#instead of assuming it's obvious

[bethanydelleman]

I'm watching a Chinese drama called Blossom right now and it's doing historical arranged marriage in such an interesting way and it's making me think more about my post about arranged marriage and particularly, what models of marriage has the female character seen growing up?

Because maybe part of why the Sad/Angry at arranged marriage princess/noble woman feels so hollow is because the mother is usually placidly sitting beside her husband pushing for marriage too. If your parents have a fine arranged marriage, what are you so worried about? It can come off more as a petulant kid than a real denunciation if we don't have indication that they really know what they're mad about or afraid of (Eloise Bridgerton...) Especially when they keep emphasizing how the girls are sheltered and ignorant, where did she manage to get this disillusioned?

This drama has so far shown three failed marriages, all unique. One marriage broke down because the husband was sexually assaulting female servants, another because after emotionally supporting her failure of a husband for 10 years, he took a second wife right after getting his dream job (that one felt so real), and the last woman accepted her marriage wouldn't have affection but was appalled when her husband cheated on her with her half-sister as it violated her sense of marital decency and respect.

What I really like the most is the characters mostly buy into, and all of them expect, marriage to be explicitly political. The whole mindset feels a lot more genuine to the time period. No one is Shocked Pikachu Face that they'll be asked to marry someone for family alliance reasons. And the anti-marriage female lead, she earned that opinion. She knows. She's haunted.

[lucabyte]

So does anybody else ever think about how Loop felt the need to demonstrate that the party's deaths wouldn't have any effect on the loops. I know I do but that's besides the point. Anyway I don't think Loop actually needs to bathe, they just like to feel included.

[bloominglegumes]

still thinking about robots in love

[egophiliac]

I always though Mal's mom was meant to be like "Eleanor" but they stuck an M at the start honestly, Sobbing Emoji. But "Maleanor" also makes me feel less insane since in that scene where she's just handed egg Malleus to Lilia and went to battle, it sounds more like Lilia is saying "Maleanor" than "Meleanor" (Japanese accent pending). Mayhaps they went more with what it sounded like the characters were saying :0 (we don't talk about Doodle Suit to Paint The Roses)

the transliteration of her name is Marenoa (マレノア), which is what all the voice lines are saying! all the Draconias' names start with マレ (Malleus' grandma is Maleficia/マレフィシア) as a nod to Maleficent. :D it's almost certainly a take on Eleanor, which is Erenoa (エレノア), but her name is written in English at a couple points, and I was pretty surprised to see it was Mel instead of Mal!

and, like, that's fine, it wouldn't be first Twst romanization that's tripped me up (like Keito for Cater, I know that's something to do with the loanword specific to playing cards(?) but it's just not how my brain wants to read it). but now Eng has given us Maleanor! and someone else said it was spelled inconsistently between Maleanor and Maeleanor??????? so WHO KNOWS it's a SPELLING FREE-FOR-ALL

I AM torn on which I want to use, because Mel just sounds so cute to me (and is what I'm used to now), but...the Mal consistency is kinda too good to pass up. alas, alas, truly these are the most difficult conundrums of our times. 😔

[sonknuxadow]

perhaps i need to stop swinging bats at hornets nests by saying i dislike popular sonic fandom things but it has to be said. the idea of knuckles and rouge dating doesnt make any sense to me

[katyspersonal]

To be honest I don't really want mutuals who instantly assume I commented in bad faith to act "condescending" when I was nothing but light-hearted in disagreeing about a point in the post about one of the characters and agreed with everything else. 🤔 Especially not when I apparently pissed them off so much it made them post TWO (passive-aggressive) posts on the topic of disagreement afterwards instead of.... actual discussion? At least if I assume someone is being mean on purpose I ask them about it

[uncanny-tranny]

It's okay to just be binary you know

It's also okay to let trans people do whatever they want forever. Hope this helps.

[crehador]

samaichi established relationship, for obvious reasons today i'm thinking about samatoki having a sip of some fancy drink with a big ol' pile of whipped cream on top and getting some of it on his nose. ichiro laughs and steals a photo before he helps samatoki wipe it off

later when they're home samatoki overhears him talking to someone on the phone, going on and on about how cute samatoki's gap is and how he's the luckiest man alive to get to see it and how he could die happy now that he's gotten to see firsthand that the gap he always thought samatoki would have is real as fuck

samatoki spends like a full hour holed up in the bathroom after that, just staring at himself in the mirror, teeth bared, turning his head this way and that thinking what fucking gap

and later that night when nemu comes over for dinner, while ichiro pops out to pick up some drinks, samatoki pulls nemu aside to be like how long have i had a gap between my teeth. and nemu's like what. and samatoki's like i guess it's not a problem because ichi says he loves it but like. i can't see it. why can't i see it. do you think it's something neurological

nemu's completely lost at this point so she gets samatoki to tell her exactly what he heard ichiro say, and once samatoki finishes recounting what he overheard, nemu takes a very deep breath and goes nii-san i need you to take out your phone and look up gap moe

[jinxedshapeshifter]

I kinda love that even in the non voice acted dialogue, Ryunosuke still speaks with an obvious English accent/dialect, and he seems to be kinda just picking it up from the English people around him as a way of fitting in better. Just got him thinking "It was bothering me before, this was" which isn't phrasing I've ever heard from an American. It's very distinctly English phrasing to me.

This also actually implies a bit about his education, because it would indicate that his English teacher in Japan was from England.

[voidimp]

built keyboard stand yay

[sasakisniko]

As a wine and crime girly, I should have known Maxine was an evil stalker.

The malbec? *chef's kiss* One of my fave reds.

But The Ted Bundy Tapes? Okay, so I admittedly haven't watched it. Which should tell you everything, tbh. So many better options (both straight true crime and explorations of systemic issues) than yet another doc about that man.

[themyscirah]

Key part of being a comics fan is being completely delusional

[narugen]

okay if hoshina gets promoted to captain status in another division i will literally be so sad but it would be extremely fitting if he ends up nurturing a whole batch of recruits/an entire division through his kindness.. passing on the warmth that his captain showed him when they first met.. ough

[starphobe]

fh fandom back to wishing death on a fictional teenager for being mentally ill and not learning how to cope with that in a healthy way. what else is new

[void-tiger]

Sometimes I feel like I keep having to prove my age. “No really, I really am 29. I really did start college 10 years ago (just…couldn’t finish). No I’m Not actually 15-21. YES really. It’s okay to talk to me. (But please don’t ask me what I’m doing instead of what I like to do…it’s a sore subject I can’t find a Small Talk TM response to. Especially with my age. Legit health shit has taken SOME of the embarrassment out of this…but that’s it’s own set of landmines. Can we please talk about you instead??)”