#i guess that's partly why i loved liz so much more because you don't have these complicated relationship dynamics to contend with

[kristencsummerlin]

X + Y

X: A character you enjoy making suffer?

Depends on the fic. For my Hellsing/BlackButler one I was gonna make my OC Shirley suffer mainly through combat. Because she has healing potions although she herself can't regenerate and the potion causes you to feel the pain one would have throughout the time of the healing possess all at once. So she's weak and in pain during and after combat and while quickly healing with the potion. Besides her it would of been one of her "students." She's the whole whiny vampire trope. She's one of those "doesn't want to be a vampire" type of vampires so she's emo and kind of bitchy due to partly starving herself. I gave her and Shirley dark background stories. I don't really want to hurt a canon character. Maybe Integra's Uncle because fuck him.

For Nicktoons it's Timmy and Tootie. They canonly are supposed to have a hard life. So I gave them a more dark Fae folklore like background that fits with their characters and the show. The idea is to continue the Nicktoons so I don't know if anyone wants me to spoil it here. lol I don't know, making Timmy and Tootie suffer a little has made them almost my faves. Almost because I don't really fave anyone in Nicktoons yet.

For Soul Eater it would be Soul I guess. I don't hate him and I don't really make him suffer. Not like the other characters from the other fics. My idea is for Maka to start dating a guy and Soul to be jealous and upset about it. So in a way they're suffering. The only other person would be Ox. I headcanon that Liz partly hates him due to his arrogant nature and bad haircut. Because those are the reasons I don't like him (Plus his odd obsession with Kim who I hate so fucking much!) So Liz talks shit about Ox all the time.

Y: A character you want to protect?

For my Hellsing/Black Butler it's Integra, Astra (I don't remember if it's his real name or my sister's head canon name for "Ciel" being it was revealed that Ciel is his twin brother's name and not his), Soma, and Alois. Astra and Alois have suffered a shit ton so they need saving. Soma is a ruby chocolate chip cookie. And Integra is like Queen so everyone worship her.

For Nicktoons it's funny enough the main villains. Because all of them want love and friendship in some shape or form. Like I can't hate any of them. Same with the Evil and or Anti Nicktoons. Because I have them be anti-heroes. Which A Glitch in Time has saved me because I for the longest time was trying to figure out why Dan, a 24 year old was working and or hanging around a bunch of teenagers and the novel came in when I needed it the most. THANK YOU A GLITCH IN TIME!!! So yeah protect the evil babies. LOL

For Soul Eater it's Crona, Tsubaki, and Patty. Patty is like an fox pup she's playful on a level no one can understand. Crona because they need all the love their world has gone out of it's way to not give. Crona is literally my dad's favorite character. Like he was watching the show with me and stopped watching it in protest because he thought the show did Crona dirty. Still bitter about it. When I told him the anime treated Crona better than the manga, YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN HIS FACE! And then Tsubaki because she's sweat. Although I like to think of her like the Wonder Woman of the group. Something about her screams it.

[a-bucket-full-of-feels]

so i’ve been looking at hibike movie discussion and my past tumblr reblogs/posts about hibike content (including internal monologue) and again i’m just filled with frustration about the yuribaiting and the way kumiko/reina, shuuichi/kumiko and taki/reina’s relationship dynamic was handled again

detaching myself from my emotions attached to kmr as a shipper, the intended relationship dynamic for the both of them is supposed to be that of extremely close friends in a mutually supportive relationship of self-discovery and self-pursuit of goals. and that’s a nice wholesome kind of relationship that doesn’t need to be romantic, which was also well fleshed out for both seasons. but the deliberate artistic/directorial choices made to make it seem romantic (the lighting, camera angles, even the choice of the piece they played on the mountain - a video by digibro explains this at length better than me) just puts the notion of romance into the viewer’s mind, even for regular viewers not on the look out for yuri ships (like myself).

and you know, that’s all fine and dandy (happens all the time in animes with main characters of the same gender) but the issue is that you have the shkm’s relationship, which in the source material becomes romantic for a period of time. i do understand that the anime writers don’t seem to want to make shkm canon, and i concur since romance was never and should never be the main plot of hibike anyway, but because of all the romantic undertones in kmr, the sporadic moments of shkm just rubs many off the wrong way when they happen. and again, detacing myself from those emotions, i can tell that the intended dynamic for shkm is also mainly about platonic friendship. of course, it’s very different from kumiko’s relationship with reina - the former is a lot more deep and passionate, whereas kumiko has known shuuichi for a long time - they take jabs at each other, casually express disgust, but it’s a type of friendship that friends who know each other for a long time can have, and they obviously care about each other. shuuichi has expressed some sort of romantic attraction to kumiko at some points but kumiko was not ready to accept shuuichi in a romantic way, and again, that’s ok, it’s the sort of thing that can happen to friends of the opposite gender who know each other for a long time, and moreover it’s during their teenage years where they’re starting to discover their sexuality and romantic inclinations. and yes, the rational side of me accepts that shuuichi is a good guy and that majority of their interactions in the anime are platonic. but because of the way the writing causes me to incline towards kmr, i can’t help but to feel viscerally upset and anxious when shkm moments occur.

and let’s face it - kmr will NOT be canon. it was never canon, it was never meant to be canon. i was hoping kyoani would turn the tides in s2, but after a while i just accepted that it was plain ol’ yuribaiting. and it’s just really frustrating - perhaps one of the reasons why they went the extra mile in the artistic direction to portray the development of kumiko and reina’s deep friendship to make it so “magical” and “special” was to allow the viewers to understand how much reina would influence kumiko’s development as a character later on. but it just came off as “too much” and (more than) subtly romantic, which just makes shuuichi’s romantic attraction to kumiko and reina’s blatant infatuation with taki just off-putting to watch.

and speaking of taki sensei and reina, since i’m already knee-deep into my rant i’ll just go deeper. i know many people have mentioned it and i may have talked about it before on my blog, but reina’s arc relating to her infatuation for taki sensei was handled poorly and really was a dampener on a character that was so well-written and striking in s1. yes, reina’s admiration for taki (which she misinterprets for feelings of love) is what motivates many of her actions and development as a trumpet player, but it was particularly frustrating when she “confessed” to taki even after that decisive episodes where she seems to come to grips with her relationship and feelings for taki. the details are fuzzy because i haven’t revisited the anime since it last aired, but again this reina arc in general rubbed me off the wrong way as well.

in summary, the way these relationships are handled in hibike frustrate me because i want to appreciate this anime wholeheartedly because it’s so good on so many levels - the plot, the characters, the themes, the art, the music - but the handling of kmr and the relationships that are closely tied to it really dampens my experience of enjoying the series because the emotional shipper side of me always wanted kmr to prevail even though it was never meant to be anything more than platonic.