#i am having such a bad day i'm not even writing this in japanese as a disguise to practice

[scary-pixie]

November 1st = New Tina Year! (secret diary entry and upcoming goals)

I'm mainly writing this down so I don't slack off! Cause if I slack off I can look back on this and think, "wow, you failed terribly. dingus."

Ahem.

Anyways, I am in the process of thinking up some new short term goals now that:

2024 con season is over (with the exception of some smaller events)

Spooky Season is almost over (I like posting non-stop spooky stuff during this delightful time)

Twitter is going inside the toilet

Magazine troubles (more on this below)

I have met the famous man whose inspiration played a big role in both: a) getting back into drawing my old OCs after 15+ years (little round glasses are a bad influence), and b) getting brave enough to be on video after saying I would never do this for god knows how long. (secret: I watched a certain music video with one of his characters the morning before I made my own). BUT HE WILL NEVER KNOW ABOUT THIS AND I WILL NEVER TELL! I AM FULL OF CRINGE!!!

This is what I'm thinking at the moment, in terms of my next creative direction. I appreciate any thoughts or advice!!:

My OC art was an absolute flop in terms of gaining new social media followers. Bluesky seems to be a LITTLE bit better, but it's still early to tell and I haven't posted too many of my OCs there yet either. For the time being, though, I plan to get back to my Schoolism subscription assignments since I've been neglecting them for a bit!

good lord I need to flatten my stomach somehow, as I cannot fit into my preferred fashion choices. I quit watching TV for a while in the summer, which helped a bit (I tend to eat everything in the house while I watch), so I may try this again soon.

arm workouts are going alright I guess, I am gaining a bit of muscle in my armes so they do not look so much like noodles.

Tempted to get back into posting video game screenshots and mini-reviews on social media since people really liked this stuff, but I'm worried it might just add more to my plate.

I'm really enjoying doing videos now, I'm just not sure which direction to take them (or if I even should take them places). I tend to film a lot of myself and a long-time friend in the car just saying stupid shit, but I don't really want to post all of these.

I wish to read more books without falling asleep, jesus christ this is tough.

On a similar note: the magazine I used to write book and comic reviews for has SHUT DOWN GOD DAMN IT so maybe I'll write some new stuff here?? Not sure yet!

I need to get back to my Japanese studies!! I used to do them at lunch and dinner but now I get distracted by all the awful political shit online! Aaaaaaaa!! I really hope America doesn't combust in the next few days but I guess we'll find out soon...

Finally, I need to be more active HERE! It's the best place for longform writing and art that might be a bit too "cringe" for the general public. Let's see if I can stick to it!!

I think that's all I have to SAY for NOW. Wish me luck in sticking to my goals instead of spiralling into ADHD Twitter nonsense, aaaaaaaaaaaa!!

Tagging a couple frands: @prometheus-ghost @fadingdreamerdream @thewebspinner @autolykiss @draganwhorror

Also anyone who actually wants to watch my shitty ass videos, the link is below. I have a bunch more but haven't posted them! https://www.instagram.com/kittensoft39/reels/

[thekittenkait]

i am having a bad day

[biggest-geo-oogami-enjoyer]

Can you write how Geo would deal with a mc that is always sick? (Totally not cause I'm sick too)

My Remedy for your Malady. (All x Sick! MC/Reader)

Anon. First and foremost, I made you wait 5 1/2 days. I am truly, wholly sorry for this *humbly bows*. (▰︶︹︺▰)

Secondly, I decided that I'm gonna do this for all 7 of our characters, because Jess, Brit and Deryl deserve more attention. I hope you may forgive me for my lateness, and enjoy this fic nonetheless (btw get well soon if you're not already <33).

Also I know that Jess especially is shorter (literally teehee) than the others, but I'm gonna get the hang of her eventually. Same with Deryl. >:]

ALSO, you're in an established relationship with them, so that's why they have (very legal) access to your residence!

- Signed by biggest-geo-oogami-enjoyer

Remedy: a medicine or treatment for a disease or injury.

Malady: a disease or ailment.

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Geo was concerned when he found out you were ill.

When you didn't show up to school for the last few days, he texted you to find out why; to which you bluntly told him you felt like utter shit.

He doesn't pick up on the fact you're sick until you straight-up tell him.

Depending on what type of sick you are, he'll get the appropriate medicines/remedies and speed his way towards your home, hell, he might even skip archery, and he *never* skips archery.

Would rock up with food he knows shouldn't cause any problems or nausea for you and will probably make soup.

And you better fucking eat it.

He will feed it to you (reluctantly, but if you seriously can't do it yourself, then he'll manage).

Will ask you how the hell you fell ill anyway, and depending on your answer, he'll be either: Pissed (if you caught it from someone else), Or exasperated (if you stopped taking care of yourself or didn't equip yourself well enough to deal with the weather).

Will take care of you either way.

Will read to you in Japanese to help you sleep.

Will try to not lie near you if possible, unless absolutely needed. He does not plan on catching shit.

Will remain at your residence until you recover; unless he has classes that are either critically important and/or ones you're also in.

Will lend you his notes.

Will also take them back after a few days.

Will also just probably talk to you while you're bedridden, unless you cannot, in which case he'll simply watch you sleep, occasionally stroking your head and hair to try and comfort you.

He's trying his best, okay?

Sol will freak when he finds out you're sick.

Doesn't care what he's got on next, he's gonna go take care of you.

Will probably feel bad for not telling Hyugo anything about suddenly vanishing

, but he'll understand right?

Will spawn outside your home with: - Medicine, - Your favourite comfort food (if you can eat it without the fear of vomiting), - Probably will bring poetry and art with him, so you both have something to do (that's not him) when you're bedridden.

Will try and hold you if possible, doesn't mind if he gets your blessed germs on him.

You'll have to tell him that you'd worry for him if he fell ill, so he'll respect that.

But he will feed you. You don't have a say in that.

You're being babied now.

He's gonna make sure everything you want (and can have when sick), you'll have.

Is honestly okay with not going to any class, he'll just ask Hyugo for notes if he hasn't been MIAing.

Covers you in blankets if you've got a cold.

If you have a fever? Ice cream. >:]

Essentially tries to uplift your mood as much as humanely possible.

This guy will do anything for you. <33

Crowe will ensure that when he arrives at your home, you'll have everything you'll need.

Will cook your favourite food.

Will make you eat soup and light foods that are easy on the stomach.

Won't touch you, he doesn't want to fall ill, but will read to you.

He's got a soothing voice I just know it.

And he's 110% going to put you in a coma from how tired you feel when his voice hits just right.

Or maybe you're just fatigued because of your body waging a war against god-knows what kind of virus.

Will make you all forms of beverages to suit your illness, will also go out of his way to purchase any, after all, he's got the funding.

Will still go to classes, and takes extensive notes for you.

Will also tutor you the content if you're up for it.

Will stroke your hair if it's not sweaty, as a form of comfort.

Will make you feel as loved as possible.

Because that's what you deserve.

Brittney will be appalled.

How did you get sick? More importantly...who got you sick?

She's gonna yell at them.

Or fight them.

Maybe both.

Will buy a bunch of goodies for the both of you.

She can't cook for shit, so she'll just get takeout as food and order a fuckton of cough drops and Panadol.

You're both gonna be painting each others' nails.

And spilling gossip. Oh my god, she always had gossip.

Will give you notes to subjects that are majors, or ones you share.

Other than that can't offer much.

Will sit away from you to not get sick, but she'll 110% be supporting you emotionally.

Will probably give you a massage when you get better.

Idk she gives the vibe that she would.

Is the most aggressively supportive girlfriend ever.

She only wants you to recover ASAP, and to feel as content as someone who's sick can be. <333

Jess will be focused solely on you recovering as swiftly as humanely possible.

Is upset when she finds out you're fallen ill.

She'll drive to her home, grab the best shit she has and drives to your home.

Stays with you for days on end.

You've become her priority now, after all.

Jess is a very devoted (and lonely) girl, what can I say.

Will try and comfort you via reading to you, or listening to you talk about literally anything.

She just loves your company and you. Poor girl's been neglected her whole life.

She'll try her hardest to take care of you, and she does a very good job. (Ask Brittney teehee)

You're more than glad to have her.

And she to have you.

Hyugo will be astounded.

You? Got sick?

Why?

Did someone make you sick???? (if so teehee someone's getting food poisoning~)

He's at your home, with everything.

Literally everything.

Blankets, movies, games, medicine, puns, your favourite food and whatever else he deems necessary.

Will hug you if you're not aggressively sneezing/coughing.

Will watch movies with you on the couch with you lying on his plush fucking thighs.

Says the most stupid shit in Japanese (such as teaching you how to hide a body) and making it sound like flirting.

Tells you jokes and puns to make you feel better, until you laugh too hard that is and almost die.

Will make food for you.

Will ramble on about random shit to you, or listen to you talk (if you can).

Literally just seeing you content is more than enough for him.

Deryl will be SHOOKETH.

He will sprint to your fucking house. He doesn't care.

You're his only priority now.

Will magically appear at your home, and immediately hugs you.

You can be fucking dying, he doesn't care.

You're getting squashed.

Will be asking if you're okay 24/7

Until he realises he forgot to bring food.

Then he runs to get it, along with tablets, Panadol, all that jazz.

Like RUNS.

HE WILL RUN.

HE IS A FAST MOTHERFUCKER.

FAST!!!!!

Then he gets tired, so by the time he gets to the store, gets the food (and the 'goods'), he's gonna just call a fucking cab and crash at your place. (he forgot takeout existed lol)

He doesn't mind, and frankly, neither do you. The food and snacks was awesome (well, what you could eat anyway).

Will try his absolute best to take care of you, but often gets carried away with his energy. Often talks and rambles to you while you happily lay in bed next to him and listen.

Will call Geo or Jess for how to make a warm soup to feed you.

Then it becomes 'we've got Masterchefs at home'.

Shit goes crazy when Deryl's around tbh.

And you're more than happy to enjoy the ride (in more ways than one ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)).

[my-rose-tinted-glasses]

I am annoyed. It's episode 10. How are we still here? Look I'm all for slow burn. I enjoy it. But that's not what this is. It's episode 10 and Taichi is still not aware of his feelings? or if he is, he still hasn't acknowledge them. In any way that matters. We had one scene with the mains and it was a giant step backwards in the relationship.

Kohei is frustrating (and honestly that scene with them got a bit too close to noble idiocy for my taste, except they're not really a couple so it's just Kohei saying what he thinks Taichi wants to hear, which is still annoying) but honestly, I don't totally blame Kohei at this point. He thinks he has a one sided crush (and to be fair why wouldn't he?), so he doesn't want to hold Taichi back. But again, I say, it's episode 10. This lack of communication was cute fine in episode 5 or 6. And this was episode 6 btw...

4 episodes later and we have not moved an inch. How is that possible?

And it wasn't even a bad episode. If this wasn't the tenth episode, I would think it was a great episode. I was in pain. When Kohei said "I'll be fine without you" my heart dropped. His speech at the end was touching. But at this point they should be talking to each other. At this point they should've spoken to each other several times over.

Also I hate Maya again because if she still doesn't get it it's because she doesn't want to. At this point to still be oblivious about these two tells me she doesn't really get Kohei. Right now I think if she's not there to help the main couple, there is no point to her character. If she had been introduced in the beginning as a serious obstacle, I could get that. If it was clear that she had a crush on Kohei, I would probably not like it, but sure, it happens. But right now, her purpose was to get that speech out of Kohei, which, although it was a great speech, there was actually no new information given. He confessed five episodes ago. FIVE. And then... nothing.

And you know what sucks the most right now? It's the second day in a row that I write a post criticizing a japanese bl. I hate this so much.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

Am I the asshole in this situation??

First of all I'm so sorry for bringing t/b discourse here but this has been so gd annoying I need help. And all this is is on twitter-retro etc.

I'm 100% here for switch please keep in mind. Idc what anyone else likes it's food I'll eat all of it. But this fandom. Oh this fandom. So here's the context, it's a anime show with a really popular almost canon mlm ship, one of them is crazy beautiful and the other one is a big muscular man. Naturally the fandom like the pretty man as bottom and the muscular man as top. Let's call this DC. Not all people tho and it's the problem.

See, there are some creators who hate the above dynamics so much they make the muscular man a woman, sometimes trans which is fine but they always babygirl him, call him wifey, use she/her pronouns, go all out to make the pretty man over the top masculine so he can be top while making the canon masculine man demure little wife. Note that they're both really tall but D has long hair so they always make him wear accessories to feminize him. I made friends with some authors who used to like switch, they wrote DC back then and they were so good. They were all into switch too. Over the years they became really hateful of DC dynamics and started to exclusively write CD, talk about CD only, rt CD art exclusively.

This is still fine, they're like 10 people out of thousands who don't care, and most people don't care. Until one day recently when I said it was better to ship switch. Those people started clowning me, saying it's their right to exclusively like whatever, write whatever, started ignoring how the show portrays them. They wrote literal threads detailing how to how use tags as if no one knows, shaded people who said they didn't care and would use whatever tags they liked. It got to a point I had to ask them to stop, they started saying I was harassing them and accused the fandom of harassing them on anon and ao3. When I said it Doesn't Matter they said it was racist to suggest that, telling me to block if I didn't like their posts. I could not make them understand how fetishistic it was, just because Japanese fans do this doesn't mean it's good or we have to follow? They somehow figured out who I was and blocked me, kicked me out of a server we were in together, so I lost mutuals and some followers too.

Then they started answering my asks unseriously like "I write CD to piss YOU off" "can't project on the twink like yall" and started insulting switch fans calling us hypocrits. There isn't much CD content to begin with how can I share more of those? Whatever is available they make it heteronormative like that. One of them deadass called me an asshole for "harassing" them just because I said it's rude to block people over t/b dynamics when no one is bothering anyone, because these people are always blocking anyone posting DC and making a bubble of CD only fans. This is bound to make them lose track of canon but who cares anymore. They keep complaining about being harassed for liking CD and yes some fans probably send anon hate but that doesn't mean any critic of CD is harassment?

Tell me how I'm the asshole here for suggesting they stop obsessing over t/b this much? How am I the asshole when I'm the one they all blocked and apparently I'm a bad guy because I followed some popular accounts who post DC and said some weird things about D which I didn't even know about.

What are these acronyms?

[helenstudies]

I've seen a lot of "gifted kid burnout" posts and also a few "where do we go to post studyblr stuff when we're bad students and don't get good grades" so I'm here to talk about my own experience of "I've never been a gifted kid and I've never been a good student".

I'm not a gifted kid. In fact, there was no "gifted kid" system in my country at all. And instead of multiple choice questions or true or false questions, we had to memorize pages and pages of our textbook and write them down during three hour exams. You can't get "a" and "the" wrong or you lose points, that's how much memorization we had to do. We didn't get electives until our last two years of high school and the electives were "biology or economics?" Yeah, those were the only two. Even at my university, I didn't get to choose my own electives. Everything came in a neat little box that you can never escape. And we never, EVER get full marks in Burmese or English. 80 out of 100 is considered phenomenal and no one's ever gotten more than 82 in either subject. So our matriculation exam's full mark is 600 but the most you can get is 550.

Suffice to say, the education system sucked and I don't like memorization so my grades were 50% at most. I failed my math and physic classes with 28 marks out of 100 for a whole two years, only barely passing on midterms and end of year exams. For my matriculation exam I got 340 out of 600, which is SUBPAR. That's 2.0 GPA btw. I never thought of myself as educated or a good student and I still don't.

But I love languages and I realize that while languages seem hard to learn and have strict rules, they actually don't. You can move them around and learn them however you like. So as an avid reader, I started learning languages so that I will be able to read books in those languages and I found studying liberating. Why not? I'm no longer memorizing 600 pages of text book and writing them down.

I realize that I love learning and studying when I get to choose what I learn. So I stopped caring about grades and started learning things that I love. Hey, do you know what's the biggest side effect of learning things that you love and not caring about grades? It's that you actually start to learn and your grades start to come up. I realize I perform badly when I am stressing out about my grades. This is why you're seeing all my 100% grade and 80% grade all over my walls. It's not because I'm a good student. It's because I've let go of the notion that I HAVE to be a good student.

I can talk about my bad grades as freely as I can talk about my good grades. I can tell you that I've been learning Japanese for ten seven years and I'm only JLPT N3 level. Honestly, you know what? As a generation, we're due to appreciate our process and progress instead of our achievements. It's fine if you're a bad student. It's fine if you are a gifted kid who fell off the wagon. It's fine if you've never been a gifted kid or a bad student. What matters is you're here studying and learning and appreciating yourself for doing all that.

So post your good grades, post your bad grades. Post your good stuff and bad stuff and messy notes. Post about your good days and your bad days. Talk about your productive days and talk about your rest days. Keep going and keep learning!

[putschki1969]

YKL vol.#20～Japanese Seal 20th Special～ Kanagawa Performance Broadcast

2024.06.09 Kanagawa・Kenmin Hall The second concert of this year's Yuki Kajiura live tour was broadcast last night on TBS Channel 1. The tour is titled “Special Japanese Seal” referring to the fact that no Japanese songs are performed. This exclusion does not apply to the encore section. User 蓝原延珠_ on Bilibili kindly provided their recording of the broadcast, you can watch it HERE. I was only able to download a 720p version (~1GB) of it but for the time being, it will do. I am eager to watch it and write a little report. Hopefully an HQ version will pop up in a few days. Without further ado, let's get going〈(•ˇ‿ˇ•)-→

overture〜アンチヒーロー〜Main Theme〜: Right off the bat, I'm noticing that the audio is quite dull and maybe even slightly tinny? Might be the specific recording but it's probably more a matter of the TV broadcasts generally having bad audio. That was clearly noticeable when you compared the Kaji Fes TV broadcast to the BD release. Anyway, we are off to a great start. Glad to see rito and Lino on stage from the get-go and not just for a couple of songs here and there. It always feels a bit awkward for them to have the status of "regular" members but only appearing on stage sporadically. I haven't listened to any songs from the Antihero soundtrack so this is all new to me. Classic YK, the type of song I will always gravitate towards. Beautiful harmonies. Enjoying the slight whine in Eri's voice, so emotional. Love when the epic part starts and you can hear an entire chorus in the background (maybe a bit too much studio magic going on here but I don't mind for grand sections like that). Must have been a real goosebumps moment at the live.

the four rings: Wow, this one is so good. Don't think I've heard it before. Not too familiar with the Heaven’s Feel OST tbh. Really getting goosebumps now. Although I will say that here, the post-editing is a bit overbearing, it seems to almost drown out the vocals of our songstresses. Don't get me wrong, it still sounds amazing and I am enjoying the hell out of it but I wonder how it was like at the venue (with presumably less studio magic). With six singers on stage, they can certainly achieve some powerful choral work but of course it would still pale in comparison to a larger choir. Nonetheless, this is an instant favourite. Hope they will perform it during the Asia tour leg. Although I kinda doubt it since they said that the setlist would be very different. But who knows, it's Fate/stay night so it's probably among the more-likely pieces to be performed among Yuki's huge repertoire. My guess is that they will stick to the most popular anime stuff because they know that will get the audience excited.

absolute configuration: Perfect transition. Never getting tired of this song. And I'm glad we are back to a more natural sound with less studio magic. Solid performance as always.

E.G.O: Have they ever performed this live for a home video release? I don't think so. It was included in one of the live complication albums (Fictionjunction 2010-2013) but I don't recall ever watching a live performance. I have to admit that I haven't even listened to the live audio track, must have dismissed it when I first got the album. I can understand why because it's not really my type of song. It's not bad but not my favourite either. Very old-school YK so that's fun. And there are a couple of nice Keiko parts, that's always a treat.

キッチン革命〜Main Theme〜: A completely new track from one of Yuki's most recent works. Definitely a perfect fit for a show called "Kitchen Revolution" XD Especially the percussion at the beginning. The harmony between Yuriko, Lino and rito works really well, they sound good together. Other than that, it probably won't become one of my favourite songs. Generally not a huge fan of Yuriko as main vocalist. No one does those gorgeous operatic higher harmonies like her but when the spotlight is on her, it's typically not my cup of tea.

voyagers: As far as I know, we only have the studio version and live audio from the compilation album as reference. No official live footage. The song has never really stuck out to me, it is okay but it's a bit too derivative of much better tracks from Yuki. Will keep it short so I don't trigger anyone. But it's definitely one of those songs where I prefer the version with Wakana. Joelle's vocals don't do anything for me here. But since I am not super invested in the song anyway, I can't say I care much.

Historia: opening theme: Beautiful rendition. Love that they brought all six vocalists back on stage for this. Naturally, I'm quite fond of Wakana's version once again (not least of all because this song will always have a connection to Kalafina) but Yuriko does a fanstatic job of singing her parts, admittedly, she has much better control so her voice sounds very crisp and lovely. Joelle provides great support here and their voices blend well together.

forest: Never been a fan. I didn’t like it when Wakana sang it and I don’t like it now that Joelle sings it. It’s not a bad song at all and Joelle sounds fine to me but it’s just not my cup of tea. Next.

My long forgotten cloistered sleep: Now THIS on the other hand I have always loved. I still remember everyone hating Wakana's live version during YKL Vol.#9 but I enjoy it quite a lot. It's true that it's probably not the best she has ever sounded but her vocals here certainly don't warrant all the nasty comments she has received throughout the years for that performance. Of course, I am also obsessed with that WaKei combo!! And you know me, I have a weakness for "lalala"s so this has definitely always been among my favourite YKL songs. As for this performance, I think both Wakana and Joelle are trying are little too hard to emulate Emily Bindiger's timbre. I personally don't think Emily Bindiger has a particularly nice voice so if anyone tries to sound like her, it's always a slight downgrade in my opinion. I'll just say this, if you are one of the people who say that Wakana sounds like a chipmunk in her version, you'll have to say the same thing about Joelle(¬_¬) Long story short, I don't mind this version with Joelle and Keiko. Still very enjoyable. Will definitely be listening to it on repeat.

I swear: Probably one of my least favourite Keiko songs but this is a decent performance. I might even like this more than some of the previous live rendition since it's a bit more delicate(?) I think.

fiction: Another song I could live without…The chorus is solid but it's not one of those songs I'd ever actively listen to.

I reach for the sun: Forever sad that they made Joelle the lead of this song. Keiko does a better job in my opinion and I like the song quite a bit more than "I swear". Overall, the English section has probably been the weakest so far, at least for me. I actually ended up fast-forwarding through most of it.

MC: This MC is quite interesting since Yuki asks her singers to share a story of something they are taking a break from right now. To explain the background of this question, it's a reference to the title of this year's tour: Nihongo Fuin = Japanese Seal ("fuin" basically means to seal up something. You are excluding it/taking a break from it/quitting it/etc). Lino says that despite being a huge lover of the sea, she has been taking a break from going to the beach and swimming in the sea during this summer because it might affect her voice negatively. Yuki has a funny response to that because she says that most of her songs have never really had a summer vibe and actually don't work very well in a summer atmosphere but for some reason, they have ended up always holding their annual tour during the summer time. Keiko has stopped drinking her beloved lattes for the past three months to prioritise her water intake. Gladly, she has overcome the worst parts of quitting already and is getting used to water. Yuki admired her stoic nature. Yuriko would typically refrain from certain things in preparation for a live tour but this year she has completely forgotten about that. About two weeks ago, she decided to quit ice-cream but she only did it half-hardheartedly because it was so hot that she ended up eating it anyway. So yeah, this is a big fail and it's really a "story of NOT taking a break from something" XD Joelle has stopped waking up early. Usually, she is the type to rise together with the sun but in order to increase her sleeping hours, she will wake up later when she is on tour. A restful sleep will help her body heal up and improve her voice. rito has quit chewing gum (and stopped eating certain chewy foods such as squid) because it's bad for your jaw and facial muscles. Kaori has taken a break from watching the drama "Anithero" (for which YK is composing music, the main theme having been performed as the intro of this live). Seems like the song is haunting her a bit too much and the story is getting to her. So once the tour is over and she is no longer singing the song, she will have an easier time watching the episodes. Yuki agrees that the main theme is quite haunting. Especially when she hears one of the singers rehearsing in the dressing-room right before a performance. Eri doesn't really have anything to tell the audience but she and Yuki briefly talk about the difficulties of learning so many songs with coined words.

Gaia: Wow, what a lovely song. Instant like. Really adore Eri here!! Such gorgeous high notes.

Credens justitiam: What a great team-up with Keiko, Eri, Yuriko and Joelle. Eri sounds great together here with Keiko. Does Yuriko sound a bit off here? I don't know. Not 100% into some of her parts.

hepatica: First time actively listening to this song. Very beautiful and tender. I feel like some of Yuki's KnK work might have been inspired by this song. Some parts immediately made me think of "Seventh Heaven".

godsibb: Waaah! Yes!! Always a joy to listen to this song. Glad everyone is on stage for a powerful finale.

Alone: I knew I would love this Pandora Hearts medley. I always do and this one is no exception. Flawless start.

Bloody rabbit: Some squeaky parts at the beginning but overall, solid.

Contractor: OBSESSED. One word. Perfection. There's a reason this is the performance I'm using for this post. I'm forever a slave to Keiko's solo part XD. Also, Eri is such a queen here! So cool!

zodiacal sign: This is the song where you can really tell that they are taking great care of Kaori's condition. No strenuous movements at all. How funny is it to see Rie joining the girls in their little dance?! Cute!! Super fun performance as always.

open your heart: Ughh, I do not like this song at all. They did "Sweet Song"/"paradise regained" for most of the other performances. Would have killed to get either of those two instead of "open your heart". Obviously, "Sweet Song" would have been perfect. From what I heard, the final concert with Kaori in July had an amazing and heart-warming performance of "Sweet Song".

En.Prologue〜このとほかやわらかい: Wish I could grow to love this song. It deserves my love, I know it. But I just can't get into it. But hey, it's a cool performance, I can't deny that. During her solos, Kaori sounds a bit nasal in my opinion. Nothing that takes away from the performance but it's certainly noticeable (throughout the live to be honest - at least during the few songs where she has a substantial solo part. I think you can also hear it during the main MC. Either she had a minor cold that day or it's just a symptom of her pregnancy. Lowered nasal resonance is actually a very common thing for pregnant women.)

En.Parade: Beautiful. No notes.

En.蒼穹のファンファーレ: Solid. Not a huge fan of the song though.

[kudouasagi135]

After Shinichi started living in Kaito's home…

Quick pharaoh!Shinichi au sketch ｡⁠◕⁠‿⁠◕⁠｡

Shinichi starts getting so impressed with everything in this timeline that he started digging into Kaito's stuff without permission, and Kaito is generally annoyed with it but he can't help it.

Shinichi also allowed him to put on his father's costume (Kaito KID clothes) whenever he wanted but not use it for stealing or he will send him back to the underworld (⁠・⁠_⁠・⁠;⁠)

These boys don't get along right away with each other, especially with Shinichi being the only barrier between Kaito and actual death.

New au info down here ↓

Shinichi becomes a ghost after he starts living with Kaito, but not exactly one.

Shinichi can control who can see him and who can't, but he will become completely invisible and unable to do that on every new moon 🌑, and even Kaito won't be able to see him.

Shinichi can also interact with any object from the real world and can choose to have his hand move through the object or hold it.

Shinichi can have a human body every two full moons, he won't be a ghost on those days, but he loses connection with the underworld, only to regain them the day after. Along with his ghostly nature.

On the blood moon, Shinichi will hide away in his room from Kaito and not show himself to anyone, concerning everyone who knows about his existence (Yup, Kaito told them about it)

All detco characters will belong to the Egyptian civilization era with alternative names (Shinichi was called Senzo before Kaito changed it into Shinichi and teaching him Japanese), while all mk characters will belong to our current timeline, and we will consider Toichi to have actually died in this series because if he were alive then I wouldn't have been able to fit all the family drama in the au.

And that's all, I'm out, peace! (⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠)

I'm currently writing chapter 1 and will upload the story on fanfiction.net after I am done writing the drafts for chapter 2 or 3 so that I'll be able to update weekly.

But I'm currently busy with another secret project that everyone will enjoy and it might be out on AO3, Fanfic & Wattpad (This is a very old, badly made, discontinued fic that I used the link for because I didn't know how to get the account link on Wattpad, you can read it if you want but I recommend not to because it is really bad (⁠￣⁠ヘ⁠￣⁠;⁠)) on Monday morning according to the middle east timeline.

[fuckthisshitimin]

[ID: a digital study of two laughing gulls in their summer plummage, standing in shallow water and examining their reflection, in dark blues with blood orange accents. To their left is a semi-cursive writing of the japanese kanji for bird and to their right, a cursive iteration of the same character. It is signed 怪物ミハイル (Kaibutsu Mihairu)/Monster Mikhaïl. End ID.]

Latober, day 1 day 7: Bird.

Study of a Seth Patterson photograph

I don't know why I have many, many emotions smothering me. An urge I can't quite place and maybe I don't want to sign "Meaningless" anymore. How do I feel about cultural appropriation, deciding to sign half in Japanese? To attempt sousho when I can't even write fluently and have never practiced under a teacher? I had a weird day, and I'm wondering if anyone but future me will read this, there's no bad option I think, I want to be perceived sure but for this one later-me is enough. That's where I am on the 7th of October. Something needs to change. I didn't do all I said I would but late is okay.

[hamliet]

I have a question you said in a review the eyes in the characters of oshi no ko when I read about it design wise I am intersted in the eyes of Akane, Kana and Mem-cho mean something about there role and character in the story I was wondering if you can elabortate on it.

Okay, so! To start with this topic, though, we actually have to talk about Ai first and foremost.

Hoshino Ai breaks down into several meanings. For one thing, it breaks into “hoshi no eye,” which literally means “starry eye” in Japanese. Ai’s eyes notably have stars in them, and Aqua and Ruby have one starry eye each.

Of course, this breaks into several meanings itself. "Starry eyed" is an English idiom for an idealistic, childlike view of the world. If we break the "star eye" idea down further, "star" references Ai being a "star," an idiom for a famous person.

"Hoshino" also contains a homonym for the Japanese verb "hoshi" (欲しい), which means "to want." This also indicates a huge part of Ai's character. The kanji used to write Hoshino means "star" and "indigo"--indigo is the color that you get when you combine aqua and ruby, by the way.

Plus, Ai is written in katakana (アイ), not kanji as would be typical for a name. Katakana is the Japanese script for loan words, which reinforces the literal translation of “eye.” But, it's also a homonym for the Japanese word for love (愛), which is pronounced like "eye." In turn, the story explores love as a major theme--for example, Ai’s final thoughts are about her finally understanding love.

So, from Ai, we see that eyes and particularly starry eyes matter.

In the OP, we see a progression of five eyes--Aqua, Ruby, Kana, Akane, and Mem-Cho.

Hikaru, Aqua, and Ruby

Aqua and Ruby share one starry eye that goes black when they are in a bad mental state (Hikaru's eyes are also starry eyes that have turned black, again reinforcing that he never had a childhood).

The implication of both Ruby and Aqua having one starry eye each and switching between looking more like their mother's eyes and their father's eyes is to emphasize their internal conflict. They both bear the legacy of their parents, and have their own legacies in their past lives and a blank slate, a chance for a new start (the unstarred eye). What they do with this life and which legacy they want to focus on (Ai's love and life, or Hikaru's focus on trauma and repeating a cycle of violence) is their choice.

If we take the saying "the eyes are the window to the sopul," then we also see that as much as Ruby and Aqua are Sarina and Gorou, they are also Ruby and Aqua, children of Ai and Hikaru. That's why I actually am not so sure about the common fan presumption that Crow Girl saying the children had no souls meant they were supposed to be stillborn. They aren't Sarina and Gorou any more so than they are Ruby and Aqua.

Now let's finally move onto your characters.

Kana

Kana’s eyes resemble galaxies.

What this means isn't entirely clear, but instead of a single star, she has hundreds in her eyes. This presumably indicates her potential as a human being, and her way of reminding both Aqua and Ruby (in her better moments, anyways) that they are part of a huge world and a huge cosmos, and don't have to focus on just one aspect of life--namely, revenge on Hikaru for Aqua and revenge for the doctor for Ruby. Other people around them also contain their own light.

Akane and Mem-Cho

Akane’s look like an evening sky.

Mem-Cho’s resemble daytime, complete with light reflections forming clouds as shown below:

Again, I'm not entirely sure what this means per se, but I would guess it emphasizes, thematically, the reality of life. People live, and they die. Day comes, and then night.

Death (something repeatedly associated with Akane--no I don't think she's going to die) is a part of life. I would guess Akane will help Aqua and Ruby accept this part of themselves somehow, as written by @aspoonofsugar here.

Mem-Cho, on the other hand, shines brightly, illuminating their need to grow in some ways and offering wise advice. She's not as complex a character at the moment, but her role so far seems congruent with this idea.

[raindrop-on-a-spiderweb]

Sending love to one of the best writers on ao3 😘💕 I check your page frequently and wanted to ask about the things that you enjoy doing or aspire to do

Hi Anon, it's so sweet of you to send this ask to ask after me. Rest assured your words are appreciated on this end; thank you from the bottom of my heart and top of my soul 🫂 I'm very glad you think highly of my work even after so long, and I'm so so sorry I haven't had any new content in such a long time. But I am hard at work on a oneshot that will definitely be published before the next chapter of Samarra, so the well won't stay dry for long! The summary is “A jaded prison nurse must come to rely on a man she hates and fears in the midst of a deadly prison riot.” I started writing it in the ward; it's based off of the Moundsville Penitentiary which is an especially spooky place I've been to–an old 19th century prison made of towering stone turrets, eerie high ceilings, and rusted iron cells packed together like pigsties. I'm hoping to get that atmosphere across; it's about ⅔ of the way finished so good progress is being made!

Well I enjoy writing, most of all, but I've already talked about that in detail a thousand times so I'll spare you. I love reading, of course (I just finished “The Five”, about the victims of Jack the Ripper, and it's a fascinating bit of history and an incredible and horrifying look at Victorian-era industrial Britain). I love exploring the mountains with my cats trotting along beside me and photographing what I find. In all honesty I'm a bit of a trappist–I rarely see people except hunters and cashiers, and most of my time is spent alone with myself or my dad. But each day is an adventure when you're in nature and each season brings primordial and beautiful changes– I collected watercress the other day and found the downy remains of a fawn. 

I love watching old movies. My dad and I were watching Laurel and Hardy last night and I swear it holds up a century later. Before that we watched King Rat, which is one of his–and my–favorite movie; about two men stuck in a Japanese prison camp and the Machiavellian and underhanded ways they survive there. The book is particularly good too, and the epilogue about rats devouring each other has haunted my dreams for a long time. 

On the same subject, a series that I highly recommend is called Tenko, which is very similar to King Rat, except the prisoners are women. It's so grueling, realistic and enrapturing; I've never seen anything that so squarely focuses on women's experiences, relationships with each other, the hardships they face, and how they struggle to survive together in a thankless, deprived environment. The backstabbing and despair that comes in their darkest moments, the love and support in which they uplift each other with, their mistrustful and uneven relationships with their captors that occasionally erupt in friendships and affairs–and all the episodes are on dailymotion, too!

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x74u4fi

I like dreaming most of all. So many of my story ideas come from my dreams. The worst thing in the world is waking up and trying to catch the stray strands of the dream slipping through your fingers. It's amazing to live so many lives–good or bad–inside your head. Sometimes when I wake up, I feel a sweeping, palpable sense of relief that I don't live in the world I conjured last night, and sometimes I wish I could just claw myself back into my brain and live in that little pocket world for the rest of my life.

I do not aspire to much. I don't really have any base wishes but to keep writing and live til 70. We all have our hopeful fantasies, of course, and when I finally do get Ragnatela on Amazon Kindle (Microsoft Word is trying to swindle me out of one hundred and fifty American dollars to use their dogshit platform, and since the manuscript is half-edited, I'm afraid to lose my formatting if I switched to a free program like Libreoffice) maybe it will get some attention. 

I still intend on writing on Ao3 until the day I die, though. Even with its unsavory content I have such a soft spot for its unrestricted freedom of speech and prose. Plus I don't want to give up talking to you guys and goofing off in the comments ☹️ I also aspire to stop drinking. I'm sure I've already shaved a few years off my lifespan with my tippling habit. But when one day is much like the other, is there much point in extending it?

I aspire to travel around the United States more. I took a trip through the Deep South to visit Savannah and it was enrapturing; something I will remember for the rest of my life. Rusted-out cars felted in green moss, skinny, grazing horses in windswept fields, peeling roadside signs advertising tent revivals, clownish golliwogs behind still windows of cafes, forgotten tugboats half-sunken into lagoons, highway strip hotels where craggy hookers peered at you suspiciously from their fold-up chairs, and derelict cemeteries separated between Union and Confederate. It was just post-Irma and we were often the only tourists at any of these places. The effects of the hurricane were stark and obvious, with the land in a state of shock before any official agencies came to clean them up. I remember boats crashed into the harbor and grandfather trees felled in front of opulent antebellum homes, and the sea churned brown and murky when we trekked to the beach. The sense of desolation, and not only from the hurricane, was chilling–but I loved being there and loved being swathed by the kudzu and history. My mother is very ill and before she dies we might make up briefly and take a trip to New Orleans together and explore rural Louisiana; I'd always wanted to write a story set in New Orleans. Louisiana is a fascinating state with its mixture of Napoleonic and Creole influences; and I've always been drawn to the grand, decaying tombs of New Orleans as much as I have been to the odd Francophone swamps and their hidden dialects and traditions. And one day I would like to go way, way out west and explore the Gold Rush ghost towns. All the mines where I am are filled-in, so I would like to venture underneath the earth just once. 

Most of all, I aspire to be alone, and live by myself for the rest of my life, far away from town, somewhere in the mountains like where I am now. I wish I didn't have to see another person for the rest of my life. Being alone with myself is bad enough, being with others is intolerable.

Anyways, I apologize for my undue pleonasm, you caught me in a chatty mood 😀 Here's an excerpt from the newest prison one-shot:

Rhoda had met Jesse Fitzner her first day on the job. It was midway through her shift, and she was taking a lunch break and grading her sister Sherise's homework in her office. The day had started with a white-knuckle ride in early morning mist so thick she couldn't see the taillights of the car in front of her. Midway through her preliminary tour of the prison, an inmate had stuffed his toilet full of socks, which promptly overflowed and leaked sewage out of the cell onto her high heels. The hoots and jeers had made her speed up, trying to avoid the leering eyes of her future patients. And her introduction to the mental ward, by a younger but just as pessimistic Fawna, had not lifted her mood any either.

So there she sat in her office, snatching a moment of calmness and frantically scribbling corrections over Sherise's homework before her sister turned it in tomorrow. And then the door swung open.

A blond man poked his head in and briefly raised his eyebrows. He was wearing the omnipresent, drab gray prison uniform, pants and a sweatshirt rolled up to his elbows. "What are you up to?"

She flipped the cover of the notebook over.

"Going over my sister's homework. Is there something you need?"

"Passing on a message to Nurse Judson. One of the inmates wants to switch his blood pressure medication."

"Oh, she'll be back soon. I think she's–doing something with the prisoners. Just give her a few minutes."

"No hurry." He pulled the chair opposite her and sat down in it. "So you're grading your kid sister's homework? Shouldn't she be doing that herself?"

The man had thick blond hair that stuck up in back like a duck's tail, and very rosy cheeks. He looked like he had just shaven, by the nicks on his neck. 

"It's a long story. I should be–"

"I've got time. If this is your first day, you need to take some time to yourself to relax--else you'll end up in the infirmary."

Rhoda laughed. He had a nice smile and a nice manner about him–very jovial and friendly. It was refreshing to see a man who didn't stare at her like she was a piece of meat. "Well, my parents died when my brother and I were still young. Seth was seventeen, I was fifteen. He went to work so we didn't have to break up the family, and I stayed home to care for my little siblings, all three of them. It wasn't fun. I always wanted to do more for them than what I was stuck with, so I'm making sure they get good grades and go to good colleges. That's why I got this job in the first place, to put some back for their college funds."

"That's real decent of you. I don't know a single woman who would go so far for their family. You'd best be proud of yourself. Where's your brother now?"

"He's working out of state in Pennsylvania. He found a good woman and has a concrete contracting business now."

"You got yourself a man?"

"Never saw the need. Someday, maybe, when I'm lonelier."

"Working here for a few years will train that loneliness for a man right outta of you." 

They both laughed at that, and Rhoda felt her tensed muscles begin to relax. "I didn't catch your name."

"Jesse Lee Fitzner." He reached across the desk to grip her hand. For being such a small-built man, he had a crushing handshake.

"Rhoda Ames. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

"I knew a few Ameses when I was on the outside. Where your folks from?"

"Beckworth, west of here."

"Oh, you're bullshitting me. I have folks from there too. You don't know a Harry Fitzner, do you?"

"Harry who used to run the car repair shop?"

"That's him! My uncle. He retired a few years ago. His lungs got to him. Too much time in the mines."

The door slammed open again. An elderly prison guard, who had greeted her rather abruptly upon her hiring and who had a hard and wrinkled face, was standing in the doorway. When he saw Jesse, his face grew harder. "What are you doing here, inmate?"

Jesse raised his hands, still not moving from where he was leaning back on the chair. "Just dropping off a message for Nurse Judson."

"Next time, leave the message with Nurse Ames and promptly return to your cell. There's no reason for you to be here actin' so friendly."

To Rhoda's mild disappointment, the guard grabbed Jesse by his arm and yanked him out, harder than he needed to. Before he was escorted out, Jesse tossed a glance over her shoulder and winked at her. "Rhoda, you're a young lady, and I'm a bit of a spring chicken myself. I think we would get along real well outside these walls."

Rhoda couldn't help the giggle that bubbled up from her throat. She felt lightheaded. She was a rangy and abrupt woman with a working tan, and hadn't much experience with men flirting with her.

When Jesse was marched out, Rhoda stood up and grabbed her peaked nurse's cap, girding her loins for the next shift on the ward. While she was counting medications, the elderly guard–Miles–came in again and shut the door behind him. She flinched, expecting a dressing-down on her first day of work. I wasn't fraternizing with the prisoner, was I? Am I… am I gonna lose my job?

He sat down opposite her. "You ever hear that tale 'bout the lady and the snake?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to–"

"Old story; old, old story. One of them Aesop stories they wrote when people was still in togas and carved words in stone. A woman was walking home one day when she saw a frozen snake lying on the side of the road. It begged her to save its poor little self, this little creature of God. So taking pity on it, the woman brought it home and warmed it by the fire between her breasts. And as it thawed, it bit her breast. 'Oh, why would you do such a thing? Your poison will kill me,’ she wailed. And the snake smiled and said, 'You knew I was a snake before you brought me into your house.'"

Rhoda stared at him, puzzled. "I don't understand."

"You know what that fellow did to get in here? Fitzner was top dog in a motorcycle gang outside of prison. A real nasty one. He ordered a contract killing on a rival gang member. They snatched the poor fellow when he was leaving a bar. Hung him from a tree, broke his legs with doublejack hammers, used him as target practice with their sawed-offs, cut his dick off and shoved it in his mouth, then left and let him choke on it and bleed to death for the rest of the night. He was out, too, far out in the mountains, and they only found him weeks later when a hunter stumbled on him. One of the killers snitched on Fitzner in exchange for dropping a drug felony sentence he was staring at. That snitch went into hiding and changed his name. Two days after Fitzner was taken to this good penitentiary, he was found with his head beaten in, in a dry creek bed."

Rhoda's head began to spin in slow whirls. Her hand where Jesse had shaken it grew very clammy. She remembered his bright smile across the desk, his dark eyes, and felt bile and vomit churn in her throat.

"You both were talking for a while, I noticed. He's good at prising information out of people, Fitzner is. A boyish smile and a few good words and he can make both men and women melt like butter on yer tongue. See? Now he knows who you are, and where your folks live. Now he can get to you."

Rhoda tried to talk, but her tongue was paralyzed. She looked down and wiped her sweaty hands on her knees.

Miles got up and went over to the door. He looked out of the window set on top, and his hard face relaxed. He seemed much older in that moment, more wrinkled and exhausted.

"You'd best be careful of him, Nurse Ames. He's a bad 'un. I'll be glad to see the back of him."

As it turned out, Miles retired later that year and it was Jesse who saw the back of him. 

And Rhoda became very wary of him from then on. Whenever he saw her in the hall, in the chow line, in the infirmary, he smiled at her and tried to make small talk. She ignored him, or was curt with him.

Unfortunately, he seemed to take that as an invitation.

[signedjehanne]

i'm writing this post because i think that a lot of non AAPI fandom bloggers could benefit from reflecting on how they view both asian cultures and asian people.

to start, we have to understand what cultural exports are. a cultural export is defined as "exchange of ideas, information, art, language and other aspects of culture among nations and their peoples in order to foster mutual understanding". it is most often used to rebrand a country in the wake of propaganda.

in the west specifically, a lot of the largest cultural exports from other countries come from east asia- in forms such as k-pop, j-fashion, idol culture, anime, k-dramas, k-beauty and c-beauty, etc. there also are other notable exports that influence the west's perception of these countries, such as technology.

enjoying these cultural exports isn't inherently bad. enjoying things like anime and kpop isn't cultural appropriation, and it's something that brings together communities around the world. however. the issue arises when people cross the line from "this is a cultural export from this country" to "this is *who* the people from this country are". reducing entire ethnic groups to one component, no matter how "positive" the component is, has far more consequences than people realize.

in essence, it is stereotyping. and it also reduces the perceived humanity of the AAPI community. because these parts of certain cultures are commodified in this way, reducing us as people to these cultural exports carries a heavy risk of commodifying us as *people*. when you as a person and community are perceived as a commodity, people feel like they are entitled to you and your identity. this is seen in stereotypes of asians as submissive and obedient (ESPECIALLY ASIAN WOMEN), and white people essentially playing dress up with being asian (like oli london). it's also seen in stereotypes of us as cold, villainous, and unfeeling (such as the head director of BLI in danger days).

these stereotypes are often a matter of life and death. in the atlanta spa shooting, the shooter confessed that he wanted to "eliminate the temptation" that these asian women represented for him. this is where reducing the AAPI community's humanity ends up.

tying this all back to danger days. we can see where it drew from japanese art and television, but gerard took it too far and ended up dehumanizing asians. and we see this everywhere, in the majority of fandoms, as well as in non fandom interactions. and it needs to fucking stop. because all it does is dehumanize us, and dehumanizing us only causes more violence towards us. it unconsciously feeds into stereotypes, it's the literal definition of orientalism, and it's not okay.

as an aside- i see this also happening with the reduction of chinese people to being the same as the chinese government, which also carries the real world consequences and violence from sinophobia. whether negative stereotypes or ones that seem positive on the surface, reducing a people to one aspect of their country is never acceptable.

if you say dumb bullshit in the replies or tags, you are going to get blocked. i have no bandwidth to deal with white people griping. i am still processing monterrey park and i am weighed down by fear for my family. i will not be nice. i have spent energy explaining this to you in depth, and if you don't want to understand it that's on you.

i also have a post about the person saying they would get the rising sun flag tattooed, here

[yridenergyridenergy]

Hello

Yesterday I attended the Dir en grey concert, and I wanted to write about my experience.

My very first Dir en grey concert wasn’t that great of an experience.. unfortunately..

First we waited in the VIP line just to get cut in line by a bunch of people that had written numbers on their wrist (wtf..) some of them came like 10 minutes before entry time. I guess we are fools that should be okay to wait for hours in the cold and rain.

Then after we went inside I found a place in front of Kyo. After they took away the line that separated VIP and priority ticket holders. Some of them instantly pushed everybody very hard to get to the front rows. They literally pushed and crushed us, Lol, and didn’t even care if I confronted them, just acted as if they couldn’t hear me. My brother told me that one of them grabbed his b.lls, wtf for real. Some people just should get help. 

Through the things I heard them talk before the show, it was clear that they weren’t there for the art & music .. they attended all of the European shows but still act that way, let other people enjoy too.. truly disrespectful, they just make the experience unenjoyable for people..

It’s just funny to me how much they try to please Kyo instead of enjoying the show. One of them was shouting all the time Kyo’s name with a voice out of a horror movie lol.

One of them elbowed my eye trying to catch Toshiya’s pick and didn’t even bother to say sorry.

I was kinda in shock with these girls behaviours during the whole show.

Well some people might think that these things are normal during metal shows, but I think everybody should be able to enjoy these lives. My mother who isn’t very young also wanted to come, but was afraid to get hurt and was right.. I’m glad I didn’t take her with us.

Now I truly understand why the band members don’t want to take pictures anymore..

I am utterly disappointed and disgusted

I will NEVER attend a Dir en grey show in Europe again.

Well at least the music was very good, and all of the members were kind and respectful.

Have a nice day

Ah I'm so sorry to hear about your bad experience.

There will be people claiming that you should have expected this from a metal show, but there is nevertheless basic decency to be expected from every human and it sounds like the people you mentioned trampled on it.

It's not guaranteed in Japanese shows either, but the crowd moves more homogeneously there, from what I have experienced.

[tokidokitokyo]

Photo by Atul Vinayak on Unsplash

2024年6月30日

June is already gone, it's official summertime, and here I am still studying Japanese! I wish I were better at old Japanese so that I could compose a haiku or waka about studying Japanese throughout the changing of the seasons... but then I've been watching too much 光る君へ (an NHK taiga drama).

もう6月は過ぎ、夏がやってきて、私はまだこのまま日本語の勉強を続いている。古文がもっと上手だったら、季節が変わりながら自分がまだまだ日本語の勉強を続くについて俳句や和歌を詠めるかもしれないけど…光る君へを観過ぎるかもしれませんね（^.^）

June Progress

The areas of study that I focused on the most in June included Reading (22%), Listening (18%), and Writing (16%). Usually I neglect writing a lot so I am glad it was in my top three study areas. Vocabulary (10%) and Speaking (10%) were the areas I focused on the least, but learning vocab usually goes hand in hand with reading and listening for me so I definitely had more exposure than I recorded. Also, I speak Japanese daily at home with my husband and son so even though I don't record it, I am getting that extra practice. (My husband has even started correcting me since he wants my son to learn correct Japanese, so I'm not getting away with my little bad habits anymore).

My studying in June looked a little bit different than the rest of the year so far because I focused on one area of study each day

For a refresher my schedule was (approximately):

I still continued my previous study habits that have become a part of my routine, but just made a point of focusing on each study area at least one day out of the week.

What did this end up looking like? Most days I would check my schedule, and then pull out a textbook or the renshuu app or something else to take 10 minutes to dedicate to whichever study area was the focus of the day. I will continue this into July because it worked well this month.

Study Habit Check-In:

〇 = Great, △ = Decent, ✖ = Not Great

Read daily - read almost every day 〇

Write sentences 4 times a week - I didn't keep track of how often I wrote sentences, but I did pay more attention to composition △

Review kanji and vocabulary flash cards daily - I reviewed kanji flash cards but not vocabulary △

Review 1-2 N3 grammar points weekly - did at least 1 review/wk 〇

Learn 1-2 N2 grammar points weekly - learned 1 grammar point every other week △

Listen to 1 podcast a week - yes! 〇

Continue to work on hiragana with my son - we have come to the characters like ちゃ and じ and his mind is blown; need to work on な、は、ま、や、ら (he has わ、を、ん down!) 〇

July Goals

I hope to continue building on my previous progress (that's what it's all about, after all) and to try at least one new thing in my study routine for July. I have added an app called Kanji Garden (which many of you may already know about) and I want to work it into my study routine.

What do your summer plans look like? Are you going to study more or take a break? Either choice is valid, you do what works best for you!

皆さんの夏の予定はどうですか？勉強を増やすつもり？それとも休みを取るつもり？どれでも応援しています！皆さんは自分なりにした方がいいと思います。

[eviltothecore13]

I wonder if the writers ever regret putting the rebecca easter egg in

I am not sure the writers have much interaction with the Western side of the fandom, and I don't know what the Japanese-language fandom reaction has been to it. So I don't know for sure that they're even aware there has been a fandom reaction to the easter egg that wasn't viewing it as funny or just going "hey a hot girl" as the average cishet male gamer in the late 90s unfortunately would have.

Honestly people seem to have talked more about the easter egg in the past year than in my entire time in the fandom before that? Like, yes there were always a few people who headcanoned something creepy going on with Wesker and Rebecca because of the easter egg, and there were always a few people who shipped them, too, and also that one old fic that explained it with "she's his secret daughter and he just wanted to keep a picture of his daughter where she was happy and playing basketball like she loved doing, rather than only having an official ID photo of her", but it used to be much easier to talk about Wesker without people mentioning it? Most people in the fandom never really seemed to give it that much thought beyond "yeah, yeah, 90s videogame sexism, trying to 'reward' you with a picture of a girl, kinda cringe", and most discussions of Wesker's characterisation never really seemed to involve it.

For that matter, before RE6, the primary assumption among the fanfic/fanart side of the fandom was that Wesker was 100% gay (generally using his distaste for Excella's attentions as proof). The "gamer guy on Reddit and/or videogame forums" side of the fandom, meanwhile, didn't so much see him as straight, as take a position somewhere along the lines of "Wesker is such a badass killing machine that having any kind of relationship or even being attracted to anyone is beneath him, all he thinks about is mad science and world domination". (Large numbers of people on both sides of the fandom--not just the gay headcanoners and Chrisker shippers as you might think--derided RE6 as OOC because they simply could not picture Wesker ever having had sex with a woman! It's just that one half thought he had sex with men, while the other half thought shipping was lame and for girls and can we get back to the zombies and explosions now.)

"Wesker is a sexual predator who preys on women" wasn't a nonexistent position back then, but it really wasn't the majority, and most people depicting him as such were...well, straight women writing 50-Shades-esque fantasies, rather than people who seriously thought he was a creep and hated him for it. And those would often involve Claire or an OC rather than Rebecca.

It's only the past couple of years that some people have been loud about using the easter egg as 'proof' that Wesker was preying on Rebecca and as a reason to hate Wesker, and only the past few months that I've started getting LOADS AND LOADS OF ASKS about it.

I'm rather surprised by this turn of events and wonder what caused it, to be honest, it seems like a very sudden switch. Is it just the RE2 remake reminding people of it? Wesker seems a more controversial character in general these days though than he used to be. He used to be unquestionably one of the most popular characters with a very high demand for more content of him, the decision to put him in MVC3 being very popular, him regularly placing highly in "best character" polls, lots of people wanting his return from the dead, etc... sure he was evil and there were people who "disliked" him in the sense of "he's an awful person who I'd hate in real life" or maybe "he hurt my favourite characters", "killing him in-game is satisfying because I'm beating the bad guy" kinds of dislike, but not "I wish he wasn't in the series" "I want to see less of him" "I hate anyone who likes him" kinds of dislike, you know? Mostly he was viewed as a badass scheming ruthless supervillain with cool powers, and frequently also as hot. Obviously enthusiasm for "MORE WESKER!!!" will die down after it's been so long since his death (though DBD revived it a bit) but I don't know where the increased amount of outright hate for the character and his fans has come from over the past few years.

Is liking villains just less popular? It used to be a fairly common belief that, no matter how evil they might be (in fact, the more evil the better sometimes), the villains were always the coolest characters in anything. Especially in horror, considering the number of horror franchises that are ultimately villain-based (the Cthulhu Mythos, most slasher things, a lot of kaiju things though how much those count as horror varies, basically all of Universal Horror though Dracula isn't the coolest character in the book). But I know some other villains who used to be seen as a main draw of the series now have a lot of people wanting them killed off for good.

In some of those cases, though, I think decreased quality of the writing is in large part to blame (the Joker used to be seen as an entertaining source of dark comedy and was one of the most popular characters in BTAS and the Arkham games, but now liking him--far from being an uncontroversial opinion--is associated with a Very Specific Unpleasant Type Of Guy...but that's probably because a lot of recent writing of him just hasn't been that interesting or funny). The increase in people who really vocally hated Wesker happened BEFORE RE4make, at a time when he'd basically not been in anything for years, so can't really be blamed on "he recently appeared in something badly written"--so I'm not sure where it's come from.

[kousaka-ayumu]

Hello there! I adore your writing, I found you through your Malleus x Ace fics! May I request Yandere Floyd x Riddle?

One of my OTPs yes!

The Wild Eel and The Rose

Warnings: this may contains yandere content, stalking, kidnapping, implied non-consent sex, blackmailing, broken English.

Implied ships: Trey X Riddle.

Background ships: Malleus X Ace, Azul X Jamil

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Ever since their first year Floyd always thought that Riddle was small, cute, and petite and usually called him "Kingyo-chan"(it means Gold fish in Japanese)

However Riddle doesn't like him much, the red haired boy tried his best to avoid the energetic eel, because to him Floyd was a menace.

The heartslabyul dorm leader tried his best to avoid the energetic eel but to no avail Floyd always finds him, someone please saves this red head.

One day Floyd was doing his usual thing, stalking Riddle Rosehearts when something may or may not trigger his yandere instincts

While hiding in the bushes Floyd was of course watching the red haired boy talking to the other Heartslabyul students about another upcoming Unbirthday Party since it was 5th of May.

He seems to be noticed that sthe Vice-Dorm leader Trey was a lot closer to Riddle than before.

As the other Heartslabyul students left, the green haired third year leaned against red haired boy's cheek and KISS!

Floyd's eyes widened in anger as he cletch his fist. 'Why him out of all people?! Why Kingyo-chan?! Why did you chose this Umigame-kun?! Why didn't you choose me instead?!' He thought in anger as he saw Riddle smiled at the green haired third year making him filled with anger even more.

He needed to thought of plan to get rid of Trey Clover, Riddle was his! And his alone.

For the next few days Floyd was in a bad mood that was so bad right to point that scares the other NRC students, alongside the fact that Ace and Jamil have to avoid him.

Yeah, this boy's mind I'd pretty fucked up am I right?

But since he knew of Azul, his dorm leader have done to Jamil, he thought that he might do the same to Riddle.

Meanwhile Riddle was currently in the library helping Yumeri prepare for her remedial test as she scores 41 on her test and heeded someone to help her improve since Sonomi was at the Botanical Garden, Taiyou at MagiShift practice, Mizuko was currently at the Monstro Lounge, Farah's with Jamil, and Hokori was at dance practice and Kaida.... Who knows what she's doing.

"I told you you shouldn't be spending all your time reading manga Yumeri, you should be studying for the test and you didn't." Riddle said scolding the grayish-redhead who look down in shame. "I'm sorry Riddle." She said.

He took a deep breath and looked at her"Now what is the answer to-"

"Kurayami!" A monster that look like a book outside the library scream out as they're looking for something or someone..

"PreCure, come out." A deep yet soft voice said as a villain who happened to be a 17 year old girl named Marionette "Come out,come out wherever you are."

"Sorry Riddle! I gotta go! Bye!" Yumeri yelled out as she got up from her seat and ran out of the library.

"Yume- wait!" He tried calling out to her but she was gone from the library, he decided to follow her to see what she's doing only to be grabbed by a large hand which covered his mouth, at first he tried to fight back but the hand is too strong that he is passing out.

Wep, that's the end. Sorry anon if it's too short a d taking forever...