#god i love the original jp series

[ghostie-luther]

Okay jurassic Park was my all time favourite series as a child (and is still a huge hyperfixation), but as a child JP3 was my all time favourite for some reason. But carrying on;

Headcanon that after 8 and a half weeks spent on isla sorna, after he was rescued, Eric Kirby turned into a total adrenaline junkie.

Of course, nothing compares to the feeling of running away from velociraptors, spinos, rexes, but he does his best to replicate the feeling.

Adrenaline can keep you alive even when your body is on the brink of exhaustion. How many times had Eric had to start running when out on a supply run? Or if he was asleep and the slightest noise made him wake up, afraid that there was a dinosaur outside trying to get in? Add sleep deprivation onto malnutrition, and adrenaline is a pretty handy friend to have.

In my hc, when he was finally home safe, he was more afraid of the absence of adrenaline than having it. So he started to do things to make his heart race. He picked fights, climbed the highest trees he could find, jumped out of his window in the middle of the night and raced through the streets, pretending there was a pack of velociraptors after him, (which worked a little too well, and an early worker found him crouched behind a dumpster at 6am having a PTSD attack). Even petty theft once, to have the security guard chase him. (Never again, his mom started crying. But he was desperate).

Anyway, Billy who was still in contact with the kirbys, heard all about it. His solution? Rock climbing. Base jumping. Bungee jumping. Anything, you name it. And when Eric is feeling a bit too ansty in the middle of the night, Billy will be there with his motorcycle, to take him on a joyride. It normally helps when Billy practically flies down residential streets. Eric argued that yeah, motorways are good in theory, but there are less things to dodge, which Billy just nodded to while thinking 'fuck this Kid needs a new therapist'.

(When Eric turns sixteen, Billy will buy him a dirt bike. And Amanda and Paul will drop to their knees in anguish, because that look in their sons eyes is downright devious).

[homoeroticbetrayal]

Iconic Homoerotic Betrayal: Round 1

Round 1 Directory

Context:

Homura/Madoka

"(Spoilers) Homura has fallen in love with Madoka, and made a wish to be able to protect her earlier in the series. This gave her time travel powers and made a groundhog day scenario. Later in the series, Madoka attains godhood by wishing to save all magical girls, and this is her as a goddess coming to bring homura to girl heaven. As she grabs Homura’s hands, Homura instead uses magic to split Madoka, into her as a human, and as the Law Of Cycles. (other name for god) She takes the power of the Law of Cycles and makes a new world were she can be with Madoka forever. (Please watch the show for better context, its so good and I’m very bad at explaining.)"

"It's been a long time since I've seen it, but IIRC, Homura betrays Madoka at the end of the film out of love ("love") for her and basically undoes the ending of the original series and becomes a demon in order to save ("save") Madoka from her original fate. It's unique because it's a betrayal that's done "selflessly" (at least from Homura's POV) for the sake of the person being betrayed"

Ryo/Akira

after an entire manga of trying to defeat demons to save humanity together, including having akira fuse with a demon to be strong enough to defeat them, ryo regains memories he didn't know he lost and is revealed to have been on the side of the demons all along, and everything has been part of his plan to eradicate humanity. and ryo had akira become the titular Devilman in order for him to be able to live on in that world of demons he wanted to create, because he loves him (yes, canonically). naturally akira won't stand for that, and they fight to the death and it's all very tragic.

but i suppose a specific betrayal scene in this context is that ryo broadcasts akira's part-demon nature on tv to use him to make humans all kill each other out of fear that anyone could be a demon?

anyways it's very iconic, if there's a morally dubious/secretly on the opposing side gay guy in love with the protag in a piece of jp media since 1974, there's like an 90% chance it was directly or indirectly inspired by devilman. lelouch from code geass? ryo. kaworu from nge? ryo. komaeda from danganronpa? ryo.

also pretty pretty please use the original manga iteration, im so sick of seeing crybaby everywhere. (Mod: In case these two wins can someone send me a good image from the og manga for next round? I haven't read it and google is giving me more fanarts than og.)

[maxwell-grant]

SF6 Comic Issues #3 thoughts

A bit late with this one since I had no time whatsoever the past few weeks, and I think they’ve wrapped it up now? I’ll have to get to issue #4 separately but it sure feels like it, also holy shit what an ending if so. 

Frankly the way things have been going for him I wouldn’t be surprised if Ken actually was just attacked by a random pack of vultures, or that JP would have trained vultures to sicc on him. Also nice bird symbolism with these and his cane in Issue #2 as hints towards him being the real figure behind Amnesia, I guess it wasn’t that surprising but we BETTER get that plague doctor mask as an option for him in-game

“Ken Masters, my friend” lmao

A lot of beats I appreciate here like how, in JP’s speech about how their top priority is to defend the citizens of Nayshall and how they are at risk even if the information isn’t true, and how his line about countries having an excuse to intervene is punctuated by focusing on the American paramilitary hearing it (and in the next issue these guys will generally make things worse, with Luke having to yell at them to stand down so they don’t execute Ken within broad daylight with millions watching). Might be reading too much into it but I can’t see this, when American interventionism is relevant to the plot and the next issue will feature a character criticizing it, as a coincidence.

I’m grateful that Luke is stepping in to play the part of “brash idiot cop representing De Law chasing the actual hero while usually being either useless or making things worse”, a massive burden lifted from Chun-Li’s shoulders that she’s always been too good for, but he isn’t. And I particularly love that beat where JP catches Luke having a conscience crisis while moping about his origin story, and gently but firmly knocks him back into the narrative he needs him to play his part in

A little dissappointed that Amnesia was never real but, I knew JP’s mask-off moment was going to be sick. And since this a prequel comic and Ken’s situation has notably not improved much in-game, we knew JP was going to get away with everything. But oh my god this is so good, I’m gonna have to make at least one post on JP and the picture the comic presents of him specifically, he’s so fucking good. 

Just how much he’s getting away with is one thing, but that mask off moment being punctuated with not only JP turning into a Metal Gear villain smugly monologuing about his philosophical terrorist plans that lie somewhere between batshit and poignant, but there’s the reveal that he’s placed cellphones modified into exploding triggers for drone bombs across the entire city and strapped Mel to a chair with one of those bombs beneath it, forcing Ken to decide to either let his son die or press the button to detonate all of those bombs on innocents within the city (and thus actually have blood in his hands). 

And he says this to Ken while loudly tapping his cane rhythmically to the ticking of the bomb hanging over Mel’s head as if, what, the guy wasn’t psychologically crumbling fast enough for his liking. And he leaves merrily whistling to himself, completely secure. 

Next issue begins with a news report stating that multiple bombs were detonated and several buildings were levelled and several civilians injured (with no casualities only because Luke figured it out early and issued a warning), no “the bombs were decoys” fake-out so, yeah, Ken actually did just press a button to kill people there and in the next issue we see how badly this and the whole situation have driven him into despair. 

And it seems like a wholly sadistic and pointless cruelty JP’s inflicting on him, but oh no it isn’t, as we’ll see in the next issue. All of JP’s talk about stories and narratives and fictions that people crave at the expense of reality come to a head in, what else, a fight, the only fight in the comic as of yet. Maybe as cynically as this series has ever approached the premise of getting two guys to duke it out for people’s entertainment as a form of storytelling. 

A premise that you wouldn’t remotely be able to tell with Ryu or Sakura or Chun-Li and so on, because this is professional street fighting stripped to it’s coldest capitalist reality, a cruel and exploitative distraction run by number-crunching profiteers playing along chumps with their reasons for butchering each other publicly. 

Y’know somehow Street Fighter was less dark when druglord dictators and eugenicist cult leaders were in charge of these tournaments.

[liauditore]

The thoughts, hand em over. (No pressure but I wanna hear em :D)

oh god what have u done.

context.

OK SO,. (BE WARNED THIS IS LIKE. REALLY LONG AND BRAINROTTY.)

first off i must put here as per the law i am not in fact armchair psychoanalysing mc youtubers grian and mister scott S. major this is me looking at the 3L series as is it were a performance and their actions in said series as characters and blah blah blah so on so forth this is Fanfiction and Shipping and woowoOOwoo We Are Being Sillyyy with a miku song.

i'm gonna infodump abt a bunch of stuff including some heavy topics like emotional abuse and dubcon (NOT in detail the song just has those vibes)

so uh if you're reading this for Some Reason know that 👍

ALRIGHT WITH THAT OUT OF THE WAY Vampire the song itself is (at least my reading of it) a song about a toxic relationship. The singer is very much not a Good Person and the main chorus is just them disregarding their partner's needs and pushing the relationship even further.

But the singer isn't completely irredeemably evil, since they really do love the person they're abusing (in a childish sense of the word love, anyway) and seem to be at least acutely aware of how they're not really a good person.

But of course, they "eh whatever" these self-reflections pretty fast cus they're having fun with the relationship. This specific set of translyrics reads to me like a bit of self-victimizing as well like "oh, I'm so tortured by feeling like a bad person because of the way I treat you. But I love you so you don't really have a choice but to forgive me."

Speaking of translyrics this is where Micchi's version comes in. While I ADORE Rachie and Anthong's version I do have some nitpicks..? And one of those that I am unreasonably pet peeved by is this right here.

In the original JP version, the lyric is simply kimi mo vampire, meaning simply You're (also) a Vampire. It's alot more obvious a change and hits harder imo than "My little Vampire" which still puts the singer in the position of power.

Micchi's version of the lyrics on the other hand stick a lot closer to the original

And I might just be imagining this but there seems to be a switch in the power dynamic in this version as well. The singer is now inviting their partner to be "rough" with them and the repeating mantra of "you're the ONLY ONE for me" sounds more desperate than anything else.

Micchi's lyrics in general are a bit more wet cat coded. I still prefer Rachie's as a whole but Micchi's singer definitely seems to be more regretful of what they've done and blame themselves for essentially turning their partner into a different, more hostile person. (aka turning them into a vampire lol)

In a lot of ways the vampire metaphor is really unsubtle. Bloodsucking parasite attaches themselves to someone and turns them into a bloodsucking parasite as well.

SO HOW THE FUCK DID I GET GRAIN AND SCOOTER FROM THIS WELL.....

When I think about 3L one of the main things that lights up the lightbulb in my mind is the parallels between all of the four "main" partnerships, with Renchantyn vs Desert Duo as the most obvious comparison point but I think they all mirror and subvert each other really well.

Grian/Scott are like birds of a feather to me in a similar sense that Scott/Cleo are, but while Scott and Cleo have this mutual understanding with each other with Grian it's a bit more complicated.

I CAN't. FOR THE LIFE OF ME. FIND IT AGAIN bUT there was a bit in Third Life when Scott said to Grian "and maybe once our husbands are dead we can be free" and Grian laughs and that basically inspired this Whole Thing 🙏🙏

(an apology for all the wholesome flower husbands shippers who i know follow me cus im about to unleash my full toxic yaoi adaptation of them) (desert duo fans from what ive seen are already insane so you're okay)

In my own mind Grian and Scott are both somewhat.. manipulative? Might be a bit harsh of a word? But they definitely play to survive more than some of the other people stuck in there with them. (cleo too but she sucks at it and she can get her character analysis essay next week)

At least in my view, their partnerships with Jimmy and Scar respectively were born more out of a need for safety in numbers and to get someone to essentially keep them safe until they're no longer of use. Grian definitely felt bad about creeper-ing Scar in the first episode but I don't think he was quite expecting to spend the whole series in debt to him 😭😭

Scott (like the singer in the song oh my god) isn't really a monster so to speak, just someone who has a messed up view of love. Probably has some sort of tragic backstory that explains the way he is that we'll get to see in the anime adaptation idk. He does care for Jimmy but in like.. the way someone might care for and love a pet. You LOVE your dog to fucking death but you wouldn't like.. trust your dog with taxes or respect its autonomy.

also these lyrics are both hilarious to me considering the uh current brainrot.

Grian on the other hand probably Wants to be like Scott and be able to have someone wrapped around his fingers like that but he can't cus it's Scar not Jimmy and he's Grian and not Scott. I imagine he'd get tired of Scar's shenanigans when he's with him but as soon as he's left the room it's all why's it so quiet D: where's scar D:

I like to think that everytime he THINKS he has a handle on Scar finally and can actually stand a chance to survive this thing Scar does something completely unhinged off the wall and Grian's like WAIT WAIT WAIT NO

basically he gets way too attached and doesn't like it and to make it worse he has no idea wtf is going thru Scar's head👍

SO when they eventually team up I think Scott and Grian would have this little "wink wink nudge nudge they don't know" kinda thing going on.

and then in my little fanfiction world somewhere along the line Scott would end up sensing that Oh, We're actually not exactly the same.. interesting.. and kind of start looking at Grian with this sense of amusement/pity cus aww, look at you getting all attached to the person you were planning to betray, that's so cute and Grian would see the worst of himself reflected back to him via Scott. It ends up strengthening Desert Duo's relationship if anything else.

Of course then Jimmy dies and Scott's emotionally destroyed by it but he's still like.. skirting around it. I'd like to think he gaslights himself with any genuine Emotions he has cus like.. he knew this was coming, this is all according to plan, so why would he feel anything for him now that he's gone?

While Scott gets some time to come to terms with the fact that he actually cared about Jimmy too late for him to repair their relationship Grian and Scar end up punching eachother to death in a cactus ring. The End 👍

tl;dr i need to pick up writing fanfics cus oh my god

[thrilling-oneway]

I need to know your feelings about love live 2 global

SIF2 was a mistake.

God I have a lot of feelings about it. This is probably going to get rambly as hell.

Even if SIF2 kinda sucked I had still planned on getting EN just because I want to play a LL game again (i don't really understand linklike's gameplay so I'm hoping someone makes a guide now that SIF is dead in a ditch). I'm... probably not going to bother now. Maybe I'll get it to play some charts, maybe not now i've just remembered how much storage it takes as well.

Announcing your game's EOS date in the same tweet as announcing the launch month (not even a date) is insane. What the hell even. Like, this is genuinely such a PR disaster that it broke containment so badly. LL became talked about worldwide and... relevant, i guess, for the first time in years. We got on saved you a click. We got on gamesradar. Head in hands.

Like, I get why they're still launching it. Obviously staff have worked their asses off for over a year on this to the point they already had to push it back, and suddenly scrapping that plus telling fans who'd waited a year for this that they weren't even getting it is a bit shit. You can tell the only reason they're releasing it is because of this, because there's no reason for it to outlive the JP server.

I have no doubt that this was dumped on EN staff last minute. They retweeted the JP shutdown notice to the EN account for crying out loud. This wasn't meant to happen it clearly was JP staff deciding the game was failing and pulling the plug.

Even from the JP side of things it was a very last minute decision LIKE COME ON. Wien and Tomari were added last month and their only UR cards are their fucking birthday cards. That's it the event schedules have been released ahead of time they aren't getting more URs. They're having to release Shizuku, Kinako, You and Maki's URs early bc the game didn't even live to their birthdays. This wasn't meant to happen.

Not even just on EN side but SIF as a series dying is a massive thing. Like sure we still have Paradise and SIFAC wai wai, but Paradise is. well... and Waiwai is actually decent but outdated and doesn't receive updates because there's nothing to port bc they don't do SIFAC anymore. SIF dying also means u's is actually proper dead now. Like. yeah no more u's aside from the occasional LLdays illustration and annual new years stream (we don't even get thanksgiving fes anymore god). We're not gonna get N girl content anymore either bro it's so over for LL.

SIF1 was outdated and probably should've had a sequel game released that was still a similar enough game (aka not sifas) just updated to get with the times. Honestly to this day I still think SIF had the best F2P accessibility out of any game, as well as the best team building system (bc. well it actually had one like you actually had to strategically build your teams). If SIF2 wanted to be good all it had to do was add L2D (and like ACTUAL L2D not what they did in SIF2 where they slightly animated the sprites), update the gacha animation, give us cards closer to the quality of SIFAS (or even better bandori or proseka), and add 3DMV or something. Literally just make SIF1 with proseka/bandori features. You don't even have to make the story better because it isn't even canon. And what we got was SIF1 with better UI and card art, and everything else was worse including the gameplay because they broke sliders.

The fact they shut down the original game for this, and possibly even SIFAS. It's insane how poorly this was managed. Saw a tweet earlier about how fucked up it is how Nijigaku have several songs based on in-game stories from both SIFAS and SIF2 and both of them are just. Lost media ig now. Even SIF1 stories are lost media because no where archived them. God that's so fucked actually like so much content just gone forever. EVEN OFFICIAL NOVEL TRANSLATIONS WERE IN SIF1 AND THEY'RE JUST GONE.

It's insane to think that the best LL rhythm game now is an outdated PS4 arcade port (the best game is actually linklike but it's not really much a rhythm game). Other than that there's * checks notes * Tokimeki RunRuns, Blaze in the Deep Blue, Numazu in the Mirage, and the upcoming Niji game. None of which are rhythm games.

I saw some people discussing that maybe that cross-unit live that's bringing back saint snow will have a new game announcement and while I doubt SIF3 i honestly kinda hope there's something coming with that concert. Even if it's a fucking bandori/prsk reskin or even SIFAS2 I don't care I just want to have faith in this franchise because it means a lot to me.

Sasuga staff-san /neg

[harukirai]

Wow, I didn't know that about Terra! I'm surprised they were so upfront about that! Maybe her girlfriend was supposed to be Daryl, or they were going to make Locke into a woman who was going to be her girlfriend, kind of like Terra was originally supposed to be a male character. It seems like the idea was reworked for Fang and Vanille's relationship in XIII. (Also Lightning seems like a lesbian.) Thanks for the reply, I'm so pleased!

Also had a similar thought, but for the love of god the only optional/implied- scrapped girlfriend i found is celes(in that one time terra played with the thought of falling in love and flirt with celes only to reject the idea of love) which is with the other guy in the end, im replaying it in english its my next game after finishing 5(which i dont have much of left of).also yeah it feels like the scrapped concept was rewritten into 13! Thats why i was so happy with the inclusion(and yeah i restarted playing 13 in english for the first time and lightning does sound kimda gay, which id preffer than the hope implication that this game have for some reason in jp. Like i love hope, he grew to be a fine man only to be put back into a child in lightning returns which for the love of god i cant stand, let the kid grow, have his relationship with lightning be maternal& non romantic please my personal headcanon is that lightning is a mother figure to hope and hope brings her softer sides, as in what babies, kitten and puppies bring out of pple and for some reason pple really do ship them and im livid. Pretty sure there's no official love interest for claire cause in the toriyama's eyes she is his wife, no man can have her thats why the only pple she is soft for is serah and hope is no threat for Toriyama)

Also im stuck in the sahz vanille segment in the forest when you change weather i hate the bosses idk why but my adult brain is somehow worse in the game then i was before(like dont get me wrong i did get stuck allot but usually in the summon fights or like later game fights idk if the xbox version is bugging on me but im seriously stuck and thats what sparked my replay of the series )

(played it on pc before so idk what i did or is the steam version easier but i wanna get to fang already and im stuck even though i looked at tutorials ಥ⁠‿⁠ಥ

*also just jumped to xiii-2 to replay that one on english as well(the whole xiii trilogy i experienced back in the day in japanese i think my original version was on ps3, but i lent most of my collection when my first ps3 died so ill get that back only when my cousin will visit next)

So im cringing at some of the differences there too. But on funny note i think its hilarious that vanille and fang had an Australian accent, cause in japanese its okinawan i think and the implication are hilarious. Especially on fang it sounds just 100% like she had a huge lesbian vibe in japanese as well and text wise more so but i cant her va in english did such a great job im in tears like most of the cast sounds good in the first game but the 2nd in english 8s evan whackier than the jp and havent gotten to lightning returns yet but i cant wait to see that one dog scene in english, but yeah sorry for gushing i really love thise games and its hard to find pple who played them let alone acknowledge the gays in the games especially in the western sides of the internet (like besidesa handful of actual queer players who actually got far enough in the games & few dudes who just love vannile and fang cause they are fetishizing the lesbians & ignoring the whole lot of representation the games gave us through the years- which is the problem with subtleity cause like in ffvx it was straight out changed in localization cause oh no the guys will be pissed if manly-man macho m'gee over here is fancying the glasses twink 'god forbid' ತ⁠_⁠ತ)

I just really love those game and dont get me wrong in not looking at it in queer centric goggles all the time or thats all i wanna talk about but when i finally find pple to talk about the games with usually after a while when the subject comes and im gushing about how i love fang & vanille /gladio& ignis or even now with 16's terredion pple outside of the very small queer internet bubble is usually get all pissy about it and bitter(which is shocking to happen now in 2023 but its more centered around the 'im not homophobe but not everything is about that) when dude chill all i was talking about is that hey thats the 3rd gay dragoon in a row. (Ignis is kinda a dragoon too, since his moveset with lance equipped is very similar to Arenea)

But yeah not the point so imagin my surprise actually talking about ffxiii queer reps and suddenly most ofy notes is from xiii focused blogs i was sure long dead/new ones ive never seen before.

[lecliss]

You and tales of crestoria 🤝 me and final fantasy record keeper

I think they killed mine bc it was unprofitable (it was so so so ineffective to put real money into <3<3<3) and unpopular, but they really should've considered that i, the most important bird in the world, enjoyed it. Or some other reason that i could probably google *shrug

I miss it every day 💔💔💔🐦

Duuuuude, I played Record Keeper for a bit when it was new!!!!! I heard it was just the global version that shut down but the JP version is still going, so yeah, global probably just wasn't making enough money to be worth running. So, ya know. RK's still kinda alive but ToC is dead and buried. Lmao, not to diminish the RK situation cuz I'm sure restarting on JP would just absolutely not be worth the hassle so definitely still kind of a Lost Lenore.

I kinda wish Opera Omnia would consider adding characters from the other FF mobile games cuz there's untapped potential there. Like add Tyro at least for RK rep. And Wol from Mobius FF, which I also miss a lot!!!! I don't want Mobius to ever be forgotten. Plus the BE crew, but that's the only one that's shockingly still going strong. Meanwhile Square's adding TikTok influencers to Be:WotV, so :/

Man this sent me down a rabbit hole of other Square mobile games. I played both Valkyrie Anatomia: The Origin and Star Ocean: Anamnesis without knowing anything about the original series but I loved those games and they didn't really last longer than 2-3 years. Plus the global server for SINoALICE either shutdown within the last week or is shutting down real soon. Even the JP server is being rumored to shut down relatively soon, but idk if that's willingly or not cuz they're supposedly taking their time to wrap up the story at least.

Both Square and Bamco just seem so bad at keeping most of their gachas alive. And years of constantly having good gachas I like getting shutting down has really given me a fear for all of them that I play. I genuinely don't believe Ever Crisis is gonna last more than a year and everyday I play Star Rail I'm afraid it's suddenly gonna bomb suddenly and get shut down. Tho Hoyoverse seems real good about that not happening with their games, but still when I see people say HSR is dipping it makes me a little paranoid and I gotta remind myself they just got bored and wanna find a reason to justify it.

Like honestly, I know mobile games get a lot of shit for how many of them are low quality and the massive amount of gachas that want your money from your gambling addiction, but I love the genre so much. I've found so many good games that are gachas and it sucks that the state/economy/whatever of the genre is so so fragile that the slightest dip in sales means it's existence has to be ripped out of the universe regardless of how good it may be. It's not like they stop selling it but you still have your copy like it's a console game or you can just emulate it once it closes. When it's gone, it's gone. People can record cutscenes and rip models and assets, but you can never play it again. At least thank god for those one-in-a-million games that leave up offline versions when they shutdown, but in all my life of mobile gaming I've only seen two, KHUX and Tokimeki Idol.

Anyway sorry to ramble on about the topic, I'm just feeling mega sad now about it all and I don't know what could possibly be done to like, make the mobile game scene better? At least about this issue. But I doubt anything ever would be done in terms of not losing games forever anyway.

[nanjokei]

oh god a project moon tier meta post, how bad was it

shockingly pretentious post going "i love how the characters don't have extreme speech patterns" then doesn't elaborate but only states facts at you with no bearing on WHY they like this, and describes the following, parenthesis is my own commentary when needed:

the character who uses -dono for everyone doesn't go full ninja (he uses -dono and gozaru because he's a geek. it's not rocket science)

the cult leader.....speaks like a cult leader (wow)

the protagonist is very polite but still has no issues cussing people out (yes... because he's kind of a detached bitch for many reasons.. i don't think this is rocket science either)

the annoying guy who does things to annoy the protagonist is annoying and speaks in a frivolous way but not too much because he's cunning and is faking it (no shit sherlock...)

now its pretty catty of me to describe the post to you like this especially considering anyone who takes one look at my blog will realize exactly what tag i was visiting and if OP stumbles across this— maybe just block me or something, but i also found it a little amusing there was a lot of highlighting of how they read the text on their own or whatever. (who cares. you are not special. i will go on as usual)

i personally read the fan tl for the main game (cc subs, so i can see the jp dialogue underneath, so im still aware of how ppl talk in the original text) because im lazy and there's too many hawd wowds fow widdle old me, read parts of the dlc (beginning and end, read the fan tl in the middle) on my own and then the subsequent game in the series, so i can weigh in on the labored upon "speech patterns" in their post— it is utterly mundane. i don't think anything special about the way most of the characters speak for the most part— the dialogue has very strong character voice present (something to lament about the existing fan translation.. i mean no disrespect bc they do fine for the bulk of it but the tone is so Neutral). and had i made that post, i would use literally any other set of characters. not exaggerating at all. at the end of the day it is just a fandom meta post and nothing serious, but this "stating objective facts without elaborating and acting smart for it" brand of meta post TRULY gets under my skin. you asked me about "projmoon fan tier" in particular so you must know exactly what i mean for it to pique your interest.

my entire point here is "WHAT DID YOU MEAN BY THIS" and "WHY DO YOU THINK THAT IS GOOD". none of which the post communicates. it just feels like posturing for the sake of it. if they said "i like the dialogue like that" or "i think the character voice is strong" (as i said on my own just now) it'd be FINE. but the fact that i just had objective facts spit up at me with no thoroughline to the thesis of the post. and like, i don't think i'm very smart. i guarantee i may have said something dumb in this ask or contradicted myself and i acknowledge i am being PETTY. however... it really is an issue i have with "analysis" on here. also, this series has a strong presence of projmoon fans so like.

thank you for letting me rant about this a bit btw nonnie

[saffronapplemanga]

OP I need u to know that I love your brain and your large dissertation on GANGSTA. This fandom is small since the hiatus/anime failing but I inhaled ur work like python eating a egg and I am so full and content. I noticed in your list you are read/gonna read Haru’s Curse by Konishi Asuka. She has another series that involves yakuza/psychological thrills that I feel like you would enjoy since you enjoyed gangsta. It's called Yakuza Bride/ Raise wa Ganin ga ii <3

Anon, I need you to know you made my day with your message. Thank you! Every time someone tells me they read my posts, I’m like, “omg people actually read my posts?” 🥺❤️ because I’m over here like, god I’m so annoying *clicks post anyway*

tbh I’m so close to writing a part 3 for GANGSTA. because like I mentioned, there’s so much more I wanna pick apart! But maybe after I get my JP physicals so I can flip around and see the original Japanese and what-not.

I did read Haru’s Curse and wrote a little post on it! I have heard of Konishi-sensei’s Raise wa Tanin ga Ii, and it’s actually already on my tbr :) there’s just so much stuff I wanna read so we’ll see when I get to it. I was thinking about it the other day lol.

[teecupangel]

Ooohhhh. Well, whenever I decapitate someone in Valhalla, I don’t stick around the scene of the crime for other guards to find me so I never realized that pigs appear to eat it. Considering AC Valhalla is rated Cero Z, I won’t be surprised if they still edited some of the gorier stuff though. CERO Z isn’t exactly the same as ESRB M even though ESRB M says 17+ and CERO Z says 18 and above, CERO Z still requests more revisions than ESRB M.

A great example of the difference is how in Resident Evil 2 Remake, there’s a scene that has a certain character be chopped in half in ESRB M version but they kept the entire body in CERO Z. So yeah… Absolutely not surprised if JP AC Valhalla has helmet eating pigs XD

(This is the main reason why Callistro Protocol wasn’t released in Japan too)

So true. And Haytham says it best:

The only difference between myself and those you aid is that I do not feign affection.

Honestly, I think Ubisoft saw how a lot of people flocked over Haytham during the first release of AC3 when Ratonhnhaké:ton was underappreciated and that’s the reason why they pushed for more ‘character depth’ to Haytham. (I’m sure his accent helped too). I read some say that one of the main reasons why Ratonhnhaké:ton wasn’t well received was because he was so different from Ezio and a lot of Ezio fans hated that but I never really believed them because my college best friend was a huge Ezio fan and played the AC games when they came out and when we were talking about my own experience, she was like “I don’t remember a lot but I hated his (Ratonhnhaké:ton’s) dad. He was such an asshole to him.” so, really, Ubisoft is very… white-centric. I will admit that they did well showing that both sides were selfish in many ways and Ratonhnhaké:ton really didn’t have a good side to join. Then Syndicate happened and they did Karl Marx dirty and Ubisoft definitely decided which side they are. (And I think the writers know it since they do show Abstergo partnering with AC world’s Ubisoft for the games)

Haytham is just… he’s a good character and can be considered one of the best AC characters but there’s really a dissonance on what kind of ‘good character’ he is meant to be.

I feel you. I wanted to learn more about Bloodborne, I really really do, I love gothic horror and god Yharnam is sooo pretty to me but I. Can’t. Even. Get. To. The. First. Boss. (I am actually dreading the upcoming Armored Core because I love that series but if it’s FromSoftware being FromSoftware, I probably won’t get far TTATT)

I blame Dynasty Warriors, tbh. (not gonna lie, I’m one of those who thought Xiahou Dun eating his own eyeball was pretty badass even if my Wei preference is Cao Ren) Although John Woo’s Red Cliff is probably the main Romance of the Three Kingdom adaptation that got mainstream attention. Probably. Oh definitely, the west is definitely trying to suck on that golden peach. And it’s not just the movies focused on China but a lot of movies right now are being edited to tone down or flatout remove anything that would ban it there. Anything owned by the big mouse is like that and even sports (I think???).

Also… Ubisoft is partly owned by Tencent right now so its focus on the China market was bound to happen:

Tencent invested another €300 million into Guillemot Brothers Limited, the company that holds part of the Guillemots' ownership of Ubisoft, in September 2022. This gave Tencent 49.9% ownership in this holding company and increased the Guillemots' share of voting rights within Ubisoft to about 30%. Yves Guillemot said that Tencent would be working closely with Ubisoft, helping to bring their games into China while assisting in paying off Ubisoft's debts and preventing the company from potential buyouts

I’ll keep that in mind and I don’t mind reading subtitles XD. We’ll just see what’s available in my region hahahaha. Oh yeah, that sounds about right. Some things do get lost in localization and that’s why I like checking the original and dubbed versions. It’s interesting to see the difference.

Irt Shao Jun's Name

Why is it even spelled "Jun"? Even in her first appearance in Assassin's Creed: Embers, Ezio and Sofia pronounce it "Shao Yun."

It's...a mixed bag in Chinese fandom, as far as I've seen. There are no official characters for her name, and without them, we don't know what her name means or even how to correctly pronounce it because there are no tones. Fans usually pick a number of characters to spell out either Shao Jun or Shao Yun, which means her name is usually pronounced differently, with different meanings.

Tbfh, I always favored 绍君 for her name, AKA Shao Jun with "Shao" being a surname to mean "carry on" and "Jun" being a word to describe a gentleman/someone of noble birth and bearing. It bears a lot of power.

In the official AC novels by Yan Leisheng, he uses the 少芸，or Little Yun, which has me taken aback because I've always read Shao Yun as her full name, meaning "Shao" would be a family name, not a prefix. I guess both would work, given that she's a palace concubine. The "yun" he uses means "rue," the flower, which is fitting for a concubine, but doesn't bear the same weight and power as the "jun" I chose for her.

Either way, Ubisoft can't commit to her name. They spell it one way, then pronounce it another. Even the novelization is apparently officially non-canon, meaning once again, the VIBE of this girl is completely up to fanon.

[flesh-and-silk]

Dainsleif and the Twilight of The Gods

Yes I'm in love with him, yes I can't stop thinking about him, and I'll make it everyone's problem. Spoilers ahead!

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｡↷ ✧*̥₊˚‧☆ﾐ table of contents!¡ •ଓ.°

┊

┊i. Introduction

┊ii. Name origin

┊iii. The Eternal Battle

┊iv. Twilight of the Gods

┊v. Conclusions

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ ㅤ︶︶︶︶︶︶︶

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i. Introduction

"Dainsleif is a man of mysterious origins but claims to have knowledge of fate itself." - Official Twitter EN and JP VA announcement

Dainsleif is an enigmatic character who shows great curiosity towards people, and even greater dislike towards the gods. In spite of that, he respects those who are hardworking like Ganyu, and Diluc's unwavering attitude in protecting Monstadt.

In Chapter ii, act iv: Requiem of the Echoing Depths we learn that he used to be a royal guard in Khaenri'ah known by the title "Twilight Sword". One of his old subordinates is Halfdan, who reminds of Halfdan the black, a king of Vestfol, appearing in sagas such as Fagrskinna, Heimskringla and Ágrip which led me to believe there's a great deal of inspiration coming from Norse mythology when it comes to Khaenri'ah characters.

His constellation is called Snake ring, an ouroboros (= an ancient symbol depicting a snake or a dragon eating its own tail) which reminds me of Jörmungandr (= sea serpent and middle child of Loki).

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ii. Name Origin

The name Dainsleif and the title "Twilight Sword" are not mere coincidence. Dainsleif was one of the mightiest weapons in viking mythology. According to Snorri Sturluson, the icelandic author of "Prose Edda", Dainsleif was crafted by the dwarf Dain, the most talented craftsman in the universe, thus Dainsleif translates to "Dain's legacy".

A curse was laid upon this blade, a thirst for blood. Should you unseathe it, someone will have to die to quench its thirst. No scratch caused by it will ever heal, and it never misses its target.

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iii. The Eternal Battle

Dainsleif features in "Prose Edda" as the weapon wielded by King Hogni.

The story tells us how King Hogni came to meet with other kings, bringing his beloved daughter along: Princess Hild. Princess Hild caught the eye of king Hedin Hjarrandason and was thus seized by him.

Being informed of this, king Hogni calls his men and goes to rescue his daughter. Princess Hild told her father that she wishes the two kings would make peace, but he craved vengeance, and declared he wants to wage war on those who dared touch his daughter.

King Hogni informs that it's far too late to back down from the fight, for he's already unseathed Dainsleif:

'Thou hast made this offer over-late, if thou wouldst make peace: for now I have drawn Dáinsleif, which the dwarves made, and which must cause a man's death every time it is bared, nor ever fails in its stroke; moreover, the wound heals not if one be scratched with it.'

—Skáldskaparmál

The battle between King Hogni and Hedin started, and it lasted what's said to be an eternity, princess Hild being the one to repeatedly resurrect the fallen soldiers so they could keep fighting on.

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iv. Twilight of the Gods

Ragnarok is the battle at the end of the world.

After a series of catastrophes, such as the Eternal Battle, when the Norns (=spinners of fate) decide it, the world will face the Great winter. Yggdrasil, the cosmos tree will tremble and everything it held together -trees and mountains alike- will fall apart. Skoll and Hati who have been chasing the sun and moon since the beginning of time will finally catch them. Jörmungandr will let go of his tail and spill the seas over. Then he will spit his venom all over the world.

After consulting the head of Mimir, the wisest of all beings, Odin will agree with the other gods to go to battle despite knowing what the prophecies foretold. Thus they'll meet on Vigrid (="Plain where battle surges"). The battle will take place between the gods, led by Odin, the monsters led by Loki and Sutrr, and the giants. The battle will result in the end of the divine.

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v. Conclusions

The phrase "The war has already begun, it is just a continuation of past battles." said by Dainsleif in the Tevyat Story Preview is exactly like the situation of Ragnarok. With the civilizations of Tevyat being destroyed and rebuilt continuously (eg. Enkanomiya, the civilization in the chasm more ancient than Khaenri'ah, the fall of Khaenri'ah and now the Abss twin's attempt to revive Khaenri'ah) the balance of the world is in danger. Ultimately, the world serpent has to let go of its tail, whatever that means for Dain, so the destruction of the gods could occur to reach the end of a seemingly eternal war.

Comparing him to the legendary sword, we can make a parallel between King Hogni and the Abyss twin, seeing as they once traveled together. What are the similarities?

King Hogni didn't listen to reason and unseathed Dainsleif without hesitation, aware of the curse. He acted rashly and irrationally, seeking revenge, going as far as ignoring his own daughter's wishes for peace. He sacrificed innocent people's lives in this eternal war in order to meet his goal.

The Abyss twin tried to forcefully cure the once people of Khaenri'ah with the mysterious device in The Chasm, despite being aware that their plan has a less than 1% chance of succeeding. Moreover, this attempt has caused the cursed ones more agony than anything.

The similarity is very clear: King Hogni and the Abyss twin both go on a journey to save something taken away from them and choose to make justice for themselves. But their thirst for vengeance makes them insensitive and irrational, unwilling to sit down and discuss their perspective, which will lead to Ragnarok, to ultimate destruction.

What differs in these two tales? As you guessed, Dainsleif.

Dainsleif is strongly opposed to the twin's plan, stating "I have lived with this curse for 500 years, and I have been fully conscious the entire time.. suffice to say, no one understands the curse like I do." about which he is entirely right if you ask me.

But this puts him in the position of the enemy in the twin's eyes, because he is not fulfilling his duty as a weapon/servant of vengeance and calimity. Instead he wants only to stop the Abyss from doing such reckless things in order to prevent more tragedy.

But as he states, "It is a way of branding us at the level of the fate of the world itself." meaning that he is destined for tragedy regardless the course of action he chooses to take. It is a battle against fate itself, much like Ragnarok and now, the curse of the Dainsleif sword that is meant for slaughter.

In conclusion, I can't help but see him as a very tragic character with an immense role to play at the end of the story. Because as the Twilight Sword and World Serpent, his fate is to bring forth the Twilight of the Gods, thus ending the continuing battle between monsters, abyss and the divine.

Dainsleif will have to battle his destructive nature, but will he succeed to undo the strings of fate? Can someone who's already given up fighting the divine bring an end to the Heavenly throne? We'll just have to wait and see.

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And there we go!! To whoever made it to the end of this, I am profoundly if it was too long, I really tried my best to not write a novel here. And I'm really sorry for my poor English! It's not my first language so yeah..

If you have any suggestions what should I analyze next, don't be shy to send them! I got just enough time on my hands now :) Take care!❤️

[eirikrjs]

Thematically, what does Spawn have to do with Zaou Gongen?

To be honest, I know almost nothing about Spawn and the comic series!

The number one reason it seems is just because Kaneko loved Spawn at the time. But I don't think it's arbitrary. Despite his design and backstory, Spawn vanquishes evil, as does Zaou in this legend of En no Ozuno:

The legend that En no Ozunu was inspired by Zaō Gongen originated in the Kamakura period. According to the legend, En no Ozunu was engaging in meditative mountain practice with the purpose of receiving a tutelary deity when Zaō appeared, together with Shakyamuni, the thousand-armed Avalokitesvara (Jp. Kannon) and the Boddhisattva Maitreya (Jp. Miroku). All these buddhas and deities appeared as tutelaries to help En no Ozunu overcome demons and evil thoughts.

https://d-museum.kokugakuin.ac.jp/eos/detail/?id=9985

While a god unique to Japan, Zaou is as stated associated with Buddha/Shayamuni, Avalokiteshvara/Kannon, and Maitreya/Miroku--all of them from "overseas," like Buddhism itself. Therefore, he became fused with the "overseas" hero in Spawn. But that's just my speculation!

[jp-vampyrian616]

I am a taken treehugging introvert for life (trying to be a Vegetarian), "Vampyrian Graver", (Vampyre Pagan UU ElectroGoth) in mid OHIO with Aspergers @ https://t.co/hyJeEeQJl2 ~ email me here: jpvanir616@yahoo.com ~ or call me at 740-889-8570. I am also a struggling Experimental Sound Artist JP Vampyrian of My sound art band Vampyrian616: (https://vampyrian616.com) ~

My sounds are available here: https://vampyrian616.bandcamp.com.

Please do not tip me here as they wont let me use paypal which is at: vampyrian616@hotmail.com

I am the Old school Gothic Vamp & founder of V-TempleUVUP since Dec.18th 2003. I have been working on the Vampire/Vampyre, Pagan, and Goth Alliance based in Ohio to unite all communities and not just devote myself to one: https://ohiovpgalliance.wixsite.com/vampagangothalliance also since I believe 2012 - I have been in the gothic community since the first Outland (mid 90's), the pagan community since 2002, as well as the V community since mid 2000. Since 2012. I have been working on the Vampire/Vampyre, Pagan, and Goth Alliance based in Ohio to unite all communities and not just devote myself to one and now beyond Ohio above...

I love topics about possession, the supernatural, Vampyres, Otherkin, Dark Spirituality, and Darkness ect...

My Blogs/Writings: https://vampyrian.wixsite.com/jp-vanirs-writings

My youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/JPVampyrian616

I am mostly just active with my sounds, art, writing, TempleUVUP, The VPG alliance, donating, my charities, and helping others that have gone through the same crap as me. If you need to get a hold of me contact me at: jp.vanir616@gmail.com or home @ 740-889-8570

My favorite singers are: Andrew Eldritch, Robert Smith, and Candia Ridley...

MY FAVORITE MUSIC: DARK TRANCE! - EBM - INDUSTRIAL - GOTH - DARK ELECTRONIC - DARK TRANCE - GOTH INDUSTRIAL - DRUMMING - PERCUSSION - DARK DANCE...

My favorite bands are Velvet Acid Christ, Esoterik, Blutengel, Inkubus Sukkubus, Strvngers, and Hocico even though they are completely different...

MY other FAVORITE BANDS ARE: UNTER NULL, FrightDoll, THE CURE, SKINNY PUPPY, Suicide Commando, WolfChild,SNOG, Youth Code, Crystal Castles, Goo Munday, PROJECT PITCHFORK, NORMORIA, SEVERE ILLUSION, 6th Circle, ALIEN SEX FIEND, VDevil, Kill Shelter, and Traitrs. After that I also like WUMPSCUT, Android Lust, WOLFSHEIM, Nine Inch Nails, DEAD CAN DANCE, Dance or Die. BELLA MORTE, CHRISTIAN DEATH, FLESH FIELD, DAS ICH, DAVID BOWIE, MISFITS, Siouxsie and The Banshees, PRINCE, LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT, ECT...

My favorite shows and movies are​

God Bless America (2011), Cottage Country, Little Shop of Horrors (original 86 one when the plant took over the world and everyone died), Phantom of the opera, THE NIGHT CLERK, Shaun of the dead, What we do in the shadows (series and movie), The Underworld movies, The Matrix trilogy, the X-men movies, Life force, Phantom of the opera, The Evil Dead movies except the remake, Avatar, Fargo (the series and movie), The Nightmare before Christmas, Ash vs the evil dead as well as evil dead movies, preacher, LIFE FORCE. My favorite more realistic vampire movies are movies are THE HAMILTON'S, MARTIN - DAWN - HABIT - THIRST (1979) (At least the Vampires let the humans have pleasure as they feed from them unlike humans as they torture there food; however I do disagree with forced awakening), queen of the damned, How to be a Serial Killer! (Great funny ass shit)...

I also like Caprica* BLOOD TIES, THE DEATHS OF IAN STONE, DRACULA, ALL Hannibal Lecter and Serial killer Movies /TV Shows, Dylan Dog (Dead of Night), THE OMEGA MAN (I prefer the Vampires or at least the leader Spiritual Vampire to the humans who created the plague), DRACULA 2000, SUCK, The PERFECT CREATURE, VAMPYRES, ULTRAVIOLET, VAMPIRES, Perfect Sisters (2014 but they should have gotten away with it!) The UNDERWORLD MOVIES, What we do in the shadows, Doctor Strange, The Usual Suspects, DEMON UNDER GLASS, LEGEND, EDWARD SCISSOR HANDS, THE LOST BOYS, INTERVIEW THE VAMPIRE, CANADIAN BACON, ED WOOD FILMS, THE DARK HALF, Night of the Living Dead Films, POWDER, THE ADDAMS FAMILY, THE ADDICTION, THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW, CORPSE BRIDE, NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, VAMPIRE JOURNALS, V FOR VENDETTA, VAMPIRE INTERVIEWS, the ADDICTION, DOGMA, CLERKS (both), BILLY MADISON, WHITE ZOMBIE, SID and NANCY, ALMOST ANYTHING BY MICHEAL MOORE, 12 MONKEYS, EMBRACE OF THE VAMPIRE, THE JERK, SOUTH PARK THE MOVIE, PURPLE RAIN, ECT...

I DONT LIKE MANY NEW TV SHOWS. I LIKED Santa Clarita Diet, TRUE BLOOD, Ash vs the Evil dead, Supernatural, ANGEL, FOREVER KNIGHT, GATES, BLOOD TIES, FRINGE, LOST GIRL, (real) Humans, The 100, American Horror Story, Continuum, HANNIBAL, Grimm, The Gifted, the ADDAMS FAMILY. The only things new I like are: What we do in the shadows, Carnival Row, American Horror Story, 12 Monkeys, Fargo, Legacies, Vikings, and Utopia Falls...

​

My favorite books are: The Vampyrian Shadow book (not just because I wote it either), pagan and earth-centered voices in Unitarian Universalism, The Druidry Handbook, and books about real Vampyres, paganism (esp Druidry but also Darker paths as well), theology, goths, animal rights, ect...

Morbid Obscurity, Peace, Love, Death, and Respect...

[castiel-left-his-mark-on-me]

Wasn't Walker based on a story already? Like it isn't a new story like SPN was? Meaning it already had a fanbase?

And that shit is still sinking???

And he wants it to continue for longer than SPN...

Yeah, apple doesn't fall far from the tree, does it?

I'm not sure if this is in reference to a specific post or not, but yeah-- Walker Texas Ranger was a show that ran throughout the 90's but it was nothing like Jared's reboot. I never really watched it, but as far as I can tell, the original series was all about the action, and about the creative, kickass crime fighting. There was very little back story to any of the characters; and I think if Jared tried to stay more true to the original's plot, he might've been more successful. The problem is, literally EVERY CHARACTER in the new series has some deep, brooding backstory, and then they try to install some humor throughout those backstories too, and that's on top of all the "action" and "crime fighting" that's supposed to reflect the original ... but the only thing that is truly reminiscent of the original show is just how corny it all is. The original series didn't try to take itself seriously though, so all the corny action and cowboy-talk could just be dumb and fun and entertaining.

Jared's version however, misses every mark it tries to hit. From the characterization to the writing, to the plot points and ... god, Jared's acting. I don't know how, but it's just really, really bad now. At the start of SPN, I thought he was actually a pretty decent actor. Sam was never my favorite on the show, but I thought Jared did him justice ... but over the years, he stopped even being able to play Sam well. And now with Walker, he is truly awful. The way he talks-- like he's out of breath all the time, making every sentence all jerky and stilted, plus all his awkward shuffling around like he can't stand still to save his life, all while he's supposed to be portraying this badass crime fighter and good dad and loving/mourning husband (oh and this doesn't have anything to do with anything, but the other love interest on the show-- not Gen-- looks a whole lot like Danneel to me, which is freaky as fuck imo. Anyway ...) I don't know. It's all just awful, so I'm not surprised that the people who liked the original series took one peek at this shit and said "NOPE!"

There are enough JP fans still out there though to keep the reboot running for a few seasons I'm sure, but there's no way it'll build the love and adoration that SPN had--no matter how many things Walker tries to rip off from SPN:

A queer brother with a 'W" branded on his chest in the same spot as Dean's tattoo

The attractive best friend whose heart is in the right place but still gets into scrapes

The mother figure who dies in the first episode

The father who is trying yet failing to do right by his two kids

The big "chosen family"

Jared won't ever be able to recreate or continue the feeling that Supernatural gave its fans ... he just won't, and now he's throwing a tantrum because of it.

[sincerly-kate]

Shattered Glass (Malcolm Bright/Whitly x gn!reader)

A/n: This story is inspired by two things; a two-part series by @wreckofawriter​ and also my experience with family . If you want me to remove it (wreckofawriter) then I will, but I don’t mean to copy your amazing work.

Warnings: Angst to fluff, Malcolm trying his best (not really a warning but that needed to be put out there, HE ONLY TRIES HIS BEST), also talk about poor mental health! (Such as Anxiety, description of an anxiety attack (this is based off MY experiences I’m not trying to generalize them!) and slight depression)

Don’t read if you’re not done season one! All spoilers are under the cut just in case (Eve is mentioned, iykyk)

Summary: You and Malcolm have been dating for a few years now, you share with him all of your sides- or so he thought. How will he react when he sees you crying when you think he can’t see you? How will he feel when he realizes that you guys are more alike than he originally expected?

Y/s/n = Your Siblings Name

Y/m/n = Your Mothers Name

y/n = your name (just in case this is your first fic)

Words: Just over 3,000 (😅😅)

I was listening to this song as I was writing this: If the World Was Ending- JP Saxe, Julia MIchaels

You always knew that Malcolm could see the real you better than anyone else, he could see straight through your facial expressions and little habits. It was his job after all as a profiler, he couldn’t just turn it off when he was with you and that was understood between the two of you. The last thing you wanted was for him to change in a world that treated him differently already (no thanks to his father).

But there was one part of you that you tried to keep from Malcolm at all costs, and that was your family.

It wasn’t because you didn’t trust him with that knowledge, but it was just a side of you that you’ve never been able to let anyone see. To see how hurt you were by their words, how little you were respected by them, how small you felt anytime you tried to be yourself around them. You couldn’t tell him any of it, you hoped that he would believe your lies, cause you knew that his family was way worse than yours; so you just kept it all inside for no one except yourself to see. The last thing you wanted was for him to feel guilty for confiding in you after all these years.

You felt him nudge your shoulder, which brought you back to reality. You were a Reporter, and a very god one depending on who you asked, and Malcolm needed you to help him drag out a killer for a case. He was profiled as overly confident and a borderline narcissist, so Malcolm was certain that if you talked about him on the news, saying that they had him in custody that he would contact either you or the station to say you had a fraud. Malcolm was going to be by your side the entire time, just to make sure they wouldn’t go after the most important person in his life-,not again; he wouldn’t know what he would do if you were taken away from him like Eve. He would do anything in his power to make sure that he wouldn’t go after you, since you matched most of his previous victims.

“You alright?” He looked at you slightly worried, he was always concerned when you got too deep into that head of yours, he wasn’t sure what caused you to be constantly thinking that you’re not good enough, but he wasn’t going to press the matter. He rubbed your thigh as he sat next to you, to keep you grounded.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be? It’s not like I’m about to be indirectly talking to a serial killer on live television, and possibly get a target on my back for doing so.” You nervously laughed as you looked down at your feet, your leg bouncing up and down to the rhythm of your rapidly beating heart.

“You don’t need to do this; you know that right?” He placed his hand on your cheek, caressing the side of your face with his thumb repeating the motion to calm your nerves. “I can ask Ainsley; she’s done this before-”

“Malcolm, I’ll be alright. I always am.” You gave him a tight-lipped smile; you knew it wasn’t very convincing but that’s all you could muster up at the moment.

He wasn’t convinced, you could tell since he gave you his doubtful that he’s given you on more than one occasion but he was cut off by another voice before he could call you out on it.

“C’mon Bright, they’re about to go live.” Gill said as he lightly grabbed his arm to get him out of the shot, and he complied.

“Live in 3,2,1...” You were given the cue as you took a deep breath and put your ‘TV face’ on as you liked to call it. “Breaking news tonight, the NYPD have confirmed that they have someone in custody who’s been known to the public as The angel of death, nothing has been said by police if this truly is their killer but after the past week of The angel of death terrorizing the city, police are led to believe that this is him.”

You took a pause to make it look like you were listening to someone through your earpiece, that was intentionally visible to the camera, then carried on with the broadcast.

“I’ve just gotten a confirmation from our sources that it has been officially confirmed that they have The angel of death himself in custody and will be setting a court date to be announced later. Now back to Ryan with politics.”

The second you heard the ring that signaled you were no longer on air, you slumped over in relaxation. You crossed your arms on the table in front of you and leaned your head, that now felt lighter than air, on top.

“You did amazing darling, that should get the killers attention for certain.” He said to you as the sound of his shoes got closer to the desk the kissed the top of your head and slowly rubbed your back to release more tension that he knew you were holding.

“I didn’t really- “You tried to correct him as you lifted your head, but Malcolm refused to let you get close to finishing that sentence of yours.

“Nope- you just brought us our killer baby; you did a hell of a lot more than most would’ve in your shoes.”  You loved how he was always able to reassure you, and how he did it without a second beat.

You turned to look up at your loving and supportive boyfriend in admiration and a warm smile slowly painting your features, “Whatever I did in a past life was so worth it.”

“What?” He slightly laughed at your statement, looking at you now with a mixture of curiosity and confusion.

“To deserve someone like you and be lucky to call them mine.” You stood up from your chair and moved closer to him to close the distance between his lips and yours, you could taste the slight cherry flavor of the candy you knew he had earlier. As you two break apart, you can still taste it on your own lips.

Unfortunately, this moment doesn’t last as long as you two wanted it to, because both of your phones go off. His from an unknown caller, and yet yours is somehow worse.

You look down to your phone saying Mom, you sighed at this and then looked at Malcolm, or where he was, already on his phone, most likely talking to the killer himself next to Dani, Giles and JT.

You excused yourself to another room for some privacy that you knew you were going to need. You were only halfway to the quiet room when you answered your phone; you knew that was going to be a bad idea.

“Why in the hell did you think that was a good idea y/n?!”

You sighed and with a tight-lipped smile replied with, “Hello to you too mom, haven’t heard from you in a while.” You then slowly closed the door behind you.

“Don’t give me that lip! I am your mother, I deserved to be treated with respect! I never get this from y/s/n.”

You dropped your head down in defeat, you always considered the problem child, ever since your sibling came into the picture. Before that everything was relatively fine, but you never blamed y/s/n though; it’s not their fault your parents decided that you could fend for yourself at the age of 8.

“Yeah I know, but it was for a case- “Once again, she decided to cut you off.

“A CASE?” she shrieked into the phone, making you pull the device away from your ear.

“Yes- “

“Now I knew were selfish, but I never thought it was this bad. I could tell that it was staged, are you seriously putting yourself in danger so they could contact you for some ink?”

You were absolutely shocked by her words; she thought that you risking your life was selfish? So, you could save others, that made you selfish? You felt the pressure of tears build up as a sickening pit was building in your stomach; she always knew the words to say and never in the good way. “No, that’s not- “

“No, I get it, you’re too damn stupid to see past your own needs. I have no clue where I went wrong with you.”

The minute you heard that, you hung up the phone. You couldn’t care less about what she would’ve said after that.

You hit your back on the wall as you slowly walked backwards and slid down to the floor. You pulled your knees up to your chest and placed your head down.

You must’ve been sitting there for a while as there was a rough knocking behind your back, on the door. ‘They must’ve been knocking for a while’ you thought.

“Y/n! Are you in there?” Malcolm. You must’ve scared him to death, without even thinking you stand up and open the door for him.

Behind the door was Gil, JT and Dani accompanying Malcolm. “Shit guys, sorry if I scared you.” You laughed humorlessly but stopped once you saw all their concerned faces.

“Y/n, you alright?” Gil asked, who was more of a parental figure than your own, but you couldn’t ever tell him that. Not because you were scared it would go to his head, no, he wasn’t like that. You just didn’t want it to become awkward since he already needed to worry about Malcolm, you didn’t need him to constantly worry about you on top of it.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” You said then realized you still had massive tear stains on your cheeks and puffy eyes from your previous phone call, you forgot to wipe them away before you opened the door.

‘Dammit y/n’ you scolded yourself for making the four of them all worry.

“Um you got somethin’ right,” JT then motioned to his whole face, Dani then elbowed him in the side for his unhelpful comment.

“Oh!” You wiped the sides of your face, “I’m fine guys, just got something in my eye.” You smiled at all of them.

Your head then turned to Malcolm, who squinted his eyes at you. You could tell didn’t believe you at all; he knew all your tells. You could tell that he was going to ask later, but you were sure as hell going to avoid it if you could.

Unable to deal with the silence anymore, you pushed by all of them, apologizing as you went, and walked out to your car. You were done for the day anyways, so you wanted to go home to Malcolm and yours’ apartment.

~

Once you got through the door, you let the dam in your mind open. The flood gate of tears rushed, and there was nothing you could’ve done to stop it; not that you really wanted to anyways. Your hands shook from the rush of emotions going through you, but you forced down the inevitable panic attack until you got to the couch. Your hands continued to uncontrollably shake, and you curled up in a fetal position with your favorite blanket wrapped around you like a tight hug. The words of your mother echoed throughout your fogged mind.

“I knew were selfish… you’re too damn stupid to see past your own needs…”

It just wouldn’t stop. It was like a massive wave going over a surfer; nothing could be done about it, you just needed to ride it out.

You heard a muffled noise coming from behind you but being so caught up and immobilized in your thoughts, nothing could’ve dragged you out of this one, not this time.

 A pair of arms grabbed your shoulders, and there was enough fight left in you to push them away and run into the corner of the apartment. You could slightly see a male figure coming near you, and all you were capable of doing was whimpering and curling up in what you had deemed your safety blanket.

“Y/n… talk to me… happened at… were worried…”

You tried to make out the familiar voice- Malcolm; that’s the only person it could be right? It didn’t matter to you right now; the voice of your mother was stronger than your own thoughts, it always had been.

You felt a thud right next to you, and smelt the subtle sent of his cologne, it brought you back to your senses slightly, but not enough to stop your uncontrollable shaking and tears. He nudged himself closer to your body, and you instinctively laid your head on his shoulder. You could feel yourself calm down, but you knew it was because he was here. Yes, he was helping you ground yourself through the small gesture, but it was mainly that you were embarrassed of him seeing you like this and could feel your body force away the attack.

As you begun to trust yourself to speak, you turned slightly towards Malcolm, a numb look coated your features. “Sorry you had to see that; you shouldn’t have had to.” You spoke meekly, looking down at your still slightly shaky hands in your lap.

“Y/n, you have nothing to be sorry for.”

It was once he said that sentence that you knew you needed to come clean about the one secret that you had left from him.

“But I do, I’ve been selfish.”

“How darling?” He said while slowly petting your head, the way you’d comfort a child.

“I didn’t want to tell you, cause you already had so much on your plate, with this case, your family, and I- I just didn’t want to add my family on top of it.” He understood that this must’ve been eating at you for a while, because you normally bottled all your feelings until it broke; unfortunately, that’s why you both got along so well. He never wanted you to feel like that was necessary when you were with him, but how do you bring that kind of thing up?

“What about your family?” he spoke softly. You never spoke about them, hell he’s never even met them but now he felt deep down that he was about to find out why.

“Am I selfish to you? Am I someone you really see yourself with in the long run?” Tears begun to fill your eyes again, and a crack in your voice was evident to Malcolm that you believed in what you were saying about yourself.

He felt a pang of sadness for you in his chest, that was quickly turning to anger at whoever made you feel like you were any less than worth the universe. He composed himself before he responded to your question.

“Far from it, you are the most selfless human being I’ve ever met. There’s now way that a selfish person would’ve done what you did today; going in front of thousands of people and calling out a killer like that, like a badass.” He nudged your shoulder, where he got a slight giggle out of you. It wasn’t a lot, but it was better than nothing.

“And absolutely can I see you with me later on,” He took a deep breath before he continued his statement. “I love you y/n, and if I ever lost you… I don’t even want to think of who I would become. You’re the greatest thing that has ever happened to me.”

You immediately rushed into his arms and embraced him so tightly, afraid that this was all some massive cruel dream, and you’d wake up another day without him knowing. You stayed like this for a moment before Malcolm piped up,

“So, you wanna tell me why the most beautiful person to ever walk the earth is currently crying on our apartment floor at nearly 9 pm?”

You both chuckled at this, as you unwrapped yourself from his arms to look him in his beautiful blue eyes. His eyes were still filled with an underlying anger, but mainly held concern towards you.

“You know when we were at the news station today? And you got a call from the killer?” He nodded, encouraging you to continue.

“Well I also got a call, but it was from my mother. We got into an argument, since she saw the broadcast, and words were said.” You knew that the fine details were going to be said eventually, but you couldn’t bring yourself to say it.

“And, what did she say baby?” He answered in a voice that was barely even a whisper, he looked you up and down; most likely looking at your body language to see if you were going to try and lie, but he could tell that you were going to be honest.

“That I was selfish, dumb, questioning where she went wrong with me.” You sniffled and looked to your hands, terrified to see Malcolm’s reaction. Not because he might yell at you, but at what he might do to your mother now that this was his first impression of her.

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” Was all he said after some silence.

“You have your own family shit to deal with, I didn’t feel like it was fair on you to dump mine on top of it. I didn’t want you to lose anymore sleep than you already do over something that I need to deal with.”

“…”

“Malcolm? You’re scaring me.” You looked up at him to see him looking out the window, his face glowing from all the nightlife neon lights across the street; he looked so angelic, more than he normally did.

“How didn’t I see this any sooner? I don’t care that you didn’t tell me y/n, I don’t care that your family is screwed up as well. I do care about the fact that I couldn’t help you through it.”

“But Malcolm it wasn’t your fight-” you tried to defend your reasoning, but alas he needed to correct you once more before the night was through.

“You’re right; it’s our fight. To hell with our parents, we’re not our parents; we are our own people. So, from this moment on, I promise to be completely transparent with my baggage as long as you are with me. We can break our constantly bottled-up feelings together.” He gently picked up your hand and laid a kiss on top.

“turn them into shattered glass.” You nodded as you spoke, a smile slowly coming back to your face.

“Just like shattered glass.” He nodded back, returning your smile.

And just like that, the two of you sat down on the couch, cuddling and watching movies as dusk carried on into dawn.

A/n: I hope you guys liked this, I always loved Malcolm’s character and Prodigal son, and with my life being slightly hectic at the moment this was a nice change of pace. Hope you have an amazing day or night, depending on where you are! 💙

-Kate

[chibimyumi]

Hi Chibi! I’m kind of obsessed with your blog. I’ve loved Kuro for a long time so it’s nice to see someone make very thoughtful posts about it. I was reading some of your posts about the kuro anime and was wondering. What is your opinion of the season 2 OVA The story of Will the reaper? I love the reapers so getting to know about their world is great, but will kicking grell’s ass was not great 😖.

【Response to: “are there any S1 or S2 OVAs you enjoyed?”】

Dear Dagonl,

Thank you very much for your interest! I’m happy you like my content, and it’s always nice to hear that somebody is interested in long-winded posts deep-analyses! ^^

Short answer:

As for my opinion on ‘The story of Will the Reaper’: as I said in the original post, in my opinion “[a]ll OVAs for the second season were (almost) as awful as the season itself, save for ‘The Making of [Kuroshitsuji]’.” Though, ‘the story of Will the reaper’ is actually the one that made me add the ‘almost’ in the previous sentence, meaning that it’s marginally better than the rest.

Click for Full Answer: The good things and the... awful things.

1. The good things

The reason I found this OVA marginally better is because I do respect the ambition and (attempt at) creativity the makers have shown. At the time of release the manga had not revealed anything yet about reaper origins. So I guess they could be forgiven for their artistic liberties (unlike the spoiler-revelation of Undertaker’s nature that ruined his big revelation in the manga.)

1.1. Fair world-building

The world-building works well with the idea of Yana’s satire on the Japanese Salaryman through William. As William is something of a self-proclaimed ‘model’ and so unforgivingly rigid, it gives us reason to believe the Reaper Dispatch Society is built on this type of ideal; aka the Japanese office environment. We have also seen that the technology of the Death Scythes is a century more advanced than Kuroshitsuji’s contemporaries, so the 1980s setting was well done in my opinion.

1.2. Fair reflection on reaper/Salaryman doctrine

The biggest critique on Salaryman culture is the robotic attitude employers demand. The Japanese Salaryman™ is expected to be no more than silent executors of the will from above. As explained by William, reapers don’t actually do all that much; all they do is meaningless double-checking JUST IN CASE something might be off.

As a satire this OVA is not ‘complete’ because you do need the information from the manga that came out many years later to understand why the reaper world is a satire in the first place for the actual punch. But in the very least the OVA pays adequate lip-service and does not disrespect the satirical origins of Yana’s design.

One thing this OVA does arguably better than even Yana is showing that most reapers are robotic work zombies like Will, rather than that the Dispatch Office is filled with eccentric youngsters as the named reapers of the series might suggest. (Though there is a downside that I will discuss in section 2.2.)

2. The awful things

So, to me this OVA has two good things, but they are insignificant in the face of the awful things that’s the rest of this OVA.

2.1. Raging homo and transphobia, etc.

This OVA handles Grell extremely poorly. First of all, this OVA makes it explicit that Grell is a homosexual man, blatantly defying both canon and Yana’s explicit statement of her female gender. Why? Because the most obnoxious shippers want their Yaoi, and this sells. This one literally needed to sell because it’s an OVA.

As explained in more detail in this post, Grell was called a man and she eagerly responded “oh, yes”, and later she herself confirms this statement by making it explicit that she dreams of herself in a m/m relationship. (Yes, these subs are accurately translated. Click the link for a Japanese to English breakdown).

Some fans have explained this as Grell’s words before she realised her own identity, and I understand why. We all want something to not be this gross and try to make sense of the nonsensical, and some actual identity discovering journey would have been nice. For Grell as a character however, it only serves to give Man!Grellers more ammo (even though they have the destructive power of cotton wads).

As I said in the post linked above, “[if this statement] used to be [Grell’s] thoughts that are no longer relevant in present time, the script should have addressed that in present-timeline of the story. As it is now, it is clear as day that the writer Nemoto Toshizou did not take that into inconsideration.”

Secondly, this OVA is desperately trying to cater to Grelliam shippers. Fans have always come up with different reasons to ship this, but this OVA had to choose the most toxic one to capitalise on. Why make Grell so shitty to Will for no reason? Being degrading to him is one thing, but Grell was outright deadly violent to William for trying to do his job. And then Grell only stopped being so hostile because she got beaten back and therefore fell in love?

Yes, people justify this by saying that it’s charming to Grell because she’s a masochist, “whatever”. This however, paints a very askew image of real people who enjoy masochism as a kink. Any responsible adult in the SM community would tell you how painfully shallow Grell’s masochism is portrayed as, and how this portrayal takes away all accountability from someone who harms a kink-masochist if something went wrong.

This OVA would ironically have been more effective as an anti-Grelliam story, except that it sells itself as the opposite. With just the manga, people could just say: “oh, Grell doesn’t respect William’s personal boundaries, and William is very aggressive to Grell, but they can sort that out...eventually.” Add this OVA however, suddenly William is an indisputable abuse victim, and Grell is just an “in your face gay” (as the gay stereotype dictates...)

2.2. Contradicting Canon

I am actually not all that harsh about this OVA contradicting canon history because at the time of release nothing about the reapers had been revealed yet. Like I said above, I even respect the creativity to some extent. The only real problem is because this fandom tends to conflate canon with anime information by using cross-media information to understand Kuroshitsuji.

As discussed in section 1.2., the glimpses of the Reaper office are interesting, but the downside to this is that it suggests reapers are a race one is born into because all newbies are approximately the same age. Without the manga, this information in a vacuum is fine. Later however, Yana reveals that all reapers are suicides and are being punished for this sin. If a fan accepts both pieces of information and tries to piece them together, then suddenly this bit of creativity becomes a totalitarian nightmare.

People of all ages commit suicide. If a fan were to try shoehorn the OVA info into canon material (for lack of more stories), then we get: 1. reapers are suicides who get punished, and 2. all reaper newbies are approximately the same age and able bodied. The only conclusion we can draw then is that only able-bodied suicides who fit the ‘newbie age’ are punished. What happens to people who fall outside this norm? Is becoming a reaper and ‘paying off’ your sin the only way to “serve your term”? If so, then do suicides who fall outside this norm never get a chance to redeem themselves?😱 Or...... do only able-bodied youngsters get punished for committing suicide because they still had “societal value” but wasted it? Either way would be f*cked up!

But again, none of this is a real problem as long as a fan can distinguish canon from non-canon information ^^ So, moving on

2.3. Are reapers God Almighty?

Unlike the second, the third issue I have with the OVA is actually something I am quite harsh on. In this OVA we see that even trainees like William and Grell have apparent power to judge over somebody’s life and death based on their intellectual value. However, this begs for an urgent question!

Under section 3 of this post I discussed whether the law of “a human dies because a reaper says so” according to Grell would be feasible. It’s a relatively long discussion, so please click the link if you’re interested in the details. If you just want it to be quick then just ask the following question: “why give trainees/reapers with human subjectivity an almighty God’s** power to decide over life and death of others?” If we then add the manga’s canon information that reapers are being punished for having committed suicide, then why give people whose sin was ‘deciding over life and death wrongly FOR THEMSELVES’ the power to do so for OTHERS????

Still, even if we disregard the manga and view this OVA in a vacuum, it is still VERY alarming that trainees are given this power. Perhaps if a trainee misjudges there will be due consequences from above, but why give a trainee this power in the first place? Are human lives just test objects to this “reaper race”?

This third issue is so awful to me because it shows how little the OVA creators thought through matters and just wanted a quick money grab by selling the most toxic version of the Grelliam ship.

**TLN: A ‘shinigami’ is Japanese for ‘Death (shini) God (gami/kami)’, but please note that in Japanese definitions, a ‘kami’ is not ‘god’ in the same way it is in the Abrahamic sense. A ‘kami’ is more similar to a ‘spirit’, and is therefore not a supreme being. Entirely accurately, a ‘shinigami’ would be more similar to ‘death angel’ or ‘death spirit’.

Related posts:

Why would Sascha have committed suicide? Rutger, Will and the JP Salaryman

How does a scythe kill a reaper? A discussion of MBD musical’s horrible writing of universe laws, and canon reaper laws

Can reapers teleport?

A reaper’s dormitory