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deliciouskeys · 1 year ago

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Guess I should stop being surprised that Homelander fandom would contain people with massive superiority complexes. Maybe me complaining about this is ironic. But I’d like to humbly point out that I’m not the one saying I’m the only one in fandom who understands X. And I’m also not saying you need to agree with my tastes (or morality) when it comes to things I’d like to see put on screen. I’d rather be condemned for being disgusting than for being ignorant or inconsistent dammit!

unless the satire has gone over your head,

You mean… you’re concerned I didn’t notice that the video is saying Ryan is unaware that his drawing is super disturbing and that he is inadvertently showing Vought’s hand about HL’s true nature? Which part is going over my head? That HL doesn’t make an adequate or safe parent? I don’t think you need a fifth grade education to notice that. I suppose what I’m saying is, I would expect this tone in a “sitcom style diabolical episode”. Am I being that opaque that this is hard to understand? Yes, I want it to be funny. Hence it is for Diabolical, not even a stupid “dream sequence” inserted into actual canon, which you seem to be advocating. It is a crack scenario, jfc, lord help me, why don’t people understand what I’m saying, am I not speaking English, why do people at work understand me and people on tumblr don’t, fuck me, I should start writing meandering walls of text without punctuation then maybe it will be crystal clear since that seems to be the preferred writing style around these parts.

i could definitely see something like this ending up as a parody sitcom style cartoon done in a dark way on diabolical. and while i might find it hilarious, i'm gonna be upfront and say most of fandom who say they want it would HATE it.

Wow I had no idea I was getting the chance to converse with the one person in fandom who could find hilarity in the darkness among people who watch The Boys. Are you like, a celebrity, @sharonisthebettercarter ? Everyone else is just a pretender who thinks they understand but they don’t, and yeah we would cry so badly if this episode ever came out, omg Kripke is making fun of us, omg I’m so sad that I got what I asked for, I regret all my life choices, I HAD NO IDEA WHAT I WAS ASKING FOR HELP ME @sharonisthebettercarter I KNEW NOT WHAT I REQUESTED *RIVERS OF TEARS* (but actually Kripke, yes, please do make fun of us, please “punish us”)

But you do have me nailed on one thing, @sharonisthebettercarter , and that is there is probably a defined limit for the amount of art ugliness beyond which I will start losing interest. Guilty and just as shallow as charged! 😁💋

On a less trollish note, check out this post by @kosmochlor for a good discussion about all that’s fucked up about Ryan’s messed up circumstances . Because that reflects my actual feelings on how bad of a situation the show has set up in a realistic sense.

Co-parenting Butchlander is a bad idea for canon even if done in the tamest way possible and I feel like this needs to be said because this shit is getting out of hand to disturbing levels.

Homelander is the rapist.

He doesn't have custody of Ryan. He doesn't and shouldn't have rights to him. After getting Becca (Ryan's actual parent) killed, and against her wishes, he has stolen or in other words kidnapped Ryan.

Ryan is not his to take and shouldn't be viewed as such. Just think rationally for a split second on this.

Do you think a rapist should have rights to custody of a child they force on someone just because that person chose to keep it or god forbid, couldn't manage to get an abortion? Do you think it would be okay for that rapist to then kill the mother or get her killed and steal the child simply because he wants to be a dad?

That's not cute. It doesn't matter what the rapist's backstory is, that's horrifying and wrong and so gross on so many levels.

And look, it's fine if you want to romanticize this idea for fics but that is the one and only place it should be framed this irresponsibly. Because it is a bad idea with horrible implications that shouldn't be rose tinted into something adorable just because there are a few moments Homelander isn't pushing Ryan off a roof.

And you cannot complain about canon treating Becca badly when you advocate for this in canon.

This would be so much worse by make her nothing more than an incubator for the kid of the guy who raped her and then steals her husband. And that is disgusting.

Can we not forget that Ryan and Becca are both victims here, for once?

Romanticize it all you want in fics. It does not belong in canon.

Context link: My dumb crack idea for a Diabolical episode that Anon is referring to

“Co-parenting Butchlander is a bad idea for canon”

Maybe it doesn’t really matter for this discussion, but : I wouldn’t consider Diabolical “canon”. They had an episode about a woman talking to her poop, with a Deep cameo because it involved a sewer. It’s not canon.

“He doesn’t have custody of Ryan”

Well… okay, this is interesting, Ryan is in his custody as of end of season 3, whether HL has legal custody or not. In fact, NYS law is particularly lax and kind of messed up in the sense that you need a rape conviction to be deprived of your parental rights to a child that is genetically yours (and wasn’t made via a sperm bank). So not that it changes things ethically, but legally speaking HL may have legal claim here until someone convicts him of rape or CPS finds his parenting criminally negligent/inappropriate.

“Do you think it would be okay for that rapist to then kill the mother or get her killed and steal the child simply because he wants to be a dad?”

Do I think it’s “okay” ethically, morally, legally? Hmmmmmm, idk, what do you think I think, Anon? I’ll clear it up and say: no, I don’t . But am I watching and enjoying a show that already portrays this fucked up scenario? Yes, I am.

“You cannot complain about canon treating Becca badly when you advocate for this in canon”

Were you up in arms about this Amazon video?

youtube

Because it’s along the same ‘teehee this is so fucked up’ humor lines that you are clearly revolted by. If you were, then okay, at least you are consistent. And I’m going to chalk it up to different tolerance/interest levels about fucked up scenarios.

Come off anon if you still think I’m being glib and “romanticizing” dead incubators. I promise I’m not that scary to talk to off-anon. I even promise to hear you out if I’ve misunderstood the problem you have with my hypothetical dumb spin-off plot that wouldn’t be part of canon. You’re allowed to disagree.

#breaking news: I noticed there’s something fucked up about HL- a mass murderer and rapist- raising his rape child more at 12 #the wagging of the fingers at fandom continues #anon was more reasonable than the followon #why does everyone assume my iq is so low #don’t answer that #rhetorical question #I need to stop being surprised I get engagement when I post #homelander meta #homelander #the boys #the boys tv

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youvebeenlivingfictional · 4 years ago

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The Long Con Part Nine

Previous Part | Masterlist | Next Part Pairing: Marcus Pike x Reader Rating: T Notes: I hope y’all had a good week! 💕 Warnings: Cursing, fluff, me pretending that I know literally anything about art history or art forgery— again. Summary: You wound up spending much of the day holed up in Marcus’ room, sitting at his desk with the numerous print-outs, a marker, a notebook, and his laptop.

You offered to help Marcus with the wedding errands that needed to be done, but he could see how distracted you were by the print-outs he’d been able to get of the x-rays and craquelure of Leda and the Swan. He shook his head, nodding to where you’d already set up shop at his desk. “Don’t worry about wedding stuff today,” He reassured, smiling. Then he tipped your head up for a quick peck and left.

You wound up spending much of the day holed up in Marcus’ room, sitting at his desk with the numerous print-outs, a marker, a notebook, and his laptop. You looked for comparisons between the x-rays of the Mona Lisa, Da Vinci’s sketches of Leda, and the other reproductions that you were more familiar with. Jill actually had to come up and draw you out of the room by taking Marcus’ laptop charging cord hostage.

When Marcus returned that evening, he found you folding programs with laser focus.

“Having fun?” He teased, settling down beside you on the floor. You were leaning back against the couch, as you had when you and Marcus had been putting the favors together.

“Mhm,” You hummed lightly, peering down at the program and lining up the corners of the paper before smoothing down the middle. Marcus picked up an unfolded program, beginning to fold them as you did.

“How were um-- Errands, how’d they… You know?” You asked absently. “They were fine. Tuxes have been acquired, venue’s got the final headcount, seating chart and favors, photographer’s got the shot list.” “Has Marnie called the hotel they’re staying at and found out if there was an upgrade available?” You glanced at Marcus, “Might be able to get something if she mentions it’s her wedding weekend.” Marcus’ brows rose. “I don’t think she has, but I’ll find out.” “Should probably check in with wherever the rehearsal dinner is being held, too,” You added, turning back to the programs. “I’ll keep that in mind...Are you okay?” Marcus asked as you dropped another folded program atop the pile. “Mhm.” “Hey,” Marcus reached out, setting his hand on your arm. You glanced over at him. “S’wrong?” “You seem a little tense,” He scooched closer, thigh pressing against yours, “I can take over program folding,” He added. “She’s mad at me,” Jill called from the kitchen. “I am not mad!” You called back. “What happened?” Marcus frowned, glancing between the two of you. Jill came into the living room, leaning over the back of the couch and peering down at the two of you. “I made her come out from hunching over those photos that you printed out this morning,” She told Marcus as you pointedly folded another program. Busted. “How long were you in there?” Marcus asked, rubbing his hand over the back of your neck gently. “Since you left. I only got the damn cord away from her half an hour ago,” Jill answered, pushing off of the couch, “Speakin’a which, you hungry, Marky?” You snickered, muttering, “Marky.” “No thanks, mom.” “What about you, honey?” “No thank you, Jill,” You glanced back, offering her a smile before dropping another program atop the pile. Marcus watched her go before he leaned a little closer. “Were you able to work anything out?” He asked, picking up another page. “Nothing substantive,” You grumbled, folding the page and setting it aside. Marcus set his on the pile before he drew you into his chest. You pouted a little, slouching against him as you reached for the next page. “You know I’ve got the team working on this, too, right? And the team working out of the Louvre.” “I know,” You mumbled. “So relax,” Marcus murmured, turning his head and pressing a kiss to your temple. “I’m incredibly relaxed. I’m also very focused on folding these programs.” “Sweetheart, programs do not need to be that perfect.”

“Agree to disagree.” You felt Marcus’ fingers tuck under your chin and turn your head to look at him. You paused in your folding, blinking up at him. “You sure you’re alright?” He asked gently. You were not— but what was one more lie in this house? “Yeah,” You murmured before you leaned up, taking a chance and pecking Marcus’ lips. You felt him smile as he cupped your cheek, keeping you close as he deepened the kiss. You sighed, relaxing a little more and resting a hand on his thigh. As the kiss broke, you rested your head against his neck, closing your eyes as Marcus rubbed his hand over your shoulder. “...Feel better?” He asked quietly. “I think so.” “I can do that anytime,” He added after a moment, and you smiled, pressing your face into the crook of his neck. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

-- “You still doing that?” Marcus asked. “Hm?” You glanced back at him, catching sight of him in his pajamas. Jill had relinquished the laptop cord shortly after dinner, and Marcus had freed you of program-folding duty. “What...Time is it?” You asked, frowning. “It’s a little after midnight,” Marcus walked over to stand behind you, bracing his hands on the back of your chair and looking over your work, “You comin’ to bed?” You knew that you should— it had been a long day (after Jill had finally ceded the charging cord), and you were a bit tired. “Uh… N--No, not yet—” “C’mon,” Marcus murmured, leaning down and wrapping his arms around your shoulders, “You need to get some sleep.” “I know, I’m gonna, I just— I think I’m really close to something here,” You admitted, looking up at Marcus, “I wanna chase it down. I’ll take it into the living room so the light doesn’t keep you up,” You added, starting to gather up some of the materials. “If you’re sure,” Marcus conceded softly, “But get some sleep, huh?” “I will.” “Promise?” You glanced up at Marcus, smiling. “Promise.” He nodded, leaning in and pressing a kiss to your forehead before heading to bed.

You leaned away from the markups on the coffee table, dropping your marker with a shaky hand.

You’d made a call to where she’d been sent, and found out she had had her sentence shortened. She’d been out for nearly three years— she’d missed parole; there was a warrant out for her arrest. You hadn’t wanted to believe it was her work, you hadn’t, but you’d found the messages she always left. One was in the x-rayed under layers of the wreath of flowers around the swan’s neck: ‘Dominus ad ludere’. And then, another x-rayed layer, within one of the grey layers of the painting, near the darkened fold of the swan’s wing: ‘Ad opus domini’. The master at play, the master at work. The lettering was small, difficult to spot, but you knew that handwriting, and you knew exactly where to look. You couldn’t help the sick, twisting feeling in your stomach as you picked up your phone. You grabbed your notebook where you’d jotted down your notes on the sketches and brushstrokes, the notes that she’d left behind, and you hurried out to the porch. You sat on the porch swing, peering out into the dark and settling your notebook on your lap. You tucked the phone against your ear, listening as it rang. “Special Agent Melinda Yuen,” Came the answer when the phone was picked up. You were fond of Marcus’ colleague; aside from Marcus, she was who you’d worked the closest with. “Hi, Mel, it’s me,” You said quietly, glancing toward the door. “Hey, professor! How ya been?” “Fine,” You smiled a little at her question, “You?” “I’m alright. If you’re calling looking for Marcus—” “No, I… I wanted to talk to you. Marcus sent me some of the stuff from that da Vinci picked up in Orléans. I took a look at it, it’s definitely not authentic.” “You got notes?” “You have a pen? I’m going to tell you exactly where to look.” You listed off the points and layers that you were able to identify, as well as the suspect for her to look into. Melinda went quiet on the other end for a moment. “Professor, isn’t that your grandm—” “Yes,” You answered hurriedly, “It is.” “...Shit.” “My feelings exactly— Look, Mel, I’ve gotta ask you a favor.” “Sure.” “Don’t...Don’t tell Marcus who called this in until he’s back in D.C.” “Why not?” “Just, please?” You pleaded softly, glancing toward the door. “...I don’t know, professor—” “I’m not asking you to keep it from him forever, just-- Couple’a days.”

“Alright,” Melinda sighed softly, before, “How do you know when he’ll be back, anyway?” “Oh, he uh— mentioned he was going to his sister’s wedding. I don’t wanna ruin his weekend, you know. Figured if I got you on the first ring on this number he must be down there, ‘specially with this big of a case in the office,” You fibbed quickly. “You figure correctly,” Melinda chuckled, “I’ll get these notes over to the team. Night, professor.” “Night, Mel, and thanks.” “Hey, thank you.” You lowered your phone, hanging it up and peering out over the backyard again. You sighed softly, pushing the swing back and forth with one foot. “Can’t sleep?” You jumped at the sound of the question, huffing a shaky laugh at the sight of Marnie. “No,” You confirmed, “What about you?” “Nope,” Marnie sighed, walking over to sit beside you, “I was working on my vows.” “Big speech-writing day in the Pike household,” You teased. “That Marcus’?” Marnie nodded to your notebook. “O-Oh! No. Some uh… Stuff on that painting. Inconsistencies, little things,” You set the notebook down between the two of them, giving Marnie the option to pick it up. She left it be, giving you a little bit of relief in what had been a mostly hellish day. “Think it’s serious?” You shrugged, “Could be inconsequential.” You were already lying to Marnie so much, what was one more? Though, frankly, it made you feel a little crummy. You were growing very fond of Marcus’ family. They were warm, and welcoming. You’d always imagined having a family like them. “You and Marcus seem good, you know?” Marnie said, nudging your shoulder with hers, “I mean...Happy.” You smiled, lowering your eyes. “Your brother is... amazing. All of you are, I mean— I don’t know any family that would open their home to someone they don’t know for a night, let alone an entire week. And your mom— the way she pulled me out of Marcus’ room earlier,” The two of you chuckled, “Well. I’ve appreciated everything since I’ve been here, how kind you all have been.” “Oh,” Marnie reached out, patting your hand lightly, “We’re happy to. ‘Sides, Marcus is clearly smitten with you.” Your stomach churned with unease as you peered down at your hands. Marcus was a better actor than he gave himself credit for. You knew you’d make a liar out of him. “Makes two of us,” You mumbled. Damn, but that was the truth. Tag list: @hufflepuffing-all-day-long ; @spideysimpossiblegirl ; @blueeyesatnight ; @elen-aranel ; @yespolkadotkitty ; @artsymaddie ; @phoenixhalliwell ; @lunaserenade ; @winniedaboo ; @empress-palpat1ne ; @randomness501 ; @nutmeg-20 ; @leonieb ; @the-feckless-wonder ; @lou-la-lou ; @captain-jebi ; @supernaturalgirl ; @naturenebula21 ; @evelynseventyr ; @giselatropicana ; @heatherbel ; @marydjarin ; @annathewitch ; @absurdthirst ; @hnt-escape ; @writingletterstothefire ; @misswriter ; @bison-writes ; @xx-small-town-witch-xx ; @ajeff855 ; @hellovanessax ; @drinkingwhileblogging ; @strawberryperegrine ; @a-court-of-feysand-and-elorcan

#The Long Con #Marcus Pike x You #Marcus Pike x Reader #Marcus Pike/Reader #Marcus Pike/You #Marcus Pike fic #Marcus Pike imagine

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onebizarrekai · 4 years ago

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v3′s art is comically terrible for a professionally distributed game in a series: a compilation

in this not-essay I will list all of the mistakes and problems I have spotted in v3′s art. don’t worry, it’s entirely for fun and I’m doing this on a whim, so please feel free to not take this seriously but also it’s hilarious and embarrassing how ridiculous this is like what happened did they speedrun the whole production or what

see, there are some things you can take as meta like “they made it bad on purpose to allude to the downfall of tv shows that have been on air for much too long” but I have a very strong feeling this is not the case due to the nature of some of these errors

disclaimer, the more I study this art, the more I fear that the artists were underpaid and underslept, so if this is in fact the case, I am so sorry to all of them but also I’m going to make fun of the art anyway

anyway let’s get started!

if you study this image for longer than 5 seconds, you will see that kaede is the only one fully shaded and keebo is literally just his normal sprite pasted into the image. every other character is just an ordinary ref, hence most of them facing the exact same direction with neutral expressions on their faces. it looks like a bad edit, and is probably one of the worst pieces of art in the game. it kind of gets better from here on, but my roasting will not.

with that out of the way, here’s the problem that officially bothers me the most and clarifies my viewpoint of “this is not meta and an actual lack of company communication”

this freaking cg, which seems normal at a glance, but some wiseass was like “oh, kaede is a girl, so obviously she’s going to be shorter than the Male Protagonist™” ah, that’s funny. because if you look at the character bios, kaede is, in fact, one inch taller than shuichi and not like 6 inches shorter as she is shown here.

also shuichi’s shoulder is disproportionate and horrendous and he looks vaguely like a jojo character, but I wasn’t even thinking about that until right now.

thanks guys, 50% of the fandom who has never bothered to check these bios thinks that kaede is like 5′3 (did the developers really put so little thought into her to the point where drawing her correctly in the game didn’t even matter??)

also I would like to point out that, even though this isn’t related to the art itself, yes, a character kaede’s size being only 117 lbs is unfeasible, but this applies to literally every character in danganronpa ever and it’s not new news that it’s unrealistic

update: someone in the tags informed me that in versions of the game that use centimeters, like the japanese version, kaede is actually shorter than shuichi, which just adds another thing to the list of weird decisions the localization team made for no reason. that said, after confirming this, kaede is 167 cm in the original, while shuichi is 171 cm, which are approximately 5′6 and 5′7 respectively, but one inch is still nowhere near as drastic as it is depicted above. (in spite of this, I would rather depict kaede as slightly taller, so I’m probably going to keep doing that.)

the journey continues!

bro if you want kaede to have shoulder length hair then stick to it to begin with

you can pretend this is at an angle all you want but they definitely committed the shorter kaede sin a second time

wait a goddamn second.

DO YOU SEE THIS

no………… it wasn’t kaede who shrank. it was shuichi who got taller

speaking of which, can we talk about how shady the perspective is in this elevator pic? look at shuichi and kokichi in comparison to kaede. kokichi, who is canonically 7 inches (edit: or 5, if you’re loyal to the original) shorter than kaede, looks taller than kaede. he’s growing too. what steroids are these gays taking

running into the room, electric boogaloo: I don’t think tsumugi is supposed to be the same height as kokichi

gonta… gonta you’re lookin a bit like a jojo character there

I love how kaito’s head looks kind of like it was pasted onto his body. why is he the same size as shuichi? shouldn’t he be high school bully size or something? his torso is teensy

ah yes, white angie.

I love this cg but why is shuichi’s right hand so much bigger than his left hand

I also love how this cg looks like they literally took pictures of trees and pasted them into the background, especially on the left. the shadows are so weird, especially closer to the ceiling, it’s difficult for me to believe they didn’t do exactly that.

return of Enlarged shuichi

puberty update: kokichi is now taller than shuichi in spite of shuichi never missing leg day. what crimes will he commit

I have to mention it, guys. this has to be one of the worst danganronpa cgs. kokichi’s facial proportions look atrocious. look at the way his face sticks out like his jaw is in the wrong place. his scarf is a pasted texture. that’s it. this moment was so iconic but the cg just looks so… so… off. like something is terribly wrong, but you can’t put your finger on it.

you know what? let’s get into that ‘pasted texture’ thing.

let’s imagine you’re an artist working on a professional game. you’re assigned to draw cgs of kokichi ouma, who has a checkered scarf from hell. sure, it will be terrible to draw, but you only have to draw it once at a time! plus, perspective is pretty important, right? can you be bothered? nah, actually. let’s just copy paste a checkered pattern into the cg, because I’m sure nobody will notice. it’ll blend right in with the other cgs that someone actually put effort into drawing his scarf in, right?

no. the answer is no and I very much noticed. this genuinely looks terrible and I would understand taking a shortcut like that in fanart or even an indie game but this is a full price pc and console distributed game

(an addition: look at kokichi’s TINY HANDS in that last one)

meanwhile, they straight up forgot to color in kokichi’s scarf in this cg.

dude. I forgot about whatever the hell this cg was. anyway look at keebo please just look at him

lovin kaito’s baby arms

real talk, maybe you could argue that he’s missing muscle because he’s deathly sick, but most of his cgs don’t line up with this, and his arms just look disproportionate to his torso size (granted this is a consistent problem across all danganronpa games and a lot of characters have this weird problem, like hajime, but also kaito is bigger than hajime so I kind of have higher expectations of him) maybe it’s his stupid goatee and the way he reminds me of yasuhiro?? it creates this illusion that he’s older than he is and so I keep expecting him to look more like an adult

oh, also rantaro is missing some of his accessories in that video he made–you know the one–but I don’t wanna go back and screenshot it

also you may have noticed that I’m skipping all of the monokub cgs because I literally do not care about them and I’m not even bothering to check and see if they have artistic mistakes in them

JIMMY NEUTRON???

hey um uh kaito you seem to be missing your neck

hey guys do you like my pregame fanart

so, that done, the sprites are also pretty terrible at times. they’re not as interesting to go through, however, and downloading the full sprite sets for every character and studying every single one of them will drive me insane, so I’ll just sum some of the ones I noticed up. I made things for kaede and shuichi before deciding I wasn’t going to get into it, so here are these.

that said, other mistakes include kokichi missing his purple highlights in all of the sprites encompassing a specific pose, stray pixels all over the place on everyone, and everyone also has heavily inconsistent shading, but literally all I think about is how pregame shuichi is unshaded and two of kaede’s pregame sprites have glaring outfit change mistakes in them

anyway, thank you for taking the time to read my ridiculous ramble. in all seriousness, there’s this looming presence of some lack of communication in the development team, like with all the art and design inconsistencies, pieces and sprites that look rushed, stray pixels, and missing basic proportional stuff. these are the kinds of things that you supposedly have to pretty much have in the bag in order to get jobs in professional businesses, so it’s really weird to me that this game suffers from so many of these problems. it’s like they tried to make the art so much more crisp than the other games, but it fell on its face as they realized it was going to take longer to draw everything and they started to rush. it’s weird, because the coloring itself looks normal–it’s just sloppily drawn, and the proportions are a mess once put into the context of perspective. many of the cgs look like they were drawn by different people, and I’m still not over the fact that half of kokichi’s cgs have his scarf pasted in as a texture.

the moral of the story is that if you’re selling a game at full price that also happens to be in a series that has had 3 very good games in it already the stakes should probably be higher than this. v3 has been out for more than 3 years and it’s still $40 (did it cost more than that before? I sure hope not), and the overarching quality of the game is just not as high as the other games. I’m not saying that the other games don’t have any problems with their art at all, they’re just not as glaringly obvious and every artistic choice in those games feels intentional.

regardless, I had a blast roasting the art at 2am, so maybe you got a kick out of all this chaos.

#god I keep telling myself I'm gonna stop rambling about v3 #v3 spoilers #drv3 spoilers #ndrv3 #random stuff #but making this… it sounded so fun #danganronpa

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doienseatee · 4 years ago

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One with the Star

Gif not mine

Pairing: Doyoung x Reader

Genre: Strangers to Lovers, Fluff, College

Note: This is my first ever au so please bear in mind that I’m still learning. Inconsistent updates for this series, so please be patient with me. I’ll try my best to update regularly. :>

Word Count: 1.3k

Summary: You developed a crush on the school band’s vocalist and somehow got close with him when your friend, Jungwoo, joined them. You’re too shy to make a move and so you are more than happy to be friends with a star like him.

CHAPTER 1

next chapter

As someone who prefers to just lay in bed on a weekend and do nothing productive at all, it's a surprise to see yourself in the Freshman Night that the school organized. Is it the college thrill or is it the fear of missing out? or maybe it's just an abrupt change of heart? nonetheless, the first 30 minutes of the celebration already convinced you that you chose the right decision. The vocalist of the opening act definitely caught your attention and made you stay the night and just skip your weekend movie marathon date with yourself. You were so ready to just drop everything that you got from the buffet table and watch him sing an unknown song to you but luckily, you maintained your composure and sat on a table while quietly observing the vocalist.

"Hi! Mind if I share the table with you?" diverted your attention from the stunning man that you were watching just a few seconds ago and you had no choice but to force yourself to focus on eating to avoid embarrassment from the man in front of you or at least you tried because your ears were still listening to the man's angelic voice and wondering how can someone look THAT good and have THAT talent, how crazy.

You never intended to initiate a conversation with anyone but thanks to Jungwoo's special ability to connect with people, you blurted out words more than what you expected when you decided to attend the party and you spent the night hanging out with him. Eventually, you found out that both of you are taking up Mechanical Engineering — just from a different class, his educational background (and of course, it means that you shared yours too), that he aspires to be a singer on the side, and somehow you found out about the man of your night's name: Kim Dongyoung, a 3rd year major in Performing Arts Department. Apparently, Jungwoo aims to be a part of Dongyoung's band since they amaze him so much even wayback highschool that ultimately became a goal for him to enter the band when he steps in the college life. You wish him luck and told him that you should see him on stage on the next party to which he manifested excitedly.

—

On your 2nd month being a college student, a lot happened and with a lot, it means a lot of requirements and deadlines to pass and numerous sleepless nights. You weren't really aiming to be the top of the class and you just wanted to maintain having good grades but college is really testing your capability and patience. Luckily, you got closer to Jungwoo even more and you stick with each other most of the time. You were both working on your projects together especially you were both in the same field. One day while you were both completing a requirement, he asked you to join him on his auditions for the school band — NCT. It was as if dead butterflies came to life when you heard the band's name for college stressed you out so much that you totally forgot about the stunning man that you saw on the freshman night. Of course, you didn't express your delight in fear of being embarrassed but you said yes, after all you will still accompany him .

That same night, you somehow found a leisure time and searched for Dongyoung's social media accounts and you stumbled upon his Instagram account. To say the least, he was active in posting photos and they all showcased his features that you didn't really notice when you saw him. You slept with a lot of new favorite photos and a smile on your face.

—

Hearing Jungwoo practice for his audition piece made you fall for him even more but in a platonic way if that even makes sense. His angelic voice suits Dean's Instagram so much but there were times when you just suddenly think of Dongyoung's account when he sings the piece. It's safe to say that you developed a crush on Dongyoung but you were neither gonna admit it nor make a move. You're happy by just thinking about him and you look forward to seeing him more on stage — with Jungwoo as their member of course.

You still have a lot of pending requirements to finish but you didn't have any plans facing them right now for you wanted to show your full support to Jungwoo. The band is urgently in need of another vocalist for the past member already graduated and they need a new recruit to perform with them on the Sports Fest week and you were so sure that Jungwoo will be accepted, you just know it.

The audition was held on an open space somewhere that people often pass by and so anyone can hear those who are trying to be a part of the band. Hearing the other students who are also hoping to be a member of the band definitely made Jungwoo (and you) nervous at some point but you encouraged him to not be swayed by them for he has the capability to surpass them. You were jittery when his turn was near but of course, as usual, you didn't make it obvious for you know that Jungwoo's talents. The fact that Kim Dongyoung aka your crush is just a few meters away isn't also helping. Naturally, he will be here to screen those who are trying out too, right? But maybe it was the nervousness from Jungwoo's audition that made you forget about his certain presence in this audition and you were mentally scolding yourself for that.

The moment that Jungwoo's name was called by Taeyong, the band's leader, for his turn, everything happened quickly in a blink of an eye. You didn't have much time to process everything that happened but in conclusion, Jungwoo got the role and he's now part of NCT!!! You both hugged each other out of joy and excitement only to be cut off by another member named Jaehyun.

"Hey Jungwoo! Wanna have lunch with us? Your girl can join us." was what he offered but both of you of were startled when he thought that you were his girlfriend so you two immediately denied the assumption to which they complied, or at least you thought. You were also supposed to reject having lunch with them and let Jungwoo hang out with the band but the band insisted, Dongyoung included, that you join them too so you didn't have a choice but to sit with the five men you are eating with right now.

They introduced themselves one by one from Lee Taeyong, the leader, Kim Dongyoung or Doyoung, for he prefers being called Doyoung instead, Jung Jaehyun, a 2nd year major in Mechanical Engineering too, and finally Mark, who's a freshman too. Basically, you were just talking about how their group was formed way back high school that's why Mark is a part of the band already. They also complimented Jungwoo a lot and that they've been searching for exactly someone like him and that made you smile out of pride but it was soon your turn to be interrogated. They asked for your name and how you met Jungwoo, your high school life and all the basic information including your (non-existent) love life. They also apologized that they mistook you as Jungwoo's girl but proceeds to tell you that you both look good together. Of course, you tried to explain that you were just platonic and Jungwoo agreed but they were adamant so you just let them be besides, Doyoung is in front of you so you just went with the flow to not leave a bad impression on your crush after all.

You all separated ways when it was time for your next class although for sure, you will see them more often in the upcoming days since they ordered Jungwoo to bring you along during practice and knowing the man, he won't leave you alone until you agree.

—

You were halfway through your class when your phone vibrated indicating a notification from your social media accounts. You got curious so you checked it for a split second only to see that someone followed you on your Instagram account.

"@do0_nct is now following you."

-------

CHAPTER 2

*** chapter 2 is now up :)

#nct #nct 127 #nct scenarios #nct imagines #nct au #doyoung fluff #doyoung au #doyoung x reader #jungwoo #taeyong #mark #jaehyun #nct u #nct 2020 #nct fluff

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twistedtranslations · 5 years ago

Text

Trey Clover - If you started to enjoy it

You can unlock this story by getting Trey’s SSR Dorm Uniform

Translation under the cut

Heartslabyul Dorm - Rose Maze

Ace: Isn't it unproductive to take care of the lawn? Those weeds’ll grow back in no time even if you properly pull ‘em out.

Deuce: Sometimes I really resonate with you, Ace. I feel like we’re stuck doing this forever with no end in sight.

Trey: Come on guys, don't slack and keep at it. A perfect lawn is essential for the "Unbirthday party".

Cater: If the garden looks unseemly, I can't take a pretty picture. After the weeding, the pruning awaits you! Fight on!

Ace: Huh, why do only the first years have to…

Trey: The only thing the first years are in charge of is the rare croquet game. The second and third years have other serious jobs to do. Everyone helps to prepare the party. That is what the law of the Queen of Hearts states. By doing our best to cooperate for the preparation, we can develop a better sense of unity… Don't you think that's surprisingly suitable for us?

Ace: ... I feel like everyone’s only cooperating because they fear the dorm leader will have their heads.

Deuce: Then what are you guys in charge of?

Cater: I'm preparing the venue~ Please look forward to an exciting arrangement!

Trey: I'm making the cake. An "Unbirthday party" is not complete without a cake after all.

Ace: Yay! We're getting your super delicious cakes! What kind of cake are you baking this time?

Trey: What kind of cake?… Hm, it's something I can't explain so easily. The definition of an "Unbirthday party" is a party with no birthday. There's no cake really fitting for that.

Ace: I think that depends on the sense and ideas of the creator… Ah. Doesn't that mean that the cake itself can be any kind? But melon tarts are a no go.

Trey: Huh? Ah, I understand. According to the laws of the Queen of Hearts… "The cake should have a candle" and "Melon tarts are prohibited" are the only rules…

Ace: Okay, then why don't we go for a cherry pie base instead of the usual cake! The sweet sourness is great and the crunchy pie dough makes for a perfect texture! … I like it better than anything else.

Deuce: Ace, don't trouble Clover by saying shoving your requests in. Furthermore… A chiffon cake made with lots of eggs is better than a cherry pie. The humble sweetness makes it digestible for everyone.

Ace: Now you're just making requests for the thing you want to eat!

Deuce: I-I'm not. I'm thinking about the entire dorm…

Heartslabyul Student A: What, are we requesting cakes? I want a chocolate cake!

Heartslabyul Student B: I'd like a cheese cake!

Heartslabyul Student C: A cake doesn't have to be limited to sweetness. Trey, why don't you try something like quiche?

*muttering*

Trey: There, there, guys. I never said I was taking requests from anyone! And in the first place, I'd have to prepare the ingredients. Immediate changes are hard, you know.

Ace: With your skills you'd be able to manage it~

Cater: I understand why you guys are pleading with our genius patissier~ But don’t you think you’re putting him on the spot by pestering him?

Heartslabyul Student A: But no matter how delicious a cake is, eating the same thing repeatedly will make you tired of it.

Ace: Ah, right? Fresh flavors are also important… I’m fed up with it, I want to eat something different every time.

Trey:… I see. Then why don't you guys try making the cakes yourselves? That way, you can eat your favorite cake. Our college endorses the study of cooking with the elective subject "MasterChef".

Deuce: Now that you say it, "MasterChef" is a practical class, right?

Trey: Yes. It's a traditional program from the past to teach students how to cook for themselves after graduation. It's not a mandatory subject, so few students take it, but it's very informative if you want to learn the basics.

Heartslabyul Student A: Hm… then we should try it. You can make it look so easy.

Heartslabyul Student C: It seems much more fun and easy than maintaining this plain law!

Trey: There's always a shortage of helping hands for making sweets, so if you started enjoying cooking because of that, you'd really help me out. Then I shall hand my kitchen utensils over and you guys can be in charge of the cakes.

Deuce:… Ace, you should apologize for that just now. For the whole being tired of his cakes and there not being new flavors…

Ace: You should too. Trey was simply too kind and didn’t get angry.

Deuce: Yeah… Even so? It's true that Trey is an adult, after all. It's rare for there to be helpful and nice people amongst the student body of this college… If I was being told that the job I had to do was "Easy, ", I would get pissed off.

Ace: If you got pissed that easily, you wouldn't be able to take care of our impatient dorm leader.

Cater: You're right. I haven't seen Trey get angry much~… Well, if you do make him angry, he drags it on for a fairly long time.

Chapter 2

Heartslabyul Dorm

Riddle: Unbelievable. Who was slacking for things to end up like this? No one has pruned the lawn, the colors of the roses are inconsistent and the tableware has not been polished! We won't be able to make it for tomorrow's "Unbirthday party"!

Trey: Calm down Riddle. Why don't we try to finish the party with no beheadings?

Riddle: Urgh…

Trey: There's no one who can do everything perfectly from the start. As for the first years, how about I teach them some magic that can help them prune the lawn more efficiently? If we finish everything carefully, one by one, we might make it in time for the party?

Riddle:… You are right. I understand. Thank you Trey.

Trey: Okay. I shall check the roses that still have to be painted… but before that, I'll check up on the kids in the kitchen, just in case.

Heartslabyul Dorm - Kitchen

Heartslabyul Student A: I'm making a chocolate cake but the chocolate won't melt. I'm putting all the chocolate bars in the oven!

Heartslabyul Student B: Weren't we making a cheesecake? I'm pretty fussy about cheese. Let's try making some with magic from milk.

Heartslabyul Student C: Didn't I say it was going to be quiche? By the way, does anyone know how to handle this fish…?

Trey: How lively. I see, do your best.

Cater: Ah, Trey. Dif you feel like watching over the first years who are encouraging each other to make cakes?

Trey: Kind of. Is the construction of the venue you're in charge of finished?

Cater: *sigh*… I'm really doing my best… I've been getting more nervous the more the "Unbirthday party" nears and lately Riddle has been in a super foul mood~ If we make one more mistake he might explode.

Trey: He hasn't exploded yet, so you can just proceed, right? That guy is also doing his best.

Cater: And there you go. You're coddling him! You guys have that kind of relationship because you've been together since childhood, right? I don't have childhood friends so I don't really understand, but don't you tire of it?

Trey: Actually, back in the days, he really didn't carry that angry image with him. He might feel responsible now because he is the dorm leader.

Cater: Huh, really? But the rumors say that he inherited it from his tiger mom?

Trey: Hehehe. They say that, but Riddle's mother wasn't really like that. When it was revealed that Riddle came over to play, she marched into my home, looking ten times more threatening than Riddle, and lectured our family for five hours.

Cater: Scary… you really shouldn't laugh that much, Trey!

Trey: Thinking about it now, I can make fun of it. That someone can get so angry about a child playing. But now that you say it, it was really scary at that time. I totally didn't understand why she was angry…

Trey: I was really worried whether or not I was guilty of doing something terrible. When I asked Che'nya, he merely said "I don't know nya~", so I had no one to talk it over with. And I think she got way more angry at Riddle than I, so I felt really guilty.

Cater: Heh. You were pretty serious since you were small huh… Are you the anxious type?

Trey: I think anyone who met that mother would be. In any case, once you made her angry, she was untouchable. If you think about that, I'm just grateful that sweets seem to cheer Riddle up.

Cater: About that! I totally understand why your tarts cheered Riddle up earlier. Honestly, your cakes deserve the graces of god. How many times have they saved me in this year…

Trey: Flattery doesn't work on me. Besides, this time, it seems I wasn't up to the task and had to relinquish my position.

Cater: Hahaha… Yeah. At least I didn't imagine he was angry.

Trey: Did you say anything?

Cater: Nothing~

Heartslabyul Dorm - Tea Garden

The day of the unbirthday party

Ace: S-Somehow… I captured all the hedgehogs that ran away in time for the party…

Deuce: The flamingos are perfectly on stand by. With this, the perfect party can start.

Trey: Thank you, you two. It seems you had a lot of trouble preparing.

Riddle: At one point I even thought about what would happen to this party… but it seems that despite all the "Unbirthday party" can start.

Cater: Riddle seems satisfied. It seems like no one will get beheaded today~

Riddle: Oho? I do not see the cake anywhere. Where is it?

Heartslabyul Student A: Uhm… It's…

Riddle: The "Unbirthday party" cannot start unless there's cake. Hurry and fetch it!

Heartslabyul Student B: U-Understood.

Ace: Hm? Don't you think those guys who made the cake look a bit pale?

Trey: …

Chapter 3

Riddle: The "Unbirthday party" cannot start unless there's cake. Hurry and fetch it!

Heartslabyul Student B: W-We brought it.

Heartslabyul Student A: We made this with our utmost effort… A special cake made by the first years.

Everyone: ?!

Deuce: Cough, cough, what's that stench! It smells sugary and smoky and of meat and fish… The acid and spice are hurting my eyes!

Cater: The green syrup, the blue cream and the shocking pink decorations… It's more art than a cake. I could upload it to Magicam with the tag #DestructionandCreation.

Ace: Hey, didn't it move? That cake definitely moved just now? Are you sure it's edible?!

Trey: You really did it. You guys made another intense cake. Just how did you make it like this?

Heartslabyul Student A: Ah, it's not my fault. It's his!

Heartslabyul Student B: Y-You're wrong! It's you who… No, wait? Isn't it Ace who said from the start that he wanted to eat something different? Didn’t he start it?

Ace: Maybe I said that, but you guys made it? I have no hands in this!

Heartslabyul Student C: Then it's Deuce's fault who said that chiffon cake would be nice and started a quarrel.

Deuce: D-Don't involve me! You made your own mess and you can clean it up yourselves!

*fussing*

Riddle: …

Cater: Uhm, Riddle? Let's stay amiable, 'kay?

Riddle: You guys!

Everyone: Argh!

Cater: S-Shit. We did our best, but Riddle is going to explode…!

Riddle: To think you dared to make such a messy cake for the dignified "Unbirthday party"… I hope you are all prepared?!

Ace: Aah! Why us as well!?

Deuce: Dorm leader Rosehearts, please calm down! If we apologize, will you accept…!

Riddle: Do not bother with excuses!!! Off with…!

???: Stop!

Deuce: Huh, that voice is…

Trey: Calm down Riddle.

Ace: T-Trey!

Riddle: What's this Trey, release my arms. I cannot chastise the first years who made a mess of the "Unbirthday party" like this!

Trey: … It is true that this cake does not seem edible by its appearance. It's not appetizing, and the smell is awful. It's laughable.… But wouldn’t you say that a cake made by the combined ideas of the first years is very Heartslabyul-like? With that said, isn’t it quite wonderful?

Riddle: I do not think so in the least!

Cater: Right~

Riddle: Furthermore, there is no candle on this cake. They did not obey the laws of the Queen of Hearts! Why did you not make the cake as you usually do? If you did it normally, something like this would not have…

Trey: I understand, I understand. You don't have to be that upset. Isn't this your long awaited "Unbirthday party". It's fine. I put some cakes aside that I make every time for the "Unbirthday party".

Everyone: Huh?!

Trey: The "Unbirthday party" is Heartslabyul's most important day. It's not like I had any intention to slack?

Riddle:… Then you should have told us earlier. I would have reflexively beheaded the dorm students. The "Unbirthday party" can continue without problems. You guys, thank Trey for that.

Heartslabyul Student B: W-We're saved!

Cater: As expected of you, Trey! Okay, everything is ready. Let's start the "Unbirthday party"!

Trey: Indeed, let's start.… Congratulations on the "Unbirthday party"!

Everyone: Congratulations!

Ace: T-Trey… No, Master Trey! You saved us!

Deuce: I really thought I was going to be beheaded. Thank you for persuading our dorm leader!

Cater: As expected of you, Trey! Just when did you make the other cake?

Trey: Yesterday evening, secretly, when everyone was asleep. I had a bad feeling, so I made it just in case.

Ace: Your cakes always look so delicious~ Just by looking I can feel my belly growl.

Deuce: Aah, I really want to eat it as soon as possible.

Trey: But weren't you two tired of these kinds of cakes?

Deuce/Ace: Huh?

Trey: It seems you guys were tired of eating the same thing every time and wanted some new flavors, so don't worry, me and Riddle will eat this one.

Cater: The first years telling you they were fed up with it really pissed you off, didn’t they?

Ace: T-Trey, please don't be so mean. That was just a slip of the tongue…

Deuce: Indeed! We think your cakes are the best. Right, everyone?

Heartslabyul Students: Yes! We want to eat your cakes!

Trey: … Then you guys understand, right? That making sweets isn't something you can do haphazardly. You have to consider all the risks, make plans beforehand and adapt yourself to the situation at hand… If you can do all that, it can become a routine. You don't have the comfort to make these things at peace.

Ace: Uhm… just to verify, but we're still talking about making sweets, right? Because it sounds an awful lot like you're talking about the dorm leader…

Trey: In any case. Do you now understand my hardships?

Deuce/Ace: Yeah…

Trey: Okay, I'm glad you're honest.

Deuce: We learned a lot.… Thank you for existing, Trey's cakes.

Heartslabyul Students: Bon appétit~…

Trey: Wait.

Deuce/Ace: Huh?

Trey: What do you guys intend to do with the cake you made? You shouldn't waste food. If you're not going to eat it, I won't let you eat the cake I made especially for the "Unbirthday party".

Deuce: W-We have to eat this shitty cake?! We already repented, but it seems just words aren't enough…

Ace: Where has our mature and kind Trey gone…

Cater: The gentler a person usually is, the scarier they'll be when they're angry! Treat this as an opportunity to learn.

#twisted wonderland #trey clover #riddle rosehearts #cater diamond #deuce spade #ace trappola #personal story #translation

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asteristories · 5 years ago

Text

Demo Link + About the potential ROs of ‘Nevermoore’ (With Art!)

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Game Demo | Forum

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I decided to put all semi-relevant info + commissioned artwork in one post so it’s easy to find for any newcomers. I’ll be pining this too. (Though some info might change slightly over time bc I am guilty of being inconsistent with my characters whoops)

For RO info, I had also included their music themes. It was based on an ask I gotten a long time ago, but instead on separating them from ‘character songs’ and ‘romance path ballads’, they’re just in general now (But you can still interpret them however you want) Also there’s now an extra song for each because I can’t help myself haha. (And one more thing...a lot of songs are english covers of anime music because I am a weeb. Just...putting it out there)

Also, the some of songs themselves could reveal a bit of the ROs backstory/motivations/etc, if you know where to look 👀.

Disclaimer: All art is done (commissioned) by the incredible @apexred! Please check them out when you can! And even though the ROs have their ‘official art’, please don’t be discouraged if you had wanted to imagine them looking a little different when their descriptions eventually show up in the demo! These designs are more for myself than anything 😅 .

Under the cut-

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Micah/Miriam Sterling

They come from the back alleys of early 1900s New York with a soft-spoken and patient personality. Generally civil and polite to most people they meet, and tries to avoid conflict as much as possible. They also have a habit of being constantly alert of their surroundings, picking up sounds and sensations that would normally be missed by others. Nobody considers it unusual, however, because it becomes understandable once you meet them. If the pair of shades and solid wood walking cane doesn’t give it away, then their clouded blue eyes definitely will.

However, it’s best to remain wary of them. Because there is just something...off, in the way they carry themselves. Like a predator, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike their prey.

Age: 26

Birthday: February 25, 1896 (Pisces)

Height: 5′9″. Becomes 5′10″ in the heels.

Background: They actually don’t know the specific date they were born, but had went with February 25 because that was the day they were found left on the doorstep of a church orphanage. Because of this, they also don’t know where they are from. But they do know how to speak other languages like French, German, Italian, Russian, and many more.

Recorded Date of Disappearance: 1922

Songs: Unravel English Cover Acoustic, Last StarDust English Cover, Towards the Sun

Related Art: 1,

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Elias/Eloise Lain Romero

They grew up in Cuba before moving to Canada to study journalism. They are often sarcastic and have a bit of a sharp tongue, directing it towards anyone that’s within their vicinity for longer than a minute. However, it’s known that they do genuinely care for the other residents, even though they’d probably rather die again than admit it out loud. Oddly enough, they can also come off as rather nosy, always asking others (including you) rather personal questions. They insist that it’s important, but don't specify what they need the information for.

Also, they are always seen carrying a leather-bound notebook with them at all times. With everything they seem to know about the people and the town, who knows what's written in it...

Age: 21

Birthday: May 11, 1969 (Taurus)

Height: 5′7″

Background: Was born and lived in Cuba until they were about age 7. Knows how to speak Spanish.

Recorded Date of Disappearance: 1989

Songs: Hello World English Cover, Shikisai English Cover, Reason Living English Cover

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Pavel/Pris(Priscilla) Falken

The brightly coloured, mismatched clothes they wear match their upbeat, free-spirited personality. An aspiring cook, specifically a baker, who was looking to open their own cafe before they arrived to the town. But even so, they won’t let the curse stop them from doing what they love, despite the potential risks (In fact, they’ve lost count on how many times their oven blew up on them). They also love to chat with people, especially with the newcomers. Expect to see them show up at your doorstep with a fresh batch of freshly baked goods as a way to make you feel welcome.

Their family actually shares their love for cooking, having once owned a small, local restaurant. Once is the keyword here. And it’s their fault.

Age: 23

Birthday: August 7, 1981 (Leo)

Height: 5′4″-5′5″

Background: Mixed Scandinavian ancestry and probably had distant viking blood. Knows mostly English, but may or may not know some curse words in Swedish and Norwegian.

Recorded Date of Disappearance: 2004

Songs: Best Day of My Life, When Can I see You Again, Glad You Came

Related Art: 1,

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Simon/Sarai Zhang

They are a person of science, following the footsteps of their father. Can be mostly be found in the town library, preferring the company of books rather than people. Their stoicism and aloofness makes it hard to get a read on what they are really thinking, and their bluntness sometimes turns others away. But they are hardworking, and take their situation more seriously than others. Which is why they are the only one who is actively trying to find a way out of the town, as well as understand how it works. They’ve tried everything, and are still coming up with new ways and theories (and experiments, sometimes even on themselves) all the time. They are determined to escape.

They have to. For their father.

Age: 25

Birthday: November 12, 1945

Height: Simon is 6′2″, while Sarai is 6′0″

Background: Has a Chinese father and an Israeli mother. So because of this they know how to speak Mandarin and little bit of Hebrew.

Recorded Date of Disappearance: 1970

Songs: C’mon, Tell Me Now English Cover, [To be added]

#astericae speaks #Nevermoore cog #ROs #Nevermoore Sterling #Nevermoore Romero #Nevermoore Falken #Nevermoore Zhang

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chiaki-translation · 4 years ago

Text

New Year! Red and White Kakushigei Tournament! Event Translation Ch1-4

Actually, I’ll be going for a short holiday after today, so expect the next few chapters next week~

Short note before the translation part, I actually don’t know how to translate Kakushigei Tournament, it’s like a hidden talent/art competition? If I’m not wrong, it’s a variety show kind of stuffs where you perform unique talents. Few examples can be seen from the cards from this event, things like belly dance, cigar box juggling, ventriloquism, etc. If anyone knows more about what it is, please tell me cause I’m actually not that clear either~

New Year! Kakushigei Tournament Ch1-4 / / Ch5-8 / / Ch9-Epilogue

Disclaimer:

A3! is owned by Liber’s Entertainment

Translator’s Note: I’m keeping it as Kakushigei throughout the story as it cannot be translated. ‘escape game’ refers to escape room type of game. The shrine that they visited in this story has already been visited during previous event in which I haven’t read the story, so do tell me if there’s any inconsistency in my translation.

Manager:

Then without further ado, I will announce the result of the voting…

A has 13 votes, B has 13 votes too!

It’s a draw!

Kumon:

Eh!?

Taichi:

Really!?

Kazunari:

But A is definitely better!

Citron:

No, no! It’s definitely B!

Itaru:

I think A is better.

Tasuku:

B’s better isn’t it.

Yuki:

A seems to be better.

Taichi:

It’s B! B should be the correct choice!

Director:

I didn’t expect this to be a draw. What to do…

Omi:

It’s a bit of a problem…

Tsumugi:

… Eh?

Anyway, where’s Chikage-san and Banri-kun?

Muku:

Ah, you’re right. They are not here.

Azami:

They were just here earlier, right?

Tsuzuru:

Ah, if it’s those two, most probably…

Banri:

… I managed to slip away, but I wonder if it’s alright.

Chikage:

It’s not a good idea to break the atmosphere isn’t it.

Banri:

Well, if it continues that way, we won’t be able to make it for the ‘escape game’, I guess there’s no other choice.

This ‘escape game’ is one that I’m really interested in.

Anyway, that voting before, what did you choose, Chikage-san.

Chikage:

I feel that both are fine… But I choose A.

Banri:

Really, me too.

Chikage:

Haha, so we chose the same thing.

Then, where are we going now?

Banri:

Today’s ‘escape game’ is a little bit different from the usual one.

… Look, this is the game’s website.

Chikage:

Eh, this place…

Chikage:

As I thought, it’s here.

I helped out here during the moon-viewing party before.

Banri:

Ah, that one.

If I remember correctly, I heard that you also danced for the offering ceremony.

Chikage:

You’re right.

Priest:

Oh, you are…

Chikage:

Good afternoon, long time no see.

Priest:

It’s been a while.

Thank you so much for your help during the moon-viewing party.

Chikage:

You’re welcome.

… So, this shrine also holds an ‘escape game’.

Priest:

You came to participate in the ‘escape game’ is it.

Thank you so much.

I’m doing this so that everyone can feel the friendliness of the shrine, in order for everyone to be more interested in this shrine.

We believe for the rabbits to be the divine messenger, there are a lot of rabbit paintings and decorations around, and people mostly visit during the moon-viewing season--.

That’s why, we’re trying to do a special event for end of year.

But during new year, people tend to visit other shrines and temples instead… To be honest, I’m having quite a hard time.

Banri:

It’s a real issue for the temple huh…

Chikage:

True that.

Priest:

… Anyway, what’s your theatre company planning to do at the end of the year?

Chikage:

New year huh?

Most probably it’s going to be the same as usual, end of year party and…

Banri:

That right?

The annual Kakushigei tournament.

Priest:

A Kakushigei tournament huh… I see.

If that’s the case…

Banri:

I’m home.

Chikage:

I’m home.

Director:

The two of you, welcome back.

Citron:

Welcome~!

You were at an ‘escape game’ right?

Banri:

Yeah. Sorry for slipping out during the day.

So about that vote, have you guys made the decision?

Taichi:

About that, we still cannot decide~

Tsuzuru:

The discussion runs in parallel, and in the end we never get to decide.

Banri:

Seriously.

Tenma:

How’s the ‘escape game’?

Chikage:

They have quite elaborate content, it was fun.

Banri:

It’s located in a shrine, but it was fresh and interesting.

Chikage:

Yeah. Actually, the ‘escape game’ this time is held in the rabbit shrine where we did the moon-viewing party last time.

Kazunari:

For real!? So that shrine also holds an ‘escape game’~!

Chikage:

We happened to meet the priest there too.

We were asked if we would like to appear at their end of year event as MANKAI company.

Director:

Is it a performance request!?

Banri:

When we told him that we usually do a Kakushigei tournament during new year, he asked if we would like to show it off as an event there instead.

Tsuzuru:

You mean, it won’t be a play, but a Kakushigei performance!?

Kazunari:

That’s lit!

It sounds interesting to do Kakushigei on the stage of a shrine!

Taichi:

It sounds really fun! I want to do it!

Citron:

… I, am inspired.

Tsuzuru:

What’s with that weird look.

Citron:

The previous voting was a draw. So—

We’ll divide the A and B into red and white group, and battle it out during the Kakushigei tournament, how about that!?

Taichi:

Damn! Citron’s a genius!

Tenma:

Huh!? Seriously.

Sakyo:

I have nothing to say…

Kazunari:

But, by doing that we can take the challenge more seriously, and it should hype out the event more, even the audiences will be more excited isn’t it!?

Director:

You’re right…

That shrine has taken care of us during the moon-viewing party too.

I think it’s a good idea to do this kind of performance once in a while.

Tsuzuru:

Well, it’s true that we haven’t decided on what to do for Kakushigei this year too.

Citron:

Yes!

The chance is here, Kakushigei tournament, everyone let’s hype it up!

Kazunari:

You can show off the different appeal of this theatre company as well!

Right, Frooch-san!

Sakyo:

Geez, fine…

But, if you want to do it, everyone has to give their all.

Taichi:

Alright!

This is so exciting~!

Banri:

Then, we’ll accept the Kakushigei tournament performance.

Director:

Yup, let’s do it!

Chikage:

… Then, there’s actually one more request that I’ve received.

Director:

Priest:

It’s different from the ‘Moon Recital’ that we did during the moon-viewing party, and we haven’t done it in years but…

The past end of year festival… We used to present a dance for the “Rabbit Lunar New Year Fair”.

Chikage:

Hmm, I see.

Priest:

The dance at the moon-viewing party was wonderful, even if it’s only this year, I would like to revive this tradition, I would like to request this from you.

Banri:

The priest also mentioned about a special reward.

Tsuzuru:

Something special from the priest?

It can’t be…

Chikage:

The reward is not a figurine this time, I have confirmed it.

Kazunari:

Oh, really?

Taichi:

What will the reward be~!?

I’m getting even more excited now!

Sakyo:

Even as theatre company, the moon-viewing party was one of good reputation.

I was grateful we received such request that time.

Director:

You’re right. Then, let’s accept the dance offer as well!

Director:

So, for the dance, I’ll leave it to the members here!

Banri:

Yup.

Chikage:

Please treat me well.

Hisoka:

Zzz…

Tsuzuru:

Mikage-san, please wake up.

Azuma:

Fufu, the line-up sounds good.

Director:

Chikage-san, Tsuzuru-kun, Hisoka-san, and Juza-kun, the four of you have participated in the moon-viewing party before right.

I’ll be counting on you.

Juza:

I’m going to give it my all for the performance this time too.

Tenma:

But, the Kakushigei will run in parallel with the performance, you have to practice for both, it’s going to be quite taxing.

Director:

For the details, I will be meeting the priest in the near future to discuss about it.

Tenma:

Hmm? Someone’s phone is ringing.

Banri:

Ah, it’s mine.

… My bad, it’s a phone call.

I’ll go out for a bit.

Azuma:

Go ahead.

Chikage:

…Hmm?

Banri:

Eh, isn’t is Chikage-san.

It’s rare to see you around here.

Chikage:

I was on my favorite curry shop.

On my way back now.

Banri:

You’re a spice maniac as usual… So dedicated.

Chikage:

I’ll take it as a compliment.

Then, what are you doing, Banri?

Banri;

Shopping for the Kakushigei.

Chikage:

Oh, as expected of Banri.

You’re pretty dedicated as the leader of the red group.

Banri:

You said something nice for someone who partly got forced into that position…

Staff:

It’s amazake! Try it out!

Banri:

Hmm?

Staff!

I’m giving out amazake samples!

Would you like to try one?

Banri:

Why not, I’ll take it.

Staff:

Alright, there you go~

Chikage:

Thank you.

Banri:

It’s warm.

Chikage:

… Sweet.

Banri:

Is it really that sweet?

Amazake’s usually like this.

Chikage:

The one that I drink before had ginger in it, I could drink it because it wasn’t as sweet.

Banri:

Ah, I’m the opposite of that. When I was small, I drank amazake with ginger and it was a bit too much, it became kind of a trauma.

Since then, the amazake that’s served in my house was always the sweet malted rice kind and by the time we realized it, it has become a new year tradition for us.

Well, I feel that if I can choose, I prefer the sweet one.

Chikage:

Oh, I see.

Then, would you like to drink my share too?

Banri:

… If that, I have to refuse.

Director:

Then, let’s start the meeting for the dance team.

Juza:

Right.

Tsuzuru:

… Eh, why is Citron-san here?

Banri:

Citron-san is not a member of the dance team right.

Citron:

As White team, I’m going to latch on the Red team’s conversation and check if I can get any useful information!

Tenma:

What is that even.

Azuma:

As usual, the prince is an interesting one.

Director:

Anyway, let’s move on…

When I went to ask for the details, he requested for a casual dance performance for young people.

The acting part will also be similar to last time, and I’m going to ask Tsuzuru to arrange something for it.

Tsuzuru:

It will be a good learning experience to arrange a performance that has been handed down through generations, I’m more than happy to do it.

Director:

About the dance, the Priest will be training you.

Chikage:

He taught us during the moon-viewing party as well.

Tsuzuru:

Ah…

That priest’s training was really a strict one wasn’t it.

Juza:

… When it comes to training, his tone changes completely.

Hisoka:

… Yeah.

Azuma:

Really.

Banri:

On the contrary, I’m actually looking forward to it.

Director:

Then, that’s all for today’s meeting.

Thank you for your hard work.

Chikage:

Good work.

Citron:

Oh!

Everyone, look~!

Hisoka:

… Ah.

Director:

It’s snowing…!

Azuma:

Speaking of which, the weather forecast did say that it might snow today.

Banri:

No wonder it’s cold.

Tenma:

Oh, it’s beautiful.

Juza:

Yeah.

Tsuzuru:

It’s snowing quite heavily.

Chikage:

Yeah, it looks like it’s going to pile up soon.

Kumon:

When there’s snow, of course we have to do snowball fight!

Let’s go~! Take this!

Taichi:

You did it huh~ I’m not going to lose either!

Taichi Special Blizzard Shot!!

Misumi:

Oh oops~!

Take this!

Kazunari:

Sakusaku, you’re wide open!

There!

Sakuya:

Woah!?

Muku:

Make the snow round, then…

Yuki:

A snowman?

Muku:

Yup! We don’t have much snow yet, so I think I can only make a small one.

Tsumugi:

I think even the small one is cute.

I’ll try to make one too.

Yuki:

Then, I think I have a button that will fit a snowman, I’ll bring it here.

Chikage:

The hype is up.

Tsuzuru:

Everyone’s so energetic.

Kumon:

Ah, Big Brother! Let’s play together~!

Juza:

My bad, but we’re going to practice at the shrine now.

Kumon:

Oh, I see~. That’s too bad…

Kazunari:

Everyone, fight on!

Misumi:

Have a safe trip!

Azuma:

When the shrine’s covered with snow, the atmosphere it gives out is quite different, it’s beautiful.

Tsuzuru:

You’re right. I feel like I’m starting to get some ideas too.

Banri:

Oh, there’s a rabbit hut.

Chikage:

The one over here, this rabbit is said to be the rabbit priest of the shrine.

Tenma:

Oh… So, it’s Mr. rabbit priest.

Tsuzuru:

I was utterly manipulated by this rabbit that escaped previously…

Juza:

Yeah…

Hisoka:

It was pretty hard to catch him, it was rough.

Chikage:

Well, it seems that he’s going to stay put today, isn’t it great.

Priest:

Everyone, thank you for coming.

Azuma:

Good afternoon.

I’m looking forward to work with you this time.

Priest:

Same here, pleased to work with you.

Banri:

Then, let’s start our practice immediately.

Priest:

Before that…

Banri:

Tenma:

Why does it have to be us, it becomes a snow shoveling session…

Hisoka:

Snooze…

Tsuzuru:

Mikage-san, please don’t fall asleep in the middle of the snow!

Chikage:

I’m more or less done getting rid of the snow over here.

Banri:

Azuma-san, how’s over there?

Azuma:

Is this alright?

Juza:

It’s a beautiful snow bunny.

Hisoka:

It’s fluffy, it’s cute.

Reminds me of Azuma.

Tsuzuru:

I understand about shoveling the snow in the main road, but I wonder what the snow bunny is about.

Banri:

I wonder. Well, it seems that he’s going to explain later anyway, for now, let’s just continue making them.

Juza:

…

Banri:

No, yours is not even a rabbit anymore!

Tsuzuru:

Somehow, it becomes a mysterious creature instead…

Tenma:

Banri-san’s snow bunny looks like the real thing.

Chikage:

As expected.

Banri:

Well, this much is pretty easy.

Hisoka:

Tenma’s one is just a round snowball with the leaf ears…

Tenma:

Uh, I don’t know how to make the shape of the snow bunny.

Azuma:

I think this kind of snow bunny is cute too though.

Banri:

Tsuzuru’s snow bunny… Somehow, it’s a bit disappointing.

Chikage:

You’re right.

Tsuzuru:

What do you even mean by that.

Juza:

Hisoka-san’s snow bunny looks great.

Hisoka:

It’s white, and round… I’m seeing marshmallow…

Banri:

Eh, wait! Don’t eat the snow!

Tsuzuru:

Chikage-san’s snow bunny… Somehow…

It has a unique shape to it.

Tenma:

I thought you would make a perfect snow bunny, just like Banri-san.

Azuma:

Fufu, it’s kind of surprising.

Chikage:

… If you are living the normal life of an office worker, not being able to make something like this is normal.

Hisoka:

… Be strong.

Chikage:

Shut up.

#a3! act! addict! actors!#a3! translation #a3! event #hisoka mikage #chikage utsuki #settsu banri #minagi tsuzuru #hyodo juza #yukishiro azuma

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franeridart · 5 years ago

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Anon said: Um so hello, I��m just here to say keep up the awesome work, I love your kiribaku art and it’s adorable and I go on binges through your blog (omg I sound so creepy I’m sorry I just love ur art so much) and it makes my day so yeah please keep drawing!

Ahhhhh you don’t sound creepy at all, don’t worry!!!!! Thank you so much for liking my stuff that much!!!!!!! <3<3

Anon said: May ask what kiri///mina would look like in your style? You don't have to draw it if you don't like the ship.

Gosh sorry but I really really don’t ship it!

Anon said: you know how I miss?? your OCs!!! they're the cutest!!

AWE thank you so much!!!!!!! I have a few comics planned for them, hope I’ll manage getting to them soon enough!!! (oT^T)9<3

Anon said: This is so sappy but some of your kiribaku posts really make me really appreciate long relationships! I’ve always found pining and crushes the cutest bc it’s full of intense feelings, but you portray being in love and accepting each other so well!! it’s amazing how you show characters interacting with each other and being so comfortable instead of worrying about hiding part of themselves and long story short I love your art and ideas so much

This ask!!!!!!!!! means the universe!!!!!!!!!! to me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m so glad I can manage portraying love in such a way, I’m so in love with the idea of open, accepting love, andI try seriously hard to make it look healthy in my comics so!!!!!!! thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have no clue how many times I’ve reread this ask I’m not even exaggerating TT^TT <3

Anon said: I just want to start off by saying you’re my favourite blog on tumblr, your art is incredibly adorable and always makes my day!! I was just wondering how you were able to create your own unique art style? It’s something I’ve been struggling with a lot lately with my own art. Any advice is appreciated, thanks for everything you do!!

I think it’s about finding the right spot between what feels comfortable for you and the end you’re using your art for? In my case what’s comfortable is something fun and smooth, and the main end has always been to be able to draw comics - I’ve always liked comics because I like writing and I like drawing, but my attention span was too short to manage finishing them, and the way I had of drawing was too stiff to properly convey emotions the way I wanted to, which made drawing comics sound like an impossible dream haha I fixed it by simplifying my style, by taking away or reducing to the bare minimum everything that took me ages to work out/draw and pushing my expressions and body language to extremes to make up for the lack of details.

That’s just my experience with it, though! The best advice I can give you is to sit back and look at your current way of drawing from an objective perspective - do you enjoy it? Is the process of drawing something you’re comfortable with? What’s uncomfortable in it for you, and in which ways could you change it to make it comfortable and fun? Does your current art style allow you to do what you want to do with your art? If you want to paint, does it allow you to paint in an easy and fun way? If you want to make comics, does it allow you the range to properly portray a character moving and living without making you wish you’d never started drawing halfway through it?

Imho the first step to find a style that’s your own and feels right is to find a style that’s fun to use and doesn’t stress you to hell and back every time you pick up your pencil. This is easier to do the more things you attempt, so for a bit being inconsistent in style is a good and normal thing - try things out! The best one for you will definitely stick in the end. And if you already feel comfortable with the way you have of drawing, then hell! You already have a style that works for you! Just because to you it doesn’t look unique and special it doesn’t mean that it isn’t - if you asked me to point out what makes my style unique I wouldn’t be able to tell you either, the way I see it my style is the most uninteresting and common-looking style out there. To be honest with you that’s probably just how it is for every artist out there hahaha

Anon said: Hi!! I love your art and just want you to know I always get a big, stupid smile on my face whenever I see you cross my feed, whether it’s something new or a reblog of an old post. Everything you do is just amazing and I love it

AHHHHHHH Thank you so so much!!!!!!!!! (TT^TT)<3<3<3

Anon said: Hey Fran! First off, thank you for the Fire Force art. I remembered to actually check it out, after seeing it lol. Second, I still can't find your Fatgum 😭😭 the link didn't give any, and searching on your page didn't help either. I WILL FIND IT ONE DAY

I think it’s a problem of the app orz I can see him just find from desktop but the app can’t find him either T-T stupid app!

Anon said: Do you have a mini Bakugou and Kirishima living in your head? Are they just living their lives up in your brain and that causes your hand to to write and draw the most perfect and accurate things? Of course mini Kaminari, Sero, Mina, Jirou, etc. also come to visit your head hole from time to time and just chill with mini Baku and Kiri. That’s the only logical explanation on how all your Bakushima content is so inconceivably spot on

That’s such a kind thing of you to say, anon!!!!!! I’m glad you find them that IC!!!!!! I try my best, but sometimes I admit I just have them do and say stuff I’ve done and said myself, the only difference is that I word things in a way that feels right for their usual way of talking hahaha

Anon said: I personally would love to read your essay on why bakugo is the best character ever because I really really really want to love him that much but i feel like there's something that I'm just not getting about him- there's something I'm missing about his personality (keeping in mind that i kinda left the manga after the whole mirio/8 precepts arc). I've always found bakugo compelling and would love love love to read your take on him! Hope you have a great day!

Bakugou has had some amazing character development scenes after the overhaul arc!!!!! He’s outright shown he understands where he was lacking and where he was wrong, that he’s perfectly capable of working in a team and letting people help him and helping them in return, that he cares about his class and how the rest of the world sees them! (and that he worries/cares about how the world sees him too, actually, that broke my heart a bit ;; ) We haven’t seen him in a hot minute by now, but most of anything before the current arc has had him improve and develop and become even better than he already was - I’ve always thought him a good guy with just a lot of troubles relating to the world around him due the way he has been brought up as special and different (it creates a drift between yourself and the rest of the world when everyone around you keeps treating you as if you were other - when you tell a kid he’s different and better for his whole life he’s bound to grow up believing it, after all), but if the problem you have with him is that he isn’t showing the good in himself plainly and obviously enough, then the arcs after the overhaul one are gonna help you like him better, definitely

Well, the thing about Bakugou is that he’s not a plain/obvious character, so you need to think about his actions and his words a bit more, and can’t just take him at face value - it’s what I like about him, actually! How much you need to think about him to figure him out on a deeper level than just the surface one. Since I dunno why you like him and why you feel something’s missing, I can’t tell you specifically what it is in the way I see him that completes him for me, but as I said I try to keep him as IC as I can so probably reading my comics about him might help you understand the way I see him. To me Bakugou’s honest, and kind, and loving, but he’s also arrogant, and angry, and used to taking some things for granted, and I like how all those things work with and against each other in his character. He’s at the same time incredibly proud and absurdly insecure, and I like that about him too - where each comes from and where and how they clash, I like the complexity it gives him. I like that he’s a people person in the sense that he likes having people around himself, and I like that at the same time UA is the first time he’s had actual, honest to god best friends, and how that means that he’s gonna be awkward when usually he’s so sure and proud simply because he isn’t used to having people he actually specifically cares for, I very much like that about him. I like that he overthinks everything he doesn’t immediately gets, I like that he still acts on instincts more often than not, I like that somehow with him those two aren’t mutually exclusive. I like that he’s smart and still so damn dumb, I like that he’s just as simple-minded as he is an actually labyrinth in thought process, I like how one-track minded he is even on the most silly things - how once he sets his eyes on a goal he goes for it like his life depends on it. I like that he’s barsh and rude and impulsive in what he says and does, but when he fucks up he knows he fucked up, and he backstracks, and he does his best to make amends. I like that he sits in stupid ways and has the worst posture in the class and then he wears his hero costume and suddenly he’s a model on the catwalk, that’s so damn endearing to me. I like how ridiculously hyperbolic he is and how he just assumes people will get it, get what he actually means, like there’s a point between his brain and his mouth were things get blown out of proportion and he doesn’t even realize it. There’s just so many things to love about him, for me!!

But most importantly I like that he started as low as he could get and that because of it his plot is a one way towards the summit. I like it. I like watching a character grow and every new chapter become a better version of themselves, I love it. Ultimately that’s probably why he’s my favorite, after all haha

Anon said: Hi, this isn’t a question but I just wanted to say how much I love your art and the way you clearly appreciate Bakugou as a character. So many of my friends hate him, but I think he has a lot of depth and so much potential. Your art always makes me smile! Thanks for doing what you do. :)

THANK YOU and thank you for liking the boy too!!!!!!! He deserves it, he absolutely does deserve it!!!!!!! <3<3<3

Anon said: I just went digging in the archives of my blog (which is.. a mess) and found some old art of yours (like... I'm talking bokuto and kuroo level old) and g o s h. I already loved your art so much then and I still do n hhhhhhhh u go. U great.

Gosh you’ve been around a long time then!!!!! Thank you so much for sticking with me all this time!!!! ✨o(TT0TT)o✨

#fran answers #long post #sorry for disappearing on all of you btw!!#some of you might know already but i've spent most of the last week consuming stuff more than producing it haha #sometimes i need that too

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snkpolls · 6 years ago

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SnK S3E15 Poll Results (Manga Reader Version)

The poll closed with 321 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated!

Please note that these are the results of the manga reader poll. Anime only watchers are suggested not to read if you do not wish to be spoiled about certain events! Anime only viewers, click here to view your poll results!

RATE THE EPISODE 308 Responses

Overall the fandom enjoyed the episode, with the vast majority of votes being at either a 4 or 5.

Best ep of the season thus far, Bert's monologue/transformation was amazing. Some fantastic VA work by Tomohisa and Inoue as well. CG CT also looked far better than I thought he would. These next few episodes are going to kill me. I can't wait.

Fantastic episode. Bertholdt's monologue was the best part.

Great episode, very dramatic, awesome OST. I am not looking forward to the next few eps, except for Floch's villain origin story!

Can’t wait for the next episode, this one was so good!

Editing was a bit choppy, voice lines cut half a second too quick a few times.

First ep of S3P2 to get a 10/10 from me <3

The animation was pretty lacking in this episode. R&B’s running animation on the wall felt pretty lazy, there was that reused shot of the beast Titan’s throw from season 2, Bertholdt’s character design felt inconsistent as well as Zeke’s. They really need to get the old team back on the animation cause the current team clearly doesn’t know how to handle aot. It’s getting on my nerves.

The episode was absolutely awesome.

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING WAS YOUR FAVORITE MOMENT? 308 Responses

The Bertl Bomb™ was the scene that respondents were most excited about. Following behind that was Mikasa’s brief skirmish with Bertolt, and closely behind that was Armin and Bertolt’s shouting match on the rooftops.

BERUTORUTO=GOD

I’m mikasasexual

As a huge Bertholdt fan, it was so great to see Bert as the centre of attention for once. It makes me really sad knowing what comes next.

Bert bomb made my bomb go off

I love Bertholdt's resolve. This scene made him one of my favorite characters.

Bertholdt vs. Mikasa was so fire 🔥

One of the best episodes without a doubt. Bertholdt's monologue before transforming was even more impactful than in the manga.

Explosion aftermath was disappointing. I expected a sea of fire. The one they gave us doesn't feel like something big just happened

That "Levi's 5 seconds of screen time" was good, too!

Why isn't "Mikasa comforting and protecting Armin" an option for favorite moment in this episode? Because those were definitely my favorite moments in the episode

The partner gesture between Reiner and Bertl is the death of me

Am I the only one who get's goosebumps in the scene before he transformed himself into the colossalus titan and said: 'I feel like, no matter how this all plays out, I can accept whatever happens. That's right, nobody's in the wrong. There's nothing we could do. Because this world....is just...that cruel.' This scene was impressive back in the manga and I'm proud how good Tomohisa Hashizume nailed it. He's an amazing voice actor, especially for Bertholdt.

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE APETITAN AND YOUSEEBIGGIRL REARRANGES? 296 Responses

Overall the fandom was excited about the new versions of familiar songs with 71% of respondents feeling that they were “totally epic!” 18% agree that the rearranges were good, but that they can’t surpass the original versions.

The soundtrack was lit.

Music was awesome!

Ngl I've watched the episode many times bc the OST during some scenes is just SO GOOD!!

WHO WON THE SHOUTING MATCH? 308 Responses

Over ¾ of the fandom agree that Bertolt dominated the shouting match on the rooftop.

I feel Armin won the "debate" because Bertolt, in his zeal to convince himself that he wanted to kill people he used to see as friends, wasn't making any sense

HOW DID YOU FEEL ABOUT BERTOLT’S DEVELOPMENT AT THIS POINT? 308 Responses

46% of respondents were happy to see how far Bertolt had come as a character at this point in the story, while 34% were just happy to get more dialogue and thoughts from him. A small percentage had been curious where his character would go from here.

Godtolt on the way

He ditched the alter ego built up out of guilt, and it's cool to see him truly one of the strongest characters fighting off Mikasa while in human form

I wish we had more Bertl development! He could’ve been really complex, but just isn’t due to a lack of screentime. Compared to someone like Reiner or Annie, this was his one moment of pure raw character development

He reveals his true warrior colors

I loved it, one of my favourite chapters because of his resolve and how he himself was surprised about it.

He's only moving forward as a character and does what needs to be done. Bertholdt, your doing amazing sweetie!

With all this development just to kill him off was heart breaking.

Honestly, I’m so proud of him. He was amazing and it’s so nice to see a confident Bert. I don’t think it’s a development worth praising in terms of moral standards but it suited and made sense for his character

I feel like this is where his character peaked. It was pretty flat before season 2

I just don’t like bertolt in generalI really like his development but it's a shame that he severely lacked screen time before this episode

I'm not really a fan of Bertolt so I'm neutral on this

I still hate his traitorous guts and can't wait for THAT scene to be animated

Fucking loved it. It's one of my favorite chapters (and now episodes) just because he's talking so much and he's badass af. My boy is finally shining!

HOW DID YOU FEEL ABOUT ARMIN BLUFFING ABOUT ANNIE A SECOND TIME? 306 Responses

Just over half of respondents feel that Armin should have tried a different tactic with Bertolt, while 46% felt that it was worth another shot to try and manipulate Bertolt’s feelings for Annie again.

Has Armin ever convinced anyone of anything they didn't already believe?

He was so used to Bertholdt’s behavior and there was nothing that would’ve made Armin think Bertholdt would have the reaction that he did

Lame. He didn't use much of intelligence here.

It's low, I'm happy it didn't work again

He learned some pretty vital things - how far the Warriors are willing to go, what their priorities are, what Bert's state of mind is, and where his loyalties truly lie. I don't imagine Armin went down that track solely because he thought it would have the exact same effect, but rather to 'check something' - exactly the same as Bertolt.

I think it not only was a good attempt to take (it worked before, why not try it again), but I also think it is incredibly important to show Armin's flaws. Yes, he's an amazing strategist. He's also still sixteen and not always entirely confident. Having Armin make mistakes like relying on old ploys that worked keeps his character more grounded and realistic

Smart people tend to use the same tactics over and over again as long as they're successful and for good reason. After all, why wouldn't you use the same tactic if you know it brings success? If it ain't broke, don't fix it. It's only when said strategy or tactic doesn't work where the individual would entertain the prospect of changing it or never using it again.

That’s Very Unfortunate!

WHAT DID YOU THINK ABOUT CGI COLOSSAL TITAN? 306 Responses

36% of respondents aren’t very impressed with the CGI colossal titan, while 29% actually found the effect to be pretty awesome! 13% feel it’s disturbing and a small 7% just find it cringeworthy.

Alright

CGI doesn't bother me. What bothers me is how animators overly rely on it. Several decades ago animators made great masterpieces without cgi, all by hand. I understand using it because it makes things easier, but exceeding quality should still be top priority. If you can't make it better with CGI, then go old school and do it right.

Decent but could be better

U can still notice it is CGI but I think their CGI has gotten better compared to some of their earlier uses of it

Doesn't fit with the art style, which is as bad as unfair splitting potatoes

Not too bad but could definitely have been better. Understandable since there has only been one full body shot of it before and that was a sharp backwards, down looking angle.

Don’t really care much for cgi complaints, animating that would be a lot of work, their efforts are better elsewhere

It was necessary and didn't look appallingly bad.

I don't get why people hate it so much? I think it's fine

I hated it in season 2 and I hate it more now

Bad

Don't like CGI anything in any anime so take from that what you will

Most angles he looks fine! The only part that he looked off was when we got the face shot of him panning out to the rest of his body

Thought it looked solid. There were some really great shots of him this ep imo. Hopefully the action bits will look as good, and they mix in some 2D shots as well.

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE 104TH RIDING ON TITAN EREN? 306 Responses

Over half of the fandom agree that this detail is something that’s very adorable, while 22% feel it’s just pretty neat. A combined 21% of respondents either feel it’s not that big of a deal or simply don’t care about it.

>AMJCS who cares?

Good boy protecting his friends? Hell Yeah!

I want to ride pieck - Not an innuendo, i just want a go in one of her turrets

It's gay

Lads you would never get me off that thing, I'd be saddling him up to go grocery shopping

Save me a seat guys!!

HOW WELL DID THE EPISODE ADAPT THE CORRESPONDING CHAPTERS? 306 Responses

Manga readers are overall happy with the adaptation of chapters 77 and 78, with over 90% saying that it was close to being perfectly done.

DID MARCO’S DEATH AFFECT YOU AS MUCH AS IT DID IN THE MANGA? 305 Responses

41% of respondents felt more heartbroken to see Marco’s death play out in the anime, while 31% say they felt more sympathetic toward Marco. 14% weren’t affected when this scene played out in either story-telling medium.

About the same level, still utterly heartbreaking, though

DEATH TO THE TITAN TRIO!

Didn't feel as much. Not because it was a bad adaptation, but just because I've already read it and knew what went down.

I felt more sorry for RBA than Marco in this version

I still had lot of emotions with the adaptation, but there's no compare to experiencing it for the first time

I was absolutely sobbing when I read it in the manga. Anime-wise I was more prepared to handle the scene

Watching Marco die again reminds me of why, even in current manga, I still completely and utterly LOATHE/DESPISE/HATE RBA. No, I don't care about their "tragic backstory", they don't deserve empathy of any kind.

It had the same impact when I first watched the trailer for the Lost Girls OVA, which spoiled me his death

It was tough to watch, but it was necessary to deepen Reiner, Bertolt, Annie (and Marco)'s characters. It was very well done, dramatically

Oh fuck it was WAY WORSE animated. Actually hearing his cries and screams is something that can never be duplicated in written form

I did not anticipate being as affected as I was by the Marco flashback. That doesn’t give me hope for how I’m going to handle the rest of the RtS arc. The emotions of the characters are being portrayed very well this season.

NOW THAT WE’VE HAD A CHANCE TO LISTEN TO ZEKE HAVE MORE DIALOGUE, WHAT DO YOU THINK OF HIS VOICE? 305 Responses

The majority of the fandom believe that Zeke’s seiyuu is a good fit for his character, although over half of the fandom had expected his voice to sound a bit different. 10% feel it wasn’t the best choice, while a small sliver of respondents don’t care for the voice at all.

I can't unhear DIO. Thanks Zeke, thanks Koyasu.

Zeke's VA also voices a lovely, kind character in Violet Evergarden, so his lines are making me really, really uncomfortable

WHAT DID YOU THINK ABOUT PIECK’S TITAN VOICE? 307 Responses

30% of respondents are excited about Pieck’s titan voice, while 28% feel it’s not what they expected to hear. 18% find the voice “acceptable” while 17% want to wait and hear more before making a final verdict.

Pieck's voice was unexpected in that it was terrifying, much like Ymir's Titan voice

Holy shit. I'm gonna hear it in my nightmares

I rabu Piku.

REGARDING CURRENT MANGA EVENTS, DO YOU THINK REINER STILL WANTS TO STAY TRUE TO HIS PROMISE TO YMIR? 308 Responses

Nearly half of the fandom believe that Reiner would still like to honor his promise to Ymir, but feel that he will never actually get to pull through. 15% believe that he’s still determined to save Historia no matter what, and 18% believe that he’s actually stopped caring about his promise (or perhaps just Historia in general) altogether.

Good question. I really want to have a scene with him facing Historia, his reaction to her pregnancy should be interesting

He doesn't want to save HISTORIA because he doesn't know her. The one he wanted to save was KRISTA. But she is already "dead"

I think Reiner has done what he needed to

I'm not sure, I think his main concerns are the kids and stopping Eren

It has to be real low on his priority list right about now given the circumstances

Of course not, Reiner only cares about his own manpain

He still calls her Krista and she probably has already chosen a side most likely Yeagerist

ARMIN HAD WISHED FOR A CHANCE TO NEGOTIATE AT THIS POINT, SIMILAR TO CURRENT MANGA EVENTS. IS THIS PROOF THAT HE HASN’T BEEN CHANGED BY BERTOLT’S MEMORIES? 308 Responses

44% don’t want to say either way whether Armin’s pre-titan behavior is indicative of the influence that Bertolt may or may not have over the Armin we know in the current manga. 39% believe that this is proof Eren’s words to Armin were total B.S., and 12% think this isn’t really proof of anything.

Armin Has always been the diplomat, while Eren is a man of force. Mikasa is in between. It has always been that way.

Past and future are influenced the same when paths are concerned so there's no way to tell.

I don’t think it’s enough to prove or disprove but this is an interesting idea

I don't get this 'changed' shit. Of course having access to someone else's memories has its own influence on a person, but that's true of anyone on the planet who's read a memoir as well. Everything has its effect. The titan shifter thing is obviously a bit more invasive than that, but it doesn't mean he's now suddenly possessed by Beartoto's fucking undead spirit.

I'd like to think it is but with everything Isayama's been throwing at us from out of left field who knows

he's always wished for negotiation, but he seems to have changed in his methods for negotiation. armin used to be more abrupt and upfront, whereas now he seems more tentative

No, he wasn't chanced that much. He understands RBA better and has more sympathy for Annie (maybe even has a crush on her) but it has nothing to do with being a slave.

SIMILARLY, MIKASA POINTS OUT HOW BERTOLT FEELS LIKE A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT PERSON. ARE THE MEMORIES OF HIS PREDECESSOR AFFECTING HIM IN THIS ARC? 306 Responses

Over half of the fandom feel that Bertolt’s current behavior at this point in the series is of his own will, and not influenced by any prior holders of the Colossal Titan. 38% think it’s possible he’s being influenced by memories of his predecessor(s) at this time, while a small percentage feel that he is definitely being influenced by someone else’s memories.

He was badass but I think he was affected by memories of the previous CT owner.

I think that Mikasa thinks he’s acting like a different person because he is. I think this is what Bertholdt is really like but with the 104th he was playing a role so he didn’t get too attached to them.

Still wondering if the "he seemed like a different person" comment was a note about development or supposed to foreshadow something about the Titans influencing their hosts.

I think it’s original Ymir controlling him through the paths

Probably. It seems like a bit of a drastic change to go from quiet, self-deprecating and remorseful to cold, outspoken, and trying to morally justify his actions. It's just too drastic a change.

Confidence boost is completely irrelevant to paths.

We don’t even know Bert’s previous predecessors!

Nope, that's have something to do with "character development", people change sometimes after time and grown more indepented and strong of their own shadow.

I always thought of it more as Bertie finally coming down on a side and the pair picking up on that. He was always so meek and indecisive, but now he's been forced to make a choice and to do it he has to shed his old skin and become more ruthless.

Not at all he ditched his guilt that made up the act they knew him for.

WHAT SCENE ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO IN THE PREVIEW? 307 Responses

The overwhelming majority of respondents are looking forward to the Survey Corps’ suicide charge against the Beast Titan and his flying boulders. Nearly 30% are looking forward to the moment that Levi gives Erwin his promise to kill the Beast Titan. A small percentage are most looking forward to Armin and Jean decide who’s going to lead the 104th to victory.

I am not ready for the next two episodes

I’m gonna get my ASS FUCKED SO HARD I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO. THERES GONNA BE SHIT EVERYWHERE. ERWINS GONNA FUCKING DIE. LEVIS GONNA BE SAD.

fuck next week's shit is good, hype

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE EPISODE?

The "predecessor's memory affecting current shifter" is, as far as I'm aware, just a theory that I don't buy into. I've only seen a person "changed" because of the Founding Titan's vow. Otherwise, the shifter's personality remains the same. Armin has always been an advocate for talking and negotiation. We see this in the Trost arc when the Garrison nearly kill Eren with that cannonball. So no, I don't think anyone's memories are "affecting" anyone, including current Eren.

Loved pretty much everything in this episode except for the CGI CT. Didn't expect to see uncensored Reiner, which was weird because Mikasa cutting off Bert's ear was more censored. And I'm a bit disappointed we didn't see more shots of Bert with his V fringe off his forehead. He looked so cool in the manga!

This episode gave me anxiety 'cause I know what we'll going to deal in the next three ones. The soundtrack gave intensity in every scene that its put on it, plus the fantastic job of the VA, perfect work. And just thinking about how the next episodes will be.... *goosebumps*

Wit studio handled the cgi very well imo. It's very difficult to animate this action heavy arca with rubble, smoke, odm scenes etc. and I think they are adapting the manga very well with the right pacing per episode which is also a challenge to fit within 20 minutes.

Bertolt is best boi and this episode was the best of all 3. He deserved to survive and mature up. Hashizume nailed him JUST RIGHT and his interactions with Reiner this episode were on point. The scene where he outsmarted Armin and countered Mikasa was worthy of applause.

i wish it wasn’t too rushed some moments aren’t as emotional as they should be

mikasa looked so good this episode and i'm so happy with how wit isn't screwing her over

After seeing this episode and Marco's death, it makes me sad that Reiner lost his pal Bertolt. They should be suffer bois together. Even still, some of the animation this episode was reallyy not great, so I rated the episode a 4.

Bertolt has proved on this episode that he's one of the best character of the series

I miss berthold so much and seeing him at his best was awesome but it’s really hard knowing what’s going to happen next

This is shaping up to be the best season of Attack On Titan. Cheers for more!

zeke’s beard is the tenth titan shifter

WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 295 Responses

Thank you to everyone who participated! We’ll see you again in a few days!

#snk spoilers #snk s3 #snk poll #snk polls #poll results

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mha-pokemon-zine · 6 years ago

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Interest Check Results

Hello! The interest check has come to an end and we have received a lot of interest! Meaning that the zine is proceeding forwards! Thank you very much to everyone who submitted a response!

We are going to display the results as well as responding to comments and questions received! We will also be making an information page for this, however it will be much shorter, so if you’d like to see more in depth responses, feel free to read the rest of the post! If you have any questions that aren’t mentioned in here also, feel free to send us an ask!

Since the first question is to just get a general idea of who may apply, we’re skipping straight to this one!

The zine will include both written works and art based on this, as it is clear that so many people would like to see both!

Based on the results, we will definitely be requesting that writers and artists try to include the 1-A and 1-B kids as much as possible! Additionally, we will not have main drawings focused around civilians in the BNHA universe as they were not as popular as many of the other results. If any writer or artist does want to include a civilian in their piece though, they are free to do so if it is not the main focus! For example, if someone is writing a Shouto piece and they decide to include Fuyumi and Natsuo that is totally fine!

(Also 1-B had way more votes than 1-A right up until a week before it closed which was super surprising! They had 100% until people started excluding 1-B from their votes. I guess 1-B is always on the sidelines, sorry Monoma-)

We received a wide array of pokemon for this question! We will be making all the pokemon we received on here into a list and allowing contributors to choose from them if they would like to, especially with the pokemon mentioned multiple times! Since we did receive a lot though, we can’t really guarantee that all of the pokemon mentioned will make it in, however we will try to get as much in as possible, as well as pokemon that weren’t mentioned as well!

We also got a few super specific requests for pokemon coupled with BNHA characters! We will be giving these as suggestions to the person creating for them, however if the contributor doesn’t want to include that specific pokemon because they had other ideas, we will not be forcing them to!

Now! Onto the Comments/Questions section!

I'm wondering what the general tone of the zine would be and what kinds of stories would be requested of writers

We would like the overall tone of the zine to be focused around friendship/bonding between trainers and their Pokemon! So overall, a more lighthearted zine. Writers and artists will be free to make their piece as they please as long as it doesn't go into NSFW territory or themes that are too dark for the Pokemon universe.

-Don't make it a free digital zine. I, and many others, would love to buy this. If it's free/digital only, I will not be interested in participating or downloading. -Not digital online only,,,, Iinterested in real zine book w/ merchandises and bundl

Since my last response (found here) I have gone back and checked again, and unfortunately I still do not feel comfortable making this a physical zine. My original concerns were due to issues with Nintendo claiming on other platforms, and since then I have found a zine Nintendo shut down despite it being a charity zine (something that I had actually considered prior to making the zine free) and especially due to all the issues in regards to zines scamming, I really do not want to say that the zine be charity or even for profit and end up having to cancel the zine completely. I hope that you can understand!

Will there be a physical copy of the zine?

There will not be a physical copy of the zine for reasons mentioned above.

Will there be merch?

As of right now, we do not plan on doing merch, however if any artists are interested in doing free digital merch for the zine like wallpapers etc, we will leave that option open to any artists who may be interested in creating them!

There are so many zines out there that don't deliver or are scams @m@ I hope this isn't one isn't one of them. I love pokemon! I'd also apply as a writer but thats for the apps process....

We intend to see this zine out until the end! We received quite a lot of interest so we will definitely be proceeding forwards! We hope you still apply as a writer!

I want to ask whether there's a overall time frame of when the zine will take place as I'm currently working on other BNHA projects as well. But aside from that, can't wait to see this come to life! Keep up the amazing work! :D

We will be posting the schedule for the zine shortly!

What is the stance on ships? What's the desired maturity rating? If you use a mix of artists and writers, what ratio would you be looking at and roughly how many total contributors would you be trying to find?

Our stance on ships will be that there is no romantic ships allowed, however if you do want to draw two characters as friends in the image you are free to do so! The reason we have decided no romantic ships is because there are a lot of ships that may not be everyone's cup of tea, but with platonic stuff most people will enjoy it, even if they do or don't ship them romantically!

The Maturity rating will be mostly PG, however for characters in canon who are perhaps foul mouthed, we will allow writers to still make use of curse words if they would like to.

Overall, because this is a free zine, we do not have a set amount of contributors we expect to accept as it mostly depends on how many applications we get in the end. Overall, I'd like to have at least 30 contributors overall, but there may be more or less depending on who applies and how many apply to each category. Because of how writer to artist ratio normally goes in apps, I'd say there will probably be an 8 artist to 1 writer ratio, but again, if a lot of writers do apply in comparison to artists then the ratio will change!

Is this zine gonna focus on the individual people and MHA and thier pokemon or is this also gonna be relationship focussed? and by relatioship I don't just mean shipping, I mean partnerships, friendships, maybe people who travel or work together.

We intend for the zine to be focused more around individual characters from MHA and their Pokemon, however if an artist or writer would like to include perhaps friends or rivals into their piece they are free to do so as long as it is not something romantic.

Generation 9. The game isnt out yet amd the list of all pokemon. How will the zine show the new generation?

For Generation 8, we will be allowing contributors to include Pokemon revealed so far. Additionally, we will not be allowing contributors to make shiny versions or even evolutions of the Pokemon revealed so we can avoid any inconsistency in canon.

#interest check responses

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moonsandmelodies · 6 years ago

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My Top Albums/EPs of 2018

I'm pleased to report that I’ve found quite a few enjoyable new releases this year. It's hard to have a 'definitive' outlook as there remains so much for me to catch up with, but here are the highlights from what I've heard so far.

(To keep things from getting redundant here, my 2018 halfway list's honorable mentions won't be featured here. Read that list here if you're curious about them.)

Top 8 Albums

8. Steve Hauschildt - Dissolvi

ambient techno / progressive electronic / ambient

Hauschildt is known for his role in the defunct drone/ambient group Emeralds. I'm yet to 'get' the appeal of Emeralds, but I've enjoyed a great deal of songs from Steve's solo career, which veered away from his droney roots into more melodic territory. Dissolvi is more transparent/airy in texture than his last few albums, and often less inconsistent. This is great knowing how one of my main issues with his other albums was the lack of consistency. There's a mild techno element here through the subtle use of rhythms, which gives the songs an interesting aquatic pulse.

Dissolvi may be my favorite album of his besides the popular Tragedy And Geometry from 2011. While some songs loop or repeat too much, most of them have plenty of evolving layers to keep this a fluid and hypnotizing listen. This is most apparent on the 7-minute "Alienself", which goes on about 1-1.5 minutes too long but also contains some of Dissolvi's most impressive textures and atmosphere. Also notable is the title song, by far the most rhythmic and tense but retaining some needed subtlety through soft synth hums. A promising step up.

Listen to "Lyngr"

7. Tess Roby - Beacon

art pop / gothic / synth pop / dream pop

Balancing folksy vocals, synths and Durutti-like guitar, Tess Roby is like a lost 4AD/This Mortal Coil collaborator. It's not the most surprising she's on Italians Do It Better, but at the same time it's a bit different from what I expect from the label. These songs are moody and elusive, with a semi-gothic tone save for one or two more tender moments like "Ballad 5". They drift along subtly, but not without shifts in tone or instrumentation. At eight songs long it ends pretty quick but at the same time this keeps it digestible and interesting. My favorite has to be the sinister folk/synth combination of "Borders".

Listen to "Borders"

6. Noname - Room 25

jazz rap / hip hop / neo-soul

Noname is someone I've been meaning to listen to for some time now. And my first thought, of course, is 'why didn't I listen to this sooner?' Room 25 is full of blissful jazz groove, even subtler in execution than the likes of Nujabes and Digable Planets (check this out if you like either one). The excellent live band she assembled for the album enhances this effect with it's free-flowing style, one that tends to disobey common verse-chorus structure. The smooth keyboards (piano, e-piano) and Noname's own unique delivery are sure to lull you into a peaceful daze.

I do think Noname tends to mutter a little too much, which can obscure the lyrics, but she has a great flow that blends in very well with the music. She includes plenty of guests and sung sections for these songs, but they don't disrupt the album's flow. They're fitting and natural rather than thrown-in. One great example of this is the way "no name" begins with one brief rap verse before 2.5 whole minutes of singing. If someone else tried that, it could've wound up boring, but this may be the loveliest moment on an already rich album. 'Your life is your life / Don't let it pass you by', the voices repeat over strings and piano until it (and thus the album) ends. I'll be very interested in Noname's next move.

Listen to "no name"

5. Music House/Various - Scandi Disco

electro-disco / synth pop / electropop / synthwave

'If you’re bored of the sheer quantity of 80s retro music out there, maybe don’t listen to this. But if you’re like me and love this music enough to still give the continuous new releases a chance, I recommend this recent library album. I enjoyed almost every song on this one, a bit surprising seeing how there’s no hype at all surrounding it. I found it only because I was looking through other, older releases by this label, Music House, and this happened to be their most recent album. Everything about this album is shiny, stylish and fun with plenty of energy and melody. The production is impressive as expected from a stock music label, and while it has a prominent modern polish they tap into the huge potential and legacy of electro-disco very well.'

Listen to "I Can Feel The Fire"

4. Reni Jusis - Ćma

dance-pop / electropop

If you've followed me for long enough you may know I've become a big fan of this semi-obscure Polish singer/producer. However, her '16 album BANG! was a let-down. It hopped on all of the worst mid-10's mechanical bass-drop trends I hoped she would evade. I sighed and moved on. But that's when a single ("Tyyyle Milosci") popped up in May. A GOOD one, too, a reflective ballad-like song lacking BANG!’s pitfalls. A great surprise, but I didn't know what to expect from an album. But the press release claims the album is Reni's return to dance music after the 'experiment' of BANG!...

And like I hoped, the album is much more uptempo than BANG!. Shimmering pop anthems, hypnotic melodies, and of course, the abundant synths are all here. All kinds of pleasant textures pop up, forming some great transitions and grooves. Even in more 'experimental' moments (e.g. "Ćma"'s dizzy end cool-down; tracks #6 and #9) there's the kind of spacey atmospheric touches that popped up in her 2000's heyday. It would've been fine if she didn't bring that part back. I thought it was too much to ask for - but there it is!

Ćma has plenty of flaws. A few songs are inconsistent, the huge repetition lowers replay value, and her delivery gets bombastic at times. Many areas would benefit from some tweaking. But I finished Ćma feeling relieved. She did come through with some jams, and she revived the sound she does best. It's a big step up from BANG!, and for that I'm grateful. I recommend this to anyone looking for good modern electro-pop this year.

Listen to "To Tylko Podróż"

3. U.S. Girls - In A Poem Unlimited

art pop / psychedelic pop

As I wrote in the 2018 halfway list:

'While I did find the previous U.S. Girls album Half Free a bit inconsistent, In A Poem Unlimited feels like a step up. There were only about 2 or 3 tracks that I didn’t enjoy here. The album has a warm semi-70s feel thanks to the band put together for it. There’s also a sense of eclecticism that’s executed better than on a lot of other albums with similar ambitions. The voice of Meg Remy, the one true ‘member’ of U.S. Girls, can be quite twangy and takes a bit of getting used to at first, but it’s somewhat grown on me since then, and it got some time to shine here. This is most often when she does a kind of nervous falsetto like in two of my favorites, “Rosebud” and “L-Over”. While the many styles that Remy explores here aren’t much new (70s funk, jazzy rock, general quivering psych weirdness, a bit of synth pop), the variation of it all and the will to experiment helps keep things interesting, and most of them evade the boring cliches that tend to pop up in so much music lately.'

Listen to "Rosebud"

1/2. Suiyoubi No Campanella - Galapagos

j-pop / electronic / art pop / downtempo

Cult J-pop group Suiyobi no Campanella released this 'EP' in June, though I don’t get why it’s considered an EP, since it’s the length of an album. It did receive some deserved acclaim upon release but since then, I've heard little about it - seems it didn’t stick. I’m wondering if the promotion as a mere ‘EP’ is part of it - were they wanting to keep a lower profile for this? If so, why, when it’s this elaborate?

The first thing I noticed was how much these songs morph and change, often in unexpected ways. “Bamboo Princess" sets the scene. It begins wistful and hushed but soon evolves into a thrilling chorus of strings and horns. The song also seems to reference an ancient Japanese folk tale. "Matryoshka" relaxed mallet groove mutates and evolves many times through it’s duration. Despite all this, the last two songs calm things down. "A Cat Called Yellow" is a gorgeous end to the album that sounds like both a farewell and a lullaby, covered in this blanket of thoughtful ambience.

Matching the creative song structures is a wide-ranging palette of sounds. There's percussion, sampling, aquatic keyboards, mallets, clean guitar, synth bells, some kind of keening violin ("Bamboo Princess") and even hang (a recent creation similar to the steel drum). It's cold and tropical all at once. Listening is like dipping into the water at a beach resort, watching all these colors blur into the water.

Galapagos has some of the most impressive production I've heard all year. These are more tapestries than songs, and I mean that in the best way possible. This album is an ideal summer-evening mood piece. It may be winter now, but you should listen to it ASAP anyway.

Listen to "Matryoshka"

1/2. Fishdoll - Noonsense

wonky / dream pop / electronic / downtempo

'Fishdoll, an exciting new artist from China, manages to recall everything I miss about electronic music of the earlier 10′s. First I thought of ‘wonky’ producers like FlyLo and Teebs who had such interesting and creative taste in electronic production and samples. Take a gander at the amazing operatic vocal/harp sample that ends “Beijing Well” or the spacey fluttering chords on most of the songs, for example. Secondly, Fishdoll adds subtle effects to her own voice that say, Grimes or Washed Out became popular for, creating a similar kind of airy surrealism.

It doesn’t do enough justice to Fishdoll to make so many comparisons, though, since this album really does feel unique. Which is exactly why it's one of my favorites of the year - it’s an electronic artist doing something unique and doing it well.

I’m looking forward to Fishdoll’s next musical move, and I’m convinced Noonsense deserves more than a bit of Bandcamp popularity, which seems to be all it got upon release.'

Since writing this in the first halfway list, I was also asked to write a brief review of Noonsense for the Rateyourmusic front page in October, which you can find here.

Listen to "Bubbling Bop"

Top 5 EPs

5. Barker - Debiasing

minimal techno [?]

A lot of the hype around this one deemed it 'techno without the drums'. Sounded like a nice idea on paper, but I didn't expect Barker to pull it off this well. I guess I'm too used to the tedious repetition so many techno producers tend to throw into their creations. But while these songs may lean a bit on the minimal side, their steady evolution help keep this EP sounding interesting at very least. Barker also puts a lot of emphasis on my favorite part of techno, which is all the hypnotic synths and chords and effects.

Every song revolves around thoughtful-sounding arpeggios, graceful in a way. "When Prophecy Fails" and "How Hard I've Tried" are almost shy. They sound like the sensitive core of a giant mechanical structure. Overall this is one of the better examples of techno I've come across for sure. I recommend this if you're like me and looking for techno that's not so grounded in repetition+bass drum overkill.

Listen to "When Prophecy Fails"

4. Ravyn Lenae - Crush

contemporary R&B / pop / neo-soul

A brief but warm and breezy EP from an up-and-coming R&B vocalist, who happens to be hardly any older than me. My very obvious favorite is the dynamic and catchy single "Sticky", but the other songs keep up that song's pleasant retro soul style and with such a short length it's very digestible. I'll be interested to hear her next project.

Listen to "Sticky"

3. D A V I I C I - W sercu pozostaje tylko to co wypalone ogniem

synth pop / hypnagogic pop

'His sound is similar to that of Adonis listed below - a kind of lo-fi trippy synth pop, but it makes sense since they’re on the same label. This EP is a bit more ghostly and empty, though - D A V I I C I puts his voice through what sounds like autotune to a very weird, bordering-on-creepy effect. This is most noticeable on the songs “Skruszone serce“ and “Czas przez pryzmat“ which are also my favorites of the bunch. I have to say that while I like the idea of ‘hypnagogic pop’, it’s often bored or disappointed me; D A V I I C I and Adonis, though, have impressed me to an extent I didn’t expect.'

Listen to "Skruszone Serce"

2. Elysia Crampton - Elysia Crampton

latin electronic / huayno / folktronica / experimental

I'm not familiar with Elysia Crampton's previous work but judging from this I'll have to change that. This EP has a wild mixture of layers and styles thrown in, ensuring that it never gets boring. There's complex percussion, fuzzy distortion, a varied choice of samples, the occasional regular synth ("Orion Song") and, oddly enough, a bit of airhorn.

These are windy, intense sounds, anchored by the kind of frenzied rhythms that suggest a journey on horseback. "Orion Song" is my favorite for combining this with simpler but still majestic synth patterns and a surprisingly peaceful outro. It ends quick at six tracks but it's obvious from the get-go she packed a lot of creativity into this EP. It has an ear for adventure that I love to hear in electronic music.

Listen to "Moscow (Mariposa Voldora)"

1. Adonis - Wiosenna Ofensywa Nie Trwa Dłużej Niż Do Letnich Wakacji

'I only came across Adonis through Bandcamp recommendations and he’s still a bit of a mystery to me [Update: though he did thank me for including this on the halfway list in a Tumblr message!]. This is in part because all the info and lyrics are Polish. But I’m glad I found this EP, since I enjoyed every one of these five songs - while I’ve been blasting the incredible title track all June. In a similar situation to Scandi Disco, it may not be very new, since it’s pretty much a collage of 'alt 80s’ sounds, but if you love the sort of music that entails (e.g. synth pop/shoegaze/dream pop) like I do, I certainly recommend it.'

synth pop / hypnagogic pop

Listen to "Wiosenna ofensywa nie trwa dłużej niż do letnich wakacji"

Honorable mentions

Ariana Grande - Sweetener

pop / contemporary R&B / pop soul

Listen to "Breathin"

Angelique Kidjo - Remain In Light

afro-funk

'I was very intrigued when I learned Angelique Kidjo from Benin was to revamp the entire Remain In Light album by Talking Heads. According to her interview in LA Times, she heard “Once In A Lifetime” long ago and recognized the African influence in it’s sound, which is what eventually led to this cover album. Although part of me wishes some covers were a bit closer to the originals than they are, most of the interpretations are still very interesting and enjoyable with an excellent sense of energy and rhythm.'

Listen to "Born Under Punches"

Empress Of - Us

synth pop / electropop

Listen to "When I'm With Him"

George Clanton - Slide

synth pop / chillwave

Listen to "Make It Forever"

Lena Raine - Celeste

video game music / electronic / chiptune / downtempo

I forgot to mention this game OST in my halfway list somehow, but it's worthy of honorable mention at very least. It has a distinct style that reminds me a bit of the BGM you hear in Steven Universe - very colorful and spacey at the same time as varied; sometimes relaxed, other times epic. 8-bit bleeps and more modern synths blend with the twinkle of piano often. The best example of this mixture, to my memory, is the bright and productive "First Steps". With so many songs it's hard to evaluate how well it works as an album, but it's more understandable for a game soundtrack as I figure some of these sound better in context. Whether it works that way or just misses the mark, there's no doubt this is an impressive piece of work.

Listen to "First Steps"

Pastel Ghost - Ethereality

synth pop / dream pop / gothic

Pastel Ghost doesn't tend to explore new ground with her songs. It's not surprising and I don't think she needs to do that all the time, per se. The issue here is more that those same cliches are even older now than they were in 2015. Read: excess 808 hi-hats, your usual stompy goth-club bass patterns...

But I realize this was more of a grower for me than Abyss. While the vocals and rhythms were disappointing, the synths only got better. Here, PS does a great job of layering distinctive timbres together and forming rich textures and harmonies out of them. I love those twinkling aquatic tones in songs like "Tears" and "Underwater" in particular. She hasn't lost the more distinct part of her sound that first drew me to Abyss, evolving it all at once, which is what matters most in the end.

While Abyss was all about being spooky and sinister, Ethereality is murky and bittersweet. You could say the 'pastel' caught up with the 'ghost' (ba-dum-tish!)... It's not a huge change but it takes you elsewhere, like the depths of an ocean rather than a gloomy forest. Songs like “Emotion” and “Possession” just wash over you like a waterfall thanks to the production - there’s a crystal-clear quality to it that makes this an easy listen even in the lesser moments.

Ethereality, right down to the silly title, could be less predictable, especially in 2018 after there's so many others doing this sort of thing. A lot of the vocals are too breathy and twee, moreso than before. But it's hard for me to ignore the skills on display. Her ear for melodies, synths, etc. continue to distinguish her from the pack and I continue to enjoy her take on this music.

Listen to "Sakura"

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