#i suppose. i mean im not meaning to critique here i just genuinely. don't understand how that happened

[tortoise-teapot]

genuinely still shocked that they didn't give us a canon elven word for wisdom. how did they not do that. w h a t.

[hamausagi]

omfggg jake your critique on the omori manga was SO GOOD i agree with everything. i read it on twt bc the platform it was officially released on isn't available in my country and i was like 😦❓️warning long ass yap ahead, you don't have to reply to this AKDKSKD i just wanted to say ur post hit all the points i was thinking of as well

i was sososo excited for the manga when it was announced, and now that i read it im kinda like. Hm. the art style is gorgeous, but 100% agreed on the way they depicted the characters in the real world because they look so young 😭 like wtf aubrey is supposed to look intimidating when the player first meets her [as a stark contrast to her headspace personality] but then she lirerally looks 12 (like you said) 💀 also this might just be a me thing but i always imagined that sunny would be very expressionless in the real world until the end of the game, like how he has the neutral sprite the entire time until he finally looks scared in the basil fight & cries in the hidden ending cutscene. but the sunny in the manga feels so grounded and human (which might sound like an insane thing to say but hear me out), which i feel kinda undermines the fact that he's disassociating like 99% of the time and also has not been outside + talked to ppl in literal years. it deadass looks like him and kel going out is a regular occurrence for him 🕴

AND THE PACING AUGHHSKWKKDA IT MAKES ME SO MAD 😭😭😭 the entire first chapter is so disorganised and clunky it makes zero sense unless you have alrdy played the entire game. i kept rereading bc it felt like everything was happening so fast and i was wondering if i missed panels 💀 it felt like they couldn't decide what approach the manga should take, like whether it should be a horror story or one abt friendship when the beauty of omori is that it blends both of those (in extremely nuanced ways) so seamlessly. there's like random ass jumpscare panels that don't even make sense and why the fuck is the headspace sequence at the end 😭😭😭???!(£&+(£&@(*£ that's supposed to be the prologue!!!!!!! before we meet everyone irl!!!

as for characterisation i genuinely dk wtf was going on 😭 aubrey whacking basil with the bat was so crazy i was like HUH??? and then sunny just fucking slashed her 😭⁉️ it makes them seem absolutely deranged bc there's zero context, and the whole point of sunny attacking aubrey is to show the player that it still hasn't clicked for him that he's in the real world now and he can't just use a fucking knife on people 💀 also the fact that in game it's depicted as a battle cutscene, once again showing how detached he is from reality. connecting back to my earlier point abt how he seems so grounded here, in the manga it looks like he just purposefully decided to stab aubrey when that isn't something he'd do at all?!?!?!

but okay ill shut up here, omfg im so sorry i yapped so much 💀 a Lot of thoughts abt this manga fr,,, honestly disappointed and definitely would not recommend it to fans or non-fans 😭

YES. OMG. QUILL YOU GET IT !!!!! IM SO SO GLAD YOU UNDERSTAND I 10000% AGREE WITH EVERYTHING YOU SAID

AND DONT APOLOGIZE FOR YAPPING I MISS YAPPING ABT OMORI WITH YOU SO BADDDDDD 😭😭😭

i also really like the artstyle, i think its very well drawn ESPECIALLY the horror elements but yeah, the style just doesn't super scream OMORI to me..... if yk what i mean 😭 AND I TOTALLY GET WHAT YOURE SAYING ABT SUNNY'S EXPRESSION. he has WAY too much emotion and i wish i thought to touch on that in my essay (lol) but seriously yeah. i'm SO glad they left him as a silent protag, but my god. to me in the game he's always been really emotionless since we literally NEVER see anything besides his sprite (unless in battle, but im not counting that rn bc its a lot different than the dialogue facecards we get for other characters) but that super duper bothered me as well IT REALLY DOES FEEL LIKE HE JUST GOES OUT WITH KEL ALL THE TIME LIKE DAWG THIS IS THE FIRST TIME THE SUN HAS TOUCHED U IN 4 YEARS. BSFR

the pacing is RIDICULOUSLY clunky and weird AND YEAH ME TOO I ALSO KEPT TRYING TO GO BACK AND SEE IF I MISSED STUFF ??? like there was just so much happening on each page and it was so goddamn fast that i was literally like "whoa" YKWIM ?? like specifically that one panel i put in my post where he randomly went up to the bathroom just to open the door, see Something, and then suddenly leave but also there is barely ANY context as to why he's suddenly up at the bathroom ?? like obvi WE know bc we played that but in game the screen got all wobbly when we needed to throw up the steak but in the manga its like wtf is going on ???

ANF UAGGHGGHSB I COULD GO ON AND ON AND ON ABT THE CHARACTERIZATION BRO. the whole last few pages were absolute DOGWATER bc it literally makes them look just weirdly violent with NO context bc its exactly like you said, SUNNY DOESNT KNOW. the whole point of that first battle was to show how detached sunny is from real life. he doesn't realize that slashing her with a knife is going to have real consequences. AND THE BEST PART ABT THE GAME IS THAT NEITHER DOES THE PLAYER !!!! we forget after hours and hours of headspace (AND using sunny's knife attack as a primary damage dealer, MIGHT I ADD) HAS REAL DANGERS AND CONSEQUENCES. like theres SOOO much cool storytelling there and it's all lost on the manga bc theres just no baseline for the reader to be like whoaaaa thats WEIRD. bc my first impression upon seeing aubrey, as was most likely yours and all the other players, was WHAT THE HELL. but the ruined her in the manga. i can literally go on and on about this forever and ever

[babygirltangerine]

I don't know, what exactly I hate about ladybug. I think it's the way he acts, and how everything always seems too go tight for him because he's the "funny American guy".

you're so right for that. like for real. but i also feel like things tend to go wrong for him, but they end up okay because he's the protagonist. and we're supposed to see him around these awesome badass characters and laugh because the contrast is so intense and he's clearly a bad choice of protag, and that's meant to be his charm (obviously a very bold choice). i do find it endearing a lot of the time, but it's definitely very important to question why he was made to be american and how his americanness affects the story, the way he interacts with the other characters and the environment. in a way i think his americanness is meant to add to his characterization as a very clueless person and as a protagonist that's out of his element in more ways than one. but at the same time it was a very tone deaf decision when the story and the characters are originally japanese. i don't think it was intentional, but regardless, making ladybug into a white american man who absentmindedly wreaks havoc on these other characters of color (and eventually multiple trains and an entire fucking town!!) and is one of the few survivors does seem to be uplifting american voices and perspectives and presences and you do have to look into the implications of that. so you're right to be annoyed with him!! this post hits on a lot of things that i'm talking about and that you seem to have picked up on, and i want to reiterate that you're incredibly valid for feeling that way, and you don't have to change your mind about it!

back to your initial fic-related question, i'm not sure if there are any fics that can change the way you feel, but a lot of people tend to write ladybug as a more fleshed out character who doesn't seem to begin and end with this clueless american ignorance. ladybug is interesting because i feel like he has a great basis to expand on in fanon, and in fics he can be silly and misguided and make the wrong moves with his heart in the right place, but i also see a lot of fics where he genuinely has grown a lot since the events of the movie and he's more emotionally intelligent after taking his therapy more seriously. those are the kinds of fics i like to see because i do feel that he doesn't really grow enough in the movie.

so he is more fleshed out in fanon, he's less caricature-ish and his americanness is less in your face. but that being said, its also important to acknowledge that as fanon (and tangybug fic in particular) tries to avoid characterizing ladybug as orientalist, it tends to do so by cutting out japanese characters and japanese culture entirely. movie ladybug can be read as this extremely american, sillygoofy white man who, even without meaning to, creates conflict along racial lines. and one of the reasons we don't tend to read him that way in tangybug fics is because his whiteness and his westernness become less of a source of contrast between him and the other characters, because tangybug fics are romance stories between a white american man and a white british man. i dont want to sound like im bashing the creators in this small fandom because i completely understand not wanting to write an orientalist character, and also because im so extremely grateful for everything these creators have poured their heart and energy into providing for us. we have amazing fan-created content here. and i'm one of the champions of the tangybug ship, but the content i've made for this fandom is not above critique either! these are just points that naturally arise in a fandom for a movie like bullet train.

tl/dr: you're right and you don't have to stop feeling that way! but you can enjoy ladybug/bullet train while criticizing it at the same time. in tangybug fics, these problems with ladybug's white americanness are often less pronounced, but the fandom is not above critique either. still, i hope you're able to find a balance somewhere between being aware of the flaws with ladybug/fanon/the movie in general and your enjoyment of these things!

[kaleido-write]

Let's together reply to rusty ♡

Since she doesn't want to engage with genuine critique and that I don't want to continue a conversation with a woman that can't debate properly and uses insult and dehumanization I'll reply here !

Actually rusty saying look at the conversation is pretty ridiculous but ok , I was talking about the traits that define your characters and make them stand out wich...is rare im not gonna lie with the evolution of the comic all your characters completely changed designs and got whitewashed so yeah , blaire having thick eyelashes is her defining traits wich is fun because it makes her stand out by having her own unique feature .

OK so you just proved that you *could* give her eyelashes but you chose not to . Because you deem eyelashes as inherently a make up thing . And actually talking down to an art student is pretty hilarious im pretty sure I know more than you rusty . Respectfully don't try to talk me down . You litteraly made fun of me publicly while I keep taking your defense and make sure people talk about the critique in my comments in a respectful manner because as an artist who does a comic I respect your work and your dedication. You barely respect me . Taking away the only traits that make her stand out from background characters she becomes one and is even washed by them , having her natural design be completely stripped from having any personality is sad and you have a big issue surrounding your characters designs

Her skin "doesn't look pink" it's literally the color pink , I didn't say that for fun rusty i litteraly color picked like a hundred cases to make sure i would critique that properly . And here it's not about color relativism ITS ABOUT YOU PICK COLORS IN SUCH A SIMILAR SHADE RANGE IT MAKE EVERYTHING BLAND if you don't understand that , as an art student , maybe you should make more researches because it's honestly sad how you think you're better than everyone and don't even read the shit people write to you .

No ? I'm very used to see people naturally ? Rusty have you gone outside? People hair often are darker than the skin not in the same range of shade, its litteraly so fucking rare to have the skin match the shade of the hair , all your comment is very indicative to me about how little you actually know about art and character design omg

??? Says the woman who kept using theses words ??? What words am I fucking supposed to use then ???? It's litteraly amongst the words we are teached to use in english please get a grip

I also took the freedom to give blaire eyelashes

And here i fixed up the eyes and hair as well as made an exemple with her with make up vs regular eyelashes

Instantly you can recognize her and say yes this is blaire , the hair doesn't blend in anymore and the dress doesn't overtake her full design either , I'll probably make a more proper drawing to show better what I mean and how character design work

- cordially a fucking art student :p

[sxorpiomooon]

tbh i think i dislike my birth chart more so bc its too much of one or two water sign on my chart but many others have done me disservice in my life so yh i dont care anymore abt society as a whole. its genuinely quite crap esp in recent times or years rather than it being one particular zodiac sign.

do u think its possible that some of us mightve been easy targets for bs? for example i cant count the genuine amount of bs i have had to experience over and over again it made me think wth is going on bc it seemed to follow me everywhere and ppl just generally not being overly nice to me. Like for instance u could start off having nice convo with someone and out of nowhere they come up with some bs to make u feel like shit. yh its that sort of stuff or endless gossip is another thing idk if u dealt with that urself but its jsut been sucky. yet im supposed to be sunshine and rainbows 24/7 bc no one seem to like being critiqued on their own behaviour either.

i would say to perhaps see your vedic chart? I don't know how helpful this might be as someone who saw their sidereal chart after western i definitely felt more understood. I also think that you could perhaps do you own research of it or maybe even get a personalised reading from someone that you trust to understand it better

With that said I'll leave the astrology shit and answer generally, people are shitty and amazing. I absolutely agree with you on saying that it's not just "one zodiac signs" but here's how I see it we all have our own pov about what the worst thing might be fir example to be the worst trait someone could have might be hypocrisy whereas for you it could be someone who's overconfident. we are have our own different meanings, different kinds of people and different types of situations that we get more hurt by in life. like if you see for me(sorry for trauma dumping) but so many people that are close to me including my own family members my boyf ex bestfriends have been cancers and they all had the same traits that hurt me the most for you it could be leo or whatever. It's more so the particular traits that we assign to a particular zodiac sign that hurt us.

I also agree with you lol, we are easy targets. I think as humans we strive to look for reasons to explain our hurt and things that we go through, we want to be understood so bad that we pick up anything. If you ask me I think it's pretty amazing but at the same time if obviously you stop using your brain it's quite dangerous. I hope this doesn't come off as rude but it feels as if you have had a hard life, i genuinely hope all the love and kindness that you give to others find its way back to you<33

[sophsicle]

hello

I don't mean this to be rude - I was just wondering what made you change your characterisation of barty and evan from your previous work in choices to kill your darlings?

I mean in choices, I think barty expecially was very antagonistic- what with him being an almost r*pist and an enthusiastic death eater, pretty happy with murdering

i was just wondering what made you change their characters to be more sympathetic? I don't understand it personally, but I know rosekiller as a ship has gotten extremely popular and its just flummoxed me

im just not sure what redeeming qualities they could have, especially with barty in canon being an absolute lunatic

although is that because this isn't a canon universe?

sorry if this comes across as rude or anything im just genuinely confused as to where all the hype and romanticisation around those 2 characters came from

your writing really is lovely though, i look forward to all other povs, and am especially excited for any future marylily!

Y’know I was literally talking about Barty earlier today

But why did I decide to change their characters? Cause it's a hockey/college AU so their canon characters would make no sense here?

Like I suppose I could make them alt-right-Nazis-incels or some variation thereof, but like, I very much did not want to do that, for so so many reasons, but partially because dealing with those very heavy themes was exhausting in Choices, and dealing with people’s reactions to those difficult themes was also exhausting and, idk, did not lead to healthy productive conversations. And kyd was supposed to be ... not that? Like with Choices, I very much had things that I wanted to try to tackle and dissect and deconstruct and complicate and critique and ALL of that. And like I said, it ended up being really very not a good time for me. But kyd was never supposed to be that.

So yeah I wanted to tone them down, and then Evan in Choices had elements of the dumb jock in him and I thought it would be fun to write that in a different context without the horrible parts of his character and so it kinda snowballed from there.

Look, I agree that in canon they have no redeeming qualities, this is just not remotely close to canon so I don’t see how it applies?

I mean I’ve taken elements right? Barty’s overbearing and controlling father, the idea that he’s leading a double life, his mother’s death etc.

As far as I know we don’t really have any information about Evan other than that he was a death eater so, take that away, and I feel like he’s basically a blank slate,

But there would be no point, to me at least, in writing another fic only to tell the exact same story with each character you know?

Obviously there’s crossover, but like, Snape and Regulus are also very different from how they were in Choices. Writing everyone the same would just be boring to me.