#i wanted to make it banana fish themed but i thought it might be a bit much
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my graduation cap :33
i think it turned out really cute hehe
#i finally found a use for the lao sticker :D#i wanted to make it banana fish themed but i thought it might be a bit much#cause surprisingly most of my friends don’t know the full scope of how hyperfixated i am with banana fish rn#but yeah i still added the silly little easter egg hehe#graduation cap#banana fish
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Anime recs for The Radiant Emperor enjoyers
I was watching the new Ooku anime on Netflix some weeks ago and I thought it hit that ”court drama dealing with gender roles and making me cry” spot that He Who Drowned the World has been occupying in my heart lately (even if it engages with some of these themes very differently).
Somehow that got me thinking about other anime that might align with the vibes and themes in The Radiant Emperor book series and eventually came up with this list.
Some of those themes include gender roles, queerness, disability, politics, oppression, rebellion, revenge, impossible and messy relationships and tragedy. Darker themes like war, violence, sexual assault etc are also often present. Please lmk if you agree or disagree with these choices and feel free to add more!
Dororo (2019)
Historical fantasy based on Osamu Tezuka’s manga classic from the 1960s.
An orphan who hides her gender in order to survive meets a young man who fights demons to claim back his body parts that his father traded away in a demonic pact. There’s tons of pain and tough moral questions and complicated family relationships, and the way Hyakkimaru deals with having lost and then slowly regaining parts of himself is super interesting.
24 episodes. Stream on Prime Video, Hidive
The Heike Story (2022)
Retelling of the historical epic Heike monogatari through the eyes of an orphan girl who gains the ability to see supernatural things after her father’s passing. Inevitability of fate, the impermanence of all existence, praying for your loved ones’ happiness in the next life, all of these things are beautifully woven in this visually stunning story. The story also hits different when you know that Heike monogatari was traditionally performed by blind musicians and singers.
11 episodes. Stream on Cruncyroll, Apple TV
Inu-oh (2022)
Historical fantasy. Two outcasts find each other and change the history with their music in this story that also pays respect to the Heike monogatari’s origin as a singing tradition. Focus on things like identity, disability, nonconformity, ghosts. Yes, the ghosts part is important. Also, the gender expressions and the bond between the two main characters is something I’ve seen a lot of queer/trans ppl relate to and Inu-oh is voiced by none other than the trans icon Avu-chan.
Movie. Stream on Hulu
Ōoku: The Inner Chambers (2023)
Alternate history where most men in Japan have been wiped out by a mysterious disease. Very much a court drama centered in the Tokugawa shogun’s residence where men serve the woman shogun as concubines (and sometimes have relationships with each other). Also, one of the main characters is a monk who ends up giving up his vows! Based on Fumi Yoshinaga’s acclaimed manga that has also been adapted to various live action movies and drama series.
10 episodes. Stream on Netflix
Toward the Terra (2007)
Scifi classic with two main characters who are at the opposing sides but feel inexplicably connected. There’s just so many insane relationships and emotions here, I still have not recovered from the ”I want to kill you but I will also protect you with my own life” thing…… Based on the 1970s manga by Keiko Takemiya. Not to be confused with the movie from 1980.
24 episodes. Available on DVD
Devilman Crybaby (2018)
Apocalyptic fantasy with demons and stuff. Based on the classic 1970s manga by Go Nagai.
I don’t even know how to describe the story, it’s just the tragedy, the queer yearning, the ”I killed the one I loved and then it was too late”, the ”things will get bad and then they will get worse” vibe that I think is very fitting. This one has the most extreme violent and sexual content out of the series on this list.
10 episodes. Stream on Netflix
Banana Fish (2018)
Gang wars, mystery drugs and complicated emotions set in New York. Based on the iconic 1980s manga by Akemi Yoshida. Deals heavily with trauma and CSA.
You guessed right, this one is also a tragedy. If you love Ouyang and/or Baoxiang, you’re probably going to love Lee Yut-Lung. That’s all I’m going to say.
24 episodes. Stream on Amazon Prime
#the radiant emperor#idk these made some sort of sense in my head at least#rec lists#he who drowned the world#she who became the sun#long post#anime recs
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A different halloween night
Maria: Is everyone here?
Yuma: Yeah yeah, hurry up with it, will ya?
Shin: Why did you want us all here? It better be good or you'll pay for making me come to this stinky place.
Reiji: "Stinky"? Ha... That is hardly a word that could describe our mansion... However I suppose I could not expect any different from a founder.
Kino: I have a highscore waiting for me. Can we speed this up?
Maria: Ok ok, relax. As you all may know, today is Halloween. So I thought it would be fun if we all had a little celebration together.
Subaru: YOU CALLED US HERE FOR A STUPID HUMAN CELEBRATION!?
Kanato: Unacceptable... I should cut off your skin for wasting our time, right, Teddy?
Laito: Nfu Come on~ It's not that bad of an idea~
Kazemi: Right. Besides, Maria never got to celebrate Halloween since it's not part of the brazilian culture. Of course she would want to take the chance now.
Yuma: As long as I don't have to wear some ridiculous makeup, I could care less.
Maria: Please, everyone! I know it's gonna be fun! Before we continue though, I have a question for everyone...
Trick or treat?
Ayato: Huh?
Ruki: Are we supposed to answer...?
Kino: Trick, of course! You are the one who should be giving us treats for our troubles.
Azusa: If the... trick is painful... then I... want it... heh...
Kazemi: Maria... What are you planning on?
Maria: Just wait.
... "Marmelada de banana, bananada de goiaba, goiabada de marmelo~"
Subaru: What, she's singing now!?
Carla: A mermaid singing is never good...
Maria: "Sítio do pica pau amarelo~ Sítio do pica pau amareloooo~"
*Swoosh*
Ayato: What the-
Kou: Woaaahh!!
*Magic sounds*
Azusa: Hmph... what... happened...?
Kazemi: Eh...? Why am I in mermaid form?
Yuma: AHH!! Why am I wearing a dress!?
Ruki: Me too... Maria, what is the meaning of this?
Ayato: Yeah? What is this? Why am I missing a leg!?
Shin: And why does Nii-san look like a fish!?
Carla: ...
Maria: Fufufu Welcome, everyone, to my Halloween party~!
The theme I came up with is a show from my home country known as Sítio do Pica pau amarelo!
Ayato is Saci Pererê, Kanato is Narizinho, Yui is Emília, Laito is Tio Barnabé, Reiji is Visconde de Sabugosa, Shu is Rabicó and Subaru is Pedrinho.
Ruki is Dona Benta, Yuma is Tia Anastácia, Kou is Zé Carijó, Azusa is Quindin the rhino, Carla is Prince Escamado, Shin is Conselheiro and Kino is Cuca.
Kazemi: What about me?
Maria: You're Iara!
Kanato: I'M GONNA RIP YOUR EYES OFF!!
Subaru: YEAH! BRING US BACK TO NORMAL!!
Ayato: YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS, FAKE BLUE!
Laito: Hahaha Ayato-kun looks good with a missing leg though~
Ayato: Shut up!!
Maria: Please guys, calm down! The illusion will end as soon as each of you finds the book corresponding to your character. The books are hidden all over the mansion. Once you have it, you go back to normal immediately.
Shu: So much trouble... But now that I think of it, you would never come up with such nonsense on your own.
Maria: Eh?
Reiji: I will have to agree. Whether out of fear or out of your own stupidness, the fact is you would never dare mess with us like this without being sure of your safety.
Yuma: Hah? What is that supposed to mean?
Ruki: I see... So you think there might be someone else behind this whole story.
???: Indeed.
Everyone: !?
*Footsteps*
Karlheinz: Maria would never play such a prank on anyone... So I had to give her some... incentive.
Carla: You... What is with those clothes?
Karlheinz: Why, I am part of the game, of course!
Maria: Yes! Karlheinz-sama is Dr. Caramujo and I am Dona Aranha!
Laito: ... What have you done to Slut-chan?
Karlheinz: Nfufu Do not worry. She is in no danger. I have simply cast a simple spell on her to make her emotions all numb, including her fear. She will serve as your guide through the game so everyone can get to the end.
Shu: So you made her into a puppet...
Kanato: How unpleasant... Please, bring her back immediatelly. Me and Teddy have no wish to play this game.
Ruki: I agree this is rather uncomfortable... However if this is Lord Karlheinz's wish, we have no right to question it.
Karlheinz: Cheer up. The faster you find the books, the sooner you'll end Maria's illusion and my spell. You have until the sunrise.
Ready? Start searching~!
#halloween event#fanfic#series#october#diabolik lovers#halloween#sitio do pica pau amarelo#brazilian culture
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I think, and this is just my opinion (coupled with things I observed myself), antis are a generation of young people who grew up with queer rep being everywhere in media. As it was previously said, that’s not inherently a bad thing, but because of this queer history isn’t really looked into anymore
for antis, queer rep is when it’s portrayed in mainstream media, where it was made palatable so it sells. Queer expression or rep that doesn’t make a lot of sense to them, or goes beyond of what they expect or have grown up with is simply not “queer” for them, or even good
you mentioned Killing Stalking, but I would also make an example out of the manga / anime “Banana Fish”. It’s a Boys Love story that isn’t explicitly mentioned as such, there’s no “I love you” between the main characters and the story isn’t happy either (it’s pretty tragic actually). Despite the “main couple” being very obviously in love with each other, people will refuse to call it a boys love story because a lot of other darker themes are present.
But as you also mentioned, they also go after cute stuff like Boyfriends, largely because the author’s queer expression is so different than that of their (westernized) expectation/experience. The author is clearly showing a “what if” situation, an idealistic world in which a relationship he desires can exist and there’s nothing wrong with that, but antis don’t want ideals, they want it to be “pure”, to be palatable, to make sense to them, to fit in those rigid boxes they’ve made for themselves
and I also think while they are lgbtq+, they haven’t let go of old conservative mindsets, also because of a lack of interest for queer history, or maybe they’re just shallowly picking what history they believe in. Saw one even say that kinks don’t belong at pride, spread the myth that apparently people have public sex at prides (no, that doesn’t happen unless you mean the 18+ only street fair event Folsom), and that the stonewall riots weren’t actually riots, but they praise Marsha P Johnson and celebrate her existence and importance of LGBTQ history which is kind of ironic?
Also TERFs helped spread a lot of this targeted hate among them too, cause antis are their useful idiots. There are enough galleries out there which show that antis have stolen/reblogged and still steal/reblog posts from so called “crypto TERFs” or radical feminists who aren’t openly transphobic (but they still hate men and think BL fetishizes gay men, so any woman who reads BL is “rotten”. Sounds familiar?)
anyway, I think this is also largely due to purity culture influencing a mob/group mentality and “death” of the individual. After all, if a large group already tackles something that MIGHT be or is uncomfortable, why should the individual critically think about why that is?
and it’s not just teens who fall into this, it’s also (young) adults who become idols, who become someone their younger peers look up to. It’s a worrying trend, and exacerbated through the rise of fascism in the world. And maybe also social media
but again, that’s just my opinion/thoughts
Sorry it took me awhile to reply to this. I was honestly thinking of what to say, but I couldn't figure out how to respond. Like I feel like there's nothing for me to add. To me, what you said is spot on.
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For the anime ask game! May I ask 1, 3 and 12? ^^
Sure you may!
First anime you ever watched?
It depends on how you want to count. The first anime I watched as a little girl was Pokémon. At least it's the first one I remember being really obsessed with. My grandparents had a TV pack with many channels, including the one that had anime. No matter what I was doing, if I heard the Pokémon theme song playing on the TV, I would drop everything I was holding and go to the TV as fast as I could. Now, I also remember enjoying MewMew Power (or Tokyo MewMew, as is the Japanese title) a lot, and there was also Dragon Ball and Naruto on the channel, but those two, I didn't enjoy quite as much.
After learning what anime was, my first was Vampire Knight. My friend had watched it and we had an idea that I should base a fanfiction on the story, so that was why I watched it. I liked the first season, but then the story turned weird and I've heard that the manga turned weirder. It's not one I'll go back to unless I have a good reason, but it is special to me.
3. Favorite anime character?
That's hard! I mean, there are so many characters that I love. My first favorite character was Kaoru Hitachiin from Ouran High School Host Club, because I like how he is different from Hikaru and the two sides he shows. Then I have a soft spot for Yui from Angel Beats because I relate to her very deeply, all her feelings and her struggles, and just thinking about her moves me. I like Ron Kamonohashi because he is just fun to watch.
I also could say that I like Haruka Nanase from Free! because I do relate to him in some ways. However, these days, I think I would have to say Reki Kyan from Sk8 The Infinity. When he had some emotional struggles in the anime, I had some struggles that were quite similar, and it made me feel heard and understood, and helped me process my thoughts and feelings, and so Reki's journey hit me hard too. To borrow the word of a friend, I would call him my squish. But there are many reasons to like a character. Ask me in a year or two, and Reki might not be my answer anymore. It always changes.
12. Anime that should get more attention from others?
Another good question. Other than fanfictions, I don't really check what anime are talked about and what are not talked about at all. If you ask the BL loving girl inside me, she would claim that all BL anime deserve more attention. I'm not sure I agree with that statement. There is good BL like Sasaki and Miyano, Given or Banana Fish, and then there is questionable BL that I would rather not even mention.
I think, if I had to name an anime that I wish got more attention and was still talked about today, it would have to be Bakuman. I loved the anime when I watched it and while it does some things different from the manga, I'm enclined to argue that those minor details actually make the anime better, with the male duo more likable and the love interests getting more screen time, so they feel more like their own people.
Thank you for the ask ^^
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let me expand: besides the very obvious and blatant plot holes with ash being killed and bleeding out in a public library with no one noticing for hours, it’s still a flawed ending from a storytelling perspective. Akimi Yoshida herself said “Ash is a killer. I feel that regardless of what might have been behind the killings, people who take another person’s life need to make up for it with their own life. So that’s why I wrote that ending.” So despite fans coming up with poetic, convoluted interpretations of the ending that act like death=freedom (extremely harmful message to csa/sa survivors/borderline suicide ending which is a lazy cliched writing), she ultimately killed him because he had blood on his hands (which is ironic because she keeps characters like blanca alive). basically, she just wanted a tragedy and didn’t know what else to do with his character, which is incredibly disappointing, but also makes sense; it’s difficult to write a “recovery” arc that’s actually realistic because that would require sensitivity and nuance that even writers today struggle with. (also, yes there’s references to “a perfect day for banana fish” but she could’ve just as easily used the themes to mislead and subvert the narrative to give ash a different ending that still fit the gritty tone of the series) Overall I just can’t stand for what the ending suggests and how it proves ash’s abusers right; that there’s nothing he can do to change his fate and that he’s simply destined to suffer and die. Even if we’re supposed to believe he dies on his own terms, he’s still bound by the logic of his abusers, and what does that tell people who identify with ash? Especially since eiji combats this logic constantly throughout the manga. Not only that, but eiji’s character is all about resilience and hope, it would’ve made sense if ash decided to live simply because eiji’s qualities rubbed off on him (it would be a lot more complex than that but this is just food for thought). I respect Akimi Yoshida and love the manga overall but I really think she fumbled the ending and no explanation is going to make me think his death is deep or insightful. anyways to each their own, i’m still a fan of the anime’s open-end. @kbandjelly @saltysandycandy
people get sooo mad when you purposely ignore banana fish’s (unrealistic and arguably terrible) ending when the anime itself is open-ended… not to mention when the anime finished airing, mappa changed ash’s status from dead to alive (which can still be seen on the bananafish.tv website)…. in conclusion ash and eiji are alive and together in japan idk what else to tell you
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Damian Wayne Anime Headcanons
First anime he watched was Attack on Titan. Since then, he made his own ODM gear, using the grappling hook mechanism and a few other stuff. He tested it out on training and was successful. He doesn’t use it much in patrol but he does in missions, especially those that include mountain climbing.
Jason made him a personalized bookshelf for his manga collection. Since he doesn’t want people to know he likes anime and manga, he was more than grateful when Jason made him a shelf that can be hidden into the walls.
Damian doesn’t know Your Lie in April exists. The Titans do their best to make sure he doesn’t find it. They just know for a fact he wouldn’t be able to handle it.
Dick got him the whole OHSHC manga set. He cried in a lot of chapters and ended up marking a few of them to make notes. He relates a lot to Kaoru, no, I will not elaborate.
He read and watched Demon Slayer with Raven, as ironic as that was. But he did have a lot of questions if some of the rules on demon biology were actually real and relates to Raven.
The Titans keep saying he and Bakugo were a lot alike as a joke. But when they watched it and got to Season 3 and watched the end of Bakugo and Deku’s fight scene, they looked at him and thought, “Shit-”
The boys convinced him to go to an anime convention. Jaime went as a Survey Corp, Damian even gave him permission to use the ODM gear but not actually use it. Conner was went as Todoroki. Wally went as Rock Lee. Garfield went as Ash Ketchum. And Damian went as Tanjiro Kamado. Yes, he used his actual sword. And I personally would like to headcanon that he used his old assassin’s uniform, just altered a bit.
Damian stopped patrolling for a week because of one anime and it’s manga. He couldn’t get over it so he got pulled from the Titans so he can take a break. Even back in Gotham, he couldn’t patrol. He couldn’t function properly. This went on for an entire 2 weeks before he got back into patrol little by little. So by now, you might be thinking, what manga and anime could do such a thing? …Banana Fish
He says his favorites are action animes but, we all know he’s more precious than that. He only watches his favorites when he sleeps over with Jon, which are Studio Ghibli animes. His current favorite is My Neighbor Totoro
After he watched a Silent Voice, he got a lot more closer to Cass. They would talk to each other using the sign languages of other countries. Can be Korean, Japanese or even Russian but they mostly use Chinese sign language.
He could care less if he watches Sub or Dub. This boy watches it without subtitles. He even goes as far as to watch it in dub of other languages.
They keep him away from anything pervy. This includes ecchi like Kakegurui, High School DxD, Kill la Kill, and the like or h3nt@i entirely.
Damian is not afraid to go further. He knows what manhwa and manhua is. He doesn’t know why but he’s more interested in BL/GL romance manhwas than straight ones. He’s already read the ones commonly talked about, like BJ Alex, Painter of the Night, Back to School, Love or Hate (he completely lashed out on that one) and others.
On their anniversary, Damian made Jon this specific night light. Jon actually cried. He loved it very much. The next time they slept over at his house, Jon would set it up and actually fall asleep to it.
He painted one side of his room the Kimi No Na Wa Twilight Scene. Garfield regrets showing him the anime because the painting looked so realistic and that scene always made him cry.
Their greatest regret is introducing Damian to…*horror theme* Fanfiction. With the help of Raven and Donna and a little nudge by Dick, he started reading them off of sites like ao3, wattpad, fanfiction.net and the like.
#dc#robin#damian wayne#dc comics#teen titans#titans#justice league vs teen titans#jonathan kent#jon kent#dick grayson#nightwing#superboy#damijon#jondami#beast boy#blue beetle#wonder girl#punishing gray raven#conner kent#kon kent#wally west#kid flash#demon slayer#anime#aot#attack on titan#kimi no na wa#banana fingers#bnha#mha
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How it’d be to watch animes with them
A/N: While i’m working on my Mikasa x reader royal au, this little idea came to my mind. I tried to put the links when i mentioned a specific scene and speak a little about the anime in case you don’t know it. So here it’s:
Warnings: Me exposing my otaku self, mentions of 18+ animes (Not hentais)
Eren - Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Tensai-tachi no Renai Zunousen (13+)
A / N: The main characters like each other, but none wants to confess because being the person who takes the first step would also represent being the defeated person. The anime develops in a series of plans that both elaborate to make the other confess their love.
Warnings: None
It was his idea to watch an anime together since the two of you liked it a lot. You saw no harm and agreed to go to sleep with your boyfriend on Friday night. So, you would have the dawn and the weekend to see everything.
“We could watch One piece! Everybody likes"
“In three days ?! We will not finish even if we do not take breaks ”
"Naruto then?"
“Haven't you seen it all five times or more?
"But it is a classic!"
"It is also too long!"
He would sulk when he saw you reject each of his suggestions for being too big animes. The truth was, he was trying to convince you to stay longer. After much searching in the catalog, you choose to watch a short comedy of 12 episodes.
Biggest mistake ever
Eren is already annoying by nature, and after watching Kaguya-sama's two seasons he would spend the day and night trying to get you to confess to him EVEN IF YOU'VE BEEN IN LOVE FOR TWO YEARS AND HE HAS BEEN THE FIRST TO DECLARE. HIT HIM, PLEASE.
"Do you think that using such a low trick will make me give in?"
“Eren, I just got out of the shower. What trick? Wear an outfit? ”
“Showing off your skin won't make you win”
If you wanted to play with him, great. You are going to spend the day in this little game until he gets tired and just hugs you or something because he can't spend a lot of time without touching you. But if you didn't want to, just you could use that touchy side of him against him too.
"Maybe I shouldn't show you anything else then"
"Yes, of course, do- Wait what?"
"You heard"
“NO, BABE! YOU WON! I CONFESS! I LOVE YOU"
Watching anime with him would be quite an experience. For being very verbal, Eren would be the type of person who doesn't shut up watching anything. Especially, something that makes him laugh. You would see him laughing out loud and throwing himself back on the couch or on you, whether you were with him or not. You may even complain, but it would be fun to see him react to everything as immediately and naturally as an unfiltered child.
He will sing ALL the openings for the rest of the days around the house until you are humming some without realizing it.
For some reason, can I imagine him doing Chika dance ?? Yes, please film this big bear dancing like a little girl.
Levi - Death parade
A / N: Do you want to cry and hurt yourself? This is the right place. Death Parade is a story about what happens after death. The characters are sent to mysterious bars where they will be judged to decide the fate of the souls themselves. (18+)
Warnings: Suicide, depressive themes, mentions of rape and domestic violence
I don't see Levi watching many animes. In fact, I don't see him watching much anything at all. He would be the type of person who can't spend a lot of time in front of the television without feeling like he's wasting time. Which would result in a very selective and demanding taste.
He would always read the reviews about the film, and after watching it, he would make his own. Ever. No exceptions. Unlike Impossible-to-be-quiet-Eren, Levi would be silent to be able to capture and understand all the details. This is interesting because getting his attention is a difficult task. But once it's done, he is 100% focused on the story and immersed in the characters.
So, after reading about it, he would agree to watch Death Parade with you.
He would have low expectations at first, and if the anime failed to hold his very difficult attention in three episodes, he wouldn't even try with the rest.
So when in the first episode, all suspense and doubts left to the viewer entered Ackerman's head, he would finish the other 11 without realizing it.
As a rational person, he would love things that make him think and reflect on the proposed theme. In the case: Life and death.
For some reason, I imagine him as someone who would like to study and read philosophy as a hobby and that he would love Nietzsche? So, you could expect deep conversations after each episode.
But without any arrogance, humanity's strongest soldier might not be the most talkative man in humanity, but surely when he opened his mouth to it, it wouldn’t be to show himself off with something that he knows and you don’t. On the contrary, he would be more than happy to explain if you asked and added your opinion.
He wouldn't cry, but he would be touched by the way the emotions were shown and created in the characters.
He would probably see the scene where Decim cries more than once for being impressed with how the pain of a character who is supposedly not flesh and blood is expressed so well.
And after the anime is over, you would always see him listening to the music of the ice skating scene around the house while doing something.
When you were finished watching everything, you would talk again about the anime. You lying on his chest and he touching his hair, smelling him.
"Do you believe in reincarnation, Levi?"
“If so, I wouldn't go back to this shit a second time. No matter what they offered me ”
"Levi!"
"Unless it was to have you again"
“What a cliché” He would roll his eyes after hearing your response “But I like clichés”
Again, he wouldn't cry, but he would be thinking about how ephemeral things can be, including being alive. Then you can expect a more touchy Levi for a few days.
Jean - Banana Fish
N / A: Another one to cry and get hurt. Banana Fish is way more than just a story about one character just is hard to define. So in case, you didn’t watch it, here’s the trailer. (18+)
warnings: pedophilia, rape, violence, drugs, your heart being destroyed
You know that guy who says that no yaoi is good, it's just a way to feed a bunch of fujoshi and stuff like that? Jean. It's him. I just know it. So when you suggested Banana Fish and said it was a BL / yaoi, he would probably laugh and ignore the idea.
But after insisting a little and showing him the many compliments that both the anime and the manga received, he would accept.
At first, he wouldn't pay much attention. He really thought it would be just another bad anime. But by the end of the first episode, he would be too involved in the story to stop.
I think he would love crime novels for the same reason that Levi: To think. Try to find out how things are going to end and pick up any clues that the author has left about the ending. So the plot would hold him so much because he would make a ton of theories about the end.
He will ship Ash and Eiji with all his soul. I mean, how can he not ship? To see an anime in which the physical touch between the couple doesn't really happen and still builds a well-developed and healthy relationship would be a new experience for him.
Jean is somewhat similar to Eren in this respect. So you can expect to see him huffing in anger, cursing one of the characters, throwing a pillow away, or using it to hide a tear or two that he would let go of you. The kind of person who gets emotionally involved with the things he watches.
He would cry an entire river after watching the last episode and deny it later.
“I was not crying. The cushion fabric made my eyes itch a lot ”
Show him again and he will cry the same amount and intensity
Armin - Haikyuu
A / N: Considering all the texts on Tumblr for haikyuu characters, I’m pretty sure you know what anime it’s lol (10+)
Armin is an otaku with a license card and no one can change my mind. He would probably start watching it as a child. So, his first animes would be everyone's classics: Naruto, Dragon Ball Z, Bleach, etc.
So it would be normal that as the vast majority, he would continue to have a preference for shounen when he grew up. So it would be your idea to see Haikyuu.
He would have low expectations because he thought it would be just another anime with cute characters for everyone to be thirsty as an inverted harem. And also because the synopsis does not create a strong impression, especially for those who consume shounen daily.
"So we are just gonna see a little boy trying to catch a ball?"
“It's gonna be good! Everyone is talking about it now ”
"Does he have some superpower?"
"No"
"Something scary?"
"Armin, just give a chance!"
He would like it. Did I say he would like it? Because he would love it. The atmosphere created and well developed with such a simple plot would hold his attention well. (Is it possible to dislike Hinata in the first episode?)
It would be a great anime for him to watch because 1. It is different from what he usually sees. Unlike shounen, Haikyuu deals only with real and tangible scenarios. Of course, still with that touch of anime, but it is very easy to recognize yourself in the characters and learn from them and therefore reflect on yourself as well.
It would be great to make him think about his own insecurities and how most of them were inside his head.
He would be so immersed in the anime universe that he would have to pause the game scenes because he would be too nervous waiting for the ball to fall.
You will probably see him taking a deep breath in each drawing scene of the characters and see him truly cheering for the team as if it were a real national game.
More than that, you will see his eyes full of tears when Yamaguchi hit the serve in the match against Aoba johsai.
In fact, Yamaguchi would be his favorite character. No discussions.
"I said it would be good"
"Shut up"
"Make me"
Mikasa - Heaven’s official blessing
A / N: I'm going to leave the trailer here because I don't know how to define it very well. It's a novel, but the story doesn't focus ONLY on that. (14+)
Okay, you didn't suggest. She did not suggest. So how do you end up watching together? You catch her watching when you come home by surprise lol
Until then, you would know that she watched some anime, but nothing romantic. Never. In fact, that was her little secret.
Although common sense is that Mikasa would be cold even in a modern au (and I agree in parts). I think she would be the type of person who loves to see the sweetest and softest things to melt alone on the couch without anyone seeing. A moment for herself and a part of her that she would not show to anyone.
You would already know about her romantic side, but seeing her under the covers sighing while watching the Netflix special episode is a totally different story.
Please don’t mock her!!. She would be red enough by the time she was discovered.
When she was less shy, she would ask if you want to watch with her. She would say she saw no problem watching it with you again since doing it with you would be a different experience.
If you accept, you would spend the rest of the night in the room sharing a blanket and absorbing the soft atmosphere, the soundtrack, and the Chinese culture so present in history.
She would not speak a lot because she was paying attention, but she would hug you all the time. In the romantic scenes, she would tighten her arms around you a little and sometimes left a kiss on your shoulder.
I think she could relate to Hua Cheng's way of loving. He is always there to protect, care for and see his lover even if sometimes Xie Lian doesn't even know.
And that is what she wants to show you, that more than a girlfriend, she is also someone you can count on.
Days later, you will see her reading the rest of the work around the house because she couldn't stand to wait for a second season.
And later, SURELY melting and vibrating while watching Mo Dao Zu Shi.
#aot x reader#aot x you#eren x reader#mikasa x reader#armin x reader#levi x reader#jean x reader#kaguya sama wo kataritai#haikyuu!!#banana fish#death parade#heavens official blessing#shingeki no kyojin#shingeki no kyojin x reader#aot imagines#eren jaeger x reader#eren headcanons#mikasa headcanons#armin headcanons#levi headcanons#jean headcanons
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as dreamers do ||| n.jm
pairing: na jaemin x reader genre: fluff words: 2.2k a/n: hello!!! this is my first piece of writing in a very long time, so apologies if its all over the place/makes no sense!!! obviously this is all a work of fiction, disclaimer, blablabla, idk what i’m doing i just wanted to write drabbles about nct lmao, so with that being said!!!! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Do you trust me?”
You roll your eyes in the direction of your coworker, Jaemin, who was sitting across from you in the fluorescent lit break room located just behind Splash Mountain’s gift shop and exit. The two of you were part of the massive workforce of college aged youth that Disney recruited every year to staff their theme parks and resorts. While you weren’t initially thrilled with your role as a custodian, you learned to appreciate its quirks - and that included the unique cast of characters otherwise known as your coworkers. From the full-timers that did their best to ignore your presence, knowing another semester would just bring a fresh wave of new faces, to your fellow program cohorts - Jaemin being one of them.
Assuming he was just quoting Aladdin at you, you offer no response to Jaemin’s initial query and continue scrolling through your phone, shoveling the few remaining cheese crackers from the nearby vending machine down your throat, intending on savoring the remaining minutes of your last break for the evening.
Your thoughts wandered back to your fellow cast members. There was Daehwi, sheltered and away from home for the first time, affectionately nicknamed ‘baby’ by everyone he befriended. Wendy, with her melodic voice and cheerful disposition, eager to break into song at a moments notice. Lucas, who might’ve come to Florida to party first, but worked equally hard. Hani, who arrived a few weeks after you, always the first to come help when you radio that your restroom has overflowed, again. Even Jinho, who had initially fooled you with his youthful looks before revealing this was his third time through the program, had somehow wormed his way into your heart. But nobody had been as captivating as Jaemin. When you first met him in passing in the cramped break room, you were convinced casting had made a mistake, that he was lost on his way to costuming for entertainment. He certainly looked like a prince - perfectly straight teeth, boyishly handsome good looks. A few days later he was assigned to clean the same bathrooms as you - “bathroom buddies” as everyone affectionately would call the practice. There, in the shared stockrooms, you learned who Jaemin was beyond his beautiful face - how his friends back home called him Nana, that he was studying photography in college, that he was an only child, a helluva flirt. Even your music tastes were similar, a fact you discovered on one of the many cramped, late night bus rides back to program housing where the two of you stood packed shoulder to shoulder, like sardines in a can. Jaemin interacted with guests both young and young at heart with an effortless charm and grace. Your managers loved him immediately, and before you knew it, you found yourself incredibly enamored with him too.
It wasn’t until his hand suddenly broke through your field of vision, blocking sight of your phone, that you realized Jaemin had stood up and was now standing directly in front of you. His head covered the harshest of the overhead lights, casting a soft halo glow around his black, messy hair and broad shoulders. He smiles down at you, innocently, and you feel your heartbeat accelerate when your eyes meet his own.
“Do you trust me?” he asks, again. This time, without thought, you place your hand firmly in his.
******
Jaemin leads you out of the blinding light of the break room silently, into the dark of the early winter evening. Eyes still adjusting, you follow behind him, thankful that your corner of the park was mostly deserted - Splash Mountain still closed for the season, only a few stragglers were coming and going to use the restroom in the area. You vaguely remember that Jaemin had been assigned a nearby zone to clean that evening - which was it again…?
He leads you up a flight up stairs, then, and that’s when it hits you. Train Zone. The Frontierland Railroad Station. It was an easy zone to clean, as the railroad shut down early each night before the fireworks display. Gathering the trash in an empty zone like this was a godsend, especially when compared to the other ride queues you had to clean, oftentimes fighting constant guest traffic like a fish swimming upstream.
Lost in your thoughts, you follow behind Jaemin as he completes his task diligently, making sure each trash can within the train station is empty and re-bagged for the next morning. It had been a few days since the two of you had worked in neighboring areas, and you often found yourself tongue tied when around him. The background music loop of Frontierland was noticeably absent, the speakers within the station shut off for the night. This led to Jaemin singing nonsense songs while tying up trash bags and wiping down surfaces, dancing lightly on his feet.
Turkey leg-g-g
At the train
D-d-d-driving me insane~
All you could do was laugh at his antics, and before you knew it, the nearby banana boat parked at the exit ramp was full of trash bags. Satisfied with the results of your hard work, you were about to begin the walk to backstage, where the dumpsters were located, when Jaemin turned about face, walking instead towards the train station.
“What are you doing?!” you hiss, not wanting to shout but needing to stress your confusion at his actions. Jaemin stops at the gate, unlatches it, before turning around, beckoning you over with a smile.
“I asked you if you trusted me, didn’t I?” his voice low in your ear upon your arrival at his side, banana boat now parked safely out of any guest traffic. Jaemin unlocks the gate for you, both of you falling silent on your walk back up into the depths of the train station - no more cute, silly songs spilling from his lips.
“Are you sure we aren’t going to get caught?” your voice carries louder than intended across the empty room as you go through the turnstile, and you wince.
Jaemin’s boisterous laugh took you by surprise, followed a moment later by his hand ruffling the top of your head, messing up your hair. As if to say, foolish.
“Getting the trash from up here is technically our responsibility. So what if it took us a little long?”
He was right - the best part of your job was the agency it provided. Sure, you were cleaning up garbage and bathrooms and vomit, but you could walk around freely. Explore hidden corners and crevices of the park. You knew all too well the allures of the shared hallway between the Frontierland restrooms, the stock closet next to the Veranda breezeway, the dumpster behind the Haunted Mansion - places the rest of your desperately horny coworkers had used to hook up in weeks prior. As you follow Jaemin around a corner towards the front of the station, through an open passageway, you wonder if that’s what he has in mind. That is, until you see the view in front of you.
Jaemin had led you to a small balcony that overlooked the whole expanse of Frontierland. From above you could spot guests walking about the park to and fro, the Rivers of America flowing gently behind them in the distance. Bits and pieces of Cinderella’s Castle were visible through the tree line, shining bright in multicolor as the nightly projection show proceeded to play.
“Jaem, it’s….”
“Nice, isn’t it?” He finishes your thought for you, his hand brushing over the staged decorations of fake barrels and crates against the wall of the balcony that seemed perfect to sit upon. Moments later, Jaemin plops down with a satisfied smile on his face and pats the space beside him, silently asking you to join him.
“Nice is an understatement” you offer in reply. A small laugh leaves his lips, a breeze rolls through. For just a moment, it is quiet and still.
“I’ve been wanting to show you this place for a while, but the stars just never aligned right until tonight.”
“You mean, the computer system that automates scheduling and staffing didn’t randomly place us in neighboring areas of the park until to-” Jaemin’s stiff elbow into your side lets you know to drop the wit. That you could do, but a question lingered in your mind, still, and you did have to voice your sole concern.
“How do you not get caught up here?”
Jaemin turns around, points to the solitary light on the balcony, and it’s then that you notice the bulb is off. You might feel exposed looking down upon everyone, but quickly realize that nobody is looking up at the closed train station - let alone looking for two cast members in white uniforms in the dark, goofing off on a weeknight.
Fooling around…
You were thankful for the cover of darkness in that moment, as you felt your cheeks turn crimson at the thought. Being alone, with Jaemin, this close, in the dark...This all seemed very sudden, despite everyone knowing about your big crush on Nana - he had to know too?
“So,” Jaemin’s voice cuts through your ever-racing thoughts, and your chest goes cold. “A little birdie told me there’s something you really, really like…”
If jumping off the balcony was a safe option, in that moment, you would’ve taken it. A confirmation of your worst fears - that Jaemin was aware of your ridiculous, schoolgirl like crush on him. You are speechless, sunken, pulse racing, and terrified.
Without the usual cue of area music, caught up in the last hour, you had missed your usual clues. A loud boom caused you to jump in your seat, out of your brain, head immediately turning towards Jaemin - only to make eye contact with him, bright lights reflecting off the surface, who smiles and motions for you to turn around. Of course.
If you were known for one thing amongst your cohorts, it was that you loved fireworks. Even on the most hectic of nights you found a way to make sure you were outside during the nightly display, never taking for granted that you were being paid to watch the sky light up in time to music. You had your favorite spots to watch from, but had never once considered the train station. From the corner of Frontierland, it felt like the fireworks were almost on top of you - cascading down upon Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, the expanse of empty night sky providing the perfect canvas. As the speakers above you were silent, there was no accompanying soundtrack, but it didn’t matter - you knew the whole show by heart. You were unaware of how long your mouth had been hanging open in blissful, childlike wonder, only noticing when Jaemin gently pressed his finger up against your chin, closing the space between your upper and lower lip through simple momentum. Moments later, his hand brushed over yours, testing the waters, and finding no complaint, interlocked his fingers with yours, and gravity pulls your head to his shoulder. A soft, steady hum leaves his lips, as you settle into this newfound bliss.
The rest of the fireworks show plays out in front of the two of you - two white ghosts in a dark shadow, illuminated by glowing streaks and bursts of color from the night sky. You’re working at the most magical place on earth, sure, but this felt like the most magical moment of your life.
Before you know it, the sky calms again, signaling the end of the show. You remain frozen for a moment, not wanting to leave. When you finally stand back up, awkwardly untangling yourself from Jaemin’s frame in a rushed manner, you can almost feel yourself floating back down to the ground, back to reality. Jaemin, your co-worker, Jaemin the flirt. He brought you up here just to watch the fireworks after all. Had you been a bit more outgoing, a bit less awkward, maybe...
Taking a few steps towards the entryway, a sudden hand on your wrist pulls you against the wall - thankfully, out of sight of any guests, but now engulfing your entire body in shadow. And it’s here in the darkness that Jaemin’s hand releases itself from your wrist, finds its way up to your cheek. Here, he leans in and kisses you - pressing his chapped lips against yours gently, but with enough intent and purpose that you swear you were seeing stars after a few moments. It doesn’t last long, as all fairytales would tell you. When you part, Jaemin rests his forehead against yours, both slightly damp from the Florida humidity, and you can feel him smile against you, somehow breathless, letting out a low chuckle, before asking,
“Did you think I was talking about the fireworks?”
#na jaemin#nct fanfic#nct dream fanfic#nct dream#nct fluff#jaemin#nct scenarios#na jaemin fluff#na jaemin fic#jaemin fic#jaemin fluff#nct x reader#jaemin x reader#nct dream fluff
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Have you got any tips for avoiding misery porn when writing about darker subjects?
I mean, there's nothing, technically, wrong with writing misery porn if that's what you wanna write? Some people enjoy it. I'm not one of them, but it has its fans.
But anyway, misery porn specifically refers to the kind of story that's completely miserable but has no real gratification other than For The Misery. It doesn't serve a purpose. There's no meaning behind any of the suffering besides that some people like that.
So I feel like the way to avoid that is relatively simple: have the misery serve a narrative purpose.
Yeah, okay, that's not always the case in reality, but we're talking about fiction here.
BANANA FISH is something that covers a lot of very dark topics in very serious ways mostly, that I'd argue dissolves into Misery Porn in the later arcs. It didn't feel so much that way at first, but there is a certain point in reading 19 volumes where the stories start recapping the exact same kinds of developments and obstacles and the misery inflicted on Ash just starts to seem like Yoshida's torturing her little puppet instead of any of it...mattering.
Like, the entire Foxx arc...didn't really advance anything. Most of it was already covered with Blanca before that. I honestly thought they might cut it out of the anime 'cause why not. But damn if Yoshida didn't want to find yet another person to sexually abuse Ash for because.
And yet early on, even when Ash is forced to kill his best friend, it didn't feel so much like that, because there was a clear reason in the story and plot why something that horrific happened. It changed who Ash was as a person. It dramatically altered the narrative and what opportunities were available. Even Ash having to go back to Dino for a bit, in what is some of the nastiest parts of the series, don't feel like Misery Porn so much because we watch Ash completely breakdown in a new way we hadn't before. That wasn't a situation he was faced with before, and there were reasons from both him and other established characters how it ended up happening.
And then the ending is like, "literally none of this makes any sense with the character we'd been shown up to this point of like, even reality, it's just a miserable thing to have happen at the end because it's miserable. Does it match the themes and narrative? No. Fuck you. Be sad."
There's also a series that I have...sort of mixed feelings about because the subject matter is so dark but I do think it's terribly well-written called The Doctrine of Labyrinths. I do not think it dissolves in Misery Porn, despite it being 4 books that are each like 400-500 pages long of just the main character being subjected to the worst things that could possibly happen to a person. There's child sexual slavery, there's (like a lot) of rape, there's clocks that make you go insane, the main character starts having hallucinations and gets thrown in a Victorian-style asylum, a character suffers medical neglect and is permanently maimed for it, there's incest, there's--
Look.
The Doctrine of Labyrinths is a whole fucking lot.
But despite that, I never felt like the story was glorying in the characters' misery. It existed, it happened, but it was described in detail, but it was never described in a way that felt gratuitous. The focus wasn't on how miserable the characters were, it was on how horrific what was happening was, and it all tied into an extremely damaging, poisonous kind of environment the series was trying to show. It contributed.
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I’m usually never disappointed in anything I’ve seen from studio bones because I know the teams that work on their shows work extremely hard to do what they can. This anime has a lot of History to it too, the director of free and banana fish? Gorgeous animation and designs? Hilarity? A banger of an OP AND ED? Honestly Sk8 the Infinity was just a Good Time.
Our story follows Reki, a high schooler in Okinawa who is OBSESSED with skateboarding, and the new Canadian transfer student, Langa, becoming friends because of skating. Reki takes Langa to the underground skateboard scene S, where Langa, after being taken away from snowboarding in Canada, is introduced to skating in such a way, it makes him want to keep going and get better.
S is also filled with lots of interesting side characters, like Joe, Cherry, Shadow, and yes, even Adam. These people looked at skateboarding and were like “but what if it was like WWE?” Anyway…
While it’s not the strongest in the story department (looking at you failed political subplot!), in the character, animation, and comedy department? Just, great marks all around. Sk8 is RIDICULOUS with some of the nonsense it pulls, but it pulls it in a way that makes sense in context, and never lets you rest from it. The scenes outside of S are also just really fun, funny and wholesome. I just love the character interactions and chemistry.
Am I mad that certain things didn’t happen? Eh, not really honestly. It did the best it could in it’s very limited 12 episode run-time, but honestly, if this went longer than 12 episodes? It might’ve gotten into some trouble. Sometimes, short, sweet, and open ended is good. Would I say no to more Sk8? No???? Except season two and onward of Free just....(this I think is more a fault with the writer than the director. I’m mad with ALL of the character development they ruined in Free season two, I’m sorry). I think Sk8 would greatly benefit from a movie or some OVAs that aren’t recap, but I think it’s charm might be lost if they put more weight into a more serious plot. In general, I think a lot of the problems with the story were when they leaned too heavily on serious plot. The misunderstanding/jealousy subplot was okay, but it dragged on for sooooo many episodes.
Another thing I don’t think enough people talk about is I LOVE the setting for this anime. Very few anime get set outside of Tokyo, and Okinawa is such a melting pot of culture! It makes for a great background, very colorful and enjoyable. It reminds me a lot of tsuritama (which hey, if you want another wholesome sports anime with "friendship", watch it) even though I'm pretty sure it was set in Enoshima which is an island neeeeaarr….Shikoku? Not in the Okinawa region. Plus all of it’s love given to the actual theme of the show, skating. As someone who used to play the Tony Hawk N64 game a LOT as a kid (but the only time I “skateboarded” I ran over my thumb with my full body weight ouchie!), it just felt fun seeing the way S was set up and all the cool ass moves people pulled.
And I think the two main things people have been arguing about a lot was the whole iS ReNgA cAnOn?! And SEND ADAM TO JAIL-- I like that they queercoded a lot and left it up to interpretation. I’m sure they had studio and network heads breathing down their necks to not be explicit, but there is nary a heterosexual explanation for anything. And ya I wanted to see Adam in handcuffs in not the sexy way. I’m not like 100% mad what they did, but like, it sorta made the entire political subplot wasted. A twist I didn’t like was the whole “haha, you THOUGHT she got the warrant to arrest him but she DIDN’T bc the politics in this city are corrupt af” ya, just, probably could have been cut out, but also this is a sports anime where grown adults put on costumes to do ridiculous anime skating illegally, I wasn’t expecting an award winning masterpiece.
I already mentioned it, but I really do like the quality of the animation here. I think it’s definitely what sets Bones apart from many other studios, and in general, probably what saved Sk8 from feeling generic. The animation is dynamic, the colors pop, and the settings are gorgeous and detailed. It just makes me happy to see so much care and details put into it. Just the flipping physics of skateboarding alone are cool to see be explained and animated. Does it pull some sports and BS of humanly impossible feats? Yeah, but they look flipping awesome, combined with everything else, I think it just makes it a good time. Also DAMN I LOVED that compilation in I think episode 2? Of Reki just showing Langa many videos and magazines about skating. It just added another layer of realism to it.
Overall tho, I’m gonna rewatch this one A COUPLE times. It was just a good time, and I will gladly watch more if it comes out, but in the meantime, I can entertain myself with this for a while.
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Yut Lung Lee fic rec list
Yut Lung Lee fic recs: Fanfiction focused and centered on Yut Lung lee. (No yuesing because that deserves its own list) Also none of my own stories are on here because that would be Cheesy.
Its My fault I know I'm selfish by Livesinbooks
https://archiveofourown.org/works/27619817
A time loop fic about Yut Lung being forced to relive that night in Golzine's manor until he gets it right. It's a simple premise but a solid character study that really grasps the complexities of Yut Lung's character and team Ash even grows with him. A must for Yut Lung and also Eiji fans this is a great redemptive fix-it fic.
A Cabin in the Woods https://archiveofourown.org/works/27435316
Eiji and Yut Lung get captured by a serial killer and have to save each other's butts. It does a good job with its cold take on Yut Lung's phycology and actually utilizes both of their skills while keeping both their personalities intact. Its listed Ash x Eiji but its actually an Enemies to friends fic that's very Yut Lung centered.
Silence is Enough by Mackerel _ pizza
https://archiveofourown.org/works/20616266
Yut Lung and Eiji meeting at Ash’s grave
Why you should check it out if you think Eiji got screwed over by the end of the series and are interested in stories exploring both Eiji and Yut Lung’s grief and reactions in the after math of Ash’s death. This is the oneshot for you.
Reversal by twoheartsx
https://archiveofourown.org/works/16734120/chapters/39636393#workskin
A reverse universe where Ash is evil and Yut Lung ran away from his brothers years ago and is the gang leader who found out about Banana Fish.
Why you should check it out- Ash makes a delightful villain and seeing Yut Lung and Eiji who aren’t superpowered beings struggle against him is an interesting role reversal.
Easier this way by Aella - Antiope
https://archiveofourown.org/works/15902712
Just Yut Lungs pov on the bedroom scene with Dino
Why you should check it out
Its makes a dark situation humorous due to Yut Lung’s snark and exasperation with Eiji and also has a bit of a complex dynamic between them.
Wingless Child by trillingwire https://archiveofourown.org/works/16235846
An alternate take on what happened before Dino showed up in the bedroom scene.
Why you should check it out well its hardcore Yut Lung X Eiji and it really does feel like it nails Yut Lung’s character and the roller coaster of emotions he feels towards Eiji during this fic is just captured incredibly! I’m also a sucker for Yut lung instructing Eiji on anything. This is one of the more believable Yueiji fics and it is one of the better takes and this is what made me at least dabble in Yut lung x Eiji
Wanting Crescent by Drunk Yeet
https://archiveofourown.org/works/16213781
Blanca x Yut Lung fic
Why you should check it out
I’m not a Blanca x Yut Lung or even a Blanca fan but this really captures Yut Lung’s insecurities about Blanca & Ash and his dysfunction about caring for Blanca and just these two dumpster fires in general. Its a beautiful fic and well crafted and if Blanca x Yut Lung is your jam might as well purchase the brand name jam.
Numbness (with a side of denial and tears) by beyondmyreach
https://archiveofourown.org/works/15928760
A Yut Lung character study about his thoughts on Shorter Wong
Why you should check it out
It really puts into words Yut Lung’s implied feelings toward Shorter Wong and its a overall good character study about his death affected him.
Soft.. by catpoop
https://archiveofourown.org/works/16232690/chapters/37946075
Yut Lung through the years
Why you should check it out
A character study that explorers Yut Lungs abuse and his toxic family relationships its sad but does a good job of filling in the blanks of canon focusing mostly on Yut Lung’s childhood.
Catpoop also has another fic called past forged boundaries as well, only five chapters.
But the premise is Yut Lung running away and ending up in Chinatown and meeting the Wongs and its still really good. So i’ll leave that link down below as well. https://archiveofourown.org/works/16413449/chapters/38425235
Complex Crystalline by Groombella123
https://archiveofourown.org/works/16590188 Drunk Yut Lung menacing Eiji set during Eiji’s time as Yut Lung’s prisoner.
Why you should check it out
If you like Yut Lung and his messy complicated feelings for Eiji and with a dash of one sided unrequited love on his part this is the fic for you.
Though shapes and shadows by twoheartsx https://archiveofourown.org/works/16413599
An examination of Yut Lung & blanca dynamic
Why you should check it out
If you like blanca & Yut Lung angst this is a good one to check out honestly.
The End of something by Angela https://archiveofourown.org/works/16718452
An aftermath of Ash’s death story
Why you should check it out Yut Lung dealing with his grief and guilt over Ash’s death and the author's spin on it is great. Also great use of oc character that ties into the story well.
Half a Letter by Hamliet
https://archiveofourown.org/works/17110589/chapters/40240322
It maybe labeled ash x Eiji but the core of this fic is Ash & Yut Lung’s relationship
Why you should check it out
An Au ending to the story that makes sense wraps up three character arches/dynamics in a satisfying way and Hamliet is just a really great writer who crafts action packed suspenseful stories that capture the characters very well.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/16267535/chapters/38039114
A link to another Hamliet fic called Stray Phoenix
an Au where Yut Lung realizes Shorter is about to be killed and saves him in time.
Why you should check it out
You should check out all of Hamliet’s fics, but this particular one is one of the best Yut Lung redemption stories i’ve seen and once again it wraps up everything more satisfyingly then canon. Also one of the best Yut Lung x Shorter fics i’ve read.
Lost in you tonight
https://archiveofourown.org/works/16650073
Yut Lung mourning Ash’s death
Why you should check it out
If your like me and starved for Ash x Yut Lung content this is a good one to check out also the Sing & Yut Lung dynamic is really sweet and lovely.
Fever by Miles Libertatis
https://archiveofourown.org/works/16866739
Yut Lung brings a sick Shorter rice porridge
Why you should check it out
You think a premis like this would be cute but its angsty as frick it does a good job of nailing both characters and how tragically doomed it is anything could develop between them.
the robbing the nest by zechariahfour (sodas)
https://archiveofourown.org/works/17006610
Yut Lung in the aftermath of the slaughter of his family
Why you should check it out
If your like me and think that Yut Lung’s murder of his brothers kids was poorly handled in terms of it supposedly being his full dark side moment but never showing the frigging after math to the point where it might as well not of happened. This is a good dark one shot that adds some much needed exploration to that situation.
Dancing on the Blade by Inked Page
https://archiveofourown.org/works/17002401
Yut Lung and Shorter playing with knives
Why you should check it out Flirting attraction between two people who could kill each other. This is one of the more morbid Yut Lung x Shorter fics which kind of makes it great.
I Can still Hear Her by orphan account https://archiveofourown.org/works/17151815
Yut Lung telling Blanca all the ugly truths about what he went through
Why you should check it out
orphan account is an author that is very good at handling dark content and this one is no exception this author takes the subtext of Yut Lung’s childhood during Banana fish and makes it overt text.
Endless nightmares is another good Yut Lung by the same author focusing on Yut Lung’s alcoholism and recovery.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/17321861
Somewhere along the lines i forgot what love is by petitlionhomme https://archiveofourown.org/works/17120294
Yut Lung holding Eiji captive like in cannon but they fall in love
Why you should check it out
This is one of the better Yut lung x Eiji fics and one of the few where Eiji returns the feelings its a nice slow burn that takes its time and goes back to a time in cannon where Eiji wasn’t quite so peeved at yut lung and it could have worked.
Also this author wrote a dark series where one of the one shots has a Yut Lung focus
Its called Prince on a broken throne
https://archiveofourown.org/works/17365550
Blighted by Judar chan
https://archiveofourown.org/works/17321573
Yut lung x his brothers
I kind of hate myself for suggesting this one but the power plays between the three of them are well written even though the explicitness of the whole fic is uncomfortable as hell. Also Yut Lung devious scheming side is in full effect and seeing him brought to his lowest still trying to grab whatever power there is, its just great characterization. If your easily triggered i’d avoid this one but if you do enjoy fictional power plays and messed up sex stuff maybe check this one out. They also have another fic called Spoiled which has similar themes.
Splitting image by epan
I don’t want to give this one away, because reading it and finding out is the point. I'll just say its tragically beautiful and leave it at that.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/17299862
Better then you by Val Creative
https://archiveofourown.org/works/17365550
Yut Lung x Shorter Au take on the scene where Shorter pins him down
Why you should check it out
If you like your soy sauce confused and angry this is the fic for you.
Cricket by artemis date
https://archiveofourown.org/works/17921990
Yut Lung and Eiji strike up a relationship while in Paris
Why you should check it out if you like angst ridden doomed romance stories this would be right up your alley.
Dangerous Weapon handling by Fallon Kristerson
https://archiveofourown.org/works/18585589
Shorter Yut Lung and a conversation about guns
Why you should check this out
You like your soysauce with a dangerous Yut Lung and adrenaline junkie Shorter this is for you.
Calm time by Carmel rose
https://archiveofourown.org/works/18584803
Yut Lung x Arthur
Why you should check it out
Scheming villains and power plays if you like villain pairings this is one you need to check out.
East of eden by flakes https://archiveofourown.org/works/18608308/chapters/44117839
And its sequel Wild Rose https://archiveofourown.org/works/21545941/chapters/51362707
I know both are Yut Lung x Shorter they are in spanish and i know google translate isn’t the best but darn it these fics deserve more attention and its worth it to try and decipher the meaning even if your not a Spanish speaker due to the lovely slow burn and character development.
The same language by frozenyogurt
https://archiveofourown.org/works/19272427
Once again not in English but as a well written three part one shot series known as guns and Lavender centering around an AU where Ash met Yut Lung first its more than worth the trouble. Especially since it is one of the best Ash x Yut Lung fics and honestly inspired my own fic writing.
Burning Cities and Napalm Skies by dia dove
https://archiveofourown.org/works/21639952/chapters/51601735
An Au where arthur survives and him and Yut Lung both try and cope with the past and look to the future
If villains healing together is your jam and you sympathized with wanting better for Arthur this the fic for you. Mirror Image by Kaen Okami
https://archiveofourown.org/works/22188835
Another drabbel about Yut Lung and his mom
Why you should check it out
Its just another very good character study focusing of Yut lungs grief for his mom.
CD’s and Mottorbikes by Asmicarus
Yut Lung gets lost Shorter finds and takes him home
Why you should check it out
I don’t want to give too much away but Shorter and Yut Lung dancing to billy joel is just one of the highlights of this fic. If your into fluffy soysauce this is one you’d enjoy.
Ice cold meltdown by knoxoursavior https://archiveofourown.org/works/23652046?show_comments=true#comments
Yut Lung sinking into despair
Why you should check it out
The language is beautiful and the picture it paints just gives me chills every time i read it. Honestly this author has several good Banana fish fics both angsty and sweet that are Yut Lung centered but you may want a box of tissues on hand just in case.
Nemeseia Lunaris by Amigara https://archiveofourown.org/works/19351834/chapters/46040242
Eiji is killed by Shorter and the rest of Ash’s group is finished off by golzine craving vengeance Ash accepts Yut Lung’s offer of an alliance.
Why you should check it out
Its an Ash x Yut Lung slow burn with solid characterization and really explorers the dynamic between these two as well as giving more presence to some of the more minor villains. i’m not sure where the fic is going but i’m loving it so far and i really think you guys will not be disappointed if you give this one a chance.
Deep in Love by ladycrazy13
https://archiveofourown.org/works/25635673/chapters/62230915 Yut lung x Ash fighting zombies which is also why you should check out this dark fic
The Killers by Aeriel https://archiveofourown.org/works/22392976
Another Blanca x Yut Lung fic (considering i suggested a few non con incest fics on this list i might as well rec a few of these too)
Why you should check it out
The characterization is great and the Blanca and Yut Lung dynamic is one i could see happening on screen. Once again don't want to give to much away but if your looking for Blanca x Yut Lung that feels like it could be cannon this is one of the better ones. (Also its not about Blanca's frigging dick! for once)
serpant twining by Aoftheis https://archiveofourown.org/works/17644940
Blanca tries to be a good person and mostly succeeds but still is a bit creepy honestly
#banana fish#yut lung lee#I know we're starved#I went though every page on Archive of our own#fanfiction#rec list#these are the best#I've got every pairing here#check them out the authors would really appreciate it
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Homesick (Entry #26)
(cw: drugs/addiction, themes of depression, very brief reference to sex) ----------
01/13/88 12:40 AM
Hey.
The trip got more solid after that. Sort of. Also sort of the opposite.
After that last flash, I found myself still sitting at the table, still across from Fix-it, still not quite eating the destroyed pie in front of me. My hand was completely intact.
My finger slipped in a slow, idle circle of cold red syrup. I had my knees pulled up to my chest and my heels on my seat. I’d draped the blanket over my head like a hood and cocooned the rest of it around myself, only exposing my arm to touch the plate. I was too hot, less from the blanket and more from what felt like a fever.
Fix-it’s voice was just finishing a sentence. “--can hear me, just nod your head. If you can hear me.”
I gave one small nod, more entranced with the feeling on the tip of my finger than anything else.
He asked tentatively, “What’s your name?”
My voice was muffled against my knees. “Mavis.”
“Do you know who I am?”
“Fix-it Felix Jr.”
He sighed in relief. “Mavy… I need you to listen to me. This might be hard to understand right now, but… a lot of things you’ve seen or experienced tonight… that you’re experiencing right now… are not real. You’re safe, okay? You’re very safe. But you’re not in your right mind. You’re on buffs,” he swallowed. “You’re on… on Game-- Game Changers.”
I blinked without looking up. “No, I’m not.”
“Mav--” he paused to contain himself. “Mavy, honey, listen. Let me tell you what really happened tonight, okay?”
Pain in my head flared, scratching blue lines in my vision. I tried to listen, but buff-fueled stimuli did its best to drown him out.
As the stripes on the wallpaper lifted and arched like a hissing cat, he said, “You broke through ---------- second floor. You ---------- bed frame and ---------- like you were being attacked. You even ----------- when I ---------- understand what I was saying…” his voice and eyes lowered. “You… didn’t even know who I was…”
The windows shattered into jagged teeth in yawning mouths that stretched so wide, the curtain rods crumbled off. Tiny, pink, hairless bats flowed from the holes in the walls and flew in circles above our heads. Niceland itself seemed to break from the earth and float on rolling waves like a pirate ship, and he continued, “You went on about ‘a dog in the hive’ and ---------- saw Gene and chased ---------- had him backed into a corner ---------- in time to stop you from -----------”
“Wait,” I said, watching the table leg divide itself into pieces, “Gene? No, it was a dog!”
“It was definitely Gene, Mavy. You scared the daylights out of him.”
“I almost bludgeoned Gene to death with a bat?”
I could hear resigned disapproval in his voice. “Leg of a bedframe, actually, but, yes.”
Pretty sure I laughed an unwholesome, violent, and spiteful laugh, but it played from my throat like a rolling xylophone. Fix-it was less amused.
“Mavis.”
Suddenly, I felt a bit pissed. “Why did you stop me? He would have respawned! That little sausage roll had it coming!”
“This isn’t funny, Mavis! This couldn’t be farther from funny!”
I forgot what we were talking about. “What happens next?”
He explained insistently, “I had to stop you, of course. I knew you wouldn’t like it when I touched you, but ---------- scratching holes in your arms ---------- blood all down your arm, but you wouldn’t let me ---------- out the window to the dump.”
While he spoke, I pushed my finger into a cold, mushy cherry and took way too long to pop it in my mouth. It tasted… in a word, obscene. My feet were yanked to the floor, my knees pried apart, and when I peeked down into the dark of the blanket, binary-blue glowing eyes leered up at me from between my legs. They winked.
It suddenly became way harder to listen, even as I stared intently at the speaker.
“Ralph actually brought you back up here when he found ---------- heal ---------- shouting about being a bird ---------- slow ---------- started to even out ---------- were very chatty, but still couldn’t understand me ---------- on my couch for two hours ---------- talking to me, but ----------- get through to you ---------- with that pie for an hour and a half…”
The wallpaper peeled down like banana skins, and suddenly, we were surrounded by an aquarium. Rather, we seemed to be in a glass box in the ocean, with a panorama view of the life around us. Rainbows of shimmering fish rippled over a coral reef blooming with funny, fingery flowers. Silhouettes of dolphins twirled in the distance. Pink jellyfish floated around like half-filled party balloons. I felt my little hood fall back as I took it all in, spellbound. Part of me wanted to break out and swim away. Would being a fish be so bad?
“Your eyes are still so blue…” he told me then.
I turned my head, and screamed as I felt a wall of icicles shoot through my body.
A dog was in the water. The one that got away. Looking like a deathly thin shark, it floated limply and stared at me with those dead, black eyes.
“THERE!”
I grabbed the nearest object and hurled it with all my strength. When the plate smashed against the wall, the illusion broke. All of them did. The apartment was just an apartment. I sat back in my chair and tried to steady my breathing, tried to level out my heart’s tantrum. Once I settled, I settled hard. I fell into an eerie sense of calm. A peaceful numbness.
When I saw the pie splattered over the wall and the plate shards on the floor, I said, “Aw. The pie.”
Then I heard a sniff.
I looked at Fix-it. He was crying. He covered his mouth and leaned on his elbows, quietly watching me through watery blinks. I waited for him to say something, but he didn’t.
“I can…” I said slowly, “cut another slice… or get another plate, you know… There’s no need to, uh…”
He didn’t answer.
Finally, I asked, “Why are you crying?”
For a moment, he only shook his head. Then he said, through his hand, “I just… I look at your face, and I just--” he shook, “-- I’m so afraid that this’ll be the last time I see it.”
I didn’t know what to say. I wasn’t even sure what he was talking about. My knowledge of my high state was unsteady.
“Why? Are you sick?”
“Make-it Mavis,” he said forcefully, “you’re going to corrupt yourself.”
I took a moment to contemplate that, long enough for him to ask if I still understood him.
“I hear you,” I nodded.
“I-- I thought,” he shook so hard, he could barely speak. “I watched you lying there on-- on my couch, and-- and your eyes were so bright, they cast beams on the ceiling, and-- and you were twitching and kicking and your--” he choked on his words, “-- I thought I could see a blue tint over your sprite-- it might have been my imagination but-- but I didn’t know what to do, because I was so-- so scared that you were-- were gonna corrupt right then and there, right in my living room, right-- right before my eyes!”
I felt around inside my cheek with my tongue. “If that’s the case, why would you worry about never seeing my face again? You’d see my face every day,” I shrugged. “Y’know, just in pieces.”
“Mav--” he broke right into sobbing. I was hopelessly confused.
I asked, “What’s the matter?”
After a period of collecting himself, he said, “Mavy, this isn’t a joke. If you take enough GC, and you get addicted, it’s-- it’s all over. The--” he seemed to go green, “-- the other sprites that have been found corrupted, they-- they all--... None of them had a code deficiency, Mavis. Do you know how long it took for a GC addiction to kill them?”
“Two weeks.”
He fell silent. As if he were afraid to ask, he breathed, “How many have you taken?”
I answered, even though I felt like I didn’t know, “Just two.”
“...Over how long?”
“I… don’t know. A couple days?”
Tears poured from his eyes. “Mavy… Mavy, do you want to corrupt?”
“What? No. I don’t even want to die, much less… y’know, that.”
“Then why?”
“Why what?”
“Why do you--...” he made vague, upset gestures. “You’re hurting so bad, Mavy. Why do you medicate with-- with this? None of this fixes anything. There are sprites who are able and willing to help you. Just let them. You don’t have to do this alone -- please, please realize that. None of us can undo… the past, but we can make the present and future better. Things can and will get better, Mavy, you just need to--”
“It can only get so much better, though, can’t it?”
He froze. I just blinked and sat in my chair comfortably, as if we were having a quaint conversation over tea. I didn’t even know where my words were coming from -- I just opened my mouth and let them flutter out like moths.
I continued, “It can only get so good. I think I almost found what ‘good’ really felt like to me, but… it’s over now. I don’t know if I have it in me to look for ‘good’ again, not when losing it hurts this much. I don’t know how to carry on, knowing what I do. I don’t want to die -- I just want to forget. I don’t want to corrupt, and I’m not trying to. I haven’t lost my will to live or anything, it’s just that… I’ve been looking for ways to be happy here my whole life, and… that search has never been more daunting than it is now. I’m tired. I want to rest my head for a while. I just want little vacations from life. That’s what GC is to me.”
We were both quiet for a moment. I spoke before I realized I’d opened my mouth.
“I’m too big for the life I was made for, Fix-it. I can only cut off so many pieces of myself to fit into it.”
He seemed stunned. With good reason, too. I’d never opened up to him quite like that before. He was lucky I was so high.
He muttered, “You… You mean being an Easter Egg?”
“Yeah. Everything that goes with it,” I thought for a second. “I probably have the smallest code out of any playable character in the arcade, and I’m still too big for this place. I don’t belong here. I’ve known that my whole life.”
I thought for a second. “I’m not sure I belong anywhere.”
“Mavis,” Fix-it said, suddenly firm, even with red eyes. “That is, if you’ll forgive my potty-mouth, a whole lotta hooey.”
“Hooey?”
“I know it’s hard for you to feel at home… anywhere, Mavy. I know the Devs served you the short end of the stick. And if I meet ‘em after I delete one day, you can bet I’ll give ‘em a good talkin’ to for treating my cousin like that -- but good golly, Mavis. You know this, you must know this,” he leaned on the table. “You are more than just an Easter Egg.”
I just looked at him, waiting. I expected him to tell me a bunch of stuff I already knew and that never helped me before. I was… mostly right.
“Mavis, I have not seen a single sprite less defined by their coded role than you. Most of the time, you don’t even show up for work! And, you know what? That’s okay! Because… I know these words hurt you real bad before, but…” he swallowed, determined. “This game… doesn’t need an Easter Egg.”
Somewhere in the back of my mind, I could hear a distant echo of Gene’s voice saying that, even after all these years. I didn’t have the emotional presence to be upset by Fix-it bringing it up. I just waited for him to finish his point.
“But this arcade,” he slapped the table, “needs a Make-it Mavis.”
I’ll admit it. That was a nice thing to hear.
I can’t tell if I was in a good or bad state to be receptive to it.
“Well…” I said, eyes wandering. “I’d like to believe you. Maybe it did. But it sure doesn’t want me right now.”
He considered that. “Times are really tough right now, but… they won’t always be. Someday soon, it’ll be okay. Once it’s all died down. And until then, you still have sprites who care about you.”
“Like who?”
“Me. Tapper. I-- I think Ralph… maybe? Uh…” he trailed off. I could see panic in his eyes.
I looked at him quietly. I could hear the effort in his voice, the genuine desire to help. More than that, I heard the fear. He was desperate to help me, but lost as to how, and afraid that he wouldn’t figure it out in time. I know I’m not easy to help. I know that. It’s kind of hard to put into words the reasons why. I just need to be able to know that I’m in charge of my own life, whether that lands me in good or bad places. I have a lot of reasons to fly solo. But as Fix-it threw himself so wholeheartedly into some kind of verbal rescue effort, I recognized that there was no way he could understand any of them. If the worst happened to me, I bet he would blame himself.
I knew all too well what that feels like.
I may not exactly be Fix-it’s biggest fan, but I don’t strive to be cruel. If I really was boarding a one-way train to corruption, attempting to dig up the seeds of guilt before they could take root would be the least I could do.
I wouldn’t have been good at that while sober. I don’t think being high made it any easier.
I asked, “Do you really love me?”
Fix-it froze as if I’d punched him in the chest. I just watched him.
“Of course,” he said quietly. “Of course I love you. Don’t you know that?”
“Sometimes. I think. There’s just something I need to tell you. I’ve been waiting for you to figure it out on your own, but, y’know...”
I looked at him. He was waiting on bated breath, already overflowing with tears. I’m sure he was expecting something better than what I said.
“You’re wasting your time.”
I genuinely took no joy in the stricken look that broke over his face. “What..? No, I’m not.”
“You’re wasting your time and your pain. You can’t keep wasting your love on me.”
“It’s not…” he shook. “I’m not wasting my love. How can you say that?”
“I…” I suddenly felt my shoulders getting heavy. “I… can’t... accept it.”
“Why, Mavy..?”
“I can’t,” I said a bit more forcefully. “No matter how much love you offer, I’m not built to receive it. You’re going through all the trouble of worrying about me all the time, and for what? Doesn’t it hurt you when you get nothing back? Loving me isn’t kind, it’s stupid.”
“Mav--”
“I have nothing to offer you. I can’t give you anything for your trouble. There’s no way for us to have…” I gestured, “a real, functioning relationship. I know it’s very hard to understand why, but trust me. The best thing you could possibly do for yourself is to stop caring so much about me. It’s just going to keep hurting you. Especially right now. If I really do get addicted to GC, and I corrupt myself, you’re going to feel like the entire Devs-forsaken world is ending. You’re going to think it was your fault for not doing more. You’re going to hate yourself every day for not protecting me, but you couldn’t have protected me. If I’m going to be corrupted, it’s going to have everything to do with me, and nothing to do with you. But if you love me so much, you won’t be able to understand that. You have so many reasons to hate me already. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll use them.”
He took a second to breathe, clearly dwarfed by the massive plate of emotions I was serving him. I could see in his eyes things that I didn’t quite understand, but they felt so invasive. I’d laid myself just open enough for him to peer inside, and even in my numb state, I felt horrendously naked. After a period of silence, my eyes fell, and my voice lowered.
“You can’t help me,” I said, and fell into barely a whisper. “I… don’t know how to let you.”
We were both quiet for a minute. I was hesitant to look up, but when I did, I was thrown for a loop.
He was smiling. Through tears, but still. There was a quivering, wavering smile on his face.
“Why…” I said cautiously, “...are you smiling?”
A short, single-note laugh burst wetly from his mouth, and he shook his head. “Mavy, don’t you see what you’re doing?”
“...No?”
“You’re giving back. You’re trying to protect me,” he nodded. “You do care about me.”
Yeah. Gross. But at the time, I was just stunned. I couldn’t fathom how I could have broken such hard truths over his head and still have him smiling. “You… wait, what?!”
“If you didn’t care, you wouldn’t even try. This is just one of the things that makes you so wonderful, Mavy -- you’re so full of surprises. You think you don’t know how to be loved, but you do. It just… might not be in the way everyone else does. You give back in ways you don’t see,” he said. “Like right now.”
I stared, agape.
“And, you know…” his smile weakened a bit, “I’m sorry that accepting help is so hard for you. And… yes, it is frustrating a lot of the time. It does hurt. But, no matter what you think you can or can’t accept…” he shrugged a bit, “I still love you. I don’t need your help with that. And you can’t protect me from it, either.”
“You…” I muttered, “ought to have higher standards for yourself. Don’t you want more?”
“Mavy…” he looked at me earnestly, tears flowing, “please listen to me. I don’t care about you just to get something in return. I care about you because I love you. I don’t care if you change or not. I just care that you’re safe.”
I said nothing. I don’t know what my face read.
He continued, “So please, please, Mavy. If I can’t protect you, please protect yourself for me. No more Game Changers, please. Please don’t take my cousin away.”
I blinked slowly and swallowed. “I’ll… try. I just don’t understand how you could care so much when I so clearly... don’t... want you to. Suppose I survive. Just how long do you think you could keep this up?”
Without a single thought, he answered, “Forever.”
The word was barely out of his mouth before I felt it quite physically slap me hard across the face. I reeled and pressed my palm into my cheek, sucking my teeth. I asked, “What in the eight bits was that..?” as pain in my head began to climb.
Fix-it straightened up. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah, I guess, but…” I pulled my hand from my cheek and saw a bright red streak over the palm of my glove. “What…”
Looking at it shot blinding pain through my head and tore holes in the oddly calm veil I’d been hiding behind. Clutching my head with my other hand, I asked, “Fix-it, am I bleeding?”
“No, Mavy. Not for a while, now.”
“Then what’s…” I stared at the stain, and my heart began to pound. I showed him my hand. “What is this?”
“That’s… your hand.”
“No,” I insisted. “The stain. On my glove.”
He put his hands up in a deescalating way. “Mavy…”
“I’ve seen it before. Why do I keep seeing it?!”
“Mavy, listen. You’re not wearing your gloves.”
It was still there when I turned my palm towards me. “Yes I am! It’s right here! What is it!?”
The sight of my hand became so sharp, so crisp and defined, the scarlet streak so vivid that it bore into my eyes, while the world around me began to wobble and distort at the edges. A hundred jackhammers in my head threatened to split my skull open. Wires of binary scratched, hissed, and sparked across my vision. I felt myself hit the floor.
Squinting through the stinging blue, I didn’t recognize the apartment anymore. I felt like I was looking at it through waves of warped glass. Patches of greyscale cut through the shifting colors. The lines on the wallpaper swelled and shrunk like a ribcage, and with each breath, the lights flared and dimmed. I heard a voice, far away and muffled as if underwater, and a mess of blurry pixels bent over me.
I was suddenly hit with an overwhelming panic. I was dropped into another mental timeline entirely. I was suddenly lost, unprepared -- I felt like I should have known what to do, but I didn’t. I had to act quickly, but I didn’t know on what. I had no idea where any of this was coming from.
I screamed almost involuntarily, and heard glass shatter.
I dodged the blurry figure with a roll, hit my already throbbing head on what I quickly recognized as a table leg. Almost on instinct, I dove for cover under said table, and folded myself up tight. I hid my face in my knees and pulled angrily at my hair, as if I could rip a hole in my scalp to vent out the pain. The crashing and smashing grew louder and more frequent.
When I dared to peek up from my knees, I saw the walls beginning to push inward with a groan, but not in a comforting way, this time. The drywall began to split and crumble with the pressure, and the room’s light started to struggle and flicker frantically, each frame of darkness seeming to plunge me into a completely different room. The shattering glass rang out like deafening warfare. I couldn’t take it. It was ravaging my brain in ways I didn’t understand. I had so many phantom emotions running my thoughts in circles, it just left me reeling.
“Stop,” I said into my knees, “Stop, stop, stop --” and I screamed, “STOP, STOP IT, YOU’RE GONNA PASS OUT!”
A hand made of dense, metallic code touched my arm.
I shrieked and scrambled backwards. Fix-it knelt in front of me, perfectly tangible, his hand still lifted. When I saw his worried face, I noticed that the rest of the room had snapped back into place, too. My heart wanted to break out of my chest, my head was still killing, and my throat was parched, but everything seemed intact and steady again. My arm still tingled in a sharp and gross way where he touched me. Apparently, the shock of his code was enough to snap me out of it. I wanted to be pissed at him for touching me, but I was too stunned. I took in the sight of him completely, crouching there in full work clothes sans hat, looking ready to collapse from exhaustion, yet still going through all the effort of trying to help me.
I was floored by the fact that he succeeded.
As I clutched my chest, trying to catch my breath, he sat down very gently. “Easy, easy,” he whispered, “it’s okay.”
I swallowed.
He asked carefully, “What’s your name?”
I breathed, “Mavy.”
His eyes widened a bit, and he held his breath for a second. He asked, “Do you know who I am?”
I stared at him. The bare bones of it, at that point, seemed obvious.
“My cousin.”
I swear I heard his heart thump.
He slowly brought up his knee to rest his cheek on it, and he took deep breaths. That episode clearly stressed him out, too -- hardly a fair comparison, but still. A weak smile appeared on his face. “Your eyes are starting to dim.”
For a moment, I tried to remember how much time had passed. Then, a pressing thought occurred to me.
“Wait. What time is it?”
“Uh,” his eyes shifted. “Around 3:30?”
“AM?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh, crit--” I hit my head on the underside of the table. “Ow-- Okay, I gotta go,” I said as I climbed out and stood. “I’m so cussin’ late. Even for me.”
Fix-it got to his feet, too, and looked more than a little confused. “You had to be somewhere?”
I pulled my gloves on. “Yeah, I was supposed to meet Turbo in Paperboy like, five hours ago,” I grabbed my conveniently materialized leather jacket from the chair and shrugged into it. “He’s probably gone home by now to anger-sleep. You’d never believe that’s possible ‘til you’ve seen it.”
Fix-it just turned white.
I strode to the door in a place it hadn’t been before. “Toodles,” I said, before grabbing air and walking into the wall.
There was no door. There were no windows.
I was very late, and there was no way out.
Flash.
My game’s screen loomed in front of me.
I sat cross-legged, wrapped in the blanket, on the grass in front of Niceland, staring up at our inverted title screen with dry eyes. My body felt hot and riddled with aches that would only get worse as my high continued to fade, and my brain felt fizzled to a crisp. I was so tired, I couldn’t even recognize that I wanted to sleep.
Someone next to me didn’t have the same problem. I heard the honks of Fix-it’s cartoonish snoring. He was just barely upright, his face smushed against his bent knee, a bit of drool staining his pants. I wondered how long he’d been there. I wondered how we came to be there at all, but not enough to wake him. Maybe if I had been sober, I would have painted an airhorn. But, being hazy and braindead and with a faulty brush, I just idly flicked colors onto different parts of his sprite. Red hat, orange shirt, yellow shoes. Red hair, orange skin, yellow pants. Red, orange, yellow.
Past my sleeping canvas, I saw movement. Wreck-it was climbing onto his kingdom of bricks, presumably coming home after a particularly long night at Tapper’s. He came to the little peak behind which sat his stump, and paused. His head turned, and he saw me.
I looked at him blankly.
He held my gaze for a minute. It was hard to tell just what expression he was making, but even from my distance, I could see him sigh. He shook his head slowly and stepped out of view.
I couldn’t manage any thoughts on that.
Red, orange, yellow. Red, orange, yellow.
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Okay here’s the whole entire text of my original pokemon gen concept under a cut (sorry if that screws you up on mobile)
I’ve only ever sketched a tiny number of these (like my fly ideas here), but I can see most of them in my head pretty clearly and might sketch more of them by request someday. I originally set my fan-region in Florida, a place I hated living but still had a lot of interesting characteristics. This changed over once I moved to Oregon, and the thing about Oregon is that it has desert, forest, swamp, coastline and frozen mountaintops that are all pretty vast, ancient and in places relatively untouched compared to the rest of North America. This is not only a perfect setting for some really wild pokemon, but makes a believable choice because our Pacific Northwest is pretty popular in Japan.
The different biomes of this region have "deep" areas where the pokemon change. Some also have "polluted" areas. The region is environmentally themed and heavily deals with human interference on the natural world.
The villains are Team Bio, genetic engineerers lead by a mysterious old woman who narrowly survived the original Mewtwo experiment. Her underlings all use "mutant" pokemon, and she seeks to create a new species of hyper-intelligent, pure-hearted pokemon that will replace humans entirely. Along the way is a strange increase in reports of interstellar pokemon activity... I actually tried hard to minimize how many pokemon in this are just “my kind” of concept, but I think I failed pretty hard. It probably does feel like it leans a little more towards Mortasheen than something Pokemon would actually make, but for basically every pokemon that’s one of my “dream concepts” or “most wanted” I tried to come up with one that I thought would appeal more to somebody else’s taste than mine.
THE STARTERS
Grass Starter: a grass "lumberjack" pterosaur with an axe for a beak. Second stage has more saw-like beak, final stage is a grass/steel quetzalcoatlus (the pterosaur) with a beak and crest forming a chainsaw, no longer flies
Fire type calf whose black cow marks are actually soot. Evolves into cow with craggy black “helmet” and horns of charcoal. Final stage a charcoal-armored minotaur like fire/ground type.
Water Starter is a beady-eyed water shrew with big webbed flipper feet, known to steal shiny objects. Second stage more humanoid, said to dive for treasure. Final stage is water/dark lanky, stripey shrew with a black mask, said to rob boats like a “highwayman” of the river.
Meadows and forest:
Normal type mammal is a spherical porcupine, like a chestnut. Rubs its spines with noxious fruit juices, giving it a multicolored look. Evolved form is a colorful “punk” porcupine.
Early bug is a sticklike inchworm Evolves to cocoon resembling a wooden log on top. Final form is bipedal stick mimic grasshopper, evocative of a cute wooden puppet with a pointed nose.
Basic bird is a hummingbird Evolves to be four-winged and legless, never lands in its whole life. Final hummingbird is a fierce looking hunter that drains energy from grass types like a predator.
Grass type walking bud creature, looks nervous. Evolves to grass/flying orchid-like angelic flower. Alternate evolution is wilted, grey, grass/ghost goth orchid with tattered petals, cute but sad. (evolves this way if it levels up after a battle in which it sustained super-effective damage)
Ground type earthworm sticking out of dirt, cute flower-shaped head. Evolved worm looks like shark sticking out of the dirt, nose looks like its prevo
Electric/dark pikachu-like packrat holding a large coin. Electrically charges its treasure as a booby trap. Actually said to be employed as underlings by the water-type shrew starter.
MISCELLANY:
Bug/poison type grub with fangs. Only encountered in garbage cans. Evolves into a fly pupa Final stage is a gloomy looking, drooling anthropomorphic fly.
Single stage bug/fairy type: a beautiful Maleficent-looking parasitoid wasp. Evolves from any cocoon/pupa pokemon if they're holding a "suspicious egg" item.
Ocean
Water/grass nudibranch with flower on its back. Evolves to a glaucus, each "arm" a colorful flower that absorbs sunlight as it floats.
Water type fish that "sails" on the sea's surface with its fins. Sleepy looking stingray evolution. Final form is water/dragon deep sea fish, combines some traits of anglerfish and viperfish with eyes on stalks. Only evolves from stingray when you're in the sea trench.
Water/flying marlin with huge, dazzling butterfly like fins.
Water type baby dolphin, fuzzy like a seal pup, only evolves if it has fainted more times than the number of its current level. Evolved form is water/dark, shaggy-furred, fierce looking, battle scarred dolphin with legs instead of flippers, a throwback to the doglike ancestors of delphinidae.
Polluted inlet
Water/poison oil slick with two tentacles and beady white eyes, signature ability changes it to water/fire type if it uses a fire move. Evolved form is an oil slick rising into a cartoon octopus with x's for pupils.
Water/steel fish hook with tiny head and eyes, like a barbed metal worm. Water/steel fishing jig, googly eyes and everything.
Barren Island - just a very big rock in the middle of the inlet
Ghost/poison: a greenish "dodo bird" with a face like a biohazard mask, the ghost of a species that went exinct due to sickness.
Sea Trench
Water/fire bristleworm "snake" Water/fire tube worm "dragon"
Water/ghost wailord skeleton draped in pink fuzz and a garden of one-eyed bone worms.
Swamp
Electric/flying bird resembling a lightbulb kiwi. Evolved form resembling a neon light lawn flamingo.
Grass/fairy giant sloth with sleepy face, completely covered in shaggy moss with various flowers and mushrooms. Protector of the swamp, able to control plant life.
Grass/psychic sundew, just a pair of sundew leaves atop a sleepy looking oddish-esque bulb. Evolved sundew is mostly a big circular sundew rosette, but a humanoid flower rotates in the center like a music box to lure prey.
Water/fighting borzoi pup with long legs, acts like a water strider. Evolved form is an elongated, elegant borzoi "ballerina" that dances atop water
Water/ground red leech slightly evocative of a vacuum cleaner. A healer that sucks poison from the body instead of blood. May mysteriously appear in your team after walking through swamp water.
Deep Forest:
Grass/ground banana slug with colorful mold spots, learns spore. Evolves into mold splotched, brown banana peel creature, more like a big squid.
Grass/dark autumn leaf in the shape of a bat, has levitate. Evolved form redder, bigger "vampire cape" leaf-bat.
Psychic/ghost cheshire cat with Meowth-like proportions, bright crescent smile. Evolved form just huge smile and cat eyes hovering in the air, beastly cat body fading into view only for physical attacks or when struck.
Rock type humanoid made of transparent amber with a strange mayfly-like bug sleeping inside. Outer body can "break" at low HP and release faster, more offensive pure bug form.
Rock: incredibly huge, stony looking moose with long white fur draped over its eyes and back. Comes in size variations like Pumpkaboo line and said to never stop growing. A truly titanic one is used as transportation through the deep forest.
Snowy patches
Bug/ice velvet worm that spews a freezing liquid. Silly looking, almost like wiggler from mario.
Ice/flying fluffy white bird resembling a tiny Japanese style snowman. Evolves to resemble western style snowman with clawed bird feet, pointed beak nose. A flightless pure ice mountain dweller.
Electric/ice with levitate: a crystalline "UFO" sky-jellyfish with many colorful lights, core body looks like a cute pikmin-esque "alien" inside. Catch by fishing off of ledges into the sky. Mistaken by locals for alien activity.
Lava Tube Caves
Psychic type bipedal pink salamander with no eyes. Evolves into beautiful milotic-like psychic/dragon blind olm.
Rock/fighting spearhead with feet, eyes are just round holes through blade. Evolves to gain a stick-figure sort of body.
Abandoned town
Normal/bug filthy dog, a shaggy pile of fur with goofy eyes and pink tongue. Little black specks jump about it. Ability changes normal moves to bug moves. Evolved form more obviously a dog but still very shaggy, surrounded by constant cloud of black specks.
Grass/electric "christmas tree" made of holly and lights. Found in a burned down house, glowing eyes peer out from beneath it.
Ghost: has a colorful quilt for a body and a pincushion for a head. Found inside houses.
Garbage dump - accessible through abandoned town, possibly what drove people away (includes piles of toys you may investigate to encounter a banette, mimikyu or klefki)
Water/poison: cartoony fish with blank eyes and humanoid pair of legs. Fish for in toxic green garbage pools. Evolves into ground/poison skeleton fish with four limbs, walking like a lizard.
Steel/bug rusty orange silverfish. Eats junk metal. Evolved form so big it wears a rusty car for protection with just its legs and feelers sticking out.
MICROPOKEMON - enlarged artificially in a laboratory where you can also take your fossils.
Bug/fighting flea - spiny black flea with big jagged white teeth. Create from the "pest sample" an item carried randomly by the normal/bug dog.
Poison/fairy germ - fuzzy multicolored mold ball with eyes, stalked suckers. Retrieve "germ sample" from the dodo ghost.
Water/fairy tardigrade - transparent, cute bug stylized almost like a "gummy bear." Retrieve "dew sample" from moss sloth.
Pseudolegendary:
Rock type baby gargoyle creature. Evolves to winged gargoyle with levitate and a few mossy patches. Final form is an elegant griffon-like rock/dragon with an elaborately carved surface
SPACE ARK DRAGON This location is itself a dragon/fairy legendary pokemon so massive you can enter its body. It exists to collect and preserve species from dying worlds. Most common wild pokemon inside is duosion and sometimes Reuniclus. You can also collect "gene samples" from crystalline pods to replicate the ultrabeasts in the same lab you enlarge the microbes and resurrect fossils.
Bug/dark parasitic alien, a little like weird yellow plant suckered to the ground, red flower-like head with an eye on each petal ala the yokai parasite, gyochu.
Bug/dark parasitic alien, a colorful worm with cute eyes and beautiful mothlike wings, a little like the yokai parasite koshi-no-mushi.
Bug/dark parasitic alien, a pale, red and white striped "lizard" with six spindly limbs and a tubular proboscis, inspired by the yokai parasite kagemushi.
Fairy type alien medic, looks like a cute flatwoods monster with heart motif and nurse coat. Flees from all battles unless you have defeated at least one of each of the parasites.
LEGENDARIES:
Dragon/electric: the ark dragon's smaller offspring, looks like an electronic space whale.
Dragon/steel, menacing, sleek black starship creature. Rival to the ark dragon, a "world reaper" that attempts to destroy planets that it thinks are already dying.
Psychic/fairy little white, fluffy mothman-like being, an observer that casts judgment on suffering worlds to call one of the dragons (version based)
Normal type legendary is the most human-like pokemon we've ever seen, a serene floating figure with long hair and black, almond-shaped eyes. A genetic experiment to supplant humans.
Electric/fighting: a hulking humanoid beast, almost frankensteinian with asymmetrical features, a failed early experiment.
A "glitched and scrambled" two dimensional pokemon. The result of the earliest known experiments in digital pokemon transfer. Actually literally typeless.
POISON FUSIONS created in the garbage dump:
Weezodor - poison/flying - Garbodor/weezing hybrid, like a jellyfish bag with smog tentacles.
Mukking - poison/water - Weezing/muk hybrid, like a koffing with slime appendages.
Garmuk - poison/ground - Muk/garbodor hybrid, like a giant slug made of trash.
MUTANT POKEMON: mutations of classic first-stage pokemon into creatures slightly tougher than even their original final stages.
Mutant Caterpie - bug/dragon - huge, dragonlike Caterpie with more menacing eyespots, clawed limbs.
Mutant Paras - pure grass - giant paras with far more mushrooms of different colors, body pure white with no mouth and white sphere eyes, actually made only of fungus.
Mutant Venonat - bug/dark - same old venonat with a big shaggy monster body
Mutant Zubat - Psychic - somewhat larger than crobat, has actual legs and a pair of clawed arms instead of wings. Much bigger ears.
Mutant Voltorb - electric/steel - a Voltorb even bigger than Electrode, otherwise looks normal besides angrier yellow eyes...until it splits open to reveal sharp teeth.
Mutant Tangela - grass/fairy - more like its scrapped Gen II evolution but perhaps a lot taller, with two very very long arms.
Mutant Geodude - rock/fighting - HUGE spiky arms and hands but head/body are the same as always.
Mutant Shellder - water/steel - it's the spiraly slowbro one!
Mutant Exeggcute - psychic/poison - bigger and more plentiful but "rotten" looking eggs with gloomier eyes and dark purple goo.
Mutant Eevee - normal - bigger than any of the eeveelutions, shaggy and beastly with the "camouflage" ability. Learns strong attacks of every eevee evolution type.
Mutant Doduo - fighting type with only one head
Mutant Luvdisc - the only one based on a non-evolving pokemon. Angry "broken heart" Luvdisc with record offensive stats for the series, but even worse defenses than regular luvdisc.
Mutant Trapinch - dragon/bug - giant turtle-like Trapinch, redder, spiny, second mouth inside jaws.
Mutant Dratini - dragon/fairy - huge long dratini with longer feathery wing ears, identical wings down body.
Mutant Larvitar - dragon/dark - big, armored green reptile, still has larvitar type head with craggier, meaner horn.
Mutant Bagon - dragon - huge, more t-rex proportioned bagon, spiked shell on head.
Mutant Deino - bigger and shaggier with a ring of five long-necked deino heads
Mutant Gible - dragon/fighting - only usually seen as a huge sharky fin sticking out of the ground. When it emerges, its body isn't much bigger than regular gible.
Mutant Goomy - psychic/dragon - giant goomy with gaping mouth, antennae are much longer, green and stripey.
Mutant Jangmo-o - dragon/steel - same old head but more ankylosaur-like big body, entirely a dark iron color with more pitted looking scales.
ENVIRONMENTAL VARIATIONS no mechanical or typing difference, but new color schemes and decorations on existing pokemon, totally an aesthetic change. Have their own shiny forms.
SEA TRENCH FORMS: Entirely pale pink golisopod line with closed eyes transparent red tentacool line with darker red nodules dark maroon inkay line with blue lights red and purple feebas line
CAVE FORMS: White, eyeless venipede line White, eyeless magikarp line
DEEP SWAMP FORMS: crocodile-green Sandile line with lily pad on head black shelled "freshwater" shellder line with green algae growths pure red and purple colored bellsprout line
DEEP FOREST FORMS: braviary with more hawklike colors foongus line with no pokeball pattern...the original foongus? wolf-spider colored joltik line
POLLUTED INLET FORMS: Dewpider line with all black body and limbs, yellow glowing eyes in dirty green water Grey wailmer line draped in red algae, clumps of barnacles (presumably degenerated binacle) Wingull line with grey and black oil-splotched feathers, tin can on head
GARBAGE DUMP FORMS: Bounsweet line with only grey, brown and black colors, dark spoiled looking splotches Black bag trubbish line with green trash, copper colored pipes Rusted looking klink line, rotates only once every few seconds.
----------GYM LEADERS -------------- In this region the gyms are dual type, and bring back past mechanics and gimmicks as their focus.
flying/normal: a blind, wheelchair-bound old man who specializes in dog and bird pokemon. Uses a baton pass team.
Steel/electric: an astronaut commanding his gym by remote feed from the station. Uses Magnezone, Rotom forms and, surprisingly, a random steel or electric ultrabeast.
Poison/bug: a germophobic lady scientist ironically obsessed with pollution pokemon, always wearing a biohazard suit. Has weezing, garbodor, the fly pokemon and Yanmega. Uses Z-moves, but it's random whether she uses a bug or poison one and on which pokemon.
Dark/fire: an elderly biker lady. Has no gym and in fact roams around the region. Surprisingly challenges you to a third-gen style beauty contest with her frightening selection of pokemon.
Grass/fairy: witchy pharmacist and botanist who lives out in the woods, all of her grass types are mushroom based. Unusually has you team up with her in a double battle against a random pokemon of unusual size and strength, like Alola's totem pokemon.
Ground/fighting: an extremely frail little nerdy guy who likes amazingly fearsome pokemon, hates bullies but kind of is one. Makes you face a horde battle with all of his pokemon vs. only one of yours at a time.
Dragon/rock: a boisterous monster movie director who dresses his pokemon in costumes, gym is a cardboard city. Uses a dynamaxed pokemon.
Ghost/psychic: a horror author, Vincent Price like, lives in a mansion and makes visitors face scenes from his books. Instead of a single battle, he has you face a series of singular mega pokemon behind each "scene." THE LABORATORY This location is of course secretly associated with the villain team, but you can free it up from them in the endgame. Here you can make fossil pokemon, micropokemon, regional forms from past generations, ultrabeasts and even mega stones, but all require you to spend one or more “gene crystals.” You’re handed a number of these through the storyline but it would be very challenging to farm more than that (think Gen 7 bottlecaps). Spending more crystals at the lab would allow you to finally alter abilities, natures and IV’s at a whim, and for an exceptional cost you could upgrade the BASE stats of any L100 pokemon permanently. This is a percentage increase applied across the board to all of its stats at once, and stops at either 100 total points beyond their normal limits, or a final base stat total of 530 (equivalent to a fully evolved starter) MISC STUFF:
Your mom this gen asks you if you hope to have an easy, challenging, or very challenging adventure. You can return to her at any time to adjust the difficulty again.
When you beat the game, you can make a custom trainer for online battles using the models of other NPC trainer types, i.e. you can finally be a swimmer/scientist/grunt/etc. You can unlock some popular ones from past generations.
You can select one pokemon as your main partner, which not only has it following you, but involves it a little more in the storyline (special events based on its first typing) and gives it some in-game perks.
A special item attached to any one of your pokemon allows your whole team to “share strength,” meaning that their weaknesses are mitigated for each teammate they share a type with. This allows for type-themed teams to be more viable but wouldn’t completely eliminate their weaknesses, and the effect diminishes proportionately for every pokemon that faints.
You can designate a seventh pokemon to be your “team mascot,” a non-combat role with different effects depending on species/type.
A single team can have either the mascot, a z-move, a dynamax/gigantamax form or a mega, cannot mix these.
Legendary pokemon now suffer a stat nerf for every other legendary pokemon on the same team. A team of six legendaries would actually be somewhat below-average in stats.
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Utsumi’s letter from the Premium Party
Here is the English translation of director Utsumi Hiroko’s letter which was read out during the Banana Fish Premium Party on December 23, 2018.
A million thanks go to @iamtrashforash who proofread my translation and suffered through my endless explanations about the reasoning behind certain word choices. Thank you so very much for bearing with me and taking the time to go through this not so short nor simple letter.
The Premium Party was an event attended by Uchida Yuuma (Ash’s VA), Nojima Kenji (Eiji’s VA), Morikawa Toshiyuki (Blanca’s VA) and the series’ producer, Uryuu Kyouko. VAs of Shorter, Yut-Lung and Sing also participated via short video clips. The event took place three days after the final episode of the anime aired and featured brief interviews with the staff and interactive games for the audience. The 90-minute-long footage is included in the blu-ray disc box volume 3.
For me, one of the highlights of the event is the part where Morikawa Toshiyuki reads out Utsumi’s letter. Although Utsumi did not participate in the event herself, she sent a very heartfelt letter to share her experiences with the production of the series and thank the VAs present in the event for their hard work. It resonated with my feelings towards Banana Fish as a story and anime series, so I wanted to share it with you.
I’m not putting up the original Japanese text here for copyright reasons but feel free to drop me a line if you want to take a look at it. The sentences are not always to-the-point, so I might have misinterpreted the meaning in certain passages. Please share your thoughts with me if you disagree with my interpretation. Okay, here we go...
“Thank you for coming to the Premium Party. Have you all watched Banana Fish until the last episode?
Personally, my thoughts about the series revolved around things like “Why do we have to work on such a sad story?!” or like “Lao, go talk to Sing properly!” or like “Ash, you really should think more about Eiji’s feelings!” But ultimately, I said to myself, “Well, that’s just how Banana Fish is,” and worked on the adaptation with that thought in mind.
It had become a regular occurrence to finish the production of each episode just in time for broadcasting. But the last episode simply wouldn’t fit into our usual running time, no matter what we did. So, after direct talks with Fuji TV, we got to extend the last episode for 10 whole minutes! Yay! And while that was all well and good, I still can’t forget how, during the pre-meeting on the production, every single production department said, “The ending didn’t really feel like an ending,” and then there was complete silence.
I’m genuinely glad that the series is over.
Speaking of things I still can’t forget, in the “You have until 12, Cinderella” scene in episode 23, the clock was supposed to show 11:55. But during the screen check it showed 22:55, so it appeared as if Ash stood there for a whole hour watching Eiji and then left with a tear-streaked face. And although that was very charming, naturally we ended up reanimating the scene.
Through this and that, we on the production side were also rushing from one place to another along with Ash and the gang. It was very tough, but also very fulfilling. Thank you so much for sticking around until the very end.
To Uchida-san… (Ash’s VA)
You managed to portray Ash—an incredibly difficult and nuanced character—until the very end, to the amazement of the staff. It made the staff think: “The video animation can’t lose [to the voice acting]!” No one was quite sure about how Candy Bar should be sung but you sang it in the best possible way. That will certainly open new doors for you(*).
There is also the reason why we entrusted [the role of] Ash to you: In the scenes with Eiji, your voice and tone softened, and your tenderness really shone through. “Ah… So this was the happiness that Ash was feeling.” The feeling of warmth was transmitted to me.
I’m so glad it was you who got the role of Ash. Thank you for portraying him until the very end.
HOKAHOKA
To Nojima-san (Eiji’s VA)
I hardly ever gave you any directions, but even now I have fond memories of you struggling to make some of the strange sounds Eiji made from time to time. Like in episode 1, when they pulled a knife on him, or like when he fell after pole-vaulting over that wall, or like that time when that mouse appeared out of nowhere(**).
Words cannot express how well your warmth and kindness, two qualities that are characteristic of Eiji, fit the image of him we had in mind. Thanks to you, when Ash felt happy, we also felt happy.
When we were recording the final letter scene, you said on your own “I want to do it again!” even before knowing whether a retake would be required or not. And when you were asked where do you want to take it from, you said in a very cute way “From when I fumbled my lines~” and continued playing your role until the end.
Thank you so much for saving and protecting Ash’s soul till the very end.
MY ANGEL!
To Morikawa-san (Blanca’s VA)
From the first recording session, you exuded an overwhelmingly calm and steady aura that had all staff members nodding in silent appreciation. Your seductive voice and that strangely atmospheric track, “Blanca’s Theme”, fit together marvellously and brought out Blanca’s adult appeal.
In episode 20, in the scene where Yut-Lung and Blanca were waiting by the car and they were attacked, Blanca pushes him back, yelling “Watch out!” But I still can’t forget how you missed your cue and yelled “Uhh, w-watch out!” instead. If Blanca had been indeed as late as you were, Yut-Lung would have been dead, right?
While he possesses invincible strength, Blanca captivates women with that handsome face of his and at times shows his charming side. Thank you so much for portraying such an extraordinary character so splendidly.
SEXY VOICE!
That’s all. My soul is with you all and with them as well.
Hiroko Utsumi”
(*) There is lots of laughter from the audience as this part is read out. Utsumi’s obviously saying this sarcastically.
(**) This part is so silly! As Morikawa describes each scene, he extends the microphone to Nojima who goes "Kyaaa~!" and "Ugyaaaa~!" just like in the anime.
#banana fish#premium party#utsumi hiroko#uchida yuuma#nojima kenji#morikawa toshiyuki#banana fish anime#banana fish türkçe#english#orta
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My Review of Grand Blue
How did I get into this anime? Well, I heard there were some good reviews about this particular title. It was one of those animes I probably should have watched in summer 2018, but more than likely I was watching some sequel no one remembers.
Iori Kitahara just moved to an ocean-front town to live with his uncle since he lives near Izu University (a school Iori was accepted into). His uncle owns a scuba diving shop that serves as a local hangout for members of the school’s diving club. Little does Iori know that this is a local hangout to get FUCKING SHIT-FACED!!!
I am not making this up. These members drink like it’s going out of business. And usually these drinking binges end up with blackouts and public nudity. In Iori’s case, he got so black-out drunk that he woke up in front of his new university’s courtyard…on the first day of school…only wearing his boxers! I’m beginning to see why Amazon put out an advisory at the beginning of each episode about drinking responsibly. But aside from drinking with a bunch of meat-head senpais, there’s also diving. Yeah, club activity is actually diving into the ocean.
So let’s dive into this college-leveled, binge-drinking club as we meet some interesting characters like, a raging otaku (Kouhei), Iori’s cousin with “Permanent Resting Bitch-face Syndrome” (Chisa), a girl who should get a makeup tutorial on Youtube (Aina), two meat-head senpais (Bukki and Tokki), Drinky McStripsItAll (Azusa), and Chisa’s “loving” older sister (Nanaka).
BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: So this is an Anime Prime exclusive, so I doubt I’d be hearing a dub to this any time soon. The sub has quite the line-up of seiyuus including that upcomer I’ve been raving about all 2019, Yuuma Uchida. But a lot of well-known folks like Kana Asumi and Hiroki Yasumoto (who can literally play anything at this point) shine in this anime. Here’s what you might recognize these folks from.
*Iori is played by Yuuma Uchida (Kyo on Fruits Basket 2019, Uenoyama on Given, Chika on Kono Oto Tomare, Sun on Oresuki, Ash on Banana Fish, and Shirazu on Tokyo Ghoul :re)
*Kouhei is played by Ryouhei Kimura (known for Hinata on Angel Beats, Hachiken on Silver Spoon, Takizawa on Eden of the East, Judar on Magi, Taishi on Tokyo Ghoul, and Hiyori on Free!)
*Chisa is played by Chika Anzai (known for Mina on Attack on Titan)
*Aina is played by Kana Asumi (known for Taneshima on Working!!, Ran on Shugo Chara, Kazakiri on Index, Yuno on Hidamari Sketch, Nagisa on Madoka Magica: Rebellion, and Tachibana on Nisekoi)
FAVORITE CHARACTER: I’m gonna say that after watching all 12 episodes; Aina (a.k.a. Cakey) grew on me. Horrible caked-on make-up aside, let’s be real here.
I think it’s because of the development we see with her ever since she was introduced early in the series. We see a girl trying her damndest to fit in with the tennis club only for it to blow up in her face (literally when we’re talking about all that makeup that’s “caked” on her face). Yeah, these guys treated Aina like garbage! But after joining the diving club, we see her be herself and slowly trust those around her. I think it’s more of this character resonating with me in some sad aspect, but I too feel the pain of trying to fit in or not wanting to let anyone down. Anyways, Cakey is my girl!
Poor dear, I feel your pain.
SHIPPING: So Iori is now a college lad and getting smashed eight ways from Sunday. And I’m sure he’s going to have his own picks of the ladies when he isn’t drinking with an otaku and a bunch of meat-heads.
…Or he can get freaky with his blood cousin!
*eyeball twitch*
ANYWAYS, Chisa has made her point clear with the disgusted face she makes whenever she’s around Iori. But in anime terms, we know that she has that classic tsundere syndrome. So when someone like Aina comes into the picture and Iori sticks up for her, jealousy arrives like a fucking A-bomb! Despite Chisa announcing to a wide, public setting that Iori was her boyfriend (while he was passed-out drunk), nothing too scandalous happened with this. It was just so she could keep creepy boys away. Honestly, I really have no problem if Chisa and Iori hook up. It’s actually better than Chisa being with someone who has an unhealthy obsession with her.
I don’t want to say Nanaka has a thing for her baby sister, but this is getting too borderline Yuru Yuri that I have to say something about it.
I’m pretty sure Aina might be a contender after all Iori has done for her throughout the series. It’s just that she can’t stand all that binge-drinking and getting buck-naked at any moment.
And then there’s wild card Azusa! She’s a flirt! What else can I say about her? She teases Iori every chance she gets. Hell, near the finale she tantalized Iori in sex. Wasn’t sure if she was kidding or if she really meant it! However she did shove a leek up Iori’s ass, but that’s because he was sick.
I swear this is normal behavior.
By the end of the series, we really didn’t get much in terms of full-on hookups. Many misunderstandings have occurred involving word-play. Iori, Kouhei, and their band of geeky friends are still virgins (though one of them came very close to sealing the deal). One of the meat-heads has a girlfriend (did not see that one coming). But on a positive note, Chisa and Iori’s friendship has been pretty steady. I wonder how long that’ll last!
ANIMATION: I gotta say it, the facial expressions on these characters were a laugh-riot. It wasn’t like this was pathetically sad that I have to laugh at it. But more of how expressive these characters got when they have to express hatred or disgust! This is more for comical expense and I happened to like it. It’s like with the anime Prison School, all the facial expressions worked in their favor. This, while out of place some of the time, never fails to make me laugh.
ANIME REFERENCE: While shopping for gear for an upcoming diving expedition, Kouhei came across two suits that would make any old-school otaku squeal.
The suits of Rei Ayanami and Asuka Langley Soryu from Neon Genesis Evangelion in diving suit form. And Kouhei got Chisa and Aina to try them on!
ENDING: At the end of episode 9, the diving club is heading to Okinawa for a special trip that is promised we will never forget. They made sure of that when the anime gives us a two-minute preview of what to look forward to in these final three episodes. Just be warned a lot of things mentioned really didn’t happen. It almost felt like one of those gag previews Gintama is notorious for.
Well Iori, Kouhei, and Aina are going to attempt at getting their divers license so that they can go even further down the ocean. It seemed like all three were doing pretty well when it came to the basics of diving underwater. However, it was quickly noticed by Nanaka that Iori was having trouble keeping water out of his goggles and that could result in immediate failure. So Iori practices all night (with help from Chisa and Aina). However, Iori ended up in some trouble when a patrolling policeman comes upon him in the pool. And Iori spent the rest of the night in the water because he was naked.
Because I’d be concerned if he wasn’t naked!
Well, the next morning, he caught a cold. Then dumbass thinks it’s a good idea to get rid of a cold by drinking vodka.
Because I’d be concerned if he wasn’t drinking!
And as a result he ended up missing his chance for obtaining his diving license. Kouhei and Aina were able to get their licenses. So the big diving expedition of Okinawa is about to commence and Iori has to sit this one out. But he remains hopeful to one day dive with his friends in Okinawa. After all that, the group travels to another spot and get fucking hammered. You all see the theme to this series, right?
But the last few episodes gave us a few moments involving Kouhei and Aina. Kouhei ended up stumbling into this group on accident (much like Iori), but discovered how much fun he had (aside from getting drunk as a skunk night after night). As for Aina, she learned that despite the diving club being full of a bunch of drunken meat-heads, these people care about her (unlike the previous club she belonged to).
So it was a memorable trip.
This was absolutely NOT what I expected when I picked up this anime. I notice Grand Blue being taken place in a cute ocean town and thought it would be just as cute as Tsuritama. But it turned out to be the anime equivelant of Animal House. I can easily tell you that my college years were NOTHING LIKE THIS.
Despite going to school in a state where the drunk-driving rate is sky-high, I did not witness any strange anomalies like arriving on campus and seeing a bunch of drunk, naked lads sprawled across the courtyard.
Now then, I do feel like this series could have focused a little more on diving and oceanography. It felt like the majority of the series involved characters binge-drinking, meat-heads fighting with tennis club members, more binge-drinking, sad geeks never getting laid, studying for a German test where you only get 20%, and drinking more than Sterling Archer. Not so much on the ocean like I would have hoped. And even though Iori gets the short-end of the stick in almost every episode, I do feel bad that he couldn’t join the rest of the club under water in the finale. That felt a little disheartening, but that’s just me. Short answer, I like this anime! If you’re in for a good laugh and are not turned off by all the drinking and nudity, I say go for it.
For what it’s worth, it’s a silly adventure I can see myself rewatching one or two more times. And if you’re interested in watching, Amazon Prime has all 12 episodes available for streaming.
Okay, this was quite the trip! Let’s pick our next Amazon/Netflix/Crunchyroll exclusive anime!
Think Zootopia, but set in high school.
Beastars!
Great choice as I even heard good things from celebrities who don’t normally watch anime.
#anime review#grand blue#grand blue dreaming#iori kitahara#chisa kotegawa#nanaka kotegawa#aina yoshiwara#shinji tokita#azusa hamaoka#kouhei imamura
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