#i think he thought 'i will remake myself in the image of the people' but

[goodmode]

so what do u think pk's funky fork self looks like under those robes

oh ya know.

bad

[hamausagi]

HELLO AND WELCOME to this episode of JAKES SOAPBOX !!! where i yap on and on abt things i care abt, but likely no one else does. todays episode i will be ranting and raving abt the highly anticipated (at least for me) OMORI official manga first chapter release !! below is my highly opinionated review <3 there are spoilers for the manga, and i do discuss the prologue and day one of the OMORI game so read this with caution. i added screenshots from the manga itself as well.

this is simply a critique from the point of view of a superfan who was hoping the manga would be suitable for both old fans, new fans, and people reading the manga with no prior knowledge of the game at all. this is simply my opinion. while i compare this manga to the game repeatedly, i want to make it clear upfront that i wasn't expecting this to be a cookie-cutter remake in manga form of the game. i believe that it's lacking some important story beats and pacing that makes the story as impactful as it is. enjoy

first of all, i was ECSTATIC when i saw the promo for this. i am OMORI's biggest fan forever and ever, so god knows i was sitting and (im)patiently waiting for this to come out. however, upon reading the first chapter, i can't say i'm a huge fan. i will say that i am the type of person to view content regarding my favorite things with the most insanely rose tinted glasses, however that wasn't going to save my first impressions of the manga from scrutiny. tl'dr, i was really disappointed.

now my first complaint: pacing. to start with the beginning, i do really like how it starts off with the same dialogue as the game does. the art is simple, yet extremely effective when it comes to portraying the overall "vibe" of OMORI, which is something that carries on throughout the first chapter and i'll talk about it more later. however, i'm really not a fan of how the story begins. the first three pages are showing this dream sunny is having, a contorted memory of a christmas spent with his friends, ending with a horrifying and distorted image of mari begging sunny to "tell her why".

now, my issue with this, is that the story is now lacking a very important aspect that made the original so much more impactful: a foundation. in the game prologue, we are introduced primarily to the whole group, all of the fun-loving and sweet characters all living happily in headspace- INCLUDING mari. it was meant to establish two very important things about sunny: A) headspace is a safe, fun place where all of his friends are, but something isnt right and B) the real world is NOT where he wants to be, it's scary and reminds him of something he doesn't want to remember. yet the way the manga is paced, it skips all of that. we are immediately thrust into the real world as sunny wakes up to get himself the steak from the fridge, where again, we are robbed of another crucial detail: sunny does NOT want to go down the stairs in the dark. in game, when sunny tries to leave his room, he doesn't allow himself down more than one step of the stairs. before i get ahead of myself, the artist did include this panel (right to left)

which i think wonderfully portrays sunny's fear of going down the stairs. the wobbly lines and darkness coming out of the piano room is great. however, this comes after sunny has already come down the stairs and eaten the steak, and seems to be more centered around him being afraid of who was at the door. which, in my opinion, also holds even less weight as the original mari door jumpscare wasn't included either (which is a whole other can of worms), which was an actual deterrent from the player opening the door for kel in game.

(this leads me to another, much more nit-picky complaint: but that is the specific pacing of this page specifically:

which occurs after sunny goes back upstairs to throw up the steak he ate in the bathroom. the panels, while aesthetically pleasing and visually descriptive towards sunny's paranoid thoughts, aren't really showing me what's going on. he slams the bathroom door shut, seemingly does nothing, and is suddenly back in the kitchen cleaning his knife. but for some reason, the kitchen is upstairs, rather than downstairs, which is where we get the panels of him being afraid of descending the stairs. i feel that this was an unnecessary change, and could have been avoided by sticking to the original planning of this segment. but again, this is just a small nitpick that doesn't really mean anything.)

speaking of kel at the door, this is another reason why the lack of a headspace prologue in the very beginning is frustrating. as of now, the reader has no idea who kel is, or what he really means to sunny. sure, we saw him briefly in the dream sunny has, but he says one thing, and that dream lasted 3 pages. two, of which, didn't show anyone besides mari or sunny at all. in the prologue, kel is shown to be very protective and caring towards sunny, notably staying by his side and making sure sunny isn't alone for too long when being "it" during the hide and seek minigame, and overall establishing that he (and the rest of the friendgroup, might i add) was an important person in sunny's life. knowing this, then hearing mom's voicemail about how kel has been trying to reach sunny all this time, and THEN hearing him call out to sunny at the door, makes seeing kel in the real world for the first time a meaningful experience. we understand why kel is so excited to see sunny come outside. but in the manga, to me, it feels so rushed. when playing through the story, you're in headspace for a good 3-5 hours before you even enter the real world, or have the chance to open the door for kel. in the manga, it feels lackluster.

this leads to the faraway town scenes. kel and omori make their way to faraway town, which is full of the typical headspace cameos that the reader won't understand due to the lack of the headspace storyline. when in hobeez, kel mentions how the store is the same, featuring "captain spaceboy games" and "sweetheart movies", which would mean a lot more to the reader if they saw the group dig through spaceboy's junkyard and battle him at the end, or sneak through sweetheart's castle and confront her on stage. these are small nitpicks, but the biggest issue for me is that during this segment, kei and sunny are going to hobeez to buy hero a gift. but yet, the reader doesn't know who hero is. there isn't that moment of realization that hero, alongside kel, is a real person in sunny's life, not just a figment of sunny's imagination, and he's old enough to be in college. there's no emotion there. they pick out the same cookbook, but the reader has no idea why this holds significance. in the game, we all know hero as the chef, the cook that heals the team with his snacks and his frying pan fighting skills- but the reader doesn't know why hero, mentioned as a pre-med student, would even want a cookbook. these details lose all meaning without being backed up by important scenes in the original prologue.

this leads to my personal least favorite moment of the whole chapter: the confrontation between basil and aubrey. i was so incredibly disappointed by the absolute assassination of her character, which is simply because there's more missing context left behind in the game prologue. aubrey is introduced as a sweet, silly girl in the game, who cares deeply for omori and her friends, which is supposed to shock the player when meeting her in the real world for the first time. aubrey's change is supposed to make the player really question what happened to these friends, what made these kids who clearly cared so deeply for one another behave this way, and wonder why sunny (and mari's death, along with why no one wants to talk about it) seems to be at the center of it all. there is none of this extremely necessary context here. what makes things worse is that the reader also has zero idea who aubrey or basil are. while yes, they too were mentioned in the 3-page dream at the beginning of the chapter, it was for one single page with one piece of dialogue each. these characters hold no meaning here. aubrey then hits basil with her nail-covered bat, which is NOT something that happens in game. its actually kim who pushes him away, NOT aubrey, which is an important detail as aubrey never meant to lay a hand on any of them originally. the manga just paints her out to be violent, angry, and in a rush to hurt people she used to care about. while her character is extremely detailed and nuanced, i won't get too into it here as the player wouldn't know at this point, and neither would the reader.

the altercation in the manga between sunny and aubrey continues as she mocks him for locking himself away after they supposedly "couldn't save mari". this sends sunny into a spiral, aubrey swings her bat at kel, and poises to hurt sunny as well when he swings his knife at her, slicing her shoulder. the choices the artist make here are astounding, in the most negative way possible. while yes, there is a fight scene with kel and sunny vs aubrey in game, it portrayed a lot differently. its made very clear in game that sunny is very seriously impacted by his inner world to the point where he sees apparitions of space bunnies or other creatures while walking down the streets, or even the "fight" between himself and the poster inside of hobeez. this is important to note, because the player can also see the RPG fighting menu, which is extremely important to display just how out of touch with reality sunny is. he can't grasp that there's a difference between reality and his dream world. inside headspace, fighting is extremely normal. combat is a huge part of the game and the story, where the player fights bosses, smaller enemies, and gathers weapons and even toys to use in battle. that normalization where the player is USED to battle in the dreamworld, where there are no real consequences, if a character dies they can be healed or revived, comes to a screeching halt when we realize that we, as sunny, just actually slashed aubrey. the battle comes to a screeching halt, aubrey collapses after just one hit, which again, the player AND sunny isn't used to after fighting so many hard battles, and displays real pain. this is a far contrast to the manga, where we just see sunny lash out at aubrey. while it can be argued that yes, the manga is a completely different medium of storytelling than the game where we have that fighting and battle UI aspect, there are a myriad of ways the creator could have given the same effect- which could have easily been achieved by including the headspace prologue instead of jumping immediately into the real world this way.

the creator then chooses this moment to send sunny back into white space, which completely removes the interaction sunny has with basil and kel after the scuffle with aubrey. there's no walking with basil home, theres no learning about the photo album- in fact, there's no mention of basil's album at ALL, which is incredibly strange not only due to its immense importance to showing the bond between the friends, but the fact that it's a huge plot point and storytelling device.

in conclusion, i sincerely believe that this manga is a poor presentation of OMORI's story, and an incredible disappointment. leaving out the hours and hours of content before the real world is even introduced robs the manga of any substance, as the whole point of the prologue being so incredibly long was to establish a baseline for the player to become comfortable with, to allow us to get to know the characters and see how they interact, and then have that all be contorted and changed when brought into the real world. there is no established connection to the characters, the plot is ridiculously rushed, and the story feels empty and disconnected. it truly feels like the author barely knew what the game was about. i also don't feel that the artstyle in general works either, as the characters look extremely young, while the real world characters are 15-16 and the way they are drawn makes them look 12. but, i will rest my case there. i completely disagree with the flip-flopping of the story, and my expectations for the rest of this manga have plummeted to insane depths.

[steveharrington]

what’s your fav feminist film? like something you like and think is more meaningful than the substance. would love some recs

though it is complicated considering its director, rosemary’s baby was mind blowing for me discovering the intersection between horror and feminism! obviously the horror genre features women at its very core, for better or for worse sometimes, but rosemary’s baby was the first horror movie i watched where the horror was misogyny and rosemary’s complete loss of autonomy. the scene where she thinks she’s had a private, safe conversation with her doctor only to discover that he called her husband to come get her is genuinely scarier to me than most big Horror Moments i’ve seen. and to me, rosemary’s baby deals with subject matter that has more to say and more bearing on women’s actual safety and wellbeing like having their physical pain dismissed or downplayed, having no medical autonomy or privacy, or being isolated from other women who they can seek safety with vs. commentary about beauty standards. and that’s not to say that it isn’t important to discuss beauty standards, because it absolutely is a pervasive issue that greatly impacts women, but To Me discussing the threat misogyny poses to women’s physical safety will always be more impactful

i also think there’s something to be said for movies that just treat women like real and complex people. perhaps my biggest issue with the substance is that we don’t really know anything about elisabeth’s personality beyond her fixation on her fame and physical appearance. we don’t know literally any detail about her life or what her personality is like. in fact, she doesn’t seem to have a fixed personality—it seems to wildly fluctuate depending on what works best for the given scene. if a movie doesn’t even have overtly feminist commentary, but provides female characters that are fleshed out and complex and genuinely feel like real people, to me they will stand out as decidedly feminist Because they have characters that real women and girls in the audience can see themselves in. women watching the substance may definitely identify with elisabeth’s struggle with self image (i did!!) but i can’t say i can identify with literally any aspect of Elisabeth herself beyond the situation she finds herself in. whereas when i watch movies like the descent or even scream, i find myself very drawn to characters like gale weathers or juno whose personalities are so strong that you can identify their thought patterns, the motivation behind their behaviors, their negative traits that usually only male characters are allowed to have and still be taken seriously. the very recent american remake of speak no evil had a character i related to probably more than any character in recent memory, louise, who genuinely made me feel Seen because her anxieties and reservations felt so real and match mine so perfectly. i felt like i’ve never seen a character like that, like me, in a horror setting!

this makes it sound like i disliked the substance and its themes, which i didnt! i do think the subject of beauty standards and the treatment of women as they age is very relevant and important. i just dooooo get a bit tired of the rave reviews insisting a movie is the First to say something that i’ve seen several times before, to the point where it’s no longer brave and compelling. and not every movie needs to say something entirely new, but it shouldn’t be lauded for being cutting edge and groundbreaking in that case. it feels truly unearned. the substance was also so heavy handed with it, making you watch a flashback like 3 times of dennis quaid saying “pretty girls should always smile!” as if we the audience really need to have our hands held as they explain to us why that sentiment is bad. like we know. trust me we know.

[autisticgirliesbracket]

What makes Peridot from Steven Universe the autistic girlie ever of all time? Here's what the people have to say:

Peridot-related asks/reblogs: x This post will be updated after each round!

Image ID in alt text and under the readmore.

[Image ID. White slide with a screenshot of Peridot in the bottom right corner, she is smiling and wearing her red bowtie. She is surrounded by text boxes which read,

"She doesn't get social cues. Like, at all. She takes things too literally and she's very blunt herself. When she tries to joke, she can come off as rude or insulting, cause again, doesn't get social cues. She's a little nerd who loves disassembling and making stuff. Also she's my blorbo and I have autism so therefore so does she, hope this helps <3"

"literally everything abt her. she stims she has sensory overloads she has a special interest in tech she doesn’t understand social cues"

"I'm going to start this off by saying that the creator of the show pretty much confirmed all of the gems are neurodivergent, since they're aliens and don't think and act like humans. Peridot is who I'm nominating since I believe she's one of the most relatable gems to a lot of autistic people (including myself) Okay, so she's pretty bad with communicating with others, especially early on in the series. When trying to apologize to Amethyst, she records herself with her voice recorder (which is also shown to be a big comfort to her) and plays that recording for Amethyst instead of speaking directly to her She is extremely literal, not understanding human phrases and jokes (ex: Steven: Oh peridot, you're killing me! Peridot: I am not! That would violate our truce agreement!) She says things and doesn't understand why those things were upsetting for other characters, such as when she was pointing out how Amethyst is smaller than she's supposed to be. She found this funny and thought Amethyst would too, but Amethyst was upset since she's insecure about being "wrong", and Peridot didn't realize what she said was upsetting to Amethyst She makes up words and phrases for things so they make sense to her (ex: calling fingers "touch-stumps") She repeats the word "clod" a lot, possibly as a stim She gets a tablet later on in the series and is very excited since it reminds her of her old tech. She attaches it to her arm with a velcro strap, and spends a lot of the episode on the tablet. I believe technology is one of her special interests, and the tablet is a comfort item. In that episode Amethyst takes the tablet and tries to throw it in the ocean, causing Peridot to get very upset, yell "It's all that I am!", and activate her new metal powers (she's able to levitate metal, allowing her to save her tablet) She may also have a special interest in a show called "Camp Pining Hearts", as she's shown spending a large amount of time watching it by herself and with Lapis Lazuli. In Steven Universe Future, there's a remake of the show and she is very excited to watch it with Steven, but she doesn't like it. They spend the episode trying to change it to be better with Steven's dream powers, until Peridot realizes it's stressing out Steven and making him afraid of her leaving if he can't make it right I'm positive I'm missing things, but I think this is long enough already lol"

"Trouble socializing, doesn't understand why jokes are funny outside literal terms, stims vocally and physically, gets really obsessed with Camp Pining Hearts. Has trouble understanding emotions. Relied on accommodations to function and has comfort objects like tablets and an alien plushy."

"*tells joke* *person doesn’t laugh* “that was the incorrect response” "

"She's very literal, all the time, even for a gem (and not all gems are literal anyways). Uses her pre recorded voice as a way to get her more complicated thoughts out, so it's like an ACD. She mimics behaviours. She has echolalia with one word especially. Very strange humour. She's upset by other gems' unpredictability, and doesn't understand hoe what she says can hurt the other crystal gems. She has meltdowns that others call temper tantrums. She makes up a word system that makes sense to her, in order to help with her communication issues."

"Vocal stimming, talks very literally, can’t tell when others are upset, people pleaser, emotional regulation problems"

"She just is" End ID.]

[danko420]

im having a hard time not getting fired by my job...

I've already run my mouth in support of Palestine to a few different people but ive been keeping a mental checklist of like... morally reprehensible thoughts and activities... basically everytime someone says something and i have to bite my tongue or else go into a rant about why Thing Bad.

Yesterday was sort of the last straw but i'll cover the previous 2 first:

- nice irish lady wearing h*rry p*tter merch (i cant believe in 2024 i still have to explain to ANYONE jkr is a terf who thinks all transwomen are perverts trying to harass women in public washrooms but HERE WE ARE. ALSO p sure we have a transwoman in the office but i havent had a chance to talk to them yet so not 100% sure. By wearing it, even if its old and not a recent purchase, you are signaling to trans and queer people who see it that you value fantasy kids stories more than the real world suffering of marginalized people, and are not a safe person to talk to... and shes HR)

- several people using and encouraging use of generative ai to produce images instead of paying an artist (the first time it came up was someone trying to generate a design for a floral centerpiece for a banquet- which we were already hiring a florist to handle... so, trying to steal work from small local business owners. second time was when i was designing some posters for around the office, someone made a joke i dont even remember about what we could put on one and i think i replied like "yeah if i can find a picture of it" and they were like "we have ai we can make pictures of anything!" and i swiftly removed myself from the conversation. At least that time we werent going to be taking money from anyone because they were just fun posters and were in no way generating profit but STILL.)

- my boss drives a tesla (didnt realize it was a tesla when i got in but saw the big tablet screen in the dash and started rambling about how stupid cyber trucks are- to which she mentioned her husband wanted one. when i mentioned it was like they threw out all the established knowledge and practices for vehicle safety we had developed over like a century of having cars she seemed to imply that was good in a gotta break to remake things sorta way (i think her exact statement was about like... we would still be all using diesel if things didnt change, which like... not really the same thing as getting rid of crumple zones and side mirrors but go off i guess). i said m*sk was evil and she said she didnt support what he does but does support the work his scientists are doing, and its like... cant do one without the other... owning a tesla means financially supporting el*n m*sk, therefore it is immoral- i do not have the patience or time to list all his crimes, if you dont know already pls look it up. ALSO she named it Toad (like from mario) because its red with white detailing and im like... cute but not cute enough to make up for it being a tesla)

and im just... im just so tired every day. I come home every day scared i put my foot in my mouth and i will be let go... part of me hopes i will be so i can be free of this purgatory and 2 hour daily commute, but im not actively or consciously trying to risk this job because it took me 5 months to fuckin find it...

Its just like.. if i know better its my moral obligation to correct someone, to mitigate harm, but in doing so im risking harm to myself (losing my job, someone snapping and physically attacking me, etc)

im just really disappointed in the world every damn day

[sapphire-weapon]

4make anon -> Wait legit, people asked you to show your work? That's crazy, lmao! I thought it was obvious, especially as he falls so ill beforehand. He sits because standing is a struggle then and there. It's a solid favourite of mine, shows a LOT about his character and priorities. Rejecting the invincible main character trope so blatantly was nice to see too, also when he hallucinates later as he carries Ashley to safety. Idk, the whole story and all of the smaller details were fucking excellent in this game and I'm still excited about it. It sucks if so many didn't catch them.

I'm itching to get into SW to see more of Ada, but ESPECIALLY new Wesker. I'm gonna be feral about it.

And other anon, again, not stirring shit, I'm just surprised, so please chill because it's not a personal criticism lmao.

i'd fuck new wesker and that bothers me because i have prided myself on my immunity to wesker lust

it's not fair

and yea i think people have a pre-formed image of leon in their brain and they just don't see/notice/take into account anything that might contradict that image. and in a lot of people's brains, leon is a super badass who fights zombies and doesn't afraid of anything. even when he's depressed, it's Manly and Heroic.

and people just don't want to see the part of remake leon that's in a constant state of "i'm going to kill everybody and then myself. and they will thank me."

[stardustprompts]

the king of crows (  book 4 of the diviners series  )   -  libby bray  sentence starters change tenses/pronouns as needed !!  some lines have been edited for clarity / length / ease of roleplaying   tw ;  death , suicide idealization 

‘did anyone ever tell you that you sleep with your mouth open?’

‘you two. I don’t know whether to hope you get married or hope you never do.’

‘if this goes badly, don’t you dare come back and haunt me.’

‘doesn’t matter what’s true. it matters what people think is true.’

‘well, if there’s going to be drama, i’m all in.’

‘for the first time in my life, I got something to lose.’ 

‘I know from experience that saying no to you is a full time job.’ 

‘he only cares about power. he only cares about winning, no matter the cost.’

‘let’s fight fire with fire.’

‘you want to remake the world in your image, like a malevolent god?’

‘stop joking around. this is serious.’

‘you think your institutions will save you? they’re part of this.’

‘who died and made you boss?’

‘you’re still playing by their rules. you’ll never get anywhere that way.’

‘if trouble’s gonna come calling it won’t find me at home. it’ll have to chase me down first.’

‘i just don’t know how we make things work between us.’

‘please, please don’t hate me. I couldn’t bear it.’

‘you’re always you. always honest.’

‘i’ll kill you. I swear I will.’

‘greatness requires some sacrifices.’

‘i’m just saying, some doors are very good closed.’

‘well, I’m sorry I’m not as clever as you are.’

‘nobody’s who they say they are.’

‘if we survive this, you are dead to me.’

‘I can’t tell if that was a compliment or an insult.’

‘there’s things out there. and they’re coming for us.’

‘I will kiss you as much as you like.’

‘i’m afraid this isn’t real. i’m afraid in a minute i’ll wake up and i’ll be here but you won’t be.’

‘i’m here, (name), and I promise I will never leave you again.’

‘are you sure you should be doing that? after all you’ve been through?’

‘I like the way you apologize.’

‘don’t get used to it. i’m very rarely wrong.’

‘how are you gonna fight if you don’t believe there’s any goodness in this world worth saving?’

‘why are we trying to save this country? what’s it ever done for us? maybe we should just let it burn.’

‘you got me, didn’t you? your life couldn’t have gone too wrong.’

‘our last words to each other were angry. it haunts me. I wish I could undo it.’

‘it haunts me. I wish I could undo it.’

‘you know what heroes do? they pay attention.’

‘you really could make a joke of anything, couldn’t you?’

‘you aren’t invited to comment on everything in my life.’

‘I want better for you. you deserve happiness.’

‘whatever you do, will you come back to me?’

‘what were you thinking? were you trying to be dumb?’

‘am i the only one here with a lick of common sense?’

‘we might be spending too much time together.’

‘when you put it that way, sounds like we don’t have a chance in hell.’

‘i’m not cocky. can I help it if I’m just that good?’

‘I hate maps. and directions. and rules.’

‘they don’t want to hear what you have to say. this is what they want: blood.’

‘who wants to etch their name into this story?’

‘I was having the most beautiful dream. I was … happy.’

‘I told you. but you never did listen to me, did you?’

‘I was afraid I’d never see you again.’

‘I told you that you’d be sorry.’

‘what happens if such power goes unchecked?’

‘i’m not telling anyone about this. and you’re not gonna, either.’

‘fine, no hurry. it’s only the end of the world we’re worried about here.’

‘I can face just about anything. but I can’t do it without you.’

‘the world is a terrible place. it never learns.’

‘I used to think I wouldn’t care if I died. I just kept throwing myself at life, hoping I’d hit the bullseye eventually. I thought death would be a relief from all that feeling.’

‘I used to think I wouldn’t care if I died. I thought death would be a relief from all that feeling. a relief not to have to feel all that pain. not to care so much.’

‘you think you’re the only one who ever feels that way?’

‘how do you go on… with all that loneliness inside you?’

‘you know, I really thought this was going to be a much more romantic conversation.’

‘I invented trouble. I know how it works.’

‘(name), would you marry me?’

‘I always believed you and I would be special together, but now I know it’s true.’

‘I don’t suppose you could be happy for me, could you?’

‘you and I weren’t meant to be.’

‘that’s what he wants, to get you good and scared. so you won’t fight back.’

‘I don’t think one joke will be the end of us.’

‘something is wrong. don’t you feel it?’

‘i’m not yelling. I’m just … nudging.’

‘it was everything I was afraid of.’

‘maybe we need to lose control sometimes.’

‘I used to feel numb a lot.’

‘i’m so angry all the time.’

‘I don’t know what to do with all these feelings coming up inside me. I don’t know where to put them.’

‘life isn’t always fair, and the choices we make sometimes aren’t always clean.’

‘we can’t do anything about other people do. we can only do right by what we believe.’

‘it’s a hard path to be who you are and try to put your best self into a world that doesn’t always show thanks for it.’

‘you ever wonder if maybe we’re on the wrong side of history?’

‘you’re lying. you’re a liar. nobody likes liars.’

‘you take and you take and you take! well, you can’t have him—- I won’t let you!’

‘nothing about this is natural. it’s an unnatural world.’

‘we’ll always have (name) that way, and we’ll carry him around with us forever.’

‘you and me. if they come for one of us, they come for all of us.’

‘in addition to being a lousy fellow, you’re also a goddamned idiot.’

‘I will make you a swell little medal if we survive.’

‘sometimes you just gotta burn something down so you can build something else in its place.’

‘you were selfish. you are selfish.’

‘that’s all we are in the end. stories.’

‘will you remember me fondly?’

‘i’ve taken nothing that people weren’t willing to give me. out of greed. out of anger. out of fear.’

‘you did have a choice. you made it.’

don’t waste it. make a good life.’

‘I was afraid I’d lose you.’

[kittenmitsuki]

Ch 37

I hummed into the kitchen and asked for permission to use a corner of the kitchen so as not to disturb the cooks.

However, the chefs who heard my request gave me an overtly wary look.

Seeing the distrustful chefs, ah, I remember that.

It was, it was.

I was an arrogant daughter of the Marquis, and I was selfish not only at the school but also at the Marquis's residence, so everyone avoided me.

Seeing the wary expressions of the chefs, I came to realize that this relationship must be improved first.

Then, the day after the memory of his previous life returned, he remembered the words he swore to himself in his room alone.

"Let's change our arrogant attitude, don't poke anyone, don't start a fight, and turn to pacifism."

"When the plan doesn't go well and you get kicked out, you don't want to be helped by saying ``I didn't like him for a long time,'' so I try not to make enemies."

That's right, that's right. I promised myself that.

I used to think that every time I saw the news about corruption in my previous life.

I think that "acquaintances of corrupt people" are always included in the set for incidents where bad things have been done.

And those acquaintances talk about the daily life of a corrupt person in front of the media.

“I thought that person would someday. Because normally...'

This one! "The people around me are these potential 'acquaintances'."

appear. The chefs, or the maids who work in the mansion, happily talking to their neighbors.

“I always thought that the young lady would be condemned someday! 』

『When it comes to that young lady’s selfishness and arrogance, there is no one who can compare to her! !

no way.

It would be fine if it was just to be condemned, but I don't want to have funny rumors after that.

Alright, it shouldn't be too late now.

I will try my best to improve my image.

Thinking that, I smiled at the chefs.

However, even though I smiled and smiled, none of the cooks laughed back.

On the contrary, as soon as I said that I wanted to use oil, I was given an overtly annoying look.

Wow. I am the only daughter of the employer of the cooks.

And yet, I wonder how much Luciana has taken such a disgusting look.

……No, I remember.

Luciana is me, so I remember everything I've done so far.

Yeah... you did.

I had to remake the entire menu for that night because there was a vegetable I didn't like.

"Everything on today's menu has the smell of vegetables that I hate!

... No matter how you look at it, it's hard to say.

Appetizers, soups, main dishes, etc. Different chefs make each dish, so the smell of vegetables in one dish can't be transferred to all the dishes.

Even the chefs thought so, but there was no way anyone could say something back, so they silently followed my words.

At that time, I was basically eating alone, so there was no family to stop me.

The chefs at that time didn't say anything, but their expressions should have been showing their repulsion like now.

But I didn't even notice.

Because Luciana only thought of the people working at the Marquis's residence as much as the tools, and didn't even pay attention to the chef's expression.

Yes, she is definitely a selfish and selfish lady.

I really understand the feelings of the chefs who want to keep their distance from me as much as possible.

Because I didn't know what kind of accusations I could make. Best not to get involved!

……it's no use. This situation is self-serving.

With that in mind, I ask modestly, at least not to incur any further animosity.

“If I get hurt while cooking, it will be my own responsibility.

While thinking that the basis of human relationships should be a smile, I try my best to make a smile.

As I stared at the chefs with a smile on my face for a while, the head chef murmured helplessly.

"Please don't hurt me."

"I promise."

I smiled and took out some vegetables from a wooden box in the corner of the kitchen.

"I'll take this, okay?"

No reply from anyone.

However, since my gaze is focused, there is no doubt that the chefs are listening to me.

Understanding that being unrestrained meant that I was allowed to use vegetables, I picked up vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, and pumpkins.

Rinse it with water and it will begin to peel.

Snacks for 3-year-olds had the meaning of supplementary food.

In other words, the important role of snacks should have been to increase the number of meals for infants who can't eat a lot at one time, and gradually take in nutrients into their bodies.

So snacks don't necessarily have to be sweet.

Although it may deviate from Kon-chan's wishes.

With that in mind, I cut the peeled vegetables thinly.

For the time being, I decided to try making vegetable chips today.

It's as simple as slicing vegetables thinly, frying them, and adding salt.

I chose something that doesn't take much time, because staying in the kitchen for a long time under the eyes of the chefs is exhausting.

Since the ingredients are vegetables, I wonder if it's good for Kon-chan's body.

As I was chopping vegetables while thinking that, someone called out to me from behind.

"... Oh, so you can use a kitchen knife! Eh, why are you so good!?"

When I turned around, the head chef was standing right behind me, peering into my hands.

"Eh, no, it's not enough to be praised by a professional. I'm just making snacks for Konrad, so it's easy."

"... Huh, are you making snacks for Konrad?"

The head chef spoke in surprise.

No, I'm the one who's surprised.

No matter how young you are, you are the son of a marquis.

And yet, what is it like to call it "Konrad"?

[hufflepuff-ravenclaw-reviews]

Little Mermaid (2023) review

So I thought about blocking this review out, or simply not dropping it until later, but like… My dudes. This movie came out in freaking 1989. You’ve already seen it. Maybe not specific parts of this movie, but the beats are almost identical to the point where there’s literally no reason to not drop this.

So first off, the movie opens with introducing Eric on a boat. The only notable thing in this scene is taking note of what’s not in it. Mainly the fact that the sailors aren’t singing. It’s not a memorable song in any way, but you all know this song. The absence of it is jarring and begins the first major problem with this movie and pacing, which I’ll get into later.

Then, we introduce Triton and his six mermaid daughters. Now, you might have seen promo images released maybe a month before the movie came out featuring Ariel’s six sisters. They’re all different races (one is blonde, another Asian, another is a darker black than Ariel, etc). The sisters are introduced as being minor goddesses of each ocean. Which was a plot point that people report had been dropped from the original movie. However, literally none of this is important, and this is dropped almost as soon as it’s brought up. It would have been something interesting to explore, but no. Triton always was the king of the oceans, but this is a role that is straight-up explained in the new movie, rather than something that you kind of read-between-the-lines. Also noteworthy in this scene is something that’s not present: music. Again, we’ll get back to this point later.

The introduction of Ariel herself played out exactly as it did in the original. Shipwreck. Shark. Chase. It added nothing to the movie, but it also took nothing away from it.

Also, as jarring as Flounder’s initial character images were, I have to say that I think that I prefer him vs if they’d had a straight-up CGI flounder. That is to say, directly copied from reality, ala the Lion King remake. He’s cartoon-y enough that I kind of didn’t mind him after considering his character. But I’ll get more into his actual characterization and role in the movie probably after my beat review.

After this, we have the introduction of Scuttle who is voiced by Aquafina. The realization that this is who had been cast sent a pit of dread into both my husband and myself. This was probably not going to go well, and we ended up being right later on. Scuttle is still some kind of sea-bird (I’m not enough of a birder to identify the proper species, if there even was one to begin with????), but this is important for the scene that follows. In the original, Ariel leans her forearms on a large rock that seems to be Scuttle’s homebase. In this, Scuttle literally dives under the water for probably about 5 minutes to explain the concept of a dinglehopper to Ariel. Yes, birds can dive under the water to catch fish, but holy cow, Batman! They can’t actually breathe underwater!

I’m pretty sure that there was a scene between Ariel and Triton after this, but it was unremarkable that I can’t exactly remember. Then, Ariel goes to her cave of human trinkets, where we have the movie’s first musical number. Now granted, it’s probably the number one song that everybody thinks about when they think of the music from Little Mermaid. But at the same time, we’re now a good… I want to say 30 minutes into this movie. It’s been literally the first musical number, and they’re opening on a giant show stopper like this? The pacing of this movie felt so awkward and forced, and this was the first prime example of this happening.

Following this is Ariel being drawn to the surface by the fireworks being set off for Eric’s birthday. She hops into a lifeboat to watch the dancing crew. The camera goes to Ariel’s perspective to show that she can really only see the crew from their knees down. This might not seem significant right now, but put a pin into this, because I will be discussing this movie’s lack of foot fetish themes later. (Yes, this is important, as much as I loathe to admit.)

The storm happens. The only noteworthy addition to this scene is that there’s a bit when Max jumps into the water, and Ariel helps guide him over to the lifeboat, where the crew help get him up. (Does the dog die? No he does not.)

Following this is Ariel taking Eric to the shore. She leans her head against his chest to check that he’s alright. Which removed a minor joke from the movie of Scuttle telling Ariel that he thought the heartbeat could be heard in the feet. Which is one of those foot fetish moments that I mentioned earlier. In a movie with themes about legs and feet, the removal of this scene felt rather jarring.

Following the crew showing up to find Eric, Ariel does have her iconic “Part of Your World” splash on the nearby rocks. The writers might not be imaginative, but they’re also not stupid.

In the original, the statue of Eric was unveiled as a birthday gift to the prince. However in this, the statue kind of exists without any sort of explanation. Ariel never has a moment of actually finding it and mooning over Eric’s stone face, the way that she did in the original. Is it actually of Eric, or was it simply a random statue being carried on the ship? I can’t even say with certainty either way.

Random aside (and I’m not even sure that this is the correct scene order, but I don’t care), but when Triton asked Sebastian to keep an eye on Ariel, he mentioned that Sebastian was his majordomo. Which is a pretty far cry from the music director role he was in in the original. BUT, as Sebastian left this meeting, he complained that he was supposed to be a royal adviser. Which is a not exactly a majordomo.

Following this is the Under the Sea moment. Ariel actually joins in this number, almost in a sarcastic way which was honestly kind of fun. BUT… This also means that Ariel has to be there for the final reprise. In the original, she’d gotten a message from a seahorse about the Eric statue, and had left halfway through the number. So in this, when Sebastian looks around for Ariel and she’s not there, I literally said out loud “She literally left five seconds ago. Try harder in looking for her!”

Then there’s a scene where Ariel’s six sisters are shown cleaning up the mess Eric’s ship left. They complain about all of the damage that’s been done by the ship, and say something along the lines of “It’ll take 1000 years for the coral to recover”. Ariel chides them, and says that it’s not as if the humans intended to crash. She then flees, and her sisters allude to the idea that Ariel is in love with a boy, which is making her irrational.

Following this is Triton’s tantrum in Ariel’s curio-cave. And while I do have notes about his behavior, it’s got nothing to do with my commentary about the differences between this movie and the original. I feel like that probably deserves its own. The entire scene was pretty on-par with the original though, so… Yeah. It happened.

Up until this point, there had been a couple of scenes that kind of introduced the concept of Ursula. Much like how in the original, the concept of the sisters representing the oceans was scrapped, so to was the idea that Ursula was Triton’s sister. This one outright stated as much. Although, I have to say… I thought that it was bad the idea that this obviously not white man could somehow father 7 daughters of wildly varying ethnicities was bad. But it’s got nothing on Triton’s and Ursula’s parents creating first a man who is half fish, and then a woman who is half squid. Yes, they’re magic, but at the same time… HOW.

Anyway, so Ursula had been spying on Ariel via her pet eels, Flotsam and Jetsam. So while I felt like the introduction to Ursula’s character itself was more dragged out, the actual point upon which Ariel met Ursula was pretty much the same. The only real difference was that when Ursula used her magic through Flotsam and Jetsam to talk to Ariel, to get her to leave the cave and come see her… Ursula introduced herself and Ariel said “The sea witch?” “The sea wi-?” Like Ursula had legit not heard that this is what people in the city thought about her. It was legit one of the funniest moments in the movie… Which is telling, because the comedy moments were so sparse in this remake.

So Ariel goes to Ursula’s evil cave of evil, but there’s a few notable but tiny differences. When she goes in, she is grabbed by something. But it’s not the “unfortunate souls” who are trying to stop her from making a huge mistake. And during the actual musical number, they intentionally left out a few key moments. One of them with Ursula explaining: This one longing to be thinner That one wants to get the girl And do I help them? Yes, indeed And then goes on to explain: Now it's happened once or twice Someone couldn't pay the price And I'm afraid I had to rake 'em 'cross the coals If you’ll remember during this number, Ursula went to her cauldron and made little figures to demonstrate exactly what she meant. Tiny figures of a man and a woman who became attractive, and fell in love with each other. But then after they failed to make their payment, they were turned into worms. This was completely absent in this movie, leaving their fate more than a little ambiguous at best. This is the thing that I’ve been talking about this entire time: this movie doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Everybody has seen the original one. We know what the consequences are if Ariel fails to get that kiss in 3 days time. Only that there are consequences to non-payment.

The other missing moment is Ursula explaining to Ariel that she won’t have her voice, and Ariel questioning how she’s supposed to get this kiss. Then Ursula saying “You’ll have your looks. Your pretty face. And you must not forget the importance of BODY LANGUAGE”. The last part which is accompanied by a rather sensual wiggle on Ursula’s part. Maybe Disney thought that this was too mature for children, despite Little Mermaid remaining a classic children’s movie for 30+ years now.

In fact, as I sit and write up this review, I’m struggling to remember Ariel questioning literally anything at all during this scene. Ursula sang a a little, and the next thing we know, voice is gone. She’s human now.

It’s also worth nothing that after Ariel left, Ursula made a comment along the lines of that she’d added a bit extra to the spell to make Ariel forget that she needed to kiss Eric within 3 days. She wanted Ariel back down there, no matter what. But we’ll circle back to this in a bit.

We pause briefly in Ariel’s story to do this movie’s signature movie: a half-assed attempt to bring life to random background characters. The character who is introduced now is not somebody who was ever in the original. And maybe that’s a good thing, maybe not. But like everything else, I think that it could have been interesting to explore this, but the movie literally never let any of this happen.

For you see, Eric did not suddenly poof into being one day. Like everybody else, he has parents. Who are the king and queen. Shocking, I know. As I said, they were never even mentioned in the first movie. They must exist somewhere, but they aren’t even in the castle where he lived.

It was briefly mentioned while Eric was still on the ship that he was adopted. This will be important for later. It’s also mentioned that his father, the king, is dead. Will also be important.

Now back home, he greets his mother, who is upset about her son’s most recent misadventures on the water. She comments that 6 different ships have been lost while returning to their island home. Eric’s defense is that he must update their island home, and connect it to the outside world. Which is a fairly worthy cause, I think that we can agree upon. But the queen chides him, saying that the vials of vaccinations that were on the ship he’d been on are not doing anybody any good since they’re currently at the bottom of the ocean. She also makes a point to say “The god of the sea does not favor us.” Which made me think that it was her way of kind of fast-tracking her approval of a relationship between the granddaughter of the god of the sea and her son. She’s also kind of upset that Eric keeps talking about this mysterious woman who’d saved him from the shipwreck. He’s obsessed with finding her, thinking that she might be in some kind of trouble or something. This is obviously worrisome behavior for anybody, and forget a literal crowned prince.

Now, going back to an earlier pin I had you put in place, the queen is notably black. Which in itself isn’t a problem. Her race has little to do with the actual plot. But Eric himself is pretty much an exact cast from how he was in the original animated version. White skin, black hair, cheek dimples. He’s a dreamboat. He’s also WHITE. This movie is shown to take place somewhere in the Caribbean, possibly in Jamaica or Barbados. The movie does little to hide this fact, giving all of the islanders heavy accents, casting a lot of black people as the villagers and castle servants, and even at one point showing somebody playing a steel drum. So with all of the talk about why Ariel needed to be race-bent, and the movie going out of their way to introduce Eric’s mother as being black… Why in the world is Eric white? At this point, him being black would have made more sense. It’s also never explained where Eric came from, or why he was adopted by the royal family.

Circling back to the point Eric had brought up to his mother about needing to bring the island up to date, it’s also worth noting that the queen, Eric himself, and Grimsby were all wearing most decidedly mid 19th century EUROPEAN fashions. Fashions that they wouldn’t have been able to get unless somebody from Europe had come to the island. On a ship. The same could also be said of their castle itself, the silverware, the plates, etc. HOWEVER, all of the random villagers were wearing more traditional Caribbean clothing. So unless the island itself is simply that out of touch, and this movie is supposed to take place a lot later, literally nothing about this makes a lick of sense.

The final point that I need to make about Eric is his title as a prince. As I mentioned, Eric had off-handedly dropped the fact to the viewers that his father, the king, was dead. Yet for some reason, he still maintains his title of prince, rather than taking on the title of king. Now, it is possible that the title was granted to him via his mother (who was the actual ruler, rather than the father), but that’s also not lining up with anything ever done in history. I’ll use the British monarchy as an example, since not only is it familiar, but it’s also a perfect example of what it is that I’m talking about. Queen Elizabeth was the actual ruler. She married Philip. Whom I’m sure everybody would agree upon was titled PRINCE Philip, rather than king. This is because the male consort is always a prince, but the female one is always a queen. (No, I’m uncertain of why. You’d have to deep-dive on that by yourself. Sorry.) So even if the queen had been the actual ruler, her husband wouldn’t have been titled as the king. There’s literally no reason why Eric wasn’t the king already in this movie, other than the fact that he’s supposed to be a prince. (As usual, I know too much about certain things to ever actually enjoy them. {Yes, I am a delight at parties; why do you ask?})

There was also an Eric solo song sometime before Ariel showed up. And while I didn’t hate the idea of him having his own song to kind of explain his feelings about the shipwreck and subsequent saving, the song itself was so unremarkable. I literally forgot it the second it was over.

Going back to Ariel, she swims up to the surface after having been given human legs… and human lungs. Upon reaching there, she’s accidentally scooped up in a fisherman’s net. Which I did actually enjoy a lot more than her making it to the beach, and Eric happening upon her.

It’s at this point that Scuttle shows up, and does the “Something is different about you…” moment. However, much like the scene with Eric and Ariel on the shore after the storm, this movie fails to deep-dive into the foot fetish moment. Part of me wondered if it had been difficult to keep the actress properly covered so that she could wiggle her toes for the CGI bird, but mostly I’m annoyed. Because a major theme of this movie is Ariel getting those feet, so a foot fetish makes an awful lot of sense. But no. The moment is completely and utterly missed.

Back on land, some of the villagers tell the fisherman that he should take Ariel up to the castle; that they’ll know what to do with her up there. However, the literal only reason why none of the villagers themselves offered to take Ariel on seemed to be simply because the plot demanded that Eric and Ariel meet.

As Ariel is taken into the castle and the housekeeper (?) decides what to do with her, we’re subjected to another solo song from Ariel. However, since Ariel has obviously lost her voice, this entire thing comes off as more like… her inner monologue? It’s like they didn’t know how to properly express literally anything unless it was done via song. I thought that this song completely bogged down the movie, and took up way too much time. The entire thing could have and should have been glossed over, but no. We have to turn it into a montage, dammit!

Eric only meets Ariel after she’s had her bath and is more or less dressed. Again, noting that Ariel is dressed in corset, bloomers, a proper English dress (which is suitable for the hot, island weather) and boots. While her outfit mimics the outfit she wore in the original cartoon, it’s at odds with how all of the villagers are dressed. Eric had rushed to the room to see Ariel after the servants told him about her arrival, but was disappointed to find out that this girl can’t talk; she can’t possibly be the young woman who’d rescued him.

Ariel is told to rest after that, and Sebastian makes his way to her. He finds out that Ursula had made Ariel forget about the 3-day kiss business, but we’ll circle back to that shortly. The only reason why he and Flounder know about this is because the two of them had followed Ariel to Ursula’s cave, and overheard most of the Poor Unfortunate Souls business.

After this is pretty much the only new scene that added something of value to the movie. Ariel wakes up from her nap and decides to go exploring. She finds a library full of trinkets, as rich people often have. As she’s looking around, Eric comes in and comments that nobody but him comes in anymore. Despite my enjoyment of this scene overall, there’s this really long bit where there’s this carved mermaid figurine that Ariel had picked up, and he’s like “Oh, my little mermaid!” It was super awkward, and went on for much longer than it should have. After that, Eric happily showed Ariel some maps. He makes a comment that there’s some unexplored/uncharted areas still out there, which makes me think that the timeline for this is back in the 1800’s. As I said, the royal clothing choices were interesting and poorly thought out. Grimsby comes in, and Eric says that he’d like to show Ariel around the town tomorrow. Grimsby tells Eric that he had previously ordered all of the carriages be sent out in search of his mysterious shipwreck hero. And that Eric is to remain at home until he feels better.

Eric insists, so off they go in the morning. With a little nod and wink from Grimsby. There was also a few seconds where Grimsby was standing by the head housekeeper, and I thought that we might get a subplot romance between the two of them. But we literally never saw the housekeeper after that scene. Alas.

The scene with Eric and Ariel kept to the same general beats, while somehow expanding upon it. I both loved and hated this. Loved it because it was nice to see the two of them actually bonding and spending quality time together. Hated it because it lasted too long, and only served to pad out a movie that was already like 90 minutes in at this point.

However, thanks to Ursula making Ariel forget about the curse business, the set up for Kiss the Girl needed to be more forced. Scuttle stole Eric’s hat, and dropped it into a really convenient rowboat. Where this boat came from, I haven’t the foggiest. It is an island, but it seems kind of silly to have a boat on a lagoon when you could simply go out onto the actual ocean.

Once the two of them are out there, Sebastian says that they need to set the mood without actually alerting Ariel as to what’s going on. Pin this, will circle back in one second. Scuttle then tries to set the mood herself, and I thought that it was funny how the movie actually switched to Eric’s view to hear what that sounded like in his ears. That is to say… a local seabird making an unholy ruckus around dusk.

Sebastian then sets up the song in the same was as the original. But then he starts to sing, which seems to be completely at odds with what he’d literally said a minute earlier! At one point, Scuttle, Flounder, and Sebastian are sitting on the end of the boat oar, doing the refrain from the song. If either human had literally turned their head a fraction of an inch, they would have seen it. The scene made completely and utterly no sense whatsoever. And made me wonder why they even bothered by having Ariel forget anyway.

The two of them row out from under the canopy of trees, where Eric begins to show Ariel some of the different constellations. He tries to ask for her name at this point, and makes a few random stabs in the dark with common names like Catherine and Elizabeth. She points up towards Aries, which Eric had shown her a second earlier, cuts him off as he says Ari- and kind of makes a gesture until he stumbles upon the name Ariel. Which I thought was a much better way of having him figure out her name than having Sebastian whisper in his ear. Which never made much sense to me.

After Flotsam and Jetsam overturn the boat, Ursula decides that she has to do something to ensure that Ariel fails. She starts throwing ingredients around, all of which her tentacles try to offer their own help. In a way that kind of felt like it was supposed to be a joke, but never quite got that far. Eventually, Ursula is all “Oh, there it is!” and then turns herself into a human, where she goes and meets Eric.

The next morning, Scuttle wakes Ariel up by flying into her room and rapping about how she’d heard some gossip about Eric proposing to somebody later that day. The only thing worse than finding out that Scuttle is voiced by Aquafina is finding out (the hard way) that Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote a song for Aquafina to rap. The entire thing continues to fill me with so much rage, I’m not sure that I can even properly express my anger over this scene.

After Ariel finds out the devastating news that Eric isn’t going to marry her, Scuttle then discovers Ursula’s deception. Again, this scene is almost word-for-word from the original. Except that she doesn’t do it in SONG. So it’s disappointing. What’s worse is the realization that instead of getting Ursula’s “I’m so evil” song, we got the Scuttle/Sebastian rap.

There’s also a scene of Ariel sitting and moping on a rock. And we get yet another “silent” song from her. It’s a reprise of Part of Your World, which I don’t mind on the surface. But I felt like yet another song done in this “silent” style was too much. Especially because we hadn’t been inside of Ariel’s head, and there’d been no more singing by her up until this point.

As Eric’s engagement party goes forward, his mother seems kind of happy over her son’s upcoming engagement. To a girl that Eric claims to have only officially met literally a few hours earlier. Yes, Eric has been brainwashed by Ursula. But at no point does she say “Hold up, something ain’t right here.” Maybe obsessive and compulsive behavior is normal for her son. But at the same time, this isn’t him looking for some random girl; this is marriage. And it’s not simply any marriage, but the future queen of this island nation.

When she eagerly offered up an heirloom family ring for Eric to use, did I start to wonder why Disney had bothered with her character at all. She felt like a cardboard cutout of an actual person. Aside from her introductory scene, she never once expressed any actual opinions. She cheerfully went along with whatever was happening in any given scene.

Not too long after this, Scuttle comes up and takes the ring that Eric is holding. This causes Ariel to show up and tackle Vanessa/Ursula to the ground. Not only were there guards, but also plenty of party-goers who had come to celebrate the engagement between Eric and Vanessa. However, the only thing that stopped a single one of them from pulling this unknown girl off from the would-be queen was… the plot demanded their inaction. None of it makes any sense, especially as the two women were literally rolling around on the ground like puppies.

But, Ariel smashed the shell that contained her voice. And for one moment, a glowing orb hung suspended in the air as her voice was piped in. At this point, people were frozen in place simply because… what the hell is going on? What is that thing?

It goes back into Ariel, who is finally able to talk once more. Eric realizes that she’s actually the woman who saved him, and the two of them are about to kiss. But it’s too late… the sun is setting. (Which was never given at the drop-dead timeline by Ursula in this movie. Only in the original. So it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.) Ariel turns back into a mermaid, much to the horror of everybody gathered there for the engagement. Ursula then transforms back into herself, takes Ariel, and dives off a cliff. (Which the fall would have probably killed them, but whatever.)

As the final battle progressed, the entire thing felt rather… phoned in. The characters had long since grown beyond who they were from the original movie, but the writing itself seemed to be intent on keeping to the original beats of the cartoon. The scene that the movie had been building up to this entire time was decidedly underwhelming and not exciting at all. Even if I hadn’t known what was going to happen, I doubt that I would have cared much. That’s how bored I was with the entire thing. It didn’t help that this probably happened around the 2 hour mark.

Probably about a day after the big battle, Triton decides to turn Ariel into a human. I’ve always felt like the scene of Ariel rising from the ocean in that sparkly, silver dress was as iconic as the splash on the rocks. But I guess the costume budget was spent on those 19th century dresses. So the only thing Ariel is wearing is the same dress she’d been wearing the entire time… Which is now dirty and wet from having been dragged through the ocean in the fight with Ursula.

After this, the two of them get married. And again, Eric’s mother seems to be perfectly cool with her son marrying a girl he met like 4 days earlier. Granted, at least she knows that maybe good fortune would follow Eric and Ariel as they set out for a sea honeymoon, but still. Four days.

As the two of them get into a rowboat to go out to the big ship, every single merfolk citizen shows up to see their princess off. They climb up onto rocks, but also get into the fishing boats of the villagers, who had come to see their prince off. And for some reason, everybody is oddly chill with probably several dozen merfolk showing up. Despite the fact that this is the first time that even the audience has seen any of these characters.

All in all, this movie was only like a quarter of a step above both the Lion King and the Beauty and the Beast remake. That is to say that Disney had little to offer by way of new content to this. They never once allowed the characters to actually evolve and grow organically beyond the pre-set beats from the original movie. Everything felt half-assed. For sure, questionable casting and costuming decisions were made.

Two last parting thoughts: First being, in case you hadn’t noticed, but I barely mentioned Flounder in this review. He was in a large chunk of the underwater scenes, and showed up from time to time when Ariel was on land. But he also didn’t exactly say or do much that added anything of actual value to the plot. He existed, and that’s about all I can say for his character.

The second which is something that I should have squeezed into my super huge aside about Eric, but I forgot, and then the longer I put it off, the weirder it seemed to try and squeeze it in… But regardless of Eric’s biological status as the queen’s son, he’s still the heir and next in line for the throne. The queen lamented about how he could go out onto the seas when it was known to be dangerous… Yet somehow still let him do so, anyway. If he actually was any kind of ruler, he would have delegated the shit out of reaching out to other countries to “bring the island into modern times”. Like yes, go on your honeymoon. But at the same time, don’t force Eric to go and make treaties with other countries for supplies and news.

Also also, my husband reminded me that they completely removed the Sebastian/cook scene. Which was sorely missed… Not only because it was my favorite scene, but also because this movie was so completely devoid of all and any humor.

TLDR: yet another lackluster live action remake from Disney. They have learned nothing from this, however. Disney will re-offend. Up next appears to be live action Lilo and Stitch??? And possibly Moana?????

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#clack - 23 posts

#rwby - 10 posts

#writing stuff - 9 posts

Longest Tag: 107 characters

#also honorable mention to the fact that i apparently read a fic longer than moby dick in less than two days

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Zakkura Week Day 6 is here! I'm absolutely still working on day 5 because it's On Brand for me to be late. Starry Night | SOLDIER!Cloud | “Well, you need a hand with him?” Former SOLDIER Third Class, Cloud Strife knew that dealing with the remnants of the Deepground labs would uncover some ghosts and stir up a few nightmares. He’d been prepared for that. But, as fate would have it, some of those ghosts are more physical than memory, and Cloud will face that, too.

“Cloud speaking.” “Strife, I know it’s a good few hours before you’re supposed to come back, but something came up. It would be appreciated if you could return to the site.” “What’s going on?”

13 notes - Posted September 9, 2022

#4

[the only context I'm willing to offer is that Cloud woke up First and Zack is snuggled up against his back and hugging him.]

Cloud realized he would give the world for a million mornings just like this one and though he didn’t know what the future held, Cloud thought for the first time in a long time that he could face that future and whatever it had left to throw at him, if he could have mornings just like this one.

26 notes - Posted August 13, 2022

#3

Yeah I had to infect tumblr with this one too. I typed out those three tweet, sent them and then sat here like not only am I out for myself today but I kiiiinda want to write it. At least in brief.

[Image ID:

Screenhot of three Tweets by user AerisLei (@ leiaeris) reading Don't think about Zack meeting up with The Team after the end scenes of the Remake. And coming face to face with a cloud that doesn't remember who he is.

Don't think about Zack, being so glad to see that his friend is alive and whole, rushing towards him, and Cloud staring at him, after yet another flash of pain and a flicker of a hallucination, asking him who he is.

Don't think about the fact that cloud has, at least once, hallucinated someone with Sephiroth cells as Sephiroth, and the way that he always reacts violently to Sephiroth's presence.

End ID]

40 notes - Posted June 11, 2022

#2

Thoughts from my Twitter

Zack lives, but he mourns that the shy spitfire of a cadet he became friends with didn't survive nibelheim.

Zack lives, but he and Cloud must learn how their new scars and broken edges fit together so they don't cut one another

Zack lives, but he has to come to terms with the fact that Cloud is not a fragile kid who needs to BE protected, as much as he WANTS to protect him.

Zack lives and now they can live and grow together and learn to heal some of their broken edges. And come to terms with the people that they are now instead of who they could have been.

Just. Zack lives and the world is healing, but where does that leave ex-soldiers with more scars than anyone their age should carry.

Where does that leave the kid who would have given everything to save the world, and the guy who everyone thought DID give everything to save one cadet.

Where does that leave them, two kids who grew into adults that don't believe in heroes anymore but WERE heroes all the same.

Where does that leave them and the scars they bear and the anger they carry and the grief that will never go away?

But yeah just. Zack Fair lives, and Cloud lives, but so much of them didn't. And THAT is the mood of the night.

81 notes - Posted July 31, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Things I do when I'm Stuck

This is definitely not an end-all-be-all list of things, and if they don't work for you, I definitely encourage you to explore options that DO work for you.

But! When I'm stuck on a scene, or just struggling to write in general this is the list I run through in (almost) no particular order - The first and last ones listed are always in that order.

Make sure I'm not hungry, thirsty, over tired, etc. Taking care of the body is important to actually getting anything done. And refusal to focus on a task can be one of my first signs that I'm neglecting myself.

Take a 10-15 minute (or longer) break away from my computer. This can be to talk with a roommate or partner, to go get food, to sit with my dog, take a shower... just. Time away from the screen, Not Thinking about what I'm trying to write.

Try to write on something else. Literally anything else. 5 minutes on another project. A warm up. A journal. Get the words flowing. Then try to come back to what I need to be working on.

Try to write via a different program or media. For example - moving from dabble (my writing program) into a private discord server, or 4thewords. Or writing by hand in my notebook for a while. The change of pace can make the words flow better. I especially recommend trying to write by hand here and there - getting away from the distraction of the Internet + you can doodle in the margins.

Talk through the scene. Sometimes this is with a friend/writing group/etc and sometimes this is just me pacing around my room talking to myself while I envision the scene. The goal here is to banter out ideas and figure out where i'm getting stuck and what path I want to take with the story. Don't be afraid to look above where you are actually stuck - the problem may be earlier in the chapter, or even in a previous one.

Do some editing. Whether in the same project, an earlier chapter, or a different project entirely. This runs pretty heavily counter to the standard tip of not editing while you're meant to be writing. But sometimes just... rereading can get me back into the mood of a story, and if I'm going to be rereading, I'm often going to be touching it up, either adding or fixing, or even removing if it feels wrong.

Go do something else. Similar to the 10-15 minute break, but in this case it's more like giving myself permission to not be writing. Not, I'll get back to it in just a few minutes but more like - okay, I'm going to take a break for today, and play a video game or watch a movie. Maybe read a book. This tends to be more in line with "consuming media" even if it's media I'm well familiar with, because without input, there's no output.

I find it's really, really important to give yourself permission to not be creating. Sometimes you need to unwind and take the down time. Listen to yourself. Grinding yourself down to nothing does not help you.

827 notes - Posted April 14, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[justahumblesideblog]

What Exactly are Grimwalkers?

These notes are what sparked the whole “Hunter is a Grimwalker” theory that was confirmed to be true weeks ago. At the time I think the fandom all just decided that they are pretty much magically created clones, which makes sense considering what little we knew about them is just this one image and the concept of Philip Wittebane having a brother was introduced not long afterwards (plus the “Belos being Philip” has been a theory since the concept of another human being brought to the isles was made). Combined it with Belos confirming that Hunter was made as “a better version of an old friend” it just seems like it’s the most obvious conclusion that Grimwalkers are just clones.

However, since Labyrinth Runners, I found myself questioning if that’s just all they are due to this screenshot:

Now I could have just kept assuming Grinwalkers were just clones if all the texts related to them were implied to be myths, but the “Grimwalkers Extinction” textbook caught my attention. Now, if Grimwalkers were just magically made copies of people and exist purely in the whelm of hypothetical until Belos started making his Golden Guards, why would a whole book be dedicated them as if they were an entire species? Assuming Hunter found these books at Hexside, if Belos was truly just dabbling in some ritual of creating life for hundreds of years, I wouldn’t want the local school library have anything close to informational about his little side project of making a superior version of his friend. Even if the chances of the true nature of the Golden Guards being found was small, I would think that it was too big of a risk to just overlook it.

Then I remembered the other “extinct” species in this show. The Basilisks.

A once thought extinct species that was given new life by Emperor Belos. Another secret experiment that in hindsight was probably a way for him to develop his mass draining spell for the Day of Unity. Much like with Hunter and the other Golden Guards in the past, Vee and the other Basilisks were artificially brought back to existence Belos’ own needs.

So what exactly am I getting at with this tangent? Belos most likely used the revived Basilisks in order to observe their natural magic draining abilities. Perhaps, he brought by the Grimwalker species for a specfic gift that he deemed useful for his plans, even if they may not be as useful as the Basilisks (based purely on The Collector’s musing of Belos only making them just to destroy them). Maybe the old legends and other information of the dead species caught Belos’ eye, and the recipe we are shown at the beginning of Eclipse Lake is his version of making an artificial version of the species, much like how he was able to create the Basilisks. That honestly makes the most sense to me considering the depiction of a Grimwalker is clearly based on Philip’s friend, since Philip himself would be the one to develop this method of making them.

I propose that natural Grimwalkers in the past may have been a type of demon with the ability to possess the dead, or perhaps take the form of someone who has expired. I can understand why those times of demons would be killed off if they were considered as dangerous as Basilisks. Maybe the reason why the eyes of the Grimwalker were given special attention is because back in the olden days, the eyes were one of the few ways to tell if a Grimwalker took the place of a loved one.

Perhaps, Philip hundreds of years ago, stumbled onto the myths and information of the Grimwalkers and grew interested in remaking this “better version” of his traitorous friend and got to work. It’s insane to imagine that a person would go as far as to revive an extinct species out of spite and delusion, but again Belos DID bring back the Basilisk supposedly to observe their magic draining abilities. What’s stopping him from Frankensteining more long dead creatures if they suit his needs?

[maxwell-grant]

Having asked your thoughts on designing Frankenstein's daemon, might I now ask your thoughts on bringing Count Dracula from the written word into illustration? (I'm definitely in favour of the 'Hairy Old Mountain Man of Horror pretending he's people' look from the original novel; one of the small tests too many Draculas fail to pass is an absolutely tragic lack of the Evil Beard and/or Wicked Moustache explicitly described by Mr Stoker).

Unlike with Frankenstein, where I think the design needs to be painstakingly thought out in order to achieve the best balance of the creature's traits for horror and tragedy alike, I think with Dracula you can actually just take an approach of "whatever works". Because as I mentioned before, I think much of the appeal and longevity of Dracula is how the character's both a layered villain as well as a shapeshifting narrative force that can be tailored to whatever you want to do with. Granted, there are bad or dissappointing Dracula designs, of course there are, but in regards to the leeway you get for reinterpretation, you get a lot more of it with Dracula than with other literary icons.

Like with Frankenstein, I'm gonna bring up how I'd tackle a less grim, more comedy-centric Dracula first, one that's less a force of horror and more of a charismatic villain, and I think to that end I definitely agree that people are sleeping a lot on the hairy old man barely-passing-off-as-humanoid of the original story. Despite very much loving these performers, I'm actually not a fan of takes that mold Dracula too closely to people who've portrayed him, like Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee, partially because I think it's a waste of an opportunity to create your own Dracula design. Since I can't draw (yet), I'll do what I usually do and make a board of images to try and convey some of my thoughts on one way I'd design Dracula.

(Pictured: Kiwi's design for Dracula, Hotel Transylvania concept art, Nandor, Castlevania Dracula, Charles Dance in Dracula Untold, Vladislav, a Transylvanian rug)

I used the images in my other Dracula post and I’ll post it here again because I absolutely adore @kiwibyrd's designs for Dracula and it's main heroes, in particular I love the way it strikes a good balance at making sure Dracula looks distinctly separate from the humans, but not too much that he couldn't conceivably operate in society as just a harmless old man. I also adore the mustache and bushy eyebrows and pointy ears and I think these three are wonderful features to keep on any Dracula design. I'm also very partial to the Hotel Transylvania concept art, even if it makes me incredibly depressed to look at all the great designs they had for Dracula that they threw in the trash because they somehow decided making him look like Adam Sandler was the idea to go with.

I deeply adore What We Do In The Shadows, both the movie and the show, and Jemaine Clement's Vladislav is one of my favorite (maybe even my actual favorite) on-screen Draculas. But I also enjoy Nandor just as much, and I think it's really great that as a character he's completely different from Vlad while also being ostensibly a take on Dracula, and in particular I bring up his Jersey look because "Dracula in common clothing" is a criminally underrated concept for a joke.

As a character, I'm very partial to comedy takes on Dracula that play him up as a decadent aristocratic supervillain, the kind that can get away with talking in third person. I also have this idea for a version of Dracula who dresses ostentatiously in finely-broidered Romanian or Transylvanian patterns, maybe even wearing a rug as a cape, claiming that he's carrying the legacy of his people on his back. And of course he's lying, he's not Vlad Tepes and he's not even Romanian, he is just a parasite pretending to have a history to be proud of, but good luck getting him to admit that. And finally, I'd like this version to be played by Charles Dance, and I consider it a tremendous crime against humanity that he has yet to play Dracula proper even despite being in a film with the character's name on the title.

So that's kinda how I would design a take on Dracula for something more comedic or more based around him as this guest character and personality on-set. Now, if we're talking a more serious version, I think the possibilities increase, and I won't be getting into all of them because I may prefer to keep them to myself, but I'll elaborate a few ideas.

For example, the edition of Dracula I personally own comes with these really scratchy, really creepy B&W illustrations related to the story, that I can't find scanned online so I'm uploading them here so you can look at. They don't necessarily depict the scenes but rather some of the story's moments, like Van Helsing staking Lucy, Renfield in a straightjacket, Dracula as a coachman, and they are more focused on conveying the horror of the concepts at play.

Dracula never looks the same way in any of the illustrations, in fact you kinda have to piece him out of them by trying to find teeth or capes or eyes or bat-features to see where he's hiding this time. In the first, it's the half-man half-bat, in the 2nd, he's the shrieking bat silhouette next to Renfield, and in the latter, he's the gaping jaws and eerily humanoid eyes in the wolf. The effect to me almost feels like if you were to look at a bunch of tv static and then see a humanoid shape form for a split second before everything went back to normal, something like you'd get from Slender Man or other modern creepypastas, and I’ve argued before that Dracula’s form of horror is a very modern one. 

In terms of illustrations of Dracula that keep up the original traits while still pulling off horror, I definitely have to hand it to the one at the left of the image above, drawn by regourso on Deviantart (account deleted at present). Going back to Castlevania’s many takes on Dracula, two in particular that stick out to me would be Castlevania: Judgment’s armored dress Dracula, who’s got this great twisted heart/rose motif going on in his outfit, and Dracula’s final form in SOTN where he just sits in his throne and his cape twists into all these monsters, particularly how it’s depicted by witnesstheabsurd’s depiction. 

I’m not particularly a fan of how Dracula’s “final form” in these games is usually just some big demon, and part of what I like about his final form in SOTN instead is that, while it’s not a particularly challenging final boss, I do find it interesting the idea of us never actually getting to see what Dracula’s true final form looks like, only an ever-shifting pitch-black torrent of teeth and claws and bloody veins pouring out because that’s ultimately what Dracula is and brings to the world.

On the flip-side of the rotten old monster, we have the charming seductor Dracula, and while I’m really not a fan of how various adaptations have convinced people that “the point” of Dracula is that he’s a seductive force and an allegory for Victorian xenophobia and I’m reeeally even less of a fan of adaptations that make Dracula some misunderstood tragic hero (and I think I’ve made rather violently clear my feelings on interpretations that play up a romance between him and Mina), that the seductive force part exists is impossible to deny, so conversely, while on one hand we can have Dracula as the gargantuan whirlwind of predatory violence, we can also go for Dracula as the tantalizing lover.

I’ve seen a lot of opinions proclaiming Frank Langella as the best Dracula because he was the best at actually being seductive while still playing Dracula, although I haven’t yet seen his performances. If I had to point at one picture I look at and do buy for a second the idea of Dracula as a romantic character, it would be that particular still of Raul Julia in the left of the above image. And it’s strange for me to think of Raul Julia as attractive because I mainly associate him with his brilliant comedy performance of M.Bison (I know it’s far from the highlight of his career but, look, I grew up with Street Fighter, I can’t help it) but those eyes are definitely looking pretty convincing to me, if nothing else. 

And I’ve included this still of Sebastian Stan in the right because, during a conversation between me, @krinsbez and @jcogginsa about who could be a good fit for Dracula, jcog suggested Sebastian Stan, partially because he’s Romanian, and I’ve learned recently that Stan was actually interested in playing the character in Blumhouse’s upcoming remake. And you’d think I’d hate this idea  considering how much I don’t care for tragic anti-hero Draculas, but who says that’s what he’d have to play? 

Do you have any idea how much actors, who are traditionally known for heroic or supporting roles, usually LOVE it when you give them a chance to cut loose as the main villain?

I’d want Sebastian Stan to put all of his charm, all of his talent, all of his good looks and etc, into playing the absolute most vicious, bloodthirsty and irredeemable Dracula put on screen. Someone who is exceedingly, eerily good at being a lovable protagonist, who’s all smiles and charming eyes and politeness mannerisms and maybe even a funny accent, and then it isn't as funny when he's flying through your window intent on kidnapping babies to feed to his brides, except he may take a moment or two to do so because he's feeling pretty hungry himself right now.

Now, admittedly this is kind of a lot to juggle in regards to a single character, which is why my answer for questions like these inevitably has to be “depends on what I’m going for��. That being said, if I was going to try and cast someone who I think could both look the part of Dracula, as well as respectively, play “cartoon aristocrat” Dracula, “mercurial embodiment of evil” Dracula, as well as realistically be an attractive, even seductive performer who can charm viewers even as the character descends into horrible villainy, and juggle these performances even?

I think I’d have to go with Mads Mikkelsen. Not specifically because of Hannibal (I actually haven’t watched it yet), although it’s definitely a factor, the thing that actually made me pick him specifically is, other than his looks, his voice, his reputation for playing sinister characters, the fact that he loves the role and wants to play it, or how many people are deeply in love with this man, or that people already joke that he looks like a vampire, was watching him in Another Round, and specifically that glorious final scene where he’s just dancing to his heart’s content and just, moving with such spring in his step and such joyful vitality even though he’s past his mid-fifties, and that was the moment where, in regards to how much you all love this man, I went

And now I am going to add “casting Mads Mikkelsen as a dancing Dracula” to The List of Reasons Why I Became a Filmmaker.

[demifiendrsa]

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin | Announcement Teaser Trailer

Japanese version

It’ll launch for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC in 2022.

A demo—Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin Trial Version—-will launch for PlayStation 5 today and be available through June 24, 2021 at 7:59 p.m. PT / 10:59 p.m. ET. A survey will follow from June 13, 2021 through June 30, 2021, accessible from the menu screen of the demo.

Logos

Key visual

Character renders

Overview and Developer comments

About the Game

Final Fantasy VII Remake veterans Tetsuya Nomura and Kazushige Nojima join forces with Team Ninja from KOei Tecmo Games to deliver a bold new vision for Final Fantasy. Get your first look at Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin . Coming to PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC in 2022.

With the memory of their struggle buried deep in their hearts…

Jack and his allies, Ash and Jed, burn with resolve to defeat Chaos as they throw open the gates to the Chaos Shrine. Yet doubts remain—are they truly the Warriors of Light the prophecy foretold?

Step into a world of dark fantasy and revel in the exhilarating, action-packed battles!

Trial version available on PlayStation 5 until June 24th, 2021.

Developer Comments

Tetsuya Nomura – Creative Producer

The initial concept for Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin came up around the time following the release of Dissidia 012[duodecim] Final Fantasy. I was thinking to myself about making my next game into one that featured action elements in which locations are conquered, rather than the kind with battles against characters. Some time passed without anything coming of it, but separately I was also thinking to myself about another plan for a new series of Final Fantasy titles revolving around “the story of an angry man”. Even more time passed, at which point I received a request for a new plan, so I combined these two ideas to come up with this.

While it is Final Fantasy, it feels different—but there’s no doubt that the blood ofFinal Fantasy runs through its veins.

We’ve undertaken the challenge of finding this difficult middle ground for this mature and stylish title.

We need a little time until we’re able to complete it, and while the battle system is a bloody one, it does links to the story, so I hope you’ll use this opportunity to give it a try.

Kazushige Nojima – Story and Scenario

“It’s not a hope or a dream. It’s like a hunger. A thirst.”

When I wrote this line, I felt like the story had been brought to life.

What drives them to want to defeat Chaos as much as they do? What, then, are their hopes and dreams?

It was in this moment that what used to be fragments and pieces of story came together in a powerful way. The story that I wrote—in what seemed like a single breath after penning that line—is Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin. I think it turned out to be quite a memorable story that accompanies a game which prominently features brutal imagery.

Please enjoy!

Jin Fujiwara – Producer (Square Enix)

True to its label as “a bold new vision,” this title is full of new undertakings that draw a clear distinction between it and previous Final Fantasy series titles. I can’t divulge too many details at this stage, but we prepared a glimpse of these ambitions within the trial version, including the title’s direction and overall image, so please enjoy.

I believe that the feedback we receive from all of you around the world is very important as we improve upon the title even further. Please send us your thoughts through the trial version survey or through social media.

I’m already looking forward to the day I’ll be able to play this title with you.

Daisuke Inoue – Director (Square Enix)

This is a title that has been developed with the goal of bringing something new to sit alongside the many Final Fantasy titles in the series. I think it could be considered a side story in terms of how it is positioned.

There may be some people who were disappointed that this announcement was not a new, numbered title in the series, but this game contains ambitions within that even a mainline title may not have been able to achieve.

Grounded and challenging action created by Team Ninja. Our protagonist, sprayed with blood as he literally rips apart, throws, and pulverizing his enemies. The way he looks is almost as if—

Well, we have prepared this trial version with hopes of having players experience this new flavor that the title brings with it, even if just a little bit. As we are still in development, I think there may be some areas that are not perfect and may be that way for a while to come, but I hope you’ll enjoy the trial version regardless.

Additionally, please let us know your thoughts on the game, whether it be positives or negative that you noticed—we will make great use of this feedback as we continue development.

Fumihiko Yasuda – Head of Team Ninja, Producer (Koei Tecmo Games)

Playing Final Fantasy IV 30 years ago is what made me aspire towards a career in the gaming industry, so I always hoped that someday I could be involved in the Final Fantasy series. When Team Ninja was working on Dissidia Final Fantasy, I was in charge of a different section, which meant that every night I filled my pillow with tears. I’m truly happy to be involved with a new Final Fantasy, and a title connected to its Origin at that.

Using the feedback that the players provide after playing the trial version, all of us at Team NINJA will work to make this a title that meets the expectations of not only action game fans, but also Final Fantasy series fans around the world!

Hiroya Usuda – Director (Koei Tecmo Games)

I grew up playing Final Fantasy since I was very young, so it is a great honor to have the opportunity to be involved with this title. Furthermore, I’m truly excited that Team NINJA is able to deliver the first full-on action game in the Final Fantasy series to the world.

In this trial version, we’ve made specific demo-oriented adjustments so that players of all styles will be able to enjoy it—we have incorporated elements such as multiple jobs and weapon types, adjustable difficulty levels, and great replayability. Please let us know your thoughts and feedback once you have given it a try!

Nobumichi Kumabe – Director (Koei Tecmo Games)

I’m glad we were able to announce this new Final Fantasy game—an action game in which Jack, a Warrior of Light(?), lays waste to monsters while being bathed in the spray of their blood. I’m a huge fan of the Final Fantasy series myself, so I’m going to work hard towards release so that this blood-stained Jack can become a hero!

This is a title developed with the characteristic Team Ninja level of difficulty in mind, but once you start getting the hang of it, you’ll be able to defeat enemies in an exhilarating and satisfying way. I hope you will replay the trial version many times and try out the various weapons and abilities available.

The difficulty level can be changed as well, so one recommendation I have is to start playing on an easier difficulty and gradually raise it higher for a challenge!

Demo overview

The Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin Trial Version was also announced during the showcase, which gives players the opportunity to experience a taste of the full game centering on Jack and his allies—Ash and Jed—as they throw open the gates to the Chaos Shrine. Burning with the resolve to defeat Chaos, and with the memories of their struggle buried deep in their hearts, are they the foretold Warriors of Light?

Players of the Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin Trial Version can explore this dark fantasy world as they battle an array of iconic monsters from the Final Fantasy series, using powerful spells and abilities from a sample of jobs including warrior, dragoon and black mage.

[vs-redemption]

I thought of another one sorry lmao. Okok so Dabi got the Cat girl but what if Bakugou got the bunny girl lol. So Bakugou x reader who’s quirk is a bunny! (Ears,tail,cute twitchy nose ahhhh)

-🐱❤️

From Cindy:  🐱 Anon! At it again with these really great ideas! I did a weird amount of research on rabbit behavior for this, but I like how it turned out. I hope you agree!

Cottontail (Bakugo x Bunny Girl!Reader)

Dating a girl with a bunny quirk was not all cute fuzzy ears and sexy little tails like a lot of people probably expected. Actually, there were a lot of curveballs that could really throw someone off guard if they weren’t careful. Nobody knew that better than Katsuki Bakugo, who had experienced plenty of surprises from the moment he met you until even after he’d asked you to marry him.

“Man, she is so cute!” Denki sighs the first time he sees you working the front desk at the explosion hero’s agency, earning himself a slap to the back of the head.

“Hey, keep your eyes to yourself idiot!” Bakugo warns his visiting friend before checking in with you about any missed calls or schedule changes. You pass on a few memos before watching him drag Denki off to meet the rest of his friends for lunch as he usually did about twice a month.

Bakugo’s professional attitude and respect towards you was something that had drawn you to him right away, but those same traits also made it very hard to express the fact that you had developed a crush on him. For a while, you held back from openly flirting with him or doing anything that might be deemed inappropriate. Unfortunately, denying yourself for too long caused your bunny instincts to kick in and force you into action. You both were just as surprised the day he came over to ask you about some paper work that had been left on his desk only for you to jump up from your chair and punch him twice in the chest.

“What?” He blinked in surprise, trying to understand why you’d attacked him as your face got hot in embarrassment. Thankfully, the hits hadn’t been strong, but it was still a bit humiliating.

“I am SO sorry,” you bow your head over and over again, ears flopping over your face each time. You were too flustered and worried about losing your job to stop your mouth from spilling the truth. “I really couldn’t stop myself, I just think you’re really attractive!”

“What?!” Bakugo repeats, even more confused than before. It was definitely an uncomfortable conversation, but you explained that ‘boxing’ was a courting behavior for rabbits and begged him not to fire you as his cheeks slowly turned pink at the explanation. Thankfully, he was merciful enough to let you remain in your position, but your spunky little display had apparently been enough to peak his interest. The hero kept a closer eye on you for the next few weeks following the incident, giving him time to pick up on a few of your other habits related to your quirk.

“Oi, cottontail,” he leans over your desk with an eyebrow raised. “Why are you chewing up all the pens? If you’re hungry, let me take you out to lunch.”

“Actually, I just chew on things when I’m content or happy,” you couldn’t believe he’d noticed let alone pointed it out. “Don’t worry, that’s why I buy my own pens.”

“I’m not worried,” He shrugs, “I just want to take you on a date. I don’t have to punch you back to get you to say yes, right?” You weren’t sure if you should laugh or feel embarrassed, so instead you opted to be happy that he seemed to be reciprocating your feelings.

Even after dating for a while, Bakugo was still super respectful of you and your rabbit traits. He even asked permission before touching and petting your ears, and you found it extremely endearing the way he blushed and fumbled over his words each time. The first time he invited you over his house to make dinner for you and watch a movie, you found that he’d stocked his refrigerator with your favorite snacks to give you something to munch on and satisfy your urges to chew until the meal was ready. Of course, as soon as Bakugo thought he had you pretty much figured out, there was another shocking turn of events.

“I’m so tired, Katsuki,” You yawn and flop down on his sofa after getting back from a date that had consisted of a rather intense game of paintball. “I don’t think I have the energy to go back home.”

“Then just stay here,” he offers without hesitation. The thought of having you warm and safe by his side as he slept sounded really nice, but his peaceful image went up in smoke when you climbed into his bed and started pulling up his blankets and pushing his sheets around with both hands.

“What did my bed ever do to you?” He asks, half amused and half bewildered.

“Oh jeez,” you groan when you realize what you’d been doing. “That was so rude! I’m so sorry. I just can’t get comfortable or sleep unless things are a certain way.” Bakugo walks up with his hands on his hips as he observes the mess you’d made of his previously perfectly organized bed. Your ears go back and you lower your head in submission, feeling ashamed. Your boyfriend recovers quickly though, and takes the odd behavior in stride.

“Do what you have to do, I guess.” He shakes his head and smirks. “As long as I’m still allowed in here with you.”

“Of course!” You reassure him while pulling his face in and give him a soft kiss. “Having you with me is the most important part.” This is all he really needs to hear to be put back at ease. He was quite particular about how he kept his things as well, but he didn’t mind adjusting if it meant you were feeling comfortable around him. Plus, you were nice enough to remake his bed just the way he liked the next morning.

Bakugo was in for another surprise the first time he’d done something to get on your nerves. He honestly couldn’t even remember what it was that had annoyed you anymore, but he’d never forget the way you’d thumped your large foot at him and twitched your tail, looking ready to charge at him. It was a bit terrifying and he quickly learned how to read your body language to avoid being on the receiving end of any more of your punches.

After moving in together, you still managed to throw Bakugo for a loop every once in a while. There were things that blew his mind, like when you cut your hair and left little locks of it around the house as some sort of spring time nesting behavior.

“It’s only for a week or so Katsuki, I’m sorry!” You always apologized even though he never really got upset over things you couldn’t control. “If I don’t do it like this, I start to pull the hair out myself and leave it around which is much more painful and a lot messier too.”

“Don’t worry about it, cottontail,” He pulls you into a side hug and presses a kiss to the side of your face. Behaviors like this did get tiresome sometimes for Bakugo, but it never bothered him for long. There was no way he could stay upset over things like that, especially when he got to wake up in the mornings to you nuzzling his face as a way to mark him with your scent. He also lived for the moments where he did something that made you happy enough to hop into the air and do an excited little spin, like the day he’d gotten down on his knee and asked you to be with him for the rest of his life.

Being with a girl with a bunny quirk definitely came with its fair share of surprises that ranged from super cute to kind of scary. Thankfully, Bakugo was the type of person who could handle just about anything you threw at him.

[boycottyashahime]

You have absolutely great takes so I wanted to know your opinion about the entire way Sunrise dealt with the execution of the sequel, because something doesnt exactly make sense to me - it's either Sunrise were hilariously disconnected from reality or they just didnt care; WHY would they even make an entire sequel dedicated to one problematic ship that isnt even liked by the majority of the fandom (SessRin) , while basically shitting all over the most popular one (Inukag) ? What did they think would happen? xD Why would their sequel EVER be accepted with no issues with decisions like that?

I'm glad you think so well of my takes, querent! I don't personally think they're particularly insightful, but that's probably because they're native to my head, and might be obvious to me, but not anyone else.

On why Sunrise could have thought HNY as it came out was any kind of a good idea, the way I see it, there are a couple of possibilities. The first is just plain incompetence. We know that the lead writer of the show has a... bias toward these relationships, to put it nicely, and that he and his allies in the company have been trying to cultivate the audience's sensibilities in that direction for many years as well. They could genuinely have thought they had succeeded in convincing all of us to support the ship, leading to a bungle.

The second possibility, however, is that the show was calculated to be unpalatable or cause an uproar. That might SEEM counterintuitive from this side of the problem, because we as fans tend to think our tastes need to be catered to, or at least soothed, in order for our viewership to be secured. I myself thought at the beginning of this debacle that Sunrise would have to tiptoe around the issue to maintain as much of the audience as possible. Why would anyone accept an addition that twisted and ruined their favorite media?

But with more and more outright insulting remakes/sequels coming out that seem to miss the point entirely or even make a mockery of elements of stories beloved by fans, I'm starting to think it's all done on purpose. Sunrise is one thing, but DISNEY does this a lot, and never seems to flinch at the backlash. You'd think by now these companies would figure out what they've been doing wrong and fix it, but that's only if they've been doing things WRONG by their measurements.

Research has been coming out recently that suggests we engage more with content on social media that pisses us off than the stuff we actually like. Incendiary posts spread like wildfire and produce arguments miles long because denouncing things that are distasteful and offensive to us has become the core of internet existence. This is especially exacerbated regarding content to do with identity and affirmations of such: race, creed, sex, orientation, political affiliation, and yes, fandom.

We engage with fiction that really appeals to us on the level of identity, because the whole reason we get into it in the first place is we see something in it that we identify with. Something deeply personal stands out to us in it, intended by the creator or not, and we adopt it as a part of us and a reflection of who we are. We buy merchandise and consume new content as a way to reaffirm our affinity for the aspects of the media we have internalized. We OWN it; it is OURS.

So it feels personal whenever someone says something disparaging toward our favorite media. It feels even MORE personal when an official source of content contradicts the source material and the way things were understood by ourselves and our community, or presents an immoral twisted picture of it. We rage against anything that hurts the image of the source material because it's also OUR image, and we have to defend it as part of ourselves. Out comes the disavowal, the vocal rejections, the attempts to shame and withdraw support from the company. And this of course bumps up engagement and the numbers for the content and studio.

Online, attention is currency, and getting the most attention often means raising a LOT of ire and tempers over hot-button issues. It's just good business sense to troll away and make people angry these days.

As conspiratorial as it might seem, I think there's a good chance HNY was written for the algorithm rather than to actually appeal to an audience. Considering how Sunrise has yet to actually give development and definition to the controversial pairing in question, and their affiliate manga artist characterized the show as one of many possible futures, they're not really endearing themselves to the shippers anymore either. That might change in the second season, if they're willing to risk their distribution deals and such, but if not, I'd say universal frustration might have been the goal.

Whatever gets the outrage points, I guess.

[spaceorphan18]

99 Perspectives on a Single Love Story #66

A/N: The Story of Kurt and Blaine told through the eyes of everyone else but them. Each chapter is a different perspective in the ongoing tale of their love story.

I started something like this a while back - and now I’m taking the idea and really running with it. Each chapter is a ficlet of a different character at a different point in Kurt and Blaine’s life - documenting their love story. This starts in Audition, and each chapter will be paired with a different episode until reaching Dreams Come True.

[Ao3]

***

Jan (All or Nothing) 

Jan is waiting by the Breadstix bathroom for her partner Liz. It’s the end of the night, and after a decent meal and a lovely conversation, it’s time to head out. But not before using the restroom. Blaine Anderson, the charming young man she met at work the other day, is also using the bathroom, while his friend Kurt Hummel waits with her.

Jan knows all about Kurt from Blaine. Knows everything Blaine is planning, knows most of the story about their relationship, knows that Blaine would put his bleeding heart on a platter for Kurt. But still, it’s interesting to meet Kurt in person. He isn’t exactly the image Blaine described him as -- warm would not be in her vocabulary. But he is kind and we all put on fronts to strangers, she supposes.

Blaine, she understands. Blaine is a bit like herself in a lot of ways - it’s one reason she connected to him so quickly. Kurt is a harder study. Hard to say what’s going on in that mind - one that always seems to be thinking. Kurt’s head is low as they wait, his hands nervously clasping and unclasping. She can’t help but wonder what he’s anxious about.

“It was sweet of you to indulge him a bit and come meet us,” Jan says. She’s not one to linger in awkward silence.

“Oh, no, it was a pleasure,” Kurt says, attempting to be reassuring. “I always thought I was the only gay person in this town - turns out there’s a lot more when you look.”

“Well, it’s nice that we can all start to come out of hiding.”

“Yeah.”

“And Blaine is such a sweetheart,” Jan adds. “I said, we have to do dinner - I wanted him to meet my Liz. And he just would not stop about how much he wanted you to be there. It’s good, I think, to have people in your life who are important to you. Who can understand you.”

Kurt nods surely but silently, not quite meeting her eye.

“Blaine reminds me a lot of me, actually,” Jan continues. “Eager to please, energetic, charming. Liz is a bit different, held back a lot. I’ve always had to talk her into going on an adventure with me - but she’s been at my side through all of it. Even when I thought she wasn’t. We’ve been through some rough times her and I. But even if she hadn’t settled down with me, I’m glad she has been in my life.”

“She seems like a very sweet person,” Kurt says, with a little more sincerity than most of his polite conversation through dinner had been.

“Oh, she’s the best,” Jan always beams when talking about Liz. “You know - it was Blaine’s suggestion to ask her to marry me. I mean, right now. You don’t need a ring or an official contract or anything to be married to someone. It’s really just about a decision - a choice you make and remake that that person is the one you want to continue to spend your time with. For me, it’s the easiest decision. I think it took Liz longer to get there. She’s the more pragmatic one. Needing to think things through. But I just go with my gut. You young people, though, seeing the possibilities of being married - I can understand getting swept up in it. But I suppose - when Blaine brought it up, I just couldn’t help myself. And here we are.”

Kurt stares at the ground, but there’s fondness in his voice. “Blaine’s an old school romantic. I’m not surprised by that..”

“I guess the question is - are you?” The question throws Kurt off guard. He had not expected her to say that, so she throws him a knowing wink.

“Oh, I, um, used to be,” Kurt responds after a moment. “I guess growing up beats that out of you.”

“Only for a cynic.”

“Well…”

“You’re a good kid, Kurt Hummel,” Jan says. He’s a little rough around the edges, but she hopes that Blaine is right about the depth of his heart. And she suspects he is. “Blaine was right - there’s something special about you.”

Kurt’s eyes grow wide, and for a moment, he softens as a flicker of gratitude appears on his face.

Their conversation is cut short when Liz and Blaine come out of the bathroom. After they say their goodbyes, Blaine makes sure they have the proper information to keep in contact, and they head out for the night. Jan and Liz linger, needing to go back to the booth for a missing item. As they head out, Jan notices Blaine and Kurt in private conversation, and she notes how lively Kurt has become, laughing with Blaine. They don’t notice Jan and Liz going by. They're so engrossed in whatever they’re talking about, and that’s fine. Jan’s glad she gets a moment to see their real dynamic. As the boys turn to leave, she notices Kurt reach down for Blaine’s hand - entwining it with his own.

Good for him.

Jan holds onto Liz’s arm as they head to their own car. If those kids are anything like her and Liz, they’re in for a bumpy ride. But at least it’ll have a happy ending.