#i dont even reread the series i reread HIS scenes

[nostradamvs]

Severus Snape nobody will ever make me hate you

[volfoss]

the best thing for me actually is im getting around to reading the comics that retell from iwtv -> body thief and theyre actually pretty good so far? they cut down on a lot of her narration and often excessive narration which makes the plot fly by lmao. the worst thing however is the art is... well definitely something. at times it works and at times you get this panel of louis thats been making me laugh so hard for like 10 minutes

[ganondoodle]

i kinda want to read books again, i havent read any in .. more years than i know to remember but idk how to find anything i like, especially these days (i dont read fanfiction either .. , i tried a few times but it never really caught me q-q)

even when i was young i was somewhat picky (though there are plenty books im sure i finished but just .. dont remember) the last series i think i read was skullduggery pleasant (as i said, its been many years) but dropped it after it got a little 'weird' (in like .. i guess the shonen powerscaling problem, at least thats how it felt back then) and the annoying love interest boy that was seemingly only introduced so protag girl could do what normal girls do tm (i know theres many more books in the series so idk if hes actually more than that but eugh)

funnily enough i only seem to remember the books i loved so much i kept rereading them (the bartimäus trio, though i loved the forth prequel more than the others .. still sad i lost my copy of it in school) or the ones i stopped reading bc something completely threw me out of it-

there was one i literally only remember it was a protagonist (teen?) girl (is that a general common thing for the fantasy genre?) and she was travelling via a ship in that scene, idk if it was a flying one but something was different magical tm i think; and left it or ran away or so and sought shelter from the rain at some point and annoying boy caught up to her and they uuh .. started making out of nowhere?? (im sorry i literally only remember i felt rly uncomfortable and awkward, didnt like the boy, thought they had zero chemistry/felt forced AND i did NOT see it coming, like at all, maybe its my aro/ace/autism .. ness (that i wasnt aware of except being def different for most of my life, haha fun.) but i rememebr feeling like i got flashbanged by what i read, the only actual sentence i (think i) remember was "she felt the weight of his hips shifting onto hers" bc it weirded me out so much and i might just have stopped reading it at that point and never looked back lmao)

another one was one with a setting of having dragons and they were used like horses, also feathered! (though the cover picture, i think, was a big dragon eye surrounded by scales, pretty sure it annoyed me constantly but i might missremember, again its been so long and i went through things my brain wishes it could unlive) and the protagonist worked at a stable or soemthing (also girl? idk), last thing i remember was that all dragons started to go mad and kill themselves .. idk if i read any further

(honorable mention to uuh .. dämonenzeit (demon time), was a demon protagonist and it was a little brutal for my taste but when do you get a demon as the main guy, apparently there were two entries and i only read the first one, also lost that copy- Xarors (an OC of mine) first designs were based on the cover of that book and the thing the band 'disturbed' tended to use (the hooded guy with red glowing eyes) i was very original)

maybe all those were super well known ones and i just never knew (grew up without/extremely limited internet and tech in general after all.... the only one i knew was popular and also read all of it and had all parts .. was a certain bad wizard series that should not still be so popular *watches in horror as my niece gets into it and wants nothing but merch for it*) or really bad peepoo baby books, im possibly confusing or mixing some things bc i read quite a few ones with dragons and similar themes, but thats just what i remember/remember feeling like

(maybe i should see if i still have them somewhere and see how much is true of any of this .... though a part of me also doesnt want to)

[thedistortedfroggit]

FANART DROP RAHHH💥💥

My latest fandom craze: Lego Monkie Kid! Especially after Season 4.

season 4. I'm not the biggest fan of Season 5, but slowly im easing into it.

(HE SAID 'DONT MAKE ME DO THIS'HFJASJK)

coughAnyway.

With this new obsession, naturally comes obsessively reading fanfiction. AND GUESS WHO FOUND A GEM.

Or, perhaps.. an Emerald? (wink)(kill me)

The Green Eyed Macaque is a fic written by ChristyKitty

TOTALLY CHECK THEM OUT!!

As of writing this, 15 chapters are currently out, and the tail end of the 15th one is what finally drove me over the edge to draw them silly!!

Had to practice drawing Macaque and the Mayor, so it'll explain the shitty quality n lil unfinished mayor head lmao/

Now, I know what Author PROBABLY meant with the tail is probably just.. the tip of it nudging the Mayor up. BUT I JUST HAD TO HAVE IT CURLING AROUND AND CHOKING HIM. THE VOICES.

Nobody can convince me that the Mayor wouldn't act smug even with a tail wrapped around his throat.

(Rip Macaque's children, I had to cut them outta the scene to draw these two mainly.)

The right was more of a practice sketch for Macaque, n thats why its kinda shitty- BUT YOU CAN TELL WHAT KINDA POSE I WAS IMAGINING FOR THE SCENE RIGHT??

Here's some progress pics I took of em!! I had sm struggle with the hand placement.

Like, I KNEW it where it was supposed to be?? but idk how to connect it properly???

Here's a little extra, if you've reached all the way down here! A little WIP of my current sketches. YES!! I am not done!! But I decided to just throw what I've got up to feed em something!!

Clearly trying to redo the hair thing (this time w a proper reference..)

The right one is more a personal hc-but-not-rlly scenario. Like, just imagining it. (I.e: What if Wukong could see Reader through Gold Vision? [Mac: "Look at me, do I look like the Six-Eared Macaque?"]) Since I'm too lazy to go reread ALL of the 1st part of the series for Reader Lore, I skimmed through the last chapter to jog any memories and went from there

Reader can't shapeshift, only cast illusions(which I'm assuming is the same thing as glamour just more widespread). Which would mean they're still the same person underneath all that. Gold Vision.. uh, well idk exactly what gold vision can do(didn't exactly finish JTTW) but if hypothetically it COULD see through illusions...

Could Wukong see through mac's illusions? What would he see? The Six-Ears Macaque, or Mac's ACTUAL self?

[plounce]

Whats your ace attorney fic recommendations? ^_^

HMMMMMMMM well i am a klaviergirl so this is mostly klapollo/aa4 but here are my recs :3

turnabout toast is a lovely post-aa4 nrmt fic with background klapollo. great "people trying to fix their lives" stuff and WAHHHH edgeworth... also a lot of lovely socal setting stuff (<- socal native, weak for it). phoenix being kind of a bastard but not a bad guy, which i think is fun, because it's interesting.

dirty sympathy, also by the above author. CW for abuse: the premise of the fic is that it's a retelling of aa4 where klavier and apollo are behind the scenes of all the cases collaborating to get rid of each other's abusers (daryan and kristoph, respectively), and trying to keep everything secret. it's a suspenseful read and it's like. crazy. auuughhh. makes me crazy. it's prob my fave aa fic but it takes so much out of me to reread

about him - last rec from this author. the only piece of clay terran fic i have any time for. post-aa5 klapollo sweetness with the outsider pov. so cutes

jamais vu - post-aa6 klapollo get-back-together fic where they hook up at nrmt's wedding

turnabout toilet brush - SO FUN. office farce where WAA argue over who broke the toilet brush. good phoenix pov with fun athena & apollo banter. nrmt and background klapollo

in better light - pacific rim au! trucy & apollo siblingisms, with angsty not-married nrmt, a bit of klapollo, and swag k-scientist ema skye

say it to the crowd - various minor character outsider povs on pre-relationship klapollo. i looooooove outsider pov

notes from the underworld - canon-divergent epistolary bad end aa4 au where MVK kills phoenix and maya with his taser in aa1. only reccing the first in the series since the others weren't to my tastes but the first one. wagh

turnabout from within - an aa5 prequel case! really fun. tries to be a bridge between aa4 and aa5 and is a very fun written version of an AA case. aura is there!! minor klapollo! fun aa pun names!

the thing about forgiveness - trucy and klavier talk post-aa4... wah... performers...

youngblood - daryan pov about his and klavier's relationship. very good... sad bc it's from the pov of a guy who sucks and how the love of his life deserves better than him. good stuff. klapollo endgame bc klavier deserves a decent guy as a bf

turnabout runaway - WAGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH it's about post-OT pearl dealing with like. the trauma of all that shit with her family as best an 8yo can - by trying to run away to protect mystic maya :( babby... (this one is written by a good friend of mine :3)

there's some more in my bookmarks but it's been a few years since i read them (my aa hyperfixation was spring/summer 2020) so while they're probably decent reads i can't write blurbs

HAVE FUN HOPE YOU LIKE THEM

(anti-recs under the cut. can't resist some complaining)

(also i genuinely have so much hatred in my heart for the fic with the most kudos in the klapollo ao3 tag, it's tagged for them but they don't actually happen in it, it's a nrmt fic that wildly mischaracterizes klavier and makes him into like. an asshole sexual harasser, and the fic barely even takes the sexual harassment seriously? don't read that one. <- DONT LEAVE MEAN COMMENTS ON IT EITHER, the fic's like 10 years old or smth, don't bug the author)

(also i don't like the 100k word fic "custody" bc iirc 1. i didnt like how they characterized thalassa? 2. white ginger klavier??????????? girl)

[yuripoll]

HONORABLE MENTIONS: Dungeon Meshi (2014 - 2023)

NOTE: I adore dunmeshi to bits but unfortunately I don't think the yuri subtext is quite prominent enough to qualify it, as much as farcille slaps (see: my pfp). Sorry to the submitter!

Dungeon Meshi (or, Delicious in Dungeon) is a 14 volume fantasy series by Ryoko Kui following a monster-eating adventuring party trying to save a teammate they left behind.

When young adventurer Laios and his company are attacked and soundly thrashed by a dragon deep in a dungeon, the party loses all its money and provisions…and a member! They're eager to go back and save her, but there is just one problem: If they set out with no food or coin to speak of, they're sure to starve on the way! But Laios comes up with a brilliant idea: "Let's eat the monsters!" Slimes, basilisks, and even dragons…none are safe from the appetites of these dungeon-crawling gourmands! - AniList

ENG published by Yen Press; JP available on Comic Walker.

Some general content warnings under the cut. Approx severity rating: moderate.

note: i dont feel like rereading dunmeshi rn, so this is just from memory; lmk if im missing anything major! rated 15+ on netflix.

some mild nudity, mild sexual reference

violence <- inc. stabbing, crushing, limb loss, visible broken bones. gore isnt especially severe and even when there is gore, it's generally not from humans.

cannibalism <- regular point of discussion, and increasingly relevant as you make your way through the series.

death & grief <- significant elements of the story

sexual assault <- certain scenes involving the lion, while not depicting sexual assault, are pretty clearly invoking it in the imagery used.

[officialgleamstar]

For the recommendation fic ask, 10 and 11 :)

hi anon!! you didnt give me a fandom, so im not sure what youre looking for recs for? :P but i am still thinking about oxventure fics so i will answer with that and if you want something else, you can get back to me XD (you absolutely want something else. i know this. i have like four followers who care about oxventure. i dont care though i wanna talk about these fics)

10. a fic in a series

[NSFW warning 👍‼️] the amount of time i spend thinking about how to get to the sea is like. i am absolutely incapable of explaining how much it lives in my head rent-free. and thats not even my actual recommendation here because actually, im talking about the sequel, and the ocean, which i think about EVEN MORE.

basically anyone who has spoken to me about oxventure knows that @stickthisbig is my favorite oxventure fan writer, i think their fics are brilliant and they can sell me on anything, but oh my god, and the ocean. i like, dont even know what to say here, but i was rereading scenes from this fic literally this morning because i just missed it. i think its such an interesting take on the characters, the plot points are engaging and feel well thought-out, the way everyone acts feels realistic for them, and it hits some tropes that are guilty pleasures of mine <33 i could read the hobby horses fighting with one another for 50 years if sabine was the one writing it. also the kids in the final chapter are so cute, i love them :(

11. Bonus: recommend your favorite fic

once again, probably not a surprising answer, even though its tied between two fics XD "travis, are they both gonna be the oxventurers guild as a polycule" HAHAHAHA. WHAT. yes obviously. have you seen me

another of sabine's fics, nsfw warning again: every which way but loose is just. its so fun. its so really very fun. one of those fics where i stayed up all night reading it even though i had something to do the next day. its silly, its heartfelt, its dramatic, prudence is severely weird about corazón, the guild actually has to deal with consequences for their actions while also hooking up with each other, and then they deal with the consequences of hooking up with each other, its just such a blast <3

aaand for a rated t fic this time LMAO: marriages are like wagons (you wait five years and then four turn up at once) by @ronniebox! (i am pretty sure these are the same ronnieboxes. if not im so sorry for the random @ lmao) im just a sucker for the guild getting married. i think its really cute. this is absolutely my most reread oxventure fic, which is crazy because i really do not tend to enjoy rereading/watching things but its just so special to me <3 in fact i am gonna go reread it again now. bye

fic rec game

[osarina]

(uh, this is rlly long im so sorry qwq)

OMG THAT LAST CHAPTER HAD ME FEELING SM CARINA U CANT DO THIS TO ME !!!! LITERALLY THE FIRST FEW PARAGRAPHS IN I HADTA WALK AROUND BC I WAS SO OVERWHELMED I LOVED IT SM !!! N THOSE LAST FEW LINES. DONTDOTHISTOME I S A W THE "BEAST AU COMPLIANT" TAG ON UU IM GONNA SOB MY EYES OUT DURING IT I JUST KNOW !!!

gonna leave some of my fave few lines n my thoughts abt them from this chapter (ok these arent all of em, bc if i put all of em it'd be the whole 50k words of this series SO ITS JUST THIS CHAPTER)

"because how could he possibly belong amongst people who are so unfailingly good that it makes his tainted heart stick out like a sore thumb?"

STOP NO DONT DO THIS TO MEEEEEE throughout the whole fic u perfectly captured his thought process n how he denies his own capacity for change n how he HAS changed from when he was 18 BUT THIS LINE MADE ME TEAR UPPPPPP

"He is so completely and irrevocably in love with you that Dazai doesn’t think he’ll ever be able to live in a world without you. The thought alone makes his skin crawl and his chest cave in."

self-explanatory

“Are you calling me ugly?” 

u gorgeous, gorgeous man ilysm yes you look like a rat but i'll swaddle u up in blankets n clean u up

the whole graveyard scene. DO YOU WANT ME TO CRY HELLO

“You were a kid, Osamu. You’re not some incarnate of evil for ending up where you did, you were failed by all of the adults in your life,”

ok nvm crying this hit me like a truck

"Humans cannot live without a heart, so if he’s to give you his, it’s only fair that you give him your own—though realistically, yours has already been his for a long time."

i feel like this mightve been ur fave line, but if it wasnt IT STILL IS MINE BC OH MY GODDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD QWQ

ranpos lil rant was so funny he's literally me frfr

“Yeah… ha, look at us, in jail at the same time! Couple goals, huh?” 

i giggled

PLS READER INVITING EVERYONE JUST TO AVOID GETTING INTERROGATED UMMM RELATABLE LMFAO

these are just some of them BUT JUST IN GENERAL, UR WRITING IS JUST MAGICAL ITS EVERYTHING IVE EVER WANTED TO READ N I LOVELOVELOVEEEE THIS SERIES N ALL UR WORKS (n u /p) SM !!! I CANT WAIT FOR UNREAL UNEARTH, I JUST KNOW IT'LL BE AMAZING !!!

RED HOW MANY TIMES MUST I TELL YOU NOT TO APOLOGIZE I LITERALLY ADORE YOU IM GOING TO WEEP OMG

honestly the first scene of dazai’s pov was one of my favs to write because it pisses me off so much whenever he’s excluded from the ada panels in the manga fjsjdjsjjd so i NEEDED the opportunity to hit home that that is his FAMILY idc what asagiri says the ada is that boys family and he deserves it 🥹🤞

UGHHHHH STOP BECAUSE WHENEVER I WRITE CANONZAI ITS SO HARD TO KEEP ON THAT THIN LINE OF HIS INABILITY TO ACCEPT HIS OWN GROWTH WHILE ALSO HAVING HIM ACKNOWLEDGING ODA’S LAST WISH FOR HIM SO I REWROTE SO MANY OF HIS POVS SEVERAL TIMES BECAUSE I FELT LIKE I WASNT GRASPING IT ALL PROPERLY

the graveyard scene was one of the 3 scenes i started writing for 🥹 i literally was weeping when i finally got to it

AND ALSO THE YOU WERE A KID LINE UGHHHHHHHH BRO when i tell you that’s something that i literally want to scream at him and shake his shoulders like he was FOURTEEN WHEN MORI BROUGHT HIM IN AFTER HIS ATTEMPT !!!!! FOURTEEN !!!!! HE WAS A BABY IT MAKES ME SO SAD WHEN HE FRAMES HIMSELF AS SOME IRREDEEMABLE MONSTER WHEN HE ONLY TURNED OUT THE WAY HE DID BECAUSE HE HAD NO ADULTS IN HIS LIFE SETTING HIM ON THE RIGHT TRACK ugh im gonna weep again i will always be dazai’s #1 defender, i will fight him himself idc he was only a lil baby :’)

oh my god fun fact i actually almost deleted that line about the heart, i don’t even know why like i was rereading it right before i post and i second guessed myself because i was like ‘i don’t think it rlly flows’ but then i decided against removing it because i liked the line in general SO IM WEEPING AGAIB

bro ranpo needs a promotion for real the headaches this man must get because of people not listening to him 💀

HDOSJDJSJDJJD THE COUPLES GOAL LINE WHEN I TELL YOU I SNORTED WRITING IT HELPPPPP I WAS GIGGLING SO HARD

RED ILYSM IM BUNDLING YOU IN THE SOFTEST BLANKETS AND GIVING YOU A FOREHEAD KISS

i’m so excited for unreal unearth like honestly it’s my pride and joy, i’m so pleased with how my beast!dazai characterization has come out so far and i’m hoping everyone else is going to like it too 🥹 if not ill simply die HAHAH JK JK JK no but really i’m so very excited for it

[ruegarding]

(hi this is aroaceleovaldez it's a sideblog so i cant send asks from it hrg) a.) always love seeing your tags on my posts lol you have very good opinions [handshake emoji] b.) i'll be honest i wasn't even thinking about the awful pjo wwii stuff when i made that post i was thinking about the new, *different* antisemitism from TOA. of which there is. even more somehow. 😬 also fun fact Rick saying Reyna is allo-ace-coded on twitter might have actually semi been directly because of me, because he said that within like 2 hours and 2 tweets of replying to an open letter i wrote where i literally said that the way he wrote Reyna in Tyrant's Tomb falls into aphobic tropes and Isn't Great. despite replying to it i dont think he actually read it, lol. he then almost immediately left twitter for like 4 years and he also has since deleted his reply. fascinating stuff, truly.

anyways please excuse me digging through your hazel tag cause i am constantly dying trying to find hazel-focused fanart and you have one of the few good hazel tags i've been able to find. picture me scurrying away like some sort of small creature here.

hi thank u!! i appreciate your posts abt disabilities/ableism especially bc it's such an integral part of the story and a lens that gets lost despite that

i'll be honest, i haven't read toa (only short snippets when i want to see a specific scene), so i just read this article abt it, and it's frustrating that almost every example of diversity rick includes is riddled w harmful stereotypes. like, google is right there to help you avoid at least some! (psa to anyone else reading this, google "harmful [x] stereotypes" before making a character you're unfamiliar with!) the wwii stuff...rereading the series again like two years ago shocked me bc i had completely erased the entire plotline from my memory as a kid. some of these choices have me questioning the editors at the time, bc there were definitely things an editor should've pointed out if they were reading the full text.

your power! lmao but that behavior is exactly what makes it so difficult to give rick real feedback. i know some fans claim the older fandom is too cynical, but if we've been trying to give the same advice for years it's going to get old fast. every good change is accompanied by something else (especially noticeable in how percy is treated), so it always feels double-edged. but i'm glad you said this actually bc i didn't know he specified allo-ace! i had assumed he said aro-ace, but that actually makes the way ppl behave abt lesbians identifying w reyna more alarming...regardless i'm glad he's including ace rep bc it's rare, but the way reyna and the hunters were handled is...confusing at best.

please enjoy! i love hazel sm and i recently just went thru someone else's blog and queued a bunch of posts in a very similar fashion lol

[companionsofusall]

I appreciate you adding img description to my sketch with kaylin and Markus, I'm still kinda new to doing that myself but I wanna get more used to doing it!!

Also thank u for being a coe fan in general coz I am desperate to see what other fans think of it, i only know 2 other ppl who even know what it is plus my spouse but they arent caught up so I'm frothing with lovw for this series hhgdghs I literally finished cast in atonement a few days ago and am now devastated that I've run out of coe books lol

Aw yeah no problem!!! I LOVED your markus design!!! Ive never been great at animals and i love the expression you put on his face!!!!

Dude I KNOW i need to do another reread of the series!!!! I didnt realize how much i had forgotten- i have like the first 8-9 books down pat but the more recent stuff is more hazy- i definitely shouldve reread eternity before atonement LMAO.

And thank YOU for being a fan!!!! The fanart is so limited 😭it was so nice to go in the tag and see so much art!!! ive done a couple small things- one of my long term art projects is to rebind the books and make my own covers for the series. I’ve never been drawn to the covers - they dont match whats in my head LMAO. I dont have it with me at the moment but if i remember next month ill post a picture of the cover! I still need to do the back but i waver between a city of elantra picture (not good at city landscapes) or a scene from the book!

Do you have a favorite book? Ive always loved cast in chaos myself- im a little sappy but i really liked the devourer/the maker and i thought the moment with severn was amazing and UGH. Also cast in oblivion!!! The high halls!! The cohort!! Terrano/sedarias!!!! Amazing!!!

[gone-series-orchid]

can i rant? Ive reread the book series recently and Ive noticed how much plotholes there were. John, a council member, is not mentioned after lies and we dont get any insight on how he takes care of the prees. When LP made it rain, when astrid threw Lp, he didnt say a word. Same to ellen, another council member. I also found the death of Orc and Dahra very unsatisfying. Yeah thsts it

rants are always welcome!

honestly, if lp were to actually say something--maybe not during the throw, but just before?--it would remind the audience, "oh, yeah, he's a character and not just a plot device."

and i also wanted to know what happened to the prees and the miscellaneous other characters we never hear the fates of! especially considering how big of an issue it's been in prior books, you'd expect the problem of maintaining the daycare wouldn't just become virtually nonexistent after mary and francis' deaths. so many little plot threads are just dropped, and it's, i guess, understandable? mg needed to prioritize the main characters and the series' endgame, etc., etc., but it's still kind of a bummer and makes the fayz seem a smaller place.

i found dahra's death to be unsatisfying, too. i'm not sure if it's because it's so unceremonious or what. narratively i understand mg's desire to have important characters die in unsatisfying ways because realism, but...i dunno. it seems like the other characters who die get a big moment (like brianna and caine), so dahra just feels snubbed.

i found orc's death kind of satisfying. i'm not upset he died; i like his big moment he gets where he stands up to gaia. as well as the scene where he receives a hug from astrid! i love that their dynamic which has been present (if underplayed) from the beginning gets a sendoff.

but i dislike that his death came from caine's dumb mistake and it's weird that his death doesn't seem to increase the stakes too much, even though orc has been built up to be a big asset to the townies. the loss of him seems like it would make everything a lot more dangerous and hopeless for the protagonists, but...i dunno, i never really got that vibe. i guess i wanted orc's death (and dahra's) to matter more, to have material consequences. granted, i'm probably forgetting details because i haven't read the series in like five years (oops), but that's what i remember, anyway.

[sungbeam]

hi friend as your biggest fan u already know im always gonna hype u up so have my lengthy answers to the ask game:

1. My fav fic of yours - flight risk......im pretty sure its the first fic of yours ive ever read but oh god its SO good erics character and everything abt it ??? Had me feeling butterflies so many times i screamed and yelled into my pillow. Also inspired me a lot in my writing slump and like... i dont wanna be cheesy but helped me mentally bc i read it when i was having a rough time 😭👍 but also PARTY PEOPLE !!!!! so good. SO so good. oh and also the sunwoo hoodie drabble owns my ass i reread it like 5 times already

2. My fav chapter in my fav fic of yours - not my fav fic but the kiss scene in the practice room in off the record ??? slaps

3. The best character youve written for - swing my way eric honestly. so authentic to him imo TT i just adore his character in that fic a whole lot.

6. Something i remember vividly - that scene from flight risk when eric asked sunwoo if he wants to go skate w them and sunwoo goes "no, im down" and eric is like wtf and so sunwoo goes "no, im down. laying down in my bed" or something (the memory is not 100% vivid as u can see) but I legit slapped my knee that was PEAK COMEDY for me

7. Something that made me emotional after reading - that one chapter of somewhere only we know when intak describes how he wishes he could hear his brothers voice sometimes because if he missed him in that way maybe it would hurt less. That whole series is...very personal to me in sense of grief :,)

8. What i like the most about your writing - THE UNIVERSES U CREATE and like. The friendships and the characterization of each character and how theyre all their own person and not just a tool for plot. Also your comedy in fics it always has me giggling

9. A fic im excited for you to post - sangyeons love in unity fic bc i need to know whats up w that secret gf

12. A fic of yours ive reread - hoodie talk LMAO

13. Have i talked to anyone else abt your fics - yes i fangirled to my friend abt u multiple times also we talked abt rhapsody anonymous after it came out 😭👍

YOU. i will actually ksbfkenfkndkfnf 😭 i love u, bar !!! ur support of me has literally been the saving grace to my writing motivation; every time i write something, i always have u in the back of my mind and i wonder what you'd say/react and if you'll like it 🤧

makes me really happy to hear that my writing helped you through a rough time in your life 😔 i wrote party people and flight risk and even hoodie talk during a ,,, emotionally stiff part of my life where i felt super isolated and emotionally constipated, so it's good to know that the feelings i wanted translated *were* translated correctly, if that makes sense

HELLO I LOVE THE PRACTICE ROOM KISS TOO SKFNDKFNJFNF sorry coughs uhm haha def not like biased or anything *looks away*

OMG THAT LINE FROM FLIGHT RISK 💀 i actually thought i was so clever for that one, thank u for mentioning it and sknfkd YAY thank god u found it funny 😭😭 IN GENERAL, the fact that u find me funny at ALL is like ,,, im punching the sky rn im actually celebrating 🤧

ik i prob said this in the reblog of that one chapter of the intak fic, but that series also holds a really tender place in my heart :') grief is one of the things i feel like isn't written abt very much here, and i always seem to leave traces of it wherever i go, so it's nice to know someone can connect to the grief theme </3

thank you thank you thank you for all you've done for me (more than you even know), and for just being so flippin cool :'))) 💖

[meikostan]

OK finally watching oshi no ko anime, it turns out all i needed was to go outside for like an hour and im normal again

my thoughts under the cut (writing as i watch) (long) (lots of thoughts) (beautiful and true?) (manga reader) (don't read if anime only) (spoilers) (seriously) (i talk alot) (lots of thoughts)

at this point i've reread oshi no ko enough times that even if i didnt already know japanese i could probably make it without the subs SDJLF but its so cool to see lines and panels that im so familiar with brought to life!! i also liked goro's death scene, especially the way they used static and cut between shots. i keep on pulling out my physical copies of onk (well mostly vol 1) and pointing at my screen and the corresponding part of the book like

2. AIIIII little known fact about me is that ai is genuinely my favorite character... WHICH SUCKS BECAUSE SHE DIES IN THE FIRST VOLUME. seriously we only ever get to see her after this when a. her name or demeanor is invoked by another character b. aqua has his numerous mental breakdowns or c. flashbacks (including but not limited to aqua's mental breakdowns). i am always down for ai content!!!

3. its so much easier to ignore the weird vaguely sexual stuff from their babyhood because i know the rest of the series is normal and cool and not into that sort of stuff👍

4. speaking of normal yayayay it's aqua back when he was actually normal and not "normal" :D like he is just a baby. do you think now that oshi no ko is popular people will get into internet arguments about whether you can ethically have aqua as your favorite character post-normalification. actually wait this may already have been happening in the dark depths of some discord server out there.. but i dont use discord so im blissfully unaware

5. OH i dont think ive seen all of the OG b komachi before? or at least not in high detail. epic!

6. infant ruby telling people on the internet "kys" before age 2... truly a model twitter user

7. not gonna lie i havent really ever liked the way babies are drawn here (including manga)... idk their heads just look way too big like adult heads drawn on toddler bodies then ""cutified"". but this is a personal gripe

8. do you think because of infantile amnesia the twins forgot about the whole pretending to be amaterasu moment. do you think miyako still remembers. can you imagine being the foster mother of two kids who you believe to be gods sent to earth. do you think she remembers that she was "charged by the gods with keeping ai's secret" and then aqua. you know.

9. imagine: you married the ceo of a mid production company because you want to date hot men. there are no hot men in sight. you have to watch over one of the idol's twin infant babies. they reveal to you that they are divine messengers of god and also they can speak normally. there are no hot men in sight. you tend to their every need because you don't want divine retribution. you explain the intricacies of the idol industry in detail every couple of days when they complain about the injustices of the world. there are no hot men in sight. you become their foster mom after they witness the traumatic death of their mother, whose secrets you where charged with keeping safe. at least 12 years pass. they never mention any of this again. you manage the idol group one of them is in. there are still no hot men in sight. your name is miyako. every day you wake up.

10. i like how gotanda gives his business card to a toddler. whats he gonna do, call you on his fisher price dial phone? well actually nevermind aqua is probably the only other toddler (alongside ruby) who could make use of a business card

11. KANAA LETS FUCKING GOOOOO but also nothing will ever top 'lick a lying snitch/flick a crying switch'...... nothing ever... :( also taking the opportunity now to say ive always found it hilarious she assumed 'aqua' is his stage name and not his actual legal name, that's how ridiculous it is DSKLFJ

12. sobbing at the ruby ai dance... dont even have that many words i just really like it.. do you guys think ai was thinking about her own mom [& abuse/lack of relationship thereof]? not even just in this scene but in her more serious moments when she's thinking about her kids it's like "i want to make millions so they can go to the nicest schools and have the nicest things" "i want my daughter to dance freely and happily and i will support her in this" which ig can also be excused as 'thats just what a normal parent wants' but idk i like taking into consideration her own past and lack of parental support when looking at the way she tries to raise her children (not that she exactly got a chance to, even while still alive)

13. also i realized at this point that ep 1 is like an hour long not just because of the whole 'we gotta make sure no one drops this before the reveal that shows what this story's actually gonna be about', but also because it would be kinda awkward to have cut any of these scenes out? or not like out completely but like from each other. like if we had ended ep 1 at for example where they do their silly baby dance and go twitter viral (chapter 5 aka the midpoint of vol 1). that wouldve been terrible. but we can't cut it any earlier, or any later. ai's death feels like the natural conclusion to this problem. also i can't really see much of the other sections being stretched out to fit a full episode length being done very well. having ep 1 be a full 90 minutes lets them be as long as they need to be, aka a 1:1 adaptation of the manga.

14. oh boy chapter 9 time

15. i don't have anything to say about ai's outlook that has not already been said but this is the scene that made her my favorite character. not being able to tell at what point your lies become reality.. not really knowing if you've ever loved or been loved truly because your entire concept of 'love' was based off insincerity necessary for survival.. and now not ever being given the chance to explore what 'real love' means to you. FUCK

16. aww i love all these little family moments they added! very cute ^_^

17. yayy go kids get traumatized ^_^ also for some reason i remember the stalker as having really light hair o-0 fascinating. i remembered his name though!! just like ai fr

18. speaking of hair i also did not realize saitou was blond i thought he had brown hair..

19. hey the bandana (? i forget the word) guy holding the ai fan sign during the news montage is from one of the intros to the vol 1 chapters where hes like 'oh yeah i wonder where those dancing babies are now'!

20. another part of that montage shows a house with a wii in it, which came out november 19 2006. characters are shown using twitter which started earlier that same year; it was a pretty popular website even in 2008, but the mobile app only became a thing in like 2010. i'm seeing a mix of flip phones and smart phones so this has gotta take place sometime around 2010. it's kinda difficult to tell exactly what age the twins are in the main story because like the first page of vol 2 has ruby listing her age as 14, but - and the proof is not at my finger tips rn - i swear to god they're like 16 at this point. i have legitimate reasons to believe this but i need to grab exact proof adding to that we also have 15 years of lies, which if im remembering right would be referring to the twins age? i was trying to logic out exactly what year oshi no ko takes place in even though i already know the answer is 'in the modern day' but anyway yeah i'll just finish my episode and move on

21. THE IPHONE RUBY IS HOLDNIG HAS A HEADPHONE JACK. i want so badly to say that's an iphone 4 but there's like a separation between that and the power button. i also dont have an iphone 4 with me so i cant check it irl :( but anyway the iphone 4 was released in 2010, meaning the evidence is piling up for this part of the story taking place some time around 2010. or maybe i'm looking too deeply into this and should go back to actually watching the episode.

22. this is reminding me i was gonna write a fic specifically about this time period where the twins go to therapy and have to adjust to life without ai, having miyako graduate from fake mom to actual mom, aqua faking being fully recovered from the incident so he'd be released from therapy (fic concept was inspired from him stating this in like vol 6), etc. i never did because i spent like 3 hours researching play therapy and never got anywhere with it.. but maybe...

23. THE KIDS HAVING TO WATCH HER FUNERAL THROUGH THE FUCKING CAR WINDOW... I'M GOING TO KILL MYSELF

24. YESS AQUA NORMALIFICATION COMPLETE

25. AM I INSANE OR IS THAT AKANE? HER HAIR COLOR IS THE SAME BUT IT'S SO SHORT

26. MEM!!!!

27. AHHH POST CREDITS AI MAKING HER VIDEO FOR THE TWINS "i don't think i'll still be an idol by then" YEAH BUT AT WHAT COST 😭

FINAL THOUGHTS: i liked it alot ^_^ i dont really watch that much anime anymore (not that i watched an incredible amount before, but i am familiar with it) but i really liked this. i think they did a very good job of adapting the first volume! i know the rest of the episodes will be not-film length which does make me a bit sad because i think it would work out well, or at least not badly, if they were. it does also make me really excited for the future, seriously i will actually explode when i see the theater arc in full. cannot wait to see aqua mental breakdowns and ruby evil arc and and and and

the only thing i would've liked is if they could somehow have found a way to incorporate the pre-chapter intro scenes from the manga where they're talking about 15 years of lies, interviews with their pre-school teacher, etc. though both the pre-school teacher and the aforementioned bandana guy appear which may have been their way of doing it? like adding a fun detail for obsessives like myself to point at like 'my god it's those guys from exactly 2 panels in the manga'

tumblr ate my post and erased everything up to #2 while i was writing it and i was about to flip but it turns out that it automatically saves posts while youre writing them now and it was in my drafts safe and sound soooo crisis averted ^_^ anyway those were my thoughts on ep 1

[suchine-toki]

Hey can i ask u something? I just finished rereading gintama again and read the final chapter, and kinda stumbled to ur blog. Do you think in the end Takasugi kind of ressuracted, reincarnated, or not? It's really bothering me since he is my fav character and besides lackness that i felt towards his story, his 'death' chapter was delivered... so great, and i dont think ressuraction was needed:( isnt that mean he becomes immortal, again?

Hello! Thank you very much for your question. Sorry for the late reply, I didn't see your message because I was on hiatus due to the end of Gintama lmao

I consider the death scene very beautiful, and it shows that there was a lot of love behind it. In fact, Sorachi himself admitted that he cried while he was drawing it (didn't we all?). However, I think when Takasugi's death is judged only by the scene itself and not also by the context, you miss the forest for the trees. (I previously talked about his death in this post.)

Other people and I have discussed the ending as such, so I’ll now address the circumstances surrounding the end of Gintama before delving into Takasugi’s possible resurrection. I'll try to analyze what happened from other angles, including information both inside and outside of the series, like the fanbook released some time ago.

The prolongued ending

Damn Manabe you could've done a better job. And I blame you for all the Utsuro crap, even if it wasn't your idea, you should've stopped it!

Weekly Shōnen Jump, where Gintama was published, has a system in which it’s announced half a year in advance when a series is about to end, to give it a conclusion in that time. Nevertheless, Sorachi exceeded this deadline, and for three years was unable to finish the series. Faced with this, they moved it to Jump Giga, where he would’ve three extra chapters with more pages and more time as it was a monthly publication. But once again he was unable to finish it and ended up concluding it through the Gintama App.

Even though at the time we all laughed at it, in hindsight the series did suffer from this. Especially if we consider that Sorachi's intention was to defeat Utsuro in Weekly Shōnen Jump and then use the other magazine just to have an epilogue. Even in the last chapter uploaded to the application they made him cut four pages. This denotes that it was a turbulent period, and the end was extremely hasty.

I think what happened in the end was Sorachi's attempt to squeeze ideas into a short amount of time. Takasugi and Zura weren’t present to defeat Utsuro, despite foreshadowing it. Thus, because he didn’t pay enough attention to the relationship between the members of the Shouka Sonjuku, the second part of Silver Soul arc emerged, in which Utsuro/Shouyo was revived and there was a greater focus on the connection between Takasugi and Gintoki. I explain this to emphasize that there wasn’t enough planning to properly develop and conclude what happened to Takasugi.

Takasugi's fate

The last page of the manga referring to what happened to Takasugi strongly suggests that he revived, due to the presence of a newborn baby in one of the dragon holes (places where altana veins sprout), along with dialogue from Sakamoto expressing, essentially, the high probability that Shouyo intervened to save him from death when his corpse was sucked into the terminal’s altana.

However, in the fanbook, a page is dedicated to what happened to Takasugi. Sorachi is frank, revealing he intentionally left it vague to avoid giving a clear answer that might disappoint fans. Also, once again he alludes to the fact that he didn't have more pages to delve into what happened, so he opted to just put more jokes, thinking that was enough.

In said fanbook, Sorachi chats with his former editors about various topics, including Takasugi's death, which he repeatedly avoids talking about. He says it's weird having to explain everything. Nonetheless, the others insist with questions. Among the most important things to salvage, he clarifies Takasugi’d already been sort of dead when he lost Shouyo, and he was just looking for a way to die. He also indicates he doesn't consider that Takasugi needed to be saved because he already was. Instead, he was going for the image of saving the Kiheitai beyond whether or not the baby was Takasugi. This gives me the impression that Sorachi didn’t actually plan to revive him.

I fundamentally disagree with the above point of view. Although I'm not a fan of resurrections, I think his rebirth would make sense, given that it's an element already introduced in the series. Also, I believe it's necessary because it didn't make sense to kill him in the first place, both for consistency on a character level and on a series level.

Now, regarding his possible immortality, I really wish he isn’t. Since it was never explained how that or the altana worked, I can't say for sure. But, considering the dialogue of the master protecting his disciples, it wouldn’t be logical for Shouyo to sentence Takasugi to live an immortal life. What would make the most sense is for Takasugi to live in a normal body with his own memories, experiencing both suffering and happiness, just like everyone else.

Regarding his growth as a normal human or abnormally by the altana, it’s even more difficult to discern. I think if he kept his memories, it would make sense for him to grow at an accelerated rate just like Shouyo, until the altana runs out at some point.

Deliverance from sin?

Goddammit Manabe it's all your fault!

Since the concept is used on several occasions, I would like to comment on what is meant by “salvation”, a term closely related to religious beliefs. The perspective I’ll take in this part is that of Shinto and Buddhism, the predominant and deeply connected religions of Japan.

In both cases, the most common path after death is reincarnation. In Shinto, the concept of salvation is based upon the belief that all living things have an essence, soul, or spirit known as kami. This lives among us rather than in Heaven or Hell. Buddhists believe in reincarnation after death, known as rebirth. Depending on the actions a person has done during their life (karma), they’re more or less likely to be reborn as a lower or higher being. If one has a multitude of good actions, one is likely to be reborn as a human.

In Buddhism, anyone who understands Buddha's teachings can attain salvation. This includes the understanding that since suffering is a part of life, one must find ways to overcome it. In this regard, I don’t consider that Takasugi has been “saved” in the more traditional sense of the word, quite the contrary. As referenced, the true way to find salvation isn’t to die to stop suffering, but to continue living despite it, as Gintoki has shown.

From now on

Sorachi explains he’s aware that the people who liked Takasugi aren’t as happy with how he ended up, and hints he knows the ending could’ve been better. This, coupled with the fact that he's been inactive for so long after Gintama ended (despite declaring his intentions to start another series) makes me think there might be more Gintama content in the future.

Could it be wishful thinking? Absolutely. But it’s true that Sorachi is interested in making money, and what better than to return to his star series with a question that interests many fans? Maybe it's something he didn't plan on doing. Do I take it? Without a second thought.

The next Gintama festival will take place on March 19, 2023. Perhaps nothing will happen. But hope is the last thing that dies. Being a successful franchise, I think it's very likely that in the near or distant future they’ll release more material showing what happened to Takasugi.

TL;DR: I think it would be more consistent with the character and the series for him to be resurrected, keeping his memories, possibly growth-accelerated by the altana until it finally fades from his body. This would allow him to keep a mortal body. But no one can say for sure what will happen.

[prosperdemeter2]

The Shannon pov??? Holy shit??? I mean seriously holy shit the whole thing about knocking on the bedroom door??? The Harvey vs Eddie in terms of passion??? Like you've almost got me feeling bad for Harvey here. The vindicive joy at bucks leg??? The disregard of the divorce papers and still believing that he belongs to her (but she doesn't belong to him that way)??? Her rage at the sight of the hickey??? "What happened to the man she had married, she wondered. Where had she lost him?" Like girl probably when you cheated on him for like 2 years and then left????

I read this and then reread the chapter 2 scene and its just so so interesting. Like the way her skin burned when he touched her but in his pov he literally just nudged her out of the way and gave it literally no thought bc he was unaffected. And then the line about wanting to play??? The anger annoyance arousal line??? The last part has me feeling genuinely nauseous (a credit to your writing really). Like what the actual hell is going to go down in this fic with her????

Like my skin is crawling and I am terrified for what's going to come next (your writing is so good). I both never want to read a shannons pov from this series again and desperately want to read every single scene from her point of view. Like being served the divorce papers, turning up at his house and seeing buck for the first time, the firehouse scene, the park scene, the birthday party??? I dont want to read it but i do??? I want to hate read it??? It would literally ruin my life. And I'm so curious to how she's going to affect shit in s3 and also 4/5/6 if you rewrite those too or if she's even around in those seasons god the possibilities are kind of endless. YOU'RE ONE OF MY FAVE 911 WRITERS

Oh gosh didksjdj thank you so much!!!! I can promise you that you are most likely never getting Shannon’s POV for the series - her mind set was so icky to try and dive into and not make her, like... goofy Disney villainy. 😅

I can absolutely understand wanting to hate read it, though! I do think it would get kind of old after a while, tbh. There's only so many times you can listen to someone say they own someone else, or not have any remorse for their actions before it gets old. I will say, the only potentially fun part of it, would be maybe seeing more fully the manipulation tactics she employs and how every single argument she's pulled Eddie into just fuels her more.

I'm glad you found it interesting even if it was also vaguely horrifying 😅

Thank you again 😘

[hometownrockstar]

I’ve been wanting to read new books/comics do you have any suggestions? I wanna broaden my horizon and try out works I haven’t had the chance to get into!

yeah sure! ive been reading quite a bit lately, mainly horror and disturbing books/mangas so obviously trigger warnings for those ones i can elaborate on specific ones if u ask but i'll keep it short... iunno what specifically you might want so i'll just shoutout my favs recently

Berserk has been the latest manga ive been reading, probably one of the hardest ones to read bc its VERY sad and disturbing but is an incredible story nonetheless. i am not phased easily by written stuff but berserk was the first thing to have a scene that i had to look away from so proceed with caution... Berserk is interesting bc it has Nietzschean tragedy themes and structure, portraying a world where evil and pain happens for no reason despite humans fearing not pain but pain without purpose, but it also holds a sense of compassion and realism to both the good and bad, exemplifying how Nietzsche saw tragedy as beneficial to enjoying and valuing the good parts of life. Sorry this got long but a lot of horror stuff i feel can be boiled down to "Super fucked up bad things happen in it" which doesnt give the whole scope of how a specific media might handle or portray it, so i wanted to explain how it feels to me, rather than just saying its gratuitous.

Something different is the manga Ultra Heaven! this was like finding gold when i discovered it, its short and unfortunately incomplete but i highly recommend it just for the incredible illustration work and playing with paneling and crazy mind stuff. its written by a guy who does drugs and often points to psychadelics as a heavy influence for his work, and its extremely apparent in this one. if you love beautiful artwork and surrealist mind-fucky narratives (like perfect blue or eva) then i cant recommend this enough.

ok i cant let this get too long ummm Animorphs! throwing a curveball but its still horror, just kid's cosmic horror. and war. and its really good, even tho i read it as an adult for the first time i loved it. actually rlly good commentary on the ethics and grey morality during war. Heres where u can download every book, the megamorphs and alternamorphs are required for the plot btw theyre listed in the order u read them in-between the series books.

A good horror/comedy manga is Franken Fran, i INSTANTLY took to it when i picked it up its my style of dark comedy exactly. i really liked black jack for the episodic chapter style, n this is like black jack but with dark comedy body horror and i love it :3

Back to books... I'll list these together, Come Closer by Sara Gran and Confessions by Kanae Misato. I stayed up all night on two separate nights reading these bc they had me hooked so well lol... I wouldnt call them horror, more like thriller/tragedies. come closer has a great writing style, its a rather sad book about a woman being possessed by a demon, really good sparse prose that emphasizes details. Confessions is just... u gotta go right into it, its GREAT. really intriguing style and premise, love the epistolary format, SO good with details.

The Melancholy of Anatomy by Shelley Jackson, short story compilation. i talked abt it best in this post so i'll link it

Bonding by Maggie Siebert is a great short story horror collection as well, the horror feels like aching and emotionally palpable in it, very well done one of my fav horror books ive read so far.

These next two things are about more abstract writing so dont expect completely clear narratives -w- but I read Amygdalatropolis by B.R. Yeager and i SUPER loved it but i might have to reread it a couple of times to get the hang of it. his newer book Negative Space has good reviews so i'll check it out soon but thats more of a grounded narrative, Amygdalatropolis juggles surrealist imagery, forum text, symbolic elements in a truly hypnotic way.

Umm finally i have been really into books of poetry by Sam Pink lately :)! theyre rather short and like some are more story-related but theyre absurdist and really like, good and resonating in a personal way, i really super enjoy it, i read You Hear Ambulance Sounds And Think They Are For You and a bit of Person and i like them a lot :)