#i love his design but i wish his story had more variety ;~;

[doodledstars]

The serpent merman

[konigenblobbity]

hii it’s anon that asked about the “what’s your problem” story , i was wondering what your favorite characters from cod were (sorry if you’ve answered this before) and what your head canons for them would be? and how’s your master list going just curious, well i hope you had a great day whenever you read this :3

Headcannons: 141 + König

18+ MINORS DNI

Warnings: Fluff, NSFW, comfort, sex, blowjobs, cunnilingus, praise, degradation, possessive traits, overstimulation, just a variety of NSFW, links to straight p0rn

A/n: I don’t really have a favorite! Although I do love writing for Ghost. But I will say, I love König cause his design is so sick and he’s also Austrian which is <3. Hope you’re having a great day / night when you read this! ALSO! I think the links only work if you open the Twitter app. Pls lmk if you know how to make it work, cause idk what’s going wrong.

Simon ‘Ghost’ Riley -

SFW

Simon is a sucker for physical touch, resting a hand on the small of your back whenever you walk together, tracing the knuckles of your fingers during meetings, simply brushing his ankle against yours under a table

Acts of service are his thing. He’d prepare your coffee in the morning, you’d find your knives and guns polished to perfection if you had an important upcoming mission, be always had an eye on if you were running out of anything - like shampoo or water - and it’d be replaced before it ever goes empty.

Any second he spends with you is never a second wasted. Just being in your presence makes him happy, you two don’t even have to be talking to each other! He just loves having you near him, being able to look over and see your face whenever he wishes…

He could stare at you for hours, trying to memorize every feature of your face to perfection.

Movies and cuddles, always. He won’t even watch the movie! He’ll just be staring at you, so peaceful in his arms. If it happens to be a horror he loves to watch how you jump slightly, gripping onto his arm tightly and hiding behind it. He loved how you felt safe when he held you, how you looked to him for protection.

NSFW

Two words. ROUGH INTIMACY. Ghost can’t help but rail into you till your voice snaps. But he’ll always make his adoration for you clear. Kissing every inch of skin, praising you, mumbling how good you felt, what a good girl you were being, all the while slamming into your cervix till your brain melts

We all know he’s BIG. And when you first see him, he can see the shock and nervousness on your face. You had no idea how he’d fit inside you. First time he’d be sweet and reassuring, but from then on, if you brought up his size, he’d just say “Don’t worry… I’ll make it fit”

Loves to hear you. Takes note of every small motion that causes you to moan out or whimper.

Wants you to sit on his face. He craves it. Wants your thighs to suffocate him slowly as he eats you out so expertly.

He’s merciless… barely giving you recovery time between when he eats you out, and when he slides deep inside you.

This man just LOVES to overstimulate you. The broken moans and cries that leave your lips had him hungry for more. Because no matter how many times you came, or how much you begged for a moment to relax, he knew you can take it. And you did. “Awww I know… f-fuck I know. Is it too much?” he’d tease you, voice soft and gentle before somehow speeding up his pace, chuckling as your eyes well up from the overwhelming pleasure “I know you can take it. Be a good cocksleeve and take it”

Due to his more animalistic side that wants to fuck you senseless… you two have a safe word. That if it ever becomes painful or too much you promised you’d say it. And if you couldn’t say it, all you had to do was wrap a hand around his throat, he’d stop immediately and make sure you’re alright. “Shit…” he’d slip out of you gently, beginning to rub your waist softly “it’s alright… there you go. Deep breathes” if you were tied up in any way, he took them off. He’d kiss at any red marks his fingers left behind “I know darling… it was overwhelming. You’re okay now” and he’d just caress you and take care of you for as long as it took.

Every chance he gets he finishes inside of you. Watching how the mixture of his and your cum slide out of your fluttering cunt. It makes him groan each time.

Then taking a finger and picking it up before stuffing it back inside of you. “You better now waste a drop… want you to feel me dripping out of you for days”

Certain nights he’ll even go so far as to keep his dick inside of you. Using it as a plug so his cum stays inside you. He’d groan as you continue to flutter around him. But as his dick softens inside you, he falls in love with how the warmth of your pussy surrounds his sensitive cock. Finding a deep love for cockwarming for multiple reasons.

Bonus —> This is exactly him! The change of pace to take moments just to hold and kiss you, before going back to manhandling you, hands finding their way to grip at your hips to hold you in place for him. Ugh and the slight choke hold!

Johnny ‘Soap’ MacTavish -

SFW

This man is so flirtatious, loving to get you to blush through his words. “I swear you’re an Angel…” smiling at you as if you’re his whole world “i could just look at you for hours”

Soap just adores hearing your laugh. This often means he’ll surprise you by suddenly tickling your sides. Of course you try to escape but you don’t stand a chance, his grip on you tight and unwavering.

Play wrestling is a must for this man. He loves when you get all cocky, threatening to pin him down or tackle him. He likes to goad you, get under your skin till you finally lunge at him. Of course he’ll let you have your fun every once in a while but it always ends the same. Him winning and pinning you down. “You know you don’t stand a chance lass… why even try?” He loves to tease. Using the opportunity to kiss you all over.

Always finds time for you! No matter how busy he is, he will make time for you.

Loves using pick up lines on you, even though you’re already dating. Adores when you throw your own pick up line his way, always making his laugh with how cheesy they are.

NSFW

Such a horny man. Legit grinds against you whenever he can, even if you’re talking with other soldiers in the common area. He just can’t get enough of you.

Loves when you give him head… the sight of your lips sloppily sucking him off, it was enough to have him trembling. His hands would caress your head before grabbing at your hair. Encouraging you not to stop. “F-fuck you’re so good… so good to me~” praising breathlessly. “So gorgeous gagging on my cock like that” the way saliva connects your lips to his cock was probably the hottest thing he’s ever seen “Lips slick with spit… Can I fuck your throat numb? Please Angel” he checks in consistently, wanting your consent with everything. He enjoys gripping your hair and holding your head in place as he feverishly shoves his cock down your throat.

He is not shy to kiss you after you suck him off, wanting to reward you when you’re good for him “Did such a good job gorgeous… let me reward you like you deserve”

His hands loved to explore your body, running over your body and groping at any skin he could reach.

Any position where he can see your face? His favorite. He wants to see how your eyes roll back, how your mouth falls agape, how spit collects at the corner of your mouth. “Feels good doesn’t it? God lass, you look so drunk on my cock… all for me”

Just praise. He cannot shut up when it comes to you. “Such an Angel. Such a beautiful beautiful lass” whether you’re on your knees, beneath him, riding him, he needs to make sure you know how gorgeous you are. “I wanna make you melt~ All for me. Wanna make you feel so so good”

Never satisfied with you only cumming once. He will always make sure he gets at least 2 out of you. On days where you both have the time… he won’t stop until you beg him to. “Give me one more yeah? One more orgasm before you pass out…” “Can you do that for me?”

Bonus —> This just screams soap to me. He craves this intimacy, that closeness to just feel and worship you in his arms. The shower being a perfect place to be alone together, just melting under the feel of your lips

Second Bonus —> with your permission of course, he would totally make a video like this. Watching it back when he’s alone, thrusting into his fist imagining it was your pussy. Closing his eyes as he listens to the sound of your moans from his phone. Sometimes he’ll just watch it… not even to get off. Just smirking at the sight of you so weak for him, completely at his mercy.

König -

SFW

This big bear just wants to hold you. Cuddling you against his big chest while his hand completely envelops your palm. His arms wrapped around your waist, keeping you as close as he can.

Protective as hell. You are his top priority… if he gets the idea that someone is making you uncomfortable in any way, he’s stepping in and willing to resort to violence for you “Back off… or you’ll be picking your teeth off the floor”

He is a sucker for your touch and kisses. When you’d pepper them on his face through his sniper hood he just melts. Your touch relaxing his muscles effortlessly, specifically going insane when they sit at his waist - which is slutty as hell! - thumbs resting on the V taper of his torso.

Definitely sprays his pillow and bed with your perfume. He loves the scent of you and wants to have the illusion that you’re in his bed even when you’re not.

König will speak in German to you randomly, whether it’s nicknames or whole sentences. Loving how you don’t know what he’s saying but trust him enough to know it’s only ever something sweet. “Du bist das Licht meines Lebens“ or „Mein süße Engel“ (t- You are the light of my life, my sweet Angel)

NSFW

Size kink. Simple as that. Can’t help but feel pride every time your cunt manages to take all of him inside you. Praising you. “Such an obedient little pussy… taking all of me so easily without any struggle. Fuck it’s like you’re molded to fit me”

Loves missionary simply because he can see the way his dick bulges through the skin of your lower stomach. He’ll place a hand there, softly pressing down against it which had you seeing stars

He. Is. A. Switch. Fight me. Sometimes this big bear of a man needs to be taken care of. Loving to fall apart under your mouth or pussy, abiding by your rules and letting you lead. Whimpers and whines spilling from his lips while he pleaded for more. “P-please, mein gott Schatz. Please go faster, f-feels so good” (t- my god sweetheart)

Making out with you gets him so hard so fast. Hands exploring each other while your lips mold against each other. His tongue prodding at your mouth softly until you let him in. The feeling of your tongue sliding against his while your mouth swallowed every noise he made, that was just so hot to him.

Aftercare is very important to him. With his size and his roughness he always makes sure to soothe your sore muscles after a rough fuck. He’ll always take the time to massage your thighs and shoulders to help ease your twitching. He’ll softly kiss over every inch of your skin, praising you for being so good, and then holding you into the night, holding you close. “You did so good Schatz… my best girl. Let me help ease you to sleep”

Bonus —> SIZE. KINK! He’d just watch how his cock slides down your throat, protruding through your skin. He’d fuck your throat nice and slow just to watch your skin bulge with the head of his cock. Being ever so gentle as he slides himself in and out of your throat

Second Bonus —> He loves having you on his lap. His large frame holding you as you ride down onto his cock. Watching you bounce up and down and urging you on with his hands gripping your hips.

Captain John Price -

SFW

Price was not big into PDA, preferring to save his physical touch for when the two of you are alone. Instead he shows his affection through praise and compliments. Often following missions or in the mornings. “I’m proud of you, you did a great job in todays mission” , “Morning soldier, good to see you nice and cheery”

Trusts you ENDLESSLY but is always afraid that you’ll get hurt. The idea enough to crush him.

If you do come back from a mission injured, he’ll demand to be in the room with the medic, pushing them aside to take care of the more minor injuries - obviously not taking on more than he can handle, they have a skilled medic for a reason. But he feels better to be there and help in some way.

If you’re sore in any way, he is immediately ready to alleviate your pain. “You alright darling?” You always try to ease his mind and hide your soreness but Price knows. Even the small winces of your body had his attention on you. “Y-yeah just a bit sore in my shoulder. Its bearable though” he was already making his way behind you - whether in the common area, bedroom, office, he’s on his way - and begins to massage at your muscles. “Tell me if it hurts too much” the second he starts there’s no getting rid of him, no matter how many times you say it’s alright, if you’re still wincing or clenching your teeth, he’s not moving. “Let me take care you darling”

If you’re not a soldier, when he’s gone you get tons of letters and gifts, he’d even send you little wooden carvings of hearts he’d make when he had time. Always saying that he misses you dearly and cannot wait to see you again

NSFW

His endurance would surprise you… able to hold back just to watch you fall apart on his cock over and over till he’s satisfied.

Nothing turns him on like pleasuring you. He could stay tucked between your thighs for hours if you let him. His tongue memorizing every part of your sensitive pussy just to get you to fall apart faster each time. “Mmm, you taste so good… she’s absolutely drenched”

He has AND WILL CONTINUE TO place you up on his shoulders so your hands touch the ceiling while he eats you out feverishly

Big on foreplay. Loves to finger fuck you before he does anything else, preparing you even when he knows you don’t need it. You’d beg him to stop teasing but he couldn’t help himself. Wanting to get you writhing on his bed before he even fucks you. “Patience darling… it’ll feel so much better I promise”

When you give him blowjobs he goes haywire, the feeling just indescribable. However the doesn’t like to grab at your head and throat fuck you. Rather shirting to a 69 position to please you at the same time. Often eating you out so goddamn good you have to pull your lips off his cock, not that’s he’s complaining.

Not one for teasing, he gives you what you when you ask for it nicely. Loves to hear you beg on your volition without having to withhold your orgasm from you to do it.

Price wants you to hear him… he wants you to know how good you make him feel.

Bonus —> Enough said. He wants you WRITHING. Holding you in place as he brings you to orgasm over and over.

Second Bonus —> SO HIM ITS INSANE! Late night post mission fucking. Wants you nice and close, head buried in your neck as he groans and murmurs to you. He would be so vocal it’d surprise you at first, moaning directly into your ear.

Kyle ‘Gaz’ Garrick -

SFW

Always tries to be a real gentleman. Setting up actually cutesy dates for the two of you. Yet he doesn’t want you to mention it too much. He doesn’t need the praise for being a good partner, it comes naturally.

Showers you in compliments, even if it’s a little thing. “Your hair looks beautiful today” “I always thought that shirt looked good on you” often pulling you close after he butters you up with his kind words “Your skin is practically glowing… my own goddess”

Good morning and good night texts… they don’t even have to be long, he just loves sending you a message so you wake up or go to bed thinking of him. Cause he sure as hell thinks of you.

He sticks by your side whenever he gets the chance. Always wanting to be the one to spar with you in training, the one you eat breakfast and dinner with, the one you sit next to in the common area. Practically nothing can drag him away from you.

A big advocate for you stealing his clothes. Loves to see you in his hoodies around the base, a smirk growing on his lips when he spots you. He loves as well when you sleep in his shirts, having once told him that you like how it smells like him.

NSFW

Gaz isn’t into taking videos and photos of you when you’re intimate. However… his one expectation is a set of Polaroids you gave him of you in lingerie, each photo with one less piece of clothing until the final one was a breathtaking nude photo of you. He prefers to keep them in his wallet, physical evidence that you’re his.

Gaz doesn’t shut up. Whether he’s praising, teasing, or slightly degrading you, he doesn’t stop talking. He loves the effect his words have on you. “Yeah? You’re close aren’t you? I can feel how you clench around me… trying to pull me in deeper, such a good fucking pussy. Just for me” occasionally leaning down and whispering directly into your ear “Sound so fucking beautiful… screaming out for me like a cock hungry whore”

He’ll use any chance he can get to smack your ass. The moment you lean over a counter, or bend over to grab something, you feel his hand collide with your ass. When you’re around other soldiers he simply gives your rear a little pinch or grope. Making sure it’s subtle enough no one even noticed.

Loves to lead but not be dominant. He enjoys choosing the position and how he wants to hold you, or touch you. He doesn’t like to manhandle you though, never.

However he will let you lead whenever you want. He’ll be especially supportive if you want to ride him, it being one of his favorite positions. His hands will hold your waist as you bounce on his cock. His eyes glued to the way your tits bounce in unison, either moving his hands up to grope them or leaning forward to lick and bite at them. “Looks so fucking sexy… let me help you darling.” His hands will lift your hips up and down harsher, even meeting your hips halfway by thrusting up into you. It’s not long before he takes control, fucking up into you - see second bonus ;)

He is a BIG tit guy. They don’t need even need to be big, he just loves playing with, licking, and kissing at the skin of your breasts before moving to toy with your nipples. Moaning against them knowing you’ll feel the vibration through your whole body.

Loves to cum on your tits and face. Wants to see it decorate your skin, or your clothes ;)

Afterwards will pick some of it up with his fingers, sticking them in your mouth “Suck them clean for me…” when you oblige hell immediately kiss you.

He would do the same after he finger fucks you. Licking his fingers clean right in front of your face, winking at you after he’s done.

Bonus —> He loves how you sound, but is more than happy to gag you with a rag or his fingers to keep you quiet. This just feels very Gaz… the roughness and lust. Yet he’d definitely make sure you’re in the mood for that kind of sex.

Second Bonus —> Loves how you ride him, wanting to lead your movements. When your thighs falter and ache he’ll soon have your wrists or even your hair in his hand as he fucks up into you. Encouraging you to meet his thrusts by smacking at your ass.

[ohnogodpls]

i love how you draw genshin characters, especially the body/facial variety! i wish genshin did more of that

i especially love alhaitham and neuvillette in your style!!!

btw, what are your favourite male and female characters? i personally love kazuha, kaveh, and nahida and the shogun (puppet bc ei is a girlfailure and i like to think of the puppet's personhood)

Thank you for the kind words :3

About characters, hmmmm...

For male characters Zhongli and Childe are fighting for the #1 spot. I started the game for Zhongli because I knew he would be the kind of character I really like: ancient calm veteran of time who just wants to live a simplier life despite knowing that he will forever be connected to events and powers beyond human comprehension. Childe I actually never expected to like as much as I do, but he really grew on me with his personality, his past that can come back very soon to shed some light on some really important teyvat lore, and his double sided persona. The way he loves and cares for his family and can genuinely make friends while staying loyal to tsaritsa is amazing to me, I think he is very well written in that way actually.

Well, and now I think it shows quite well that Neuvillette is in my very high regard :D

For female characters I really like Eula, I like her past and present contrast, her stand on refusing to follow her predetermined path. Her design, her animations, her moveset are just so elegant and beautiful... I just wish she was a little more releavant, I wish she had some inpact on the story, even though I understand that she is a side character.

And Nahida. I really liked Sumeru's story and undertones. Genshin overall has a flowing narration of humanity getting away from the godly influence: Mondstadt is the land of freedom, freedom from their archon as well, Liyue shows us how humans can now handle matters on their own when in need to deal with even celestial matters, Inazuma is a display of human will that will continue developing even when put in a situation it was put in, it did not need archon's approval to grow and develop even when forced not to. And then Sumeru showed the cruelty of humanity towards their archons. People of Sumeru refused Nahida, showed how they want to be independent to an extent of creating a manmade god. I think in that environment the kindness, the naivity and the softheartedness of Nahida really got to me. She is calculating while also being empathic, I find it really interesting.

[madam-whim]

The Gold Road Reveal and my thoughts on it

I’m gonna start this off by saying I love ESO. I have been playing since 2017 and I’m pretty much doing everything the game has to offer. Quests, dungeons, trials, antiquities, sometimes PvP. That being said, this post will include lots of criticism that I feel (or know) is shared by many other fans.

But first things first, let me start off by listing some of the things on yesterday’s stream that had me bouncing in my seat:

The new zone is absolutely stunning! There’s a lot of variety to it and it does look very pretty. Exploring it will undoubtedly be fun and a feast for my eyes.

Also, Fennorian will be there, so I know there will at least be one well-written character that my Vestige has an actual bond with.

The scribing system being more of a roleplay thing – I don’t know what some people were hoping for, but I’m glad it’s not some Big Damage For Those Who Are Good At Maths kind of system. It still allows for a more unique playstyle, and I suppose it’s going to turn out like always: Do whatever you want in open world spaces, but keep your bow backflip heal out of veteran content.

And maybe the biggest “Yes!” moment of the evening: Ed Stark being the zone lead for Gold Road. While I did not like High Isle as much (too predictable for my taste, but at least it had recurring characters), he was responsible for Greymoor and Murkmire as well. I thought Greymoor was fantastic (good quests, excellent new characters alongside very familiar recurring ones), and Murkmire… well, I think Murkmire suffers greatly from being “the DLC that came after the Daedric Triad” so to speak. It kind of fell into the void created by a storyline spanning a full year (or even more, if you count the setup for the whole thing, which really began with the Varen’s ghost and Darien’s letter in Wrothgar and the Gold Coast sweetroll killer quests). I think that’s why lots of people don’t seem to like Murkmire very much despite it having great storytelling. My point is this: I do have some hope that after the fiasco some recent DLCs were story-wise, Ed Stark will at least make sure Gold Road makes sense.

And now for the criticism.

Ithelia’s design (Whenever, wherever, I want to kill Hermaeus…)

… yeah, about that. As one of my friends put it, she looks like Shakira with wings.

They really could have done so much better. The way she is now, as @akaviri-dovah said, she really just looks like a Meridia clone who somehow stole Jyggalag’s crystals, which is funny on so many levels (more on that later). Suffice it to say that I personally think the design choices are kind of lazy, given that we already have an angelic-looking Daedric lady.

Also, what’s with this picture? This kinda makes it seem as if she originally looked. Um. A lil different from the way she is now. In any case, I’m just gonna call this a missed opportunity for something more unique. I do like the glass shard aesthetic, I just wish they’d taken it in a different direction.

Dragon Break Princess Ithelia, or something like that

Now I know Dragon Breaks have to work differently from what Ithelia does, but I am kind of wondering what the consequences of her fate-altering abilities are. How do you alter fate in a way that threatens reality (with reality consisting of past and present events, with all possible versions of the future being possibly-real until one actually happens) without altering the timeline? Just by removing a possible future? Then one could argue that any Daedra could do the same just by manipulating people. Granted, it’s possible that Ithelia sees all possible futures and can do whatever she likes with them, but even then, she’d only be influencing what can become reality, not what already is. So how can she be THAT dangerous?

Right now, it just seems to me that they needed an adversary for Hermaeus Mora, and since his big things are knowledge, secrets and fate, and they couldn’t very well make a Daedric Prince of Anti-Intellectualism or a Daedric Prince of Snitching, she had to be a fate-altering type of Daedra.

At this point I’m still wondering how she even works, because how does she not accidentally cause Dragon Breaks? And if she is that damn powerful, how on earth did Mora alone manage to pretty much remove any trace of her? Which kind of brings me to my next point.

Memory Issues

I know, I know, Ithelia is not the first “new” Daedric Prince. (Which makes her stolen Jyggalag crystal vibes rather funny if you ask me.) And I don’t mind her being crazy powerful either, because so was Jyggalag or else he wouldn’t have been cursed. But that, to my knowledge, required several other Princes, whereas Ithelia apparently got owned by Hermaeus Mora alone, who then erased all memory of her. Which is not only quite the feat given how powerful she has to be, but also a very weird thing for Hermaeus Mora to do. I kinda thought stealing memories was more Meridia’s style. This entire part does not quite make sense to me yet and seems a little out of character, but well. By the way, speaking of Meridia…

Meridia-baiting the players

At this point, ZOS have to know we’re getting tired of waiting for villain Meridia. Everyone I know who is even the least bit interested in ESO’s storyline wants to see it. And I’ve seen people get their hopes up in recent days (new Meridia/Dawnbreaker-themed music box, the Ayleid ruin hint on the fragments sent to streamers…). Even in the twitch chat, there were people hyped about what they thought was Meridia, and who were disappointed when they were told it was Ithelia. And yes, I am absolutely saying they did this and made her a Meridia lookalike on purpose. But I’m well aware that we haven’t gotten any new hints about either Meridia or a certain someone since Greymoor, and that chapter will be four years old soon. Even I am beginning to give up, as much as I hate to say it.

By the way, I really did NOT appreciate Matt Firor name-dropping Darien right at the beginning. If you’re not planning to do anything with him, just let it go. I know absolutely nobody who appreciates being fed very tiny hints for two years and then being left in the dark for four years straight. If you don’t want to pick that storyline up again, just stuff the man into the Old Life quest and be done with it.

Honestly, once again, I’m gonna say this is a MASSIVE missed opportunity right here. ESO’s 10 year anniversary is coming up, what could possibly be better than to go back to the roots now and reward all those loyal players with the story they are waiting for? I distinctly recall Molag Bal telling me to watch my step around Meridia, and the setup is all there. I’m honestly disappointed that there is no Meridia content at all. And this ties in with my final point, albeit vaguely.

“Recurring” characters

Ah, yes, we do love recurring characters. Sometimes. We do love it when a fan favorite comes back – a character who’s accompanied the Vestige over the course of an entire story arc or has made multiple appearances over the years and has become beloved by many players, and, most importantly, who is well-written, i.e. has a unique personality. And that’s why “recurring characters” is not always a recipe for success when it comes to getting people hooked on a story.

It is when it’s one of the five companions, or a Ravenwatch member, or your main alliance buddy (Raz, Naryu and – oh, wait, yeah, us Covenant babies don’t have one anymore). It also works when it’s a character we’ve run across several times already, like Alchemy, who I know tons of people love, or my favorite walking disaster Revus Demnevanni.

But it’s certainly not working when it’s a character we barely know anything about, and who isn’t a hit with the community. Like Eveli’s brother whom I had to google because I could not remember who he was. He’s from a prologue quest. Nothing more. That’s not a “beloved returning character”.

ZOS have several of those just lying around, and they’re just not using them. And even the base game had so many characters that were there over the course of several zones, that were well-written and at least memorable to the degree that people would recognize them with just a little reminder, like Indaenir or Holgunn and Walks-in-Ash or the Vanos siblings. Hell, we haven't seen good old Vanus Galerion in a while. They are ten years old now and deserve to be dragged to the surface again.

Okay, I’m done now!

This concludes my rant (because that’s what it is, I’m aware). I just want to say again that this is not be dragging ESO through the mud, this is just me pointing out that the devs (especially the writers) could do so much better if they listened to their lore nerds and story-interested players more.

[bastart13]

Well, you said it, now it's on you, haha!

1) Apart from Love & Legends, do you enjoy any other stories from Lovestruck? If so, which ones are your favorites?

2) If you were to create your own version of the Love & Legends characters, how different would they look compared to the original versions you've shared?

3) Is there anything you wish had been explored more or done differently in the original, both in terms of design and plot?

4) You've mentioned changes made to Reiner and others, but have you discussed Altea's redesign? Can you share more about the direction you've taken with her and the reasons behind it?

5) I noticed the addition of wet-haired sprites for the MC and Helena. Have you created or do you plan to create other variations like this?

6) Have you started working on redesigning the weapons? Is that something that interests you, given the unique and interesting weapons in Love & Legends?

7) Do you plan to create or add heart gallery scenes, and if so, how would the process differ from creating the sprites? Would you aim to recreate them faithfully or put your own spin on them?

8) Do you have favorite heart scenes from the original? Are there scenes you wish had been drawn?

9) If you had unlimited time and resources, what ambitious additions or changes would you make to the revival?

10) Are there any non-playable characters from the original that you wish had been added as love interests?

I think 10 questions are a good enough start, lol.

1) Apart from Love & Legends, do you enjoy any other stories from Lovestruck? If so, which ones are your favorites?

I love most of the other Lovestruck series :D There’s such a broad variety of genres and characters, but they share this great focus on group dynamics that really makes you get attached to them as a whole. I think my other favourite series are Reigning Passions, Queen of Thieves, and Sweet Enchantments. My favourite routes are Amara, Fiona, Onyx, Zain, Emilio, and Razi, though shoutout to Remy and Onyx’s writers for being the ones to make me cry.

[Going to stick the rest under a read more to avoid the long post]

2) If you were to create your own version of the Love & Legends characters, how different would they look compared to the original versions you've shared?

Immensely hard to say. My tendencies aren’t towards classic medieval fantasy so the aesthetic probably would have ended up entirely different but I feel like I already took a lot of liberties with them? Honestly, they could have ended up like anything XD

3) Is there anything you wish had been explored more or done differently in the original, both in terms of design and plot?

Hm... Reiner’s probably my favourite character of the lot, but I do think I’d prefer his route if it carried over some worldbuilding from Helena’s and wedding traditions were different from modern western ones. Culture shock comes up a lot in the game as conflict and leaning into Reiner not understanding why giving the MC a ring makes her uncomfortable or the proposal being the first stage of establishing their relationship would make his end a bit more sympathetic.

Also, personally, I get a bit checked out with prophecies or acts of god, even in fantasy, so Alain and Saerys’ routes can get harder for me to engage with towards the end.

4) You've mentioned changes made to Reiner and others, but have you discussed Altea's redesign? Can you share more about the direction you've taken with her and the reasons behind it?

Ooh, yeah! So Altea’s design is a bit racially ambiguous but like the MC and Saerys I thought it’d be nice to draw her as Asian, though more south-east Asian like Cambodia or Malaysia. You get a lot of beautiful ornamentation and clothing from those cultures which I could style into celestial or winged symbols to suit Altea’s magical girl aesthetic while grounding it.

The general direction I’m taking with Eclaciel is combining medieval European silhouettes with the fabrics and styles of south east Asia + magical girl colours and sparkles.

As for her actual design, I wanted to make her chubbier as a further contrast to Helena and as another symbol of her subtle wealth. Altea’s the sort of character I imagine who took the peace time to flourish, especially after such a hard childhood > adulthood. The retainers care about their appearances in different ways and while Altea doesn’t want to rub it in anyone’s face, she does like to show off a bit with good quality fabrics, polished jewellery, and bright colours.

5) I noticed the addition of wet-haired sprites for the MC and Helena. Have you created or do you plan to create other variations like this?

All the main characters have wet hair sprites now and I think my plan is to create new variations where I see them. The MC also has a ponytail sprite and Witch Queen eyes when she’s being possessed, Alain has a messy hair sprite to echo himself as a child, and Reiner wears a silk cap when he’s sleeping to protect his hair.

I’m not sure right now what other variations might pop up but I’m planning wedding variations, makeup, and the timeskip hairstyles.

6) Have you started working on redesigning the weapons? Is that something that interests you, given the unique and interesting weapons in Love & Legends?

I... don’t have much practice drawing weapons. I did have to sketch them out for the promo art I did, though I only really made references for Atlea’s staff, Iseul’s bow, and August and Alain’s swords.

Like the characters, I veer towards more grounded, simpler designs vs fantastical and detailed.

7) Do you plan to create or add heart gallery scenes, and if so, how would the process differ from creating the sprites? Would you aim to recreate them faithfully or put your own spin on them?

I do plan to draw CGs eventually, though I’m a bit intimidated by the sheer quantity. The process would be the same as most of my illustration work: thumbnails > lineart > flats > lighting. Similarly to the sprites, I’d vary how much inspiration I’d want to take. Some I’d essentially want to redraw, I’d have a bit of fun with others, and maybe replace others. One major change is converting all the portrait compositions to landscape. I understand why they did it that way, but landscape orientation is far more comfortable for the game.  

(Some of my ideation thumbnails)

8) Do you have favorite heart scenes from the original? Are there scenes you wish had been drawn?

Like all of Love & Legends, it’s an interesting blend of incredible and strange art. I think they got a new colourist past Iseul’s 7th season and that definitely made a big difference but the compositions have always been impressive. My favourites from each route are:

As for scenes I wish had been drawn, I’m not sure anything comes to mind other that Reiner and MC’s Vegas wedding, since that was the climax of the season.

9) If you had unlimited time and resources, what ambitious additions or changes would you make to the revival?

Oh god, I’m not sure? Voice acting would be sick even if I never know what anyone sounds like. An animated intro/trailer would be awesome. Maybe updating backgrounds as well?

10) Are there any non-playable characters from the original that you wish had been added as love interests?

Weirdly I’m not someone who looks for other characters to become love interests. It’s fairly obvious when characters weren’t intended to carry a route by themselves and I'm content with the stories we have :D

[vera-king-hrfl]

Yay! OK so I picked this up from @dark-and-kawaii (thank you bebe! I only wish my design skills were as godlike as yours and not painfully infantile 😅) And I thought it was just a super fun way to explain my HC surrounding my two lovers, Cal and Ryldinn. Obvi Ryldinn is mine, so I decide what he's like, but the Cal stuff is also specific to this story, and might not agree with your own.

Nsft below cut, CW: discussion of sexual trauma.

Ryldinn

For those of you who have read the story and know his background, this might seem a bit odd, but just work with me. People handle things in different ways.

Ryldinn was a sex slave before he was kidnapped by the mindflayers. Basically, a prostitute whose owner kept all the money and who had no choice about who he slept with or what was done to him. He's also killed a lot of people for the same reason. He feels no guilt about that.

So it might be a surprise that he's quite submissive. He's definitely a bottom, and he likes pain. He likes to be spanked, clawed, bitten, and having his hair pulled. He likes it when Cal loses it a bit and gets rough. He never really minded his life that much before. He's never known anything else, and in his society, there was never anyone who would think there was anything wrong with that, so it doesn't affect him like it would affect, say, Astarion. There is trauma there, though it's very much buried in his psychology. He's starting to feel more agency over his own body, and now he'll only accept those things if Cal does them, but he still likes it.

He is very homosexual. He dislikes women in general and would never actually touch one in that way unless he was ordered to do so. Those of you who understand matriarchal drow society will understand why. He's gay due to past trauma. He's obviously not a gold star, but he's never been with a woman out of choice.

Part of his repressed trauma requires him to be very clean at all times. It's almost an OCD compulsion. He doesn't mind if Cal is sweaty or smells a bit like a horse, but for himself, he bathes as often and as thoroughly as possible and loves water and swimming, scented oils for his soft sensitive skin, soap, and anything that smells nice.

His body is the drow definition of perfection. He's not tall (5'7" or so) or extremely muscular but tight, hard, strong, smooth, and defined. He's lighter and stronger than he looks. His dick isn't very big but quite pretty, easy to take, or to suck. He's sinuous, lean, the elven equivalent of a gazelle or a cheetah. He has very dark grey skin, almost black, and pure white hair, almost translucent. Bright red eyes, slightly pink lips and nipples, lighter palms, and soles.

Cal

My sweet baby boy! The little brother, the peace maker. Always polite and accommodating. Possibly the only person who could have taken that weird damaged guy and made anything pleasant out of him.

Cal is a genuinely good person. He's been through literal hell, but despite the devil blood, he strains with all his being to keep his hope and his softness. He's also killed people, but he hates it, and it haunts him.

Sexually, he's actually quite dominant. He loves being asked for sex, encouraged, and being begged sets him on fire. He was a virgin before Ryldinn, but he finds his stride and discovers his likes and dislikes very quickly. He's a top, but the service variety, and he makes sure that his partner is feeling good before taking his own pleasure. He doesn't mind hurting Ryldinn as long as he knows that he's enjoying it, but he's not really into pain himself, and bottoming is not his preference, though he will do it if Ryldinn wants, and does have that occasional desire. He likes using his tail, likes when his horns are pulled on, and loves when his tiefling attributes are adored. He's a bit insecure about his heritage.

Cal is bi/pan, whatever. It wouldn’t have mattered to him if Ryldinn had been a woman or a sentient rock. He loves the person, regardless of what they look like. The fact that Ryldinn is beautiful and wants him so bad is a bonus. It's that want, that desire to be with him that makes Cal melt. He's also demi and has a hard time performing unless he loves the person and they love him back. That said, there is quite a bit of devil blood in there, and sometimes that takes over, though he tries with all his might to suppress that.

Cal is a bigger dude. I made him about 6'1" in my story, and reasonably muscular. He's a bit malnourished due to the exile and the journey, but he has a tendency to get a bit more chunky when he's comfortable. He'd definitely be softer around the middle with a bit of a belly. Nothing wrong with that! He'd be your very own squishy heater to snuggle with on cold winter nights. He is also a devilish tiefling and has that big thick ridged cock. He likes it when Ryldinn tells him how big he is, as plenty of men would.

Together

They both love kissing. Ryldinn had never been kissed before Cal did it, but now it's his favorite thing to do. He loves the soft lips and the forked tongue and the intimacy. He can kiss his tiefling for hours. Cal has kissed, had a few hot and heavy make-out sessions when he was younger, just never went further.

Eye contact. Another thing Ryldinn has avoided, but Cals eyes are so beautiful to him, the gentle burning fires, the love and desire. It just makes him feel special.

They both have a pretty high sex drive and do it often. Cal usually tops, but he also likes to go down on Ryldinn, to taste him and make him shudder. Ryldinn likes it any way Cal does. Slow soft missionary, against a wall, bent over a table, whatever his man is in the mood for. Cal's favorite position is on his back with Ryldinn riding him. He loves to watch how his body turns his lover into a shaking panting mess. He loves to see the gentle undulation of the perfect gorgeous body enjoying him so much.

They both love touch. When they're together, they're usually touching, even if it's discreet. Hand holding, tail wrapped around an ankle, petting.

Anyway, there's probably more but those parts are still to come so I'll leave it here. I hope this helps you to understand where I'm going with this. I've had so much amazing encouragement and feedback from you guys it's inspired me to go deeper into the personality of these characters and how I see them. Thank you all so much for tolerating me! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

[coochellati]

Team Bruno fr, I think I was sold pretty quickly and he only got better and better for me haha-

It’s pretty funny because if I’m watching anything with someone and they see me taking notes they’re usually a bit confused but curious about what I might be writing down haha. Usually it’s never anything that important to the story (unless it’s some major detail I don’t wanna forget) and it’s just me just taking notes about traits about the characters I like.

Here, I’m happy to share a couple of my silly notes! I think this shows a pretty accurate variety of the stuff I was noting:

How it started😭😭: “Ok wow Bruno’s little partners are completely insane.

This guy in blue is super superstitious

Fugo acts all calm but he has QUITE a temper

Little guy is just learning. And also incredibly angry.

Abbacchio.”

“Bruno has a good heart🥺🥺”

I wrote out the bit of backstory they revealed about his childhood, which is one thing, but as I was scrolling through my notes looking for interesting examples I noticed I even wrote down a note about how Bruno weighed a little bit more than Prosciutto, I guess I just found that interesting lol.

And I found a special fondness for his place in the other team member’s backstories, but specifically Narancia’s. Bruno’s a specific character type I’ve always admired. I know I won’t be the best at explaining it but I loved that part about how he yelled at Narancia about joining the mafia, but he wasn’t really angry and was just trying to protect him from a life he might regret. One of my favorite scenes for sure. I love that kinda thing.

AND the way his face softened when Narancia swam after them, he was so. Happy. Please. Let Bruno be happy more often-

And I lost it at the “Arrivederci,” scene during the Grateful Dead arc, it was actually so cool and I feel like just watching that scene raised my own coolness by 5%.

Ok trying not to ramble too much but I especially appreciated his reaction to Abbacchio’s death. Watching the leader character having to be strong for the team, but inwardly it’s hurting them so badly-

And to end it on a lighter note, even before I had started jjba I always had a fondness for Bruno’s design since I considered it super iconic and cool. It was neat to finally get to actually see him since he was one of the few Jojo characters I actually knew by name before watching.

And of course the occasional: wow Bruno is so hot when he *insert various hot Bruno moments here*

Fell so hard for him, wow. I do enjoy a few Jojo characters, my other really big one being Rohan, but like. If I had to pick one to actually be with how could I Not pick Bruno-

Anyways thanks for listening to this little ramble about things I ended up writing down about Bruno❤️ and I’m so glad you liked the sketch! He’s fun to draw~

Ack !!! I’m sorry this took me so long to answer 😭

I love how you’re annotating Golden Wind. I wish that I took more notes on Bruno while watching.,,.,,.. Next rewatch i think i will do that,.,.,..

“Little guy is just learning. And also incredibly angry” 😭💀 IM DEAD

Okay, I’m glad you wrote down that Bruno weighs more than Prosciutto, because I totally forgot about that. Cool fact to know.

On the topic of Bruno’s role in Narancia’s backstory—I’m going to recommend you read Purple Haze Feedback. (Here’s a link to the translated story!) It’s a novel that takes place after the events of Golden Wind. The story follows Fugo as he attempts to redeem himself in Giorno’s eyes. The best part is that PHF expands on everyone’s backstory—especially for Narancia, Bruno, and of most of all, Fugo.

PHF is not written by Araki, but there’s original illustrations from him within the novel. So is it canon? Eh—it’s semi-canon. Because this was written well before the anime came out, there are some minor contradictions to the anime’s version of the story. PHF lines up fine with the manga. …So I guess you can choose if it’s canon or not. (I like to pretend it is.)

PHF isn’t very long. I read it straight through in about 4 hours. (I could NOT put it down.)

Anyway!

You know what’s funny? I also adored Bruno’s design before actually watching part 5. And then I watched it and the same shit happened to me. We’re absolutely twinning in this scenario. 😩

…And full confession, I’m also a Rohan stan. I need that narcissistic asshole to put me in my place.

I’m always happy to listen to anyone’s jojo info dumps! You are always welcome to ramble here :)

thanks for the ask! <3

[petra-creat0r]

Petra's chapter 3 concept

Welp. I finally caved and gave into the full prediction. Or at least my take on Tenna, Mike, and Rook. (Plus a shop keep for Bitsy)

Are my takes on Rook and Tenna a little safe/cliche? Probably, but I still like them. Especially Tenna. She's a silly fella. A real wiser cracker. They berate Mike over their hyper specific coffee order off camera.

I might also hear you asking "Petra, if your Rook and Tenna are horrible people, how are they supposed to mirror Asgore and Toriel?" IDK. I just wrote that down and am still working the take out. Additionally, while they'd be parallels, they wouldn't be one to one. Most of how I imagine them atm is they're how Kris wishes Asgore and Toriel were when it comes to their relationship. Aka, loving and together. Rook and Tenna are horrible people in a healthy relationship, Toriel and Asgore are relatively good people who's relationship wasn't working.

Again, I don't know, I'm still working on it.

Also Mike. I think Mike is my favorite take/design of these three. Overworked, tired, boom mic operator/stage hand who hates it here. Even prior to Rook meeting the Knight and making changes to the studio, Mike was generally under appreciated and didn't like all the entitled actors he had to work with. Especially Tenna. Only person he's worked with who he's actually liked and gotten along with was Spamton, who I imagine did some commercials back in his Big Shot days. (Oh if only Mike knew what Spam was going through in those days... The horrors.) As for Mike's opinion on Bitsy? He tolerated her, pre- the spider's popularity. I imagine after Bitsy signed that contract with her mysterious benefactor, she became a little bit of a brat off camera. Before just completely going off the rails at least.

Just some more notes on stuff. Rook is based on the TV remote and Tenna was originally just a game show/variety show host before Rook started cutting corners and costs and so now half the channels are hosted by Tenna or sponsored by TennaVision. Tenna is either the TV itself, or more likely just the antennas. Mike's of course a microphone. Maybe a speaker idk. I've said in previous posts that Bitsy is an old VHS tape and Lanino and Elnina are just on there for another frame of reference. They're the weather channel, I doubt there's any argument about that.

Finally, the shop keep. V.C. Ramsey, aka Grampa Ramsey. He's based on a VCR player and the nursery rhyme, "Baa Baa Black Sheep". Ramsey is the shop keep connected to Bitsy, and they used to be old friends before you know, the whole mystery man stuff went down. The VCR details may be subtle, but I still like Ramsey's design. I could listen to his stories for hours.

[oodlyenough]

now that i've finished dual destinies here is how i'd rank the aa games that i've played.

this started as a bulleted list but then as always i ended up rambling forever, so, some of it is under the cut. spoilers for AA1-5 & AAI1. anything not listed is a game i've not yet played

1. Ace Attorney (1)

can't beat the original. ok so maybe the first time i played turnabout samurai i got so bored i took a 3 year break. that's not the point. i was weak. i think this game is the tightest and as the introduction to the concept and the characters it does a surprisingly good job of balancing and developing all of them. pretty satisfying arcs and relationships for every major character. also 1-4 and 1-5 are two of The best cases ever.

2. Ace Attorney 3/Trials and Tribulations

this one coasts on the strength of the dahlia throughline. all three of her cases are great. the fey lore develops so well and so interestingly, i loved getting a chance to play mia, dahlia is the best AA villain, bridge to turnabout has so many great things going on, edgeworth v franziska rules, phoenix investigating with franziska rules. it had some of my favourite puzzles and puzzle solving. the weak points that lose it top spot for me are that i didn't like how edgeworth and franziska evaporate from 3-5 in the second half, i wish maya had a bigger role in 3-5, and i don't enjoy anything about godot. also the two middle cases bored me to tears

3. Ace Attorney 2/Justice for All

this is a messier game than the above two for sure and i also thought it had the worst puzzle writing of the original trilogy. the magatama's use here is a bit clunky. i also think the way edgeworth's disappearance and return is handled is not quite as satisfying as it could've been for such a big emotional thing. the execution of the start of 2-4 with maya's kidnapping and engarde hiring phoenix could've been done much smoother.

BUT: i love the expansion of the fey lore, introduction of morgan and pearl and kurain, and franziska is my specialest little girl and i love that she's here. and 2-4, especially as it goes on, is such a good interesting case and some of the BEST character stuff for phoenix and edgeworth and truly made me unwell about the ship indefinitely. edgeworth hunched over his desk with bugged out eyes through gritted teeth "the prosecution... rests..." ??? peak romance

4. Ace Attorney 4/Apollo Justice

this is a really fun game that has the difficult task of introducing a lot of new characters and it pulls that off fairly well. apollo, trucy and klavier are all really fun. it's super interesting to see phoenix as an NPC and see what a mysterious galaxybrain he is when you're not given a front-row ticket to his scattered thoughts. i think the mystery writing here was coherent and pretty tight and i had fun solving the puzzles. 4-1 is one of the best tutorial cases for sure.

downside is that it's underbaked and you can tell. the new characters, while likable, barely get a chance to shine or really develop. apollo is not really much more than an avatar, the story is still about phoenix. and even when i'm enjoying the game, it just does honestly feel kind of... mean... the way the game drops every character from the trilogy and does what it does with phoenix.

5. Ace Attorney Investigations 1

fun pixel sprites, some fun new characters, it's cool to be able to walk my lil dude around and click on stuff. some of it is pretty funny. there's a surprisingly large variety of new female characters in different kinds of roles and personalities and designs and i always appreciate that.

the mysteries are not very good and the puzzles are frequently frustrating. the lack of trial day structure means the pacing feels wonky in many places. the returning characters are not written very well, franziska in particular is a flanderized shadow of herself, and most damning of all: edgeworth, the main character, is not written particularly well. the bratworth flashback in particular shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the character established by the trilogy imo.

6. Ace Attorney 5/Dual Destinies

this game had most of the same flaws as AAI and it didn't even have nice art or fun investigation banter to save it. i like athena a lot, i love aura and canon lesbians, it's nice to see phoenix as a lawyer again and get some confirmation edgeworth and the feys didn't fuckin die off screen. aa5 klavier is fucking hilarious. some of the new NPCs are funny s/o to the orca and plonco and robin.

the non-chronological plot was unnecessarily convoluted, the dark age of the law was emphasized so much only to be totally underdeveloped, the phantom plot twist was cool for three seconds and then pretty stupid in retrospect. apollo's storyline is a disaster. trucy has been replaced by an automaton that talks about panties. the lack of being able to investigate scenery makes the investigation days short, hurts character development and contributes the pacing that makes every final trial day feel interminably long and infuriating. too many plot twists rely on the game simply not providing evidence until the last second, at which point the twist becomes obvious. the nicest thing i can say for dual destinies is that it didn't irreparably break anything i loved in the previous games.

[sir-subpar]

Just curious, what do you think of Fizzarolli from Helliva Boss??

Whoa boy, this'll be long, bear with me

I'll be honest-

I like him.

He's very charming and funny

Love the prosthetics

The writing for him has been off lately, one of the very least he hasn't been butchered like everyone else. He's still very charming and funny, and well it confused me at first, I do now find his Dynamic with Ozzy to be very Charming. To be honest, they're kind of the only reasons I hold out even a tiny sliver of Hope for the show. The rest of the show has become very aggravating but whenever those two were on screen at the very least I'm entertained

Having said that-

His outfits are terrible

He deserves better than... This

This outfit especially

The colors clash and are strange. Very unflattering, especially for a character as Charming as him.

And I will admit, I'm a little biased because I am an Alex Brightman fan, I think he's very funny and very talented

His dynamic with Mammon feels off.

Maybe it's because he's the only one of the seven deadly sins who actually acts like the seven deadly sins, or maybe it's because Mammon looks like a Christmas tree

Or it might feel off because.. it feels like he shouldn't be that intimidated by Mammon when he's got Asmodeus right there. I don't mind the idea of Mammon being a jester, because if I remember correctly, one of his many nicknames was the "Lord of fools"

And I don't necessarily hate his voice either. I'm not sure if it matches him or not. I'm still on the fence about it, but the voice itself is all right.

I feel like Fizz could have had a very interesting Dynamic with Mammon, especially if the whole "Mammon's the reason he became successful and met the love of his life" is what they're going for. But I feel like it gets ruined by making Mammon such a caricature. There's no subtlety.

If Mammon really views Fizz as an ungrateful brat that he gave everything to, I feel like that should be explored.

Getting back on track. While I like Fizz, I'd argue he's probably my favorite character, I have an issue with him. Or rather, how the show treats him

Maybe it's just because I'm asexual, so when things are overly sexual I tend to be less interested, but I'm really tired of just how much are the cast is hypersexualized 24/7

Almost every character that is significant to Blitzo's story (other than his relatives, thankfully) seems to have to be a sexual or romantic interest at some point.

Stolas, Verosika, Fizzarolli, Striker, Chaz, Moxxie and Millie, Dennis, etc,

Don't get me wrong, the idea of a character using sex as a tool to get what they want is interesting. And is not necessarily bad. Even if it was against my preference, I can see potential in it.

But it seems like the majority of the queer characters are either mocked or hypersexualized. (I'll give Ozzy a pass, since he is the embodiment of Lust)

Moxxie is a punching bag, Blitzo, Stolas, Fizz, Striker (in the harvest moon festival), Chaz is basically nothing but a sentiant libido, Glitz and Glam, Verosika, etc.

It's just dissapointing how it's lacking variety.

Fizz himself is great, I like him a lot.

Originally for my redesign/reimagine project, I wasn't going to do the seven deadly sins but I might have to do Asmodeus and Mammon since they are so entwined with fizz story-wise.

Also because their designs drive me up the wall, but I'll talk about that more in their posts

Long story long, Fizz is the best character in the show to me.

For the record, if any of you like the show as it is, great! I wish I could, I really do, but I just can't enjoy it as much as I want to. And yeah, reimagining the show has been really fun! I'm not entirely sure why, but it is. Maybe it's just a good creative exercise

At the end of the day, these are just my opinions, I'm sure all of you have your own reasons for liking or disliking it, my word is not law. Feel however you feel, and I will feel what I feel.

And all right, I confess, these two are cute.

[ofbetterbodies]

poor things (2023) running commentary:

(live editing as I watch)

from ~17 min mark onwards

- love the variety of camera work!!! It's so cool I love how yorgos tells the story

- Bella is so silly goofy during her carriage meltdown like realest girl ever methinks

-oh how I wish she wasn't chloroformed

- as an advocate of desexualized titties I'm loving the scene with prim and Bella bc yeah real it be like that

-god I hate this actors accent work I'm sorry to say

-WE IN COLOR!!!

-HOMEGIRL FUCKING KILLED HERSELF SHES SO FUCKING REAL (sorry for being so crass)

-the coloring !!!!!! Oh my god it's so beautiful I'm so obsessed with how color is used in this film

-GROSS SURGERY SCENE FUCK YEAH (girl who hates horror movies

- I knew the premise going in but oh my god.

-she is awake ☀️ rise and shiiinnee ☀️

-LOVE BIG CHAIR WISH I HAD BIG CHAIR !!

-hey what

-HAIRY BUSINESS ????

-well 😭😐

-as a weird science bitch I love the fantasy world of mad scientist family who use their children as experiments

-Bella be like bye ✌️

-hm. I hate this.

-I understand. But I hate this.

-this is what film is for I think to explore weird ideas and scenarios but oh my god 😭😭

-wish they didn't say it like that

-LOVE THE THESIS STATEMENT DROP LMFAOOO

30min mark

-I'm gonna be fr max you are a big idiot if you think this girl understands the sanctity of marriage

-big big biggg fan of the sound design in this

-LOVE the bubble wand

-*hates* I have to hate

-*more hate*

-OH HIS NAME IS GODWIN (that's good)

-Bella is so smart | "Bella not safe with you, I think"

-oh I hate 😍😍😍

-girl I'm dizzy with excitement too so true

-NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

-no don't adventure with a man who cares little of damage to you 😭

-I get her

-Bella said heyyyyyy lol

-oh!

-GIRL HELP????????????????????

-she's so crazy lol

-I hate the pig chicken btw

-YEAH SHE IS A BEING OF FREE WILL! But she needs to be protected lmfao??

-you're such a dumb fucking bitch if you think being worried about her is emotional and not logical

-oh!

-good for her I think?

-dress 🩷

-color!

-I think he should die for saying she can't have another sweet treat

-ew

-mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm don't like

-idk ! I don't like how these scenes are shot

-could have just been the last frame

-furious jumping 😭😭

-girl help

-girl HELP 😭😭 (yes it's a weakness 🩷)

-ew

-I hope she leaves

-yay !

45min mark

-wardrobe so cute hate the hair like I understand it would suit the character but I'm allowed to hate it aesthetically

-sunnies! :)!!

-the boots are sooo cute help

-OBSESSED WITH THE SET OH MY FJDJDHSHSBSHHZ OG MY GOD THE SET IS SOOOOOO CUTE?? Like the set?? Sobbing and crying

-Bella so real for crying when watching a beautiful woman play music me too

-Bella discovers fighting and crying from witnessing fights real

-I love how Emma manages to use her body language to be like damn god never prepared me for this!

-throws up

-girl me too

-I get her idk

-Duncan should die btw

-SHES SO REAL NO ONE CAN JUST DISAPPEAR 😭

-amazement to Bella. I love her

-SUGAR AND VIOLENCE !! IT IS MOST CHARMING. I AM FINE.

-love that (good for her)

-yeah why would I keep it in my mouth if it is revolting

-because you mean

-SALTY 😭

-I love her

-PUNCH THAT BABY 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

-like I get her real

-I think Duncan should die

-you are hurting Bella!

-slaps

-good

-kith

-Bella!

-THE TRAIN DRAWING HELP I LOVE HER

-shoulder moment

-SKIRT !!!! SHE LOOKS SO PRETTY

-Duncan should die

-makes me discover angery feelings for you I love her

-IS THIS THE DANCE SCENE?? Yay

-tiptap

-GET IT

-lead that man Bella

-I'm like I think Duncan should die and they're like partial credit

-Duncan hey maybe uh that's a bit far

-PLEASE JOIN THE PRETTY GIRL WHILE HE IS BEING NEEDLESSLY VIOLENT

-stop talking as your sounds make Bella angry

-I love her

-NO!!!!!! BAD BAD BAD !!! NO!!! WHY ARE THEY TOGETHER STILL

-Bella is smart 🩷 she 🩷

-fuck this guy for not loving how intelligent she is btw

-LMFAOO IS THAT NOT HAPPENING?

-so no head? *skateboard crack*

-she is terrifying I love her

-OH!

-I love Emma's acting so much 😭😭😭😭😭😭

-girl.

-I love her

-god I love her

-I fear I am also a confusing person Bella I get you

-oh if something happens to Godwin I'm kms

-THE SOBS AT NIGHT 😭

-sorry. You what

-hey uh I think your father shouldve died 🩷

1hr mark

-hellogoodmornin

-Duncan should die

-Oh that went better than I thought

-she sounds so unimpressed I love her

-BOATS BOATS BOATS

-Bella so smart

-ew

-ew

-I don't like Duncan

-if that wasn't obvious

- Emma stone is breathtaking. That's the commentary

-did I mention that I love the wardrobe for Bella? I love the wardrobe for Bella

-hi I'm Bella and I like a guy who can kill things

-three days 😐🫡

-she sleeb

-T H E S H I P

-she's so unimpressed I adore her sm

-she's both like so me and also so unlike me I'm obsessed -UGH BELLA I LOVE YOU!!

-NO EVIDENCE BASE 😭

-I adore her

-do I kin Bella poor things a little bit? Maybe.

-skirt 😍😍

-oh! Maybe she should have asked first

-I agree though I go up to interesting older ladies as well

-oh!

-yelling happily!

-cadaver into the sea 😭

-that is terrible!

-Bella Baxter btw I love u

-BELLLAA MY BELOVED

-much reassuring news 🩷 she's so kind

-god I'm so happy she made friends

-I think Duncan should die

-marry me or kill me? Is that the proposal!

-adore her

-I think Duncan should die (he is pathetic)

-MARGARET QUALLEY CHECK!!!!!!!

-felicity is so seven.mp3

-Bella I love you

-harry you look soooooo cool

-HELP HELP HELP HELP HELP HELP

-"I is the goal of all to improve, advance, progress, grow. I know this in me, and I am sure I am indicative of all."

-harry you should shut up and have more nuance in your statements (she said hypocritically)

-HEY I THINK DUNCAN SHOULD DIE

-she's so belle from batb coded

-Karina kinnie moment ?? Yeah

-wardrobe 🩷 if this was pastel pink I would wear it out daily

-SET DESIGN IS SO BEAUTIFUL I WANT 2 CRY!

-oh. I don't like this. Oh no.

-oh no.

-oh no

-HELP!!??

-LMFAOOO Martha I love you

1hr15min mark

-slow zoom in on Bella knocking on the door I love her

-oh Bella

-being kept up at night with philosophy I love her

-pretty moron 🩷 I would disagree on the pretty part bc of the fact that his character detracts heavily from his appearance

-scene transition so beautiful Karina cry

-THE FUCKING CARRIAGES WHAT IF I DIED ISHDHSJSJKAS THEYRE BEAUTIFUL!!!

-A L E X A N D R I A

-Emma stones beauty in every shot of this film is sincerely breathtaking

-camera work the optic blur does so much for me

-OH I LOVE THIS SET !!!!!!!!!! THE LIGHTING IS BEAUTIFUL

-WARDROBEEEE ✨☀️

-oh!

-harry I hate how you said that

-I do however love this set

-yay yorgos for the real life set

-weird film

-I hope Duncan died

-pinhole camera is interesting but I don't entirely love it

-I hope these dudes who are going to steal from Bella's donation choke

-oh!

-I hope she didn't give away all their money I truly don't know if she would know

-oh this scene Emily "emma" stone your acting 🩷🩷🩷🩷

-she worked hard on this and I appreciate it but as an viewer I'm like 🧍🏻‍♀️ uh oh

-Bella run

-going to mute this bc I have ✨trauma✨

- ok good I kind of thought it was going to get physically violent?

-but uh this is not good!

-omg like the marina and the diamonds song??

-god I am a Bella Baxter kinnie 😐

-harry shut up did you know that realism is stupid

-FUCK YES BELLA YOU GET IT I LOVE YOU 🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷

-the silly little kiss on the cheek

-oh!

-"I always think it will be better." 🚬😐

-P A R I S

-I hate this fucking man

-I love herrr everything is an experiment!!!!

-ADVENTUROUS

-ew

-I mean she is in Paris

-if it's consensual I guess it's ok but I fear that she doesn't know about venereal diseases

-oh!

-why did you shoot this so explicitly yorgos

-it's an interesting choice

-oh! 😐

-I'm... skipping this 😍

~1hr 28 min mark (a little past)

-love her

-eclairs

-oh I hate you Duncan

-oh Bella Baxter I love you

-dude shut up bye

-I can now see you are not that...

-Duncan I hate you

-there is clearly something broken in you

-Duncan I hate you

-god Bella I get you queen

-oh I hate the makeup on her but it fits I guess

-OH SHE DID IT HERSELF

-she has to say formidable at the end help

-bye I'm skipping this

-skipped to 1hr 33 min mark -

-oh fuck yes she gets to hang with the gorls

-oh! Good for her

-SOCIALISM 😍

-GOD I GET HERRRR (girl who had scientist dad)

-oh!

-ew

-pls don't talk about yourself like that :(

-an idealist!

-ew 🩷 but she's right

-oh grandchild ohhh I get it

-I do appreciate the camera work

-oh I get her

-oh she is talking to them?

-OH SHES SCIENTIFICALLY MAKING SEX WORK BETTER 😭

-le giggle

-oh good for her

-this is shot well so I did not skip (and by well I mean tolerable to my sensibilities I guess?)

-oh!

-grateful for the montage that was tolerable

- Bella so cute

-Bella in stem moment

-aw yay!

-love the sloppy work comment I get her

-oh!

-she's so real

-ew

-ew?

-ew

-EW!!!

-Karina skip

1hr42min mark

-Duncan should die

-BELLA FIT CHECK

-Duncan I hate you

-ok the little hello to Bella's friend 😭😭

-WE ARE OUR OWN MEANS OF PRODUCTION 🫡

-oh hi felicity

-HI MARGARET

- oh :(

-poor felicity

-gory surgery scene I hate it but why am I watching?

-OH SHITT

-cancer :(

-oh no

-oh no

-compliments and chocolate help

-swiney is so cool the tattoos are amazing

-oh Bella :( real

-this is reminding me vaguely of fable iii

-oh good for her

-music so pretty

-kinda wish this was shot differently

-they cuddle :) she sing :)

-toinette I love you

-lmfao did Duncan go insane over her

-that's so funny

-max you are so slay

-ew

-they go fight fight fight

-oh!

-oh :(

-L O N D O N

-it could be said that Bella's adventure was a so long London moment

-THE WHORE IS BACK?? Die

-empirical data says different :(

-beady eyes and hard questions 😭

-amazing

-she finds out

-oh

-fascinating

-can't wait to see how Emma acts Bella's reaction

-OH SHE HATES MAX FOR THIS

-that look was severe to say the least

-sister meetup!

- bell whore :(

-meanie

-AND SHE RETURNS??

-oh I love this conversation

-I am finding being alive fascinating

-the way Bella just states her emotional state bluntly and to the point sooo true queen

-wardrobe

-FISHEYE!! RADIAL BLUR!! BEAUTIFUL!!!

-AHHHHHHHHHHHHSHHHHDHDGDGGHDHDMAX AND BELLA MAX AND BELLA SLAYYY

-GOD I ALSO AGREE PEOPLE CAN BE CURED OF ASPECT

-oh max mccandles

-I AM ENJOYING THIS PRACTICAL LOVE WE HAVE 😭

-THE COCKTAIL OF DRUGS GOD IS ON LMFAOOOO

-WEDDING TIMEEE-

-uhoh

-uhoh

-shut up Duncan

-he has cancer you fucking idiot 😭😭

-ew

-who tf

-Victoria blessington is a hell of a name

-ew

-but that does not apply to the metaphor here

-I am Bella Baxter ,,,,,

-oh!

-uhoh

-love the dress

-oh :(

-GORGEOUS LOCATION

-how tolerate it core

-oh she wanted to know why she died :(

-oh that sucks for bella Victoria

-her direct questions I love her

-ew

-ew

-it was fascinating!

-sound design crazy

-sexual hysteria...

-oh I hate this guy... a lot...

-I love the way this is shot

-Bella I love you

-so I'm a prisoner....

-she™️

-this guy is weird

-THAT TRANSITION 🫡🫡🫡🫡

-oh the wardrobe downgrade!!

-music

-children's hospital ass location

-SORRY YOU WHAT

-WHAT

-WHAT

- oh she must be regretting this something crazy but it is an interesting challenge

-this guy is awful

-hell yeah

-dumb ass

-Bella so smart

-idk how to say this without sounding evil but I hope she experiments on him

-I GET HER

-god and Bella!

_bellas smudged lipstick lol

-oh Godwin :(

-it's all very interesting, what is happening.

-BEAUTIFULLY SHOT

-besties

-gin 🩷

-THE GENERAL WHO IS NOW SHEEP MAN LOL

-Felicity 🩷

-Bella wardrobe 🩷

-she nervous for exam but studying my queen fr

- credits are beautiful and old school! 🩷

[ctl-yuejie]

What did you eat yesterday Season 2 - Episode 7

(yes, I jumped over episode 6, but I watched it at 3 am and just had a lot of feelings and not that many thoughts)

this episode reenforced my opinion that the show's writing is among the best in the slice-of life genre. the way themes and story-threads are introduced to come back in later episodes or get featured from a different view point makes this show not only feel well-rounded and well thought-out but it makes you think and reminisce since everything feels so real. The show treats its premise seriously: Shiro-san and Kenji being 50 and late 40s respectively is not treated as a surface-level story setting but it does the work of really dissecting and deep-diving into how these two people would view the world. Their outlook on life is so so different from mine, not only because I'm not a gay man in Japan but because of our age difference. We might share similar experiences but how we react and think about the same issues couldn't be more different. I love that I can never predict what tone the next scene might set and it feels like talking to a queer elder sharing their story. You can learn something just by listening and gain new perspectives.

Shiro-san losing a friend, thinking - yet again - about death and not having any children of his own is contrasted with how solemn but peaceful the funeral is. Here is Shiro-san imagining how tough things must be for the widow and - what he assumes - three young children only for the children being old enough to have kids on their own. It perfectly illustrates the kind of bubble in which we might experience our lives. His former classmates talk about becoming grandparents and here is Shiro-san just having started finding a way to accept his complicated emotions of not granting his parents grandchildren. It not only feels like two social circles colliding but how unintended alienating it can feel to be queer. And sometimes it just hits you that there are people around you that are both similar and very different to you. And an excellent way to connect the theme of marriage and children to the past episodes but from a very different viewpoint.

The same way Kohinata and Wataru are so important to the story. They can be comedic relief while never feeling cartoonish but they also offer more variety in how a gay couple can live together paired with the generation gap between the three and Wataru.

While writing is fantastic, this show equally is indebted to the stellar performances by Uchino Seiyo and Nishijima Hidetoshi. The way Uchino Seiyo can carry pure joy in his voice gets me everytime he calls for Shiro-san off screen. The way they both move inside the supermarket and as a couple, the way they embody their characters so thouroughly is never not giving me joy.

favourite moment: Kenji realising that Shiro-san wants validation by the supermarket lady and being overjoyed at that fact and that Shiro-san will wear his glasses more often.

food talk

Not only was this another fantastic episode, I am craving some nabeyaki udon now and i wish i had brought back more yuzu kosho from japan. I wish I could get my hands on fresh clams here. Never tried clam soup with just clams but it looks delicious. And I wish I could get fish roe here.

production corner

I really commend this show for making this flat so congruent with its history. you understand why shiro rented it in the first place. you can feel both their styles coming together and also the different times they might have purchased things. it is not planned by an interior designer but has a consistent style that feels very them.

[bonetrousled]

can you talk about why you disliked undertale yellow? never played it or watched a playthrough but i’m very curious!

PREFACING THIS WITH A DISCLAIMER i know it is a passion project and it makes me Feel Bad that my feelings on it r this negative. i do not mean to discredit the years of work anybody put into it and i am So Happy that the general consensus is that people really liked it! i'm glad the team's work paid off. i am also going to be SUPER opinionated. undertale is my biggest interest of all time it has been my special interest for going on Nine Years . i am Wired to have very strong feelings on it . please do NOT take my opinion as a message to Not enjoy it if you do! play it and form an opinion on ur own time

also SPOILERS for the game!

that being said

i will first state the things i Enjoyed

music was phenomenal! it was very fun and atmospheric

artwork was very good! it makes me a little sad that the canon characters we see didn't really get the tlc/polish that all of the original content did, but that's ok!

i like how smarmy flowey was in the no mercy run. it was a little ooc at times but i had a blast (which will sadly become a negative) partly bc of his attitude

i love mo as a character. im going to rescue him from this game i just know it

ok. things that frustrate me from least to most (i will try to keep this brief bc i WILL go on a tangent if left unrestrained)

i wish the main cast had more variety in monster types. body shape, proportions, colors, etc! with how wide the array of the cast is in ut, it's just a little sad that the main cast here all roughly have the same build, height, and aren't really "monstery". lots of the non-main characters (i am including the feisty five in here) have more diverse and visually interesting designs to me and i wish there was just a bit more variety

add-on to the previous point: something abt the fact that dalv just kind of looks like a human Guy who is Purple with Horns makes me irrationally irritated. they could have put a little more of a bat motif in there or Something because the first time i saw him i genuinely didn't think he was supposed to be a monster

some of the fights are NONSENSE BULLSHIT HARD for no reason. some of these have been fixed since release but there were multiple segments that weren't even like. main story character fights that made me want to rip my hair out. additionally the shops are FEW and FAR between. it was a STRUGGLE to get enough healing items 90% of the time and i had to ration them out constantly

i know most were patched out and this is kind of a nitpick but the complete ABUNDANCE of grammatical and spelling errors on release took me out of the flow of things SO much. places that desperately needed a comma that had none, words completely misspelled (outside of punchlines for jokes), things like that. it wouldn't have been such a problem but it happened SO much and really got into the way of making sure dialogue progressed as normal. speaking of

i'm so sorry. half of the dialogue and jokes make me want to shriek and scream in agony. maybe it's just not my cup of tea and nobody is forcing you to have completely toby-fox-accurate jokes in your game but the majority of the jokes made in the pacifist/neutral runs fall completely flat for me. the general dialogue is very fanfic-esque to me in a way ? i do Not know how to describe it. it's not Good. along w that i'm sorry but in my opinion the way they wrote asgore in there is COMPLETELY out of character. i'm going to be so so honest mr king "fuzzy pushover" fluffybuns isn't going to go GET OUT OF MY SIGHT AND NEVER RETURN!!!!! the man got beat up by a child and took her in to train her. like yeah his garden is sentimental or whatever but like. he is such a Nice Guy. he would Not do that

the timeline does not make Any sense. if frisk is the first human to fall in YEARS to the point where everyone is losing hope of ever getting another soul for the barrier and most monsters don't recognize you as a human and let you interact w them freely why in the Fuck are undyne and alphys just like. alive and kicking here. why is alphys doing amalgamate shit already. what is going ON

and finally. the part that makes me the Most Irritated

i cannot fucking stand the story. I AM SORRY

i physically cannot expound on this as much as i want to bc the post is long enough as it is and i'll go on forever but generally speaking

i Do Not Like ceroba. i didn't really feel any connection or anything to any of the other characters in General but her entire deal and everything that surrounds it just makes me So Mad. like ok. i tried to get past the "oh my husband is a super important scientist (but not the royal scientist because that's alphys teehee but still REALLY important) and he's also secretly a boss monster (even though the only boss monsters we see are the Actual Fucking King and Queen of monsters and are the same monster subtype)" shit but like. THEN it's like. oh he's actually making a super secret magic serum that uses essence from a boss monster soul and a human soul (where did he get that. he made this after he was fired from his job. where did he get a human soul from) to give EVERY monster the power of a boss monster so that when we EVENTUALLY get enough souls to get to the surface (could literally be hundreds of years from now) we'll be strong enough to beat the humans (that's why asgore is collecting the souls in the first place. to shatter the barrier and become a god strong enough to beat the humans. that's the Point)

but WUH OH!!!! the serum is actually KILLING him!!!! and he never told his wife! so he leaves a series of tapes behind to tell her abt it after he dies and IN THESE TAPES he's like listen. here's this awesome potion im making. you need a BOSS MONSTER SOUL and a HUMAN SOUL to make it work. our daughter IS a boss monster. BUT. do NOT FUCKING use it on her. ok. DON'T. do that. ok love you (dies) AND FUCKING. her like 6 year old daughter walks in and speaks in a perfect eloquent sentence and says some shit like "we have to carry on daddy's legacy :(" and asks to be injected w the shit that we saw kill her dad SECONDS PRIOR and ceroba is virtually IMMEDIATELY like well ok if the kindergartner says it's fine. AND OF COURSE HER DAUGHTER IMMEDIATELY FALLS DOWN????

and when i tell u the like. WHOLE second half of the game is dedicated to this bullshit nonsense. ceroba has this whole thing where she's trying to kill you because you're pure of heart or whatever and it'll work for the serum or something and after a LONG ASS (stupid incredibly hard for no reason considering SHE IS NOT a boss monster) battle w her she's like ok i'm not gonna do that anymore i give up kill me etc. and in pacifist you're like nah i won't kill u i forgive you Hooray!

and so. right. youve been fighting the ENTIRE TIME. to find the missing kids. to get home. to leave the underground after figuring out what happened. there are only FIVE human souls at this point. having one more will NOT break the barrier. you've been fighting to LIVE this Entire Time. the story must end in clover's death SOMEHOW but literally the driving force here has been survival

clover is literally like ummmm ok well im gonna give up my soul right here right now to add it to the pile. *dies on rooftop ALONE* . the shriek i screamed when this happened was. Astronomical. like. oh yeah everybody let the 9 year old give their life for a civilization that has been trying to kill them this Entire Time. never mind the fact it makes all of the fighting and striving and grueling we did Worthless because clover decides to sacrifice themselves completely out of the player's control. this wouldn't make me AS mad if we had like. a choice like the forgive him/do not asriel thing where we could face asgore and be forced to lose OR sacrifice ourselves but even then it's just. SO silly to me.

i think i get the like. doomed parents sad child dreemurr parallels they were TRYING to go for but it is all so clunky and wonky and. just DOES not work narratively if you think about ANY aspect of it for too long

all of these factors combined made the game a complete and total Slog to get through . it is Not just me i streamed it to a few friends the whole time and the opinion was the Same

HOWEVER.

the no mercy run, completely against what it is MADE to do, was fucking awesome

the passive aggressive comments from flowey the entire time were hilarious. the power trip i got chasing axis was splendid. i didn't have to sit through pages of dialogue that made my eye twitch. i just got to Kill People.

i do Not like the fact that they seemed to think no mercy = Hard Bosses which. isn't really true for undertale ? out of the normal bosses only two are ramped up in difficulty and it thematically makes sense Why. in uty martlet gets multiple fights (including a Bullshit Insane Hard Final Fight), ceroba gets a Bullshit Insane Hard fight w a new mechanic that is introduced out of Nowhere and took me like 6 times to notice that it was even Implemented, and axis gets a tough fight. which is Fine but i do not think it really understood the message of like. the no mercy run is not supposed to be Fun. you are eviscerating this world and everything it has to offer. you're literally Killing the game. it's a tricky thing to balance but all in all No part of it made me feel bad. this could be due to me Already not really caring abt any of the characters but. sigh

also martlet gets really strong at the end bc she injects herself w dt but like. why does she know about that. she does guard stuff Near the Lab but why does she Know about the experiments. the whole point is that nobody Else Knows. where did she get that from. what the fuck

anyway. says that i won't go on for too long. proceeds to go on for too long like some kind of Liar

[ridley-was-a-cat]

Summer 2024 Anime Roundup

Anime of the Season - Yatagarasu: The Raven Does Not Choose Its Master

I added this to my list of spring shows to check out purely for the key visual they released before the season started. It showed four women in beautifully styled kimonos standing on a large stone staircase, and the vibes just screamed "period drama for grownups", which happens to be one of my favorite foods.

While my read on the serious tone was on target, rather than a straight period drama, it's actually a fantasy series set in the royal court of a society of yatagarasu - a mythical three-legged raven from folklore that can take human form - that's in the midst of a succession struggle, with the four noble houses all sending a prospective bride to the capital for the crown prince to choose from. Joining the would-be consorts is a large cast of characters with a wide variety of interests and loyalties, from factions favoring the crown prince's older brother, to a scheming empress, and a clever teenage boy who'd just like to do his job and get back to his family outside the capital. The first two thirds of the series craft one of the best executed mystery plots that I've seen in an anime, with an incredibly satisfying conclusion at the end of a meticulous setup that made just about every detail count. While the resolution to the mystery in the last seven episodes lacked a bit of the punch the first one had, the setting details it revealed along the way made me wish for a sequel or an English translation of the source novels to get even more of this story.

This would have made its way into the top of the season on the strength of the story alone, but the production quality takes it to the top of the year. The art is nothing short of incredible, with gorgeous painted backgrounds, distinctive character designs, and beautiful Heian era-styled kimonos in vibrant colors. On top of the sparkling visuals, the soundtrack is rich and moody, the opening and ending are unskippable, and the voice cast is full of talented actors. It was the sort of series that comes around once a decade at most, and my pick for the best of the season couldn't have been easier. 9/10

First Runner-Up – Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines!

Before the season began, I saw the premise of nothingburger boy collecting a trio of girls rejected by their crushes, I looked at those goofy bows on the girls' uniforms, and I took a pretty hard pass on this. Everyone's praise got to me by the end of the season, though, and I ended up checking it out and getting completely charmed by it. The kids are all pretty lovable, and the production is top notch, with fantastic character animation and excellent voice acting performances. 8/10

Second Runner-Up – The Elusive Samurai

Centered on the lone survivor of the coup that took down the Hojo clan and set up the Ashikaga shogunate to rule in their place, this shounen action series tells the lightly embellished story of his journey to take back what was taken from him. The balance of slapstick comedy and grisly violence walks the line between purposeful and disorienting, but the art and animation are spectacular, and there isn't a single boring character in the large cast. 8/10

Senpai is an Otokonoko - You don't often get stories like this in anime, where a girl confesses to her senpai she thinks is a girl, then still wants to go out after finding out they're actually a cross-dressing boy, forming a love triangle with another boy who also has a crush on him, and have it treated seriously like a proper coming of age romance instead of a big joke. The jarring chibi animated scenes, and the way it handles a couple of the issues it introduces, keeps this from being as good of a series as it could've been. The upcoming movie sequel may resolve some of these problems, though. 8/10

My Hero Academia S7 - The struggle between the heroes and the league of villains runs towards its climax in this penultimate season, and like much of the series leading up to this point, it's a bit of a mixed bag. At the highest points you get turbo-tsundere Bakugo putting his life on the line for Deku, and the emotional climax for the Todoroki family's struggles, while the lows include a poorly executed storyline centered on a persecuted minority turning violent, and a frustrating decision to make the one fight between two girls be about feelings and crushing on the same boy. I'm still looking forward to the final season next year. 7/10

Pseudo Harem - A girl joins the theater club at school, where she goofs around with a senpai by acting out the different archetypal characters of harem romance, and it's somehow one of the sweetest, most genuine romance series I've seen. It takes a couple episodes to settle into its groove, and the transitions between sketches could be a little jarring, but the couple's chemistry is fantastic, and their relationship steadily progresses up through a perfectly charming and satisfying ending. 7/10

Mayonaka Punch - P.A. Works original anime series like to take a group of clumsy but earnest girls with a dream, and put them in a situation. In this original series, the girls are vampires, the dream is to earn a million subscribers on (not)YouTube, and the situation is avoiding homelessness. The characters come in different shades of girl failure, the stunts are amusingly familiar to anyone who watches YouTube, and the comedy comes with a generous helping of heartwarming friendship moments. A fun ride that stops just short of great. 7/10

The Magical Girl and the Evil Lieutenant Used to Be Archenemies - It was a little hard sometimes to watch this knowing that the mangaka passed away while she was writing this. The characters were so charming, the chemistry between the leads was so electric, the art was so beautiful, and the story hook was so catchy, that it hurts to know we'll never get any more of it because a talented woman left us far too soon. I'm thankful that we got such a beautifully produced series for her final work. 7/10

The Fable - As consistently entertaining as this dark comedy about a legendary hitman trying to live a normal life was, and as fantastic as the voice actor performances were, any recommendation for this show needs a big asterisk for the visuals, which combined poor animation with characters that frequently went off-model. The large cast of rogues, and the deathly absurd situations they got into, had me interested enough to watch week after week despite the production flaws. 7/10

Shoshimin: How to Become Ordinary - I wasn't sure what to think about this high school set mystery series at first. The cases were extremely mundane, the production was oddly ambitious, and the characters were a little hard to relate to. Over the series run, however, the characters showed their true nature, and the Holmes and Moriarty vibe came through loud and clear. I look forward to the second cour next year. 7/10

Dungeon People - A lone adventurer gets a big surprise when her fight with a monster breaks through the dungeon wall, revealing a woman's bedroom on the other side, and leading to a new job as that woman's assistant, managing the day to day minutiae of the dungeon. Setting a cozy slice of life series in a monster packed dungeon shouldn't work, but the two main characters had a fun dynamic, and the monsters and humans in and around the dungeon had enough variety and personality to pull it off somehow. 7/10

Twilight Out of Focus - Set in a boys high school with a dorm, this anthology BL series follows three separate couples in the school's film-making club, and like most anthology series, the vibe and enjoyment varies a bit from story to story. The roommate friends-to-lovers first couple was merely ok, the enemies-to-lovers second couple was a step up, and the opposites-attract third couple was straight up great fun. Taken altogether, it's a solid entry in the genre, and a rare romance series that includes sex scenes. 7/10

Days with My Stepsister - Based on the series' title, I assumed this would be a trashy romcom full of light novel cliches, but it turned out to be a nicely directed, low-key drama about two teenagers who happen to become step-siblings. It does a remarkable job of capturing the awkwardness of suddenly living with strangers and calling them family, and the changing relationship between the two was just messy enough to be interesting without being melodramatic. It was a little slow at times, and there's one weird scene between them early on, but it was generally a solid romantic drama on the grounded side. 7/10

The Ossan Newbie Adventurer, Trained to Death by the Most Powerful Party, Became Invincible - For a one-note comedy that's basically two tournament arcs stapled together, this was a surprisingly fun action-comedy series in the style of the manly action shows of the 80s and 90s, where men talked it out with their fists. There were a few characters whose main job seemed to be having breasts, but the main character was such a great guy, and everything happening around him was so over the top and silly, that I can't really complain. 7/10

VTuber Legend: How I Went Viral after Forgetting to Turn Off My Stream - Knowing approximately nothing about VTubers myself, I can't speak to how well this series does or doesn't capture the streaming scene, but being an outsider did not stop me from laughing at the cast of eccentric streamers and their nonsense. From the main character forgetting to end her stream before cracking a cold one and drunkenly visiting her fellow streamers, to a dramatic game of Among Us, to copious amounts of sexual harassment (affectionate), it had something to make me chuckle every week. 7/10

Quality Assurance in Another World - Without spoiling the premise, which is genuinely surprising when it's revealed early on, this series takes a couple of popular isekai and isekai-adjacent sub-genres, and makes a fresh and clever story out of them. The production won't win any awards, and the story cuts off abruptly at the end with no announcement for a second season, but the setting nailed the feel of buggy video games, and the characters were a lot of fun to watch as they navigated a freaky situation. 7/10

Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin - Adapted from a video game, this follows a lazy young goddess who has her peaceful days of lying around in the lofty realm interrupted by a group of humans who wander in and cause an incident that gets them all sent off to a demon-infested island as punishment. I enjoyed watching the characters learn how to cultivate rice over the course of the early episodes, and there were some nice twists and character developments in the second half, but the human characters could be pretty annoying, and the monster fighting action lacked excitement. 7/10

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime S3 - After spending the first half of the season bogged down in meetings, the second half gathered most of the enormous cast together for a low-stakes festival arc. A few episodes of action between the two halves offered some excitement, but the season as a whole felt pretty subdued. It feels a bit like the anime doesn't know what kind of show it wants to be, and is now bouncing between dialogue-heavy drama, action-adventure, or slice of life, and it's not equally good at all three genres. 7/10

A Journey Through Another World: Raising Kids While Adventuring - We're drowning in paint-by-numbers isekai every season, and I'm part of the problem, since I usually pick one of them as a potato chip watch. This season's selection features a man accidentally isekaied by a clumsy god, who finds a pair of young overpowered kids and takes them with him on his adventure. Vapid, but cozy. 6/10

Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian - I very much was not the target audience for this romantic comedy about a Russian-Japanese girl and a boy who doesn't tell her he understands what she's saying when she talks about him in Russian, but it was kinda fun by the halfway point with the full cast of girls, so I stuck around. A decision I regretted once the school election plot fired up and the story got tedious, with too much telling and not enough showing. 6/10

Wistoria: Wand and Sword - Since I enjoy the writer's other series, I figured I'd enjoy this as well, but week after week, it kept tricking me into thinking it'd turned a corner and become good, then suck just as hard as ever. It has an insufferable protagonist with the idiotic character motivation of chasing after a girl over a promise made as children, a dreadful case of Proper Noun worldbuilding vomit, and a painfully derivative setting, but it was nicely animated I guess. 5/10

[miyamiwu]

I have some unpopular opinions. Sorry that they're long and became a bit ranty.

I like Igaguri and the Wanima brothers.

I wish Reo got more meaningful interactions with characters besides Nagi, it feels like atm he has no friends outside of Nagi (RIP Zantetsu, Chigiri is Nagi's friend but hasn't been shown as being more than "friend of a friend" with Reo). He's one of the best-written characters (especially whenever Nagi isn't in the scene), it's sad how he's so often reduced by some fans to just being a Nagi simp whose entire world revolves around Nagi and who will die if Nagi spends even a millisecond breathing the same air as Isagi.

Nagi and Chigiri's friendship is underrated and I wish we got to see more of it. It's just a genuine normal friendship, Chigiri is Nagi's first normal friend with no strings attached, they just became friends by fooling around. They even continue hanging out (with Bachira too) after Isagi leaves to see Tada-chan despite Nagi saying he was going to leave too.

Rin-Isagi is the most boring of all the rivalries in the series. Their personalities, designs and playstyles don't clash enough for what is seemingly set up as being the story's main rivalry. It also doesn't help how one-sided it is for most of the story and we don't get to see any of it after Rin acknowledges Isagi as a rival. They feel too similar atm, so it comes across more as a minor rivalry (like Niko-Isagi) instead of a major one (Kaiser-Isagi, Shidou-Rin).

Speaking of Rin rivalries, Rin-Bachira could have been a great one. Bachira needs a proper rival, he's pretty friendly with most of the relevant cast and outside of Isagi, none of his relationships with the rest of the cast really stand out except for him being a bit passive-aggressive with Rin and Shidou. He has a lot of personality, design and playstyle clashes with Rin that it would have been fun to watch/read. A bit of a wasted opportunity.

Hey @08theverysmallhuman here’s a fellow Igaguri fan. As for the Wanima brothers, I don’t really have much of an opinion on them. We haven’t seen big bro in a while.

And Reo is friends with Isagi! We don’t see them together much, but these two has had several meaningful conversations. This one is my favorite:

We’ve also seen Reo reach out to Kunigami:

I agree with you though that Reo deserves more friends! He’s more than just a Nagi simp.

And oh, I’d love to see more of Nagi and Chigiri just hanging out. Maybe we’d get to see more of it if the manga shows us the aftermath of the Germany vs England match on nagireo’s side. I think Nagi and Reo are gonna have another conflict soon. When that happens, Chigiri can be there for Nagi.

As for the Rin-Isagi rivalry, I actually think it’s similar to Kaiser-Isagi but of a lower level since Kaiser is on a higher level. Both the Rin and Kaiser rivalries are similar in that Rin and Kaiser are basically just better versions of Isagi. What Isagi learns from both of them is a more advanced way of seeing the field–improved spatial awareness, so to speak.

And actually, I don’t think Rin is Isagi’s main rival. Rin is only the main rival in the Second Selection and u20 arc. In the NEL arc, the main rival is Kaiser.

After ch202, I think we’ll see more variety in the Isagi rivalries where it isn’t just Isagi vs Better Isagi. Isagi has achieved metavision, which is probably the peak of his spatial awareness weapon. Now, he needs to work on his physical skills to really be the best striker.

May I also push my agenda that Isagi’s main rival/final boss is going to be Bachira? Bachira is a very skilled player, and skills are what Isagi lacks the most. Not to mention the contrast in how they operate: logic vs intuition. There’s a lot of build-up for it too. I’m gonna have to write a meta on it someday.

And yesss, I also really want Bachira to have his own rival. Rin-Bachira would be interesting, but so is Kaiser-Bachira. But those two are already Isagi’s, so I hope the rival is a new character or a character not yet explored much. I’m hoping it’s Aomori’s Messi, Nishioka, who we are yet to see. Bachira-Ness and Bachira-Kurona would be good if author wants to explore Bachira’s midfielder potential. But personally, I prefer if it’s a striker vs striker rivalry. And seriously, among the list of possible striker rivals, only Bachira-Isagi has been built up a lot.

[bigboobshaunt]

👑🐳👊🧚👍

This took me really long to respond because I am The Indecisive

👑 Favorite version of Zelda?

Honestly really hard to pick just one. I like BotW/TotK Zelda a lot because she has such a fantastic arc and you really feel for her and her story plus I find her very relatable...

Spirit Tracks Zelda is easily among my favorites too, her being a ghost and your companion makes her SO unique and she's really funny and cute and has one of the best relationships with her Link, and she also gets to shine in combat, too!

Skyward Sword Zelda also set the standard for her backstory and I think she's so likable but I do wish we saw more of her in general...

Ocarina of Time Zelda had such a cool story what with messing with forces she didn't necessarily understand while trying to plot against Ganondorf even though she was just a kid, not to MENTION the Sheik reveal which is just iconic tbh.

Both for Hyrule Warriors and Wind Waker I don't have much to say in general about them but I still really like their take charge, more active attitudes! I do hate how they lighten Tetra's skin color and remove her from being active in the plot when the reveal comes though... you hate to see it!

Twilight Princess Zelda... what can I say, she is an elegant sapphic icon and she will always be famous. I was a bit ticked off when they changed out her for ALBW Zelda in Smash because I think she is much more memorable.

I would be remiss not to mention Wand of Gamelon Zelda at least a lil' bit too... Idk she's cute and cheesy and I'm not sorry for including her. Maybe if Nintendo made her actually playable in their games I wouldn't have to do it but 💅

🐳 If you were a Zelda character, what race would you be?

Probably a Hylian boringly enough but I would kill to be one of those occasional enemies that does their own thing for some reason, like... I could be a wolfperson who can't eat their yogurt until you trade me a spoon for my boomerang or whatever.

👊 Favorite Zelda Villain/Boss?

Villain-wise, I love Hilda... she was clearly in the wrong but my god I can completely understand the desperation... Twinrova also I ALWAYS adore seeing whenever they pop up - I love me some comically evil grannies. Ghirahim and Yuga heard "slay" and said "this has multiple meanings and I'll do all of them," and honestly Ganon(dorf) is super cool always but I particularly enjoy his portrayals in ALttP, OoT, WW and TP. Shoutout to Veran and Onox too for variety's sake.

Too many cool bosses to mention but Koloktos is still my fave.

🧚 Favorite Zelda companion?

Uh-Oh... Here's the thing about me - I'm an Annoying Companion Enjoyer (tm) and I don't think I dislike any of them, even the infamous ones. Navi is my girl she was just trying to help and everyone attacks her and attacks her and attacks her... ungrateful behavior.

Tatl is so iconic and funny, I will always be mad they kinda toned down her mean girl-ness in the 3DS remake, even though I get that some of it was for accessibility reasons since a lot of her og comments just weren't helpful at all lmao... tho I think they could have struck a better balance.

Ciela is SO underrated, honestly. She had a good arc and I love her bickering with Linebeck so much.

Midna has the best story out of all of them and everything about her is excellence from her design to her attitude to her relationship with Link and Zelda... ugh she is so good, I miss her.

I've already said my piece about Zelda in Spirit Tracks BUT WHO CARES, HER AGAIN!!!

Fi is the only one who actually made me sob in real life from her last scene and I really enjoy her design and her dances and I genuinely think people forget how sassy she could be sometimes, not to mention being the actual Master Sword - I was ecstatic when they hinted at her existence again in BotW and TotK :)

👍 Favorite Zelda Headcanons?

The Triforce being in flux and changing aspects between its wielders in some games, like Zelda in BotW potentially holding Courage since her key scene was going up alone against Calamity Ganon and Link's usage of the runes and primary association with Blue could tie to him bearing Wisdom in them. If not just headcanon, I think it's a prime idea for fan content.

This one also maybe doesn't count as a headcanon per se but... the Zelda Timelines... I greatly enjoy speculating around them but I do believe taking it too seriously is generally just bunk. I don't think even the developers take them as a wholly 100% accurate and important deal and I think that's actually completely fine. I am an ALttP->Link's Awakening->Oracle Games truther btw.