#i feel like im not really selling the series here but it is SO interesting

[unnonexistence]

just started reading book 3 in this series and page 1 is taking no prisoners hgdshdslk

[weebsinstash]

As much as I strongly dislike when a series kind of "cages" the self insert/OC potential of its audience, it's becoming pretty clear that there's a certain level of pre-determined-ness to Sinners and their appearances, almost to the point it's vaguely implied entire sections of Pentagram City are like, ethnically/visually distinct and that every character we see fits into some sort of category and resembles other people. There's an Overlord who's a giant raptor dinosaur and there are other dinosaur Sinners (and also she's like the club/rave based overlord and even has a business, Klub Kaiju, interesting). Valentino is a moth and there are other moths and different bugs like spiders. In the most recent episode showing flashbacks of Hell in Alastor's past, there was a past female Overlord who had the same multi-toned angular swirling hair as Velvette does. In Vox's studio in episode two, he has members of staff that are visually similar to his own aesthetic. Even up in Heaven, Angel's sister Molly still has her spider aesthetic with a halo and cherub wings

so, i guess, to go where I'm ACTUALLY going with this post.... Moth Reader who winds up catching Valentino's eyes because "oh wow we're both moths, isn't that cute" and it escalates into him seeing you as his property, ESPECIALLY if you also have weird drugging/pheromone powers like him

Like can you imagine it? You smack down into the city while he's like having lunch at a cafe or his limo is parked at a light and you're standing up all confused and helpless and cute, hugging yourself as you look around this loud violent scary new place, and you two wind up making exact eye contact and he can tell you're crying and scared, easy prey. Could you picture Reader's equivalent of his coat being that you're in a little hoodie or jacket or shawl and it just unwraps while you're sitting with him. Idk. You accidentally inhale some of his smoke and just give a cute little sneeze and your antenna and your wings are all just poofing out, you basically just equipped that shit from your inventory. On the fence if Reader would have chest fur but maybe your hair hair is really big and long and silky

Moth Reader having eye spots on their wings that can lull someone into hypnosis, or you have some sort of pheromone that makes people weak to your demands, maybe even horny for you, like some mind controlling queen bee ordering her drones. Val's in the bathroom and some creep grabs you and all of a sudden your antenna twitch and his face gets hit with a little puff of 'dust' and suddenly he's letting go of you, "oh my gosh sweetie I am so sorry, here, take all the money in my wallet, you deserve it, I'm so sorry queen, I'm gonna go jump into traffic, sorry queen, sorry, sorry, im a worm, sorry, sorry"

Valentino having unique reactions to your "pollen" as another moth or at least an addict with a tolerance. He buries his face in your neck so you "poof" him on purpose and he's just hotboxing your scent and getting high and horny while you're struggling and squealing. He forces you to use your powers on him and others so they can feel happy and high. At some point he may even force you to keep producing the powder so he can sell it as a drug or a product and at that point you're BIG INCOME for him, he might as well carry you around like his personal vape pen

Like. Can you even imagine "oh yeah Im super lucky enough that i have these powers to protect myself and potentially manipulate others" and you think you're safe and untouchable and this man is like using his fucking credit card to shift your powder into lines to snort it like a rail of cocaine. You can turn "normal" Sinners into your helpless pawns but it loses effectiveness the stronger the person is and this man is like HOTBOXING your shit, all but passing out on the couch with you in his arms in pure drug seeking unrestrained bliss. And then he fucks ya cause I mean, it's YOUR fault he's all hot and bothered now isn't it?

Just Reader not even knowing how much danger they're in because you just got here and have no idea who this guy is and you're just spinning around looking at your new appearance and flapping your little wings and maybe you can even float or fly a little bit, all happy, big big smiles, being all "oh my gosh this is so cool, I feel so cute ^^" and you don't even realize you're practically modeling yourself on a runway to one very, VERY interested customer...

[dr-spectre]

team bread ?!?

side-eyeing aside, how do you feel about this upcoming splatfest ?

Upcoming Splatfest? You mean the Grand Fest right?

I'm gonna assume that is what you're talking about and you know what? I'M SO DAMN HYPED FOR IT!

WE'RE GETTING A BRAND NEW HUB FOR THIS SPLATFEST!!! AND ITS A FUCKING CONCERT WITH GOD DAMN ELECTRONIC RAVE REMIXES OF THE IDOLS SONGS! AND THERE'S INK EVERYWHERE AND UGHHH!!! I LOVE IT!!! ITS GONNA BE SO INSANE IM GONNA CRY I SWEAR TO GODDDDDD!!!!

If I hear Calamari Inkantation remixed by all three of the groups, I will not shut up about it for the next 4 years until we get Splatoon 4. I'm gonna be so fucking annoying and I won't apologise for it.

I mean sure the theme is kind of predictable but hey, it presents some interesting philosophical questions just like how Chaos vs. Order did, and i find those kinds of Splatfests to be the best ones. It's less about an Idol war or some useless shit, but it actually brings about genuine philosophical discussions and I love that!

I know that a lot of people are freaking out about the consequences about this Splatfest, myself included. If Team Past wins, will we go back to the past and never see Callie, Marie, Pearl, Marina, etc, for the next 5 to 7 years? If Team Future wins, will Callie and Marie be old women, and will the other characters we've grown to love.... pass away?

After thinking about it and seeing tweets from people on Twitter discuss it, nah, i don't think either of those outcomes will happen. Remember when people were making a fuss about if Chaos wins that Inkopolis would be covered in flames and be destroyed? Looked at what happened in Splatoon 3. Chaos was just an aesthetic for the new location Splatsville, the Idols, music, etc, and the Inkopolis we know ended up being okay!

If Team Future wins we might get a cool futuristic aesthetic for Splatoon 4 but it'll still be in the same timespan as Splatoon 3! Same with Team Past! Team Present will be the same sort of aesthetic we have currently duh. Obviously it'll be a few years after Splatoon 3 but I'm sure the characters we know we'll be okay!.... right?.... right nintendo?

I think the reason why people say that is because Nintendo has gone on record and said that Splatoon 3 is the "finale of the Splatoon saga" but they only mean the story mode of that game as ROTM tied up everything together theme wise in a neat trilogy. Callie, Marie, and everyone you like will come back because it would be a terrible financial and story decision to get rid of them. How will Nintendo sell new amiibo and merchandise? Off the Hook is so god damn popular and they would obviously come back in new outfits to sell new amiibo. Come on guys. Think like a business person for a second here.

I genuinely don't understand why some fans are so fucking adamant on wanting a clean reboot and to never see these characters again. Why do you want that SOOOO badly? I see that shit a lot on the Splatoon reddit man.

You don't wanna see these two again? Some of the best written characters in the series? You never wanna see these gay cephalopods ever again?!

YOU NEVER WANNA SEE THESE THREE GOOFBALLS THAT WE ALL LOVE AGAIN?!?! THEY HAVE SO MUCH STORY POTENTIAL AND YOU WANT THAT TO BE WASTED?!? FOR WHAT?!?!

And.... you don't wanna see the OGs again? You never wanna see Callie and Marie EVER AGAIN? The most iconic characters in the franchise, up there with the Inklings themselves!!! They have gone through so much and it's clear that Nintendo wants to keep them around, Marie has said in the Splatune 3 interview that she feels like she has an important role in creating the next generation of Idols. And yet... after what the shit they have gone through... you want them gone?

I truly don't believe you want that. Unless you don't really care about them...

Anyways, I am very much excited for the Grand Fest, so much so that thinking about it is giving me weird feelings in my chest. All of the screenshots I'm gonna take... eeeeee.... God help me.

[alicenpai]

taking a break from merch!

been feeling incredibly burnt out, so here are some thoughts on merch and events and shop stuff this year 🤔 LONGGG ass ramblings below

im going to be posting maybe like 1 or 2 merch posts daily for the next week-ish, just as a heads up!

i apologize in advance bc i feel like sometimes people just do not care about merch posts as opposed to regular ol' drawings (yes i know the psychology is that people dont like to be advertised to)... but i think the launch of my shop opening was pretty poorly timed 😬

the canada post strike (making canadians averse to purchases online, although i do not use canada post, i think a lot of people are under the assumption that most businesses use canpost) + combined with the EU product safety scare + maybe with tons of black friday competition + posting on the weekend has mixed results ..

i'm reconsidering the decision to reopen the store in dec, as i won't have any new items. additionally, this has been long overdue - i'm going to take a break from merch (besides the few events i already have coming up in dec+jan) to focus on what i really want from art. another thing that i gotta bring up is - this is the first year where i started doing more events past the summer, and well into the winter. i usually make a huge batch of new designs in late spring (for my biggest event, anime north), and a smaller batch in late summer (otakuthon). but, now i've been making new designs year round, which really is not something i'm used to, and contributed to the burnout. i've often been questioning myself, "does this need to be made?", "is this good art?" and it leads me to spiral more than necessary.

similarly, i should be working on my portfolio instead, as a lot of my portfolio works are from art school T__T i keep postponing it, i tell myself "oh just one more event, just one more event" bc i have trouble dividing my attention. how did i even do personal art + buttload of homework during animation school? HAHAHA. not to be harsh but like. what am i doing honestly 😭... i love making personal art, but i WISH i had MORE to show for my career. i want to go back into visual development. once im ready, i'll go back to drawing illustrations. in the meantime, i'll do a lot of reflection and chatting with friends, playing games, etc. getting in touch with the things i missed while i was busy crunching... --- also compiling a list of products that i have thoughts on - charms: - right off the bat, as i mentioned before, i think i've exhausted all i can from this lineless/borderless charm style! chibis for me are not artistically that interesting to draw hahaha... i don't think i'll make any more of charms in this style (unless i get a really good idea?). - i've been thinking of either stopping charms altogether, or lessening charm designs in the future. if i still... want to make charms after my break... i might opt to draw in a bust style instead. i'm really inspired by these one piece designs by my friend avenoirn..!! and these rdr wood charms by searift are so good!! but otherwise my current plan is to just focus on prints and stickers. they are infinitely easier to store too AHAHAHA.

- above: furthermore, this style does not suit all series unfortunately, examples above where i think the design is a bit weak... and i think that's where my weakness lies T__T i make things to satiate my curiosity for a short while HAHAHA but there are so many times where i'm just not proud of, or i feel indifferent, to the merch i make months down the road. - unfortunately charms are a huge seller at conventions, because of their small nature and cute quality i guess they make good gifts? i find that for me my charms didn't sell well in the past, until i switched over to this new style in 2023. i think along the way i started prioritizing charms more, and just making things that didn't work in the style like above. in reality, my heart wanted to make illustrative stuff like prints and sticker sheets, even though these products take infinitely longer to create, due to the amount of drafting and research i put into each piece. (funnily enough charms dont sell as well online + people buy stickers more) - it's getting infinitely more and more expensive to import charms from asia. first of all, shipping costs have increased, and secondly... government customs fees are truly the icing on top. it's been hard for small businesses since covid, and how heavily chinese packages have been taxed. - to be transparent, here are my suppliers: - i used vograce from 2015-2022, but over time felt that their quality declined so i stopped using them. - i use juno consistently, but also opt for kuien if i need a rush order done (~within a week, but also gotta pay premium for that rush service!!). - i have tried wooacry and can attest that their quality is good! to me it's not much different than juno's quality, besides small colour nuance and there (since wooacry's printers have the ability to print from RGB), however my designs tend to be on the simpler side.

- above, wooacry: although, it's hard to keep sizes consistent between designs (but i am a fool in this regard because i didn't check the digital mockup that precisely), so i probably won't use wooacry for huge character lineups unless i am 100% sure my charm designs are all the same size. - also geez... i didn't know people felt so hostile towards charms. (the entire disk horse on twitter if you've seen it. the original poster made a 2nd post that clarified their intent, which was, honestly?? incredibly well thought and nuanced. but the first post opened a whole can of worms, that didn't need to be that explosive from the get go, exposing myself and many other artists who make charms to other people's aggressive viewpoints). - at the same time, i understand that the scope of "anime fan merch" is very much "lowbrow art", but to act superior because one doesn't make acrylic products is a bit discouraging to say the least. i have already wanted to stop or slow down on charm designs for a long time, but this is the final blow for me. like damn. okay. ---

stickers: - importing stickers from US suppliers into canada has also similarly become more expensive with taxes TT to be transparent, i use stickerbunnies and i personally love them, however with taxes and slow response times, i cannot vouch for them all too much if you don't live in the US. however i think they would be okay if you didn't have a deadline (e.g. off peak con season) - currently i'm looking into local canadian manufacturers with affordable pricing, as well as the ability to commit to rather large orders (a few hundred)... unfortunately i'm rather picky with vinyl quality. my biggest character flaw. i used jukebox for a few designs, however they are pricey if there is no current sale. --- specialty: - also this is something ive been thinking for a while, but i'm likely going to discontinue "specialty" merch in the future..

- above: anything that's not prints, stickers, regular charms... - it's ironic bc as artists grow bigger they want to branch out into new unique types of merch.. i just don't find that they sell that well for me >< i'm a bit sad at the marcille pudding, i honestly thought it would sell better. still fawkin love it though. - they cost an arm and leg to boot = higher price = harder to sell? or maybe my design sense is just bad!!!!! - the only specialty stuff i have ideas for right now are some baccano coins + poker chips... wooacry posed a potential interest for them so im. rubbing my hands greedily like a fly. -- wood: - whoa i was really negative above LMAO. one thing i DO want to try out more are layered wood pins!!

- i really enjoyed working on the wooden layton pins i have... they don't sell that well online anymore i guess bc all of my followers have seen it a million times already LMAO but they sell quite well in person!! - thankfully wood is not that pricey and i can stick to small batches for them (like 10 quantity each?) - inspiration: i LOVE these wooden dunmeshi pins seirui made. i cant wait for mine to arrive...!! also love the backing pins, they add so much character!! general - oftentimes when i make a set of products, i find that main characters sell better than supporting characters. after a while of promoting them as last chance items online + bargain bin items at cons, they just don't sell and i'm left with a ton of unwanted merch T__T what do i do with the rest of the characters that don't sell? i do have to admit i'm concerned about waste, and there are no good resources on recycling old merch. - what i did in the past was - for buttons specifically - tear them apart AHAHAHAHA. buttons are made out of metal + paper + plastic and the former two can be recycled in my area. i'm not sure if it helps but i tried to do it as per my area's recycling rules... - acrylic charms are another matter altogether. i try to gift them as much as i can... - prints are great however because i can just use them as scrap paper or recycle them if unwanted!! - i got a little carried away making merch this year. i think i'll have to go back to my old method, which was making merch in small quantities, and only sell a small number that i can confidently rely on (~10 or less).

[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

[jewishdragon]

reccommend any good book series?>

uh, sure

lets start with the three book series i have had on loop (audiobooks through libby) for the last 4 years:

Temeraire. 9 books. alternate history age of sale, an homage to Aubrey Maturin (the author literally stopped posting fanfic for that series 1 year before she published the first temeraire novel). What is the alternate? Well. dragons exist. and they are people. The premise is a human naval captain finds himself captain in the air force because a dragon imprints on him. Explore how the first napoleonic war goes when dragons are involved both in battle and in politics. I love this series because it scratches a very specific itch for humans and giant monsters bonding and interacting at every level of society. A lot of real historical figures show up (napoleon...). but it never feels forced. Im so bad at selling this series. its really great.

Memoirs of Lady Trent. 5 novels. more dragons ! this time a world similar to ours, but dragons exist! however this time they are animals, not people, and the main character is a fantasy victorian jewish woman who is obsessed with studying dragons and breaks her worlds gender barriers (which are the same as victorian englands were) to achieve her goals. also there's a slow burn romance with a nerdy fantasy muslim man (think indiana jones!!!) and they go on ADVENTURES about ARCHEOLOGY AND NATURALISM (books 3 through 5. i dont want you to think i lied when this man dont show up in books 1 and 2. BUT THERE'S STILL BOTH NATURALISM AND ARCHEOLOGY ADVENTURES IN BOOKS 1 AND 2). I did not see the twist of the series coming either. wild stuff. love it. there's a epilogue 6th book where the characters spend 80% of the time translating ancient tablets and somehow this is incredibly engaging, props to the author. this is a first person POV, the author is writing it as a MEMOIR so you have to imagine this old lady writing this down in her study.

The Murderbot Diaries (5 books, 4 are novellas). Sci-fi, out in space! Mostly taking place in literally capitalist hell region of space called "the corporation rim" which is... ruled by corporations. A lab grown robocop cyborg hacks its programming to become autonomous and wants nothing more than to watch soap operas and be left alone, but of course makes friends along the way as it continues to do its job of protecting humans. the snarky humor is FANTASTIC. its also first person POV and feels like Murderbot cornered you in a seedy space bar on an asteroid and just started ranting about shit "you will not believe the fucking year ive had" and then just rants for hours. Speaking of, 4 hours is the audiobook length for each novella, short enough that you can give the series a try without worrying about length

agatha christie. i mean. the queen of murder mysteries is called that for a reason. her stories are indeed bangers

Howl's Moving Castle. its a 3 book series though the books arent super connected. really fun fantasy adventure comedies.

Ok end of the not kids section. here's the kid section

now bear with me on this. Artemis Fowl. 8 books. I didnt read these until i was an adult, in graduate school. They fucking SLAP. some stuff is a little dated but other than that, its action packed, its so much fun. Go on an adventure where a shitty know-it-all genius criminal master mind becomes a better person and also there's fairy magic and fairy tech (which might as well be a second kind of magic). the main villain? amazing, unhinged, megalomaniac to the max. i love her. the minor villains? also amazing. i cannot overstate how great the villains are in this.

Dealing with Dragons/Enchanted Forest Chronicles. uhhhh this is my special interest. fantasy comedy adventure.

thats all for now i think.

[the-holo]

Before I start this, I'm pretty new to comics, but from what little (and I mean LITTLE I got into the game late 😔) I HAVE read, I do like IDWs Transformers run. All the cool cybertronian lore, cultural things, social hangups things like that? THAT is what's interesting to me about stories based around aliens. Whats their culture? What is typical for them that would be so wild here? What is considered tradition? What is taboo? (Fighting is also REALLY cool but without some sort of emotional backdrop it kinda just turns into taking ur action figures and smashing then together randomly for me.) So since I missed the IDW arc, I thought I'd try the reboot. (Rest below the read more)

ALRIGHT, SO THE MEAT AND POTATOES OF THE POST: I've been debating on getting the skybound TF comics. I don't want to miss out if later on they reach more...interesting, to me, plot beats but I really really don't care about the "oooh back on Eaaaaarth" plot...AGAIN. I care even LESS about the forced G.I. Joe on the horizon. Hasbro. Let it GO. No one cares about the random American military propaganda franchise that literally never does well in ur crossovers.

I'm reading Transformers FOR Transformers, not "you too can help fight evil IRL, join the military!"

Furthermore the art style is uuuuh...not bad just definitely not for me. The random WWE moves are just kinda awkward, especially when paired with the art style (I understand its trying to emulate the G1 style but no). I get some people like em and that's fine but...yeah.

And so far, emotionally I don't really feel anything? From what people have tried to tell me is "good" about it, Its just "starscream is a menace". Which would be perfect as a sideplot, if anything else interesting was going on, but after getting an overview of the first 3 issues, it just seems like its: "fight fight fight", starscream does a war crime, "fight fight fight", the humans get in the way, "fight fight", Starscream is being very naughty, also the humans don't understand anything as usual and have decided the best course of action us to get in the way AGAIN (please ur are the size of this guy's EYE. MOVE)

I dunno, again my interest in the reboot has more to do with POSSIBLE on Cybertron plots that may or may not even happen, so is it even worth it?

If anyone has anything more to say on the Skybound reboot (in favor or against) please feel free to comment or anything, I wanna be more informed before investing in a series I'm just not gonna like or something.

I want something that has...feeling I guess it boils down to. Im not getting that from it so far from what people are trying to use to sell it to me.

[kikuism]

it really was just your standard ya fantasy romance. i didn't get invested in a single character bc it was all so superficial. here's the war college here's the dragons here's the friends we made at the academy here's the banter here's the love interest here's the sexual tension and it was all done so poorly that i couldn't care about anything. i don't care about fantasy/dragons if i can't care for the characters and i just didn't bc these are characters you'll find in any book of this kind. and this book is new adult even though the writing is so juvenile to me and made me cringe at times. i guess i just want more substance in my books instead of sparkly colorful superficial elements. i think people are obsessed with this bc of the setting (war college with dragons) and the steamy romance but i can't get invested in any of that if the characters i'm reading about are dull and lackluster. can't tell you how many times ive seen headstrong violet and bad boy xaden before in other stories. that's why execution is so important bc like she could have written these characters to be really interesting and engaging but they were so boring. man this book was a chore to get through. no element of this book was strong enough to grasp my attention like idk it just seems like the girlies who are frothing at the mouth over this saw DRAGON WAR COLLEGE and just lost their shit like it was an easy sell for them. i'll say one good thing though and that's how violet’s chronic pain is adapted for a fantasy world, very cool, haven't seen that before. it was nice to read about how she can mount and stay on a dragon as a disabled person, how those accomodations are available to her. but other than that it all just felt.... superficial is what im trying to say. like if you peel it back there's kinda nothing there. fourth wing is really in the vein of sjm and those kindle unlimited series like crave and zodiac academy that have the tiktok girlies in a chokehold

also the book felt so aggressively heterosexual to me like i can't even explain it. even though there was some diversity in the side characters, the main couple's energy just felt soooo sjm coded and esp bc she's like so small and petite and he's so big and they have crazy explosive sex it just gave me the ick. there's nothing interesting or engaging about either of these characters so it's like she's overcompensating with the sexual tension and the sex and the banter like please no. it's like here's a bad boy and here's a headstrong girl and also it's enemies to lovers and steamy af like no thanks like there's literally nothing going for them. also it's not my place to speak on it but shouldn't care be taken during sex since she has this chronic condition. like it's always mentioned when she's sparring and riding her dragon how her pain flares up and whatnot, that's why she can't do anything strenuous bc it really takes a toll on her body, but somehow all that is just gone when it came to the sex, esp bc like she's so small and he's so big like.... like it feels like the whole point of that scene was to show how Spicy it was instead of like. being maybe a little realistic about it? that would have been interesting to see. i don't just want to see frenetic chaotic sex up against armoires i want to see what it's like when one person is disabled, i think that representation is important and needed too. but sure let's just focus on the steam. if you're going to have a character with a chronic illness you might as well show how it affects every aspect of their life.

also this is what i mean with the writing like im sorry but i cringed it was an involuntary reaction i couldn't help it

actual image of me recounting these lines

[nanatsuyu]

do you have any recommendations of fics that are about kandrews relationship/friendship?? (either way its fine)

their dinamic is just so interesting to me, i think we need more fics that explore it

also i love their friendship in blueberry pancakes

oh man oh man i always have so many scenes bopping in my head from fics about them ;; but heres some from my top bookmarks that i could think of offhand!

-- an abridged family medical guide, 6th edition - 30degreesandsnowing

my intro into kandreil and it's a sickfic from their own povs each chapter and the kandrew in this makes me insane because they're SO soft on each other and i reread it like once a month+ for serotonin

sick days by sweetlikesugar

kevin is sick and tries to push himself anyways and andrew lets him know hes an idiot (affectionate) [emetophobia warning!] i love sickfics more than breathing so this was just hhhHHHHH

the gentle violence of loving you - sweetlikesugar

one of my favourite takes on how kandrew were pre-canon. delves a bit more into kevins poor mental state when showing up on the fox doorstep. it really grabs me in the "andrew was looking out for kevin before he knew it" feelings

make me believe that you need me most - sambutwithbooks

sam is like,,,,,,,a true gift to kandrew enjoyers when it comes to smut and also how they navigate each other in canon and how kevin carries a chip on his shoulder and andrew is Always Watching

this is how we try - justadreamfox

another kandreil i'm super fond of with ace kevin and andrew having always been in love with him and the three navigating their sex life featuring some real cute pining and fretting andrew

die hard valentines - dayurno

*chef kiss* absolutely stunning kandreil ive read 100000 times. focuses on kevin and andrew and their love for neil and just has these tender moments between them that gave me cavities im unable to fill UGH

sucker - mostly_maudlin

kevin is a vampire and drinks neils blood from andrews mouth. like that should sell it easily but its also REALLY soft with kisses. 3 part series with so much sexual tension its a physical entity that haunts me like the hat man after 10 benadryl

plugs my own fics cus im shy about it but i really love them a lot and my kandrew is some of my most self indulgent,,,

even if it takes __ years

canon divergent ending where neil was not present in the series and kandrew figure themselves out given all their issues

missed sleep

a lil au i have of them as an old married couple where kevin has ghosts from his past creep up but its mostly soft stuff in this snippet

taptaptap

kandreil post choking scene thats SUPER tender because im a soft baby. just got a podfic too! <3

--

not a complete list but these live rent free in my brain and are incredibly inspirational to me and a couple were VERY founding to my kandrew obsession!!

also thank you ;; you can see where it bleeds a bit into blueberry pancakes cus them being best friends is very important to me in every au always ;;

[stormyoceans]

https://x.com/i/status/1831169561758179671

While we're here, a survey: what kind of product advertisement from JS do you like? for me, this is an advertisement for chips. Sea crunches deliciously, and Jimmy looks at him as a rain of chips falls from above. and there was also live in which they advertised chips in yellow shirts. tbh after that I went and bought a few packs of chips just to calm down😁 in fact, they advertise everything well (especially clothes😪)

the quality of this screencap is unfortunately tragic but still WHY ARE THEY THE CUTEST CUTIES TO EVER CUTE IN THE HISTORY OF CUTENESS I CAN'T BELIEVE THEY'RE REALLY GONNA CONVINCE PEOPLE TO BUY THAT OISHI CORN FLAVOR GREEN TEA 0% SUGAR BY DOING CUTE POSES AND LOOKING LIKE THEY COULD FIT IN MY POCKET

as for your question, if we’re also counting the product placements in their series as advertisement in general, then i simply have to pick lay’s like those chips gifted us too many iconic moments (including THEE marriage proposal of all time) not to take the crown, but if we’re just considering actual commercials, then i think my favorite is that dish soap ad they did a few months ago where they are wearing pink and grocery shopping and doing the dishes because it’s just SO DOMESTIC and they look so much like puentalay that it makes me wanna cry every time i look at it LIKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THIS IS A GLIMPSE OF WHAT HAPPENS DAILY IN THE PUENTALAY HOUSEHOLD AND NO ONE CAN CHANGE MY MIND

also i know im totally biased but honestly jimmysea are such good promoters to me like whether it's food or clothes or make-up they always look so eager and genuinely interested in whichever product they're supposed to promote that i feel like they would be able to sell even trash if they wanted to sfjksdfjsg

TRULY THE KINGS OF COMMERCIALS AND ADVERTISEMENT AND PROMOTIONS AND SPONSORSHIPS

[itsseohannbin]

Hannji Rambles / Another Life Update

hiiii Pookies!!

Hope everyone is doing well and taking care of themselves!!!

I'm just popping in with a quick life update (cause apparently I'm having a lot of those lately) to kind of let everyone know what's been going on lately.

I know I said a couple weeks ago that I was ready to come back to tumblr and begin posting again, and I am, however, there's been a bit of a change of plans in regards to me starting up my writing/posting fics again.

Because I have been put on a temporary stress leave by my family doctor for the next couple weeks, I'm trying to reduce the amount of stress/triggers in my life until my next appointment, where I will be reassessed to determine if I'm fit to go back to work or not. I want to continue writing and posting because writing has always been a strong outlet for me to relieve stress and clear my brain when the noise gets too much, however, I need to make changes to what I will posting in order to help keep my stress levels under control.

SO,

that being said, I will be posting the remaining few parts/chapters of Like A Volcano (for all my Hannie stans out there who are ever so patiently waiting), BUT at this time, I will not be writing/posting a Jisung POV for this fic. I wanted to, and I was super excited to write a part in his pov, but I've been struggling with writing it for the last few months and it's really put a damper on my already not-so-good mental state. Maybe in the future, I will upload a snippet, but since the idea of creating a Jisung POV for LAV is causing more stress than it's worth, it will be put on the backburner for the time being. I AM SORRY FOR THOSE WHO WERE WANTING IT I JUST CANNOT WORK WITH IT RN!

However, the last few parts will be edited/revised and posted in the coming week-ish so I can finally put that fic to rest and start up The Blackened Heart again bc I am so so excited to start writing that again!

In addition to the Jisung POV being scraped (for the time being), I am also putting a halt on the LAV spinoffs I had in the works (Connected, which is the Chan x Jo spin off, and Waiting For Us, which is the Minho x Ash spin off) simply because both of them are causing more tension and stress than necessary.. I don't like it when writing feels like it's becoming a chore, I'd rather write stuff that I'm excited to write and post, and that entire AU series has quickly become the opposite of what I want to do... I will be coming back to them eventually, but as of right now, I need to do what I can to alleviate the amount of distress in my life, and that means putting LAV/Connected/WFU on hold.

I am happy to say I will be continuing my commission for the lovely @bethanysnow that I've been slowly working on while I get back into the swing of things, ((beth baby i am so sorry its taking so long im just really struggling right now so please bear with me :( )) and I'm of course still writing drabbles, fake!text posts, and my OT8 "The L Word" series.

Thank you all for the never-ending support and love I'm still receiving from a lot of you despite my inactiveness. Just know I read every single one of your comments, reblogs, and things that you all tag me in. I am still very much here in spirit, just slowly working my way back up to being a fully functional human being

In the meantime, as some of you may already know, I am starting a small business where I make beaded keychains, rings, lanyards, bracelets and more. Beading has very quickly become a safe haven for me and its very therapeutic to just sit for hours watching tv and making stuff to eventually sell. I am starting up an instagram account specifically for this business called Hannji's Creations, so if you're interested in what I'm making and such, feel free to give me a follow over there. I'm making a lot of SKZ themed stuff, however, I'm also opening up ideas for other kpop groups and other styled collections in general.

Thank you again to everyone who has stuck around and checked in on me these last few months. I know life can be tough sometimes, and lately I'm having a hard time getting back up somedays, but you guys all make it more bearable, so thank you. thank you for your continuous understanding and unconditional love..

You guys are awesome!

can't wait to show you all what's in store!!

Much Love,

Hannji <3

[gen4grl]

Wheeze, here we are at long last before I have to go into College/Life lockdown again. You won't believe how much can happen in a month and the huge projects that lie ahead, but anyways! - It's cool how you have a PHD in Silver Handling. The closest acronym I could get for that was calling it a Psy.D (precarious Silver yeeting doctorate LOL) anyways you're so right, good analytic potential AND its interesting that it's him being Giovanni's son that you point out. I like that bit too, and I'd love to hear what about it makes it so dope to you :D - Twitter is the trenches </3 glad you like it here more :3 tumblr is THE place for neurodivergent folks like us and HARD AGREE on reading game dialogue. its my favorite lore hunting technique. I cannot fight Gyms until every inch of that city has been explored. - Literally bouncing up at down at the mental imagery of Leaf sitting at a blocky computer with Bill. I can just vaguellyyyy reach out to that era through memory, of idk, images, did I ever see them in person? in dreams? all I know is that even in the early 20s the age of dial-up phones wasn't instantly forgotten. maybe at someone's house. but there is SO much 90s to project there and it can be so enjoyable. nostalgia + growing up + that one era that is more romanticized in retro aesthetic and the social culture bc that's how the neighbors eldest daughters grew up and how do we, in modern times, achieve that? - if it's controversial, nobody's yapping about it when it comes to other characters lol. Leaf is pretty consistent if you keep an open mind so taking from other media 100% makes sense. I do it too :P oooh Silver and Leaf meeting on 5 island I love that!! aw man, with the Rocket base and that Scientist I'm just full of giggling here. Pff, Archer is going to get his butt kicked by the boss's son's friend HA tfw the same kids you see running around take down TR - oh I like how you bring the environment and economy into it, solid reasoning for moving + Pallet connects to the ocean that leads to Cinnabar, no? but yeah :D great customer base, little homey place but close to Viridian and the Indigo Plateau as well, plenty of people stopping by! omg Leaf coming from the hair sprouts 😭 oh that's clever I like it! - really enamored with the Bill + Leaf aspects of your story, it's just really speaking to some deep corner of my soul's memory. im so stoked somebody else likes this haha my Leaf is a bit more politically motivated (at least in one universe lol, bc it's the anime which is an utter disaster and she wants to be Champion to clean house and heal the economy) but also someone oughta do something bc Lance is working like 5 different jobs 😭 also, I can imagine with most of your HCs centered around character relationships they might feel like a hard sell compared to cold facts and I 100% feel you. so much of my fic is just character dynamics nobody else would get it LOL. but I'm honored you have so much you'd want to yap about it. fully encourage and love yapisodes - I looked at your Silver post and you said it's only if you're playing as Red but good news, Scientist Gideon STILL asks that if you play as Leaf. He says "Giovanni's kid" not his son :D - at the time you asked that, I was writing 6.1k of a chapter for another fandom, but lately I've had Leaf on the brain again and rlly want to get a solid outline for that series going. <-- the kind of yapping better suited for DMs lol. yess, love seeing how the Pokemon world is connected in media. utterly obsessed with Gen/Evo Specials, you can imagine the cheering when Silver's episode dropped 7 years ago he's so <3 <3 <3 if you like Silver + Leaf sibs then you feel like someone I can smuggle into Dad Lance city that doesn't leave her out, but hey. oldest daughter problems maybe if we incorporate the tendency to focus on Kris/Lyra/Ethan and thanks to Masters, LILLIE?!?!? <-- understand Johto kids but LILLIE???? and every time I see Lance with Red/Blue I'm like "aight, so I gotta fill this vacancy myself"

helllloooo first of all i want to say sorry for taking so long to get to this😭 my last couple months have been a mess and i’ve been dealing with annoying health issues (in every way). i apologise if this reply isn’t as long or thorough as usual🤧

i think what i like about the silver giovanni connection so much is how well it connects johto + kanto story wise. johto to me is still a very undeveloped and lowkey forgotten region unfortunately but silvers character is easily the shining part of the region. i also think it’s cool how he’s also connected to red (or leaf) due to the whole reason giovanni abandoning him being because of red/leaf’s defeat of team rocket, ultimately crushing his ego lol - just one big butterfly effect that i thoroughly enjoy :p and as stated in my post, i like despite how hard he tried not to be, silver was quite similar to his dad until the events of the the johto story. seeing his growth makes me so happy 🤧🤧🤧✨

lmao talking of reading game dialogue … the offical pokemon twitter account made this post for fathers day (i think…? my fathers day isn’t till september 🤷🏻‍♀️)

and the amount of people in the comments literally suprised gave me a stroke like??? lacey being clays daughter is explicitly stated LOL pokemon fans never cease to amaze me 😭😭😭

you’ve really got me thinking about kantrio in the 90s now LOL. i can see them all tryna message eachother on some aol type site and someone’s dial up cutting totally ruining their convos - most likely blue cause daisy wants to talk on the phone to bill or something … hmmm… ideas are brewing!!!! actually to sound old my family had dial up till 2009… insane😭😭 i used to get so mad at my mumma using the phone cause i just wanted to play club penguin LOL - oh and thx u for the compliment on the leaf + bill dynamic <3 bill is one of those random ass side characters that still is so iconic … i have so many hc’s for him too LOL no character can escape my headcanons

oh and i am the minister at the dad lance church!!! i’ve always seen him as not just a mentor to silver but the other johto kids and definitely the kanto trio before they grew up - that saying i still think as adults they turn to him alot since … half of them don’t have dads (both in canon and my hc LOL). i think as adults, the kantrio definitely have a more friend based relationship with him but as kids he definitely helped them through the spotlight that was put on them at such a young age.

ehghhh i very much apologise for this reply, my brain feels very disconnected from my body today and i feel like this hot mess of a reply shows LOL. again, i really apologise for the late reply. i wish you the best of luck with ur studies and writing ✨✨✨🩷🩷🩷

[chipsncookies]

ngl I am kinda looking forward to the Ultraman guy thoughts compilation and a brief summary about him. You talking about Ultraman definitely sparked my curiousity. I saw Ultraman briefly mentioned in a few manga when I was young so I was aware of it before but now I'm getting curious but I'll wait a bit more. I don't even know where to start.

The results have been compiled here! Please take a look!

For you guys who want to know who this character is, he's Ultraman Blazar from the latest Ultraman series! He is a warrior of light who's taken the duty of protecting humanity from kaiju and alien attacks 💪

If you're unfamiliar with the Ultraman series, it's a science fiction tokusatsu, meaning they use live action special effects. Commenters who mentioned kamen rider and power rangers/super sentai got it close since those are also tokusatsu. Fans of one usually enjoy the others too.

Like i said, the basic premise is ultraman, an extraterrestrial being comes to earth to defend humans from kaiju or aliens. They usually disguise as humans when not fighting, or they have a human host who can call them out when the earth is in danger. When the time comes, they transform into Ultraman.

This series is very old, it started in 1960s. So it has so many entries, where fans have grouped them by the era they were released (showa ultramans, heisei, reiwa etc). Some of the entries are in similar continuity, while others not.

I grew up watching some of the series so I'm already familiar with it, but I've been out of the loop for years and just got back into it, and im already confused, so i understand how you feel when you said you don't know where to start.

However, I think if you're curious and want to start watching, it doesn't hurt to watch the original series, Ultraman. It's available on YouTube. The effects might look outdated (it was the 1960s after all) but a lot of fans think the story holds up to this day. It has 39 episodes. It's the foundation of the series, and many plot beats & kaijus/aliens that appear in it will reappear/remixed in later series, so if you watch this you'll recognise them.

If it's too long, you can watch Shin Ultraman, the movie that came out last year. It's based on the Ultraman series i mentioned above but condensed into 2 hours. I haven't watched it myself but fans seem to like it and i heard it did well in theatres. The only downside(?) is the ultraman and kaijus are cgi so you're missing the tokusatsu experience. If this is your preference that's great but this is the only entry that uses fully cgi ultraman

I mentioned these first because they're a fresh start of the ultraman experience. Other series especially recent ones tend to feature other ultras/characters as fanservice, and I don't want to overwhelm you, but if you're interested there's nothing wrong with checking them out. A lot of them are available on the official YouTube channel with subs and some with dubs unofficial means also available

I'm currently watching Ultraman Blazar, it only has 5 episodes as of now but I'm really enjoying it a lot. In my biased opinion i find the story so far enjoyable for adults and children.* Also I think the visuals are some of the best in recent entries.

*I forgot to tell, ultraman is a series directed to kids, so it can be silly goofy at times and heavy on the toy selling, but some entries can be more dark/mature than others. Shin ultraman is more mature for example.

So yeah!! Ultraman is a really old series and it has become a pop culture in Japan and many places in the world (but somehow not america?) i think if you watch this you'll start seeing its influence on other shows (yes, including pokemon!). If you're curious about other ultraman you can take a look at the list of ultraman here and see if there's any you like. This series is big so it can be overwhelming but I'm sure you will find something you like! I hope you'll enjoy it! 🫶🫶🫶💖💖

Edit:

[keruworld]

Why you should love Azuma Michinaga!

Actually Im not trying to convice anyone to like him. In fact if you hate him... go away plz XD... or if you want to read what I have to say... stay. OwO

I also im doing this because there’s a lot of unjustified hate towards him, that makes me wonder if we have watched the same show.

This is just my feelings about Michi... because it have been an experience to like him. He’s definitely not the type of character that I usually love, but here I’m loving him a lot. Shipping aside he’s definitely the best character in Geats for me. I will not cover shipping preferences in this because that could be another topic XD and you know... let’s be real, no matter who your fav ship in Geats is, it will never be canon. If Geats production team is pushing the AzuAce agenda is just marketing, they know very well that sells (and Im buying it XD).

I will also counter the usually speech of people that hate him: He’s evil, he kills people, he dont deserve redemtion arc... etc, etc... Excuse me? Have you pay attention to the show? Or we have not watched the same show?

So... let’s go to see why you should love Michinaga as much as Ace does:

Those that knows me or know this blog... know already that I hated 01! I was prepared to hate Geats the same way that I hated 01 just because Yuuya Takahashi (the main writer). I didnt expect to enjoy this series as much as I do now. Moreless to love a character as Michinaga: A tsundere boy, self centered with anger problems, revenge and the desire to crush all Kamen Riders. The boy sound exactly like everything that I could hate. X,D

Michinaga was my fav from Geats pressconference... why? because he looked like a Kamen Rider Blade character... in fact he looked like the combination of Kenzaki and Hajime. (and I still have my head canon that Michi is their son X,D But that’s for another post X,D).

So yeah my like for him in the beggining was just something totally unrelated to the show. Was just his looks. I didnt care at all for him in the first episodes... in fact I didnt care for anyone in the show. Nor Ace, Neon, or even Keiwa seems like good people to the heart in the beggining. Entering this DGP to fulfill their dreams and go with it without really asking why? how? and when? Ofc, this is what this story is about, specially with a main protagonist that we know nothing about.

Michinaga was an average character (may be annoying yes) till the moment he die in early episodes (ep 15 I believe), the scene of him dying in Ace arms was really significant, specially because is the first time we see the boy being true with his words, saying to Ace: Give me a reason to believe on you. before pass out.

 Before the episode, every interaction of Michinaga and Ace have been interesting... because indirectly Ace have been advising him, with words: if you dont give up the chance to win will came. Surely... in those episodes Ace didnt see Michinaga as a rival at all... may be just like an annoying lad. But everything change when he returned from the dead. And this is where Michanaga character turn to get interesting for saying the least.

This point is where Michinaga turns into what we call an antihero. He returns from dead to know the other side of the coin of the DGP. He was almost killed by Niram. He was picked up by Beroba like a playing toy without escape from the womans hand (she literaly says: join me or I kill you right here). Michinaga was pushed between the sword or the wall, something that haters tends to forget, he had no option to join to Beroba’s side (he didnt enjoy any of that).

I was totally amazed by Michinaga’s guts. The boy survived Niram deadly attack, like an annoying insect that wanted to survive. Then Michinaga state: FUCKS the DGP. He stated he wanted to crush the DGP now that he knows more than the facade. And I was: GO KING, TOTALLY DO IT, even if it destroys you!! TTATT

I became a fan of Michinaga’s guts. It was the begining of the arc 2 of the series, and I was annoyed that the series totally forgot about the mistery of the DGP and Ace and the others decided to go along with all the DGP rules. So I was all go Michi go Michi, even if he looks like he was suffering because the buckle. TTATT

In this point we could say that Michinaga changed. Even his primary objective of revenge changed. And I was puzzled like Ace was XD because I truly didnt know what to expect from Michi. He was bad?! What he wanted to do? What the fuck is he thinking? Why he didnt join forces with Ace and others?. Deep down inside I wanted to believe that Michi was a good person even if he was converting in a Jyamato, because he didn't enjoy any of it, he didn't laugh, he didn't smile, he even had to overcome the shadow of his friend, and he did in the most cold way possible.

We could safely say that Michi fighted to the top of his position to be consider Geats rival. I believe that by the end of the JGP, Ace totally considered Michi his equall, his rival. It’s character development at his finest.

Now, since the bullgame that Beroba trampled (because she always got in the way of the true intentions of Michinaga, but he go along with her just for reach his objective) we start to know that Michinaga is not all EVIL, he even did the Bullgame for stop the casualities. And everything starts to fit together like a puzzle.

Michinaga became the biggest hypocrite, he won even if costed him everything. And now he has the power that he wished for (and is using it for good, even Ace knows, thanks sukiyaki scene of ep36) and to this point he have joined sides with Ace to get down the DGP. I truly LOVE IT. Michiniga embodies what a Kamen Rider is to it’s core: fight evil with the power of evil.

About Michinaga being the biggest hypocrite, I just have to say that there’s no better thing than a hypocrite that knows that is hypocrite. You know... everyone in Geats is a hypocrite to a degree, even the goodest boy Keiwa, after all Geats goes by the premise: trample on the desires of others to achieve your desires.

That Michinaga don’t deserve redemption? Why? The boy havent been bad and evil, he didnt have any option than join Beroba’s side, he didnt kill people, and all the people that died in the heaven or hell game was casualities, like any other DGP game before it. Kamen Riders couldn’t save all the people in the DGP games, there have always been people that died (like Keiwa’s parents for example). The better that our Kamen Riders could do now is to get down the DGP, Ace and Michi knows... and its only matter of time that Keiwa joins them.

Now I could truly say that I’m enjoying Geats and all it’s cast. We still have time for the power ups and for all the boys and girl to act as true Kamen Riders.

It’s a shame that Geats is not the best, but is not the worse either. I’m aware of it’s faults, may be there have been too much focus on Michi (and haters gona hate X,D)... but come on he’s great, and it’s obvious that his spotlight will have to tone down this last part.

Now there’s a lot of tiny details to say about Ace and the others (Keiwa, Neon) and also about the production, but probably I will write about it till Geats ends. We still have the last quarter to watch, there’s still things to happen. So I will wait till the end.

Thank you if you have read till here. Let’s all love Michi, because he’s more than a tsundere boy with anger problems. He’s a good boy to the heart, he’s a good little bull! U3U And like Ace, Keiwa and Neon... he deserves to be happy and smile from the bottom of his heart. TTATT

[wirtsroom]

a digital circus review but its kind of long and complainy lmfao

tldr: i wish it was good but i didnt like it, may hold hope for the future episodes

okay so. ive been semi following digital circus for a while cuz like. i like gooseworx' stuff! shes got a good flow, sense of style, yadda yadda. and same goes for kevins stuff too!! when they released the mini trailers i was intrigued!

but like. the pilot is. okay how do i start this

the plot: i know its just the pilot, but its really showing its cards way too early and completely unsubtle. its supposed to be all "ahhh ur in the pc scary!" but its so hamfisted in its existential delivery we cant even begin to immerse in the world. like. we have an interesting premise of being in an environment akin to early pc games for kids! theres a whole fun circus! but rarely in the episode do we go for a romp in those ideas, rather we are all just "oh no were all crazy here. mwahahahah" and thats BORINGGGGG. the pacing feels also way to fast for us to truly be unsettled. bam, youre here, the clowns evil, youre in the backrooms or whatever, done. it goes too fast and shows too many ideas at once to be honest.

the characters: theyre standard as far as 00s inspired characters go. they all fit a certain trope in modern psychological horror and nothing is left to the imagination really. jax is your bitchboy tumblr fave, pomni is the fish out of water, ragatha has to be the Nice One, zooble is. well she was there. the fucking chess piece guy was there to allude to viewers the horrors or whatevr and then the comedy face character is just for comic relief. while again this IS a pilot, i have no idea how these characters will be you know. interesting to the plot. like jax is going to just be the depressed self aware guy i can see that but is there anything else he can give? do we have interesting connections to these characters? will any of them have thematic pieces for their designs? I dont know i want them to hit but they feel kind of surface level with little allusion.

the aesthetic: sorry im kind of a cunt for this THEY ARE NOOOT USING THE SETTING TO ITS MAXIMUM POTENTIAL!!!!! THE WHOLE PC GAME THING IS JUST SET DRESSING AND LITTLE ELSE!!!! LIKE "OHHH ARENT YOU SCARED BC THIS IS THE HAPPY PLACE WHEN ITS EVIL?" LIKE COME ON!!! WHERES THE JANK! WHERES THE WEIRD PUZZLE GAMES! DOES NOBODY HERE ASIDE FROM THE RINGMASTER DO ANYTHING? WHY IS IT SO HUGE? and also the animation is. kind of now clashing witht the style. Like not really- obviously all the directors on the animation aspect ARE talented, have industry level experience, but its smooth and modern approach sort of makes the setting even less connected. and in some cases the intentional breakage can be really good!!! but it feels too polished, too clean for its chosen period.

an aside?: i dont know see cuz it has a good idea! horror set within my moms old pc, but it doesnt want to even test out a twist or anything. Everyone here is trapped, everyone is crazy, theres liminal spaces, its all stuff i come to expect with an analog themed horror series, and its horror is very minimal. it has no grip on anything, it just wnats to make you feel sad for pomni and go Oh no isnt it scary? Awww nooo scary void wahh! Like it feels almost on the nose, too empty and too big to really utilize it. also im salty theyre selling 40 dollar tshirts for a pilot like. come on

but yeah i didnt. i dont know as i try to remember it now i cant think of anything that stood out. sure it was pretty looking but nothing horrific is staying with me at all. and AGAIN it IS just a pilot!!!!! things can change!!! i might be wrong!!!! but i dont see any horror in the stuff they are providing me bc it feels too safe

[vulpiximisa]

number24 review

I went into this of course for seiyuu reasons and Ayu’s character was pretty cute so Im pretty satisfied. Rugby definitely wasn’t a sport I would ever watch but if the characters are good then it’ll carry. (Its not like I watched Eyeshield 21 for football)

Anyway the pros of the show is definitely the cast. Natsusa is a very amusing and interesting character, especially with how the show starts up with his accident. Coming out from REmain not too long ago, it’s not like its something new but I like the prospect of an ex-player turning into a manager, or something just to stay close to the sport. Natsusa’s personality is lots of fun too, it makes me wonder what he would have been like if he was still a player. 

Ibuki has the second best characterization of the series, imo. Maybe I don’t mean characterization but he get’s lot of focus and he has relations with many of the other characters so that he isn’t Just “the third guy in the friend trio”. Which unfortunately Seiichiro kind of feels like. Maybe because I personally don’t like when childhood friends are attached to each other to the hip and only do things for the other person, but Sei feels a lot like that, especially when his character arc had to do with Natsusa.

Yasunari had his whole arc early enough and I’m glad to see him mellow out later. And ngl, I was already kinda shipping him with Yuu way before they even interacted, so seeing that the series actually pushed for them together, I’m winning. Yuu is my sweet baby boy and if anything happens to him, I’m going to kill everyone and then myself. Anyway, YasuYuu good. Gochisousama deshita.

I keep comparing number 24 to Free, because I can feel that the creators made the series with the intention of selling “Male Friendships.” So Natsusa, Ibuki and Sei are the Haru, Rin and Mako, respectively. (In that respect, Yasunari and Yuu are the Rei and Nagisa or whatever.) I like, don’t super mind that that’s what they’re trying to sell, because if I like it I’ll take and if I don’t then I’ll ignore it. It’s not like I was here for the sport anyway so I definitely am looking at the guys bonding. 

I personally prefer Ibuki and Natsu’s relationship, theyre so funny. Natsu is a little mean to him sometimes but that’s what they’re like. The fact that Ibuki is actually their senpai but theyre also childhood friends but Natsu does not go easy on him or is not super chill makes it really interesting I’m pretty sure Natsu calls him senpai just to mock him because he “hates” him so much. Sei and Natsu are sweet but I didn’t care for Sei being so Natsu centric. Like yeah, Sei does interact with a few other classmates but he is very Natsu centric.I could already feel it from episode one. I’m glad Sei and Ibuki get a good amount of scenes together as well and aren’t just Natsu’s two boyfriends.

I also thought Ibuki and Ethan were funny but man, there’s too many guys. And then theyre are the two yellow team guys (voiced by Soma and Kaito but are unfortunately brothers, booo) who also have a certain beef with the main 3. Wish we got a little more from them instead of showcasing the rest of the way too colorful team. 

number 24 fails Because they have such a huge cast. We did NOT need to know the names and faces of all…. Number of the Doushisha team. The fact that its a college club means that there are 1 to 4 years of classes, and it just makes remembering the characters even harder. Especially because All the characters have to Have A Distinct Look. If the series had been a two cour, and they slowly brought up some of the side players, it would have definitely helped, instead  of dumping all whatever number from episode one. Or just make the less important characters not that bright and colorful. It’s okay to have the Ita trio if you trickle them in slowly. The Ita trio weren’t even whole characters in the early chapters of HQ anyway, they were mob charas without a set design.

They did mostly focus on the main 5 (Natsu, Ibuki, Sei, Yasu, Yuu) and sometimes the captain/vice captain and that should have been it for the 12 episodes that they had.

Also the fact that the character designer’s works are way too soft for a sport like Rugby. I think they should have used a different character designer. I didn’t like how all the pretty anime boys were playing their sport without a helmet. Also, ngl, rugby isnt super pretty to begin with, so if they were trying to be Free (shirtless and rippling abs or whatever) they failed because I dont think fujos like the rough man on man grappling. Unless they do, not gonna judge, but the ending images are just so jarring when watching the series/op and what they do.

I’m surprised they actually had a budget because a lot of the rugby plays were pretty good. So I guess it wasn’t a complete cash grab. I mean, it does feel like it, but I was surprised. Oh, also Ive said in another post that I don’t care for sports anime where all the rules are never explained because the cast already know and love the sport and there’s no noobie to explain the rules to (and the audience.) So I went the whole show not knowing how rugby worked, and only had a slight inkling by the end because it was a little like AmeFoot (which the only knowledge I had was from watching Eyeshield 21). So its a good thing that rugby players werent the main focus because I would have bounced a lot earlier.

Uh, anyway, that’s numberTwoFour. Not a complete waste of my time but not something I would highly recommend to anyone. If they do have a cour 2/season 2 of course I’ll watch it but I highly doubt it.