#i have no idea why people in anime always have to rant for like 10 mins about the goodness of humanity or how limits don't define you

[someweirdoreblogger]

I'm ready to be blocked over this.

But I don't really like KNY all that much, don't get me wrong, I totally understand the appeal; its all put wonderfully together, looks like a fucking Van Gogh painting. And I won't lie and say I didn't watch it all, I binged the shit. The animation is well done, and the vocals are top-notch. The story absolutely has potential. Lots of it.

I just don't like how the KNY story executed the line overall. I think it's very underwhelming and unrealistic in its character interactions.

[little-meowyao]

Hello..If you don't mind me asking (again), can I ask, what are your top 7 (or top 10) favorite media (can be books/ manga/ anime/movies/tv series/etc) and your top 10 favorite (fictional) characters from any media? Why do you love them all? Sorry if you've answered this questions before......

I haven't! And I'm so thrilled you sent this actually

(Readmore because long-ish post)

So when it comes to medias, I am going to say (and I hope you don't mind classics lol)

No Longer Human

This book is just. Everything to me. You have no idea I went through it so quickly I ADORE IT. Literature bible

Did you ever get the feeling of being so similiar to someone, so close, but there's just this sense of sheer disconnect from them? Like a thread that should in all reason hold two things together but doesn't? "Hello, I feel disconnected from humanity" "Hello, I feel disconnected from humanity too but I can't relate to you"

No Longer Human my beloved

2. Nirvana in Fire

This speaks for itself, I think. It is so incredibly intricate and compelling, also I love Lying Liars Who Lie. And trajedies. I like palace/political dramas a lot!

3. I Became a God in a Horror Game (GHG)

How do I even begin to explain this one. It's a 1.5 million words beast. I've only read half of it. I am on the edge of my seat always. The protagonist is kinda scummy, money-obsessed, and so so interesting. They have powers

Again, I've only read half of it, but it's that kinda novel that just keeps you READING READING READING. I like it a lot

There is a beast of a little girl and a little clown named Daniel. He only just started appearing but if anything happens to him, I will kill everyone in the room and then myself. He's murderous, but that's fine because he spent 10 years in constant torment

The worldbuilding is super intricate

4. Bungo Stray Dogs

I love the worldbuilding (although Fyodor's ability reveal was super whack) but the relationships are what get me. Fyolai especially, a hyper religious man with a savior complex that in the latest chaps I've read is implied to be kinda suicidal and an atheist clown who seeks pure freedom and wants to kill Fyodor because his affection for him is a cage and he also reeks of religious trauma. They are So Insane

Dazai is my most favourite for obvious reasons (see: NLH rant above) but Mori. Mori, this man. Wow

VERY controversial opinion within BSD fandom but I adore Mori and desperately want to know more about him. I will murder someone if his entire backstory isn't shown

Also Fuukuchi. [Weary sigh] I adore Fukuchi. Such a complicated man

5. Mo Dao Zu Shi

I really didn't think I'd put it this low but it's kinda whack actually. Very compelling but also unfortunately very vague world. I love the social dynamics at play and I do think that the ending, while super cruel and horrible to so many people, is thematically appropriate

Also it contains my currently favourite blorbo! Jin Guangyao my dearest. What an interesting little bug

6. The Inheritance Cycle

One way more childish than above (YA) but so good nonetheless. I love the implications of the magic system (a whole language that invokes magic! The Ancient Language) and of the dragons, but especially of the ra'zac. Gods the ra'zac

Birdish creatures that exist outside of the magic grid of the Ancient Language. They cannot use magic but they cannot be detected by it either. Most likely they don't have a name in the ancient language (the One True language of the world that dictates natural laws, kinda). They seem to be natural predators to humans

Their natural speech is hisses and clicks and stuff but they can speak. Then they metamorphise into lethrblaka and lose the ability to speak, and start flying

I also love the implications of the dragons being able to just erase things from existence (via bouts of magic they don't entirely control). They erased the names of the thirteen dragons that willingly participated in the massacre of their species. Their names cannot be spoken out loud and anyone that reads them quickly forgets. It also doomed the dragons to isolation, because any sort of communication or "I like [thing]" would be like naming themselves. Many of their riders (humans bonded to them since their birth) went insane because of that, and a notion dragons are wild beasts spread from that (they're not, they're as sentient and intelligent as any human)

And 7. The Plated Prisioner series

The worldbuilding is not super complex. They have powers that come from fae ancestors, and that's about it (so far; I've only read up to the 4th book)

What keeps me hooked is the story itself. The pacing is actually really good (I think) and the story just keeps going and you just want to keep reading and reading and reading. There are moments of massive tension and people who die and the transformation of the mc is incredibly cool

8. Genshin Impact

This would probably be further up if you'd asked me an year or two ago. I like the story a lot and the characters are really cool. All The Fuckery of Mondstadt has me hooked (why do essentially all the Mondstadt characters have some trauma or something weird about them. Genuinely. And what was the deal with the upside down statue. And why is Celestia pointing to it)

I am really looking foward to 7.0 version and beyond where we get to FINALLY face the main antagonists (HOPEFULLY BECAUSE IF IT ISN'T THE TSARITSA WHO COULD IT BE) and then for Kahenri'ah. There's a character (Dainsleif) that shows up once an year, drops a lore bomb, traumadumps, and then disappears, and he has the entire playerbase by the throath. Though the lsst two quests with him have been sadly very short :(

As for my blorbos, I'm just gonna list some of them (in no particular order)

This is /checks notes, 6 books (series), a show, and a game

Jin Guangyao (MDZS)

Qi Rong (TGCF)

Kaeya (Genshin Impact)

Dainsleif (Genshin Impact)

Bai Liu (GHG)

Dazai (BSD)

Fyodor (BSD)

Mori (BSD)

Nikolai (BSD)

Fukuchi (BSD)

Lan Xichen (MDZS)

Nie Mingjue (MDZS)

Daniel (GHG)

Georgia (GHG)

Tang Erda (GHG)

[newpotatomash]

It's so fucking ironic when little shits start pelting the comment section in fics that are clearly tagged with "pedophilia" and "dead dove do not eat" and similar words.

Long fucking rant under the cut-

What is it with these people and being unable to just fucking click the back button? It isn't even my fanfiction, but these people just scream everything between "Go to therapy" and "kill yourself" as if they actually wish for people to deal with whatever might cause an issue in their life??? They fucking don't. They just want to scream at strangers to die while they write "UwU dead dove do not eat" fanfics themselves that include murder and violent fantasies of a fictional character.

But it's fine when they do it because nobody involved is underage as if that makes their stupid fucking rules about thought-crimes any less violent.

Why is it always the same people who insist they love dark media?? Either you're fine with MADE UP ACTS or you're not. You can't just fucking pick and choose and decide that you're the authority of "acceptable" violence that someone thought up in their heads.

I am extremely fickle when it comes to media that involves vaginal sex, and that is my responsibility to curate, which is why I fucking??? Don't??? Walk right into a fanfic that's been tagged with those exact tags and blame the author.

I saw someone going something like, "No sane person would read this. I can only imagine a very impressionable child stumbled upon it and saw it, which breaks my heart ngl"

IF AN IMPRESSIONABLE CHILD STARTS TICKING BOXES FOR A VERY SPECIFIC TYPE OF FANFIC, AND THEY THEN PROCEED TO READ IT, HOW THE HELL IS THAT THE AUTHORS FAULT. we're one goddamn step away from blaming murder on video games here.

These fucking people think that wishing death upon others for writing a piece of fiction is any better than a 14 year old reading said piece of fiction and going, "Whoa. Weird." And then leaving the website because they realized that pretending to be 18+ was a bad idea.

I am in awe over the internet.

The amount of times I see the word "degenerate" on a day is completely bonkers and I wish sites weren't so fucking scared of porn. We're just competing in some fucked up moral olympics and nobody is winning except the advertisers who cry snot at a site allowing 18+ content. I love ao3 so much.

I hate that if I wish to post smutty drawings I have to use twitter? I won't suddenly start using a site like furaffinity when I don't draw anything that would count as furry.

I hate the internet for taking away the immeasurable joy it is to bond with people who just want to play dolls (write fanfics or draw fanart, make oc stuff, all that) with me. I've met some of my best friends online that I've sent and received gifts from over the span of 5, 10, 15 years.

I remember writing an abundance of shotacon fics, and knowing it was an acquired taste, but never seeing the kind of moral-policing we have now. (I know it existed. Of course) Hell, I remember people just saying that Enzai was an amazing anime because to them, it was a given that a yaoi anime would include kids and rape and false imprisonment?? It was the fucking wild west and it's like people saw this and went "Hey... We should start tagging things."

But instead of continuing to have fun with their fictional writings and tagging topics in the stories, we just escalated into "We have a pedophilia tag but people will wish death upon you."

How do these people survive in day-to-day life in actual conversation? Do they start arguing and calling a 15 year old who has a crush on their 14 year old friend a pedophile? Do they start berating young women because they named their boyfriend "daddy" in their phonebook? Why are they like this???

I miss fanfiction.net and livejournal so much when the biggest concern was figuring out what topic I'd discuss while I pretended to speak to characters from Yugioh and yelling "I don't own any of these characters". I miss it so much. It made my life better. I found community, I made friends. I wonder what kind of friends people nowadays will make 15 years from now.

Shout out to my buddies from ffnet who are still following me because you know exactly who you are

[lemonhemlock]

Hey! 👋 I don’t know if you have TikTok, but I do and whenever a HOTD vid comes on my FYP, I always see all these comments blaming Otto for the Dance. It is so annoying. I won’t deny that Otto played a big part in it, but it wasn’t his fault. People blame Otto, Rhaenyra, Alicent, and Aemond for the Dance, but I never see anyone blame the dude whose fault it actually was: ‼️VISERYS‼️The Dance is a direct consequence of his action, or rather his inaction.

1. Naming Rhaenyra heir. He apparently does this because Daemon was a bad heir and he felt guilty about killing Aemma. But in the books, when Aemma dies, he is 28 years old. Pretty young, even for medieval times. He knew he’d most likely have to remarry. He knew that the chance of having a son with his new wife was high. So why not just put up with Daemon’s bullshit for a couple years until he has a son? Aegon is born in 107 AC, literally two years after Aemma dies. If he hadn’t named her heir, the Dance wouldn’t have happened.

2. Not doing anything else. So he names Rhaenyra heir and does nothing else. He broke years of tradition and then just sat on his ass. He didn’t try to make a new law or anything. In my opinion, he should have codified the idea that the firstborn would inherit regardless of gender. I think it would have been much easier to make it a widespread thing instead of making Rhaenyra the exception. By the time he died, no one would have batted an eye at her ascending the throne and Viserys would actually be the ✨feminist king✨ Team Black thinks he is.

3. Remarrying. So, he’s a 28 year old widower when he names Rhaenyra heir. He knows people will probably be hounding him to remarry. He knows that if he remarries, he might have a son with his second wife. He knows that if he has a son with his second wife, people will think that this son is the legitimate heir to the Iron Throne. So just don’t remarry. Then Rhaenyra, as his only child, would be the only option to take the throne.

4. Not marrying them to each other. I hate to argue for incest, but they were Targs lol. After Alicent gave him 3 kids and he saw how shit was going down, he should have married Rhaenyra and Aegon. There is a 10 year age difference in the books, and it was said that they disliked each other, but that would still be preferable to a war that killed thousands.

The fact that he caused the Dance is just one of the many reasons I hate him. Anyways sorry for the rant 😌

Hi, Reina! I do have TikTok and I enjoy using it, but it's not a fandom account and I mainly use it like a normal person to collect recipes, hacks, short makeup reviews and funny animal content. I haven't been on in a couple of months though since I've been spending more time here. I am a bit wary that I'm going to get a lot of HOTD/ASOIAF clips with annoying takes.

I basically agree with all your points lol. :))

The fact that he remarried SO quickly and impregnated his new wife is so strange. That can't NOT be deliberate, I mean??? It's not like he had lost all hope of producing another son. It's so illogical. This kind of thing never would have happened IRL - Henry I only named Matilda his heir after her brother died and only until he managed to get himself a son, but that never happened and Matilda quite logically remained his only option. I think we're supposed to believe it's an emotional reaction in-universe, but, yes, it would have been much more measured to just give Alicent a chance to birth a son lol.

So, see, this is where I don't really know what he could have done to keep Rhaenyra as heir in the context of her having brothers, because this never would have been a conversation in 12th Century England. And I'm not a medievalist, so I have limited knowledge on how enforceable this supposed edict of Viserys' could have been. Medieval law adoption and enforcement is a mess and I'm not qualified to speak on it with any degree of authority, other than to point out that 'feudalism' (a term many historians take issue with anyway), in its very simplified form, implies a struggle for power between king and vassals. If this new law proved to be unpopular and the lords refused to carry it out, what would happen then? Is a law really a law if you cannot enforce it or is it just words written on a piece of paper? What exactly are the conditions via which some arbitrary rule stops being a theoretical concept and becomes an actual law? (I'm sure scholars of law and philosophy could have a field day debating these questions). All of this, should, of course be integrated in the kind of political system Westeros seems to be: the King only disposes of the Crownlands + Dragonstone* as his own personal fiefdom - militarily and resource-wise it doesn't seem to be much - and probably relies on levies collected and surrendered by vassals. The Lords Paramount are very powerful, dispose of military might and wealth, and can pose a lot of problems if they decide to rebel. As others have already pointed out, Westeros is not an absolute monarchy, however much people like to throw around that term. The Lords disagreeing with this huge change in the political and social landscape should be a very serious problem. As I keep pointing out, the historical inspiration King Henry I had his nobles swear oaths for Matilda twice, once in 1127 and once in 1131 (he died in 1135) and that still wasn't enough. I think that if the solution were as simple as "just pass a law lol", Henry would have implemented it. But it took until Queen Mary I for England to have a ruling female monarch - so nearly 400 years later.

I think the re-marrying can be explained away as Viserys needing a few extra heirs beside Rhaenyra, in case something happened to either him or his daughter. Which I can accept, but you can't eat your cake and have it, too, here. You gotta pick one: either stick with Rhaenyra and make her produce more heirs OR remarry and produce more heirs yourself. Not both.

So, yeah, people should blame Viserys for this mess, but they don't want to because Paddy gave a stellar performance that pulled at their heartstrings, so now he's father of the year and a peaceful king.

*How much wealth Dragonstone generates would actually be an interesting, if separate, discussion. Stannis doesn't seem to have a lot in the main series and feels very slighted because Robert chose to give Storm's End to Renly instead - the Stormlands appear to be the richer kingdom here. However, if I remember correctly, the worldbook states that the Targaryens became quite wealthy on Dragonstone when they moved there due to trade?

Dragonstone had been the westernmost outpost of Valyrian power for two centuries. Its location athwart the Gullet gave its lords a stranglehold on Blackwater Bay, and enabled both the Targaryens and their close allies, the Velaryons of Driftmark (a lesser house of Valyrian descent), to fill their coffers off the passing trade. Velaryon ships, along with those of another allied Valyrian house, the Celtigars of Claw Isle, dominated the middle reaches of the narrow sea, whilst the Targaryens ruled the skies with their dragons.

[heelachilleshowl]

❝​🇹​​🇭​​🇪​ ​🇲​​🇺​​🇸​​🇪​​🇸​❝

1. Describe your OC physically- what do they look like? What notable features do they have, or what’s your favorite part of their design?

Nikolas is a tall, lean guy with curly blond hair and a strong jawline that's clean shaven. He has striking blue eyes, a delicate long nose and pink lips on the thinner side. He has strong thighs, calves and biceps; his wrists and ankles are on the danitier/thinner side.

He has a long neck with a defined adams apple and also has sparse feeckles sprinkled across his skin, his body hair is very light and barely noticeable. He is slightly tan from being in the sun but only very subtly.

2. What role would your OC fill in a friend group?

He is the glue that holds people together, he's a ray of optimistic sunshine and he does what he can to keep the peace and bring the people he loves together.

3. What is their stance on religion? Are they a devout believer, against the idea of gods, or somewhere in between? Do they make their practice or their opinions public, or keep it private?

Nikolas has no concept of gods and religion, it's not something he ever know and it's not something he thinks about now. He respects other people and their faith and he'll keep quiet when other pray but he just starts daydreaming about other things.

4. How do they act when they’re sick, and does it change depending on who they’re around or how sick they are?

He tries to fight through it the point where he makes himself even more sick and at that point he gets forced to rest by everyone around him. Sometimes if he's badly sick he'll stay in bed but he'll still try to shrug it off if anyone checks on him.

5. What’s one hill your OC will die on (anything from a guiding moral position to a strong opinion about combining mint and chocolate)?

He firmly believes children and animals should not be harmed or used on any of other people's bullshit skirmishes/to gain an upper hand etc. If he finds out anyone has hurt or taken advantage of children or animals in anyway he makes them his enemy and if anyone he knows interacts with them positively he gives them a long rant on why they shouldn't and is ready to drop those connections if they refuse to take his words to heart.

6. How did you choose your OC’s name?

Nikolas is just a name I've always really loved, it means victory of the people and this fits in with his main storyline with how everyone in his life has done everything in his power to keep him alive and his very act of living is a victory for those people. Reeves was again just something I thought sounded nice with Nikolas.

7. Lots of people don’t have a favorite food when put on the spot, but what’s a food or drink that your OC would never turn down if someone offered it to them?

Apple pie and a hot coco, his mother made the best apple pie in the world and every day he misses the taste of it. He's not in a world where he can be picky however so he really will eat and drink almost anything that's available.

8. What’s something that your OC owns that means the world to them? What’s something they own that they don’t like, but can’t bring themself to part with?

He has his mothers necklace that he never takes off, the pendant on it hangs right over his heart and it makes him feel connected to her. A gift Hakon gave him once, it's a shitty radio that he never uses but it's one of the only things he has from Hakon so he can't toss it.

9. How do they fare in cold or hot climates, and which do they prefer?

He's pretty adaptable with weather, he prefers weather in between but he doesn't mind the cold because it makes everything else a lot slower.

10. Share a sentence of dialogue from your OC that you think represents them well.

"I'll be here tomorrow, and the day after that," [One Minute More Love One Minute More — paragraph;19, line;145]

This line represents a core aspect of Nikolas being how he's willing to be there for those he loves even when they're pushing him away of being distant. He always gives them an opening and a way of knowing his door is open when they want to come back home, he doesn't hold grudges for very long and his love for his friends and family outweighs almost everything else.

11. How are they seen by people around them - family, close friends, colleagues, or strangers?

Family see a him as a sunrise after the coldest and darkest of nights, friends see him as the warmth of the sun on their skin and the victory party after a hard won battle. People he works with see a radiant man with a gentle heart that could get him killed one of these days. Strangers either seem him as a charming stranger of a dangerous threat.

12. What does their bed and/or desk look like? Tidy or cluttered - are they both the same, or is one neat and the other messy?

His bed and desk are always tidy, he likes being able to just get back into bed and seeing where everything is because he has to sometimes get places quickly and having everything out in the open and in the place where he knows it'll be.

13. How do they deal with pain (physical or emotional)?

For the most part he has a medium to high pain tolerance and grits his teeth through most pain (goes the same for emotional pain). He is the trope of bleeding out under his clothes without telling anyone.

14. How comfortable are they relying on other people, and what situations would change their comfort level?

Not very comfortable at all, if he can he does everything himself and if he can't; he tries to do it himself anyway. He doesn't like burdening people around him especially the people he loves and usually they have to help him against his wishes because he's annoyingly stubborn about it.

15. How does your OC take up space? What do they do with their hands when they talk, or how do they sit in chairs?

Nikolas is pretty relaxed when he talks, he doesn't usually move his hands and has something to hold or just stuffs them away into his pocket. He sits pretty casually, mayber tossing one leg over the other or throwing his legs over the arms of the chair, he also will just sit on the arm of a chair of his friends so he can be closer to them.

16. Point assign D&D ability scores to your OC (STR, DEX, CON, INT, WIS, CHA; out of 27).

STR: 5 | DEX: 5 | CON: 3 | INT: 3 | WIS: 3 | CHA: 8

17. What are three moments in their life that impacted your OC the most?

The moment he lost his family completely changed his life, it left him traumatised and completely changed the trajectory of his life.

Being adopted by Margaret was a more positive turning note of his life, he lost his family and gained another. Without her he may not have made it to adulthood.

The breakup between him, Lawan and Hakon; losing that relationship in a sense really effected him and leaves him feeling lost for a long time.

18. If they can or would drive, what would their car be like?

He would prefer a motorbike for the speed and ability to go through small side streets, it would be a sleek one with some mods to make it appropriate for his life in their hellish apocalypse.

19. How do they connect with the people around them? Love language, how they offer comfort, etc.

He is full of love for the people around them and he tries to spend a lot of time with his friends and family and doing things for them, he's happiest when he can be helpful to his loved ones. He offers comfort through physical affection, words of comfort and advice and some times by offering to take out whatever upset them (jokingly).

20. What kind of clothing do they feel most comfortable in? What kind of clothing do they wear most often?

He really enjoys light and airy clothing that let's him breath, he's happy in a sweater and light pants but he always ends up in full-covered gear and covered head to toe in layers of clothes. It's mostly for safety and while he can move easily in them he prefers not being covered in in so many layers.

[castaccio]

Seeing this reminds me of something I found out about how tempo is decided in Incredibox Scratch Mods that is...interesting, at least to me.

(This is just me ranting about my limited knowledge of Scratch programming and math.)

So for most scratch mods, people insert sounds and sprites/animations into already existing game "templates". I looked at a few of them and noticed that they all deal with tempo using some variation of this code:

It just means that when the game starts, the tempo should be set to 85 BPM (or whatever tempo), and that the tempo should affect the "delay". What delay exactly? The delay between when the first loop starts and the second loop starts.

The funky numbers in the green basically convert the tempo of your mod (in Beats Per Minute) to the time difference between the two loops (in seconds). Since Scratch measures time in seconds as the default, it's only natural to make that conversion before the delay is used to time the sounds and animations.

We can actually plot that calculation on a graph! Why would we want to do that? Because it lets us see what tempo requires how much delay, which I think is kinda swell! Let's put the BPM/tempo on the bottom x-axis and the seconds/delay on the side y-axis...

You can see that a song with a tempo of 100 BPM would require about 10 seconds of delay between loops. A 60 BPM would require about 15 seconds worth of delay. And so on.

Some templates have their own takes on this function, which I am fascinated and puzzled by. Let's start with Sanchomelix's Increditemplate, easily the most complex template—but with the simplest change on the function.

It just divides everything by two.

I don't know why, but it does.

All that would do is half the delay time, which I suppose would halve the loops...? And I'm not sure why you'd want that...

From this to the fact that you have to make the animation script by yourself I am not touching this template with a 10 foot pole. Not until I'm waaay more experienced with scratch at least.

Moving on to the one I'm most familiar with, the Incredibox Template with Mute System by Incredibox Demo.

...this mess. It's basically the original function, all multiplied by 20, taken the floor of, and then divided by 20. For a while I had no idea why you would need to multiply and divide by 20, but I learned that the Floor bit just makes sure you don't deal with any decimal seconds. Like waiting 8.01 seconds between loops instead of 8.

I thought that all templates used floor functions for some reason, but when I realized that it was optional I went "why would you possibly choose to make your delay function MORE elaborate and LESS accurate.

If we remove all the decimal delay values, then that means the delay won't always match the tempo!! It might be a second longer (gap between loops) or shorter (loop gets cut off early)!! IT WOULD COMPLETELY RUIN THE MOD!!!

...Anyways, turns out the times 20 divided by 20 bit completely avoids that problem. It basically adds some decimal values back. At least, enough that you can safely add in any tempo you wish without an entire second being added or taken away.

I mean...there IS a difference, but it's so small that it basically doesn't matter.

And now, onto my favorite!

...yeah I don't get it either. A little bit maybe.

I get that it lets me change the time signature—which, as somebody planning a mod in 3/4, I am shaking in my seat at finding this information—and I believe that it allows the time signature to be changed by changing the function by some amount. (That's what the Z Calculator variable seems to be. It must connect to something else but I cannot be bothered to find out).

Aight rant over, thank you for listening if you made it this far :P

Incredibox life tip:

If ever making sounds, choose the tempo/BPM(beats per minute) and the project key

Ex:

BPM: 142

Project key: A major

Major is for happy ones

Minor is for sad ones

If creating a melody, you can play around with the keys for a bit till you get the one the you like

(I might update this later)

[olderthannetfic]

Full disclaimer, I'm a monolingual American from a privileged background (though I suspect that much would be pretty obvious frim reading).

I think part of the reason Americans always act like everything should be translated not just to English, but to American English is because up until very recently, almost everything WAS "translated" for us.

We Americans are so babied about language & culture, it's embarrassing. The Harry Potter books had to be "translated" because apparently we couldn't be trusted to figure out that a jumper was a sweater. I heard about an author of a true crime book just last year complaining about how "mum" had to be changed to "mom" for US release.

Then there's the American idea of exceptionalism which shows up not just as "we're the best, why would you want anything else?" but also as "wow, how weird are you for liking something that's FOREIGN?" At least when I was growing up, if you watched or read stuff in any other European language you're a snob. If you like anything from Asia you're a weirdo. (Of course, during my formative years, I was implicitly taught that Africa and South America did not produce any media worth consuming. If they had, clearly it would have been on TV because American TV had the best of everything /sarcasm)

Like when I got into anime in the 90s, Sailor Moon episode sequences had to be mirrored so american kids wouldn't get confused about the cars driving on the wrong side of the road, half the characters in anime were constantly eating "jelly donuts" because we apparently had no chance of comprehending rice balls. I was freaking astounded when Netflix started hosting K dramas with only subtitles, no dubs. Just the other week I was watching an anime that actually kept the honorifics in the dubbed version and my jaw dropped because I remember my friends and I (pre-speedy internet) trying to parse mysterious words like "chan" and "kun." My well educated and generally liberal father reacted to my announcement that I was going to study Japanese in college (10 years ago) by listing the war crimes committed by Japan in WW2 (tell me you have a white American dad without telling me you have a white American dad 🙄).

It's also the way foreign languages are taught in US schools. Not just the fact that we start late, but that it's rarely viewed as a priority. I distinctly remember thinking "why am I learning French? Even if I ever go to France I'm only gonna visit for like a week, definitely not enough to need a whole language." There was almost no effort made to explain that 1) there are other countries that speak French, 2) there are people IN THE US who speak French as a first language and 3) you'll have a much better time overseas if you don't come off as a dumb American tourist. Culture being tied to language was never addressed at all. And I went to a well funded private high school where half the teachers held PhDs with language teachers were native speakers. (Actually I think it was one of my French teachers who explained that we 15 year olds were too old to really learn a language successfully, so that's awesome)

Do not get me wrong, this is not an excuse for Americans being, ya know, American about language and cultural literacy. But this is not an easy mentality to shake and pointing it out to a lot of your fellow Americans will get you a rant about how ungrateful you are for "attacking" the best country in the world. Sometimes I look back on the kind of cultural censorship that is so damn prevalent even now and it gives me a headache because this whole country feels like a cult sometimes. I wish I could have studied language earlier in life, I wish I would have seen it as more than just a graduation requirement, and I wish I had the time to prioritize it now, but I didn't and I can't.

--

[anti-katsuki-lounge]

Hi I just found your blog today actually :)

Mind if I rant a bit? (If you're answer is no you could just delete this)

I was talking with a few of my irl friends about mha few days ago. (For context I am an open Bakugou disliker, one of my friends in a Bakugou neutralist, and the rest of them like him. Ironically I'm the only bakudeku shipper despite my distate for him but that's beside the point.)

We got into a conversation about the bakusquad and dekusquad and my neutral friend wasn't there and I was the only one who was like I would rather hang out with the dekusquad than the bakusquad. We got into a conversation on why we chose our choices.

One of my friends something that really struck with me...in a negative way.

Here's how the conversation played out

Me: I don't think I could ever really want to hang with the bakusquad especially bakugou himself. I don't really like "mean" people. If they were real I'm betting you'd avoid them like the plague

Friend: I wouldn't mind. Everytime he would try to bully me i just laugh enough times and tease him. I just keep hanging around him until the point where he just bregudgingly respects me

Me, a victim of bullying and isolationism from my past peers: Huh

It wasn't until yesterday that I thought to myself, 'Yeah that's fucking bullshit. Why should I have to earn respect before I'm treated with basic human decency' To add on I hate the whole idea of gaining respect from your bully who bullied you as severely as Bakugou did Midoriya.

Now don't get me wrong I'm a fan of the 'mean girls/boys' trope when done right. Sassy, sarcastic and a bit of a jerk but funny and accountable? Yes. A downright asshole with no redeeming qualities but their friends and their goal? No :/

Now some might say that I'm a bit hypocrital cause one of my favorite animes is Toradora! and my favorite character is Taiga, a girl with similar mannerisms with Bakugou. Yet I'd say the difference is Taiga is actually shown to be protective of her friends and makes her love for them known as best she could and has an actual sad backstory for why the way that she is (But doesn't excuse her cruel actions). She's a bitch yeah but not always and she has vulnerable caring moments enough times for me to endear myself to her. Plus she also doesn't have 10 years of bullying under her belt so that helps.

I 100% agree with everything you said.

So in regards to respect, I think there’s two kinds of respect: respect for a person as a human being (basic human decency) and respect for a person for who they are (basically admiration). Katsuki didn’t have to like Izuku, but he should’ve respected him as a human being. Izuku did nothing wrong nor did he do anything that made him not deserve basic human respect.

Also, you’re not hypocritical for liking a character who is similar to Katsuki. From what I can see, that character is actually a well-written and complex individual. Katsuki’s problem is that he attempts to be complex but ends up being so 2-Dimensional to the point where he isn’t interesting.

[marunalu]

It’s most definitely not an enemy to lover! If it was it would probably be better written. Thank you so much I have never felt such disdain before but it isn’t like me to be critical or spiteful. It’s just not in my nature but this ship and Bakugou REALLY push it. It likely it only got like this because of the fact Bakugou keeps some how reaching number 1. Not helped that I noticed many of the BakuDeku fans fell off the series wagon or are only anime. Mostly consuming media so most of their Bakugou love isn’t actually canon. The most damning thing about Bakugou is that he be better as a antagonist to Izuku not this protagonist. If they worked that angle it be so much better but also thank god during that ‘apology’ Izuku rejected being on first name basis with him. At least Horikoshi was able to keep him from actually forgiving despite the apology. Don’t know where people got the whole he forgives him he only accepted the apology. Accepting isn’t forgiving and Bakugou risking his life once is a start but doesn’t make up for everything. It’s a start of a conversation not a true redemption until Bakugou actually starts trying to be a better person! But status quo and all that ruining a good thing ugh. Like at least Endeavor dealing with consequences where Bakugou consequences!?!? (Thank you for letting me vent I really appreciate it.)

Yeah a lot of bakugou stans and bkdk shippers dont even follow the manga, or just read the chapters in which bakugou shows up, because they hope for bkdk crumps they can spam the main tag with it. There is a reason why the old bnha leaker always had to put the "no bakugou in this chapter" warning every fucking time in the leaks, so the stans wouldnt rant over what a waste of time the chapter was!

I disagree with izuku accepting bakugkus apology! He neither accepted it nor did he say one word about forgiving bakugou later after he returned to ua. Izuku still hasnt said anything regarding the apology, didnt even reacted to it, because he was simply in no right mental condition to process what bakugou said! He was tired, he was hurt and hungry, he was sad and angry he was absolutely not in the right mind! Bakugou choose the moment for his apology in which izuku was not mentally ready to react properly to it. Lost his consciousness the very next moment! The apology was not for izukus sake, it was for bakugous! If it had been for his sake, bakugou would have choosen a privat moment under 4 eyes after izuku was mentally stable enough again to react properly to it and not under the eyes and ears of their whole class, who have no idea what actually happened between the two! For gods sake they all think what bakugou did to izuku was giving him mean names, not one of them has any idea HOW BAD it was and HOW LONG the abuse lasted! A WHOLE DECADE! The same length as shotos abuse from his father! But hey only one of this things is a crime, not the other, because of bakugous age! Sorry to tell his stans that, but with 15/16 you are old enough to get the difference between right and wrong! And he needed over 10 years for an "apology" that at the end was only done out of his selfpity! Because he felt bad for HIMSELF, not for his victim! He wanted it to be done and move on and he was most likely sure izuku will think the same way, because thats how izuku always was! But fact is izuku neither accepted the "apology" nor has he forgiven bakugou yet! The question is more if hori will go deeper with it, or if he just wanted the apology to be done to please bakugou haters, but choose to do it in the most terrible and disrespectful way possible!

When it comes to endeavors arc Im more neutral. Im by no means an endeavor fan, but I can see that he is at least really trying to be a better hero and more important to be a better father. Unlike bakugou stans who will attack his haters, I would never attack endeavor haters, simply because I respect their opinion and view, even if I may not completly agree with them! What both endeavor and bakugou did is for many people very personal. Its absolutely disrespectful to say what happened to shoto was more terrible then what happened to izuku! Shoto was abused by his father, while izuku was abused by bakugou, bullied by his whole class and even the teachers and shunned out by society for being born different then the rest! Both is EQUALLY terrible! Both izuku and shoto were almost still babys when the abuse startet and both had to live a whole decade with it!

And yes at least endeavor in facing the full consequences of his actions! Some people will say its not enough, but at least there is something! We bakugou haters have to live with the possebility that bakugou will never have to face anything, simply because of his crazy fanbase!

[olivia-anderson-fanfic]

Into The Unknown, Part 10

First

Previous

Grocery store trips were weird. Tim had never taken them before, and now here he was buying food for the three of them regularly. He’d thought it would be harder, for some reason. But, no, it was just boring.

Tim rolled his eyes as Damian pointed to the nearest brightly colored object -- a bag of Not Cheetos… holy shit they were called Fritos this wasn’t allowed he has never been so vehemently against anything in his life.

He sighed as the baby yelled at him for the bag. This was his fault. He shouldn’t have gone in the chip aisle.

He looked down at the kid in front of him with an apologetic smile.

“No, kiddo. See, I would love to get that for you but, unfortunately, Mari said I can’t buy you any more random sweets. Blame her, not me.”

Damian was, apparently, too smart for his tricks because he banged his fist on the front of the cart and babbled at him angrily.

Tim sighed and leaned forward until his forehead touched the cool metal of the cart, thinking.

And then he got back up and handed the kid the bag of chips. Damian didn't know that it was food, Tim was pretty sure, and he had nothing against… ‘Fritos’ (outside of their name, obviously). So, why not? He could eat them. It was better than dealing with a tantrum in the middle of a store, at least.

Damian lit up and hugged the bag to his chest as if it was a soft stuffed animal and not a plastic bag filled with air and maybe a few chips.

Tim smiled faintly and pressed a kiss to the top of his head and then continued on his way, scanning over the list idly.

Oh. Marinette had added something. He squinted down at her messy scrawl, bringing it close to his face as if he could will the words to make sense.

And it worked. Ha. Take that everyone who didn’t believe in him.

Okay. So, she needed ‘pads’.

Sure. No problem.

He walked over to the aisle.

Hm. Okay. There might be a tiny little problem.

Why were there so many different brands? And sizes?

He stared around at them all helplessly. Sure, he had glimpsed the box a few times but he certainly hadn’t paid it much mind -- it wasn’t for him, why would he?! But now he was standing in an entire aisle full of products and there were way too many of them. And why did they all look the same? Shit!

He looked at Damian, who was biting the edge of the chip bag and giggling about the crinkling noises it made. But, once Tim turned his gaze on him, he looked up at him with wide eyes, attentive.

“Any chance you know what type Mari uses?” Tim joked softly.

Damian popped off the chip bag so he could babble at him. It was very helpful.

He considered, very briefly, just standing there in the aisle with the same helpless expression until some kind-hearted person took pity on him and he could avoid the embarrassment of calling Marinette at work to ask what types of pads she used… but, no, the idea of asking some random person for help was way worse. He had to just suck it up and do it.

He pulled out his phone and called Marinette. He was pretty sure it was lunchtime for her, anyways.

She picked up within a few rings, voice slightly muffled as she answered with a simple: “Problem?”

Tim didn’t know whether to be embarrassed or amused that her first thought when he called her was that something was wrong.

But he quickly alleviated her fears: “No, everything’s fine.”

He could hear the phone shift slightly as she assumedly went back to eating. “Right, then what is it?”

“Nothing bad, really…” Tim started awkwardly. His face reddened without his permission. “Just wanted to know what brand you used for, um, hygiene products.”

“... hyg --? Oh.” He heard her laugh at him and his face only reddened further. “What, the world's greatest detective couldn’t figure it out?”

“That’s my dad!” He mumbled a little huffily.

She snickered a little longer before finally saying: “I think the brand is called ‘Forever’ here.”

“See! You don’t even know!” He said even as he pulled down a box with the word written across it in elegant script.

“That’s because the name changed when --...” She seemed to remember she was at work -- or, at least, that there were other people around -- because she cut herself off suddenly before she could admit to being a dimension hopper in a world that likely wouldn’t even believe in the multiverse. “When… I switched brands! Yeah. Heh.”

(Tim swore he heard her mumble ‘technically not even a lie’ but he wasn’t quite sure.)

He started to put it in the basket but then he paused.

“There’s a lot of sizes.”

“Um… I think a four?”

“Yeah, no, they have letters here.”

“Fuck, right, hate that, um… D, I guess.”

He switched out the Cs he had gotten and smiled as Damian reached for him. He clearly wanted out of the cart -- Tim wondered, vaguely, if it was uncomfortable -- but that wasn’t going to happen so he decided to distract him:

“Want to talk to Mari, kiddo?”

The kid blinked up at him a few times before lighting up. “Mar-ree!”

He pressed the phone to Damian’s ear with one hand until the kid took it himself and then motioned for him to go ahead. “Takalam maeaha.”

“... marhaba?” Damian said, giving Tim a look that seemed to scream ‘you’re weird for making me talk into a box’.

Marinette must have said something back, because the kid’s eyes went wide. Damian looked around wildly for a few moments, clearly trying to figure out where Marinette was, before he realized that her voice was coming from the box. He gasped a little and pressed the phone against his ear even harder and started to ‘talk’ to her. It was a weird mix of Arabic and a few English syllables thrown together haphazardly, Tim was just glad he was learning.

Tim started on his way through the store again, sure he wasn’t going to get his phone back anytime soon.

He’d gotten all the necessities and they had money left in the weekly budget...

He headed to the kid’s aisle, head tipping from side to side as he considered what to get. Maybe a new book? Damian had taken a liking to them, though Tim was pretty sure that was more because he thought the English language sounded kind of funny rather than any real passion for stories.

He picked up a book about letters and looked down at Damian. He sounded annoyed now.

He looked at Tim with an annoyed expression and shook Tim’s poor phones a few times. “Mar-ree!”

Ah. She must have hung up because her break was over.

How was he supposed to explain how phones worked to a baby? Especially since he knew phones so intimately thanks to his time working on the model he was using.

He gently pulled the phone from the kid’s hands. “Mari’s at work. You can see her later.”

“Bu…” Damian pouted.

Damn it. How dare the kid be cute? Tim was about five seconds away from walking to Marinette’s job so the kid would smile again.

He hesitated before reaching behind himself and grabbing the first soft thing his hands landed on. He pulled it out and squinted at the stuffed cat. It was cute, he supposed, but he didn’t know why it was rainbow-colored.

Whatever.

He offered the plush to Damian and the kid seemed to instantly forget about the phone.

(And the chips. But the kid had put it in his mouth so it looked like Tim was buying that anyway.)

He pressed a kid to the top of his head and then continued on his way.

… and that was when he heard it:

Haha, someone got called a DILF.

… wait a minute… he was the only person with a kid around here…

His head whipped around so fast he would have gotten whiplash if he was old -- which he wasn’t -- to see two girls in their mid teens. And they were definitely looking at him. They even tried to hide behind the next aisle in order to avoid his gaze once they realized he had heard them.

Tim didn’t know what to do about this. Someone had actually called him...

He was 19! He couldn’t be that yet! How?! No!

And, sure, the logical part of him knew they were technically right. He was attractive (he hoped) and, when it came to the ‘dad’ thing… if Damian never got his memories back, then Tim would pretty much be the only dad that he had ever known. He would be a dad.

But, again, he was 19-years-old, he didn’t want to think about this.

So, to ward off the impending crisis, he looked around the aisle he was in wildly for some kind of ‘kid’ thing.

He found some marshmallow guns and grabbed two. Then he got some marshmallows because those weren’t included for some reason. Whatever.

He looked down at the basket, aware that he was now over budget, and eventually decided to put back the book. Who needs to learn?

(Besides, if Damian really wanted to just hear people talk, Tim could totally do that. He had so many random facts in his head thanks to random rabbit holes he had gone down while sleep-deprived, he could just rant about those if the kid wanted.)

So, he checked out, loaded up with all the bags and the baby, and started walking home.

… he was totally going to learn to drive. Even if Gotham streets were safer -- especially when he had a baby on him -- it was a pain to carry all the groceries even the few blocks to their apartment. Literally. The bags dug into his skin. He swore he could taste blood.

But he had an end goal in sight, so he went faster than usual that day.

He set up the guns, leaving Marinette’s on the kitchen table and then took a seat on the couch with Damian. They spent the few remaining hours playing games (Tim was pretty sure, he had absolutely no clue what Damian was saying but the kid seemed to have fun and that was all that mattered) and watching TV.

Tim heard his door click and looked up.

He quickly reached for the marshmallow gun and turned to point it at the door.

Damian watched him in silence, perfectly still as if he understood that this was something that they needed to be quiet for.

Usually, this kind of worried Tim. They always gave Damian to Kaalki and Tikki when they sparred, but Damian had always been… shockingly well-behaved? Not in the good way, either, he was far too still and quiet. Tim was starting to suspect that, at the very least, the kid remembered the first year of his life in the League. He hoped that the trauma would fade away with time. Kids forget things that they experienced as babies when they grew older, Tim himself couldn’t remember anything from before he was three, so hopefully this would be the same.

… but he really wanted to get Marinette with a marshmallow gun. So, he swallowed down the slight bit of anxiety rising in his chest and looked through the scope as Marinette finally managed to open the finicky door.

Damian’s eyes widened and he made a quiet ‘ah!’ sound.

Tim jumped at the sudden sound and pulled the trigger. The marshmallow gun made a fmpf sound as it fired off the shot.

The marshmallow bounced off of Marinette’s forehead harmlessly. Because, y’know, it was a marshmallow.

She blinked a few times and then knelt down to pick up the fallen marshmallow. She scanned it over a few times, eyes narrowed.

Tim hardly paid attention to her, looking over at Damian. The kid looked very confused, eyes darting between the gun and Marinette and the marshmallow on the floor repeatedly as if he wasn’t sure what he was seeing.

And then he flopped back on the sofa with a quiet whimpering sound.

Marinette and Tim frowned at each other. He could see confusion and concern knitting her eyebrows together, meanwhile all he had was dread coiling itself in his gut. Because… what if Damian did remember his first year with the League? Or, even worse, what if he would slowly regain all his memories? No kid deserved that...

Tim felt something hit the side of his head, snapping him out of his daze. Oh. Marinette had grabbed the other gun and promptly gotten her revenge.

Damian didn’t see this, at least, just staring at the ceiling with wide eyes.

Marinette sat on Damian’s other side, gently picking him up and nuzzling her nose against his cheek. Then, she sat him back down between them, sidling close so the kid could curl into her side. Tim, after a few seconds, scooted closer as well.

“Want some marshmallows? They’re yummy,” she tried hesitantly.

She shot one into her hand and, after tearing it in half just in case, handed it to Damian.

The kid took a hesitant bite, still looking a little put out, but then he gasped a little. He happily chewed away at the marshmallow, the event easily wiped from his mind in favor of the yummy thing in his hand.

Tim sighed in relief, reaching behind himself for the marshmallow bag so they wouldn’t have to shoot any more. Just in case.

“Quick thinking,” he said, which was kind of a compliment if you squinted.

She smiled and leaned over to press a kiss to his cheek. “It’s what I’m known for.”

There was a few seconds before she sighed just a little, gently combing her fingers through Damian’s hair. The kid reached out and gripped Tim’s shirt in his hand, surely getting it messed up thanks to the marshmallow on his hands but whatever, and tried to tug him closer. He obliged. Marinette rested her head on his shoulder absently.

“What would I do without you?” He mused.

“Probably starve on the streets,” she said bluntly.

He scoffed a little. “The minute this kid goes to sleep I’m going to shoot another marshmallow at you.”

“You can try. Only reason you even got me last time was ‘cause I didn’t know you were going to do it.”

“The element of surprise is a totally valid tactic!” He pretended to whine.

She grinned at him. “But it won’t work again.”

He wrapped an arm around her lazily. “We’ll see.”

~~~~~

Next

@unoriginalmess @hammalammadamdam @astrynyx @laurcad123 @927roses-and-stuff

[raeynbowboi]

How Kipo Makes Great Villains

I stayed up all night binging the second season of Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, and I’ll admit. Going into it, my expectations were a bit low. Season One had such a self-contained objective, I didn’t know what the show was going to do with itself with a second season. But the second season of Kipo blew me out of the water. So, now I’m going to rant about why Scarlemagne and Jamack are fantastic villains for Kipo to confront, and what Kipo teaches us about writing antagonists. Obviously, spoilers ahead, but if you’re caught up, prepare to gush over great villains. If you’re not, do yourself a favor and go away, experience the second season for yourself, and then come back and fangasm over how great it was.

JAMACK

Kipo’s first antagonist is a perfect character foil. That is to say, Jamack is the exact opposite of Kipo. When Jamack meets Kipo, they are in exact opposite situations. He’s in a group while she’s alone. Later, when Kipo finds friends and is no longer alone, Jamack is kicked out of his group, forcing him to survive on his own. Jamack is very focused on self-interest and self-preservation, belittling his underlings for minor mistakes. His outlook is cold, cynical, and jaded. On top of that, Jamack grew up in this crazy world where only the strong survive. He’s also a part of the Mob Frogs, which seem to be the only mute culture with internal hierarchy. Other groups have a leader, but only the Mob Frogs seem to have levels of rank within the organization, causing the Mob Frogs to be competitive, even among themselves. So it makes perfect sense why Jamack will stoop to pretty much anything to get what he wants. Because that’s the mentality that allows for upward mobility in Las Vista. Thus, when Kipo arrives and upends the status quo and proves Jamack’s way of living wrong, he lashes out. Initially seeing it as her stealing his life from him, Jamack begins to gradually change. Jamack is on a similar and reflected hero’s journey to Kipo, and as she grows, so too will he. It’s no surprise that Jamack will eventually become a genuine ally of Kipo, even if he’s still hiding behind a Tsundere mask.

SCARLEMAGNE

My god is this a fantastic villain. In the first season, he was genuinely creepy and intimidating, but in season 2, Hugo became incredibly sympathetic. As season 2 went on, I kept debating to myself who is more of the Zuko of this show: Jamack or Hugo. Scarlemagne serves the same narrative purpose as the Diamonds in Steven Universe, about how words and kindness can work through problems. But I think it’s done a little better here, since Hugo isn’t a world-destroying dictator. He’s done some damage, but nothing that was really lasting. His pheremones can wear off. The humans he’s enslaved can regain their freedom. So, Hugo’s actual damage as a villain is much smaller and thus much more forgivable than immortal galactic conquerors. Hugo shows this deeply in that he genuinely seems like he wants to make Kipo happy, but he’s been hurt for so long that he doesn’t understand how to. And this genuine care seems to come a lot more from his core personality, and not just Kipo making friendship speeches. Even Steven didn’t really change the minds of the Diamonds. He just kind of proved he was their sister/nephew, and they suddenly cared about what he had to say. With Hugo, it’s much easier to see that he’s not a monster, just a scared and confused man lashing out to maintain control in a barbaric world. It makes him a character who you don’t want to see succeed in his evil plans, but you don’t want to watch him fail and lose everything he's worked for. You simultaneously want to hug him, and also punch him. It’s that perfect balance that makes Scarlemagne so well-written. He’s officially on my list of top 10 tv cartoon villains. Also, it’s hysterical that Hugo is voiced by the live action Beast, and the second half of this season was honestly a better Beauty and the Beast story than the live action movie. Am I the only one who hears Dr. Animo from Ben 10 when Scarlemagne speaks though?

DR. EMILIA

Talk about bait and switch. I don’t know if it was their intention, but I assumed the woman in the bird mask was Song, Kipo’s mother. It was clear that she and her goons were wearing burrow jumpsuits, and as it seemed more and more like her mother wasn’t dead, so I assumed this had to be her. This was such a great misdirection. Assuming she’s the hero because of our opinions of Scarlemagne, it’s what gives this show such amazing rewatch potential as now you can go back and pay attention to her words and actions and realize what she’s genuinely like. But even on a character level, she’s a fantastic villain. Kipo is a master of Talk no Jutsu, a fan term from the Naruto fandom, as he had a knack for talking literally anyone into becoming his friend, even the ones actively trying to kill him. Steven Universe and Kipo seem to be the other two masters of this technique. But Dr. Emilia will likely be immune to this. She doesn’t strike me as the sit and talk things out type. Because there are times when words won’t stop people, but action will. Dr. Emilia is a villain Kipo can’t reason with, someone she can’t befriend with a good speech. But even on a philosophical level, Dr. Emilia is fantastic because while she’s clearly a villain, her goal isn’t inherently evil. She sees mutation as a bad thing and wants to restore mute DNA to their normal animal forms. Which is a large part of why humans need to live in burrows. She wants humans to not live in fear, and to restore animals to their genetic origins. At least in theory, it’s a benign enough goal. The problem comes when you consider that animal mutes have sentience. they can speak and express desires. Robbing them of that is akin to purposefully mentally disabling a group in order to be dominant over them, which adds to the great themes here because there’s a loose veil of animals as an enslaved species. Kept in cages or as pets, ruled over or hunted by man who views itself as the superior race, the same sort of thinking that white slave-owners used to rationalize their prejudice. Thus it’s also a loose allegory for Dr. Emilia wanting to return emancipated slaves back to their chains. This is why she’s such a good villain. At face value, her goal sounds sort of reasonable, but when you examine what she’s really doing, it’s incredibly dark and cruel. That level of detail and writing is amazing. Talk about a well-written villain. I’m sorry, I can’t stop gushing.

Kipo demonstrates three equally compelling types of villains, and handles all of them amazingly. Jamack is the hero’s villainous foil, on his own mirrored hero’s journey as hers. His situation is always an exact opposite of hers, as was his life experiences, which led to such a stark difference of ideas. Thus, why it takes her utterly alien character traits to kick start his character arc. Hugo is a beautifully flawed and tragic villain whose goal of bringing the mutes together under a single ruler is genuinely compelling, but you still don’t want him to succeed the wrong way. Yet, if he could achieve his goal in a less hostile and evil way, I doubt fans would be upset with him achieving this goal otherwise. It’s just his approach that’s problematic. Dr. Emilia seems reasonable enough on paper, but once you unpack what she’s really doing, you can read a really deep allegory for slavery and racial superiority into her character that really complicates the otherwise black-and-white opinion of her character. Each of these villains shows ways you can make a compelling antagonist, and if you read this without watching Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeats despite my spoiler warnings, do yourself a favor and watch it. You will not be disappointed.

[isasaribea]

I think a reason why binge eating is so common with those struggling with mental health and ED disorders is because of how alone we are. We don’t have the comfort and love and understanding that we need, and well, food is something that has always been there. It’s comforting, soothing, perhaps just numbing.

In the long term it provides the opposite.. but I think it’s the instant gratification that is the big craving, perhaps because we’ve been devoid of it for so long so it feels like it needs to be instantaneous.

I think, at least for me, maybe even after a bit the pain and the ritual becomes the comfort in a way because it’s constant and somewhat in control because I know what’s going to happen in the end.

So I made a list of comforting things that instantly comfort, soothe, or numb me so that maybe I can change that

1. Childhood tv shows

2. Buying flowers

3. Walking

4. Hugs( I don’t really hug people so perhaps I can get a small stuffed animal)

5. Warm blankets

6. Ice cube on my skin, breathing techniques

7. Journaling

8. Ranting to myself on snap chat as if I’m FaceTiming someone.

9. Cleaning

10. Coloring

Feel free to comment any, I would love ideas!

You’ve got this, you’re worthy of comfort and love💛✨

[gonuclear]

i'm gonna pop off with a horribly unpopular opinion that i've probably already talked about on here before, but it's been wearing on me more for a couple of weeks now.

for as long as i've been watching anime (which is, on and off, about 13 years) i've seen the dub vs sub debate. i've seen people who only watch subbed anime, who demonize people for watching dubs, and who really couldn't care less either way. i've seen people rant for what seems like hours on end on why dubs are awful and you should only be watching subs. and i get it. if you prefer subbed anime that's awesome! more power to you, dude. but what has been pissing me off so much for all that time is the lack of recognition by people who claim to despise dubs and all those who watch them.

they don't recognize the dedication that's put into adapting and dubbing anime, how hard it is to translate jokes and culture for an audience that's a literal ocean away. yes of course there are bad dubs (hello, 4kids) and there are bad scripts and bad actors, but on the whole dubs have come leaps and bounds from where they were even a decade ago. (and if you'd like to learn more about how translations work i'd recommend this video.) i can understand people who come from a "well i watched one awful dub 10 years ago and i haven't wanted to watch them since" (my mom was in that category for a long time) standpoint, but even then you're closing yourself off to a whole other aspect of this medium that you love. i myself have certain preferences for sub or dub voices (i like itadori's sub voice a bit more, but i've grown used to the dub in my rewatches since it first aired), but i stay open to the possibility that another voice could be better. i mean, i'm waiting with bated breath for the dub of the second cour of haikyuu season 4 because i have a very specific idea of what the characters should sound like, but i'm open to whatever comes out of it. and that's what a lot of this boils down to—openness. i'm not telling you to go out and watch only dubs from now on, your preference is your preference, but at least try to meet people who watch them halfway when they say they enjoy dubs.

another thing proclaimed dub haters don't realize is the accessibility aspect of dubbed anime. not only does it make anime accessible to a younger audience for shows like pokemon or naruto, but it also makes anime accessible to people that might have dyslexia or (like me) audio processing disorders, adhd, autism, or other neurodivergencies. i remember seeing a tiktok about a month ago that said dub and sub watchers should unite against people who watch dubs with captions, and i genuinely almost burst into tears. i almost wanted to comment that i have to watch captions (obviously the ones that match the dub) in certain situations because i literally can't hear what's being said. there's always been a problem in the anime community with rampant ableism and the way it contributes to gatekeeping. to a certain extent i know that people may not intend for their comments to be taken this way, but to someone who's disabled it can feel like their own chosen community is purposefully pushing them out over something they can't control. i've seen so many nasty jokes against people's "excuses" for not watching subs, and it's honestly so disheartening and sickening to see the way that fans are treated.

i know there are always going to be assholes that rail against dubs and the people that enjoy them, but if you're one of those people i think it's worth taking a look at yourself to see why you think that being so rude to people who are just trying to enjoy the same thing you are is okay. anime is, was, and always has been for everyone, no matter how you watch it. remember that.

[obeymeluv]

Signs they Love You

Back for my 1 post a week to prove school hasn’t totally killed me! When I get a semester break, I’ll post more often. In the mean time, feel free to leave me chats or PMs for stuff you want to see! :) Something nice and sappy for an okay Saturday

These turned out really long so I only did Lucifer, Mammon, Levi, and Satan. I have to get back to studying :/. Maybe I’ll have part 2 next week?

Lucifer

You wouldn’t be able to notice it because his pride wouldn’t allow you to. One of the brothers (or, to Lucifer’s extreme mortification, Lord Diavolo) would have to tell you

He’s not sure if it’s just the appreciation of you not being as totally chaotic as his brothers or genuine human naivete that has somehow worn off on him, but he loves you

Will be outed by sappy, soft stares that last 2 seconds too long.

Asmo and Satan are the first to notice and he LOATHES that

If he’s tasked with waking you up that morning, his knock will be firm but his voice will be gentle. Almost persuasive or commiserating

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by school workload, he may have a private conference with the teacher and grant you a minor extension. Will you know it was him? No. Is he happy to see you brighten up and refill with hope just a bit? Definitely. Is it worth the teasing from Lord Diavolo? ...Sure.

If he responds to texts in the wee hours of the morning when he’s still pouring over paperwork, he likes you.

Anyone who knows him can see how his eyes soften when someone else talks about you. There’s a fond slowness to his actions, how he glides his hand imperceptibly over his chest as if to feel where that emotion is coming from. Boy is whipped.

Should Lord Diavolo invite him out for a meeting, he will bring you back something small. Something he thought you’d like. Beel is upset. Levi yells “SIMP!” from the second floor and prepares for Armageddon.

Actually reminds you about assignments if you’re not already up on it yourself. Your success is his joy.

Is very keen on if/when you burn the candle too long and has a sixth sense for bad sleeping habits. Will put you on a stricter schedule for your own health

It may take almost all of the brothers to do it (or just help from Diavolo) but if he gets drunk on Demonus you’re getting a whole BOOK about why he likes you. He almost charms your memory away but everyone practically dog-piles on him not to because he needs to deal with his feelings.

You’re the only one he won’t chase out of his study when he’s doing paperwork. He’ll even set up a little fire if you like the fireplace.

How he confesses: tries to take you on a fancy date to Ristorante Six. Does not know that Lord Diavolo and Barbatos know about this (damn time-travelling butler!) and basically crash the date just to encourage him. Just long enough to encourage him.

Kind of an, “So you chose this idea, Lucifer? Admirable! I’m sure your date will be amazing! Enjoy your evening!” as Diavolo walks back to his table.

Does Lucifer deny it? Look and see how red his face is. If you’re really not sure, ask Diavolo. He will gladly yell, “I cannot lie!” across the restaurant.

Mammon

For all his talk, when he really, really decides he likes you, he doesn’t know what to say.

He can console himself with how obvious it is and how you made the best choice, but he has to show it! What to do?

Mammon’s kind of confused about it because he doesn’t really change how he behaves. You didn’t catch on already?! C’mon, human!

What, does he have to spell it out for you? Do an interview with Majolish?

His first tactic is to just be around you. Be subtle, and maybe cuddle a bit more than usual. Things to show he’s kittenish and at your mercy. Comfortable with you.

You don’t seem to be getting the hint so he throws the net a little wider by trying to find things you like or that you’ve been talking about. They mysteriously show up at your door.

It sends the others on a gossip train about who your admire could be and when they list off everyone BUT him, he wants to slam his head on the table.

Feeling tired? Coffee! Backpack heavy? Silly human, the BEST man can help you with that, OBVIOUSLY! Mammon jumps at the chance to do any little thing for you because he cares. His actions always speak louder than words.

Feeling kind of defeated and embarrassed, Mammon will go talk to the flock of crows that meander around the House of Lamentation’s yard when he really needs them.

For the next few days you’re accosted in the nicest way, birds chirping at you and dropping off various shiny things

You collect them, finally showing them to Mammon and he’s embarrassed that his representative animal has taken to courting you on his behalf.

He calls them to him, embarrassed and ready to rant or fall into the ground never to be seen again, when they start talking. Repeating all the things he’s practiced saying.

“Hey baby,”, “Hey human,” “Love you!”, “Silly! Silly!”, “Dummy, no, dummy!”, “My human.”

It’s broken and confusing, six or seven bird children cawing in your face and bobbing, but you get it.  

Levi

Levi’s not the best at expressing himself but it counts, right? As much as he hates to admit he’s some kind of shy tsundere, you know what that is, right? He doesn’t have to say it?

Yes. Yes he does. His brothers are getting too chummy with you and you don’t understand his signals. Time for Plan B.

If you get invited to stand in line for a midnight release, he hopes you take it. Then it’s just you two hanging out in line? What’s this? He brought snacks? Totally not for the two of you BUT you an have some if you’re hungry. It’s whatever

When he’s not doing boss raids and playing with online friends, he’ll ask if you want to play something with him. A Player 1 needs a Player 2, you know?

I headcanon that Levi knows how to play some unusual instruments like the kalimba or a real ocarina. I could see him making you a song on one of those. Or just playing it because you inspire him. He’s very good with a harp and will play it when he’s in the mood.

Boy also likes to draw and paint. Especially loves watercolors. Would it be weird if he gave you a painting of you as a mermaid? Just you and the ocean. Beautiful.

Was there a really cute plush or knickknack you liked? Levi has his ways, regardless of how rare or limited edition it is. It will be yours. 

He has a hard time understanding a passing comment of interest versus a genuine want because he genuinely wants everything he’s interested in, so if you hear a whisper about him almost securing something, stop and look it up. Make sure it’s not super expensive!!

Probably outed by Belphegor, who feels like Levi’s broadcasting all of his stress, frustration, and hope through his dreams. (”His dreams are weird. Just different ways of asking them out, and if he messes up it restarts like a simulation. My brain hurts.” he says to Beel)

 You’re allowed to come into his super-restricted bedroom haven when everything’s too much. It’s very exclusive since the Mammon incident. Be happy.

Might go swimming in his big tank and pick a seashell or rock to make a necklace out of. He hopes you like it.

If he’s not outed by Belphie, some of his online friends made a game demo they wanted him to try. They specified it was two player so he asked you to join in. While he’s in the middle of bragging about how he knows people, knows developers, he totally misses the dating-sim like dialogue and the big reveal.

Doesn’t really kick in until he realize the characters look like you two. You’re busy saying ‘Yes’ to “Do you like me?” as Levi absolutely threatens to rip them apart six ways to Sunday. Almost in full demon mode, too.

Everything falls out of his brain and quiets in his throat when he realizes the characters are kissing and ‘THEY SAID YES!’ flashes on the screen.

“Y-You like me?”

“Yep.”

It was that easy all along. Levi thinks he’s going to faint.  

Satan

Becomes aware of it pretty quick but ignores it for a looong time

Is it rude or foolish of him to assume you would also like him back?

Run away into books. A solid plan. If you don’t think about it, it’s not an issue

Oh, but it is an issue when you fall asleep after a mutual day of reading, forced in by bad weather. He finds his heart fluttering in a painful squeeze as he quietly whispers all the things he dare not say when you’re awake

It’s nervous poetry, and it’s beautiful

Satan tries to get himself back on track, to focus on reading, and he gets frustrated when he’s stuck on the same page almost an hour later

When you’re on the brain he just can’t do anything else

How does one show their affection? He’s swimming in books for a new reason now, as voracious as ever

He brews you a pot of Melancholy Coffee and is a bit disappointed you don’t know the meaning behind the bitterness. Wants to break the pot when Lucifer jokes about how it tastes exceptionally bitter to him as well.

Okay, so coffee didn’t work. What else do people do when they show their affections?

Asmo suggests a ‘not a date’ date and Satan sighs inside. Sounds like a lot of work and effort. It’s not that you’re not worth it, but he has a feeling that everyone will know and look at him the whole time.

Tries anyways. You guys go to a beautiful nature conservatory and take a tour of the plants and some indigenous animals

You’re starting to realize it now, he can tell. Satan tries to answer your question without saying it while you’re at school. You walk together, he offers to carry some of your books, and always requests that he be your project partner

Nearly there. If there was a single defining moment for him, he’d want it to be classic. He shows up at your door with a rose and asks you to go on a moonlit walk.

Mammon’s poking fun about how cheesy and cliche it is, Asmo’s gearing up to shut Mammon’s stupid mouth, and Satan just whisks you out the door with an aggravated sigh.

No matter what side of the house you’re on, Asmo throws up the biggest, gaudiest handmade sign that’s like ‘CUTEST COUPLE! 10/10!’

[magireco]

Would love to hear more thoughts on how these girls have understandable teenage motivations (A+ tag analysis by the way)

1. Thank you!!!!!!

2. ALRIGHT IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS (shuffles my papers). i’ve gone off about homura’s motivations in depth before but i think it was only in dms/groupchats? anyways i’ll go in order with All the girls bc i think about this all the time as a teenager who grew up mentally ill and had their perceptions skewed because of it, and also i don’t think it’s talked about nearly enough for the others, at least on my blog... so, buckle up!!! this is REALLY LONG!!!! 

3. i tried writing like, an individual thing for every member of the quintet all together in this one ask, but i ended up talking a little too much about homura and now i’m going to split up all the different analysis stuff for each character into the reblogs and work on it every so often! you’re free to kinda skim of course because i really did write a whole novel but here we go!! read under the cut. :3 this is literally essay length btw. i did NOT expect it to get this long but if you want to read it all i’d recommend it but i don’t expect most people to

First: Homura Akemi

okay so i’m going to kind of summarize everything but from the perspective of empathizing with her so if you don’t want to reread a whole recap you can skip to the ending few paragraphs

Summary

first of all, in episode 10, homura’s past is explained for the viewer. she was a shy, unsure girl who had been bedridden for a long time. she was clearly unsocialized, not to mention she went to a catholic school and those can be brutal, esp in japan... that’s all we know about her in that episode, but it’s revealed in one of the drama cds that she was bullied as a child(& further at mitakihara middle), her parents never were mentioned ever (i assume them to either be dead or neglectful, considering she lives alone and unchecked), and in magia record, homura says to natsuki that she’s never had friends before, she hasn’t been on vacation before until the beachside bonds event, hasn’t ever celebrated valentine’s day, has never celebrated new years, etc... 

clearly, she’s missed out on a lot not only because of her sickness and hospitalization, but because of her isolation as a child at school. judging by her demeanor and the way she reacts when madoka comes up to her without being asked to, something like that had never happened to her before. it’s clear to me that madoka was many of homura’s “first’s”, her first friend, the first person who reached out to her, the first person to compliment her name honestly(validating her, disproving her dislike of her name), the first person to regard her so kindly rather than judging her based off of her appearance and demeanor (like other students had apparently done, this is also shown when the other students at mitakihara middle make fun of her for being tired after only being able to run one lap). AND, madoka (and mami, but homura knew madoka better at that time) saved her life, even though homura was so willing to die, just in that moment... i’d assume it made homura feel like someone believed in her even when she was at her worst. it’s really clear by the glimmer in her eyes that these are nice people that made her feel happy and welcome... and then walpurgisnacht came. she didn’t know much about magical girls and just believed in madoka and mami to be able to defeat the witch because she saw them as strong and saw the witch as defeatable, despite its size. and then mami died, right in front of her and madoka... 

this kinda seems headcanon-y when i phrase it this way but it’s practically proven in her actions but i really think homura is scared to be abandoned, especially by someone who was as overtly kind and nonjudgemental to her as madoka... it’s in the way she cries her name and says “don’t go” before madoka runs away to fight walpurgisnacht. OH ALSO, i need to address this one thing really quick because people like to assume that homura didn’t care about mami from the beginning and only liked madoka. it’s not that she wasn’t sad when mami died, she was clearly terrified and didn’t want the same to happen to madoka, also mami LITERALLY WASN’T IN HER CLASS OR HER GRADE so i assume she spent most of her time with madoka considering they were in the same grade and class and probably shared most of their periods with each other... but also, once again, mami is older than both of them and homura probably saw her as more of a mentor/teacher that she needed to impress rather than madoka who was more on her level, i guess?

anyways, moving on... homura had to see madoka die (& experience the crushing guilt she felt for “letting madoka go” even though there was nothing she could’ve done) and literally says “i’d rather you had lived than saved someone like me” ... her self worth is below zero. she makes her wish to be strong enough to protect madoka(because she sees madoka, her first friend, who saved her life which she felt had no worth, as so strong and noble) which causes her to go back in time, etc. etc., you know the deal. okay before i move on to talk a little more abt the timelines and the personality change i’m going to address why it’s reasonable that she’d be attached to madoka.

i mentioned before that homura said herself that she had never had a friend before. just like, put yourself into her shoes for a second. this girl has no idea how to make friends; it was never taught to her. it’s literally rational that she’d get attached to her first ever friendship. it’s not “normal” the way she views madoka, but how could it be? this is her first time having a friend, she’s afraid of being abandoned by her, but she’s had to see her die over and over again anyway. she doesn’t want to lose madoka. even if she doesn’t go about it in the right way, there’s no way she would’ve actually known how to Do relationships. no one taught her. i think that needs to be empathized with more...

i kinda feel like i need to summarize all this just bc if i word it right it kinda reminds you & puts into perspective just how terrible and scary all of this was.

anyway Again, i would skip straight to the end of timeline 3 (where a New Flavor of trauma is given to homura) but i need to first address timeline 2 for a second. it was homura’s first time repeating the timeline, she trained with madoka and mami again, she was still hopeful despite what happened, etc. kinda just bonding further with madoka Again... and then it’s at the end of this timeline that she watches madoka turn into a witch, just in front of her very eyes... and realizes the true fate of magical girls. when she resets the timeline again, it’s up to her to start anew and break the truth to the group when she sees them again. when she tries telling the truth, sayaka immediately shoves this aside, claiming homura was just trying to split everyone up. it’s clear that that hurts homura. (also the little shinies in her eyes were wavering which is anime-code for sad) her feelings were immediately disregarded by sayaka and she couldn’t defend herself, but madoka did for her, and mami tried to diffuse the situation. 

after they all find out homura was right when sayaka turns into a witch, mami kills kyoko and ties up homura in her ribbons and aims a gun at her, and this, rightfully, ignited a fear within homura... madoka is forced to kill mami in order to save homura, leaving only the two of them to fight together. then, when walpurgisnacht comes that time, The Promise is made... madoka tells homura to go back in time and save her from becoming a witch (because she doesn’t want to curse the world that way, she still sees beauty in it) and homura agrees, saying she’ll never stop until she saves madoka, and then... homura has to mercy kill madoka before she becomes a witch. she cries loudly and shoots madoka’s soul gem... it’s literally so heartwrenching and (usually) brings the viewer to tears, or puts something into perspective for them...

then we assume the personality change happens in the timeline right after. this personality change causes a lot of discourse because sometimes it’s seen as kind of irrational, but personally, i think even moemura had at least SOME resent for the world around her considering what she’d been through. it’s madoka’s repeated deaths that finally push her over that edge. i could get further into the coolmura arc but that’d take a WHILE, so i’ll just kind of explain something briefly though -- why homura ended up becoming even MORE focused on madoka. and i’m also going to debunk the claim that homura doesn’t care about her other friends as fast as i can before moving on.

also, ONE LAST side tangent, for those that think homura really did do a 360 degree personality turn are wrong. it’s shown explicitly in homulilly’s labyrinth that there’s this... “core” homura, a shadowy purple silhouette with braids. every time the series depicts homura’s internal self, it’s always glasses+braids, symbolizing her “child” self, who she truly is. she never stopped being that person. she doesn’t want to kill. ...but i can get into that in a rebellion analysis later! this is also shown in wraith arc bc the person inside her soul gem has glasses+braids. anyway let’s get to the next part i’m going to rant about

Homura’s Love for Madoka, but Otherwise Apathy

homura has seen many different, yet all similar, versions of her friends. the first claim i’m going to talk about which i saw brought up quite a few times before is in regards to homura and mami. first of all, homura absolutely still cares for mami, and not just in the “i only care about your life if it affects madoka’s” way. one part that always gets me is when mami ties her up in the series timeline after homura frantically warns her that this witch isn’t normal, to which mami IMMEDIATELY brushes this off, without even giving homura a chance. then, when mami’s ribbons fade away, homura looks horrified and just goes “oh no...” and it’s kind of obvious to me that it was in response to mami’s death rather than madoka’s reaction. this is arguably up for debate i guess because i’ve seen different takes on that reaction and it’s ambiguous, i guess? but i’m about to get into something extremely similar and that’s the sayaka situation, where madoka throws sayaka’s soul gem onto a moving car. homura gasps and immediately pauses time and disappears, running in literal open traffic and climbing on top of a moving car to retrieve sayaka’s soul gem. one could argue that this is ALSO only just because homura wants to save madoka (and kyoko) the fear, but don’t you think her expression would be different? if homura truly didn’t care for sayaka’s wellbeing, wouldn’t she be making an expression more similar to like, “oh, this shit again...” instead of the frantic one she was making in the scene? this kind of thing Also happens when kyoko asks homura to leave while kyoko’s about to sacrifice herself in oktavia’s labyrinth, and homura looks up sadly at kyoko and then back down at madoka, and once she knew kyoko was dead, she just quietly said “kyoko...” to herself. she usually refers to them as [last name, first name], but she dropped that during that moment... it otherwise sounds like a bare minimum thing to do, but keep in mind the timeline we’re shown in the series is implied to be like, the 110th timeline, i think? like, this is the last timeline, she’s worn down, but she still does have empathy -- or at least sympathy -- for the others. she still loves them. 

homura promised to be madoka’s protector, she dedicated her life to her, and also she doesn’t have a choice not to dedicate her life to her anymore, even though that’s not fair to her... homura is in a really hopeless situation and madoka is her hope, and madoka is the one that judges her the least out of the quintet (like saying “i’m sure homura is good” to herself) upon first impression. also okay i mentioned this already in my last post (which you saw) but i’m going to bring it up one more time, homura is not mentally 26!!!!!! she is still 14 mentally!! in order to be 26, you have to have experienced 26 years of new life experience. maybe you acquire that through school, maybe you aquire that through friends, whatever it takes. but homura just repeated the same month over and over, and it’s not like her body (canonically) ages ever. she just kind of gets transported back into her body in the hospital again considering she’s back wearing her braids and pajamas... so, yeah. no mental development there. i also mentioned this here but i’m gonna say it again, that just makes it even harder for her to actually age correctly... it stunts her to 14. imagine being 14 for 10-11 years...

In Defense Of My Own Claims

btw before you think i’m just going full-on radical homura apologist, i’m not explaining all of this to be like “homura made ALL THE RIGHT DECISIONS because her trauma gave her an excuse!!” because like, Obviously, she did a lot of bad things, she killed people, did a lot of callous things, a lot of thoughtless things, a lot of things that make her seem emotionless, etc. but i just have trouble blaming her considering how things ended up, and it’s not like she enjoys killing people. she’s not sadistic... she ends up becoming short with all the others not only because of her (extremely) weakened trust in them, but also because the amount of times she repeated the timeline. i’d imagine it makes her feel like the others can’t truly die because she can just go back and see them again. (this is also why wraith arc/post-tv series must’ve been hard for her because she can no longer turn back time, things are permanent now, deaths are forever) she’s become so worn down that she’ll do anything to escape the loops... also considering she has no choice but to continue? although it shouldn’t be, it’s technically her job as a magical girl to defeat all witches and walpurgisnacht counts. it kills magical girls and tears up the whole city and she’s usually the only magical girl left... her choices, when defeated, are either to give up and die or to go back and try again, and she made a promise to her first ever friend to do just the latter... i just don’t understand how this isn’t easier for people to comprehend, that all of this trauma and stress and responsibility on top of an already traumatized 14 year old does not mix well. ever. she had to figure out all of this by herself.

TL;DR:

homura was a previously traumatized, unsocialized 14 year old with (very)low self esteem & self worth whose first friend (and first love, really, let’s be honest) died in front of her in horrific ways and she watched as she (and the other friends she came to make) drifted slowly apart from her in her endless and futile attempt in saving her from what proved to be an inescapable fate. also she’s 14 and also she’s (canonically) mentally ill and a lesbian. not a monster, not evil, not “psycho”. and that’s that!

[ready-to-obeyme]

[OM!] Reverse AU: Demon Brothers (+ Diavolo) Headcanons

- original idea came from this lovely post so please check it out if you haven’t already bc it’s so cute!! I couldn’t stop thinking about the boys collecting our character cards and desperately trying to complete events and chapters just as we are afjasldkfjasfjdts

Scenario: We’re the characters in the game and the demon brothers (or would they be human in this au??) play Obey Me! and collect our cards, play the events, etc...

Reverse AU: Demon boys collect cards of YOU instead of the other way around

Ranked from most invested to least invested in the game + headcanons on how they play (while stanning you ofc)

EDITED: there is also a related follow-up post of Reverse AU [here]

--

Leviathan

VIP VIP VIP

the man would die for every UR+ 

stans you so hard; cries whenever any new card of you comes out

a collectionist at heart, but he knows there's a fave in his otaku heart of his

every event holds a special place in his kokoro

Idk how he gets sleep grinding for all your URs considering how fast the events come and go without breaks in-between

If he had a terrible sleeping habit before, it’s WORSE now

honestly, this game right up his alley so he's an expert-- he's probably the one to rant about the game and convince his brothers to start playing too

"Add me so we can give each other AP!!"

he says, but he spends a lot of money to get all he needs so he doesn't really NEED his brothers to play with him

very happy when he gets to rant about the game with his brothers

Casually plays OSTs from the game, sometimes on blast and his brothers don’t even bat an eye because they all play the game hehehehe

cheers when he gets you as a surprise guest; uses wikis to make sure he does you right (he once made a wrong move and your dissent dialogue crushed his heart-- so never again)

never ranks below 100 during events

Mammon

baby tries really hard to save up for a good event card or UR+ but always ends up pulling desperately for your cards

relies on his luck to get what he wants, and when that doesn't work out, ends up putting money into the game

probably prays before each 10x pull and free draw

he's not rich enough to win aaaaaaaaa

fell in love with your character almost immediately and has not looked back since

you are Best Character; probably fights with Levi about who loves you more

gets pumped when he sees your cards; the other character are ehhh even though that's probably not the most strategic way to play

doesn't understand why he can't just have three of you on the dance team all at once

Screams whenever he loses a dance battle (“I’m so sorry!!!!!!’ he tells you as he quickly levels you up and throws a ton of glowsticks at you)

suffers when his brothers get the cards he wants-- though tbf he also brags about pulls he gets that his brothers didn't 

when did this game become a competition? 

Satan

f2p but he works really hard to get the cards he wants

diligently saves up and spends all his pulls on a UR+ card he absolutely MUST have

collects all the wallpapers, dialogue, and chats of every card he has of you

stares longingly at the URs and has to resist the very real urge to just buy stuff

invested in the story, the characters, the nuances, and the LORE 

thinks of theories and ideas on how the world works and the facets of each character

probably write on blogs and posts fanfic

...his bros don't know about that part tho so shhhh

The animal event really grabbed him by the DICK

If there is a card of you with cat ears and a tail-- hhhhhhhh

Spends ALL his draws during this event and invests all his time and effort into unlocking the devils flower and regrets NOTHING (o´ω｀o)

Lucifer

tries to not get invested

then gets invested deeply in both the storyline and the characters that he completes all the levels asap and grinds everyday to fill out the devil flowers

Takes break between work by opening the game

Refreshed with you on the home screen

Feels like dying when Diavolo catches him SLIPPIN’ peers over his shoulder and asks him what game he’s playing

Also feels like dying when Barbatos catches him humming the opening screen song

tries really hard not to buy anything and he succeeds for quite some time but alas came the hydrangeas 

he started off by buying some devil (human?) points… and it escalated

slippery slope-- recharge missions took him by the neck and then he gave in to being VIP (might as well, since he can afford it…)

outwardly calm about playing the game, enjoys talking with Satan about the possible lore and having something to bond with Levi

inwardly pretty invested: adores the interactions, remembers what options are best for each surprise guest dialogue 

Asmodeus

posts about all his Good pulls, especially when he gets the new UR+/UR cards 

the type to unlock all the devil flowers for the flex but also for the aesthetic 

scrolls through devilgram (uhh human...gram? so instagram) and unlocks every story asap

thinks the game is adorable whenever he gets to interact with you as a surprise guest

probably doesn't have a high preference for any particular card but absolutely LOVES the pretty ones 

love love LOVES the fan art that people draw of you

Hums to the opening screen song in the shower or even the opening video (that he voices hahah) 

gets frustrated when the levels get hard and he has to grind but so far hasnt given into buying anything

Not as invested as his brothers but he does spend money just to get a REALLY nice UR+ card like the rain event 

Water does wonders for aesthetics（=＾0＾=）

Belphegor

the game is too fast-- so many events for him to care about that he sometimes drops off the face of the earth to play it or drops the game and takes a break from it for a while

there is no in between with this dude

he can only invest in the game when he feels like it, if he feels somewhat motivated 

thinks the dance battles are funny

slightly upset when he doesn't get the cards he want from gacha but it's too bothered by it

has like at least one UR of you from an event that he didn't expect to get and that's good enough for him

the bed head cards got him feeling some type of way ////

had notifications for his AP during that period of time; has never grinded harder

Beelzebub

what can i say? the man gets lucky from free pulls all the damn time

least invested, but does enjoy reading the story and the characters; just gets kind of lazy when he gets stuck on levels 

does his best to level up enough to continue the story and unlock your gram stories but has a hard time grinding to unlock devil flowers

which is understandable considering the amount of URs he has 

i could probably see his brothers fight each other to get his account when he thinks about giving it away 

plays more often during events because he likes the extra interactions from the game with you 

Bonus:

Diavolo

Lowkey does not know how to play for a while but does log into the game just to make sure he gets his free pulls

His knowledge of the games grows EXPONENTIALLY and by the end of the first week

he’a asking Lucifer to add him, what cards he has, should he invest in this event or not

Lucifer isn’t sure if he’s happy with this development or not 

Definitely has Barbatos join in on the fun too :333

Barbatos somehow ends up being as equally invested as Levi but the only way any of them can tell is because he revealed himself to be top 10 at one event

Adores every UR card of you and asks Lucifer if he should just sign up and be VIP

Does get extremely lucky at times

“Lucifer, what’s the difference between a UR+ and a UR? Huh, why? Well, this card I got has a UR+ on it--”

Ranks probably above Asmodeus and below Lucifer in terms of how invested he is into the game