#i'm gonna talk in tags because like. ough

[pyrriax]

i'm literally just dropping this song here

[beeholyshit]

I'm so crazy right now, someone help me

[swordwife]

sobbing crying.

he's such a sweet lad 😭 😭 he just wanted to help people 😭 😭

[triple-a-daybreak]

me at the start of rui's bloomfes side story: oh these are kinda continuations of the colorfes stories to an extent :) that's cool i like that they're connected and that the colorfes stories are being referenced again :) i'm gonna watch rui's bc his bloomfes card is my favorite so far :)

me after rui's bloomfes side story: if all of these are gonna be inner child work then what if i uh. what if i uhhhh. explode

honestly rui being like "wonderlands x showtime is my miracle because of the loneliness we (as in him and his younger selves) experienced and i have never forgotten you"???? i'm not even gonna get into how that makes me feel don't even look at me

also all of the photos from childhood and middle school being cracked is like. a little too relatable for me but in a way that i don't really want to talk about in the project sekai and rui kamishiro tags

also shoutout to rui's middle school self being like "yeah i'm here too. i don't really feel one way or another i just thought this would be interesting to watch tbh" and rui being like "he's just like me fr" because when he's not actively helping he is, in fact, just observing and seeing how things unfold as someone solves their problem by themselves. I didn't even make that connection when i first read it i just really liked that part. in retrospect though middle school rui's apparent disinterest and disconnect from what's going on between young rui and hs rui. kind of hurts in its own way. BUT LET'S NOT WORRY ABOUT THAT

(hey. future shade here. i lied. let's worry about that)

like god damn i just thought the card was pretty because the trained is like. look at this.

probably genuinely my favorite card of his.

but now with the extra context that untrained hits like ten times harder

also looking at the background pictures is. ough. and the fact that he's looking at the group photo from pandemonium AAAAGGHHH DON'T EVEN TALK TO ME

i know this came out like two months ago now let me live i was still getting over the salt of getting bloomfes rin twice instead of bloomfes rui and just barely not being able to spark for him and THEN forgetting to buy the lim gacha sticker vouchers before the exchange period ended okay leave me alone (/silly)

[elderwisp]

My 𝐓𝐨𝐩 24 𝐒𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐬 from 2024 ⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚

I was tagged by @mikachusblog @aurorangen and @moonwoodhollow however I put together a recap earlier this month! Instead I'll pick about ten story moments I enjoyed from this year under the cut as well as a very special screenshot. I did want to make sure I tagged some people as well! :D

I tag: @acidheaddd @likelyamused @pink-chevalier @changingplumbob @salemssimblr

@matchalovertrait @lre333 @swiftviolets @sirianasims @lynzishell

1. January 8th: Kai shares a secret

⋆ This was a really fun flashback scene! We got to see Kai, Frances, Dan and Atlas in the earlier years of high school as well as learn that Kai has romantic feelings towards Atlas, who happens to be his first kiss! This is also where his arc officially begins in my mind!

2. March 6th: Taryn's skepticism

⋆ I remember being so proud of this scene because it was one of the first scenes I fully posed the conversation. I really enjoyed of Atlas and Taryn's mannerisms peaked through. I think this conversation while it focuses on a different subject, the nature of it shows their personalities. Taryn struggling with self confidence while Atlas's facade starts to unveil just a bit.

3. March 12th: Frances's solo

⋆ I was really proud of these poses as well as the shots. The shots of Icarus and Frances while romantic do say a lot about how each views each other. Your greatest heartbreak being how Frances feels and the deepest regret being how Icarus feels. For the cello poses, I did reference through watching performances but also real life so it was neat combining the two. I am excited for Frances's future in De Sol Valley especially when new faces are introduced to the cast. It might be similar to Atlas's prologue where Frances is the focus but just in a shorter interval.

4. March 9th: A rose and it's bumblebee

⋆ March was a good month. Maybe not for the characters, but a good month creatively for me ! I'm gonna sound so toxic but I love the tension between these two so much like hold out a bit longer please JUSTKIDDINGPFFTorami? anyways structuring taryn's monologue came out of order. the frames where she says "A stubbed toe. A scraped knee. A fall." came first. Everything else was built around those three sentences. The scene following that was fun to put together because Atlas really does struggle to apologize and take ownership over his fuck up that he tries to smooth things over by being charming but Taryn, getting more comfortable, shows her newfound skill of setting boundaries (courtesy of Atlas LMAO) and calls him out on the bullshit.

5. August 9th: Theo's official introduction

⋆ Much of Theo's life is hush hush as following after the WR arc we dive more into their lives but I do want to talk more about them. I liked following their life throughout the day and the general reclusiveness they have in a new city. Their only friend at the time is Gabriel and with no goals of going back to their old life, the only way forward is through. I will say, something about the city has a way of helping people find themselves.

6. August 8th: Of course I had to freaking include this scene

⋆ Gonna be so real right now but I was terrified to post this. Terrified. We see the chaos of Atlas's vices revealing a very important detail, one Rowan reminded us all and that is, Atlas seeks out trouble. The most curious and pressing part is why and how does it end? Any scene with Atlas is scary for me because he leaves a lot of subtle little hints but the extent of his nature is like slowly pulling off a band aid. Are people gonna like what's underneath? I'm never really sure but I do enjoy exploring his character quite a bit.

7. September 3rd: Ojitos lindos

⋆ First, I love Jules. Dude was literally supposed to only be in the one scene and... He wiggled himself into a handful. Second, was very proud of how the dance came out, with Taryn teasing Jules and Jules chasing every second of it until the kiss. OUGH! The little fiend in me blurred out "tu y yo" in the kiss scene to sorta symbolize Taryn beginning to move on from Atlas but as we see later, that was short lived. Taryn's monologue was the easiest to write and it comes from a person struggling with the bitter emotions of heartbreak.

8. October 8th: A formal introduction to Ares's life

⋆ Little lore drop but the Langs have been longtime characters of mine. In fact, longer than everyone else. Chase, Ares's father, was a main character of a youtube series I made long ago over the summers of my school days LMAO! So to revisit and restructure them as has been... WOW ! I wanted everyone to feel like they were a plant on a shelf observing the dynamics of specifically the women in Ares's life as well as the structure of his home. It felt subtle but good :)

9. October 18th: Kai's revelation

⋆ I think I have one more scene left for Kai's arc. I specifically wanted to focus on the concepts of jealousy, cognitive dissonance and religion coupled with Kai being a closeted man. I will say in the beginning, I did struggle to connect with this character. While some elements I can totally relate to, writing about it is different. Envy can be classified as an ugly feeling. It isn't palatable to most and is quickly shood away but because of that, we don't talk about it enough. So I wanted to go into this really humanizing this common emotion but not making it as some caricature of an emotion. I do love Kai's growth, I wanted to make sure he earned it and it sure feels like it.

10. November 23: The freaking arts festival

⋆ There's still like four-ish more posts to go. Those will be a bit less crash-out packed but I think it ends on a high note. There's a lot in these six posts. Some of it slightly nudging certain characters arcs, other parts deepening your knowledge of other oc's. I wanted to start out on the disappointment that Atlas faces seeing that the only person supporting him there is Daniela and how he copes in the only way he knows how. The arts festival is something he helped put together but it seems to be a reoccurring theme that any accomplishment he ever has is always overshadowed. It's always something. Each frame, every detail, to the dialogue in these two posts are intentional. The following scenes after that have some really cool conversations. I think the last post also has some unique dialogue as well but we'll pick back up on January 2nd! :)

Also a bonus! I wanted to show one of these first photos of Tessellate. It's no longer on my blog after the reboot but I wanted to show how much has changed in two years.

[jadebrightwind]

Hhhhhhhhhhhh the sudden realization that there are people actually LOOKING at my stuff, reaching out, commenting, wanting to be friends, like- ...Okay, I KNOW I put stuff out there with the thought "Hey maybe someone will see my art and it will make them happy! That's all I want!" *Peoples sees my art, LIKES it, crawls into my DMs/tags me/otherwise responds and engages with it, maybe even wants to be friends, it MAKES THEM HAPPY*

WHOA! ALSO I'm suddenly plagued with the "oh boy, what if I say something really stupid and they discover how lame and what a dork I am and then leave" TT___TT Ough these folks are already so nice and I barely know them yet I hope they don't want to already leave- ....MY HUSBAND IS USUALLY THE ONE WHO TALKS TO PEOPLE FOR ME BECAUSE?? HE IS SMOOTH?!?! AND I AM?? NOT?? And not afraid of being embarrassed like I think this man just, doesn't have the ability to be embarrassed?? (That's what nine years in the Renn Faire and several years flouncing around in the Rocky Horror Picture Show cast will do to you-)

ANYWAYS I have new mutuals and followers and I never expected to have any at all somehow so HI WELCOME! I should probably make an intro post and pin it but it's gonna be a crazy weekend so look forward to that I guess!

I also like, am starting to heavily use tumblr after literal YEARS of inactivity so I feel like an old fart trying to figure out what all these new features/buttons are and do, so if my formatting is ugly I'M SORRY I have no clue to to change text colors/italics/can I even USE emojis?? I'm happy to learn *prayer hands* THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR LOOKING!!

[kairithemang0]

I did a little art summary going through all my favorite doodles I posted here, but I wanted to go through all my fics and see which one was my favorite from each month along with a little bit of retrospective on where I was during the month

January

This was frankly. Another shitty kh fic. Idk it felt very rushed, the conclusion felt off. One day I will come back and write more akusai tho bcs they're great

February

ok THIS. was a really good fic. Idk it's the only time I wrote Ted but I personally really like it. Plus ily putting different hatchetfield characters in timeline scenerios

March

So uh. I only wrote one fic in march. I started the saf pirate au fic then so I guess that counts for something? Either way i REALLY like this fic personally. I had written a fic (that I only posted fairly recently) that I sorta added stuff into this one with? Either way, I like this fic a lot and I think it holds up personally.

April

This fic is still good. I love their banter in it and I remember it being very fun to write.

May

This fic my BELOVED i reread it a lot. Like just ughhh it was the start of my "dma is so disgusting I love him" obsession and that's an obsession I still have. What a fucking guy

June

this ficccc ough. I wrote it at like 3am and I loved it and I still love it and it's that perfect little curtwen fantasy I always loved writing with the small thing of that because it takes place in 1958 it never happened. And that's never directly mentioned but. still. it's there.

July

i vividly remember starting this at 5am because i was talking with smy in tags and thought of this and then this happened and I still love it

August

I'm just gonna say it now. You guys didn't appreciate this fic enough. There. I said it. Bye.

September

Ily covering tracks I should draw Owen's design for this fic again some time bcs he's soooo hot <3

Ok so I've run out of ability to link things so the rest of this is going in a reblog

[mamawasatesttube]

song meme

tagged by @deadchannelradio ♥♥ ty bestie

shuffle your on repeat playlist and list the first 10 songs, then tag 10 people!

"strawberry sunscreen" by lostboycrow. i like songs that sound like summer what can i say :D

Hey little darling, run like the weekend I get lost and found in your arms Rooftop view, we met on a Wednesday Now which do you prefer? To be alone, to be in love or to just be worth it? I think you're worth it

2. "stubborn love" by the lumineers. its a classic man!!!

It's better to feel pain, than nothing at all The opposite of love's indifference

3. "across the stars"/love theme from attack of the clones. john williams. starred wars. you get it.

[instrumental/no lyrics]

4. "no place in heaven" by mika!!!!! ough!!! im not immune to songs abt religious trauma. :')

I'm down on my knees, I'm begging you, please There's no place in Heaven for someone like me Won't you open the door and try me once more? 'Cause there's no place in Heaven for someone like me

5. "beep beep" by little mix. this one is on here bc of tim car fic byeee

I blew my engine, I think I popped the stick Too busy dreaming, of jumping on your— To get me turning good, you need to check under the hood babe

6. "enterprising young men" by michael giacchino. star trek baybee!!!

[instrumental/no lyrics]

7. "you are loved" by defiance, ohio. this is a superboy (2011) song. source: dude trust me

And to this magic, we hold on I just don't want to feel its loss until it's gone It was in an eerie glow, I finally left you lonely, left the TV on If I have one regret, it's letting this whole nihilistic shit charade live on You know it scares the hell out of me when my friends think they have nobody to lean on And the radio plays a familiar song

8. "blackheart" by two steps from hell. this is on my spacefic writing playlist. i love two steps from hell

[instrumental/no lyrics]

9. "gold trans am" by kesha. this is ALSO on here because of tim car fic hgjkdshgkjhdjk

C'mon, climb into my golden cockpit! Love you 'til you're seein' stars and stripes! Burnin' rubber on the southern highway! Gonna take you for a freedom ride!

10. "why can't i" by liz phair. kon is the reason i started listening to liz phair but i shouldve been here sooner tbh!!!

Why can't I breathe whenever I think about you? Why can't I speak whenever I talk about you?

oh god now i have to think of ten people ummmm!!!

@misspickman @milfkon @loisinherlane @mysterycitrus @clarkkent-irons @lemontongues @ectonurites @jayzelnut @radioactive-earthshine and @lemonlimestar but also if anyone wants to do this feel free to say i tagged you!! :D

[cornley-amateur-drama-society]

@ficwip's 2024 in Review Questions Answered!

This will be long since there're 30 questions, and we all know I have a tendency to talk a lot. Fear not! The first three questions will be above the cut, and the rest under the cut, so's to save your dashes, lmao. (Also, I hate how you can't just type “1.” at the beginning of a line without having it automatically turn into a Numbered List. I'm just now realizing as I type this that I could have done “1:” but I've already done the Roman numerals now, so we're just gonna roll with it I suppose.)

|/|\/|\/|\|

I. How many fics have you worked on since January?

An embarrassing amount, let's call it. Perhaps too many for me to have to remember to be counted.

II. What’s something new that you tried in a fic this year?

Non-linear narratives. Most of the stuff I've written on my ao3 has been fairly linear with clearly defined flashbacks, but I've experimented a bit. I also tried my hand at drabbles again and have successfully done three so far, which I never thought would happen!

III. What piece of media inspired you the most? (This can be the fandom you wrote the most for, the one that spawned the most ideas, the one you thought about the most, etc.)

Unequivocally The Goes Wrong Show and its related plays Peter Pan Goes Wrong and A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong. I have not had creative brainrot this much in so long. Mischief Theatre really came up and fucking walloped me with a hockey stick and it shows.

IV. How many fandoms did you write for this year?

I wrote for a whopping twenty-five different fandoms this year! Very exciting.

[New Girl, The Blooms at Ruyi Pavilion, Derry Girls. Ready or Not (2019), Seraphina by Rachel Hartman, Miraculous Ladybug, Calvin & Hobbes, DC Comics, Pride and Prejudice, The Goes Wrong Show, Peter Pan Goes Wrong, The Witcher, Criminal Minds, Percy Jackson!verse, A Love So Beautiful, Professional Single, Mr. Bean, Wicked Little Letters (2023), Danny Phantom, Over the Garden Wall, Love O2O, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Red One (2024), and several k-pop and c-pop groups.]

V. What ships captured your heart?

So many, oh my god. But I think the strongest ones have been Chris Bean x Vanessa Wilcock-Wynn-Carroway, Max Bennett x Vanessa, and though I didn't write anything, Ben Affleck x Matt Damon. The tag on my main blog is Full.

VI. What characters captured your heart?

Lydia Bennet, the entire cast of TGWS but esp Chris Bean and Vanessa Wilcock-Wynn-Carroway.

VII. Did you write for any new fandoms or ships this year?

Five new fandoms: The Goes Wrong Show, Peter Pan Goes Wrong, Mr. Bean, Wicked Little Letters (2023), and Red One (2024)

And so many ships, it's embarrassing if I cared.

VIII. What fic meant the most to you to write?

OUGH, what a question. I think maybe the ones I did for Calvin & Hobbes because I've adored the comic for so much of my life? I got to see some of Bill Watterson's original archived work in Columbus, Ohio at the comic book museum in the spring this year, which was fucking incredible.

IX. What fic made you feel the happiest to work on?

Oh, I loved working on the main narrative of my this peace is fragile au, If equal affection cannot be, Let the more loving one be me. I had so much fun creating the cultures of both Kingdoms, and playing around with what the Cornley characters would be like in this situation. I just loved everything about it.

X. What fic was the most satisfying to finish writing?

My Pride and Prejudice modern day AU I wrote for Whumptober 2024, Little Girl, You're in the Middle of the Ride. I really was so invested in what I was writing, and seeing it all come together at the end was so satisfying.

XI. What fic was the most difficult to write?

Oh, hands and above, the first prompt fill for Cornley Christmas Chaos. I can't even remember how many times I restarted the damn fic before throwing in the towel and just deciding to make it a drabble. Which was another added difficulty because I am so bad at keeping my thoughts short. I was successful in the end, though, and the amount of victory I felt was hilarious. (Read it here!)

XII. What fic was the easiest to write?

I think maybe When You Give a Robert A Spell Book… or The Golden Goose. I just remember banging them out in a surprisingly short amount of time.

XIII. What were your shortest and longest fics posted this year?

Longest: If equal affection cannot be, Let the more loving one be me with 11,650 words.

Shortest: Three drabbles this year. A PJO Pipeyna fic entitled a happiness not elusive; the infamous C Cubed Day One prompt fill in the blink of an eye; and a Love O2O fic entitled and i retrocede as if i was swimming, which is a friendship fic between Sīsī and Yìrán.

The difference between the shortest and longest fics are an incredible 11,550 words.

XIV. What were your go-to writing songs?

Whatever was on my Spotify On-Repeat playlist or my playlist “my emo phase pt. ii”. I wasn't super picky with the music this year.

XV. What was the hardest fic to title?

Probably my Ready or Not (2019) pre-canon into canon fic that focuses on Daniel Le Domas thinking about how he got to bleeding out on the floor towards the end of the movie. Nothing I came up with felt right for the longest time, which was annoying. I eventually settled on a dangerous, dangerous game, one that i am definitely losing.

XVI. What’s your favorite title of the year?

Oh, I can't choose just one aldjf;ds. I have a handful that I enjoyed so much.

Younger Family Members Meddling Offers Surprisingly Good Results (not clickbait)

TFW You Find Out You're Marrying Your Brother-in-Law

“Sorry” is a Five-Letter Word (and never does enough)

Hal Jordan Makes a Good Call, Bruce Wayne Found Shocked and in Disbelief

it's hard to speak with a sob in your throat

XVII. Share your favorite opening line.

It was stupid, he knew, to get distracted while one of his hands is inside a piano and the other is hitting keys.

From TFW You Tune Your Strings to the Sound of Her Voice

OR

Róng'ér watches with disbelief as her older sister once again misinterprets Bái-gē’s words and turns his invitation of a date for two to the movies that night into an invitation for their friend group to go out to the movies. Granted, “Would you like to go to the movies tonight?” is a pretty ambiguous statement on its own.

From Younger Family Members Meddling Offers Surprisingly Good Results (not clickbait)

XVIII. Share your favorite ending line.

There’s a streak of blood that almost looked like one of Mom’s arrows on the floor, by his stomach.

From a dangerous, dangerous game, one that i am definitely losing

OR

And if his solicitor couldn’t help… There is hell to pay, and Darce has always been good with money.

From Little Girl, You're in the Middle of the Ride

XIX. Share your favorite piece of dialogue.

“I don’t know,” he said, his tone a touch defensive.  “I told him that I was fine.  He just had to stick his nose into my business.  I was only telling him to buzz off.” Hobbes gave Calvin a dry look.  “By calling him a noodle-necked, muffin-brained, straw-for-arms, nosey jerk?” “… Maybe I was a little harsh,” Calvin admitted, magnanimous in demeanor. “You should apologize,” Hobbes said, ignoring Calvin’s faux humility.

From “Sorry” is a Five-Letter Word (and never does enough)

OR

“This just doesn’t make any sense,” Trevor said, “magic doesn’t exist.  Not really.” Jonathan gave him an unimpressed stare.  “Explain why I’m a metre tall, then.”

From When You Give a Robert a Spell Book…

OR

“I know,” she said, rolling her eyes, “but you’ve only seen him in his uniform.  He’s bound to look different in, say, trackies or something.” “If you’ve set me up with a secret chav, I might genuinely push you into the Thames.” “Isn’t that how Ed Gamble says he got his diabetes?”  Kitty asked, frowning as she tried to remember what his stand-up routine was. “I’m pretty sure Jacaster or Nish said that,” Lydia corrected, silently willing the path to the ring toss to get longer rather than shorter, as it was currently wont to do. “Never getting over the fact you call him Jacaster,” Kitty giggled, doing a poor job of not looking a little moon-eyed about her celebrity crush. “Never getting over the fact that you audibly squeaked when you saw him in that one Mock the Week episode,” Lydia fired back as only little sisters can. “Oh my god, shut up, I didn’t!” “Right,” Lydia pretended to agree, “and Jimmy Carr doesn’t whiten his teeth.”

From Don't Write Yourself Off Yet

XX. Share your funniest line.

Heresy and Elsie rolled their eyes at the same time.  “That’s because you have the unfortunate taste of being into older blond men.”  Heresy snarked over her shoulder as the quartet started to ascend the stairs.

From I demand euphoria

OR

“Your coworkers aren’t as bad as I feared,” Calvin said, turning to Hal. “You haven’t met all of them,” Hal said, smirking. “You haven’t met my Dad’s coworkers.  Talk about corporate zombies.  Yeesh!”

From Hal Jordan Makes a Good Call, Bruce Wayne Found Shocked and in Disbelief

XXI. What’s something that surprised you while you were working on a fic? Did it change the story?

I think for some of them it was that the fic suddenly kept getting longer and longer and I was surprised that I had so much to say. I think that i might've changed it in some of them, giving it greater emotoinal depth, but in others I think it was probably just unecessary descriptions. Well, not unnecessary, but perhaps superfluous in some cases.

XXII. What writing programs did you use? Did you write by hand?

I used the age old, ever important to the writing process tumblr drafts, along with my computer's notes program, and google docs. I think there was one that I started in docs, finished in ao3 then posted it, and then copy-paste it to the original doc, lmao.

XXIII. If you had to choose one, what was THE most satisfying writing moment of your year?

Ohhhh... Maybe how I somehow wrote 11,650 words in one fic? It's my longest oneshot currently, and I didn't realize how much I had been writing.

XXIV. Did you do anything special to celebrate finishing a fic?

Not really. I post about it, and if I can be arsed to do it, I post the link. But for the most part, I just finish it and move on to the next thing.

XXV. How did you recharge between fics?

I got really into watching New York Ballet's videos about The Nutcracker, as well as watching a lot of British comedy stuff.

XXVI. Did you create fanworks other than fic?

I made some neko edits of several characters but nothing much other than that. One of my sideblogs orginally started out as a Danny Phantom x DC Comics crossover-specific blog, now with Over the Garden Wall and Calvin & Hobbes, and I made themed icons and headers for it.

XXVII. How many events did you take part in? (bangs, exchanges, ship weeks, zines, prompt memes, they all count!)

HHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH so many

Fictober 2024, Whumptober 2024, Cornley Christmas Chaos 2024, 76 Kisses to Valentine's Day 2024-25, Arrowed AUs (a prompt meme list I found a few years ago with little arrows as the bullet points), and Ninette Week 2024.

XXVIII. If this were an awards show, who would you thank?

Definitely my friends and mutuals that I talk to a lot since they got to be witness to my writing process of screaming about how I have no idea what I'm doing. I also owe a lot to @baobeejun who helped "Britpick" my Pride and Prejudice modern day, half-Chinese Bennet daughters AU. Anna has been witness to my nonsense going on five years this spring, and I love her dearly.

XXIX. What’s left on your to-do list for 2024?

I am behind on so many things rn LMAOOOO It's a lot of writing challenges I'd started and not finished, haha. And seeing as I'm posting this on the first day of 2025, I feel like it's very on brand for me.

XXX. What would you like to write next year?

I have the rest of the 76 Kisses left to do, as well as catching up on the other challenges I'd not finished. I do have a prompt meme which I've decided to do this summer entitled "a summer of intimacy", but I'm leaving talking about it more to the early spring!

[tazmilyxfamily]

SHIPPING INFO // ANSWER THE FOLLOWING FOR YOUR MUSES SO PEOPLE KNOW HOW SHIPPING WORKS ON YOUR BLOG !

(under the cut because it got long LMAO)

WHAT IS YOUR OTP FOR YOUR CHARACTER(S) ?

i don't have that many for most of them! i'm very much multiship and enjoy whatever sort of comes up

HOW LARGE DOES THE AGE GAP HAVE TO BE TO MAKE IT UNCOMFORTABLE ?

as said in my rules, i think about within four years (if they're both adults) is my preference. there can be nuance (for example, Shadow is ""technically"" 50+ years old because of his time spent in stasis, but that doesn't mean i consider him that old) but generally that's my base rule for characters with normal aging.

ARE YOU SELECTIVE WHEN SHIPPING ?

it sort of depends on the mun? if we talk about it enough and i start feeling The Vibe then i'll probably want to do it! you never know

WHO ARE OTHER CHARACTERS YOU SHIP YOUR CHARACTER WITH ?

OUGH tough question- this section is gonna be so long im so sorry lmao

Cat-Bee: no one in either her toy or toon verses

CatNap: no one in his toy verse as he's a child, but i'd be willing to ship him with others in his toon verse! i'm just not sure who, so none for now lmao

CraftyCorn: none right now, though i think her and Kickin' or Bobby could be cute as a little kid relationship thing

Dark Choco: Licorice Licorice Licorice. absolutely Licorice, though i do like the thought of him with Cream Unicorn. i also ship him with [redacted] but that's a Very Specific thing with one person

Hoppy: i can't really think of any!

Juniper: she's a Chao lmao

Shadow: there's a few that could be cute! Shadamy comes to mind, but honestly anyone from the cast who's within his age range could be fun depending on the other mun's interpretation. i also love all his potential friendships but that's not what this meme is about lol

Tails: no one, i can't see him being in a relationship

Toy Bonnie: technically he's a dead adult but i can't see him being with anyone either

DOES ONE HAVE TO ASK TO SHIP WITH YOU?

please do! i don't wanna misread social cues or whatever and end up making a fool of myself, especially when i'm aromantic and might not see things in a romantic light by default

ARE YOU SHIP-OBSESSED OR SHIP MORE-OR-LESS?

not obsessed with doing it, i'm pretty casual, but sometimes i hyperfixate on one specific ship :]

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE SHIP IN YOUR CURRENT FANDOM?

idk, im just kinda neutral to all of them! again, though, Shadamy sounds cute, and i can probably be convinced to ship anything lmao

FINALLY, HOW DOES ONE SHIP WITH YOU?

as said before, please just ask! even "i think they'd be funny/cute/etc together" works for a reason and i'll probably want to try! i just need to know so i can sort of "shift mindsets"

Tagged by ; @already-know-this-story! thank you!

Tagging ; uhhhhh @4ffogato @darkcacaocookieandfriends @civicmuses and whoever wants to yoink!

[cheemken]

Whenever I check the Drayton tag, it always makes me smile to see new asks on this blog. Truly fueling my thirst for Drayton stuff that's angsty or wholesome like to each their own but a lot of Drayton stuff I've seen often paint him being a bully / antagonistic to Kieran. Seeing many anons share their hcs has been so nice!

I wanna share some BB E4 hcs!

- Crispin likes to experiment with his cooking! Drayton is often his testing buddy before giving the improved versions to Lacey and Amarys. Drayton complains playfully about Crispin playing favourites

- Amarys manages the club budget so she usually checks the requests made to utilise it. She often rejects Drayton's suggestions of holding 'wild parties' under the guise of team building / bonding'.

- Lacey and Drayton have crossed paths with one another when they were kids. Clay and Drayden have brought them to party events before. For as much as Lacey gets on Drayton's case about how he dodges the administrative side of the club, she trusts him with the battling side.

- Despite his slacker status, Drayton is actually really good at handling new members who are super shy / nervous. His laid back attitude and chattiness helps ease these members, and he's also open to answering battle related questions. It still surprises his friends when he just rambles about different training methods for Dragon-types, sounding rather animated for once

Anon I'm fucking crying these are so dope cbxmbcnd ough BB E4 friendship is so really your honour it's so so real and so canon and they're really close and they remind me of the og Unova kids in my hcs hcmdbd

But also of fucking course Drayton would throw parties and say they're for team building exercises lmfaooo Amarys has to really check their budget lest someone falls for Drayton's "team building exercises" again hahaha

Also Drayton and Lacey childhood friends🥹🥹

Your honour imagine cbxnxn that'd be so cute but also since they're childhood friends they're also kinda like siblings lmfao, ofc Drayton's gonna annoy Lacey too, Iris isn't the only one who's fun to annoy. But also, not only do guys run away when Lacey mentions Clay is her dad, but imagine if Drayton is also part of the reason they run away hahah

Like they know Drayton is so chill and laid back, but they also know how protective he is of his friends, plus they're not gonna fucking challenge a champion level trainer that's actually trained by a legit champion, his Archaludon can probs sweep their teams. But it'd also be funny if Lacey is so so unaware of Drayton like, looking threatening from behind her, giving off the vibes that he will let his Archaludon attack at any guy or girl who wants to be w Lacey lmfao

But also him being like that to all his friends, like if he doesn't like someone, they would know, cause his smile is a bit too forced when talking to them

Also isn't it canon that Crispin kinda has a crush on Lacey?? Fucking imagine that convo w Drayton lmfaooo

Just "Lacey's really cute, should I ask her out??"

"if you value your life, no."

"huh? Why? Is it because of her dad?"

Your honour pls he's just a lil bit oblivious bcmxbd hahaha

Also y'know Crispin low-key gives off enby vibes, idk, it's the way he looks, idt he'd care much abt how people perceive him, all he cares abt is his friends, pkmn, and cooking

Speaking of cooking imagine if he's like, Gordon Ramsay kinda guy when he gets pissed off when someone ruins a dish tho lmfaooo imagine him yelling out cussed bc someone used the wrong technique or ingredient for a dish or even just dissed smth he made

I picture Amarys not being able to cook that well, everything she makes always gets burnt, Crispin once invited her over to teach her how to cook starting w basics but for some godforsaken reason she still managed to burn grilled cheese

"how..?? How in the Distortion World did you fuck that up??"

"that's the first time I've heard you say that word. Is it truly that bad?"

"Amarys, look at me in the eyes and take a bite outta that sandwich. Is it edible to you? Do you think it's edible? Do you think it's something people would willingly eat?"

He made her redo it ten more times till she got it right hahaha

But yeah omf these are so dope anon chxmnd

[todayisafridaynight]

NOOOO RIGHT 'CAUSE LIKE... the way the Arakawa Family specialize in faking deaths already, I'm sure Jo was so on top of everything. And who better to walk Masato through it right... flight's the perfect time to get started if it's gonna take like fourteen hours...

BUT YES. YEAH. Like The Day Of he's just paralyzed with worry and caught between wanting to do something and not wanting to go against Aoki... maybe at most he chances calling Arakawa telling him to be careful, because that's not too conspicuous given his role in the dissolution, but Arakawa just gives him the old I'll Be Fine Worry About Yourself... and, you know, why shouldn't he; they've always had their enemies and he's Arakawa the Assassin, he can handle himself... he can let himself have that fleeting hope, but deep down... and THEN he finds out and has to act like he didn't mean anything to him and has to go back to his duties like nothing happened... OUGH

Can I just say. Literally such an insane fucking series of scenes in Coin Locker Baby. Because you get Jo's despondence when he's saying he might have killed Arakawa--he's being a bitch to provoke Ichiban into a fight, but it's also an admission his inaction played a part, isn't it... and then you get him expressing that he's familiar with Ichiban's need to protect Arakawa... and then you get the sheer desperation and insistence in his voice when he says he could never kill him... and then you get--I'm not totally sure how clear it is in English--but you get him actively saying his feelings go deeper than Ichiban's without really explaining how... and then you get the tinge of fondness when he's thinking back on the old days when Arakawa lived up to his name... Like. Why Did They Do That. Any Of That.

ALSO. GOD. I've gotten so much shit the past couple days because I said I want to lock Jo, Kume, and Tendo in a room for five minutes For My Entertainment. Reading those tags felt like coming home honestly 😭 Like, even Ichi was ready to kill someone over Arakawa, and Jo was out here threatening to disembowel people [in the dub]. And I Think They Should Be Allowed To. As A Treat. So FOR REAL the biggest "I'm so glad we get to talk" 😭😭😭

On that note genuinely so funny that I took an extra ten minutes re-rendering the video because I forgot to put the "flashback" part in Arakawa's subtitles at first but then nobody read it 😭

But it's also something I've been mulling over because I'm delusional. Getting actors as high-profile as Nakai and Takei back for just A Flashback is kinda crazy to me because Arakawa and Jo's screen-time took up a full four percent of the entire game [over ten percent of the cutscenes] originally. But then if it's multiple flashbacks equivalent to that... what exactly is going on here that the past is so intertwined...

And Because My Brain Is Evil there is the fact that technically speaking, Yokoyama only said that line was from a flashback, and specified Arakawa wouldn't be appearing in the main story. Now of course a normal person would interpret that as him reassuring the audience he won't appear in any present-day scenes, but part of me was like. Oh So A Side Story Is On The Table [<- it's not it's fucking not it will not be in a million years]

JUST. WHAT ARE YOU GUYS COOKING WHY IS THE KITCHEN DOOR CLOSED WHY ARE THE WINDOWS BLACKED OUT

ANYWAYS that's enough from me for today I am [as always] glad you enjoyed One Missed Call and Kyouen, ABSOLUTE bangers

YAYA THATS WHAT IM SAYIN YOU GET IT. UNSURPRISINGLY BUT YOU GET IT ಥ▽ಥ

no but thats what i MEAN like i already was jokin with myself like 'jo and arakawa probably had A Thing right lmao' BUT THEN THE WAY JO TALKED BOUT ARAKAWA AND OBVI THE GENERAL FACT HE COULDNT KILL HIM REALLY JUST MADE ME (。・∀・??) AND REAALLLY LOOK AT EM CLOSER THE SECOND TIME AROUND like genuinely for what. it will fuck me up until i'm dead and gone SOOO unnecessary and yet they did it..

wack that people wouldnt want to see kume and tendo stuck in a room with jo like. from what i know everyone is a part of the We Hate Kume gang so. cmon. kume will be shredded into candy floss within five minutes. it'll be fun (๑❛ᴗ❛๑)

OK BUT NAKAI AND TSUTSUMI'S STATUS WAS A BIG REASON WHY I DIDNT THINK ARAKAWA NOR JO WOULD BE BACK FOR LAD8 THAT'S SO VALID TO CONSIDER THAT its that idea that just has me especially wondering what the plan is. im not expecting them to have MAJOR parts (or in arakawa's case too many flashback segments) but they MUST have a SUBSTANTIAL amount to warrant bringing them back right..

[lee-etc]

Answer 21 Questions, Tag 21 People

Tagged by @meiyanaalexia , thank you again for the tag 💗

1. Nickname: Why, Lee of course! I'm a simple man. (I've had other nicknames but they are too close to my real name so I am not sharing sorry asdkjalkdj)

2. Zodiac: Sagittarius ♐

3. Height: 168 i think???

4. Jock, nerd, goth, prep: definitely a nerd, ough

5. Last thing I googled: "jack black super crush beer cherry" it's tasty and i couldn't remember the exact name

6. Favorite musicians: TATSURO YAMASHITA,,,,,,,,,,,,, Yves Tumor, Her's, boygenius, ONE OK ROCK, Tyler the Creator, Sufjan Stevens, Björk, Talking Heads, ABBA, Duran Duran, Kate Bush, Tears for Fears... (if i continue we will be here all day)

7. Song stuck in the head: not a song but tomato potato clementine!!!! c'est bizness!!!😤💯🔥

8. House or block flat: idk if it's whether i wanna live in one or if i do live in one and the answer is house yes apartment maybe kind of

9. Followers: 289, i love you all 😤😤💝 except the bots i might have forgotten to block ❌❌

10. Do you get asks: yes but i am terrible at answering them i am so sorry

11. Amount of sleep: 6-9 hours baybee (number is less when i have an assignment due the next day xoxo)

12. What are you wearing: my headphones, black sweats and my dark blue white boy jersey (i just call it that because of the vibes it gives off) (all comfy at home stuff because i am comfy and at home in bed)

13. Dream job: I DON'T DREAM OF LABOUR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

...anyways, something in storytelling (preferably animation)

14. Dream trip: Going to Japan so soon it is mind blowing and something I have always wanted to do. Would also like to travel to any other countries with good food and hopefully see some of my mutuals on here one day!

15. Instruments: none 😭😭😭 If I could learn any, I'd learn the piano, bass guitar, and/or the saxophone.

16. Languages: English, and I'm learning/have learnt but am not fluent in: Afrikaans, IsiXhosa, Japanese

17. 10 favorite songs as of now:

(this is according to spotify) (also copy pasted from my previous post if there are repeats)

So You Are Tired by Sufjan Stevens

Golden Fever by Keanan Eksteen

King of Silence by Cibo Matto

enknee1 by hemlocke springs

Pills & Good Advice by Left At London

Planet of the Bass (feat. DJ Crazy Times & Ms. Biljana Electronica)

Pulp by Lime Garden

Ashtray by Hippo Campus

Cover Me by Starbenders

See You Again (feat. Kali Uchis) by Tyler, The Creator and Kali Uchis

18. If you were an animal: idk but lynxes are so cool

19. Favorite food: Japchae <3 I also love tiramisu

20. Random fact: I have been tryingg to listen to the magnus archives. It is very good so far.

21. my aesthetic: perhaps something light academia adjacent? i'm not sure.

Not gonna tag 21 people i am gonna tag like 7 cause that is a third of 21. yeah (feel free to ignore as always) : @1989nihil @dogboyrevenge @burgundyquills @a-nerdy-little-me @mitarashiko @zuraea @justacasualgaycrisis

[mokutone]

tags from @kakashihasibs on this post

#ive been thinking about this post all afternoon and evening and night lol #i dont think we see yamato outwardly express anger ever (at least in the episodes we see) #like the closets he gets is when he's annoyed at naruto and even then that seems more playful or frustrated than properly angry #even when he is yelling at Bee and Naruto he doesn't seem ACTUALLY angry #but like how could he not be angry? #like everything that's happened to him? to people he loves? it's gotta be in there #you can't face the evils he's faced and not come out the other end at least a little angry #yam is too nice for his own good #sometimes #I think the biggest reason he represses his anger so thoroughly is bc i think a part of root is specifically repressing 'negative' emotions #i feel like i can remember a line from danzō about how emotions can lead to hate #but also focusing so much on the 'negative' emotions might be to keep root agents from turning that anger and resentment towards #Danzō and root itself #like another way of keeping kids in line is teaching them anger (especially justified anger) is a dangerous emotion #and with the extra focus on that perhaps that still something yamato isn't able to express properly #but also yam cares a good deal for naruto and probably for Bee too #he might not WANT to be angry at them #maybe he keeps it repressed so he doesnt lash out at someone he loves? #hmmmmmmmmm #i love him #someone needs to needle him until he snaps #get that anger out my guy #at least in the episodes that I'VE** seen #i did not mean to say we #whoops

enthusiastically points at these tags. enthusiastically points at these tags. enthusiastically points at these t-

im going to chatter abt them below the cut specifically i think about. why he might be afraid of allowing himself to be angry + im gonna talk a lil bit about danzō + root's role in all this i think.

image descriptions for all images are in alt text

SO!!!! YEAH!!!!! YEAH EXACTLY...

these tags are so very right...we do see him get frustrated, or have that knee jerk kind of "no!!! you're horrible!!!" reaction at Naruto + Killer Bee when they scare him shitless, but ur right...that's not a serious anger that's a "You scared me!!! don't do that I was worried!!!!" and annoyance at most. frustration. it comes and it passes easily...

alas that kakashi is VERY good at needling him (admittedly in a friendly and affirming way), but yamato probably would want to be mad at kakashi least of all!

i think you're right that he probably doesn't want to lash out at the people he loves, or risk hurting them especially with an emotion he doesn't or won't let himself understand well

but also. i think he might feel a lot of guilt tied up in his anger as well...so it's not just an "I don't want to hurt the people I care about" thing, but also kind of a,

"What right do I have to be this mad?" "Do I feel I'm deserving of better treatment? Better circumstances? I am and have been incredibly lucky. What a selfish thought."

type of deal. which is. ough.

LIKE. the way he might see it...he was the Only one of the 60 mokuton kids in the lab to survive (how lucky)

and then when he did survive danzō was like. "if things had gone even slightly differently, your life would've only been that of an experiment, but he lost interest in you, and I picked you up." (how lucky)

and then, amongst all the Root shinobi, danzō, the leader of root, decides to train him personally, indicating a particular favoritism or attention towards him (how lucky 🤮)

this one particularly i want to point at.

because if Danzō singles Kinoe out as a favorite, all of these other Root shinobi, especially the other kids who are completely emotionally neglected...would likely feel jealous of the attention and favor that Kinoe receives, perhaps especially because he's young, perhaps especially if he is not the strongest (what has he done to deserve such special attention? etc etc)—which would isolate Kinoe even within the already isolating experience of being in Root.

its technically a position of privilege, but the privileged is of being the closest in proximity to the worst man in Konoha, instead of waiting to the side, trying to draw his attention and approval. And the "benefits" might include the jealousy and judgmental eye of Kinoe's fellow agents.

(no wonder he latched onto Kakashi so fast, if that was the situation. Kakashi has his own problems with Being Nice and everything, but if Kinoe is hearing "you aren't worthy of the abuse you're receiving" the fact that Kakashi thinks that Tenzō is not just worthy of sparing but. worthy of rescuing. even when Kakashi's recovering from Kinoe's attempt on his life. is. well. How could he even begin to process that?)

but ah. but still...when Tenzō departs Root for the final time, he thanks Danzō for everything he's done for (to) him.

(And, in the Tsukkuyomi, Yamato expresses a want to take over team Kakashi, and then an immediate guilt and horror at his own selfishness, for wanting the spot which Kakashi occupies, when he had a position at Anbu he was supposed to return to. Who is he, to want something like that? Who is he, to want what Kakashi has?)

Does he understand that he doesn't have to be grateful all the time, for everything, for the slightest scraps? I worry so much! Does he know that he doesn't have to thank people for not having been worse to him? Yamato, you're allowed to ask for more! You're allowed to want things!

I think that working alongside Sai has to be both extremely good and fairly painful for him in this regard. I'm sure Yamato could find a way to forgive or excuse Danzō's actions towards himself—especially if he thinks he was in some way lucky to have that situation.

But Sai? Sai is a different person. Sai isn't him, doesn't have his baggage—maybe he can see in Sai, what he cannot in himself! A kid who didn't deserve any of that, and is struggling in the aftermath. I like to think that, even if Yamato could forgive Danzō at the time for how he was treated, he could not ever forgive Danzō for how Sai has been treated.

I think he gives Sai a lot of leeway in expressing himself and picking fights with his teammates that he might not if he wasn't aware of Sai's situation, because I think he knows how important it is to let Sai uhhhh. hm. To let sai be completely fucking unhinged, for a bit. A line has to be drawn sometimes, but.

Yamato voice: I think he should be allowed to be a little malevolent. As a treat. Get it out of his system.

anyway. god. this reminded me of a comic i'd started Literally About This Concept that I absolutely forgot I was trying to work on

[digisurvive]

I was gonna send this ask days earlier (but then I forgot) but actually the Kaito scene I was referring to was the one in the factory. I just think it's a nice insight into Kaito, he knows he's fucking up and he's trying Really Hard Not To but it's not easy.

I really appreciate what they did with Kaito I think they could of made both of him into just...horrible irredeemable pieces of shit and not make him part of the main cast (or kill him off). But he isn't, and I like that the game doesn't write them like that.

Maybe I just care a lot about siblings in fiction but I really like Kaito because of how much he fucks up! Because he really does try, the game does Not let you brush him off as just a terrible brother.

Kaito is Hard to Talk To and is a Jerk but he's genuinely trying his best and carrying loads of baggage. You could brush him off but that won't actually...solve anything, Kaito will still be stuck where he is which is bad for both him and Miu.

Though, what I've seen Kaito is a more lukewarm character, not hated in the same way a certain glasses boy is but definitely not as liked as the rest and it's probably because 90% of the time he's Violence Protect Miu Violence ohmaybeIdocareaboutthesepeople Violence.

Though...Kaito is kinda in a situation where it's hard to write him outside of his relationship with Miu, because he as a character is just so centered around Miu and, again he is horrible at expressing his emotions which makes him seem less complex than he actually is.

Honestly like most people I wish they killed Kaito in Harmony instead of Miu. I can imagine him swooping in to protect Miu at the last second and getting dragged off, so he still gets killed by his goal to protect Miu while we get to see how Miu really really feels about his brother and, in a roundabout way, more insight into Kaito.

(I'm now also vaguely reminded of this one VN that had a character who's main flaw was not trusting anyone so they couldn't write him getting into any close moments with the other members of the cast so using ghosts (whole thing) they change the POV character in his route to him so they could keep that trait while still letting you get insights into his character.)

Oh I rambled a lot...very sorry! I Just...Kaito....ough...

Ah, I know what scene you're talking about now!! My bad for getting confused, I had recently replayed act 9 and I was like akdkdkkdkg *foaming at the mouth about the slap in the gym :[*

But I see where you're coming from, particularly in this franchise with a lot of protective older brothers, we tend to see them in right for wanting to protect them little siblings and Kaito is just.... So wrong even when you understand where he is coming from.

I don't know about how the fandom feels about him despite the fact I do check the tag (in general, I don't think there's that much fan engagement for this VN </3), so I'll only talk about my thoughts about him. I tend to go through periods where I really like him and periods where he really gets on my nerves because of the stuff you wrote in the ask. He can be difficult in the sense you wish Takuma would confront him directly (but in true Takuma fashion, he's very mindful not to overstep his boundaries most of the time), but I think the fact one of the more consisten ways to raise his affinity is to leave him alone speaks volumes about how he's used to getting by, trying to solve everything on his own and not being used to be relied on by other ppl nor relying on others. He's also a kid who's really been neglected and has had to shoulder a lot of responsibility so it makes sense for him to be more than a little neurotic 😂 I think it's a feat for the writing to still be able to portray his proclivity for violence in a way that feels unsavory when this franchise is all action and fights (Thats one thing I did wish Survive had been able to pull off better. To give you feasible alternatives that aren't fighting for some of the plot beats, but that's for another post).

He does have his nuances, like how he's aware that he can be a pain in the ass and difficult to deal with. And wrong, most importantly. I think a lot about that Wrathful dialogue he has with Aoi where she's lamenting her final defeat as Plutomon bc... She was supposed to finally have the power and agency not to make mistakes anymore! And Kaito tells her there's no such a thing as someone who doesn't make mistakes and he himself has had to rely a lot on the others to tell him he's wrong 💔 (which really reminds you of how hard Takuma works to get him to go with the group to the amusement park in pt4, how he has to very timidly set the example for him in act 6 and etc...) I honestly like him a lot in Wrathful, I think it's where you get to see a new side of him even if in a really bittersweet way.

Speaking of how he knows he's in the wrong, I do like a lot that moment in Truthful where to raise affinity with him, you have to tell him to give Miu some space while they're looking for the Northern shrine. I think it speaks volumes about how his friendship with Takuma has evolved that he's at a point where he won't see it as a stranger sticking his nose where he shouldn't. He's just such a family little man, In a US vs the world mentality, it's interesting to see him grow to consider Dracmon family too and slowly reconsider who's important to him beyond that narrow social circle.

Switching Kaito's and Miu's places would indeed be interesting (and I Def Get where People are coming from with this angle for a myriad of reasons), yeah, but I also Love Aoi and Kaito as foils so I still like what we got 😂😂

ANYWAY. thanks for the ask, I love talking about digisurvive w/ u, so ur welcome to ramble anytime

[keicordelle]

Okay so I was typing this in the tags but then I learned that there's a limit to how many tags I'm allowed to add so uh. I'll just put my thoughts under the cut instead

ROBIN. OUGH. This is so very good. I have so much to say and even more to think about

Honestly I'd never put that much thought into the ghost thing besides "Huh. Ghost. Is it real? Alright cool." Mostly because in my experience it's not spectacularly uncommon to have casual references to supernatural phenomenon (and ghosts in particular) in non-supernatural themed anime. (Whether or not that tracks outside of anime as a cultural thing I couldn't tell you, but it's common enough in anime that I just shrugged and accepted it at face value once I decided Riku wasn't just making it up for kicks.)

But I love the idea of the TCG as the audience and as Riku (/twangst) -- and I definitely think it can be, and is both, at the same time. The parallels you draw between Riku and his invisibility and how he lives separate from the world really struck me. I don't personally buy into the idea that its staged (partly just because that seems a bit at odds with how the series is presented), but that is a really interesting prospect. But whether it's literal (in that the Friend's Day staff purposefully chose to add in a ghost as a projection of the audience) or entirely figurative (as in the ghost is real but the parallels are entirely self-evident and not concocted), I can definitely see the ghost as the audience as well, with all the pressures and hopes that an audience places upon Riku -- and on the idols on whole.

(I'm also entirely inclined to believe that Riku in particular is able to see ghosts, even setting aside the parallels, because the whole twin telepathic bond thing is brought up and never actually refuted in any way (and they even play into it), so i can totally see Riku just. being able to do that.)

Also side tangent but with Tenn's familiarity with Riku's medium powers and the fact that they're still hiding that they're brothers, it seems unlikely to me that the Friends Day producers would have planned to put that in

BUT ANYWAY not what i meant to get sidetracked by. Because yuki. Oh Yuki. Beautiful analysis of him. I am 100% willing to buy into depression Yuki (which is very much not a stretch because you're right it's right there in the text). And man, that boy sure does think about suicide a lot. Even just in the casual “joking” way that it's often treated.

And gods. The idea of the RHG as simply (or largely, at least) a personification of Yuki's depression and self doubt.... I feel like an idiot for not reading into that more, but also the revelatory feeling of reading your analysis and having those pieces fall into place was great so I can't really be too upset. I blame my Momo vision.

But every time Momo addresses it, he's talking to Yuki. Surely, even in world, he knows this. Everything he does, every thought he has is for Yuki. Like, he's probably straight up just addressing Yuki when he's talking to the ghost.

And I adore the idea of the ghost just being an excuse for Yuki's bad days. An unspoken "villain" they can pin his bad moments on, for as long as they need an excuse. You're right that that's probably not what's actually going on there, but I am so here for it.

Ough, and the acknowledgement that facing Yuki's depression and darker side does scare Momo, he does hesitate, but he faces it anway. So much more powerful than if he wasn't scared at all! It's all well and good to claim that you'll love someone no matter what when you believe nothing about them could ever scare you off or turn you away, but to see that darkness, to take the time to pause and really consider it, and to carry on because you love them, no matter how much it worries you, it's just-- OUGH. I love you Momo. I love you Yuki. Ugh.

Anyway. Mark this one down in the i7 analysis hall of fame. You're insane. I'm insane. We're all in good company. Now I'm gonna go think more about the Re:vale ghost as a way to excuse Yuki's bad day outbursts.

The Ghosts in IDOLiSH7 are a Literary Device, Mostly

(an essay by me)

People are always asking me, "Robin, what the fuck is up with those ghosts in IDOLiSH7? How come this otherwise completely non-supernatural universe randomly has these two ghosts that show up and then never get acknowledged again? Is it just canon that ghosts exist and only Riku and Momo can see them?" and I am always telling them that I have an analysis about this I just haven't written it yet. But that ends today, as do all of these very pressing concerns about the i7 Ghosts™, because here I am, finally writing the analysis. This essay will have two sections, the first on the training camp ghost from part 3/third beat, and the second on the Re:vale house ghost from Yuki's third chapter of Re:member. So, spoilers for all of part 3/third beat in both sections, Re:member in section 2, and there's one extremely minor spoiler for part 4 in section 1 but it's honestly so predictable I don't think it even counts. Also, I'll reiterate this once we get to it, but just a warning that section 2 will contain discussions of depression, suicide and suicidal ideation, and a brief mention of self-harm, so please stop reading after section 1 if you don't want to see any of that! Another less important disclaimer about section 2 is that I am going to spend an entirely unecessary amount of time talking about Yuki. I am normal about Yuki. Okay. Without further ado, let's watch my spiral into ghost analogy insanity unfold!

Game translations: @seigyokus Re:member translations: @ takara_time (+ scans and editing by @ waitamomoment) Rabbit chat translations: @osakaso5

Section 1: The Training Camp Ghost

This first point applies to both ghosts, but I wanna start by noting that I think superstitions and beliefs like this are more common in Japan than a lot of other places, so yeah it is entirely possible that ghosts are just a canon and accepted thing in Idolish7's universe and this isn't really that strange of a detail for the series to include. However, I don't have any real background knowledge about if ghosts are normal in non-supernatural anime/etc. and I am not committing to that kind of research, so we'll have to leave the specifics of the ghost canonicity issue to someone else. But regardless of how canon they are, I think we've established well enough by now that the i7 writers don't put much of anything in the series without reason (re:vale band name you will always be famous. to me), and that definitely applies here as well - both of our ghosts are doing a LOT of potential symbolic work in their brief appearances, and that's what we'll be unpacking today, starting with the TCG.

The infamous TCG (training camp ghost) of Atami needs no introduction, but I'll give her one anyway. During the filming of the Friends Day special, upon following the shopping group home, she offers her services to Riku (inexplicably the only person capable of communicating with her) for the evening entertainment group's test of courage, terrorises several cast members throughout the day, and finally brings us Soma Saito's incredible cover of Dis One before probably being sent back to idol fan purgatory forever. Who is she? Where did she come from? I have several theories.

1.1: The TCG is the audience

While the 'ghosts are real in i7' possibility is there, I think it's also important to note in this case that the whole training camp is very explicitly being filmed for TV, and the biggest vibe I get from this episode of the anime is that the ghost is a part of the show, and we're seeing that show through the eyes of its in-universe audience. This happens pretty often in i7 (for example, when we see the groups talk to their fans during concerts), and generally the line between the real fans and the fictional ones can get pretty blurred (which deserves its own much longer analysis but I Am Not Writing All That), so everything with the in-universe audience here kind of naturally extends to us as the real audience. The TCG would probably be easy enough to manufacture with special effects as long as Riku and the driver guy were in on it, and it would make sense for the Friends Day producers to include it to keep things entertaining and be a stand-in for their viewers/fans of the idol groups - the ghost is specifically a female fan of male idols (Zero), and a lot of her interactions with the cast would qualify as self-insert material (e.g. Tenn singing for her and Riku looking directly into the camera to smile at her). And speaking of Tenn and Riku,

1.2 The TCG is Nanase twins angst

I think this connection is fairly obvious in their exchange here. You could make a case for the ghost representing either one of the twins. Like Riku, she's being pushed away by Tenn before she's ready to leave, told that it's necessary and for the best that they stay separated - after all, they live in different worlds. Like Tenn, she's leaving despite Riku's protests and part of her not really wanting to go at first, because she believes it's for the best that they stay separated - after all, they live in different worlds.

There's also the association with ghosts of being ignored/invisible, and Riku being the only person able to see or talk to her. Maybe it's because he's the only one who's able to reach her. Maybe he can see her because he understands her on some level - she was torn away from life like he was torn away from his brother, and she's now practically invisible to everyone else around her, like Riku probably feels to Tenn (and arguably the rest of his family in some ways). Maybe he wants her to feel seen, and he can make Tenn acknowledge her in the way he wants to be acknowledged by him. I might actually be going somewhere with this so bear with me for a second.

1.3: The TCG is monster Riku foreshadowing

So my first thought when I watched the Nanase twin angst portion of this episode was 'well obviously the ghost isn't real and Riku is just using it to talk to Tenn indirectly' because they are always having indirect conversations like this and it makes me insane, and I do still think that's the idea here, just not quite in the sense that Riku is making things up. Going back to the whole 'ghost is a stand-in for the audience' thing, and assuming that she's saying the things that Riku wants to say and Tenn is telling her the things he wants to tell Riku, then we could say that rather than Riku purposefully having the ghost speak for him, this is an extension of the monster effect. I guess in this scenario the TCG is a real ghost (and a figurative representation of the audience), and Riku is having the same effect on her that Iori says he has on everyone else. He unknowingly projects his desire to connect with his brother onto her, and she tries to help him. Really, the only times we see her after she follows the shopping group to their cabin are when she's helping Riku, with the test of courage and then with speaking to Tenn. This gets convoluted so I kinda doubt it's intentional? But it's fun to think about.

1.4: The TCG is the friends we made along the way

Riku spells this out a bit more explicitly in the game here, but the TCG represents the each of the groups in the series in a couple different ways. I guess one way you could interpret this is that the ghost is meant to be there to emphasise how extraordinary it is that they're all together, but I don't think that really holds up considering how often they end up working with each other throughout the series anyway. What's important here is the idea of the ghost itself, something that can be present and felt even when it isn't physically or actually there. Again, the ghost is the audience - a constant influence for better and for worse on these idols even when they aren't watching, even in their personal lives; and vice versa, the ghost is the idols being able to reach their fans without ever actually knowing them. More relevant to what Riku says, the ghost is the groups to each other - friends, mentors, rivals, pushing them forward even when they aren't standing side by side. You could even say the ghost is ZOOL, friends who aren't here right now but will be someday. Re:vale and Idolish7 as groups don't especially fit the ghost description, but they have their fair share of ghosts - Banri, Haruki, Tenn, Aya, Sougo's uncle. Zero. The list goes on, for Trigger and ZOOL as well, but I think the most important way the ghost analogy applies to this section of the story is with Trigger. Because during the imminent Arc Where Trigger Gets Cancelled™, despite leaving their agency and disappearing almost entirely from the public eye, they're still very much there to their fans and to their friends. So. I kinda forgot what I was saying but to sum it all up the ghost here represents everything that stays with you even when it's far away or after it's gone from your life. Mikanseinabokura and all that. And now that I mention it-

Section 2: The Re:vale House Ghost

Once again, a warning that this section has a brief mention of self-harm, as well as in-depth discussions of depression, suicide and suicidal ideation (which I'm gonna be talking about pretty bluntly the entire time), so please don't proceed unless you're comfortable with all of that!

Like most things in Re:member, the RHG (Re:vale house ghost) makes me insane. Today I am going to attempt to form coherent thoughts about it and it is unlikely that I'll succeed, but try to bear with me. Though it isn't around for as long as the TCG, we have a little more info about the RHG - it's the ghost that haunts the shitty apartment Yuki and Momo live in together in their early days as Re:vale. Supposedly. All it actually does is slam the door of one kitchen cabinet and I don't think that this is definitive evidence of paranormal activity because most houses are just like that. It's all a little bit vague, but according to Re:vale, their house is definitely haunted by the ghost of someone who died in the kitchen, because when they move in there is a mysterious black stain on their kitchen floor. Momo introduces himself to the floor stain while Yuki stares at him in awe and blushes and shoujo filter flowers appear in his eyes. God I hate them. I think the RHG is just a figment of their collective imagination or maybe they're having one of those shared delusions or something. But that's really besides the point because this ghost exists for one very specific thematic purpose: the RHG is Yuki.

And on that note, let's go back and talk about Yuki for a few minutes (potentially hours) before we get to our actual analysis of the ghost scene. Mostly because I just wanna talk about him, but also because I do understand why some people think the 'Momo starts talking to ghosts' part of Re:member is kinda weird and random, and I think at least some of this is important to go over before we unpack it.

A consensus has already been established among Yuki scholars that our subject has autism (Kei et al. 2024). Today, I would like to propose an additional diagnosis: Yuki has depression.

2.1: "I lost my dreams, friends, and passion as well."

So, Yuki pretty clearly gets depressed when Ban leaves him. He loses interest in everything he used to care about, gives up on his dreams, blames himself for Ban's injury and disappearance, he's constantly sad, tired and irritable, and he lashes out at Momo (and Kujou, though there are some other pretty strong reasons for that one) and presumably everyone else he knows (I doubt he had a particularly good relationship with anyone else in the first place, but still).

He's grieving here, and it would make sense for him to react this way because of that fact alone. But I really don't think that's all there is to it, because he exhibits these symptoms (among others) long before Ban leaves him. He can't get out of bed in the mornings, he rarely leaves the house if he can avoid it, he has days where he can't eat or sleep, he's underweight and always tired and generally known to lack energy and be slow (or 'lazy') and in some cases listless and despondent. Ban even says that he wouldn't put it past Yuki to start slitting his wrists. And it's subtle, but there's one more really big one that really never goes away for him, even after he finds Ban.

2.2: "I don't need anyone to love me."

I'll get straight to the point. Yuki hates himself. Maybe only a little bit, maybe only sometimes, but it's there. Especially when he struggles with composing - he even says it himself in part 1 of his birthday photobook rabbit chat, almost immediately after saying that it made him want to kill himself but we'll get back to that part.

But it's really everywhere on what seems to be a mostly subconscious level for him, if you know how to look, even from the very beginning:

On paper, this line is just his frustration with being judged by anything other than his music, because it's something he cares a lot about and puts a lot of work into and he wants that to be acknowledged. But I think that if you take it in conjunction with some of the other things he tends to say, there's a little bit more to it.

I dont need anyone to love me. Yuki's songs are worthy of love. Yuki is not. There is nothing valuable about Yuki other than his songs, he has nothing else that deserves any sort of praise, and without them, he's just a useless burden with nothing to offer. He doesn't need anyone to love him - he doesn't understand why anyone would. And Momo does, and he's a good person, and Yuki doesn't deserve that when there's nothing he can actually do for him. And when that starts to change and he starts getting better at showing kindness to others and being there for Momo, he doesn't see it as learning to better express his feelings, he sees is as learning to feel affection and be a good person, because he believes that he is inherently not. As far as he can tell, Yuki is just naturally a bad person and a bad partner who isn't kind and isn't capable of love or compassion, not unless he tries to be. He knows, because he's heard it god knows how many times - even Chiba Shizuo blatantly tells him that neither of them can become good people - and maybe things are different now, but on some basic level it'll always be who he is.

Ok breaking character for a second, imagine you show up to your acting side gig and on the first day Keanu Reeves comes up to you and gives you $300 cash and then later he indirectly tells you that you're a nasty lonely egotistical failure. Now imagine you're Yuki and you have no fucking clue who Keanu Reeves is. He also shows you pictures of his top secret illegitimate son after talking to you for like 10 minutes and you have to lie to him about being straight. I think this is objectively the funniest situation to be in ever. Chiba Shizuo and Yamato both probably have depression also, but I'm not gonna spend any time on it, because every three months a person is torn to pieces by a crocodile in Northern Queensland. I forgot what I was talking about. Anyway

2.3: Hey remember that one time Yuki just straight up tried to kill himself

Yeah, that one. As far as I know this is really never addressed or acknowledged again, so we're just gonna take the page-long gag from Re:member at face value and say that after Ban's disappearance, Yuki (almost) attempted suicide, and the only reason he didn't go through with it is because he couldn't find anywhere to hang the noose. And like, yeah you could say it's just because he thought Ban might have killed himself and he's always been the kind of hopeless romantic to be waxing poetic about how "I can't live without you," but at the same time, he had no apparent reason to believe this (even if Ban did have suicidal tendencies I doubt Yuki would've really known), and he was planning to go through with it (I know it's probably just for comedic effect but he left a will. He left a will. He's, like, 20, and surely not the kind of person who would just have something like that in order already). This is also emphatically not the last time or the only reason he thinks about it.

I told you we'd get back to the photobook chat! I think there's also a lot you can infer from all the times he says he'd probably be dead by now without Momo and he wouldn't be able to handle losing him, what with the whole "when you jump, you'd better take me with you" thing. But regardless, this really isn't just that one time that Yuki tried to kill himself. It's suicidal ideation, and it's something he consistently struggles with especially in the few months after Ban leaves him. It even comes up in how he sees the 'paranormal' activity his new apartment:

2.4: "It seemed as though someone had hung themselves there."

Yeah it's the ghost I'm finally gonna talk about the ghost. I'm done with my Yuki has depression rant we can talk about why the ghost is Yuki now. I guess it might be more accurate to say that the ghost is Yuki's depression/suicidal thoughts/Banri trauma/whatever, but either way I think it represents him and he might also be semi-consciously projecting onto it, and I'm gonna go through line-by-line and try to explain my interpretation.

I think if you want to there's definitely room to take the 'usual paranormal activity' super literally and say that Yuki was having outbursts and slamming doors at the time (which would also match up with him being startled by it). I think it's also important to note that this is happening around the time he mentions feeling suicidal and not being able to compose in the photobook chat, but the main thing here is that second line. Even though Momo is always so nice to him, he can't stop himself from getting mad and being difficult and depressed, and he can't return that kindness - he can't even be useful to him.

I've already mentioned how I think Yuki's conclusion about the stain here plays into his suicidal ideation, but let's look at it a little more thematically. It's the way that even though it's glossed over earlier in the manga, Yuki's suicide attempt and everything that accompanied it still follows him, and it hangs (lol) heavy in their house like a ghost. To Yuki, it's startling and eerie - it scares him, and he's expecting it to scare Momo once he sees that side of him too. And it probably does scare him a little, and he hesitates, but he doesn't scream. Again, there's room to interpret this more literally as Momo finding out about his attempt/ideation/depression, or just as him inevitably seeing how he gets on his worse days, but either way the outcome is the same. Momo is starting to know Yuki as a person instead of an idol, flaws and probable mental illness and all, and his first reaction isn't to shy away or start to hate him or want to leave. It's an introduction. He makes it clear that they'll both be staying here from now on, that he's willing to live with the 'darker' sides of Yuki, and to help him do the same. Another point on this that's up to interpretation (because let's be real they're probably never gonna deal with this stuff explicitly in canon), you could see the whole ghost thing as neither of them really being able/wanting to accept that Yuki's symptoms are actually a part of him (and this is veering completely into fanfic territory but now I'm just imagining both of them silently agreeing to blame the things Yuki does on bad days on the ghost) but we've had enough angst for one day.

Everything else lines up well enough with the ghost and Yuki, but it's really his reaction here that sells the whole thing for me. It's a simple gesture, but just by Momo greeting him, being by his side, waiting for him when he comes home, that constant reminder of all his darkest thoughts becomes just another mark on the floorboards. It's not gone, and it probably never will be. But at least now, he doesn't have to face it alone. And it doesn't look so scary anymore.

2.5: "Now I know joy, and the meaning of a smile."

I must confess that I lied to all of you earlier. I'm actually not done with my Yuki rant and also there's a good reason I've been ignoring all the parts of Re:member where he isn't being self-deprecating or trying to kill himself. The end of the ghost scene is only the beginning of the end of this analysis, and the end of this analysis is pretty much just me having a meltdown about Yuki. Also I'm running out of space for images so we're doing some of the quotes like this instead.

After losing Ban, I lost my dreams, friends, and passion as well. I could only feel a sting as the wind passed through an empty, gaping hole in my chest. But I breathed as best as I could, and he tried to clear the dirt out of that hole, filling it with his earnest words instead.

Yuki still exhibits a lot of symptoms of depression all the way through the series, like the low energy and the trouble eating and sleeping, and [redacted part 5 spoilers] makes me think there's definitely some sort of connection between his writers' block and his depressive episodes. He still mentions feeling guilty towards Banri in second beat, the suicidal ideation doesn't really come up explicitly but he kinda hints at it on a few occassions, and he's very adament that he was a bad person and still isn't really a good one. But it's like. I don't really know how to put this, but I guess it's not his default state anymore like it was right after Ban left (and possibly before that, too). For the most part, he really does get better, and these things become less intense and fewer and farther between. He would probably say that it's all thanks to Momo, and it is, but he also very much does it of his own volition. Momo refuses so desperately to give up on him, and because of that he makes that choice to keep going by restarting Re:vale with him.

Yuki allows himself to let someone else in and start to love again - his partner, his music, his life. Even while he's thinking that he's just a burden to those around him, he doesn't resign himself to his fate like he might have done in the past. He's determined to become a better person, someone who can be a source of strength for Momo just like he was for him. And in the end, he does, but it's not just that. Now he knows joy. Now he can genuinely smile. And now,

I want to hear them scream my name. The voices that called out had annoyed me in the past. But now, I'll smile, together with Momo, who'll be by my side.

Going back to what I said about some of Yuki's subconscious self-hatred coming through in the way he wants people to look at his music and not at him, I. Cannot finish a sentence. Do NOT think about Yuki learning to love himself and see himself as worthy of love because Momo loved him just that much in a way that he could accept. BAD IDEA. Okay. So. It's Ban's advice and Momo's fan letter that get Yuki to accept that his fans do genuinely love his music in the first place, and I think it's here that it really starts to turn into him accepting the idea that they love other things about him too? Or that he really starts to want it and be happy about it instead of just accepting it? Whatever. I give up. I don't even like Re:vale anyway

That day, I would play the guitar I'd almost thrown at Kujou, because I now knew the power of a song that could not be silenced. I would dry my tears, open the door, and say, "I'm home."