheming/conniving, possessive, grateful, sad & frustrated and so much more. Maria has that too (we get to see her sad and thankful), but this might be my own perspective of reading the novels, but Maria's scenes kinda feel the same to me. It almost always starts with Katarina helping her and her realizing time and time again how much she loves her and become more motivated to be a better version of herself. I mean its unfair to say that they are all the same but that might just be me. (Maria: wow I'm so grateful for everything Katarina has given me, I want to be with her forever (rinse and repeat for the next 5 books))

Yes I know it's beautiful to see Maria falling deeper and deeper in love with Maria, but I'd rather see moments of someone who is trying to advance on those feelings rather than someone who is still trying to understand what they feel. Declarations and descriptions of love are beautiful in literary works and it always gets my heart fluttering, but I can read fanfics if I want to see that be written in 8 or more ways. Give me some action, some internal conflict!

It also doesn't help that it makes me really really happy for Geordo that he's made a dent in Katarina's baka shield? Katarina's heart skipped and fluttered for a second when Geordo was patting her head, and it makes me want to root for him even more! (Yes, go break the bubble! You can do it!!)

It's not even the same doki-doki as when she gets charmed at how pretty Maria is, to me its different in a way that my small vocabulary can't explain.

And besides, it really is just a battle between the protagonist that almost ruined her life (Maria) and the love interest that almost ruined her life (Geordo). Keith is part of that equation too, but he was never a threat after they became close (narratively, its seriously just Maria vs Geordo vs Keith, ignoring the changes to that narrative by FL2). It's always about Geordo (and Maria), everything she's doing in the Fortune Lover 1 Arc is because of Geordo (and arguably, Maria & Keith too) and the consequences of where he decides her future to would lead to.

It has to be Geordo, in my opinion, to show her that things aren't the same as the game (and he already kinda has, just a dent though) (If not Geordo, it should be Maria). He, who she feared and yet cared for so much

(I know Fortune Lover 2 basically removes that importance of Geordo and Maria specifically to Katarina's narrative by making her an active problem in all routes, finally becoming loyal to the title "All Routes Lead to Doom", but its not like the story is digging into Katarina's brain that she's sword training for the purpose of fighting back against all the boys, its still just Geordo, so idk I still count that in my shipper brain)

It also also helps that Geordo is basically the poor bullied animal in the hamefura community's eyes, regardless of how far he is into the battle (like in the reddit discord lmao). Yeah he has the best chances which is why many people both in and out of the series find it so fun to drag him under because of his unfair advantage, which is fair, but just like how you feel when you see a small wounded animal, you can't help but want to help someone who has the whole world against him (there's literally a canon manga page with that joke lmao), which is how I eventually felt over time. He's so misunderstood and bullied by people despite the authors dedication to flesh him out more beyond being a possessive prince fiancé of Katarina because of the anime's adaption, so I'd rather give my biases to someone who needs (and deserves it) rather than other contenders who are already overflowing with love and support. Also who doesn't love a perfect guy who breaks when his beloved is harm/who opens up to the person he cares about most?

I know people will read this and find it unfair that Katarina is giving so much to Geordo, but he isn't really giving anything to her. One thing I'll agree that Maria has over Geordo is that Maria makes Katarina want to try and work hard. Seeing Maria improve her magic wants Katarina to do the same, and whether or not it's from motivation or fear of getting left out depends on the reader. So far we don't really have anything like that for Katarina with Geordo because most things involving Geordo intimidates her, compared to Maria who is surrounded by mysteries and adventure (though arguably it's Katarina and not her lmao, but Kat doesn't know that).

Katarina is already the most well-adjusted character in the story even as a child so the only thing to really explore from her is mostly just her relationships and skewed sense of reality. That's why I hope that Geordo will not only help her realize that she can be loved by her peers romantically despite her self-perceived position/role, but also be one of the persons to make her completely realize that she isn't living inside a game. I mean like I said a few paragraphs ago, he's already kinda doing it by constantly confessing his feelings to her, reminding her that he is a person with his own feelings and not a character programmed to fall for a heroine.

So yeah, I ship Katarina with Geordo for those reasons and believe they should end up together for those reasons.

If you ask me who I think would she end up with objectively, I'd still say Geordo. The author's focus jumps between Geordo and Maria so that really depends on who you're asking. It also doesn't help that Geordo is always in the marketing with Katarina in the books and games, which pretty much cements his Male Lead status to Katarina's Female Lead status lmao

Thank you for the ask lmao, I'll be updating this with more thoughts and possibly citations later :))

[beca-mitchell]

Ty so much for yout ALOTO rec. I'm obsessed. Gonna rewatch again. Its really help me to distract myself from my depression. Really need some escapism that I can't get from currently disappointing PP bubble. More shows recs to binge from you would be very much appreciated 😁

OMG! I'm so happy you enjoyed it. Definitely rewatch again and let me know what you think about a Bechloe au because it's all I've been able to think about. I know people have already done ALOTO (1992) x Bechloe but this new series does soooo much more for those headcanons. Like it's real!! it's about queer people!! women!! ahhhhhh!!

i'm definitely going to rewatch again soon, but I'm catching up on my current show rotation, which are:

american horror story/stories (hulu) - american horror stories is particularly good for one-offs because each episode is kind of its own isolated thing if you don't want to do the seasons. if you do want to watch a season of American horror story though, then I recommend Coven (S3), Apocalypse (S8), and 1984 (S9).

paper girls (prime) - sci-fi, exploration of growing up, queerness, drama...this was honestly such a great series. i admit i haven't read the comics this show is based on but i have seen indications that the show is a good adaptation

never have i ever (netflix) - the latest season just came out. i used to watch this with my mom but she doesn't have netflix so it's kind of hard to watch with her now. but we both really enjoy it. this show touches on cultural identities, growing up, teen drama, and is quite witty and funny :)

yellowjackets (showtime) - this might be a bit heavy if you're feeling like you need escapism because there are a lot of heavy topics, but the acting and storytelling are phenomenal.

here are a few other shows which i am awaiting the return of/future seasons:

the boys (prime) - this one is definitely a bit heavy, particularly in the violence/drama side. and the villains are truly horrible so maybe this is not what you're looking for. but i genuinely enjoy this show and find it such an interesting take on superheroes in popular culture. it ties in cultural identities, politics, and social issues all against the backdrop of a humans v superheroes conflict.

arcane (netflix) - this is the animated series based on the lore of league of legends. hailee steinfeld voices one of the main characters. this show is phenomenal - stunning animation, great voice acting!

the sex lives of college girls (hbo max) - another mindy kaling helmed show. i particularly like this series because i feel like it's a great take on the college experience for women. it explores cultural and sexual identities and the friendship between the main 4 is such a great one. good acting and good writing!!

it should be noted that all of these shows feature wlw storylines :3c

[murasaki-murasame]

Thoughts on Higurashi Sotsu Ep15 [FINALE]

For better or worse I think Ryukishi achieved exactly what he set out to do with this series, and I guess everyone’s just gonna be forced to reckon with how they feel about his own perspective on this franchise versus how they feel about it, lol.

Anyway, thoughts under the cut, plus Umineko spoilers.

I’m not entirely sure where to even start with this, but I guess the TL;DR is that I honestly think Gou/Sotsu was ultimately just fine despite it’s issues, and part me of can’t help but be like ‘I told you so, lol’ about how this really did end with this episode, and also committed pretty hard to the Umineko prequel elements.

It’s not like all of my theories were correct in the end, but I at least think I was pretty spot on in my prediction last week that this would end with the miracle of them side-stepping the sword issue entirely and choosing the third option of forgiveness and reconciliation. And also them ending it with an epilogue where we go back to the Matsuribayashi timeline and get a happy ending for Rika and Satoko that provides a ‘non-magical interpretation’ for the story while also giving us an idea of how Bern and Lambda formally split off into their own entities and start the relationship we see in Umineko.

I didn’t quite expect them to go down the route of having them agree to just spend a few years apart and accept that they don’t need to literally always be together, but I think that was a really good way to wrap things up between them. It’s pretty much the healthiest compromise to their conflict that doesn’t come across like it completely invalidates one of their dreams. I get why it feels too anti-climactic and convenient for people, but when you pull at that thread you get into wider topics of what the entire story is about, since this was always going to end with Satoko being redeemed and forgiven. People might not have taken him seriously, but Ryukishi was 100% genuine about his regrets about Matsuribayashi’s ending, and how part of why he came up with this new story was to create a better ending, while also doing more with Satoko as a character.

Basically I think a lot of the fandom negativity towards this boils down to people fundamentally disagreeing with the idea that Matsuribayashi was even ‘flawed’ in this sort of way to begin with, or that Satoko was badly written. It’s valid to disagree on this stuff, but at the very least we all have to grapple with how Ryukishi has his own specific relationship with this series.

People like to focus on how he’s a troll who likes to mess with people, but I feel like this is a bit of a wake-up call for people about how he’s actually extremely sincere, almost to a fault, and he likes to use his stories as a vehicle for expressing his personal philosophies and ideals. 

This whole story is also a good example of how he just sees this as ultimately being a fictional story about fictional characters, and not literally a matter of real people who need to be sentenced for their crimes or whatever. As early as the original VN he was almost being outright preachy about the message that nobody is irredeemable, and that philosophy carries through to this. But to be more specific, nobody *in this story* is irredeemable. He’s pretty open about the fact that in practice you can’t apply this sort of ideal to real life, but fictional stories are their own separate matter.

I think this whole issue of how he views this as a story first and foremost is also the central reason why this ended in a way that comes across as Satoko being let off too easy for her crimes. One way or another, Ryukishi’s made it clear that he sees this as being no different to how other characters had arcs where they committed crimes but still got forgiven, or how Takano is basically a straight up war criminal who also got forgiven for her crimes.

Anyway, this episode at least committed to the Umineko stuff, so that was satisfying. Sure there’s people that still want to deny it, but at this point I think a lot of people are just being stubborn, so it’s not like anything would have really convinced them, lol. I’m also genuinely not sure what people even would have expected them to do beyond what we saw her, aside from having the two of them literally put on their gothic lolita outfits and turn to the camera and go ‘we are literally Bernkastel and Lambdadelta from the video game series Umineko When They Cry’. I almost feel like there’s some kind of misunderstanding from people who aren’t familiar with Umineko when it comes to the idea of what it even means for this to be ‘an Umineko prequel’, or ‘a Bern/Lambda origin story’. I mean, this is quite literally exactly what I expected and hoped for in that regard. It’s not like I was expecting them to incorporate anything related to, like, Beatrice or the Ushiromiya family.

I think this is also one of those things where you just have to decide for yourself whether or not you want to earnestly engage with the story that’s being told, or if you want to assume that there’s some level of malice or trickery going on.

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting them to literally have Rika and Satoko recite part of Bern and Lambda’s final conversation with each other word for word, lmao. Combined with the scene at the end where ‘Witch Satoko’ talks to herself about how she’s going to give her body back to Satoko while she goes chasing after Rika, it was literally just the exact origin story of their relationship as it’s depicted in Umineko.

I still feel like this would all only really be ‘worth it’ if we actually get something like a full on anime remake for Umineko, but at this point I can’t help but feel satisfied with this part of it all.

It’s not like I think Gou/Sotsu as a whole is perfect or anything, though. I don’t hate it as much as basically everyone else does, but I think Ryukishi’s the sort of VN writer who really struggles with the shift to writing for an anime. I think a big part of the frustration people have is just from how this is formatted as a weekly anime series spread across basically an entire year, instead of being something like a stand-alone VN chapter that you can read at whatever pace you want, even if it ultimately takes the same amount of time to read as it would to watch all of Gou/Sotsu.

There’s also the whole issue of this being a sort-of-remake, which snowballed into a whole list of structural problems. They absolutely tried too hard to have their cake and eat it too, and they should have just committed to it being made for old fans only, instead of trying to sincerely incorporate elements from the VN that old fans don’t care about anymore because they’ve gone over it already.

And as I’ve said several times before, it was a major issue for them to decide to put Nekodamashi in the middle of Gou and then spend like 20 episodes on flashback answer arcs until finally getting back to that cliffhanger. I’ve been waiting until this all ended to decide exactly how I feel about that, and now that it’s all over I still think it was a really bad idea. I don’t think it was an issue for them to reveal that Satoko’s the culprit that early, but having the gun cliffhanger specifically happen that early just gave people misguided expectations and tainted the answer arcs because people were just impatient to get back to the cliffhanger. And then the cliffhanger itself ended up being somewhat anti-climactic, which is what I’d been fearing would happen. It would have worked fine if they shuffled it around so that the cliffhanger happened right before Kagurashi and was followed up in the very next episode, or if this was a VN where you could binge your way through the flashback stuff, but spending like half of an entire real-life year to get back to that point only to have the resolution be ‘Satoko just shoots Rika and the death loops keep going’ just didn’t really work properly.

I’m a lot more generous towards the Akashi arcs than most people are, since I think they really over-estimate how much re-used content there is there, but they still suffer from the central issue of the show trying to be accessible for new fans. It could have been heavily condensed otherwise, without losing anything in terms of Satoko’s whole character arc.

On the other hand I think the first half of Kagurashi was awful specifically because it highlighted how bad of an idea it was to put Nekodamashi so early in the story. They still ended up having to go back to that arc and repeat it anyway, in the most 1:1 recap-y way in the whole show, but that wouldn’t have even been an issue in the first place if that was instead the first time that arc happened in the show.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how I would rearrange the story to make it flow better while still following Ryukishi’s intentions, and I think they could have condensed it into a 2-cour season with this sort of structure if they did something like this:

-First arc where Rika gets thrown back into the loop and quickly figures out that somebody intentionally caused this to happen, and it’s not Takano because at least in this idea of mine she’d try and investigate her only to find out that this version of Takano regrets everything and is planning to flee the village with Tomitake.

Basically I think this could tie into the idea of Satoko initially wanting to just concoct an idea world for Rika so that she won’t want to leave this time, but sort of like what I think happens in Saikoroshi, Rika would still reject it, and this time around there’d be the additional layer of her knowing that somebody did this to her for an unknown reason. Maybe they could even initially market it as a new adaptation or a remake of Saikoroshi, and then reveal that it’s a sequel, to keep that whole element to the series. Either way I think this would end with everything going to shit when Rika rejects that fragment and wants to go back to St. Lucia’s, and Satoko basically snaps and kills her, and that way the audience can find out about her being the culprit without Rika finding out about it yet.

Maybe there could even be some dramatic irony where Rika’s attempts to meddle with certain ‘trigger events’, and her displaying her looper side, inadvertently triggers people around her to get paranoid, and the whole fragment would start to spiral into tragedy from there. I think they could at least use the whole conflict in Tatariakashi about Teppei actually being good this time as a starting point for that sorta thing.

-Second arc, rounding out the first cour, which is basically just Satokowashi. I don’t think there’s much that you’d need to change here, but like I said above I like the idea of her initially trying to just invent a perfect world for Rika and her to live in, instead of jumping straight to murder. But maybe instead of her literally just watching Rika’s loops, she could instead just be stuck using her looping powers to try and figure out how to create that ‘perfect world’ in the first place, by personally investigating all of the different tragedies and how to prevent them.

-Staring the second cour, a third arc where we basically just get to see those loops Satoko goes through, and her whole process of solving the tragedies and ‘purifying’ characters like Teppei and Takano, until we eventually see her perspective on the first arc, and how she reacts to Rika ultimately rejecting the world she tried to make for her.

-A fourth and final arc which is basically just Nekodamashi + Kagurashi, where she just totally snaps and tries to just torture Rika into never wanting to leave the village again, and eventually Satoko gets exposed and they have their direct confrontation with each other.

With that sorta story structure, you’d keep all the relevant bits of Gou/Sotsu as it is now, while being more focused on Rika and Satoko instead of doing kinda half-assed reruns of the Rena and Shion arcs. It’d also push the big cliffhanger between them until near the end of the show, while still revealing to the audience relatively early on that Satoko’s the culprit.

I’d also like them to do more with Satoshi and Shion, so maybe like with how Teppei gets redeemed and Satoko almost gets to have a happy life with him in Tatariakashi, the central question arc of this hypothetical story could also involve Satoko making sure that Satoshi wakes up from his coma, and Shion also gets to have a good relationship with all of them. You could probably do something interesting with the idea of Satoshi and Shion being in the camp of not trusting Teppei and his whole redemption arc.

Honestly I could spend a long time talking about how I would have done things differently, lol. For one thing, I think the Akashi arcs would have been much better if they just changed it so that Satoko used psychological tactics to make people paranoid, and we completely cut out the whole syringe plot device. I get how it fits with Satoko’s whole certainty gimmick, but it made those arcs way too predictable. Even if we knew the outcome, it’d at least be entertaining to see exactly how Satoko might go out of her way to set up the different tragedies. We kinda got glimpses of that sorta plot point in Wataakashi when things seemed to go outside of her control, but they didn’t really do much with it.

Anyway, this is a whole lot of words to say that I think that in spite of the serious structural issues going on, I think Gou/Sotsu as a whole is fine, and was at least working with a lot of perfectly good ideas that could have been executed much better.

Also, on a side note, that one scene during their fist-fight at the start where the art-style changes a bit was kinda weird, but I really liked how it looked, and part of me almost wishes the whole show looked like that, lol. I like Akio Watanabe’s character designs, but I feel like that sort of stylized, almost TWEWY-ish art style would have been really fitting for this series, especially in the horror/action parts.

Oh, and the new rendition of You was so good it almost felt emotionally manipulative, lol.

[mikaze-discord]

Love letter project ♡

Sooo to celebrate the 4th anniversary of Shining live, I put together a project! I basically got a bunch of people to write a love letter for their favourite boy. Things like, why they like them, how they got to like them and what they like about them were all accepted!

The event was supposed to have 2 fans for each boy but unfortunately I was unable to get two for some of the boys. 

Under the cut will be the love letters for all of Class A!!! Please enjoy~ And thank you for all the people who participated in the event and taking the time to write the love letters out. 

CLASS A

OTOYA ITTOKI

From @ponzu-penzui:

Hello world! My nickname is Yuki, and I’m here to tell you about the sunshine boy that is Otoya Ittoki. The redhead of the series, Otoya is your seemingly a-typical sunshine in a mascot boy character. But, as we all know with these types, the sunshine isn’t as, well, sunshine as they seem. Or, if you didn’t know, well… spoiler alert I guess. Go watch the anime, or play the otome games, then come back here. Anyways, let’s get started on our journey, shall we? Through the rabbithole that got me here in the first place!

Otoya immediately became my best boy the second I saw him. I’m not quite sure what immediately got me at first, whether it be his red hair and eyes, his voice, or his immediate friendliness, but here we are. I should also mention that UtaPri was my first idol anime, so I was completely unaware what was going to hit me later. And, if you’ve watched the entire anime, you know where I’m going.

Season 4 was an emotional wreck. I cried at least twice. Did I have a newfound appreciation for Otoya after all that heartache? Definitely. Without spoilers, it was incredibly painful for me to watch, but I don’t regret it.

After watching the anime, I soon found out about the existence of Shining Live. So, with no other UtaPri content to binge, I started to play SL in late 2018. After playing for a little more than a year, I tiered in my first Otoya event (Heartwarming Snow Festival), and achieved my first top 200. Ever since then, I’ve tiered in every Otoya event, getting top 200, then top 100.

But, why do I like Otoya Ittoki even to this day? Well, I guess this is the time where I say that, after a certain point, I started to see bits of myself in Otoya. This led me to start to RP him, and, as you probably know if you’ve ever roleplayed a character before, I started to look at the miniscule amount of translated game content (many thanks to the Ohayaho Translation Team) for, well, more content. And content I did receive. Long story short, this only served to solidify Otoya as my favorite boy of not only UtaPri, but from all anime/manga/game content I’ve ever seen/watched. His cheerfulness may have been the first thing that got me in this rabbithole, but his backstory and how he managed to grow up pulled me in even further. And, I don’t think I will or want to get out anytime soon.

Next one from; Anon

As much as we all know our Otoya for how sweet and kind he is, there is so much more to him than just a precious smile. He is uplifting, cheerful towards everyone he meets. He has empathy and goes out of his way to make sure his friends are happy. Even so, Otoya has feelings that aren’t always happiness and smiles. He can feel sad and angry just like anyone else.

The reason I care and love Otoya so much is because he has shown me that I don’t have to always put on a smile. It’s nice to show off your pearly whites, but sometimes, it’s okay to be sad too. There are times in everyone’s life when they feel out of place and that they don’t belong. Otoya also felt this way and that’s perfectly okay. He’s still being the best idol he can be: The idol that Otoya loves the most.

MASATO HIJIRIKAWA

From Anon: 

Masato Hijirikawa. Why do I like Masato Hijirikawa? I like him to the point that it feels weird for me to even question why I do. He's just- a good boy. A great boy. I love him. As a joke, I'd usually say that it was his weirdly pretty, bowl-cut hairstyle that drew me to him, or I'd say that he caught my interest when I read that he was "very good with his hands" (wink wonk) in his Shining Live description, and while both of these reasons are still true, it wasn't until I started role playing him in an old server that I really started to appreciate his character more.

Masato, despite his aloof and almost "perfect" initial image, is a very relatable character. When he first arrived at Saotome (in-game) he wasn't necessarily seen as someone with a lot of talent to become an idol, which he acknowledged with grace and worked hard to make up for. He's humble despite his privileged upbringing and is incredibly self-aware of his flaws, which are sources of insecurity for him sometimes (a lot of times). Though it should be said that most of this insecurity stems from not having a lot of control over his early life, which is why it felt so gratifying to see him break free of his metaphorical chains to pursue his happiness without any doubts. He's a hard worker and is willing to accept criticism with open arms, not only for himself but for the people around him. Despite his traditional upbringing and nature, he's very receptive to change as long as it benefits both him and STARISH. He values the people he cares about more than anything, which is why he constantly strives to be a better version of himself every day, not only for himself but for the people around him.

Though his stoicism sometimes makes him seem plain or even "boring" to some people, he hides a warm, hidden passion within that's just as bright as everyone else's. Like the springtime bloom of cherry blossoms after winter, Masato shows his passion and love with no restraint to anyone who takes the time to understand him, and I can very much attest to this. I love him a lot and I hope to see more content of him, STARISH, and the others for more years to come.

NATSUKI SHINOMIYA

From uh....me:

HELLO I’m Z~ also known as the mod of the mikaze-discord/utapri-hcs tumblrs, as well as the organiser for the event! But enough about myself, let's talk about Natsuki Shinomiya.

When I first watched the anime as a youngin, I had already known about the games and their plots but had decided to try out the anime as well since I had nothing better to do.

Natsuki was actually one of my least favourite characters in the anime just because of how they presented him. I just...didn't care for him at all. He was just some random tall guy who loved hugs and almost murder…. Yeah.

I’m sure like most, I had a changing point. Originally, I was a Tokiya rper but...I was just unhappy with how my Tokiya was, I wasn't as experienced in rping with that server being my first rp server i was ever in. I didn't feel like I matched up with the others. I felt my Tokiya was just lacking something, substance maybe. Another person actually had a similar feeling and had changed their character from Camus to Syo and since we already had an Ai, I had just decided to go with the flow and complete the rest of the cute team. Best decision of my life. I’m so grateful for Natsuki and everything I associate him with. Without him, I probably wouldn't have made my tumblrs, I wouldn't have stayed in that server, I wouldn't have gone looking for other servers to rp in. I don't think I would be the same without Natsuki. I just find him so endearing now, he is just a lovable giant who happens to be able to be a disney princess. He is just so darn cute damn it. , just look at his Christmas card, his King card, quite literally just half his Shining live URs. Also, just like his songs just slap. Natsuki to me, is just serotonin. He gave me so many opportunities that I could have missed. I don't even think I would have started this love letter project without him if I’m being completely honest. I genuinely enjoyed all the memories I made as Natsuki. Thank you to Natsuki and to the Mikaze-discord for basically starting me off.

From Luke:

Natsuki was actually the very first character I encountered before I got into utapri. A friend showed a photo of him and told me that I'd probably be into this guy. She sure was right! After installing shining live for the first time and having a familiar face on the screen, I grew curious of him each day and just had to find out why was so attracted to him. The fact that I've seen him so many times in the past was haunting me, telling me that this man actually watched me grow up from a distance without even knowing his name. It sounds weird but I find it rather comforting for someone who doesn't want to be protected but isn't strong enough to defend myself alone.

The thought of having him there was enough to get me through the day and gave me enough reason to wake up to the next. I admit I may have adapted some of his habits after looking after his account for a year but that isn't a bad thing if it means that it would turn me into a much better person than I am now. I guess you could say we've grown together now in a sense, preserving the feelings and just living through the moment no matter how happy or sad it is. What's important is that we're not alone in all things we do and in everything we feel, there will always be someone there to keep us moving when we feel like giving up.

[animebw]

The Promised Neverland Season 2

Greetings, all! I’m The Anime Binge-Watcher, a blog dedicated to me binge-watching anime in episodic chunks and analyzing it in long-form text posts for your enjoyment! Today, I'm returning to a show I tackled some time ago now that its second season has finished airing: The Promised Neverland!

If you’re interested in my full thoughts on the first season, you can read my analysis here. But here’s the short version; The Promised Neverland was one hell of a good time that kept surprising me in good ways. It’s rare you get an anime that’s genuinely scary, let alone a good horror shonen, but TPN makes it look easy. And the hints of the world that lay beyond the Grace Field house- coupled with commentary on the cyclical nature of oppression- only made me more excited to see what came next. True, it wasn’t perfect; some of the strategy was a little too convenient, having the characters scheme aloud make for some really awkward dialogue, and there was that whole thing about Sister Krone being... kind of a really offensive racial stereotype? Yeah, that was a mistake. On the bright side, though, Mother Isabella is one of the most compelling villains I’ve seen in a long time, and the final episode alone was good enough to make me appreciate the whole thing that much more. I give the first season 7.5/10, a very promising start to a story that promised to only soar higher and higher from here.

At least, that was the plan.

See, I’ve been paying attention to the chatter surrounding this season. Not enough to spoil anything specific, but enough to get the general vibe. And it’s a pretty open secret now that this season is- to put it lightly- a gigantic flaming garbage heap. It rushes through the entire rest of the manga at such blistering speed that any semblance of logic or emotional clarity is thrown right out the window, skipping right over some of the most beloved arcs and ruining basically everything that made people like TPN in the first place. Nobody knows why they went this route, and nobody’s happy about it. It may well be the most infamous anime-original ending of all time, more universally reviled than Blue Exorcist, FMA 03, Akame ga Kill, Soul Eater (which I still say has a good ending, fuck you fight me), and even Tokyo Ghoul. Hell, it’s probably the first anime I’ve ever seen trending on Twitter for pissing people off so much. It is impressive how united the anime community is in despising this season. You need to work to suck as hard as TPN Season 2 apparently sucks.

That. Having. Been. Said. I’m still going to watch this season, and I’m still going to judge it fairly. I’m not much of a manga reader, One Piece and yuri manga aside, and there’s basically zero chance I’d pick up the TPN manga anywhere in the immediate future, so I might as well see the story to its end this way. It might be awful, but at least it will be some kind of closure. Besides, not having read the manga should make me uniquely qualified to judge this season. I don’t know all the stuff they skipped and changed, so I can judge it as its own thing. Plenty of manga fans have surely already broken down all the ways it betrays the manga; I can analyze it solely as a continuation of TPN’s first season, with no expectations from the manga. And that should be, if not a good experience, at least an informative one. Putting adaptation aside, how does TPN Season 2 hold up as a show in its own right? Does it work at all as an anime-original follow-up to the first season, or is it really just garbage all the way down? Either way, it should be interesting to find out.

With that said, don’t spoil me on anything! I prefer watching anime as blind as possible, and I’m sure I’ll find my answers soon enough. Expect my first update later today, and thank you for joining me on this new adventure!

Schedule: I watch two shows concurrently, one long-running, one shorter, alternating each day. Currently, my long-running show is Pokemon Johto. Feel free to visit my home page and explore my extensive backlog of previous binge-watches, a list of shows I’ll be watching in the future, a link to my Discord where you can hang out with me and fellow anime fans to chat about the shows I’m watching, and much more!