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eisforeidolon · 7 months ago

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Hey there, I hope you don't mind me dropping in here on a topic from a few days ago and harping on about it (I'm not very well-versed on ask boxes so I'm a bit unsure of the etiquette. If I commit a major faux-pas, forgive me). Apologies if this ends up a little long and a lot sarcastic - I have opinions about this. It's given me a fair bit of grief over the years.

Y'know, I see these 'abusive Dean' takes float across my dash a fair bit (apparently not being into Destiel or Wincest means I must be a Bitter Sam-girl instead and hate Dean, according to Tumblr). The oh-so-delightful 'abusive husband Dean and beaten wife Sam' takes. People calling Sam 'beaten wife coded' in general. One based on a grand total of two instances where he flinched cause Dean made a loud violent noise near him (who the hell wouldn't, you don't need to be 'beaten wife coded' to flinch when someone chucks a chair at a wall, it's almost like Sam has some kind of trauma about various other things and might be generally jumpy...). Or taking the end of S10 out of context and choosing to forget that Dean was nearly fully taken over by a mark of fratricide (which he still managed to overcome, they conveniently fail to mention that). And I just... ugh.

What I never understood about these takes is like... why? There's trying to paint your fave in a good light and a character you hate in a bad one, but then there's making the heart and soul of the show itself into something so ugly it ruins it for other people, like your Anon, and honestly this happened to me too a while ago before I forced myself to stop listening to the greater fandom and find a few I trusted (like you). Even still, it gets all up in my head sometimes. Why are these people finding such glee in making the central relationship so awful? What are you getting out of this show if you think that about it?

Like, imagine looking at the finale through this lens. Congratulations, you turned something sad but ultimately bittersweet into something horrible, the 'beaten wife' dedicating the rest of their life to their 'abuser' then being forced to be with them for eternity, and this is portrayed as a good thing. Why would you ever want to view it that way? Plus, it's rather forced if you take it as a whole - the few times Sam stood there looking contrite while Dean did something stupid pale in comparison to the number of times he calls him out on it, even in the later seasons (14x12 Prophet and Loss, anyone? 15x17 Unity?).

I guess people can take from media what they want, it's obviously not my place to police people's enjoyment, but I just never got the appeal. It seems so counter to what the show was clearly actually trying to do, yet they tout it as fact (now where have I seen that before). Like it's somehow a bad thing to enjoy the show on its own terms. Coming across these takes still kinda bums me out. This goes for people insisting it's the other way around too - I can't stand any brother vs. brother stuff either, it's never anything but bad faith, and honestly kinda misses the point. Some of these people boggle my mind with their lack of empathy.

If there's one thing this fandom is good for, it's honing your ability to roll your eyes and move along. It's full of so much absolute batshit insanity that you'll never survive if you listen to every take. Trust me, I've tried. Do you know which tags to block to avoid this kinda stuff? Cause I never seem to be able to.

Sorry if this was a bit of a rant dump, heh. I'm usually a chronic lurker, but this discourse in particular bothers me immensely.

You're absolutely fine, I mind neither bringing up previous topics nor excessive length (be a bit of a hypocrite if I did, tbh). And yeah, it's one of my least favorite SPN fandom discourses, too.

It does feel like it's pretty hard to find any corner of the fandom where you won't at least occasionally see one side or the other's worst faith not!fave-brother-is-terrible takes. And oh, do I hate the 'beaten wife Sam' half of the 'Dean is an abuser' discourse equation just as much. Like, supposedly they like Sam, so why on earth would they want to pretend this stubborn competent badass of a character is actually a helpless pathetic marshmallow?! Same with Dean on the opposite side of the fandom - it's not just the character they're constantly maligning I can't recognize, the character they "like" similarly bears very little resemblance to the one I'm a fan of!

So far as I can tell, some people just desperately need their favorite character to be the best one who is always in the right. Whether it's over-identification or what, I don't know. They seem to think they achieve it by reframing large portions of the canon as justifying, unfairly attacking, or insulting that character as necessary. Except they don't see how from the outside it very often looks entirely absurd, regardless of if they're doing it in favor of Sam, Dean, or Castiel. Which is not to say there aren't parts of canon which treat all of those characters ridiculously in one way or another? But it's the total fixation on it only being the case with their favorite character in every possible situation where it gets weird.

Every great once in a while, I do manage to come across a take that really annoys me. But for the most part? The extreme ones are just so absurd, so divorced from what anyone even vaguely trying to understand the other characters' motivations and what the show quite obviously intended? I just can't take it at all seriously. Especially when they (as they so often do) get canon details wrong or pointedly "forget" all the canon points that blatantly don't fit their narrative.

Unfortunately, like with a certain ship, when it comes to tagging? You're kind of at the mercy of the self-awareness of the poster about how much other people may not want to see their hot takes.

#askboxery #anonymous #fandom issues #long post #brother vs. brother

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originemesis · 10 months ago

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@kugel-bitch from xxx

Ever the stickler for rules (rules that could land either of them in hot waters if disregarded that is to say) the prospect of up and abandoning their post to go galivanting through a realm that is very much off limits to her is...just a touch nerve-racking. Under different circumstances she likely would've given him a thorough finger-waggling for even entertaining the thought, but earth just so happens to be of particular interest to her. Yearning for things that are so far outside the realm of the reachable seems to be a constant across all manner of cognizant creatures, celestial, infernal and earthen alike. She has never needed for much—wanted for even less. Desire is the killer of virtue, she'd been told, the seed of sin, the more you give in, the deeper it's wicked roots worm their way inside your soul. A slippery slope. So, she treaded through life carefully. Always carefully. Until the narrow, tightrope of a path which had been meticulously laid out before her converged with the comparatively vast, uncharted wilderness of his. And there was no going back to carefully after that. Every step feels like a gamble these days, but you could say she has developed a taste for games of chance over the years. And that smile—it makes it pretty easy to toss the dice most days. "You're insane."

She can't help how his laughter stirs loose a blithesome series of chirps from her lungs. "Actually insane—alright, alright, quickly then, before anybody sees!" The forms can wait until later tonight, she decides, right there on the spot, pallid hands shooting forth to grasp Adam by the lower arm and she proceeds to tow him toward the bleary, verdant space-time rift, wings beating to aid in propelling them out of the office space as swiftly as possible. "Ah! But what if we run into other humans? I'm going to stand out like a sore thumb, aren't I? Do humans come in these colors? And wings? They don't have wings, do they? If I get captured by human scientists and experimented on you're going to have to file my MIA report. I've got copies in my locker."

It wasn't exactly a secret that she (like so many others in the golden realm) found topics of the Earthen variety about as titillating as some seedy novel tucked into a choir book. But in their defense, he was the standard of what came from that particular creation, and he hadn't exactly made an impression to convince anyone above the clouds otherwise. Made her genuine intrigue in the matter all the more endearing in a way despite him assuring her in past conversations that she really wasn't missing much to be bummed out whenever he had to cut her loose and tag along with an archangel for whatever reason they needed the best conduit in heaven to portal down- which just so happened to be him, the first sentient (though not necessarily intelligent) being on Earth. Yeah, those lofty sluts would flip their shit if they heard he'd smuggled her down there considering her lower tiered position in service and all...and they would hear about it, but unfortunately for them, they were going to have to eat his whole ass later since after he was done with what he had planned, there would be no argument to be had. Maybe heavy side eyes from Sera, but hey- those were a dime a dozen these days.

"Nah, babe, I'm Adam ~ "

He fully expected her to sock him in the arm for that one, but he couldn't just not walk into an opportunity like that. "Y'know, like the 'A is for-' kind." Another snort followed shortly before there were talons in his sleeve tugging them around his desk which he made a blatantly slow attempt at maneuvering around as if he wasn't in as much of a hurry as she was- likely spurred on by the idea that work breaks should be short and so she had as little time as possible to see whatever it was he wanted to show her. "Oh, 'actually'. Another 'A as in-' stan. We love to see it-" Ok he lost a squawk mid snicker when she gave a hearty yank to get his slow ass up and going. "All right, all right- try to chillax, babe."

The shift through the portal was a seamless affair given it came of him and a soul irreparably bound in its own way to Earth, though the gravity shift could be a bit jarring...not quite as light as in heaven and not quite as heavy as in hell. Goldilocks zone. He gave his neck a little crack as he adjusted himself with a slight unfurling of wings and a shifting of robes. The wind was rustling the trees overhead just as restless in their shifting, and there were a lot of them. It was dark. Even if there were humans around, they wouldn't see shit. "Well, hopefully it's not a disappointment, but we won't see any of those slutties in here." An idle flick and twist of the wrist aimed to catch her catch her attention when he was sure it was already bouncing around to indicate the 'here' he mentioned as if presenting a tourist spot. Not that it had much of that going for it.

"Welcome to Eden, biiiiitch ~ eh...?" He paused, as if noticing the details around him and how they seemed familiar, yet new. The janitorial staff they replaced him with all that time ago didn't seem to be enjoying their gardening gig. "Bit dustier than I remember. Dirt's weird." He was already starting to make some adjustments though, divine ordainment allowing him to scoot some flower patches over the balder areas and shuffle their colors around for a more pleasant stage back drop while chirping distractedly over at her.

"Sooo...whatcha think?"

She was...halfway up a tree already, wasn't she?

#//welcome to my minecraft server- aw man they moved all my shit-#//bout to start adhd fixing all the shit lmao #//and yes they can b there atm as angels so eat me sera #kugel-bitch #long post #//nah but u know hes a pro mine crafter cuz this shit not just bc hes dream face reveal lmao #suggestive cw

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qqueenofhades · 2 years ago

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Hello! Can I ask what your degrees are in and what your specialization/focus is? I'm currently a high school senior working on all of my college applications and while I don't want to try to pursue a history major (and, unfortunately, it's not one that goes hand-in-hand with my arts major), it's still always been my favorite class in school and I love learning from all of your stories and historical discussions, and I think it would be an absolutely fascinating and incredibly useful minor, and one that I'd really enjoy. Do you have any tips or suggestions when it comes to trying to find what specific topics one enjoys most, what to do for a minor as opposed to a major, what classes to take, etc?

First off, I got almost this exact question a while ago, which you can check out here. (High school student considering a history minor and/or possible history career, wanted to know how hard it was, what my degrees were, etc.) That was me basically warning them that academia is a hellscape that they should think carefully before entering, so less about the practical/planning side of it. You can also check out my school stuff tag for similar discussions. I do periodically have people ask for advice on whether or how to do history as a major, a minor, or as a PhD, and I always try to balance being encouraging (since we do need more historians) with being realistic about what's going on in the field right now and how hard it is.

If you want to do a history minor: I think you should, and it is useful in terms of learning how to do analysis, research, writing, critical thinking, etc., as all of those translate well into a future career no matter which field you end up in. I obviously don't know where you're thinking about going to school, but pretty much everywhere will have a history program, and it depends on what you want to specialize in and to what extent. You can take classes in a variety of entry-level subjects, but if something really captures your excitement, it's useful to know what resources are available, what the faculty works on, what the department's particular strengths are, and so forth.

As I probably noted in the above ask, I have a BA (English and history), MA (history and religion) and PhD (medieval history). After much suffering and struggle, I do have a full-time and permanent university job, though not as faculty and not in the history department (though there may be opportunities to transfer over there). I also just got the now-usual "your application is great and you seem great but we chose someone else sorry" rejection for an additional job that WAS medieval history-focused: there were eighty-five applicants for a part-time job that paid less than 20k a year. This field is insanely, insanely competitive, and there are very few spots available to do it professionally. You said that you don't plan on that, which is probably for the best, but anyway, never mind that. A history minor will give you valuable skills, and allow you to explore historical topics and thinking in more depth than just on social media, so I say do it.

#anonymous #ask #school stuff

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inflamearc · 2 years ago

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gratuitously detailed dislikes.

muse name. laura. lore-a (or with the 'ow' in the middle if that's more natural). don't call her lara, is what i'm saying, SINCE it's on topic.

least favorite nickname. she doesn't really have any. people use terms of endearment, of course, and bobby calls her 'kid', which is about as close as we've got. but she enjoys that.

least favorite season. she doesn't often think about Seasons As Such because the weather is more or less reliable where she's from, but the entire month of february is shot through with trauma anniversaries, so. winter.

least favorite ––– hot or cold? depends on what it is. hot drinks. [notably] cold weather.

least favorite holiday. valentine's day (though not for the usual reasons). she also struggles with anything very family-oriented due to The Traditions but she's coping. and for my christmas miracle, i will kill ben horne, and then we will all be cured

least favorite food. no meat, no fish, no green vegetables, nothing with a slippery or rubbery texture, nothing too sweet, nothing too sour, nothing too spicy ...

least favorite flavor. pretty much all of them, girl. all canon did was say laura loves corn and still drinks milk. child's palate is terminally white.

least favorite drink. she doesn't like tea of any flavor or temperature. she will drink it only if margaret tells her to, and mostly because she's too superstitious to lie about it.

least favorite scent. scorched engine oil [nervous laughter], anything with a strong artificial scent like a lot of perfume, cleaning crap, etc.

least favorite sound. birds make her anxious :-(

least favorite tv shows. anything gory. could be her mom's nature programs, could be human violence (medical gore is okay, mostly; she's not squeamish, just ... overly compassionate).

least favorite area of school. anything she personally didn't find useful --- most sciences, higher maths, history when the teachers couldn't tell a good story.

least favorite aspect of their job. regarding any of her gigs, she just ... is not made for customer service. she's friendly, but she's impatient, and she doesn't have the particular fortitude necessary to act unbothered when somebody gets under her skin.

least favorite trait in others. uh, like, cowardice, except not as mean as that sounds, because obviously everybody's different and most people aren't as insane as her. and that's good! but she hates when they hide behind their fears and then make it everybody else's problem ♡

least favorite place. i do not think it is necessary to ask THAT anymore.

least favorite thing to talk about. she's pretty open, in theory --- like, she is someone who would rather talk about what's bothering her than have to only write it down. she just needs people she CAN talk to (and, you know, the right ones at the right times). the only relevant thing i can think of that people feasibly COULD ask her about would be her dad.

least favorite thing about themselves. nothing that's actually her fault.

least favorite daily chore. she doesn't mind anything like that. the little routines are nice.

least favorite type of clothing. no hard lines re: style (or lines at all, largely) but i feel like her clothing all has to be VERY soft, no tags or other embellishments that might itch or otherwise be a minor inconvenience. type of sensory issues that had baby laura throwing fits over the lines on her socks not being Just So.

(if she touched one of audrey's sweaters she would probably be moved to tears.)

least favorite superpower. not really on her radar. i guess if you asked her she'd say mind-reading, though, because. obviously.

least favorite thing about falling in love.

least favorite thing about death. that it never ends, not really.

#study.

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blueeyeswhitegarden · 2 years ago

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I posted 30,592 times in 2022

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@dixdafne

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I tagged 19,578 of my posts in 2022

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Longest Tag: 39 characters

#digimon adventure last evolution kizuna

My Top Posts in 2022:

Thank you for responding to my ask, and for that answer, Really, I mean it. I've dealt with bad fandoms before, but the majority of the YGO Community is probably the one that would drive me insane the most. I can understand where they are coming from and why they are upset, like Zuzu not getting her own Pendulum Monsters (Which I'm still confused over because logically, it doesn't make sense for her not to have it. Then again, I don't know when she would get them, maybe Synchro?).

But that doesn't make it less painful. I'm a late newcomer to the series, I only just started getting into it 2 years ago around this time, so I wouldn't know any better about this stuff, especially YGO"s weird, and quite frankly, unnecessary female duelist problem. Like this shouldn't be an issue in the first place, yet it is. But, Arc-V, despite not exactly fully delivering, was a step in the right direction.

You're welcome! I've been familiar with the YGO fandom for a long time and I saw a lot of Arc V hate as the series progressed. People insulted me, as well as my friends, for still liking Arc V before and after it finished, so I can definitely emphasize with how bad and insane the fandom can be. There are a few reasons as to why I try to avoid the online community as much as I can and that is one of them.

I would have loved for Yuzu to get Pendulum cards, but I can see why that didn't happen. In-universe, the only way she could have gotten Pendulum cards was from Reiji and I don't think he would have made Pendulum cards for her deck. She wasn't officially a Lancer, even though he did say that her skills where on par with the other Lancers during the Synchro arc, and considering they didn't know where she was or how long it would take to find her, I don't think it would have made sense for Reiji to have Pendulum cards for Yuzu on standby. That being said, I am baffled that Konami hasn't made Melodious Pendulum cards yet. Her deck relies on her monsters being special summoned and having Pendulum cards would really give her archetype a much needed boost, as well as a couple of more Fusion monsters. I don't know if they'll do that when I'm not sure how popular Melodious monsters are in the OCG, but I love playing Melodious monsters in Duel Links as Yuzu, so giving her archetype some much needed love and support would be so cool.

To be fair, it isn't a problem exclusive to YGO in regards to their female duelists. It's more of a problem in shonen series since female characters in general typically aren't given the best writing or treatment. One could argue that this has been improved upon over time some of the more popular shonen series, but by how much is pretty debatable. Still, I'm not surprised that people see this as a YGO problem considering that there are questionable to sexist writing throughout the franchise for its female characters. It's been a pretty big talking point about the series pretty much from the start. Although, I've also seen plenty of sexist reactions from the fanbase towards the female leads too. It's kind of a complicated topic because there are plenty of issues with how the franchise as a whole has handled its female characters and plenty of ways for it to improve, but at the same time, I do think that the fanbase can be much harsher towards the female characters compared to male characters. With Yuzu in particular, I still remember seeing people wish for her to get hit or hurt because she stopped the Dragon Boys from merging in Synchro. Even before then, people were upset that she kept Yuya and Yuto apart for so long, despite how she wasn't doing that on purpose and there was a really good reason why they didn't meet for awhile. That isn't to say that there aren't any valid criticisms from fans, but just that I've noticed that some reactions over the years can also give off some sexist vibes.

I do agree that Arc V was a step in the right direction in regards to female duelists. I still think that the franchise has a complicated issue with female leads based on the series following Arc V, but ideally, they can continue to improve in the future.

4 notes - Posted September 3, 2022

🔥

The Synchro arc was a good solid arc. I've rewatched Arc V a few times and while I love every arc, which in itself is probably also an unpopular opinion, this one is still my favorite. The world building was great and made the Synchro Dimension feel distinct from the other Dimensions. The pacing was solid. Every episode was important from a story and/or character perspective. Little, if anything, could have really been cut out or reduced. I loved how Jack and Crow were handled. They were prominent supporting characters as opposed to taking the spotlight away from the Arc V characters. Plus, they were incorporated into the Arc V universe extremely well without making people feel like they had to watch 5D's first. Knowing their characterizations and history from 5D's definitely added to their personalities in Arc V, but it wasn't a requirement.

The Friendship Cup was a great tournament arc. There were plenty of great duels. As much as I missed the unique Action Fields, getting to see Riding Duels again was great and they worked extremely well with Action Duels. Yuya, Sora, Reira and to a degree Shun had some terrific character development. While I do wish that they got to duel more, Yuzu and Serena's personalities shined nicely with their duels too. Serena understanding more about enjoying duels even after losing to Yugo was especially nice. Yuya vs. Jack round two is easily my favorite duel in the entire series and there is a lot of competition for that considering how many good duels there are in Arc V. They was quite a bit of foreshadowing with Zarc from how close the boys were closed to merging together and even Yuya's first duel in the tournament was extremely similar to how Zarc started to become a more violent duelist.

The backlash during and after the arc finished always seemed way too extreme to me. I can understand not liking it. I think that the world building is great and engaging, but I can understand not liking it or having a tournament arc. Dismissing the arc as filler, saying that the series was in a 5D's fever dream or claiming that they wasted time with 5D's fanservice just makes me roll my eyes and think that people really missed a lot of key points of this arc. It doesn't help that there are other arcs with much worse pacing issues, including in other series I like, and there are far worse tournament arcs in this franchise too. I just find it baffling that people still get so up in arms over an arc that, in my opinion, was pretty great.

Thank you for asking. ^_^

5 notes - Posted May 16, 2022

Plenty of people have talked about what Kazuki Takashi and the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise as a whole have meant to them over the past couple of days, but I figured that I’d try my best to convey my feelings into words.

I woke up yesterday morning to the news of his passing and it still feels unreal to me. Just the shock of seeing the headline on ANN and processing it throughout the day was just so overwhelming that I didn’t know what to say or do. It was just such a tragic and sudden passing.

I’ve been a fan of the Yu-Gi-Oh franchise since the DM dub. I had seen a few episodes early on in season one, but the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon duel, particularly its ending, grabbed my attention and I’ve been hooked ever since. This series has been such a huge comfort and constant presence for me for years. Arc V is my absolute favorite series in the franchise and it, as well as all of the other spin-off series, would not exist without the manga. I do have a lot of nostalgic fondness for DM too. As much as I do like Atem, Yugi being the shy kid who loves games and just wanted friends was a lot more relatable to me and I’m sure to other fans as well. The DSOD movie was such a terrific anniversary movie and a great way to send off the DM cast. It lead to so many good scenes that I just adored like Yugi and his friends talking about their futures and Yugi’s brief reunion with Atem. I didn’t know I needed that extra bit of closure until I watched the movie in theaters. The whole movie made me happy that I’ve been a fan for all these years. While he hasn’t been too involved with the franchise since DSOD, it was still nice to see him occasionally post some new artwork. Seeing his artstyle evolve over the years was impressive. Knowing that he won’t be able to do more drawings, something he clearly loved to do, is quite sad too.

I’ve made so many wonderful friends through this series. I met my best friend in middle school not too long after the DM dub started and we still talk with each other all the time. I’ve met even more people over the years through this franchise. I think that’s one of the reasons why his passing has hit me so hard. Without the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga, I wouldn’t have met so many of my friends and I would be a much more unhappy person as a result. Knowing that the person responsible for creating the franchise that has brought me so much joy and comfort over the years and has allowed me to make many dear friends is suddenly gone is just heartbreaking.

This quote from one of the manga volumes has been going around since the news broke out: https://twitter.com/danajiru/status/1544966774130544640?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1544966774130544640%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=

I’ve seen that quote before over the years, but reading it after trying to process the news for awhile finally made me start crying. Just the thought that people becoming friends through his manga brought him the most joy felt so bittersweet to me. I have jokingly say that “friendship is magic” is the theme of the franchise, but it’s true. The power that comes from forming friendships has always been a central theme of the series. I think that’s a big part of its appeal. The characters creating strong lasting bonds with each other can make it easier for the audience to be invested in them and having the cool and dramatic flare of duels with monsters on top of it can be a good hook.

I truly hope that Kazuki Takahashi knew how much his work meant to people, that it did allow many people to form friendships and that it continues to make people happy. I wish I could thank him for creating the manga, for allowing me to meet so many wonderful people and for all of the precious memories I have thanks to this franchise. I’ve been struggling to find the best way to convey how much this franchise means to me for days and I’m still not sure if I pulled it off. For now, I think this is the best I can do. I hope that Kazuki Takahashi is at peace and his family and friends will be okay as well. Thank you again for everything.

11 notes - Posted July 8, 2022

Howdy. I don't know if you still do asks, but I gotta try. I saw some of your comments on Pxiao's posts and I agree with a lot of what you say. But I'm curious: Why don't you think Zuzu (Yuzu) is a plot device? I'm not asking because I disagree, I just want to know you're reasoning is. On the surface, it looks like that's the case for Zuzu and the other Bracelet Girls, especially Rin and Lulu (Ruri).

[quote=]I know you said Zuzu was the only one able to reach to Yuya, but unfortunately that doesn't exactly help that argument as it only insinuates that Zuzu only existed just to fuel Yuya's motivation at the end. I know that Zuzu, Celina (Serena), and the others could be given more screen time. That is an objective flaw of Arc-V. But even then, I like Arc-V and I'm sick of seeing so much hatred and disappointment for it, even if the other series have the same flaws that are just as bad or even worse.

I hope I'm not bothering or upsetting you by asking this. I'm not asking to be mean or patronizing, I'm just genuinely curious (Also, sorry for the long asks, not much I can do with the text limit)[/quote]

You're not bothering me and the text limit on asks can be tricky, so it's okay. I still do asks as you can tell and I'll try to explain myself as best as I can.

I don't think Yuzu is a plot device because she doesn't just exist as motivation fuel for Yuya. He clearly wants to save her and spends most of the series trying to reunite with Yuzu, but that isn't her only impact on the plot or even her only important relationship. Her friendship with Sora played a key role in his development. Yuya's first interaction with Sora in Synchro started that development in motion, but I don't know if that would have been enough to make Sora change sides without his meeting with Yuzu, especially when he was trying to help protect Yuzu and somehow stay loyal to the Professor at the same time. Their conversation was pretty vital for making him understand that Academia would be endangering more innocent people. Without Yuzu's intervention, Serena wouldn't have learned the truth about Academia and most likely would have been captured during the Battle Royal. While they don't have a relationship, Shun would have been carded by Sora if Serena didn't show up, which would have been bad given the role he had for the rest of the series. I'm not sure how Yugo would have reacted to seeing Yuya in the Synchro Dimension if he didn't meet Yuzu. He could have been more of a wild card without knowing about Academia or that Yuri was the one who kidnapped Rin. As much as people wanted Yuya vs. Yugo after seeing the third opening, that would have been pretty bad considering that regardless of the outcome, they would have been 3/4 Zarc and Yuya was struggling with being 1/2 of Zarc for most of the series. Even her relationship with Shuzo was pretty vital considering he was the first one to remember her after Standard had been transformed into the Pendulum Dimension.

Yuzu also really does not get enough credit for effectively saving the universe twice. The first time was unknowingly when the Dragon Boys were about to merge in Synchro, but knowing what we know about Zarc, Ray and the original world, it would have been game over if they had merged during the Synchro arc. They would have had no knowledge about Zarc, Ray or the original world. There would have been no way to revive Ray and they would have had fewer allies to help fight against Zarc. Yeah, she was focused on Yuya, but considering what her bracelet lighting up usually meant, it was not unreasonable for her to be worried about her friend. Yuzu was the one who was finally able to reach out to Yuya when Zarc had revived. Because they had been shown throughout the series as inspiring each other, Yuzu calling out to Yuya wasn't Yuzu being motivation fuel for him at the end. It was about how two people cared about each other so deeply that their souls were crying out to each other even after they had merged with their counterparts and been revived as their original selves.

Basically, I think Yuzu has too much of impact on multiple characters, not just Yuya, and too much of vital role in the storyline to be labeled as a plot device. I wouldn't consider any of the Bracelet Girls plot devices either. While they aren't as fleshed out as Yuzu, I think that still ignores a lot about their personalities. Serena doesn't have a lot of connections, but she still gets some solid development, so she isn't just the basis for Reira's development or extra motivation fuel for Yuya when she is captured by Academia. While we see Rin through flashbacks for most of the series, we still learn that she is smart enough to make a D-Wheel with Yugo and she wanted to defeat Jack, which at least shows that she has goals outside of being Yugo's friend. Ruri is probably the least fleshed out of the Bracelet Girls, but she still had other relationships besides Yuto and Shun and being the first one interested in Yusho's dueling philosophy, even if it was through Sayaka instead, showed her own personality and interests. Yuzu herself wants to be an Entertainment Duelist just like Yuya too. While this doesn’t get as much attention given that Yuya has more emotional conflict with his goal over the course of the series, it still shows that Yuzu has her own goal too.

I'm sadly not surprised that some people see the Bracelet Girls as plot devices. I think that is a poor surfaced level reading of their characters that is a massive disservice to them, especially Yuzu and Serena, as well as the storyline for Arc V as a whole. There are valid criticisms as to how they were handled, but most of the complaints I've seen throughout the years with them, especially with Yuzu, usually feel like missing the point or misreading their characters. Yuzu in particular is often reduced to being Yuya's motivation fuel or that her entire world revolves around Yuya. I adore their relationship, but there is more to Yuzu than just her relationship with Yuya and there is examples of that throughout the series.

I've been sick of Arc V hate for years, so I empathize with that. I would have hoped that it had cooled down over the years, but it probably hasn't. I still adore Arc V, it is my favorite Yu-Gi-Oh! series and Yuzu is still my favorite female lead in the franchise by far.

14 notes - Posted September 2, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

It’s 2022 and I’m still seeing people treat DSOD as a scapegoat for their problems with Arc V. Unbelievable. As both a bit of a vent and a possibly futile way to combat misinformation, the writers for Arc V were not working on both the show and the movie at the same time, at least not as far as I can tell. According to Anime News Network, Kazuki Takahashi, Satoshi Kuwabara and Masahiro Hikokubo were in charge of the script. Hikokubo was the only person from Arc V out of the three and he’s done the duel layout for everything since DM. There may have been people from Arc V working on the animation or other production aspects for DSOD, but as far as the writing goes, they had mostly different people working on it.

To be clear, I’m not saying that DSOD couldn’t have had an impact on Arc V’s production. Given what happened with My Hero Academia’s third movie during its fifth season, it probably did to some degree at least. My problem comes from how people have acted for years that every problem they had with Arc V was due to the movie or that the series would be drastically different if they weren’t working on DSOD. Since Arc V had the same head writer for its entire run and they had a lot of foreshadowing for major reveals from pretty early on, I highly doubt that the series would have been drastically different without DSOD. If people didn’t like the decisions and directions Arc V took, that’s fair, but treating DSOD as their scapegoat like that just has always bothered me. Spreading misinformation about the writers putting more focus on the movie instead of the show when none of the writers from Arc V were involved with DSOD is also pretty annoying.

23 notes - Posted May 9, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

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hikariobsessions · 7 years ago

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I think I kind of agree with you, I'm not too fond of the sassy mc in ikesen, but she'll grow on me eventually maybe. It kind of makes me sad that people think reserved or shy characters can't be written well or be strong without being sassy/rude or without being annoying. I always see them being written as if being shy/pure is their only trait. I've met shy people in real life who are very enjoyable to be around once they open up to someone. (You don't need to reply to this by the way)

I can’t say how much this kind of ask/discussion is making me smile right now. Thank you for this (*^^*) – if you want, you can dm me and we can discuss this in a little bit more detail~ More opinions from me under the cut – but you don’t need to read it if this topic is already driving you insane (as it is me) because of how it blew up into this odd, unpleasant thing that really didn’t need to be. But I suppose, it’s Tumblr nonetheless…

Don’t let one opinion stop you from enjoying the stuff you really admire. THIS OPINION IS JUST ME. Ignore or barrel through the commentaries, that’s up to you.

But it’s there as food for thought. For myself, and just as an answer to this asker who has been the only person so far that has responded to my call for civility when it comes to these rants.

Again, thank you so, so much (*^^*)

[RANT] Just another one to get stuff off my chest ^^;; We all know how this goes right?

I can understand why people like the ENG MC. And here’s the thing, they’re not WRONG to like her for whatever reason they have. It’s FINE.

I’m just running my mouth with my own opinions because first of all this is my blog - LET’S JUST GET THAT OUT OF THE WAY IN CASE NO ONE HAS NOTICED.

But also, just as someone in the minority of these opinions, I take it upon myself to try and elaborate on my own point of view because I feel like I owe it to the people who like/maybe even love this particular character, to not just give them hate and criticism, but rather a valid argument for my own views.

But so far no one has given me any fair observations/criticisms of the writing that points me in a different way of looking at and appreciating the writing in the IkeSen ENG App for what it is, flaws and all. People are just going “it’s good writing/dialogue” and I’m just like…why do you think that way? PLEASE ELABORATE.

I am literally someone who wants my opinions challenged because I don’t want to hate on this game. Far from it. Why would anyone want to download something just to do that?

Furthermore, I don’t tag the company’s social media in my rants in particular because they are just that – RANTS. I call the localization team out on several things, definitely, but whether they change their writing is up to them.

Ever since I entered this fandom, I already knew I was in the minority when it came to opinions of the MC, just by looking through Tumblr for IkeSen content.

But honestly, I want a more substantial reason as to why people think the writing is good apart from the fact that the MC is different (sassy, witty etc.) from other examples of MCs in otome.

Because as you said, hun, there are other people out there who can be really shy and reserved but have their own strengths as a person/character. And they can also be rude and judgmental at their worst. This is just human.

And you’re right, it’s a shame that they are sometimes only “written as if being shy/pure is their only trait” – that in itself is BAD WRITING.

The only bad female character, if you ask me (and you did), is one who’s flat. One who isn’t realistic. One who has no agency of her own, who only exists to define other characters (usually men).

Here’s the thing about being a damsel in distress…it’s only bad if that’s all she is. If the character’s defining characteristic is being a damsel in distress, that’s bad. - Mad Lori

I can’t stop quoting Mad Lori enough about this :’)I don’t need to tell anyone that this goes for “sassiness” as well right?? So how about this? About “progression” in the sense that women don’t have to be “strong” in order to be good, well-written characters. And they don’t have to possess a specific trait, such as ‘sassy’ just to be said - “strong” character. That they find their own strength by choosing to love, overcoming their own flaws but more importantly being someone with their own agency to achieve self-determination in the world that they’re in – but also remain down-to-earth, shy, outspoken or otherwise.

This was never taken from the Japanese MC as a character in the JP App. This is why I remain so confused as to why the English team decided to change her.PORTRAY CHARACTERS AS HUMAN. Not as this thing trying for a convoluted cultural ideal which has its own flaws.

This is coming from someone, who in turn watches stuff like Orange is the New Black (just watch a trailer for it (if you haven’t heard of this show) and maybe you can get why I’m referring to it).

It’s a show which has an amazing amount of diversity in terms of its portrayal of women. But what’s good about it, is that those portrayals aren’t so much black or white, shy or sassy, strong or weak – they all have their strengths and weaknesses that make them complex and are motivated by their individual character traits and flaws as well as possessing their own agency.

In any case, the only reason, or at least the MAJOR reason I was completely turned off by the ENG MC is that in the writing, they try SOOO hard to make a point that this particular MC is different from the rest. That she is witty. That she is sassy. Oh, and look just how “strong” she is, by thinking up all these snarky comments/comebacks against the guys, even when they’re not being dickheads!!

To me, that’s the only reason they decided to change her from the original Japanese MC (correct me if I’m wrong, PLEASE) – shoving these sentiments of “a strong woman” into this particular character just to……..what? Reach a “diverse” audience?? How diverse are we talking about exactly?

If you can’t even look at a type of character that is shy, insecure and reserved as part of that diversity – and admiring how she becomes an exception to her own trope – you’re just kidding yourself. And this change isn’t even the core of my problem with the writing.

Look I get that people can be frustrated because of the lack of representation of different kinds of MC and that’s a fair frustration to have. But let’s not back ourselves into a corner of thinking that women need to be portrayed as this one thing in order to be “well-written”:

Sherlock Holmes gets to be brilliant, solitary, abrasive, Bohemian, whimsical, brave, sad, manipulative, neurotic, vain, untidy, fastidious, artistic, courteous, rude, a polymath genius. Female characters get to be Strong. -Sophia McDougall, Quote take from here.

To me, this entire push to have this “sassy” MC in the ENG App is the writer or perhaps the business, literally shoving their own rant/agenda onto my face (or rather their “market research” let’s say).

Having that happen to you as an audience/reader is seriously disengaging from the story. What I’ve seen them do, is blatantly spoon-feed information about the traits of the characters and tell audiences what to think or feel about them, instead of letting readers figure these out for themselves.

They are literally “talking” to the reader, and that severely takes me out of the world of the story. For example, they use thought-bubbles of the MC to monologue about (Oh, how I used to be such an independent woman, but now I’m in the Sengoku…) — From my perspective, THAT IS SERIOUSLY BAD WRITING. And hence, why I think she’s not a well-written character. Not because of how they changed her to be outspoken and/or sassy, but rather their execution of conveying that in the stories.

“Show, don’t tell” anyone?? Nothing bad about applying a common writing technique preached by almost every writing mentor out there.

The thing is audiences aren’t stupid, but more often than not - when they're paying attention - they know when they’re being called “stupid”.

I have nothing against the localization team trying to change this particular MC into having a ‘sassy’ personality. My problem is that they don’t write it well.

There’s nothing substantial added to the story by changing the MC that actually makes the development of their relationship (MC and any Warlord) stronger from the stories in the JP App. It’s possible to have done it but unfortunately no, not in this version. If anything the ‘decorative’ nature of what the English team has done with the character to “reach” audiences just made the MC unbearably annoying (to me).

But, equally bad is that everything that they’re doing, which shouldn’t be evident while reading the stories, is showing:

i.e. aiming for a goal of wanting the MC to be different, and using her thought-bubbles to deliver expository commentaries; instead of letting her stand on her own two feet as a character through her actions.

– they should at least BE SUBTLE about it and make sure that they have that self-awareness as to why they’re doing it. And not just because you want to gain popularity amongst audiences who are sick of a trope. This is what I mean when I say I don’t like different for the sake of being different. It’s just sensationalist, immature and completely distracting from the actual story and relationships we’re supposed to be admiring. To quote the great screenwriting guru, Robert McKee:

Just as children break things for fun or throw tantrums to force attention on themselves, too many filmmakers [in this case writers too] use infantile gimmicks on screen to shout, “Look what I can do!” A mature artist never calls attention to himself, and a wise artist never does anything merely because it breaks convention. - Robert McKee

But, hey, like with anything else — this is just me, with my blog, voicing my opinion~ If you’ve read this, again:

Thank you so much for putting up with these rants ^^

Peace out guys, and stay kind ^_^ - Hikari

#0-0iseul #ikemen sengoku #personal #rant

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