#hear more of my friendship propaganda

[hanzajesthanza]

from the iconic

[stiffyck]

im here to spread more Redscape propaganda Vampire Mumbo who is by no means immortal, but his life span is much longer then anything a humans ever seen thanks to magic. He spends his time disguised as a mortician, and part time funeral director because of his interest in death/the human life cycle as a whole. No ones aware hes a vampire of course, vampires had been socially outcast for typical vampire stuff, sucking the life out of others and whatnot. Something Mumbo has never been able to master, though he isn't opposed to drinking blood out of blood bags if he becomes desperate enough. Scar on the other hand is a con-artist and a scammer, popularly known, just not by his actual name. One day he walks into the funeral home with a huge backpack, and who happens to be working that day but Mumbo. He asks Mumbo if he would like to buy anything from his "one man shop" and attempts to do his usual scamming business. Its not like Vampires can read minds or anything, but he can tell Scars lying. Instead of trying to buy any of his clearly fake crystals he asks about his job, tries to make small talk and attempt to get friendly with the guy. Before he can even get close to figuring out Scars name hes gone far too soon, they were even having a half decent chat, but Mumbos co-worker shooed him out of the building. "You do know thats the scam artist i was talking about? You didnt buy anything from him did you?" "Of course not!! I'm not that stupid!" Scar comes back the next day to try again, and surprise surprise, Mumbos still there. Though not thrilled to see him, he asks what hes doing back here. Scar continues to advertise his products to the guy, offering crystals (dyed glass), handmade plushies and old amusement park merchandise. Of course he doesn't want any of it, but hes grown weirdly fascinated by the con-artist. He asks if he'd like to go out for coffee anytime, and to his own surprise Scar draws a blank. "Are you not going to buy anything from my lovely shop first? If you buy a crystal it could boost your friendship points!" are the words Mumbo hears, but doesn't exactlyyy *hear* if you get what i mean. Its not romantic attraction, its more of a "this guy is so odd. i need to put him under a magnifying glass and study him." type of attraction. I might write something for this but for now ill leave it here (i love redscape theyre the voices in my brain)

YESSSS I LOVE THAT.

with the way you started this off i thought Scar would be a zombie actually. i think a vampire and a zombie duo would be really fun.

ALSO. YES. AND I THINK THIS WEIRD "i need to study this guy" ATTRACTION GOES BOTH WAYS SKDJFHSKH

LOVE ALL OF THIS

[queervocasongtourn]

Queer Vocaloid Song Tournament: Side A, Round 1

Please listen to all songs before voting!

Shama by NILFRUITS feat. VFlower

VS

Zero Talking by Harumaki Gohan feat. Hatsune Miku

Propaganda under the cut!

SHAMA

"extremely potent yearning, the powerful dynamic of safety in disguise but a dangerous freedom in truth, beautiful characters…what more can you ask for?"

"if i am being completely honest i dont actually get everything that happened in shama - that can be left to all the other people who are more knowledgeable about nilfruits songs than me and immediately thought of submitting this - but I immediately thought of this song because its so SO good. the song itself is incredible and the mv adds on to make it an even greater work!! i might not know all of shama's story, but what i do know is that shama's a fantastic song regardless and i'll go crazy whenever i hear it. and i also do know that clay and kalmia (especially clay) are some great lgbtq+ rep in a vocaloid song!!! the section from 2:00-2:36, when accompanied by the mv, is maybe one of my favorite moments in any vocaloid song. what follows is also great! as propaganda i am begging the reader to go listen to shama with the mv if they haven't. i don't want to explain it because i don't entirely know how to but they're fucking gay and i really like how the mv shows this!"

"sapphic 👍👍"

"Okay so this one is kinda hard to explain but the MV is some flavour of queer for sure. Just… watch it and you'll get what I mean"

"a femme-fatale prisoner and one of her guards have a doomed romance..! the mv is by wooma, who uses a graphic colour palette to complement nilfruits's addictive guitar melody. this song is also the first in a series, so if you're interested in the prisoner's backstory, you can watch the other works to find out more :-)"

ZERO TALKING

"tbf most harugoha songs are so #yuri but this one has an actual kiss. royalty x maid childhood friends who have drifted apart over the years and the royal lady (unsure of her english title, in japanese shes just named daireijo) desperately wants to just Talk to her dearest maid dorothy again but can't get anywhere with it (hence the title). In the final chorus of the MV she has enough and kisses dorothy on the lips. They're referred to as "sisters" sometimes but this is a reference to the classic catholic school yuri trope where an older girl will take in a younger one as a "younger sister" and they have a sort of romantic friendship going on. They're like definitely not actually sisters it would make no sense. It's such a good song. the bass in it is really good. please listen to harumaki gohan"

"despite the sister term scare that happened when the mv first came out this mv is about a princess and her maid who used to be friends and i believe grew apart and the princess is trying to reconnect with her friend. also first harumaki gohan mv kiss iirc!! the song is also just a brainworm in general i looped it so much it was stuck in my head for months"

"The song is about a girl who has a strained relationship with another girl, and who wishes for things to go back to the way they were (the maid doesn't talk to her anymore). The use of "sister" is also not literal, instead being a term found in yuri to describe a relationship between women (often shorten to S/esu), as well as the comparison between the two girls and the story of orihime and hikoboshi, as well as the fact they literally kiss in the song. I don't know if you can really deny it with that."

"this was in my head for weeks and weeks after it released!! the mv really makes it, the surprise near the end is so cool"

"😳"

"ZERO TALKING TALKING TALKING .Harumakigohan is the king of vocaloid yuri rn but oh my god first on-screen kiss in his songs!!! For a cute song about a princess trying to win back the affection of her childhood friend now employed as a head maid at her castle. just listen to the beat and tell me u are not enthralled. the lil "pop" noise in the song when they smooch is adorable. the song is so catchy it's ridculous i just hit that shit on loop."

[summercosmos]

Fablehaven Pokemon AU; pt. 1 (Kendra)

what i have worked out so far:

Kendra as an aspiring pokemon researcher; she and Seth are sent to Fablehaven (daycare/sanctuary) to help out their grandparents

the main point to that is to get them some field experience with a variety of pokemon. you can't get the full experience of pkm handling as a city kid!!!

child labor laws in the pokemon universe are extremely dubious, but still, Kendra and Seth don't really work Work like Dale. they get the menial jobs, i.e, grooming, feeding, and occasionally training pkm

this works out great for Kendra!!! she gets to see (and register in her pokedex) all types of pkm while also learning all about their behavioral patterns

I can't really see Kendra as a big fan of battling; she has the occasional friendly battle when prompted, sure, but her team selection is in no way geared towards competitive strategies

they are just Her Little Guys 🙁

absolutely a fan of contests. those are basically the equivalent of idols for the teenage girls in the pkm universe

obligatorily i have to make most of her team fairy types but i think she'd enjoy the occasional water and grass type

NOT immune to magical horse propaganda! her biggest little-girl wish was a galarian ponyta

the Sorenson are all the way over in Unova unfortunately . sorry kendra no unicorns for you

(she doesn't Know)

Kendra drifts more toward defensive pokemon — the ones that can take a hit and hit back harder

speed isn't much of a priority (leafeon & rapidash as the only outliers)

she spends her time differently depending on the pokemon. swimming with azumarill, going on runs with leafeon, making the psychic horse read Jane Austen, etcetera

team! from oldest to newest

Azumarill: azurill is a fairly easy pokemon to raise — that's why it was the first one Kendra ever trained, a gift from her parents. high friendship comes easy after a few months, and a marill quickly evolves into Azumarill. they so sunbathe together by the edge of the pool

Leafeon: originally an eevee, given as a graduation present for trainer's school. it only evolved after Kendra was already in Fablehaven — there was most definitely a mossy rock in the middle of those woods. they make a good match! leafeon as a species don't enjoy battling all that much

Altaria (Raxtus): same old story of dragon egg raised by fairies except this time they were actually fairy-type pokemon. methinks Raxtus was a wild pokemon who took a liking to Fablehaven as a sanctuary, and upon interacting with Kendra, took a liking to her as well. technically, Kendra hasn't caught him, since a pokeball would restrict his ability to wander around, but Raxtus always comes back to hang out or to help with anything important, so! they're besties. also he mega-evolves bc that's about as close as a can get to canon Kendra's battery abilities.

Galarian Ponyta: remember when i said she wouldn't get to have the unicorn bc she hadn't ever been to galar. well. SOMEONE who does a fair amount of traveling may have ACCIDENTALLY stumbled upon a wild ponyta and decided to catch it and bring it back all the way to unova upon hearing Kendra did very much wish to have one. who would do that though haha. smitten loser behavior (→→→→→ bracken ←←←←←)

Decidueye: originally a dartrix Seth caught in a ranger mission (will elaborate on this. eventually)! they got along fine but this whole evolution line is unbelievably prissy. they need one grooming down daily at LEAST. it was simply not feasible for Seth to take care of it especially since rangers spend most of their time with their partner pokemon only. so Kendra kinda takes care of it unofficially. when it evolves they start practicing archery together. yay

this au has been gnawing on my brain for a while now and im happy to share my genius. seth should be next!

[jane-john-doe-tournament]

John Doe (Malevolent) Propaganda:

Spooky gay eldritch disaster (am I doing this right?)

Could have chosen any name for himself and picked John because a kind person called him that :)

fractured piece of an eldritch god that shares a body with a private eye after being fractured. chooses the name John Doe after said private eye goes into a coma

Because he’s an eldritch god who wants to feel human and who overcame a lot of obstacles and dangers!!! He sincerely cares about the main character!!! And he chose a name himself! Isn’t he cute??? He lost his body, he almost lost his memory, he fought for his right to exist, he loves animals, he loves his friend Arthur and I love him!

Being an ass, friendship, spooky supernatural stuff, he’s got it all

My man heard the name John Doe, realized he didn’t actually have a name, and just. Took it for himself.

I LOVE HIM. MY SON. HE’S TRYING TO CHANGE AND BE BETTER AND :(((( He’s a fragment of the soul of the King in Yellow (god of trickery and suffering iirc??) that gets trapped in a book in our realm while the rest of the King stayed in his own separate realm. When a human named Arthur Lester opens the book they get linked and John gains control of Arthur’s eyes & kills his partner (oops!). They proceed to go on a quest to find a way of separating them because neither likes the situation, and at first John (or The Entity, which is what he’s called at first) just wants to trick and use Arthur, and control his entire body (through the first season he also gets a hand & a foot) even though he doesn’t remember being The King In Yellow at the time, but Arthur makes him change and become more human. His turning point is when Arthur is shot and falls into a coma for a month. They get treated at a hospital and while John waits for Arthur to wake up so they can carry on, the body itself still gets taken care of. The time John spends alone, contemplating on humanity & everything he’s seeing and learning from Arthur, as well as the way a certain nurse speaks to him every day (specifically, she greets him good morning and good night, despite the body being unresponsive, John still hears because he is an entity linked to the body) and calls him John (they didn’t have ID on when they were found so they were classified as John Doe), changes his outlook and plans for good, and he asks Arthur to call him John; from this point on he admits he cares for Arthur, looks for his wellbeing too, and in general attempts to be a better person and to live for himself. The rest of the podcast (ongoing!!) explores Arthur & John’s relationship, struggle to survive, adventures in the eldritch… All while tackling each of their issues with themselves and each other and watching them both grow. John in specific learns to be the person he wants to be, how sometimes you’ll take a step forward and two backwards; he can be cruel and manipulative sometimes but he still tries. Personally I love his journey, it’s very realistic and you can see he is trying his best, and how he wants to be better than he was as the King In Yellow, and how much Arthur has changed him and how much he cares about him because of that; and how he’s slowly growing into being his own person :) if it ends badly ill cry so hard but!!! he’s John Doe because that’s the name he was being addressed as, and he’s made it his, and being John means he’s no longer the King and that he wants to be different, and John can fail or make mistakes but it’s part of who he is now, and that’s what matters. I am So Normal About Him

JOHN DOE (Malevolent) SWEEP

Jane Doe (Team Fortress 2) Propaganda:

Soldier’s name, Jane Doe, emphasizes the core aspects of his character. We’re given sparse, mostly comedic, details about Soldier’s past, having been rejected from every branch of the U.S. Military. Soldier represents this parody of the idea of a U.S. Soldier. He’s taken every trope to heart and blown it up, but gotten it slightly off. Hence, his name is a reference to an unidentified person, someone without a real identity, but skewed slightly to the left from just being your standard John Doe.

Rejected from every branch of the military. Used sour-cream to found a racoon sanctuary in his ex-roommate's new castle. Has lead poisoning. Him and his fiancee are like if Gomez and Morticia Addams were meathead jocks. Strips naked and douses himself in honey in order to fight things like bears and killer robots. Collects severed heads. I love him.

[altocat]

You had a lot of interesting predictions for season 1 and many came true! I would love to hear your predictions for season 2 if you have any?

It's very hard to predict the plot on just a teaser, unless we get more information from the upcoming stream.

I think that Season 2 will be more focused on Seph's relationship with Genesis and Angeal + letting go of his fear of Hojo. It's more about Sephiroth finding some level of selfhood. We'll probably see him acting as team leader again, but with a greater emphasis on him figuring out the kind of person he wants to be based on what he learned from Glenn.

Other early predictions:

Camera Guy ends up being Black Robe 01. And is probably an NPC who follows Sephiroth for propaganda purposes.

Context for the locket/why Sephiroth later thinks Lucrecia is dead.

The area they are investigating is possibly haunted because a stray piece of Jenova is scattered there, hence why we see Hojo.

Playable Genesis and Angeal eventually.

Theme will be THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP and/or Sephiroth learning to trust people again after Rhadore/doubling down on protective instincts.

More CC era flashforwards as adult Seph reflects on his relationship with Genesis and Angeal.

Ending will involve teaser for Part 3 that eventually leads to Glenn's death.

My LONGSHOT THEORY: Hallucination of Hojo already confirmed. How fucked up would it be if we got a hallucination of Lucrecia as well? The entity might be targeting Sephiroth specifically.

[padawansuggest]

Consider

Obi-Wan 7yo, wakes up from naptime in the creche after a Very Important Vision

Immediately skips bail to go out into the temple proper, following whispers of the force (more like cackling lmao) till he gets to a training salle

Training salle is occupied by 15-18yo padawans in the middle of practice, one of which being Kelleran Beq, The Sabered Hand, who is a cheerful teen who wants to be a creche master after he’s knighted

Of course an unaccompanied initiate in the salles is always a cause for concern, so Kelleran comes over to coax the boy into telling him why he’s wandered off

Obi: I’m going with you next month when you go to the production studios for your first filming of the Jedi Temple Challenge

Is questioned on if his creche master just told him that??

Nah he saw it in a dream

Cool cool cool Kelleran LOVES the possessed ones, they’re so cute

Asks kiddo why he thinks he’s going with

Cause Obi-Wan needs an escort to audition for the next season of Sesame System, a show that teaches children and reduces the galaxy’s gap of learning between the poor and the rich, so he can teach the galaxy about what it’s like to be a Jedi!

Okay okay that’s chill lil buddy, Kelleran will be in the production studio anyways cause they’re in the same place

Turns out the REAL Jedi Temple Challenge was the 10 under 10s Kelleran got to help wrangle along the way

Not fully sure where this is going other than Jango Fett (only 3 years older here and not 6) ending up on the same season of Sesame System only for him and Jaster (who’s also got the exact same goals of endearing the public to Mandalorians and is using the show to help point out the Mandalorian kids shows the galaxy can show their kids too, while Obi is pointing at Jedi Temple Challenge) to immediately decide that’s a prime little buddy and now they wanna keep him

The temple settles on a middle ground of letting them babysit Obi sometimes by sticking him in Mando production studios

Kelleran is very worried about baby getting kidnapped by the prince of Mandalore but accepts that Obi also really likes the prince they’re vode now

I. Fucking. Love. Childrens early educational shows and stuff like that. And I want to write an entire series about the shows the Jedi and Mandos could put out to endear themselves to the galaxy and it’s basically propaganda but not bad because the Sith could never get a foothold because Jedi are just sweet little guys with god powers what’s not to love lol

And then the ideas combined in my head when this last Mando episode reminded me of Jedi Temple Challenge (I never actually watched it but I did overall hear about it when it aired) and I decided Kelleran needs to make my dumb ideas a reality.

Obi’s master is a Jedi who’s been doing acting their whole life too but it can’t be Mace because Mace is a theater kid and not a kids show kid he needs a less theatric and more educational master 😔

Ani ends up being on a couple seasons of Sesame System (I specifically chose this as a parody idea because I have BEYOND respect for Sesame Street and I truly believe in the power of kindness and friendship the show likes to give us) when Obi-Wan first finds him and Ani is really nervous at first but they let him rant about sand on the show so they’re chill now

Qui-Gon is not Obi’s master but he DID get wrangled into taking Kelleran and the kids to the studio (it’s in fairly neutral area on a station, but around a planet for outdoor scenes because it’s just easier for legal reasons) and that led to them missing the Telos mission and Xanatos got therapy instead and Qui-Gon isn’t an asshole cause he’s still got his kids

Shmi works on the production station

More kids shows in fantasy and sci-fi settings plz.

[coffeestainedcamera]

Cynthia's Elphaba was too good. Like, she sounds young and somehow still optimistic in The Wizard and I, but without coming off as saccharine. Then it just feels like she quiets down and grows more cynical in the hell uni. And then she sounds like she's embracing the role of the designated villain in Defying Gravity. Like, you can just hear whatever passed for that friendship getting ruined in that finale.

And Ariana's Glinda was also top-tier. Like, yeah, she's utterly self-absorbed and is the CEO of privileged prick. That character keeps taking on "projects" to prove that she's Good and worthy of being the next big wizard. Yet Ariana plays her as this comical character, even if you know she's ultimately going to be the designated hero for propaganda purposes.

It's definitely been a harsh watch in this day and age, especially with the "get everyone to come together against a common villain" thinking. Speaking from my experiences as an immigrant in US. I dodge the worst of it bc I basically have a "young Keanu Reeves" situation going on tho.

[best-underrated-anime]

Best Underrated Anime Group C Round 4: Ping Pong the Animation vs White Cat Legend

#C6: Ping Pong the Animation

Sports anime for people who prefer bildungsromans to sports

#C8: White Cat Legend 2020 (Dali si Rizhi)

Government employee and his white cat boss investigate crimes

Details and poll under the cut!

#C6: Ping Pong the Animation

Summary:

Despite being polar opposites, Makoto "Smile" Tsukimoto and Yutaka "Peco" Hoshino have been best friends since childhood. Although the overly confident Peco strives to be the best ping-pong player in the world, he often skips practice, earning the ire of his fellow teammates on the Katase High School ping-pong team. Meanwhile, Smile—in spite of his innate talent for the sport—cannot help but hold back his full strength when playing against others. Through their mutual love for ping-pong, the two have developed a bond that is seemingly unbreakable.

When Peco hears that an ex-national team player from China is coming to Japan, he drags Smile over to rival Tsujido High School to observe them. The subsequent trip leads to a clash between Peco and Kong Wenge, who overwhelmingly defeats the former in one game. Stunned by such a comprehensive loss, Peco finds himself questioning why he plays to begin with. Seeing his potential as a player, Katase's coach begins to train Smile to overcome his hesitation, but he is reluctant to play if it is not for enjoyment.

As the two struggle to find meaning in the sport, a plethora of stronger players—each with their own internal strifes—await them at the inter-high tournament, where only the very best can persevere. But when these young athletes let their unbridled ambition go unchecked, the hardships they face paint a somber reality as they pursue glory.

Propaganda:

An experimental director (Masaaki Yuasa) adapting a work from a very stylized and emotionally-focused shonen mangaka (Taiyo Matsumoto). This is an anime that feels more like watching an indie arthouse movie than a shonen anime. Featuring characters and arcs that subvert standard anime tropes, it gives an incisive picture into youths on the verge of growing up and learning responsibility. If you want to watch a short anime (one 11-episode season!) which will include cool sports action (and that’s coming from someone who is not generally into sports animes) the matches given weight by the primary use of them in narrative being as checkpoint in the characters’ growths.

I tend to prefer shojo over shonen for being more introspective, with the emotional arcs developed slower and more subtly, but for me this shonen hits a sweet middle ground of having that more internal feel, while getting to do the shonen things of having cooler, action-focused animation and character relationships which are about friendship rather than romance, and character arcs that are about trying to strive hard to achieve a dream. The show is quite well critically regarded, but a lot of anime fans get turned off by the unusual art style, and there isn’t really a fandom for it, so I think it counts as underrated anyways! Anyways, I think it delivers a really impactful and complete story-arc in a short time, and it leaves you feeling like you’ve grown alongside the characters, no matter how old you are (no seriously, my 50-year-old mother walked away saying she didn’t know anime was such a profound genre when I made her watch this).

Trigger Warnings: None.

#C8: White Cat Legend 2020 (Dali si Rizhi)

Summary:

Chen Shi, a young man from the countryside, journeys to the capital in search of his missing older brother, whose existence he has only known about upon his mother’s death. He knows neither the name nor face of his brother, and after finally arriving at the capital he runs out of money as well. One thing led to another, and he finds himself employed at Dali Court, working for Vice Minister Li Bing, a large white cat.

On the other hand, Li Bing is of royal blood who was imprisoned because of his family’s treason. Now, he has to work in the government to atone for the crime.

At Dali Court, they review court cases from all over the country. And when an incident involving the esteemed ministers of the royal court breaks out, Dali Court is called to help—only to find themselves entangled in political threads and hit heads with an eccentric demon.

Li Bing is determined to get to the bottom of this, but how far can he go when he could turn into a real cat at any time when left unchecked?

Propaganda:

Intriguing plot? Check. Complex and interesting characters? Check. Comedy? Check. Drama? Check. 

The blend of comedy and drama is just so good. I started the show because I love cats and supernatural stuff. Who would’ve thought it would pull me into an abyss of despair and political intrigue. The cat demons turned out to be just the icing on the cake. 

We have all these different characters brought up in different ways that their ideas of what is Right conflict with each other. None of them are exactly Wrong or inherently Evil (except for one guy), and this makes it so much more difficult to choose who to root for. You’d think everyone against the protagonists are the Enemies, but turns out even the protagonists are limited by their biases and unintentionally harm others. The two protagonists themselves get into arguments because of their different standpoints.

And I just love this because it makes them realistic, you know? The characters don’t always agree with their friends, and their enemies are not completely hostile either. It really all boils down to what they believe in. Sometimes their beliefs align with existing comrades, and sometimes they find it on the other side.

Production-wise, this show also gets a check on everything. As an adaptation, it’s amazing. The original manhua has quite a simple style—kind of like comic book drawings, and panels are all rectangles in one straight line. Storytelling is also simple and straight to the point. 

But the 2020 donghua? God, it went far and beyond that.  The animation team does not cut corners at all, which is a feat considering the show has a low budget from what I’ve heard. 

A short, simple scene in the manhua becomes an emotionally-devastating experience in the donghua. The animation choices, angles, music, and just everything else blend so well to deliver a STORY. This adaptation does not just copy frames from the source (like Blue Lock) or cut/reorder some of the scenes (like Horimiya and Sasaki to Miyano). White Cat Legend 2020 understands the material so well that it can creatively use the advantages of the animation medium to deliver an experience that exceeds even that of the source. Think Mob Pyscho 100 or One Punch Man s1 level of creativity. It even has mini stories at the end of the ending song. For s1, the mini stories are in stop-motion, while for s2 it’s formatted like a video game. You gotta appreciate the effort.

When reblogging and adding your own propaganda, please tag me @best-underrated-anime so that I’ll be sure to see it.

If you want to criticize one of the shows above to give the one you’re rooting for an advantage, then do so constructively. I do not tolerate groundless hate or slander on this blog. If I catch you doing such a thing in the notes, be it in the tags or reblogs, I will block you.

Know one of the shows above and not satisfied with how it’s presented in this tournament? Just fill up this form with your revisions, and I’ll consider adapting those changes.

New: Starting round 5, screenshots will be included in the poll post. You can submit screenshots through the form linked above, or through here, via ask or dm.

Guidelines in submitting screenshots:

No NSFW or spoilery images.

Pick some good images please. Don’t send any blurry or pixelated ones.

You may send up to 9 screenshots, but not all may be used.

[retiredficwriter]

me? being tagged by @jetsteelyourheart ?? what an honor!

just like the top 5 favorite characters: Make a poll with 5 of your favorite rarepairs/crackships. See which one is everyone's favorite!

i became too invested in this. some of these ships i haven't thought in years, so it was nice to relive the times i was obsessed with them. i narrowed it to one ship per media/fandom and just like my tag-buddy, I'll provide my questionable reasons/propaganda.

REASONS/PROPAGANDA

Sydney Sage/Trey Juarez:

so when i was first reading bloodlines, i read online that sydney gets a human boyfriend in book 2. i had heard about brayden but never in the context of HIM being the boyfriend, so i thought he was the random dude in book 1 (wasn't he, unironically, called hayden??) who asked sydney out. i was theorizing who that boyfriend would be until my brain went: "omg.... IS IT TREY??" and got soo hyped. i loved their interaction in book 1 and thought exploring them in a romantic setting would be so interesting, especially with the implication of trey having a major role. they are so similar (growing up in a cult, daddy issues, both being smart) and yet, trey has some adrian-like traits?? charming, popular in the dating pool, laidback... and it would create some tension between sydrian??? imagine adrian watching trey and sydney date and feeling discouraged because she found a human "version" of him?? and with trey being a warrior, he would try to get sydney to have the alchemist side with them and push the "moroi are evil" narrative, creating more doubts for sydney to rebel! BUT THEN SYDNEY HELPS TREY REBEL AGAINST THE WARRIORS!!

i love their friendship as is, and know for a fact they wouldn't last that long but man... i would have eat up their failed romance.

bonus point for an adrian/sydney/trey polycule

Rachel Berry/Sam Evans:

ah yes. my first ever rarepair. since that one episode in season 2 where she and finn helped sam with his young siblings, i fell in love with them. if you were in the glee fandom, you know every single couple was problematic one way or the other (this is the writers' fault). yet somehow, every relationship sam was in, it was the healthiest the woman he was with ever had. and i wanted that for rachel! i ate all the crumbs this show gave me, which were... almost nonexistent. the big difference between this rarepair and the others on this poll is that, in the show's final season, THEY BECAME CANON. I WAS SO HAPPY. they were very unpopular because it came out of nowhere and the writers only put them together to give rachel a love interest for the final season (and give the storyline they planned for finn to someone else), which... fair. but he was so caring, encouraging her to follow her dreams and telling her the tough truth about things she didn't want to hear. it was so good to see rachel heal from finn and her failed broadway dreams while with sam. (also she was less insufferable with him).

but then, ha... they broke up on the third to last episode of the series. so she could be with jesse who showed up out of nowhere on that same episode, after he "left" 4-3 seasons ago. don't get me wrong - i love st. berry! jonathan groff and lea michelle have chemistry! love ambitious broadway wannabes being a power couple! but why not, i don't know, put the storyline she had with sam with jesse instead so it could be more organic and avoid crushing my dreams???

i'm fine. not bitter at all. I'M FINE. I'M F-

Clarisse La Rue/Silena Beauregard (PJO):

this isn't a rarepair compared to the previous two, but within the pjo fandom, it isn't as popular (surprisingly?? at least in ao3. i'm so out of the loop). first time reading pjo, little old only thought of clarisse and silena as best friends. but as i got older and read more fan analysis of the series, i realized the tragedy of these two. either 1) clarisse had an unrequited crush 2) they dated and didn't work out 3) it was a failed situationship. the daughter of ares, the girl people in camp-half blood are so scared of because she is mean to everyone and can (and will) beat the shit out of them, had a wholesome friendship with the daughter of aphrodite, and one of the nicest people in the camp?? and this friendship appeared because silena helped clarisse with her "boy problems"??? and then clarisse basically protected and comforted silena after what happened with charlie?? no spoilers for those who haven't read the books, but they parallel a famous greek mythology couple and their ending hurts. still love silena/charlie, but god... poor clarisse...

can't wait to keep rereading the books and suffer once i get to their part!

Gary "Eggsy" Unwin/Roxy Morton (Kingsman)

everyone prefers hartwin and merlin/eggsy, but i can't help but love mortwin. i watched the first movie and loved their small moments. loved how they bonded over being the underdogs in the competition and, instead of becoming sworn enemies, they recognized each other as worthy opponents. their small fun, friendly-rivarly banter was cute. part of me was relieved they stayed as friends in the end... but i couldn't help but be soo disappointed. the chemistry? it was there!! even taron egerton said there was potential to explore a romance if given the chance! plus, i'm a sucker for well-developed friends-to-lovers.

never watched the sequel but after reading what the writers did to roxy, i'm glad i didn't and never will. i can now create my own sequel in my head and read fanfics of the story they deserve 😌

Bella Swan/Leah Clearwater (Twilight):

i want to thank this one brazilian fanfic i found years ago (and never wrote down the name and lost it 😔) for presenting me with this ship. everyone talks about bella/alice, bella/rosalie, bella/carlisle... but what about bella/leah??? think new moon, when bella has just been abandoned by edward, meeting the werewolves through jacob and therefore leah, who is still dealing with the whole paul/emily thing. they can still start out with leah hating bella but they can bond over being abandoned by their boyfriends and heal from it, and in the end realize they don't need them anymore - they can have each other!

i also love if edward still comes back and bella is conflicted, and it's a edward/bella/leah love triangle (apparently people ship edward/leah and how i never heard of it?! imagine the drama!!) i will take anything where jacob isn't involved

tagging @morocorra @forcebookish @artianaiolanthe @sydneysageivashkov + anyone who wants to do this!

[meartemesia]

Hollywood's Modern Sensorship.

(My opinion as a young, queer, white person from South Africa who is aware of my own privilage as well as being discriminated against as a gay Afrikaans person who grew up in a church ruled, largely white Afrikaans community .)

As many fans mourne the loss of yet another show with queer and poc representation, it has become more evident that there is a pattern in Netflix's recent shows.

The graveyard of shows inclusive of positive queer representation wherin the queerness is not made out to be hyper sexual, destructive of friendship or lets the character have a happy ending, grows with another show. Dead Boy Detectives.

Sensorship is defined as: the suppression or prohibition of any parts of books, films, news, etc. that are considered obscene, politically unacceptable, or a threat to security.

"the regulation imposes censorship on all media"

While Hollywood has made trives in recent years to abolish its former Haze code, it has managed to find a legal loophole in the inherent capitalism of showbusiness.

Shows with a dedicated fanbase and essence are being cancelled for not meeting a specific quota of income. While that might sound reasonable regarding the unbelievable amounts studios spend on media, this quota isnt just about the financial aspect. Studios rely on a show's fanbase and potential growth or popularity concerning future fans and a growing audience.

This means any shows that might be co troversial in the future stand less of a chance to be invested in.

2024 was a wildly restless political year globally and while every country had its own worries, all eyes have been targeted on the shitshow that is the powerhoise of the Unitedd States as the media hub of western culture.

America'a influence on the world is no small feat and while it can be argued that that might not be a good thing, it is a fact as true as South Africa's concerning history of corrupt governance.

The uptick in sexism, homophobia and especially transphobia that has become rampant in recent hears has become reflective in the media we consume. From the cancellation of First Kill to now, we are seeing the effects of homophobia as a meand of income.

The movement against rainbow capitalism and other movements exposing the exploitation of human right campaigns by companies seeking money from "trends" has lead to more and more companies dropping their former "support" as the views of the clientele shift with recent political unrest.

It is not onlt shows that are being cancelled.

Companies have removed pride month lines, stopped funding lgbtqia+ charities, have started supporting conversion charities, anti lgbtqia+ charities and have begun pandering to a wider and more sensorred audience.

This is a blatant disregard for human rights in the sense of spreading awareness, representation and watering down human lives to trends that can bolster an income.

These executives don't care about the audience. They do not care about "the sanctity of morals". They dont care about us or the conservative side of any government.

They care about money.

We need to start seperating corporations from government. No one is immune to propaganda. Not even you.

Sensorship isnt about moral rights or wrongs. Its about money. So wherever you lean on the political spectrum, anywhere in the world. The media you consume isn't made for representation, moral righteousness, serving a higher power, nor is it about the appreciation of art and film and writing.

This is an attack on art as a means of expression. It is the sensorship of what art is fundamentally about: The Expression of Ideas weather people like them or not.

Art has been turned into a money grab. A means of corporate propaganda and somehow, even in their attempt to overtly sensor art, they are exposing their true intentions and reflecting the larger issues happening in the world around us.

Queer people, wen, people of colour, trans people, disabled people and anyone who doesnt fit into the rigid framework of humanity's "perfection", we are being silenced by having our art silenced.

This is your sign to start supporting local artists. Lgbt owned foundations and other minority foundations. The lgbtqia+ community has shown a large support for Palestine in the past year and as we are aware, Hollywood doesnt agree with supporting the end of a genocide. So we, as well as anyone who politically aligns themselves with this humanitarian view of sacrid human life, are silenced. Why?

Because you can't profit off fair means. No empire has ever been built fairly. Capitalism has its pros and cons. So does any other form of politics.

But we must not let the future generations wonder why we couldnt stop the downfall of our communities. We must act now so that future generations will not have to be burdened with another Stone wall, Apartheid, Suffragette movement.

We are provilaged enough now by having rights thanks to the martyrs who fought for human life.

Religious or not, we can all agree that the chances of us existing is miraculous. Human life is sacred. Do not let the 1% fool you.

The only dangerous minority, are the rich.

[mushroom-kin]

This is a study of one of my favorite small scene in Psycho-pass: sinners of system 2.

"Unit One always comes before everything else." - Tsunemori Akane

Psycho pass s2 - an unhinged retrospective - i. Celebrating 10 years anniversary of PP2 - ii. Ode to Shimotsuki Mika - iii. Women's justice - iv. Why both Togane and Kamui combine to make the shadow of Kogami - v. Kogami and Akane's relationship - vi. Sybil as a character, who also wants character growth - vii. Wrapping up because I spent 2 days writing this non stop

(warning: horrifyingly long text post, Spoilers for all of Psycho pass up to the latest film Providence)

i. Celebrating 10 years anniversary of PP2:

Psycho-pass 2 just has its 10 years anniversary. Happy 10 years for Psycho pass 2.

I watched psycho-pass season 1 while it was airing, it came out when I was in middle school, and I remember catching it right at the All-girl academy arc. When I finished s1 and did not even know that s2 was coming out.

I have been in and out of the fandom for many years and got to hear people relentlessly shit on s2 and talk about how they don't like it. I never really understood it, or I mean I have heard their reasonings, but honestly it truly makes me so frustrated because I think a lot of what I heard can only be boiled down to "I hate women" or "Kogami is not here".

Even when I begrudging sub to r/psychopass, I will always been haunted by random post about how everyone hating on s2, or telling people to skip it.

When I was rewatching all of psycho pass this past months with my friend @h4msanta, and having them watching it for the first time. I was once again remembered why s2 was so important to me.

ii. Ode to Shimotsuki Mika:

I really like Mika, I understand people probably liked her way more in s3 or starting at sinners of the system 1 which I lovingly call the "Mika propaganda".

But I liked her the moment I saw her. I really appreciate her character against Tsunemori Akane. She is so important, to me.

Imagine you are Shimotsuki Mika, you are 16 year old teenage girl. You are very smart but kind of blunt and rude as a person. So while you are great student, you are not really well liked. You have a crush on this other girl who you go to school with, but she is closer to her childhood best friend. You always felt like a third wheel in this friendship. Some other girl who is so much more popular and prettier freaks you out, and now because she talked to one of your friend, that girl disappeared. And you as a teenager felt something very wrong about this, but still told the girl you had a crush on to ask about if she cares about it so much.

You later learn both of them are murdered and displayed in the worst way possible.

The MWPSB, who shows up on scene to arrest who might be the murderer, who you suspect is that art girl who is more popular than you, ultimately failed to arrest or judge her before she escaped. The police who showed up did not solve the case, you cried in the arms of a kind woman who also work with the MWPSB. You don't know this yet, but she is also a latent criminal, the type of people you hate the most. But that doesn't matter to you because you have developed a crush on her.

You are 17 now, and you are the youngest person that have ever join MWPSB. You feel like you need to prove something to everyone, you don't want them to look down on you because you are young. You meet your co worker, you senior, a young woman who is 4 years older than you. Seeing s woman behind her, you remember her from that fateful day in the rain who kindly comforted you. You are told that she is an enforcer, this translated in your brain as a latent criminal. You realized that this was the unit who failed to capture your friend's murderer.

You are 18, and you have been on this job for a year and half now. But somehow people still treat you like you are a baby, you don't understand why your senior who you think is very reckless and unreasonable is liked by everyone. Not only by everyone, but also by the Chief. She seems to be able to do everything you can do better, and seems to go against Sybil's judgement all the time. Who does she think she is, you think to yourself. Worse is that even when you treat her with animosity, she treats you with cool professionalism, never seeming that bothered.

Your senior have always sent two enforcers with you, one who was once an inspector just like you, but why would you listen to him, he lost his job and sequentially lost his right to say anything about anything to you, the other one who you have being harboring a crush on this whole time, even though she is an enforcer, a latent criminal, she has been kind and patient with you, even though she also seems to trust in your senior's judgement. She might also be in a relationship with the analyst, but you choose not to think too hard about it so it won't cloud your hue. You don't understand why your senior is doing any of this.

The first time you are at a scene before her, you are unsure if you should go into the building to intervene, you stand there hesitating, you know there is a senior inspector already in the building. She has been on this job for 10 years now, how would she not know the protocols. And while you stand there with the two enforcers, this time without the pesky guy who used to be an inspector who give you words of advice you don't want to hear about, not knowing what to do, waiting for something to happen.

The Unit 2 people shows up on scene, they tell you they have taken over by the orders of the Chief. Once again you have been undermined, but none of that matter. Because swiftly after, the metal curtains rises and unit 2 points their Dominators at every person who ran out of the building clothed nothing beside their underwear, and judged all of them to be unfit to a part of Sybil's society. Your senior shows up on scene and screams at all of them. But you don't even know you heard that, you were too busy staring at all of the blood at your feet, these used to belong to the hostages.

You soon learned that the Senior who worked as an inspector for 10 years, was the first to be eliminated in the building, she was now also just another puddle of blood.

You learned that there is something very suspicious about one of the enforcers you work with, and how he has an odd obsession with your senior. You take the time while they are off on a case to research and even go to his quarters to do some sleuthing. You find out that is he is a massive stalker, have been taking pictures of her and analyzing it. You don't really know what you were going to do with this information. But you ended up finding more and more about this guy, so you go on and put all of this into a report to give your chief in lieu of explaining why you think your senior is not fit for the job.

What you did not realized that you got more than you bargained for, you have now learned the TRUTH of this world, the real face of Sybil. And you cannot turn back, and now "they", "they" want to ruin you.

Your senior continuously works with this guy who is monster under human clothing, unbeknownst to you, he designed himself to remind her of someone, the perfect kind of uncanny valley. He asks you to figure out where your senior's grandmother resides, and you are scared, and you are just 18, a man is looming over you, exerting power and unspoken violence at you, and part of you still think you want to hit where it hurts at your senior.

Very soon, your senior will have a melt down while confronted by a severed ear of her grandma. If any hope of having her grandmother coming back alive was dashed, when you were sent the brutal images of an old woman beaten to death, helpfully having her smiling face on the side as an addition to identify the bloody mess. Some part of you know that "they" probably sent this image to your senior as well.

In the mess of the moment, you slip away and find the man who has been threatening you bleeding on the verge of dying, you think maybe all you have to do is judge him. His hue is dark as soot, Sybil will judge him and all you need is pull the trigger. But his consciousness slips away before you make up your mind to shoot him, your Dominator returns to it dormant state. Your time has passed.

You declare that you will forget all of this. That you believe in Sybil, and that also means you believe in "them".

The female enforcer you relied on this whole time tells you that the person who leaked the information about your senior's grandmother was indeed that man, but she suspect there must be someone else who told that to him first. She says to you "whoever that person is, I'll never forgive them." In that moment, she seems cold, she looks at you pointily and you reply "same here". Your crush with her probably died in this moment.

You don't know this yet, but you probably never will forgive yourself.

In the coming years, you will grow to have a better relationship with your senior. You will call her your senior not with annoyance but because you grew to respect her and like her. And she will call you Mika-chan as token of affection she has for you. You will grow to rely on her, and she sees you as a trustworthy partner. Even if you don't see eye to eye on everything, you learn to work well with her, and with the rest of your team, forming real friendships with other enforcers, seeing them not just as a number, their crime coefficients, but as real human people. Something that took you a long time to learn.

Now you are the chief inspector, an amazing position to have at your young age. You have to take care of some hot headed rookies after your "senpai" entrusted Unit 1 to you. They are annoying, and reckless, and even more unreasonable. When they tell you about how they are doing all of this because they are detectives after all. You suddenly think about your unit 1.

(Psycho-pass 3 chapter 3 page 20)

You mutter annoyingly, you have to left these dumb kids go do their stupid justice.

You are the same age as the rooky pair. You are 24 years old, you have been on this job for 7 years now.

iii. Women's justice

I spend a lot of time thinking about the conversation Shion and Yayoi has at the end of s1. Yayoi notes that "all of the old fashion men are gone from the job", saying that they are "not suited", while Shion think it would be kinder to call them "romantics".

I did not even think about how crazy this is until recently, but during the 2 months where Gino went to a medical center and before he was reassigned back to unit 1 as an enforcer. There are only two people at the office of unit 1, Akane and Yayoi. How horrifying lonely and isolating that must be. Having to lose everyone in such a short amount of time, when does grieving for one starts and the grieving for the other ends.

Season 2 is a lot to me about where men and their understanding of justice led them, and fall out of that looks like. In s2, we focus on Akane's understanding of justice which stems from her faith in people and approaches to reasonings which heavily influenced by Kogami. We also have Mika who is more like Gino in s1, or even earlier in his career, a person who deeply believes that she is doing the right and just thing while missing the mark over and over again. And then we also have Aoyanagi who has been an inspector for 10 years, and felt that she kind of lost her way after killing her trusted enforcer that she knew for a long time. I adore all of them, and how their way of interacting with justice and crime is very different to first season.

I was honestly super happy to see Aoyanagi in Sinner of the System 2, seeing her being vibrant, caring and also forward thinking, getting to work together with Masaoka. It made me wish she will eventually get a prequel novel (that I will have to spend 2 week trying to find a way to read it).

This is me not saying "men are from Mars, women are from Venus", I thinks what I am trying to explain is more nuanced than just "men and women are the same" or saying "men and women are different". And I think Psycho pass is also trying to saying something here about gender. (All my favorite works are somehow about gender.)

I quite like characters like Mika, she is so righteous in what she believes in a worthy cause, the upholding of Sybil. She so firmly believes it, while her own pettiness and pride chides her into doing things that ruins her. I supports women's wrong, and sometimes women's wrong looks like a 18 year old girl fucking up her own and other people's life because she is too petty and too set in her own ways.

But I also think it is quite nice that we get to see her gradual growth through out sinner of the system and s3 and then her moment in providence, which made me and my friend actually cheer when we saw it. That Mika would go and beg Sybil to go help Akane, because Akane is too valuable. Mika is stubborn and petty and prideful, but she can grow to be loved by others, and by that she can also grow to love herself.

iv. Why both Togane and Kamui combine to make the shadow of Kogami

Togane as a character fascinates me so much. He was basically "genetically engineered " (not literally), I guess in this case, "emotionally engineered" to break through Akane's guard. He choose to smoke the same braid of cigarettes as Kogami, he stands near her to affirm her decisions, he talks in a way that made Akane think she is talking Kogami, quite literally overlapping Kogami's image over Togane's.

And he was able to achieve all of this by how you ask.

By rigorously stalking her, documenting her hue everyday, analyzing her facial expression. This chills me to no end. Stalking is not uniquely a crime that effects women, and any sources I could possible cite is probably woefully under reported. But I have heard many people told me that s2 is boring or low stakes or that one of my personal "favorite" was calling "kamui too feminine as a villian", which was a opinion I read on r/psychopass (why am I still in that sub reddit baffles even me) that now just lives rent free in my brain like some kind of horrible worm that won't leave.

I find Togane to be very unsettling, he feels so awfully predatorial, this can also be demonstrated in his interactions with Mika once he shows his true color to her. I think seeing Mika freak out and crying on the desk while he pushes her head down, never not given me fight or flight responses.

Kamui, on the other hand, is so soft. He is very polite. I guess I also learn that "narcissist" and his favorite item is "a mirror" in wiki. I don't know where they got that, and who is manning the psycho pass wiki, please put your sources in. Is it from the s2 profiling book? And also because it is not very complete, half of the pages don't even mention providence (which was a blessing for me for the longest time), and not to speak about the tvtropes page for psycho pass, which is riddled with how s2 is bad. Saying it like it a fact or something.

Kamui is so interesting, because he seems like he genuinely cares for each and every part of the people in his plan. Not saying that he is not ready to sacrifice them for the greater cause, but it also seemed like he felt bad for each of the people he lost on his way to confront Sybil. He shed tears for them, and seems like he remembers their name, their past, and their ambitions. This is why I was quite annoyed when I found out that somehow he was also a "narcissist" or something. Because I really liked the idea that Kamui was also suppose to be juxtaposition to Makashima in s1, who is very individualistic. But also that Kamui was also supposed to be Akane's foil. He believes everyone can be saved, by him.

I read this on Pixiv while reading a fic about Akane and Mika, that assessed, paraphrased by me "Mika hates criminals, but Akane hates crimes itself, to the point she wants to save criminals from crime."

Kamui felt like he was able to save people from Sybil. While being admired by the people he were able to save. Kamui still felt very alone being a collective, not being recognized by Sybil, let's say he is seeking recognized from the proverbial mother. The two kinds of fear of being "the horrifying ordeal of being known" vs "not being known". And this case Kamui wished to be seen.

Sybil as the proverbial mother. In a way mirroring Togane's complex about his mother, and his devotion to Sybil.

Kamui says in the first episode of s2 about thinking Akane would understand him, that the guy who just exploded, not by Akane's hand by the way, is very interesting. This is further expanded on in the manga, where in the later part of s1 Gino talks to his therapist, who we now know was just Kamui in holo, and Gino tells him that he doesn't want to stop working yet, even if it leads to him having worsen hues. And it is thanks to watching Akane's work in the field giving him a sense of hope. That hope is also what pushes Kamui to go on and commit the action of s2.

In the tunnels, Akane walk through them alone. Kamui is holding many hostages underground as his final plan of s2 to DDos the system, and she was told to go detonate the bomb that will bury them all by Sybil. She made up her mind to do something different, this new found courage and determination given to her by imagining Kogami by her side.

She will let Kamui judge Sybil and so Sybil can judge him.

In the dark she encounters Kogane, who tell her that supported her, and telling her that he would go kill Kamui, that "Enforcer Kogami would've done the same". These were words that designed to get her. There is something really awful about Kogane, like inspirational murderer who wants to set people free or war hungry mercenary dictating the causality of peace, these are all very horrible and scary. But Togami feels very personal, slimy, all this is to groom her to be in the perfect corner for him to corrupt her.

After Kamui and Akane face the Sybil system. Togane comes in and is ready to execute Kamui, and Akane runs in to stop him. Togane has already seen his mother's brain scattered on the ground before he came in, he has nothing to lose. He proudly tells Akane that he was the one who brutally beat Akane's grandmother to death. Akane's psycho pass spike up to 87.9, which is the highest we ever saw her.

Kamui reassures Akane that "the spirit of the law" that she so deeply believes in, "if that can become the scales of justices that weigh all society equally". With real law like that, can make even Sybil a real god someday. This steels Akane, and her number drops to 48.5. Kamui pushes Akane away, and both Togane and Kamui shoot each other.

And in the most insane decision s2 production could have done. After Akane who spends the better half of s2 chasing Kogami's shadow by lighting up his cigarettes, hallucinating him encouraging her, and at her worst by overlapping Togane's words and image with Kogami's voice. The s2 production team made that, the moment when Kamui gets shot and turns to her, visually mirror Kogami getting shot by Akane in s1 episode 1.

That mirroring shot composition will haunt me forever I guess.

In every corner, Akane will see Kogami, whether if she tries to look for him or not. And that is how both Kamui and Kogane makes a Kogami.

v. Kogami and Akane's relationship

I feel like I need to explain my thoughts on this, before I go and excitably draw my 7 days of Shinkane week, which will probably be an art piece that I am mildly happy with, accompanied by like a dissertation paper on my feelings about them in every "era" of their interactions.

I am a shinkane shipper don't get me wrong, but I am also of the firm belief that Akane also isn't romantically interested in Kogami in the s1. This is quite important to me, even when I was a teenager watching the show. Akane seems to not be bothered when she is teased by Kagari for liking Kogami, when she blushes about going on a date, she is actually blushing at the concept of learning profiling, and not an outing with Kogami.

I found Akane incredibly admirable steadfast in her belief of justice and law. It was very important to me that the s1 anime did not make her seem like a blushing school girl who clung to Kogami's every word because she liked him romantically. She listened and challenged him, even going to wager her worth to safely retrieve him with Sybil. Because she saw Kogami to be her partner, her mentor, a person who she trusted and admired.

This is probably more of me speculating on "vibes" alone, but on the other hand, I believe that Kogami might have caught feeling for Akane at a certain point in the middle of s1. This is just me, but also Kogami cannot be more happy to see Akane in every scene in the 2015 movie. That is a guy who is very happy to see Akane, even when he is told this is supposed to be their execution ground.

Akane develops her habit on relying on Kogami's cigarette smoke, I think this is more for comfort, and maybe closer to infatuation than love, or maybe it is faith.

And then 2015 movie they just had to have the most tension ever, horrifying amount of chemistry, and then it is all over I guess. Akane, kogami, they were all cooked. after that, every time they are on scene I am biting the corners of my television, grrr bark hisiss. And every time Kogami mention Akane he looks so soft, what is wrong with him, big wet cat ugghhdhdheeeeshh why didn't you just say sorry when you had the opportunity too, gasrrrrrr.

Oh yeah, I was trying to explain why this all matters. So having Akane wanting to rely on Kogami is what made her looks vulnerable and exploitable in the eyes of Togane.

Which is why I think it is quite funny and important that Akane learns kind of the wrong-ish right-ish lesson by the end of s2. Saiga tells her that he is going to put himself back in the cage, despite of the fact that his hue has been improving, and he tells her "being dependent doesn't quite suit me".

This later part is not in the anime version, but in the end of the manga, (in this case because psycho pass is an anime original, I use manga as a supplementary material) she looks at the cigarette and notes that she is okay and that she is now a full-fledged detective.

(Psycho-pass 2 chapter 26 page 25)

And the last line she says in the manga mirrors the line that Saiga says, she puts out cigarette and says " after all being dependent doesn't quite suit me". (I did not include the page after since it is translated as "since depending on does not mean to agree on". my translation is from comparing the Japanese scan and comparing it to the Chinese one.)

I think this is a quite important moment for her since Akane spends a lot of her time feeling like she is playing catch up with Kogami. This also doesn't mean that she doesn't still want to reach out to Kogami when she is given the chance to. She doesn't stop lighting cigarettes even in 2015 movie and she goes all the way to SEAUn to go find him.

Akane I think understood that she needed to stop relying on ghost in her mind, and maybe when the next time she see Kogami she wants to be treated more as an equal (emotionally). Which is why the phone call scene in Providence makes me go feral.

vi. Sybil as a character, who also wants character growth

People who are not happy with s2 and called the ending unsatisfying, probably had a different idea of what they wanted the show to be.

In a story like psycho pass, one who watch the first season would easily describes it as the "dystopian sci-fi thriller" it is. But honestly by the 2015 movie, can you really call the world of psycho-pass a dystopia? I have never read a piece of work where lots and lots of character agrees and knows there is something very wrong with the world. But instead of choosing to tear it all down, they are attempting to systematically incrementally changes it from within. A lot of people out there might not think it is that sexy, but I think reform is really cool and based. And as we live in our own dystopian world, that is how the real work enact changes as well, I actually really appreciate how Psycho pass takes it time.

Of course, by the point when season 2 come up, people don't know that yet.

In s2 Sybil is also an active player in the world. Sybil can be cunning, actively pitting Mika against Akane, and watch them run around like funny little lab rats. They are afraid to be shaken and challenged, they don't want to hold up a mirror. They are curious, they also want to be accepted. They can also experience fear. All of this makes for great conflicts in s2. And Akane for one, is interested in having Sybil improve with time or to be threaten to be left behind.

Kamui wants to have a honest conversation with Sybil, and Akane leads him to it. Kamui is recognized by Sybil for the first time, now Sybil can also "see" themselves now. Akane points the Dominator at him, and Kamui asks her that why doesn't she point the Dominator at Sybil.

"The one who's holding the Dominator becomes a part of it" Kamui tells her, "when a true judge appears someday, no matter how many brains it removes, it Crime Coefficient may remain high."

"it is possible that this judge might be, the person standing in front of me right now". I have to say this whole conversation is probably really ringing crazy bells in my head because I just watched Providence for the first time not too long ago. (I am not okay, I am ill, god it was everything I need, I need to go cry and vomit in the bathroom now)

There are two parts of it. In s3 Arata talks about the reason why he like Dominators is because it has a trigger, and that he can choose to shoot or not. This is a huge part of Akane's belief as well, very evident in the episode 1 of s2, where she wait to shoot the guy on the edge of 299 to 300.

I have always liked the conversation in s1 where Kasei talks to Gino about the trusting the system. The idea is not that Sybil system is perfect, but instead human belief makes it perfect. The efforts of the people, the faith they have in this system, that is what make the system run smoothly.

And having people like Akane and Arata, and all of the other people they influenced, who actively challenge the System's judgment, they had made the system better. This is what "the one who's holding the Dominator becomes a part of it" means to me.

The second part of this conversation is about judgement to Sybil. This is something that is again echoed in Providence, Akane lets Sybil absorbs General, Tonami in anger shoots her and declares that what she is trying to do is killing god, "you are the witch who bring disaster to society."

And then Akane went and killed god in the end of Providence, and both my friend and I just had to pause the movie, and scream into a pillow for 10 minutes.

Akane believes her action would be helpful for improvement of both Sybil and law. This is such a fascinating concept. And I really cannot wait to see if they will explore this idea further in s4.

Sybil is still evolving, and one day they will stand judgement before the people.

vii. Wrapping up because I spent 2 days writing this non stop

There are still so much I want to write about in s2, about how Gino is so funny in season 2 and how I love him. And how much I love Sho as an adorable fluff ball. Yayoi and Shion going strong. And also SAIGA!

There are so much I can say about the whole s2 that really makes me want to scream from the roof top. Long long ago when I imagined myself writing this *look at word count and sweat* normal looking tumblr post. (pending 5.2k ish) I thought about naming it something like "In Defense of Psycho pass 2", but honestly speaking s2 is amazing, it speaks for itself.

This ended up being half me talking about s2 and half me just needing to word vomit about Providence that permanently bricked my brain.

One day I will write the post about Providence ending mirrors, s1 ending and that is going to kill me.

If you read to the end, thank you! Looking forward to more unhinged post from me? With better art hopefully.

[dorkicon]

thingie i wrote about a tf au i mentioned a while back 😐👍 thanks to my pals on discord who had to hear me prattle on about this. questions welcome. etc.

helllooo.....SARtobots

the autobot gang (optimus hound bee jazz prowl ratchet and skids) are a team of rescue vehicles sent down to earth alongside cybertronian drones to help rescue people. optimus is a first responder/fire truck, ratchet is an old hippy ambulance, prowl stays at the base as their intell guy, hes a pre established package deal with jazz, who is a search and rescue copter, bee is a hardened foot soldier/scout, skids is a scientist interested in humanity, hound is our pov character, a rough and tumble upstart.

megatron is also planetside with his team. megatron is a keenly loyal general to straxus, the leader of the decepticons, soundwave is his long suffering 2ic, astrotrain is the strong silent type...he does whatever hes told, but he has a bit of a soft spot, seeing earths technology as wildlife to be respected, starscream is starscream, he has some history with bumblebee, making it his goal to snuff out the scout personally! thundercracker is hounds counterpart, and stars protégé. theyre on earth in search of devastator, a lost combiner megatron is convinced will be the secret weapon that wins the war for straxus. nevermind that the constructicons are scattered across the planet after being hurtled across space a kajillion years ago...and wont be too keen on battle once theyre reactivated...

so the cons and bots butt heads on earth, ignorant to the larger war until word gets out that the prime, sentinel, has killed straxus, causing an immediate power vacuum and knocking the decepticons off balance. good news for optimus' team right? well...

sentinel sent them to earth as an invasion! hes using those drones i mentioned to strip earth of its energy as a last surge to squash the decepticons and win the war. and who cares if optimus' team gets caught in the destruction? cant make an omelet without destroying a few nameless autobots right?

(hey i couldnt find a place to fit this but alpha trion is the real leader of the autobots. hes more of a figurehead though)

well at the same time, megatron learns that straxus has been murdered. before he can get it in his head to get revenge for his fallen leader, megatron learns frm his source that straxus was killed after going to alpha trion with peace talks. his leader, who megatron has been devoted to for millions of years...gave up! well megatron dismisses it as propaganda. hes going to kill sentinel prime.

the issue here is that the autobots are the only one with a ship...and those drones going haywire arent exactly helping things, bc theyve begun to attack anything that threatens them indiscriminately. so...the only solution is to aid the autobots in disposing of them, in return for use of their ship.

megatron and optimus come to a shaky truce, that no ones really happy with, besides maybe tc and hound, with their already budding friendship. bumblebee and starscream are like lowkey trying to sabotage it, until they realize they make a pretty good team. to their horror. for example. megatron, for his part, respects his side of the deal, trusting optimus to do the same. he slowly comes to turn that loyalty he had for straxus onto prime, who isnt exactly sure what to do with it--hes no soldier!

of course, they also have to work together to get the ship back online as well, since it was kicked offline back when sentinel activated the drones. thats...pretty much where im at atm. also i think shockwave is megatrons source on cybertron. loyal in any universe baby.

[bookreviewcoffee]

The Ballad of songbirds and snakes Susan Collins

Before the reader's eyes is the rise of a despot - the very President Snow from the Hunger Games trilogy. But in my opinion, it will be interesting to read not only fans of history. And certainly do not refer this book to teenage fantasy and light reading.

In my opinion Collins has really grown as a writer. She painstakingly draws details of the personalities, allowing the reader to draw their own conclusions.

Coriolanus' attachment to the smell of roses, which is associated with his dead mother and helps to calm him down, his struggle with the image of his overbearing father, his shame at his plight as an orphan, his attempts to stay on top of the social ladder, his courageous actions, not dictated at all by concern for others, the ambiguous selfish tenderness for his cousin and grandmother - like a three-year-old who perceives everyone only through himself, his thoughts about his origins and destiny, his fear of being left on the margins of life. And "friendship" and "love." In inverted commas because these concepts are unknown to our hero, but he really wants to be accepted, to adapt to the environment, and for this he needs to interact with people somehow. So he interacts: he smiles, helps, co-operates, serves and even cares. But in the inner dialogue we always hear the truth. Each person is simply a means to an end for Snow.

At the very beginning this boy wants to justify and support, it's as if he has no choice. But in the last third of the book the transformation is completed and we are shocked to see the devastating consequences. And we knew from the beginning who it was! We knew it wouldn't be otherwise and still we are horrified by the plot twist and the actions of the characters.

Oh yeah, and there's also the tenth Hunger Games in this book, not at all as technologically advanced and popular as the games in Kitniss' time. Yes, and compared to those games that go on in Snow's head - they just pale in comparison. But, believe me, our hero will add pepper to them, and that's what he does from the very first pages.

In my opinion, the entire Hunger Games series of books is about how war uglifies society. How concepts are overturned, will is lost, hatred is nurtured. About how propaganda of any kind works, and how difficult it is to break out of that cycle, not only for those who have gone through the war, but for many generations of descendants later. Snow says (not verbatim) that war, once started, never ends. It is in people's souls and in their heads. And as long as that is true, there will be more and more Hunger Games.

[friends-to-lovers-tournament]

Friends to Lovers Tournament: Round 1, Side B, Match 22

propaganda under the cut!

Renga:

Submission 1:

bc they gay

Submission 2:

i can go into heavy detail,,, AND I WILL!!!

1. their ship name is literally a form of poetry (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renga) and it's a type of poem written by multiple poets SO REKI AND LANGA ARE THE POETS WHO WRITE THEIR OWN POETRY TOGETHER 

2. they got along almost immediately after they met, and they found their reason for living together with each other via skateboarding!!! and they're best friends because they "get" each other like nobody else does!!! LIKE THE BEST KIND OF LOVE IS THE ONE WHERE YOU'RE BEST FRIENDS WITH EACH OTHER!!!

3. langa literally says "there's no meaning to skating if i can't do it with you" to reki AND IF THAT ISN'T THE SWEETEST THING EVER!!! and reki literally studies langa's way of skating to design a skateboard that fits perfectly to his snowboarder style AND HE GETS SO EXCITED TO SHOW LANGA IT!!!

4. they have their own fist bump that forms an infinity symbol which means that their love lasts forever and it's the loviest of lovey doves ur honor <3

5. they literally have a blue (langa) x red (reki) aesthetic WHICH IS OPPOSITES ATTRACT!!! they're also the cool guy x ray of sunshine,,, cat energy x dog energy tropes. also the "rambles for hours" x "listens happily" trope.

6. THEY WAKE UP AT ASS O' CLOCK IN THE MORNING JUST TO SEE EACH OTHER BEFORE SCHOOL AND SKATE TOGETHER AND THEY SNEAK OUT OF THEIR HOUSES TO STAY OUT LATE INTO THE NIGHT AND SPEND MORE TIME WITH EACH OTHER!!!! WHAT KIND OF TEENAGERS SACRIFICE THEIR SLEEP TIME IF NOT FOR THE ONE THEY LOVE???

anyways yeah. renga. beautiful bois who deserve to be together and were made as canon as could get past the censors.

Fitzsimmons

They're so so sweet and my favorite characters of this show!!! The show starts with them as the scientists of the team who are inseparable best friends. They're already being referred to as Fitzsimmons and people joke that when hearing that they thought it was one person being referred to.At this point they aren't together yet. They went to the S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy of Science and Technology together and became friends when they were paired in chem lab. In the show there's so many times they show how much they care for each other. In one episode Simmons gets infected with an alien disease and Fitz goes into her containment area to help her find a potential way to cure it. And at the end of the first season they get locked in a medical pod in an airplane which is then dropped into the ocean and there's only one air supply and Fitz confesses his feelings for Simmons and then opens the pod and gives her the air. She pulls him to the surface and both of them live but he had some brain damage from being without oxygen. He does eventually recover and their relationship goes through lots of hardship though various intense situations out of their control like Simmons being stranded on an alien planet and Fitz working desperately to find a way to bring her back. But through all of the crazy scenarios they go through they love each other so so much and they built that love on a strong foundation of friendship. They are the most important people in each others lives even before their romance begins and I love them very much

[jane-john-doe-tournament]

John Doe (Malevolent) Propaganda:

Spooky gay eldritch disaster (am I doing this right?)

Could have chosen any name for himself and picked John because a kind person called him that :)

fractured piece of an eldritch god that shares a body with a private eye after being fractured. chooses the name John Doe after said private eye goes into a coma

Because he's an eldritch god who wants to feel human and who overcame a lot of obstacles and dangers!!! He sincerely cares about the main character!!! And he chose a name himself! Isn't he cute??? He lost his body, he almost lost his memory, he fought for his right to exist, he loves animals, he loves his friend Arthur and I love him!

Being an ass, friendship, spooky supernatural stuff, he’s got it all

My man heard the name John Doe, realized he didn’t actually have a name, and just. Took it for himself.

I LOVE HIM. MY SON. HE'S TRYING TO CHANGE AND BE BETTER AND :(((( He's a fragment of the soul of the King in Yellow (god of trickery and suffering iirc??) that gets trapped in a book in our realm while the rest of the King stayed in his own separate realm. When a human named Arthur Lester opens the book they get linked and John gains control of Arthur's eyes & kills his partner (oops!). They proceed to go on a quest to find a way of separating them because neither likes the situation, and at first John (or The Entity, which is what he's called at first) just wants to trick and use Arthur, and control his entire body (through the first season he also gets a hand & a foot) even though he doesn't remember being The King In Yellow at the time, but Arthur makes him change and become more human. His turning point is when Arthur is shot and falls into a coma for a month. They get treated at a hospital and while John waits for Arthur to wake up so they can carry on, the body itself still gets taken care of. The time John spends alone, contemplating on humanity & everything he's seeing and learning from Arthur, as well as the way a certain nurse speaks to him every day (specifically, she greets him good morning and good night, despite the body being unresponsive, John still hears because he is an entity linked to the body) and calls him John (they didn't have ID on when they were found so they were classified as John Doe), changes his outlook and plans for good, and he asks Arthur to call him John; from this point on he admits he cares for Arthur, looks for his wellbeing too, and in general attempts to be a better person and to live for himself. The rest of the podcast (ongoing!!) explores Arthur & John's relationship, struggle to survive, adventures in the eldritch… All while tackling each of their issues with themselves and each other and watching them both grow. John in specific learns to be the person he wants to be, how sometimes you'll take a step forward and two backwards; he can be cruel and manipulative sometimes but he still tries. Personally I love his journey, it's very realistic and you can see he is trying his best, and how he wants to be better than he was as the King In Yellow, and how much Arthur has changed him and how much he cares about him because of that; and how he's slowly growing into being his own person :) if it ends badly ill cry so hard but!!! he's John Doe because that's the name he was being addressed as, and he's made it his, and being John means he's no longer the King and that he wants to be different, and John can fail or make mistakes but it's part of who he is now, and that's what matters. I am So Normal About Him

JOHN DOE (Malevolent) SWEEP

John Doe (Ace Attorney) Propaganda:

technically John Doe is the fake name he uses to hide his identity as an assassin but uh, that's still the name he goes by. its because his real surname is literally "de killer" so.

His real name is Shelly de Killer, but he uses the pseudonym John Doe. Does that still count?