#incredibly jealous AND insecure over her own self. and she ends up doubling down. like she needs their attention Constantly

[swordmaid]

like shri’iia really DOES struggle with that suffocatingly needy side of herself, and it’s why I’m a firm believer that in all of their own personal routes, only the oathbreaker/spawn variation for the hags is the one where they work out because she’s actively working on that side of herself, and she’s actively learning to be more independent. in a variation of where astarion stays as a spawn but shri’iia regresses, she will just end up suffocating him and I think it’ll be too much to bear and he’ll break it off. in the ascended route, the fact that she’s needy is SO perfect that he wants to keep her like that forever, and he wants her to be always relying on him until they reach a point where he doesn’t and he gets bored of her. (the variation where astarion ascends and shri’iia is an oathbreaker doesn’t exist bc her new oath will compel her to kill him lmfao)

but anyway I think even in an oathbreaker route, shri’iia is still working through that ^. it really will take a while for her to unlearn it, she’s been trapped in a toxic codependent relationship for soooo long that unlearning past behaviours is a feat in itself, but the important thing is that she is unlearning it…! but I do think she can get so clingy sometimes and if they express displeasure with her she’s like 💔💔💔 it’s so fucking over for me

[hopeswriting]

FANDOM: Katekyo Hitman Reborn!

EVENT: Flufftober 2020

PROMPT: Tucking in Tag

AUTHOR: @hopeswriting​

RATING: G

SUMMARY:

Vongola holds a second Inheritance Ceremony for Tsuna and his Guardians. Of course they’re all required to attend in the after party.

PAIRING: Chrome & Hibari

WORDS: 1236

*

For the most powerful alliance of mafia famiglie in the world, they sure have time to waste. The old Carnivore passed on his title to Tsunayoshi already, so Hibari has to wonder what the purpose of this after-party is.

His fellow Guardians scattered around the luxurious room, blending in the party unlike him, but he isn’t fooled.

Takeshi and Mukuro keep being engaged in conversations by the others famiglie, and forced to play nice with them. Or so it looks like.

Hibari hovered around them earlier and heard them answer the subtle insults sent their way by subtle insults of their own, then doubling down on them until they were left alone.

The little animal kept to the buffet after being treated like the child he is by a woman one-too many times, Ryohei never straying too far away from him.

And Hibari did think Ryohei wouldn’t have so eagerly partake in the party, but there he is, witness of his shameless betrayal.

Tsunayoshi does look like he’s having a terrible night. The baby keeps pushing him to make small talk with the bigger names attending the party, and he still has to grow out fully of his shy, jittery, and insecure demeanor.

In the meantime he’s being looked down upon, and talked down upon. Hibari can tell from the way they stand around him, the way they look at him.

Hayato would have blow up each of their faces long ago if it wasn’t for Tsunayoshi.

No need for him to worry though, Hibari will bite these fools to death later.

Kusakabe puts himself between him and whoever was making his way over him. Hibari scowls harder, and tries to disappear through the wall.

Kusakabe doesn’t put himself between him and Tsunayoshi, and Tsunayoshi gives him a jealous look while walking by him.

He puts his hands on his hips. “And why don’t I have a competent bodyguard like Kusakabe?”

“What do you think we are?”

“Useless, that’s what. Did you even talk to anyone yet?” Hibari glares, and Tsunayoshi pouts. “Yeah, I thought so.” He slumps against the wall next to him, and sighs loudly. “Well, you’re all useless except for Hayato of course. Bless his soul.”

Hibari huffs. “You won’t even let him speak out.”

“Maybe, but trust me his flames talk for him just fine.” He snickers. “Also it’s the four times he received an important message he absolutely had to show me. In private of course.”

“And you threw him to the wolves in thanks.”

Hayato smiles up at some Donna who apparently never heard of personal space, and it wouldn’t surprise Hibari if he slips a mini dynamite in her bag before he manages to get rid of her.

Tsunayoshi elbows him in the side. “Don’t say it like that, it’s just teamwork alright? And I had to talk to you. Listen, can you find Chrome and check on her for me? I—”

“Chrome doesn’t need to be checked on.” Hibari rolls his eyes. “Just leave her be.”

“I know that, it’s not like that. Do you have to make every instance of me worrying about you belittling?”

“You don’t worry half as much about the rest of us.”

Tsunayoshi throws his hands up in the air. “I wish I could! You know, instead of worrying about literally everyone else in a five miles radius around you?”

Hibari smirks proudly, and Tsunayoshi rolls his eyes. A particularly high-pitched and fake laugh draws their attention to Mukuro and the woman he’s currently entertaining.

Tsunayoshi smiles. “Isn’t it nice he stuck with us for so long already?”

“How suspicious.”

“I know. Do you think he’ll start the mass Mist flames-induced hallucinations soon? Or maybe he’s messing with the food or something?” He sighs. “I wish he would.”

Tsunayoshi sighs again, long and dreamy. He keeps the façade for a whole second before dissolving into a fit of giggles, sharing a knowing look with Hibari.

Hibari huffs a laugh, then chuckles silently, his shoulders shaking.

“I could just bite them all to death.”

“I wish I could let you. Ah, gotta go save Hayato before he commits a murder. Just go check on Chrome quickly, okay? Please? I leave it to you, Kyoya!”

Hibari watches him scurry off, and parts from the wall with a sigh. He walks around the room looking for Mist flames affected area, utterly ignoring any and all who try to catch his attention.

He finds Chrome on the balcony, sat against the wall. There’re subtle Mist flames around her, that don’t appear to make her blend in the surrounding more than stopping whoever is looking at her to register her presence.

Hibari smirks. She would have tricked him if he wasn’t so familiar with her flames.

He leans against the wall. “What are you doing? You’re better than that. Just stare them down hard enough until they take the hint.”

Chrome smiles. “Reborn-kun explicitly said we had to play nice. When you can’t engage with the enemy, you have to make sure not to cross path with them. It’s 101 battles strategies, Kyoya-kun.”

“Then leave. Make yourself a Mist double. One for me too.”

She shakes her head. “Don’t tempt me. Did Mukuro-kun make one?” she adds after a beat.

“Surprisingly no.”

“It’s surprising you’re still here too, you know,” she teases, and he rolls his eyes. Chrome stretches out her legs in front of her, smooths her skirt. She sighs. “I’m not good at this.”

Hibari scoffs. “You fit right in then.”

“Not true,” Chrome says, grinning nonetheless. “It must be even harder for Mukuro-kun, but he’s talking with all these people so easily. I thought it’d be better if I stayed aside instead of ending up making all of you look bad.”

“Like we care, or are any better. Don’t be stupid.” He offers his hand, and Chrome hesitates for only a second. “Hayato will blow up something soon. Or a someone if we’re lucky. You don’t want to miss that.”

Chrome laughs. “No, I don’t think I want to. Thank you, Kyoya-kun.”

She smiles warmly at him, and he shrugs, averting his eyes.

“Let’s go.”

Chrome takes the lead, a joyful skip in her steps. Hibari snorts.

She whips around, the way she suddenly feels self-conscious written all over her face.

“Did you just laugh at me?”

“No.”

“You did! Kyoya-kun it’s so mean, what is it?” She spins on herself, twisting her head to see above her shoulders. “Is it my hair? Is it my clothes?”

Chrome makes a mirror out of her flames, and Hibari holds back another chuckle at the way she flails in front of it.

“You’re fine, hold still.”

He swats her hands away from her hair, and slides them above her shoulder. He tucks in the tag of her jacket.

Chrome inhales sharply, turns to him red-faced, her hands covering the back of her neck.

“You let me walk around with my tag out this whole time? Oh my god, you guys! I’m not going back in there.”

“Don’t be stupid, it’s tucked in now, isn’t it?” Hibari takes her hand and drags her inside, Chrome putting up a halfhearted fight. “Tsunayoshi asked for you.”

Chrome complains to him the whole night, and Hibari has Mukuro hiding the tag of her skirt with his flames instead of bringing it to her attention.

Girls are so unreasonable sometimes.

*

BONUS:

This is after the second Inheritance Ceremony. I headcanon it happens after they all finished high school.

They’re on a first name basis because let’s be honest, KHR is just one big found family trope with a side of supernatural colorful flames, and there’s no point if they don’t actually grow close to each other.

Hibari is also on a first name basis, but only when talking to them and them only, and also with the people who are in their immediate closest circle.

Otherwise he uses his animal vocabulary of his, and also when he’s annoyed with them. (He can’t let people know he feels after all, god forbid.)

Only Lambo is always called little animal (and Tsuna actually felt proud when he went from little animal to omnivore lol), and he doesn’t mind at all because he takes it as the endearing nickname it is.

Reborn is, what, five or six years old here? But Hibari still calls him baby, and he finds it incredibly funny how he can always tell how incredibly annoying it is for Reborn. He keeps it up for a couple of years more lol.

------

Hibari didn’t leave the after party yet (nor Mukuro), because Reborn said they needed to stay around for at least two hours, but he actually never said they needed to talk with anyone.

Hibari manages to not talk to anyone until he could leave.

(But then he actually doesn’t leave, because Tsuna obviously can’t leave the party held for him until there’s no more guests, and he sticks out with him along with the other Guardians.)

------

And the party goes quite well, all things considered. Tsuna is really proud of them.

Yamamoto and Mukuro make themselves enemies of everyone who dared to talk bad of Tsuna or the rest of them with smiles, and a sweet/cheerful voice, and not-so-subtle-turning-to-threats insults the longer the party went on.

(And I headcanon it’s something that would happen because yeah Tsuna was trained by the World’s Greatest Hitman and literally saved the whole universe among other things, but he was still a civilian literally only a couple of years ago, and almost all of his Guardians were civilians too, so I think they’d actually be that much full of themselves to look down upon him/them.)

Ryohei plays it oblivious because he knows he’s not subtle enough to not escalate things if he were to confront them. But you better believe he remembers their names and their face, and, well, you know, will take the opportunity for sweet revenge when it will present itself.

And Hibari feels betrayed he blends in that well because he’s the one who is supposed to be out-of-place in moments like this with him, in his own way.

(When Hibari is not enough—withdrawn and cold and silent—, Ryohei is too much—too extreme, takes too much place, too friendly.)

But if Ryohei has to hear them talk bad about Tsuna, he sure as hell can make sure it won’t be because of him, so he makes sure to be in his best behavior.

------

Lambo sticks around the buffet to cheer himself up first (and yeah he tried to flirt with the women lol), but then he picks up on Yamamoto’s and Mukuro’s flames, and at their signal starts messing up the food of those particular people.

Ryohei distracts them to give him the opportunities, and makes sure he doesn’t get caught. Then Chrome joins them and it becomes much more easy, and more... inventive too.

(A lot of them are bed-ridden the next couple of days.)

------

Gokudera doesn’t actually blow up anything, or anyone. It’s too flashy, and he became more subtle with the years. And who needs dynamite when your flame’s attribute is disintegration?

Do you know the humiliation of losing your pants in public, or having a piece of cloth torn in a way that expose you? Or having food all over your clothes and face because the plate literally exploded in your hands?

Yeah, them too.

(I said he became more subtle, I didn’t say anything about becoming more mature azerfgthjkl.)

------

Hibari just enjoys the spectacle from aside (alongside Reborn), and puts a target on random people's back just because he can lol.

And like I said, Tsuna is really proud of them.

(And if later people have the nerve to come complain to him, he goes full on No-Good, oblivious, what-the-hell-do-you-expect-me-to-do Tsuna on them, all the while cackling on the inside.)

------

I feel like Hibari would be the big brother of the group. A very enabling big brother, who absolutely will be right by your side helping you to cause maximum damage (and who does plenty of damages on his own), but a big brother nonetheless.

Ryohei is the actual, reliable, reasonable-ish (emphasis on the ish) big brother.

Mukuro could be a big brother too, but does he care to? He really doesn’t. He’s actually right there besides Lambo in how willing he is to listen to his every whim lol.

Yamamoto, Gokudera and Chrome are the middle siblings.

And Tsuna is, of course, you would have guessed it, the mother of the group. Unless, of course, he can’t take any more of this mafia bullshit and lets them go loose to their heart content.

(The paperwork is absolutely worth it.)

*

Thank you for reading! Any and all review are appreciated ^^.

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 198: A Pair of Chuunis

Previously on BnHA: Shinsou, Tsuyu, Kaminari, Kirishima, and Kouda (henceforth known as Team A) faced off against Shiozaki, Tsuburaba, Shishida, and Rin (Team B). Kiri, Kouda, and Tsubu were captured, making it 3 VS 3. Tsuyu covered Shinsou and Kami with her disgusting frog mucus in order to mask their scent so class B wouldn’t be able to track their movements. They then purposely allowed Kaminari to get captured as a distraction to let Shinsou get close enough to Shiozaki to ensnare here with his quirk. Realizing what had happened, Shishida stopped talking so as not to fall under Shinsou’s control himself. However this also left him unable to communicate with his remaining teammate, and Rin was shortly thereafter taken out by Tsuyu. Shishida was knocked out shortly after that, and so Team A ended up winning the match, giving class 1-A the lead as we enter the second round.

Today on BnHA: Aizawa and Vlad provide their respective students with constructive criticism following the match. Meanwhile the remaining 8 teams begin to plan out their strategies, including Monoma who is excited to have the chance to work together with Shinsou, particularly after witnessing the first match. It turns out he’s not the only one interested in what Shinsou can do, as Aizawa and Vlad reveal to All Might and Midnight that today’s exercise is doubling as Shinsou’s exam determining whether or not he should be admitted into the hero course. The second round of battles begins, with Team MomoYamaTokoKure facing off against Team KendouKuroMangaToadette. Kendou is excited to be battling Momo, as she considers the two of them to be rivals, and feels that up until now Momo has been outshining her. Meanwhile Kuroiro from class B bonds with Tokoyami over their mutual goth aesthetic before the two teams split off to get things started. Toko sends out Dark Shadow to do recon, only to have Kuroiro -- whose quirk allows him to move freely within the color black -- hitch a ride back to Team A’s location. The two prepare to clash, and Toko gets ready to show off a new technique he’s apparently learned from Hawks.

(As always, all comments not marked with an ETA are my mostly-unspoiled reactions from my first readthrough of this chapter. I’m caught up with the manga now at chapter 222, so any ETAs will reflect that.)

my man Aizawa out here making sure I continue to stan him

this is school after all!

and oh my god this title

you know it’s the Momo chapter when...

goddammit Kirishima’s self-esteem issues are acting up again

does anyone know if that “staring at yourself in the mirror and psyching yourself up by reminding yourself that you’re cool and awesome” thing actually works? maybe he should try that. he’s so good at complimenting other people but he’s so damn hard on himself. why are all shounen characters like this

Kouda says he needs to get better at issuing detailed orders to insects

good god Kouda, if you improve on your quirk you’re going to be fucking terrifying aren’t you

and I know I just said all shounen characters are too hard on themselves, but then along comes Kaminari to prove me wrong!

you were great, buddy. 10/10 I stan one adaptable and clever electric boy. I would pit you and Mina up against Rat Principal all over again because I bet you two would crush it now

(ETA: not to mention that as Jirou will shortly point out, he’s skirting on the edge of falling into his usual derp mode here -- but he’s managing to retain his senses for the most part, which is extremely impressive given how much electricity he put out in that fight, first against Shishida and then later against Shiozaki. Kaminari!! you’ve become stronger!)

Tsuyu says she wanted to win without any casualties and she regrets losing two of her teammates

Shinsou, who did amazing for his first time, says it was “incredibly frustrating” and that he wasn’t able to apply even ten percent of what he’s learned

kid, take that frustration and channel it into becoming even more determined to fulfill your dreams! that’s the upside of being a shounen character who’s too harsh on himself! you learn and you keep getting stronger, okay?

see, and Aizawa’s telling him the same thing

wow so he didn’t master it until he was out of school, then? or did he start on that before he entered U.A.?

say, aren’t we due some Aizawa flashbacks soon? this is the arc the manga was on when I first started reading, so it seems to be about that time I’d say

(ETA: so what is it exactly that made people have all these headcanons about him knowing the Iida family as a kid? I know he and Tensei are both in Vigilantes, so I’m guessing now it has something to do with that. lol and here I thought we were going to get a whole backstory. instead we’ve had all of one panel’s worth of flashbacks, and that was very recent and we apparently don’t know what the deal is with that yet except that he had some sort of cloudy friend that he doesn’t want to talk about. not that I’m not loving that, mind you; it’s just not what I was expecting. I really gotta start Vigilantes don’t I. maybe this weekend)

oh my god

I’m a simple girl, I see Jirou losing her damn shit over Kaminari and I hit like and subscribe for more great content

and yes, Aoyama, they do seem to be taking this much more seriously than the others. thinking about what would have happened in a real life situation. and I mean, that’s not a bad thing per se, but it’s just... they’re still kids. and already thinking about death and other worst-case scenarios because they’ve experienced it firsthand now. and man but that’s rough

now Aizawa is giving them his own pointers

he’s such a good teacher I love him so much

meanwhile Vlad is chewing out his own students

didn’t Horikoshi describe his teaching approach as being gentler than Aizawa’s? was that just because he doesn’t expel entire classes at the drop of a hat? sure not seeming real gentle right now lol

(ETA: strut strut)

excuse me Monoma who is the teacher here

but he says that despite the loss, he’s satisfied because they showed the rest of them “something marvelous”

(ETA: strut strut)

yeah, I’ve been wondering about that. he probably can’t wait to try that quirk out for himself

man if Monoma bonds with Shinsou and then Shinsou ends up joining 1-A I am going to laaaaaaugh

(ETA: lol except for the fact that I sorta kinda ship it now oh shit)

and they have an advantage over the class A Shinsou team since they actually have some time to prepare

wow they’re all strategizing now

friendly reminder that I love all of these kids and would die for them

and yes you, Todoroki. humility is all well and good but let’s not kid ourselves. you’re a powerhouse and you need to own it

I have no doubt that Team BakuJirouSeroSatou is going to crush this and I can’t waiiiit

(ETA: THEY SO CRUSHED IT)

and who fucking asked you, C-3PO. maybe they can’t have spare parts installed, but human bodies literally heal themselves given just a bit of time and rest. we don’t need to sit here and be dragged by someone who can’t even pass a damn turing test okay

All Might is reflecting on how much everyone has grown. he sure does that a lot

I guess. and also a way to finally introduce the other 20 U.A. first years after 200 fucking chapters lol

hey what

what is it. what’s with those faces. y’all wanna throw down or what?? bring it

oh they just want to know what they thought about Shinsou

All Might is so good I love you All Might

!!

oh shit. so spoiler alert I guess he passes lol

is he aware that it’s a test? is this another one of your Logical Ruses you deceitful hobo

yessssssssss!

I honestly can’t fathom how a team with both Momo and Tokoyami could possibly lose. they’ve even got Aoyama “saving the day in the clutch” Yuuga and Hagakure “I’m the friggin’ traitor” Tooru for fuck’s sake

by the way, Hagakure’s right fist is facing out but isn’t that weird? wouldn’t it make more sense to have your fist facing toward you for this kind of “pumped and ready to go” gesture? idk why it bothers me. maybe because she’s literally only hands so you could at least get that one detail right lmao

and have I mentioned how much I love Momo’s cape. now if only they’d get her a fucking zipper good grief

that kid from class B who speaks in literal dialogue bubbles is freaking named Manga and I can’t you guys

I have no problem with calling Kuroiro by his name, but I’m pretty sure that legally I have to continue referring to Komori as Toadette. I don’t make the rules you guys

Kendou is asking Momo why she didn’t enter the beauty contest during the cultural festival

have I mentioned lately that Aizawa is the best dad? I have? well it never hurts to say it yet again. Momo had more important things to worry about than participating in the least rational annual event this school puts on

oh right, somehow I forgot that these two did their workplace experience together. actually can I just call it a fucking internship even if it wasn’t an internship internship? y’all still know what I mean anyway so come on

this is an odd thing to bring up now and I can’t help but think Kendou’s trying to get into Momo’s head somehow

(ETA: nope. just bein’ rivals)

oh, Hagakure’s bringing up that one guy at the festival who kept cheering for Momo. I had been wondering about that. so he was a fan of theirs from the commercial they did then? who the hell stans someone from just a single commercial

yes

ooh, hidden dark side from Kendou all of a sudden!

I mean, on the one hand I don’t like Kendou getting jealous because these badass ladies should be supporting one another, not harboring jealous thoughts and insecurities

but on the other hand she’s not wrong about Momo though trufax

okay good, this seems healthy enough

A WHOLESOME LADY RIVALRY, EH? BRING IT

oh my god

imagine going from drawing Shiozaki to drawing this guy. Horikoshi must be filled with relief right now

oh my god Kuroiro’s quirk is apparently amazing!?

holy shit?? WHIP OUT THAT DARK SHADOW AND TEST IT OUT! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR

lmao

if these two don’t watch it they are gonna cut themselves to ribbons on ALL THAT EDGE

so then is Hagakure gonna clash with Toadette. or Manga

so now round two is officially starting, and Sero is asking his friendly neighborhood Tetsutetsu about Kendou, Tetsu’s crush

I ship these two kids so hard. he adores her

lol he says that if she wasn’t around the whole class would have been “indoctrinated” by Monoma

he says she’s the big sister of class B

yeah, so basically the Momo

and now Todoroki is thoughtfully chiming in

you know, operation? as in scheme? as in whatever plan Momo’s thought up using the intellect that’s put her on at the very top of what is probably the most brilliant class in U.A. history?

so now we’re cutting to Team B, and Kendou is saying that they should wait and see what Team A has in store first, since even though they know their basic quirks, they don’t know what improvements they’ve made and what special moves they’ve come up with

go fuck him up Kuroiro! I know I shouldn’t be rooting for you, but I’m so fucking curious to see if you can use Tokoyami’s quirk against him omg

meanwhile we’re cutting back to Team A, and Tokoyami is reporting to the others that Dark Shadow has located Team B

oh shit

TOKOYAMI THEY GOT YO BOY

Dark Shadow’s zooming toward them now and Tokoyami’s shouting at everyone to disperse

HE LOOKS SO SAD OH NO

KUROIRO YOU ASSHOLE WHY ARE YOU MY NEW CLASS B FAVE

Hagakure is all “Kuroiro popped out from inside Dark Shadow!” as though everyone else didn’t just watch that happen right along with her

Momo’s flinging some ninja nets at Kuro but he’s dodging!

I LOVE IT

HOLY SHIT TOKOYAMI IS RIPPED. WHEN DID THAT FUCKING HAPPEN. WHERE WERE THOSE ARM MUSCLES DURING THE POOL EPISODE, JESUS

(ETA: and I’ll have you know Horikoshi even specifically described his arms as “fairly thin” when he did his little bio in chapter 101! so this is a recent fucking development. bird boy been hittin the gym)

also he sure does have a lot of natural enemies doesn’t he. his quirk is so powerful but it has a lot of weaknesses

and lmaoooooo at “a pair of chuunis” holy fucking christ

how is this chapter over already?? oh well, we’re almost at 200, let’s keep going and check out Toko’s new technique

[toonstarterz]

BECAUSE I’M NOT POPULAR, I’LL READ WATAMOTE: CHAPTER #137

Once upon a time, there was a girl. An unpopular girl. That nobody knew, nobody cared. She strived to be popular. To have dozens of friends and live the life of a socially fulfilled high school girl. After much time and effort, she had finally succeeded in her goal. She got friends. She got popular. She became normal.

But it wasn’t everything she hoped it would be.

And so Golden Week came around. She made plans with her new friends. And the popular girl can’t help but wonder...

“Is this really what I want?”

Chapter 137: Because I’m Not Popular, I’ll Prepare for Golden Week 

Okada: “Is my forehead that big?”

Katou: I wonder if Kuroki-san is doing anything after this...?

Tomoko: “Man, I’m tired.” 

Komiyama: [ Exactly what it says. ]

Y'all know the drill by now. Tomoko expects the least, ends up getting the most.

Katou is honestly a very difficult character to get right in this kind of manga. For a series as excruciatingly real as this, a beautiful, popular girl like Katou could easily come off as “unrealistic” or an “otaku’s fantasy” with the way she reaches out to Tomoko. But Nico Tanigawa manages to keep Katou within the realm of believability, and I think it’s because she treats everyone with motherly kindness. It’s her natural instinct, so it doesn’t seem forced in the slightest.

Yeah, buzz off, Kiyota! You’ve already exceeded this manga’s male quota for the next ten chapters.

It sure is swell that Tomoko’s friendship with Yuri has grown enough that even people outside of the loop can see how joined-at-the-hip they’ve become.

I’m getting flashbacks of the KBBQ dinner right now. Someone invites Tomoko, she invites Yuri, Yuri gives a double negative response, etc. What gal pals.

Again, more KBBQ flashbacks, only with a twist. At the party, Yuri took the affected role, stating that her decision to go would be based on whether Tomoko would. But now, the roles have switched with Yuri suggesting that Tomoko wouldn’t go if she wasn’t there with her. I don’t like where this is going...

Mako is totally the type to keep track of how she divides the time between her friends, always balancing a bail with a hangout. Such are the difficulties of being the “nucleus” friend.

For better or worse, Yuri‘s been taking Mako’s “rejections” in stride lately. Better, because that means she’s no longer unhealthily dependent on her best friend. Worse, because that could means she projected her attachment issues onto Tomoko and Yoshida. Have her insecurities been dissolved, or have they just been spread wider across their little quartet?

Mako and Yoshida talking when the others aren’t around is total friendship-baiting and I’m behind it 100%.

The ultimate tug-of-war between a mom who knows their daughter’s faults and a daughter who’s too stubborn to heed her mother’s concerns. 

Sorry, Yuri dear, but at that, I’mma callin’ shenanigans. 

It should be fairly obvious by now that Yuri is becoming dangerously co-dependent on her relationship with Tomoko. It’s not so much that Tomoko needs Yuri with her, but that Yuri needs to feel that she’s invaluable to Tomoko so that she herself can be validated. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy that can only get worse since Tomoko and Yuri are going in opposite directions, with the former becoming more self-assured, and the latter becoming more reliant. 

Katou rolling her sleeves up inexplicably raises her “mom” appeal three-fold.

For those who don’t know, this the same joke that happened when Tomoko peeked at Ucchi during the sports festival. Only eating rice is suggestive of just having done something exhausting, usually perverted in nature. Oh, that Nemo.

Still, it’s telling that Nemo actually made that joke and got shot down by Tomoko right in front of the others. Their bantering is usually kept just between them, but doing it within earshot could lead to some pretty tense situations if the others jump in.

That’s quite the unique face Yuri’s making. Not exactly anger or resentment, but there’s something negative about her expression. My best guess is exasperation, but low-key, as only Yuri could. And I hate to say it, but it’s pretty hypocritical of Yuri to get all bent out of shape about Katou’s smothering, when she herself came just to “support” Tomoko.

This might seem innocuous at first, it really speaks to Yuri’s non-indulgent behavior when receiving attention from others, as is very common of introverts. Just like how Tomoko chose something moderate when Okada treated her.

The whole exchange here is incredibly awkward, but it comes off more sincerely than it is cringeworthy. The kind of awkward that makes you facepalm is the result of knowing that the whole thing could’ve been avoided, or at least done better. Okada’s apology and Yuri’s dismissive forgiveness really couldn’t be handled differently, so while there’s this unspoken barrier between them, we can get behind it because you can tell Okada and Yuri are doing their best to clear the air.

Food porn.

Is it embarrassing? Yes. Is Tomoko going to do anything about it? Nah, she’s going to milk Katou’s motherliness for all she’s worth.

And let’s be real-Can you really blame her?

This whole “normie” business didn’t make a whole lotta sense to me when I first read it, but by comparing it to another label used in the West, I was able to make a connection.

Back in the day, the word “nerd” was a derogatory term, used to insult people who were into comics, video games, anime, etc. But by the turn of the last decade or so, this idea of a nerd became antiquated when people realized that the things that nerds were once ridiculed for were actually entertaining in their own right. The standard of being a nerd dropped to the point where mildly enjoying pop culture was enough to make you a nerd. And thus, when everyone became a nerd, nobody was. And the nerd became an identity that only the most hardcore of nerds could adopt.

I never realized until now just how much social stock Tomoko has put into having a boyfriend. You’d think that after her perceptions of the “normies” evolved, she’d understand that having a boyfriend or having a romantic relationship, in general, isn’t as valuable as society makes it out to be.

Now the whole “hanging out at the cafe” thing being normie...maybe.

Quickly researches the reputation of Aoyama Academy.

Oh. So like, Stanford or Princeton. Dream on, Tomoko.

Dat tiny smile on Yuri is too precious.

One thing that I’ve always wanted to see more of is Tomoko’s sense of humor at work. She doesn’t do it often, but the few times when she casually jokes around are met with positive reception, most notably with Yuri. While the readers are more used to Tomoko’s raunchy, crude humor, Tomoko can also play up the “I’m an idiot”-type humor. And it works especially with Yuri and Nemo, who can tell when she’s half-bullshitting them. 

A rare moment of genuine playfulness between Tomoko and Nemo.

Of course, because Tomoko actually is an idiot at times, it can be hard to tell when she being actually stupid, or being fake-stupid for the laughs.

Mama Katou doesn’t know this yet, so naturally, she has to protect her daughter from the mean bullies. Her dialogue here could easily come off as confrontational if it were spoken by anyone else, but as we’ve seen before, Katou is more of the “quiet rage” kind of girl.

Yeah, I saw the video of Cristiano Ronaldo defending the Japanese boy from the audience. Referential humor tends to be hit-or-miss, depending on whether the joke is sustainable without it. In this case, it’s the kind that can be lost in a few years time. So despite being a piece of common entertainment knowledge in Japan, once in while for the series is just enough to keep it fresh. 

I must admit, I used to think that Katou was a replacement character for Imae after she left. But now that we’ve had time to get to know her, I see that that’s not really the case at all.

Sure, Katou is caring and sweet like Imae, but what sets Katou apart from her besides her “mommy-ness” is her naivety. Katou has all the tenderness and effort of a guardian, but she lacks the sensibility...somewhat. But that bit of cluelessness is essential to rounding out her character, enough so that even this stylish riajuu can play the outcast in times like this.

Damn, girl. It’s one thing to view Tomoko as a good person. It’s another thing to see her as some societal paragon. Now I’m kind of hoping she doesn’t get corrupted by the Tomoko virus.  

Even though this is being played for laughs, it does key into an actual strength of Tomoko’s that none of the others have. That being, her extreme candidness. Tomoko, frankly, sucks at pretending to be someone she isn’t, but is incredibly impressionable when she's her unrestrained self. Yes, there’s a time and place for that kind of thing, but sometimes, an incestual eroge is exactly what you need to get your point across.

Precious Lil’ Bean and Jealous Lil’ Bean. Take your pick. 

Yeah, yeah, Nemo getting in Tomoko’s face is nothing new. However, what is new is how Nemo dishes it out and how Tomoko takes it. Nemo usually glowers over the girl as if to assert dominance, but she’ll occasionally crouch down, like a cheetah ready to pounce. Tomoko always cowers a bit during Nemo’s provocations, shrinking down with caution. But here, Tomoko doesn’t waver. She stays upright, even looking down at Nemo for once despite being obviously flustered. Stand your ground, Tomoko. Stand. Your. Ground.

Low-key bitching followed by buddy-buddy invitation equals the politics of friendships.

Sweetie, the girl can’t even bother to use your own name. What do you think?

Normally, I’m not fond of this kind of storytelling where the author tacks on additional, never-before-seen events to a previously seen memory just to add plot tension. The only reason I let this slide is because, as is soon revealed, this memory is more for Yuri’s characterization than for story direction. Plus, it’s interesting to compare how close they are now as opposed to back then. You win this time, Nico Tanigawa.

Taking the easy route even in college, eh, Tomoko? I expect nothing less from you.

Taking the easy route even in college, eh, Yuri? I also expect nothing less from you.

Lazy Sisters Unite!

Promised, my ass.

You’re killing me, Yuri, making me call shenanigans on you twice in one chapter. But yes, twisting your friend’s words into a promise just to suit your needs, and then playing the victim card when said friend doesn’t keep their “promise” is a serious friendship offense. As much as we will all want to Yuri have beautiful, lovely friendships with these girls, it suddenly makes a whole lot of sense why Yuri didn’t have these friendships in the first place. My emotional spectrum is out of whack right now, unable to determine whether Yuri’s behavior is a regression in character or a reconstruction of one.

Bless Mako and her patience.

Oh god, Nemo’s Yandere Stare is spreading.

Hmm, the extra text on Yuri’s date is ripe for some overanalyzing. My first instinct is to say that writing more of a description is indicative of Tomoko actually caring more about spending time with Yuri than she does with Nemo and Katou. But then again, it could just very well be that Tomoko didn’t want to be redundant and write the same thing over three times. 

Whatever the reason, at least she managed to write out Yuri’s last name. I might have died if she just drew a face with pigtails. 

This has always been one Tomoko’s key developments, realizing that being a normie or popular doesn’t give you a pass in life. Everyone has their own shit to deal with no matter how (un)popular you are, and now that Tomoko has gotten a taste of that, the next step for Tomoko’s personal journey could be one of self-actualization: 

Stay where you are and possibly lose your roots, or go back to where you came from and potentially lose what you gained?

Exact-a-mundo. A lot of people have criticized this manga for turning Tomoko into a normie and betraying who she was. But in my opinion, Tomoko is not a normie. Such a self-deprecating label is more defined by one’s personality rather than their social network. Tomoko knows a lot of normies, but until she stylizes up her hair, disregards her hobbies and pulls a Nemo, she’ll always be our lovable mojyo.

On a final note, it’s easy to see Tomoko as the dense protagonist of harem manga right now, and yet, these punchlines regarding her “pursuits” seem to be much more effective if you look at Tomoko’s “harem” as just platonic and devoid of romantic subtext (whether or not it’s actually doing that is another story). Perhaps it’s because while Tomoko is oblivious to everyone’s jealousy, she actually has a great deal of agency that is not often seen in harem protags. The girls are so responsive to Tomoko’s actions, and thus, the emotional core of the Tomoko’s harem actually carries some well-earned weight. 

Can we have more manga with a strong, platonic harem, please?

[amuelle]

She…

After an endless situation-ship that would flare up and die down like arthritis. She finally decided that old one wasn’t good enough. He had a long tongue but he was everything except loyal, honest or down. Most importantly he didn’t want to be dangerous with her. Her benchmark for affection is the level of danger you are willing to put yourself in for her. The logic was, if you don’t want to throw rocks at my window or stay out past curfew. WHAT ARE WE DOING????

Then she met another man….

She didn’t like him at first. He was not her type nor incredibly attractive. He was however loyal, affectionate, caring and broke. To herself she could admit that she shouldn’t have let it go on for so long knowing how she felt, but vulnerable people do things they wouldn’t normally do. This is how she learnt to stop deciding things with a broken heart.

They were together, the how, who, when and why don’t really matter. Hurt, vulnerable and dealing with all the things that come with feeling like a failure, she met this man. This man who just wanted to give when all she wanted to do was take, so she took. Then as most women do, she started to give and give and ultimately her whole life became a painful penance to making him happy. She knew she was with him but deep down in her soul she felt like this relationship happened around her. She was watching myself go deeper and deeper down the rabbit’s hole and walking further away from herself but it wasn’t her. She didn’t feel like it was her…

He was everything she needed when we they first met. All he wanted to do was be with her, talking for hours and making her feel wanted. Wholly wanted. He was phenomenal and she was drunk off the attention and affection. In the beginning his overly critical nature could be ignored and how he was slowly alienating her from my friends and family. They were just falling in love. Spending all her time with him, she was allowing him to influence her movements but it didn’t seem like an issue. She was watching herself do all these things, it didn’t feel real.

The type of woman who wasn’t shy to help her man. If she had it, she would share it. And who else would she share it with other than her prince? He had encountered some legal trouble so she let him hold something. Then he lost his job and had NO prospects or side hustle and again she offered more financial support. He became a permanent fixture in her monthly budget, right next to roll on and hair spray. At this time a night out meant she footed the bill…it was all on her and he ALWAYS had to come with. It was always wrapped in guilt and it slowly started to develop into a situation where she couldn’t really go out with friends. If she did the night had to end with seeing him or speaking to him because people in love make time for each other.

Every time something good happened for her, the negative effect it had on his life was always the next topic. A friend asked her to be a bridesmaid – she would spend days with other people who weren’t him. Her mother wanted them to go shopping – She should buy him something, she had more than she needed and he had nothing. She had KFC for lunch – How could she eat that KFC alone? Did she stop to think if he had had anything to eat? Everything, simply everything had to be in service to making sure he was alright because he was going through something. She was his woman and that’s what women do for their men…right?

Social media became his primary tool for inciting her anxiety. To keep the peace she untagged herself from photos, unfriended people just to show there was no one else, deleted memories because they made him….not jealous…but insecure. It was laborious. One specific photo taken at a colleagues wedding. Her skin was flawless, hair was did and she looked amazing. He took issue with that photo. He told her to make sure the photo was deleted because it had a man in it and it made her look like a whore. (Whore was his favorite word when he wanted to rake her over the coals). She examined the picture and didn’t see a man. Finally she asked him to show her this man in a photo of her ALONE!!! There, in the top left corner, TINY out of focus and unnoticeable to the naked eye was a man in a black t-shirt…this was the man he was talking about. Not even in focus, or in the photo, they weren’t even touching, he was just walking past in the background when the photo was taken BUT she was a whore for even having this picture. (The bells started ringing but she thought she was being pedantic.) The photo was deleted and she stayed with him and continued to have her spirit chipped away at.

She used to ask herself all the time why she was still with him, haemorrhaging money, pride and happiness. She was set on convincing herself that she wanted to be in this relationship. Before this relationship she had been a very skittish dater.  One thing within six months that made her uncomfortable was enough, she would leave you and never entertain romantic notions of you, but that hadn’t worked for her. She was committed this time to trying something new. You can’t always run….right? She concluded that a half-baked relationship with someone that did not set her soul on fire was better than none at all. A bad boyfriend is a boyfriend. She could go and fit in with everyone in a relationship. Friends would stop ostracising her for not dating because she could be single with no children and be happy at her age. It was impossible. Everyone needs love and you need to be in a relationship, in fact any relationship to get love. You aren’t lonely in a relationship and society will accept you she thought. Better if you are in a relationship (even if it’s bad) because you literally have not a god damn thing to your name. You are ALONE so settle or else you will be SAD AND LONELY….FOREVER!!! (Women suffer and sacrifice in relationships. Men just don’t know better and they need to be taught). Many women dating or single in their 30s have felt this in a variety of ways. It was such a dreadful place to be emotionally and so she ended up settling and doing more damage to herself than just being by herself would do. She thought she was lonely and needed attention. She got it from someone who was trying to kill her from the inside.

Fear was a big part of why she stayed. Most women leave an average of seven times before being able to leave a bad relationship for good. She was afraid of him. She always felt like if she had a good time or did something she enjoyed he could smell it on her and then punish her for finding joy anywhere else except with him. The truth was he didn’t bring her joy. She had a deep sense of obligation to make sure she let him down easy because she didn’t have to keep talking to him and make him fall for her, she could have left him alone from the start, she didn’t have to call him when she was sad, he was in her life because she had asked him to and she had to take the good with the bad…..right? Besides, she was the only person who could help him. He told her that. He needed her and she was high off that even if it was killing her slowly.

When he wasn’t being manipulative or crazy he was a phenomenal support to her but he was crazy more than he was sane. He was always worried about how people perceived him. No one ever saw him be mean or hurtful but he was always awkward when they were in a public setting. He switched to be the nice guy trying to play captain save a hoe. From his perspective he got a lot of bad press from being with her. The onus of his unhappiness rested on her. Never him. From the day they got together she was the reason things didn’t work out in his life and she was responsible for making it better because she had let his image get tainted. People saw him differently because of her. All the negative press he would get because of her affected him. He would say no one took her seriously, all her male friends were just trying to get in her pants and she was naive not to see it. He also used to reiterate that EVERYONE thought she was a whore and he was doing her a favor being with her because no one would want to love her because she was such a whore.

What really used to make her feel like she was the issue was that he would say things like “you are the most important person in my life, why do you treat me so poorly when I love you. All those people who hurt you aren’t me” And he wasn’t wrong. The people responsible for her past hurt had nothing to do with him, that didn’t mean he wasn’t hurting her also. He was protecting her from her whore self. She wasn’t capable to being in a mature relationship and that why she had to stay with him and give everything she had to make their relationship work. He had sacrificed his good name to be with her, she owed him for that.

For his birthday, she took him shopping and then for dinner. He ordered doubles of one the most expensive whiskey on the menu, a steak, shots and whatever else he wanted. It was his birthday and she had offered but she would have appreciated some compassion for her bank balance. Knowing all her financial burdens he continued to have the best night of his life and later when she told him he was unappreciative of the little she was able to do for him he said if its little, its little and he would never pretend what she did for him was more than what it was. Those were the most hurtful words she had ever heard. It was said with the intention of being hurtful and soul crushing and it was. (The bells, sirens and blue lights were going OFF! But she was still not ready to let go and be single again because she had committed to trying to make her relationship work.) Swept up in a tornado that just kept spinning and she had totally forgotten herself. But one day….she remembered

During the course of their relationship she moved to a new city for work. He was happy for her but he couldn’t be happy for her unless he highlighted how desperate his own personal situation was. He was not so happy he couldn’t watch her moves and make her feel guilty about what she did with her time. Since the infancy of the relationship he had always had a way of accusing her of cheating at odd times. She wasn’t cheating. She wanted to give this relationship a chance. Accusing her of cheating and saying incredibly hurtful things was his way of maintaining control. She wanted to be nothing like this hurtful harlot he would describe so she began to change but he was never satisfied. Nothing she ever did was enough. It was her fault his life was not going the way he would have liked it to and she wasn’t doing enough to help him. IT WAS HER FAULT, SHE NEEDED TO FIX IT!!

This particular evening, on a video call he asked her to show him the room she was in. She showed him and he accused her of having a man in the room and he said he wanted to talk to him. That was the instant she reached her quota. For the first time in a long time she wasn’t in the mood. She didn’t want to stay up past midnight dealing with his insecurities reassuring him there was no one else in the room. She had to be up at 5am to get ready for work, today at 9pm she wasn’t doing this! So she slept. In the morning she had close to 100 text messages and 50 missed calls all blaming and accusing her, repeating that she was cruel for what she was doing. When she was finally in the mood to talk he maintained she was cheating. He said the reason she didn’t want to show him the room was because she had a lover laying in the bed with her.

Finally she snapped. It was just as good as taking off your heels after long night or the first few seconds when you hit the water of a bubble bath at exactly the right temperature. That release of all the strain and tension. It was everything she had needed to feel. It felt like she was free! Breaking up with him was tantamount to buying a new life. She didn’t care about being ostracized because she couldn’t keep a man. She didn’t mind friends opting not to meet up with her because their partners were uncomfortable them spending time with single women. It didn’t matter anymore. She was alright having nothing but the clothes on her back, the love in her heart, no dog or cat because she was at peace without him. All the judgement in the world wasn’t worth her peace of mind.

 She is me, this is my story. My peace of mind as I’ve learnt is priceless….

Bisou..bisou

[sometipsygnostalgic]

xenoblade chronicles  2 rapidfire review

π after i started writing up a 5000 word review and was still on the “character” section ive decided to make a rapidfire version to get to the fucking point. 

Story - at the end of the day, it’s a tale about how to deal with all the pain and insecurity that life throws at you. how to dig down deep and find a way to continue in what you may interpret as a dreadful world. it also has some of the most satisfying mysteries and plot resolutions i’ve ever seen in a videogame. utterly touching themes. unfortunately gets a bit too shonen at points especially with the protagonist. also quite possibly a lowkey harem anime.  

Story rating - 8 out of 10.   

Characters -  mostly all amazing in the english version. 

Rex - a top lad. your best mate. however, becomes a total flawless gary stu pretty quickly. better than many protagonists out there. i like the way he gets people to open up by acting so casually friendly around them. 7 out of 10.

Pyra - unfortunately the weakest character in the main cast. has 3 forms that are treated as different characters for some reason, and no emotions beyond “sad” and “in love with rex”. her mythra form is a slightly better character who will talk to other cast members and sass down people. however mythra also comes across as weak and overly emotionally fragile at times, considering she is supposed to be the Master Blade. i suspect she exists for rex to have 4 3 girlfriends at once.   

Azurda -  dragon grandpa. subversive in that when he dies for the hero to move on from the homeland, he immediately resurrects himself as a cute furry thing that sleeps in rex’s helmet. best videogame decision ever. gives top advice.

Nia - welsh. double furry. how old is she? 6? most useful NPC. swears a hell of a lot. hilarious sassmaster with an intriguing story and well-rounded motivations. consistently interesting relationships with other cast members up to the end of the game. even remains the same after receiving her compulsory magical girl transformation. has the most awesome magical girl transformation. gives the main villain super cancer, causing him to blow up like harry potter’s aunt. probably the best character. lightly orbits the black hole of the rex harem, struggling to maintain geostational stability against the powers of fanservice.  

Dromarch - a good dad cat. there is not a lot else to say about dromarch, except that you can ride him, which is badass. he and azurda are the old dad types babysitting the kids. 

Tora - meh meh. actually likable mechanic child. why is this furry cat thing a key member of my party. despite rarely ever upgrading his blade he has made me basically immortal many times. nopon mask is underrated. masterpon is same at start of game as at end of game. that is to say he is an ambitious child, and a bit of a pervert. however, has terrible taste in upgrades. has many IRL blades pointed at him.  

Poppi - poppi artificial blade who speak like masterpon. poppi α has cool design. poppi α adorable and cool. due to being newborn blade, poppi have refreshing and truthful view on world. poppi have tragic artificial sister who almost die terribly after evil nopon brainwash!  poppi have most sad heartbreaking scene at end of game. however, poppi QT and poppi QT π designs can die in big fire.  poppi good at throwing shade. it endearing and special trait. 

Morag - technically the group normie. however, very weird. when you first see morag she reeks of pure chilled badassery. logical and with a strong sense of justice and compassion, morag starts off as an intimidating antivillain but becomes a staple member of the party. even though rex and the gang are fugitives in her city, she lets them leave because she senses they weren’t crooked ruffians and they had a purpose of their own. but she comes back to kick their ass when she thinks they’re causing more trouble, and is actually quite pissed off about rex and pyra holding back on her. has a sweet relationship with the emporer, her distant cousin/adoptive kid brother. morag learns on her adventure the value of the optimistic views the kids  around her have of the world, and says multiple times if more people thought like they did, maybe there wouldn’t be so much political nonsense  stopping people from living together peacefully. morag has a lot of pride and cannot deal with being oneupped. i love her.

Brighid - Morag’s wife blade who is one of many that struggles with the thought of losing her identity after regenning. has a diary of her past lives. uses it to taunt mythra about that one time she kicked her ass. pretends to be a little distant but low key super emotionally invested in the cast’s development. literally asked a main villain if she was like her past self that he knew, causing him to reconsider his entire philosophy on blades becoming completely different people when they’re reborn. bitchslaps rex that one time. Owns everybody at some point. such a beautiful character design that i never even noticed her chest is basically bare. 

shellhead Zeke - the prince... of NOTHING. wishes he was still a student. that one time he nearly died, he was probably impaled by a falling twig. enjoyed playing Team Rocket. surprisingly wise for a teenlike NEET. does not look after his precious turtle. potentially does have a thunder powered eye. however, definitely requires second contact lens. unfortunately not comparable to rex in combat especially as his Luck stat means using a legendary crystal on him is like throwing it away. 

Pandoria - i often forget pandoria is a blade because she is zeke’s girlfriend, also i never use her in battle due to his redundentness. well reknowned for also not looking after turtles properly. also well reknowned for slam dunking the prince over his nonsense while being equally silly.  

BAD GUYS

Jin - apparently has special people-drawing trait that makes all the good cast who know him shocked he is ordering such evil bastard things to happen. not entirely sure what that trait is. emo about much bad stuff that happen to him and his driver. wishes to never forget his life with his driver. dirty child killer.very aniime. why is he the only flesh eater whose core turns red?  okay character with decent enough motivation. was confused as to why Malos was following him until the very end. 

Malos - evil bastard. cheesy villain. you can kick his ass many times and he will get back up 3 minutes later and laugh at you while swallowing back the bile of a bitter defeat. is actually a little tragic by the end of the game. dies for no reason. makes morag jealous because he found his purpose in life, though im not sure what that is.  

Akhos - N3RD. probably the most likable member of Torna. had a silly Blade companion who he was really upset died. i like how he was sentimental about his ‘sister’ blade. 

Patroka - most forgettable Torna member. a little bit tsundere. 

Mikhail - grew on me significantly at the end though like Akhos and Patroka his backstory was unceremoniously dumped on your lap at the last second. must be a great fan of Prince Zeke as he’s heard of the term Blade Eater. also why has Mikhail got awesome blade powers and immortality when Zeke hasnt? maybe Mikhail is “possessing” the blade per se.  

Amalthus - emo bitch. stared God in the face and raised his middle finger. hypocritically creates flesh eaters then sends witch hunts out for them. i like that he reminded himself every day about how bad humanity was by doing his best to help people. so despite the praetor being this “benevolent” figure he had somehow manifested a being of pure hatred. 

Theres a lot of other people I cant be assed talking about right now.

Character rating - 9 out of 10. Even though some important characters arent as impactful as they should be, everybody is memorable and I can remember all of their damn names and backstories.  

Gameplay - not particularly amazing. battles are alright, RPG-wise, with orb breaking combos and cancelling being fun to use. but they’re highly limited by the fact you can only control 1 character at a time and there is no Co-op feature. they also take an incredibly long time, even for just one enemy encounter, and there can be unfair Spike damage moves that oneshot you. my most satisfying moment battling ever was when i was fighting Aeon, the final boss, and got a Full break for the first time... I decimated the fucker when he was at 60% health. 

Of course, those are just the battle mechanics. 

The game is full of complex mechanics that do nothing but add tedium. Every single quest in the game forces you to farm for certain “collectibles”, plants that grow in specific unlisted locations that respawn when you fast travel. Many character “affinity” upgrades, which can lock out certain areas of the map, special skills, or unique interactions, also require you to do this shit. A guide is NECESSARY for this.  There’s also the Merc Missions. Little did you know, you will need to complete Merc Missions to reach the end of many blade quests!!!you know what’s FUN? Waiting for a timer to pass after 25 fucking minutes!!!! this game has NO RESPECT FOR YOUR TIME WHATSOEVER. 

the biggest bullshit of all is when you’re locked out of the main story because a specific character on your team hasn’t unlocked level 3 of a specific skill, because there’s no way that you’d be able to unlock that by naturally playing the game as you have to go out of your way to fill the criteria and grind something or other for 20 minutes. 

This makes sidequests absolutely worthless.

The saving grace for the gameplay is probably the customizability of the blades themselves. Not so much the skills you can attach to each blade, but that you can unlock a number of fun characters to use, and they will have their own unique dialogue. The drivers and blades talking during battle also makes a 20 minute fight feel a lot quicker. 

Battle gameplay mechanics: 6 out of 10. Fun but could be better.  Sidequests, crafting, and field skill mechanics : 1 out of 10. Worthless trash that should never have been greenlit. 

Considering that you will be spending so much time on the gameplay, why even bother playing the game at all?

It’s very much the story that pushes the player to move onwards. If this game didn’t have such a fun cast and meaningful plot then I’d probably not have gotten past the first act. 

Music and Environments - Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is filled with vast, beautiful and diverse environments. Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of interactivity with them other than killing monsters or foraging those bloody collectibles, but they’re beautiful enough with a diverse range of monster inhabitants that give them life. The MUSIC is godlike. My favourite track in the game would be the song used for the city in Tantal. Very ominous and beautiful hymn, sung in English. 

Music and environment rating - 8 out of 10.

Localisation - While many sneer at the localisation choices for this game I thought it brought it to life. Granted I have great bias as being a Welsh girl who is familiar with the differences in UK regional dialect, but it felt like the dialogue the characters were saying also had a heavy makeover to fit the new voices... I really don’t believe that Rex’s Japanese voice actor also sounded like a Top Lad, or that Nia’s japanese voice actor sounded as much like she was ready for a valleys bar fight.  However there are some clear obstacles as well - the characters seemed to have no idea of the context of their lines. This is obvious when they shout something for a long time. Rex’s “HIYAAAAAAAAH” and Nia’s “NOOOO MOOOOORE” sound comically off-tone when they are supposed to be epic. It’s the works of someone who read those lines off a script without knowing what was going on. Tora’s actor saying “meh meh” sounds like it was meant to be a COMPLETELY different noise. Morag and Zeke never go off-course, however. I think either they had an advantage with more visuals being completed by the time they were cast, or they just don’t have diverse enough dialogue in the game for it to have been an issue.

Localisation - 7.8/10 too much Meh. 

FINAL THOUGHTS

Xenoblade chronicles 2 is a highly addictive game that pulls you to the finish line with an interesting plot and a cast you just can’t let go of. While Pyra is certainly the weakest link of the characters, and the game has some extremely goofy shonen scenes that it’s hard to take seriously, and oh dear me that’s an awful lot of boob shots, I had a lot of fun powering through it. I’m going to have a tough time letting go of this story and these characters. 

Unfortunately the gameplay itself is not similarly addictive, and becomes more of a chore for you to get to the next cutscene or funny interaction.

Final rating - 6.5 out of 10. While a worthwhile experience, the greatest story in the world cannot save this game from piss-standard design choices. It is probably better to spend your time on a game that doesn’t have anti-fun mechanics. But I’d be hard pressed if any had a cast that touched your hearts quite like that of Xenoblade Chronicles 2. 

[timelessish]

[text: “I didn’t know where else to go.”] source: mine

Keenler Week Day 1: why I love them/the moment they became my OTP

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So, some backstory first: this is a show I only saw bits and pieces of on TV during season one but what I saw intrigued me. I remember seeing the Judge, Ivan, and Mako Tanido episodes in their entirety with my parents (they were hooked on the show during its first season) and being enthralled. The scenes I remember most from watching live were the Liz/Tom shower scene with blood on his hands (so sick but so compelling) and the Tom/Jolene scene while the song Jolene is played. That song just got to me, and I remember thinking, “Oh my god, this is perfect.” So that summer when The Blacklist got put on Netflix, I watched the full first season and loved it. I’d really never loved a procedural so much (or at all) before. I think it was a mix of the Liz/Red connection, Red’s mystery past, the Tom intrigue, creepy Apple Man, Liz being a badass, rootable-for heroine, and the unique, crazy Blacklisters in each episode that drew me in. I could and have watched season one over and over again without growing tired.

As for Keenler: while watching the show originally, shipping wasn’t on my mind. I just loved the story and plotting that was going on. I loved Tom’s story season one and all the second-guessing that went on between him and Liz, the questions of his connections to Red, Gina, and Victor Fokin, and just his being an awesome villain/spy/double agent. I loved his and Liz’s dynamic portraying the illusion of a perfect, happy marriage, but I loved it even more when it came shattering down around them. I thought Tom’s story season one was resolved perfectly with his death by Liz’s hands, and I was so thrilled to have writers who weren’t afraid to kill their darlings when it was time. Though I was more saddened by Meera’s death, I was more shocked by Tom’s. He’d had more of a main role, so I thought it was such a brave move by the writers and it reaffirmed my love of the show.

… but little did I know, the writers weren’t actually that brave. I rolled my eyes and sighed at the “Tom’s alive!!” reveal in season 2. I wasn’t surprised, but it did made me think a little less of the show. I think all the questions surrounding Tom could have been better answered after his death, because at this point, the answers haven’t been satisfactorily explained to me, and I still have so many questions. So while I loved their dynamic season one, I didn’t ship them, giving me no problem jumping onto the Keenler ship once they reeled me in.

Honestly, I saw something there from episode one. “Who the hell is Elizabeth Keen?” is such an iconic line, and it sets up so much of the story. Just who is Elizabeth Keen? Lizzie, Liz, Masha Rostova; adoptee, daughter, wife, profiler, agent, criminal, killer, fugitive, asset, mother, survivor. Her story keeps unfolding and I don’t think we’re done figuring her out yet. But beyond that, just who is she to Donald Ressler, and who will she become?

Then he shows up at her doorstep with helicopters and an army of SUVs. I mean. That’s such an amazing first meeting. You really can’t top that. Also, okay, the cinematography of the Pilot is just incredible. The way the focus shifts to Ressler watching Liz as she speaks to Cooper? That shot of him watching her, framed by golden light? It’s absolutely stunning and you can’t convince me that wasn’t the show setting the basis for a power couple. And the Pilot also gave us Ressler breaking the rules for Liz for the first time when he let her see Red in his hospital room, though it’s certainly not the last time he breaks the rules for her. It becomes such a recurring theme for him: he always follows the rules, except when it comes to Liz.

The tense banter Liz and Ress share in the next few episodes is amazing. It’s a dance of learning to trust each other and work together despite their misgivings, and I love every bit of it. There’s that shot of them squaring off after he busted in with the Canadian police to Red’s dinner with Liz, which pisses her off, and the way the camera circles around them and the way they play off each other there is insane. Can I just say: HOLY CHEMISTRY. HOLY SEXUAL TENSION.

Then comes the Stewmaker (my favorite episode of all time) and that infamous hug. Seeing that was my first, “… hmm.” I saw something there between them from the beginning, but this was the first moment I really felt it.

A highlight from the Courier: “That was hot.” “You know he can hear you, right?“ When Meera says that (oh, how I miss Meera!), Liz gives her this great side-eye and I’ll be honest, my first thought was - is someone a little jealous? Also there’s a lovely moment later when Liz asks Ressler about what he said about having nothing in the world, recognizing that on some level, he did mean it despite his denial. In that moment, she sees his vulnerability like he saw hers post-Stewmaker, and she knows not to push him, but I think she sees a bit of herself in him - in putting up a facade against the world to hide insecurities and loss. The way she described herself as being called a bitch, the way Ressler gets called an ass. There’s more alike there than there is different.

So they’re finally getting past their rocky start when Sam dies and then Anslo Garrick happens. Liz is such a brave badass, fighting instead of running away until she gets caught and brought to the box where Red and Ressler are. Her face and Ressler’s kill me there. Her expression, so sad and scared but determined, shaking her head no, don’t do it, don’t give him the code. Him in clear physical pain and indecision as Cooper tells him no. Agent Ressler, no. That’s an order. and all the while Red has a gun in his face. And Ressler gives up the code.

That’s a pivotal moment. I don’t think he gives up the code because he’s afraid of dying. I think it’s because he’s afraid of Liz dying. The Agent Ressler who’d been presented to us before would have followed his commanding officer’s orders. He would have followed protocol and protected the asset no matter the personal cost. He’s a by-the-book guy, not an emotional decision-maker. And with the career he chose, you have to figure he’s not afraid of dying in the line of duty. So he’s okay with his own death, but when it comes down to it, not Liz’s.

On top of everything, the code is Romeo. Liz loves Shakespeare, as stated by Aram at her funeral. Romeo and Juliet is a tragic romance. The connotation of Romeo in that moment draws the possibility of romance between Liz and Ress.

To go on a side tangent here, you could choose to find more connections. Romeo (Ressler) is enamored with Rosalind (Audrey), though she isn’t interested (left him), until he meets Juliet (Liz), who’s engaged (married) to Paris (Tom), who was chosen for her by her parents (inserted into her life by Red/Berlin). Romeo and Juliet fall in love but can’t be together. They get separated (she shoots the AG and goes on the run with Red) and Juliet, with the help of the Friar (Mr. Kaplan), fakes her death (she does this twice: once in Arioch Cain, once in Mr. Solomon: Conclusion). Romeo doesn’t receive the message that Juliet is actually alive (this fits slightly more for the Arioch Cain death, when all of the team was in on the plan except him), so he buys poison from the Apothecary (interestingly, they had a Blacklister by this name in the last episode) and travels back to see her body. Paris comes and they duel, Romeo killing him. Romeo then drinks the poison. When Juliet awakes, finding Romeo to be dead, she uses his dagger to kill herself. After their mutual deaths, there’s finally peace in Verona. Obviously, I don’t think all of these parallels are exact, but I do think that there are a lot of connections to be drawn between Shakespeare and the Blacklist. At any rate, it’s interesting to see some of the groundwork laid. Okay, end of side tangent.

Ressler and Liz keep growing stronger as partners and friends. He trusts her enough to talk about Audrey and Tassles, and she trusts him enough to talk about Tom. He offers to rough Tom up for her.

Another big moment: he chooses Liz over Audrey in Madeline Pratt. She’s distraught, saying she thinks Tom is going to leave her. Ressler is on his way out, but sits down at that. She tells him to leave. He says no, ditching his dinner date with Audrey, choosing to stay and be with her instead.

Then comes the Kingmaker, and this is the episode that did it for me. This is when I went … crap. I have an actual ship in this procedural crime show. First it was their moment on the bridge when he tells her it’s not over. The way they look at each other there, with the beautiful blue sky behind them… it’s breathtaking. And then he saves her life, killing the Kingmaker while he’s strangling her. I have a thing for Liz and Ress saving each other, okay? Don’t judge. And then comes the crowning moment (haha, Kingmaker, crown, get it?) : she shows up at his apartment. “I didn’t know where else to go.” No questions asked, he lets her in. For whatever reason, that’s when they got me. That wordless communication, those beautiful mooneyes. And then they cut the scene at the close of his door, which I both love and hate because yay, I get to come up with my own headcanons about what happened, but boo, I want to know what happened.

So. There’s that. And then the next day, they go to Liz’s house (now a crime scene) where she tells him, “I should have let you rough him up,” with this sad smile that he returns, and her body language is so relaxed around him in her home, where you’d think she’d feel more defensive and self-conscious. But there he is, standing in the ruins of her married life, and she seems okay with it. Alright with being vulnerable and real around him, and that’s what I love the most about them: when they can be wholly themselves with each other.

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Anyways, that’s about all from season one that sums up the development of my Keenler ship. Sorry for the long post, it sort of got away from me! I’ll be back tomorrow with my Day 2 post :)