#it was a fun watch but honestly the writing was lackluster

[shysquidd]

i just finished watching legend of korra for the first time

[agoldenblackbird]

i'm gonna be a ranty bitch for a minute.

tbh i'm turned off even reading new buddie fic despite being a multishipper and have unfollowed a bunch of buddie accounts because i'm sick of the smug attitudes. one ask that i am otherwise not going to publish or respond to ended with 'sorry you don't understand media literacy bestie :)' fuck off. listen INFANT, i have been writing fanfic and original fic AND watching, reading and analyzing queer media since before you were born, i understand how character and story development works, and i know the difference between 'storyline i personally disliked' and 'bad writing.' this was BOTH, and it also was marketed to us as 'carefully crafted bi rep' and 'queer love story that is not about a bunch of pain and conflict FOR ONCE' so we have every right to be upset at the bait-and-switch.

the fact that i'm seeing the same exact posts - 'bt bones buddie CANON' that i saw three seasons ago after the bucktaylor breakup, or every time they thought buck and taylor MIGHT break up - says something. the fact that so many fans seem genuinely convinced (STILL!) that buddie is inevitable because there have been so many 'signs,' and then they rattle off a convoluted theory that would make the most hardcore taylor swift stan say 'wow, that's a bit of a reach,' honestly weirded me out a little when i first joined the 911 fandom. i have never been in a fandom where so many fans are insistent that their ship will be - not might be or could be, but WILL be - canon. i am skeptical both from past experience with other shows mishandling queer storylines or ship-baiting, and tim minnear's proven track record with this one of not really knowing what to do with buck's LI's. but i didn't want to yuck anybody's yum, so i let them have their theories and squee in peace, and unfollowed or blocked certain tags if i was seeing too much of it and getting annoyed. it's too out there for me, but i'm glad they're having fun!

yet they can't give us the same courtesy. they deride us as delusional for thinking that a canon pairing that was presented to us both in promo and the show itself as different and important (eg the bobby approval convo and 'buck getting off the hamster wheel') might last, and we're stupid to have ever liked tommy or lou or be disappointed at how the breakup was written, and if we point out the biphobia it's just sour grapes.

the bucktommy breakup is not the first time 911 has started out strong with an interesting storyline and fumbled it in the 4th quarter either because the writers got bored or in the name of needless drama/a 'gotcha' sudden twist. amir & bobby, eddie's fight club arc, the sperm donor SL, hen vs councilwoman ortiz, whatever the hell is going on with harry, the whole mess with shannon/kim, just to name a few. and especially the past couple of seasons, for me since 6b, the pacing has been off. they seem to have too much happening at once and many of the storylines don't have enough room to breathe to be narratively satisfying, or they get resolved in ways that feel lackluster.

if the toxic buddie stans who have been attacking lou on sm and sending death threats (wtf!) actually get what they want, which i admit is possible, but it's certainly not guaranteed….i don't know why they think the writers won't fumble that just as badly. it's not going to happen precisely the way they want it to because it is impossible to please everybody, that's what fanfic is for. but at this point i have zero faith that it would even be well done at all, and zero trust in the writers not to just sabotage or regress a character for funsies, and that's an excellent reason to stop watching the show. in most of my other fandoms i regard canon as a jumping-off point or a blurry outline at best, and i can have just as much fun in the 911 sandbox without any further input from canon at all, once i'm less angry.

[transfemzedaph]

idea that definitely hasnt been living in my brain:

joel totally, 100%, does NOT have a massive crush on zedaph. zedaph, who he's heard a lot of things about but, but nothing could've prepared him for how blummin' cute he is, for goodness sake-- what. what? don't look at him like that. it's nothing. shut up.

(hope u like this even if u dont write smth for it DJBDJD)

i fucking loved this ask so much <3. i transed joel & zeds genders. bc im me. also the end is meh & i dont know what grians base looks like and i do not care

-

Of course Joel had heard about Zedaph, how could they not have. There was the rest of ZITS in the life series, Skizz specifically when he found out the both of them were joining, and of course Grians run down of all of the hermits. The basic gist of it was she's weird in a cool way and makes creative and useless but fun machines, which honestly, Joel thought sounded really awesome. Redstone was fine and all but they did tend to think most redstoners were way too serious about the whole thing.

So when Joel was invited over to be the first person to test Zeds newest thing, they were excited!

What none of any of his friends had told them, was how flippin cute she was. And yeah maybe Joel ended up stumbling over their words more than usual whilst hanging out, and yeah maybe they were a little bit distracted from the game? activity? workout? whatever it was, Joel was a bit distracted because they kept watching Zed.

Joel rushes their goodbyes and runs off back home, laying face down on the floor of their newly built home, void they should have put some furniture in already.

Grian wanders over and lets out a little snort at the sight of Joel, who just groans and rolls over, propping themself up a bit,

"This is all your fault."

Grian just stares.

Joel locks eyes with him face scrunching, "You didn't tell me she was cute."

Grian, promptly bursts out laughing.

"Gri, no, this isn't funny. This is serious. And she's gonna think I'm an idiot now and it's all your fault!"

Grian's still laughing.

Joel sits then self up and crosses their arms indignantly, "Are you done?"

Grian's giggling a bit when he replies, "You've got it so bad! For a blonde! Again! You have a type sooo bad."

Joel kicks their leg out towards Grian, grumbling slightly, "Yeah well, you're blonde but you're ugly and I hate you. So there."

Grian sits himself down next to Joel, bumping their shoulder with his own as he does.

"Honestly I bet Zed loved hanging out with you. Don't worry yeah? And at least next time you can compose yourself before you hang out."

Joel leans their head on Grians shoulder.

"Yeah." They sigh, picking at their fingernails, before mumbling "Think 'm just overthinking it cause of being new 'n all that. Just dont wanna make anyone hate me."

Grian scoffs, "No one is going to hate you, and you know Skizz, and probably Tango and Impulse as well, have all talked to Zed about you? Why do you think she invited you to hang out?"

Joel hums.

"To me it seems like she was also trying to impress you too, showing off what she made?"

Joel blushes, halfheartedly giving Grian a little shove, "Shut up."

-

It's a couple of days later when Joel barges into Grians house, "I have an excuse to go visit Zed!"

Grian sighs, "And you had to come and tell me about this? Right now?"

Joel takes in the scene, Mumbo, standing next to a coffee machine, his moustache looking very lackluster, Grian almost curled up on his stool, hands clasped around a mug.

Joel winces, "Uh, what time is it?"

"Too early for this nonsense, shoo." Grian lazily waves one hand in Joels general direction to usher them away.

Joel grumbles to themself as they walk away, "Whatever, Grian doesn't get to know my really cool and awesome plan of going over and saying that we need to beat Impulse and Tangos high score without being a bit cheaty like they were. Which is the best plan ever."

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - Disappointing Doom

Feb 2023 Wk 3

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs. Organized by which ones (in each category) I’m enjoying most.

Ongoing Series - Thai

My School President (Fri YT) ep 12fin - Them openly dating and flirting with each other (finally) while keeping it “secret” was hilarious. No surprise they got outed tho. The whole “coming out homophobic teacher” sequence was very extra but suited this show. And ending with prom could not be more YA. Plus smiley kisses! 

CONCLUSION?

GMMTV gave us a classic high school set Thai BL with tropes like messy boys singing their feelings that was Love Sick for the modern age with all the gentle sweetness and pining ache, but none of the dated damaging tropes or issues.  Yes, we’ve seen it all before, but this is me: I ADORE this shit. Who let my BL be this wholesome and funny? This show was fantastic, it’s only flaw was the singing (and that’s my baggage). My favorite GMMTV offering to date. 9/10 (could go as high as 9.5 on my more forgiving days) 

Bed Friend (Sat YT, GaGa & iQIYI uncut) ep 2 of 8 - I’m ending my week with this one these days. I feel like this is an EXCELLENT life decision. King’s pining is WBL levels of EPIC. Uea’s ma may be the worst ma in Thai BL (and that’s some stiff competition.) Ah getting tested together, such a right of passage. I like King a lot, his attitude, life philosophy, the way he looks an Uea, everything. This show is GREAT. 

Bed Friend extra sexy bits explained:

YouTube has the cut version with slightly less sexy content (this is what I’m mostly watching). 

GaGa ALSO has the cut version, BUT they have “extra clips” with the uncut content, you’ll need to find and watch them separately. 

iQIYI has the uncut version with the above mentioned extra sexy bits integrated back into the full episode.

Okay? 

Okay.

Moonlight Chicken (Weds YT) eps 5-6 of 8 - The break up btw Wen & Alan was really hard to watch, both actors are so good. Speaking of good actors, where did GeminiFourth come from? Seriously? I love these characters almost as a much as TinnGun. Heart’s parents are EVIL. Told ya they’d kiss as this couple bf TinnGun. Back of head wrap ‘Kiss’ tho, haven’t seen one of those from Thailand in ages. Old school. And then Khaotung just broadsides us with PAIN. This is such an aces show, but it is A LOT. 

Never Let Me Go (Tues YT) ep 11 of 12 - More cute BF intercut with agony. Holy role reversal dad butler! Otherwise a somewhat lackluster ep 11 of DOOM as dooms go, but I’m okay with that. 

Chains of Heart (Sat iQIYI) 1-2 of 10 - This is a suspense thriller about smugglers, amnesia, and lost love. Haii is good (and gorgeous) in the lead but the story is choppy, disjoined, and confusing. May be intentional, bad writing, or the captions being particularly bad (or all 3). It’s an interesting and different start. Not good but interesting. It reminds me a little of Manner of Death only with better action sequences. But I’m not sold on it because MoD had MaxTul, and this... does not. Ep 2 did not improve matters. When Ken & Lue flirt it’s fine and the Thai food bits were fun. (Kao Soi is one of my fav northern dishes, I’m sad he didn’t get to finish it.) At the funeral, why are they all texting when it can be traced and they could just be talking to each other? Honestly, everybody behaves like an idiot in this show. So I guess this is a revenge narrative? I’m so confused. They pretty tho, so I’ll keep watching because I am weak, but if you can wait, I think this is one that’s gonna be better as a binge. 

Our Winter (Thai & Korea YT & TikTok under ThaiMiniSeries) eps 1-7 of 14 - TutorYim microseries, told in vertical (TikTok) shorts. (Thanks to the BL spies for reporting in.) Cute Trope snippits but Korean is HARD to understand with a Thai accent. I’m not watching it with Eng subs and I’m not wild about this style short form but still - cute. Funny how they styled TutorYim so that they look slightly Korean - wardrobe and makeup wizardry. 

Hit Bite Love (Sat YT) ep 6 fin - Degrassi Junior BL concludes in a very soap opera way, with new characters and new/extra drama. Trigger warning on the original trigger. The investigating cop was super hot tho. Can we give him a BL? Also I liked the final scene makeup tons. But honestly what a total mess. I don’t know what i just watched and neither does it. 3/10 (sorry babies)  

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

HIStory 5: Love in the Future (Taiwan Weds Viki) ep 9 of 10 (or 17&18 of 20) - Kind of a filler ep and lackluster for a penultimate DOOM installment. But the HIStory franchise gets this way sometimes. 

Jack o’Frost (Japan GaGa) ep 2 of 6 - I’m finding it a bit dull. 

It’s Airing But ...

My Beautiful Man 2 (Viki & Gaga) - Because there are only 4 eps, I’m waiting to binge this.

Boyband ep 2 of 10 - Stopped airing on YouTube, and only available in Thailand & Japan. Not sure if they’re working a distribution deal or just fucking with us. 

Destiny Seeker (Tues WeTV ) 10 eps - it’s not on any WeTV I can get ahold of. Bad Buddy the pulp rebirth meets Japanese handsome host club action. FairyGodBLer came through for me, but I’m collecting to binge just in case. It’s my new policy with the grey stuff. 

Cafe In Love (Thai) 10 eps on Ch3+ - Thai pulp, about trying to save a coffee shop. Same as above. 

Gossip

Thailand’s famous gay pink milk comes to Oakland, CA, USA. This amuses me greatly. And yes, next time I’m in the area, I’ll probably try to hunt it down.  (What is Pink Milk?) 

Kim Ji Woong is doing fine on Produce 101 5 Boys Planet. I agree with the pundits that he’ll likely make it through. (Yes, I think he’s a better actor than idol, and yes, we will mostly lose him from BL if he goes all in with whatever group results from this.) But does that matter when Peak Time is also airing? No, because Peak Time is MUCH better and more interesting show and it has Karam (Happy Ending Romance) fucking KILLING IT. You all know I love Leo’s voice but clearly VIXX-euphoria distracted me, because I had no idea Karam was such a stable vocalist. He’s insane and it’s fun to watch a 2nd gen fucking SERVE it up (have you ANY idea how hard Mirotic is to do LIVE?). 

In case you missed it 

Viki has acquired the airing rights to Advance Bravely. We can’t expect it to be much altered, but at least it will be legally available, and one hopes the subs will improve.

Viki added The Eighth Sense to their upcoming KBL roster, new one to me. “A university romance about the confusion often felt by college youth regarding life and love.” 

KBL A Shoulder to Cry On AKA Comfort the Boy coming to Viki, March 13. (MUCH anticipated by me, this is a high school set hurt/comfort delayed by OMGEA X scandal.) This will be the first BL to star idols from the same group! Fingers crossed it’s good because this is a group that definitely needs BL’s support. 

Next Week Looks Like This:

02/28 = Tin Tam Jai (Thai Gaga & iQIYI) 10 eps - Adorable Tin has a life-long dream to marry an older boy in his neighborhood, Park. Same production co as Coffee Melody & Ai Long Nhai. I'll likely binge it.

03/01 = The Promise, (Thai WeTV) 10 eps - friends-to-lovers, follow up to a previously aired miniseries Phupha | Nanfah. Because of this and the WeTV platform I likely won’t bother.

03/02 = All the Liquors (Korea Gaga & Viki) 8 eps - Liquor company rep and party boy Han Ji Yu buts heads with hot chef Park Ki Hoon, who doesn't drink.

03/02 = Heesu In Class 2 (Korea unknown prob Viki and/or Gaga) - A gay(er) version of Sex Education. I’m still not sure this one is actually happening. 

03/03 = A Boss and a Babe (Thai YouTube) 12 eps - ForceBook in an office set boss/employee rom-com. 

03/04 = Love Syndrome (Thai unknown prob iQIYI or Gaga) 10 eps - trailer, violent, hot/cold, hurt/comfort, amnesia. (Stars Frank formerly of FrankDrake.)

Full list of upcoming in March 2023 is here. 

2023 forthcoming BL master post. (see comments, some are inaccurate, NOT KEPT UPDATED)

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

That tentative hand GOT me bad. 

I love it when a character call’s out another character’s main characteristics. Very meta. (Moonlight Chicken.) 

OMG hot cop! 

Make up game ON POINT. 

(Hit Bite Love.) 

SO GOOD. (Bed Friend) 

(last week)

Current Kpop(ish) earworm? SHAUN & Jeff Satur - Steal The Show, you should watch it ALL THE WAY to the end, just trust me. Have I ever led you astray?

No.

Don’t answer that. 

[anulithots]

Because you love storytelling, what are your top 5 fav (fictional) books ever? Do you love live- stage drama? Oh, and do you love fairy tales like Andersen, Grimms, etc? If you are, what are your top 5 fav fairy tales?

As I read your blog, I can tell that you love story telling and story as a whole (sorry if it's kinda weird to say). Love your blog so much 🥰💐

Awww thank you!

I dooo like storytelling, it's my solace and comfort place and how my little neurodivergent self processes the world.

Top 5 favorite fictional books:

The Little Prince. The movie fundamentally shaped my childhood, and the book shapes me now. It's such a beautiful story and I've quoted it... quite a few times 😅

Six of Crows. I looove all the characters, their dynamics, the growth they have and how they fit into the larger world. The way all character dynamics and backstories are explored is soooo well done. It's 'be gays, do crimes' in a book and I love it so much,

The wild robot (is it obvious now I used to read a lot of middle grade and never reaaalllyy got into young adult - I've been reading lots of fanfic - so now I'm trying to find a new genre to like.) It's the sweetest little found family between a robot and a gosling ever.

Sherlock Holmes (not finished yet). I've only read a bit so far. THe main duo of Sherlock Holmes and Watson are so fun to read. Their banter, Sherlock's willingness to do crimes and Watson wanting to go along with it because he finds Sherlock interesting. Sherlock Holmes himself being so adhd core. He accidentally became the best man at a wedding for the people he was trying to spy on. It's peak fiction.

(The BBC show had very good characters and character dynamics, but the mystery was kinda... lackluster to be honest)

Blind Trust by @goodluckclove. Such a comfort read, all the characters and dynamics are thoroughly explored. And everyone deserves hugs and happiness. It feels like reading a slice of life show mixed with the saddest backstories and well done emotional writing and akjsdfkl. It was so fun and comforting to read.

Honorable mentions I'll have to reread: Howl's Moving Castle, The Hunger Games (my tbr list got messed around), Heaven Official's blessing.

TBR list: haikyuu, sherlock holmes, The picture of dorian gray, Six of Crows duology, Heaven Official's blessing, The Hunger Games, Omniscient reader's viewpoint.

ALSO ALSO. If anyone ever has recommendations for books that are commentaries with lots of deep contemplation and explorations of themes of some sorts... the ones that sit with you afterwards and make you look at the world in a new way.... I'm alwayyys open to recommendations.

Do you love live- stage drama?

I've only seen one😅. I don't remember what it was called. One of those classic desi ones. Ended tragically and such. I've never gotten into it, but I think I'd like it if I ever did! Maybe when I have ✨ le independence✨ I'll see some. I'm always open to suggestions in my inbox!

Oh, and do you love fairy tales like Andersen, Grimms, etc? If you are, what are your top 5 fav fairy tales?

I've never read any, but I did have a phase where I was interested in them. I watched and read lots and lots of summaries.

I liked the little mermaid one. The ending tragedy sat with little me for a while. The idea that her sisters cared enough to give her the option of her old life at the expense of the prince, that she loved him so much - even if it was unrequited - that she'd rather sacrifice herself... the moral dilemmaasss klajflkasdf. (Also the queer allegories heheh)

The Rapunzel one also was nice... I've heard lots of versions and such.

Um kajdfk I don't remember everythinggg. But they were dark and I loved how dark they were. Since they were 'fairy tales for children' it's pretty much the first dark thing I was exposed to. I honestly love dark things for that weight they add to stories and my fairy tale phase probably played a major part in that.

Thank you so much for the ask!

[beaconfeels]

Sometimes I wonder if people realize how snobby they sound when they act like people not being able to read into the deeper meanings of shows or books are just being deliberately obtuse or unintelligent. First of all, it’s ableist. Some people literally do not have the IQ to process things that way, and they shouldn’t feel ashamed of whatever way they can and do enjoy their fandom.

Second of all, it feels to me like you’re assuming everyone has had access to the kind of education where you’re taught those things. (And that you had the ability to learn in a traditional class environment) Personally, I had one year of public school, and the rest of my schooling was extremely lackluster. I never had a single class in my life where we read through a book and were taught how to look for symbolism, tropes, or any of the other things that people seem to know about when they’re talking about media. I didn’t go to college either, another thing that’s not terribly uncommon, so the only way I would have learned all that stuff was by studying it by myself.

Now, you might say, ‘That’s how I learned it!” You might be super smart and super motivated because you’re interested in it, but again, it’s kind of ignoring the different ways that people’s brains work, and also their life circumstances. I’m chronically ill, neurodivergent, and have a heck load of trauma. I’ve spent most of my adult life just trying to freaking survive, and when I’m in survival mode, I shut down. I end up only doing the things that are easy for my brain to process in my downtime because I’m so damn tired just trying to get through the basics of adult life.

I’m FINALLY at a place in my life where I have enough safety and time to be able to focus and learn things on my own, and I still end up often using the brain space that I do have to learn things that actually give me a shot at creating a better life for myself, ya know? Skills that I might be able to turn into a way to make money. This is not to say you might not have the exact same circumstances as me and you’ve self-educated yourself about a lot of shit. Good for you. That’s the way your brain lets you do things, and you should feel lucky.

Anyway, just know that viewing intelligence through a single type of lens has its roots in classism, racism, and ableism, and maybe just think about that the next time you’re writing a post about this kind of stuff. Honestly, I LOVE the people who actually talk about the symbolism and other things they catch in TV shows and books etc, because that’s been a really nice way for me to gain a little education about it in a way that’s fun and interesting. There’s a real difference between someone doing a post where they talk through something they loved in their fave show or book and point out all the parallels and color choices and what that means, versus someone basically saying, “I mean DUH. You’d think they haven’t even watched the show. OBVIOUSLY the red balloon represents his hopes for the future.” That kind of energy is not useful.

[genlossneg]

Oh my god I literally cannot convey to you that stumbling on this blog felt like seeing the sunlight again after being trapped underground for months. I thought I was crazy for finding fault with genloss because I have not seen any actual valid criticism anywhere and I thought I was losing my mind for not seeing the glory that is the, ‘next wave of indie horror content’.

Please.

There’s more horror in an average retail store on any given weekend than this entire series has in its three episodes.

Christ I don’t even know where to begin with this thing.

I’m not a film student but I’ve read the other film student anons’ posts and they are so incredibly right. There is so much about the series that felt hastily thrown together and I also loathe the phrase ‘intentionally bad’ when it’s something that’s been hyped up for as long as it has and yet, fell so incredibly flat. I have never been more bored, irritated, and confused watching a piece of media before, and have continued to feel this way as I watch diehard fans of Ranboo tout how great of a series it is?

Hey, Boobers- cmere, let me tell you a secret, genloss ain’t all it’s cracked up to be.

It’s a lukewarm, lackluster production at best, and if I didn’t know going in that this was supposed to be Ranboo’s passion project, it literally feels like a school assignment he had only the bare interest in putting together. God this thing has no soul. It has no spark. And it hurts so much to know that this is what this great incredibly hyped-up project became, because from how they talked about it, it's obvious Ranboo loves this thing, and I wanted to love it too.

But it ain’t good. And someone should’ve told him long before now it needs massive edits, and I get it, getting hard criticism is painful and isn't fun, but if it makes your end product better, your piece of entertainment content more enjoyable for the consumer, then you gotta listen and bare it.

I’m an author and I know they do it because they love me, but whenever my editors are like ‘ayo this shit is whack wtf you talking about’ it does hurt my pride but!!!! But!!!!!!!! I go back and take a harder look at that section and sometimes I stand by what I wrote, but other times I now see what was wrong with it and make the edits. Sometimes entire concepts have to get cut to trim down the story and make it more cohesive and that also sucks, but you just tuck those ideas away for later or another project, and tbh I do not feel like anyone did this with the genloss concept.

This entire story feels like it is stapled together and there is literally no through line!! It is a random bag of ideas mashed together to form what I imagine an AI would generate if you typed in ‘mall, horror, evil cooperation’. Fuck it hurts. It hurts so much to be someone that is so passionate about storytelling and writing to see genloss get the attention it has, and for Ranboo to be praised for their ‘excellent writing skills’.

I do understand this was probably their second real attempt at writing a story for public consumption (first being his character’s arc in the dsmp), and like, nothing anyone writes on their second attempt to tell a story is gonna be great. Mine wasn’t, no writer’s is, and that’s okay I really genuinely get that, my problem is how the production was hyped up, how the budget was apparently blown on so much wasteful crap, and then how no one with experience telling stories took a look at his concept before production began.

It makes me sick to know that box cost 18k. Do you know what I, and many other small creators, could do with that kinda money?

This was a few weeks ago? Maybe last week? But Ranboo said over here on the tumbles that they were thinking about genloss in written form, IE a book, and I think I literally blacked out I got so angry. I am also writing a book (hahahaha hi it is not easy!) and I honestly don’t think it's half bad, but I have still been fighting tooth and nail to get eyes on it and nothing makes me angrier than knowing Ranboo could slap some half-baked shit into a word doc, get whatever kind of fancy printing they wanted, and sell more copies than I likely ever will.

I don’t wish anything ill on the dude, he seems like a nice person and I hope he succeeds, but jesus christ, someone needs to be real with them on their writing and story construction. TBH I think a large part of the problem is how rabid his fanbase is, so any kind of criticism gets buried under threats and just, people blowing smoke up his ass, and that is not helpful to him as a creator!! Dude wants to grow and improve, stop telling them genloss is the best thing since sliced bread!!

Let him get his feelings hurt over this, let them take that and make it their drive, let him know he can do better.

If you keep settling for mediocrity, you never push yourself to do something great.

But that’s just my two cents. Thank you for letting me word vomit in your inbox, I have been going crazy and I will likely be back <3

-the author anon

this blog is collecting anons representing all the creative aspects of gen loss like pokemon. first film student anon. now author anon.

but in all seriousness i'm glad this blog is a breath of fresh air for you <3 you're right! my first couple attempts at writing (mostly fanfiction, some original) i am very glad they do not exist online. part of writing well is being kind of really bad at it for a bit. ive taken a writing class (in college) and the entire foundation of that class was "we will write and then your classmates will give you feedback" and it made a lot of my work so much better. feedback is like. how you get good and i feel like you're right, the fanbase does drown a lot of that out (hence me making a dedicated blog!)

i hadn't heard of the gen loss book concept before this but. i can't imagine it would be super great at the current form of gen loss is in. and writing is so much more than "here's the plot" like. establishing a good setting and sense of place and making us actually connect with the protagonist and. author anon that awakened something in me

Let him get his feelings hurt over this, let them take that and make it their drive, let him know he can do better. If you keep settling for mediocrity, you never push yourself to do something great.

anyways. great thoughts! reposting that quote for those in the back :)

[sepyana]

Noir 2001 Ep. 11-18 Thoughs

This is around the time when Noir's plot starts to pick up.

Some general things first:

The sountrack of Noir is really damn good. I wanted to listen to is some more so I searched it up on Youtube. Turns out it's composed by Yuki Kajiura, which is a name I instantly recognized because she is responsible for the soundtrack of Madoka Magica, one of my favourite anime soundtracks ever. Explains the pmmm vibes I got for sure.

I will say though, she did improve between the osts. I like the Noir soundtrack a lot but there are a few janky bits the pmmm ost doesn't struggle with.

I had a lot of fun watching these episodes, the plot is interesting and the more "episodic" segments don't feel jarring to watch. I'm starting to like Kirika and Mireille a lot.

But the biggest reason for my interest is Chloe. I can't explain why, she doesn't get to do much yet. I dunno, she is just really charming to me.

Onto the episode by episode notes:

Ep. 11

This episode sets up the whole grand retour plotline, we see Atlena is planning something that Soldats is not too happy about. Also we get to know more about the book the photocopies are coming from.

I really like Chloe, I like that we get to see a show of her wardrobe only for her to pick the same wack ass outfit every time. Also the fact that she asks Kirika if she can keep the fork. What a weird little critter honestly.

The whole time her and Kirika are talking all Mireille could think is "What the fuck are these kids doing". She ends up giving in in the end.

Ep. 12

This episode is a oddity in that Kirika and Mireille don't appear at all. It's just Chloe and Atlena. It's a nice episode, we get to see a little bit of their dynamic. She does seem to care about her but Chloe might just be a tool for her too. It's a bit early to tell.

She is... I don't wanna say unmotivated but she is uninterested in the missions she is given. She cares about the integrity of it but she isn't interested in why she is given them. She isn't like "How dare you betray our organization bla bla"

Chloe's loyalties lie in Atlena only. She doesn't seem to care about Soldats, but she is interested in the Grand Retour, since the plan involves her.

Ep. 13

I wrote my thoughts in a seperate post like this:

I expected the painter to be one of Noir's targets or something because that's what happens with anyone who Kirika interacts positively with, thus why Mireille told her not to talk to him. But when he got shot I realized it was so he wouldn't get caught up in their mess and die. It's genuinely sad, you can tell at the end she is saying that from experience. Kirika was really happy to spend time with him, her face lights up. Something like picking up hobbies and making friends would mean a lot, especially to someone who doesn't have any idea who they are. Really nice episode overall

It was always present but after this episode you become on edge every time Mireille or Kirika i teract with a friend, expecting them to die. It does happen with George later on.

Ep. 14

There is some nice writing in this episode. Mireille denies her uncle could lie to her only for her to lie to him after. If she has things she would keep a secret surely her uncle must too.

There is definitely symbolism with the flowers but I am not smart enough to figure it out.

Ep. 15-16

Wild to me that Mireille and Kirika actually listened to Soldats. What if they hijack tour plane on your way to Vietnam or something? I don't think it's worth the risk.

The combat in this show is really lackluster. Maybe I am just not getting it. The henchmen are a joke, beating them is not fun to watch for me. And it drags on for so long too. I do like the shorter action sequences though.

It's funny that they say the poison the killer lady uses is "lethal to normal humans" and do not elaborate on that. Is she not human. What does this mean.

These episodes make me think Atlena does care for Chloe and isn't just putting on an act. Otherwise it makes no sense she would be fond of her in her inner dialogue and watch over her. She won't see that so why bother acting?

Ep. 17

The reveal that Mireille's parents were killed by Soldats was not surprising but I wasn't expexting them to be part of Soldats. We get to learn a lot about Mireille and Kirika's past but I don't have anything particularly interesting to say so I will skip that.

Apparently, her parents betrayed Soldats to protect her. But she had a brother didn't she, who got killed with her parents. Does that mean there is something special about Mireille?

Ep. 18

In every story with a duo protagonist there comes a time where the duo "breaks up". I wouldn't call this an arc since it's the span of an episode but yknow.

Losing my shit at crying Kirika she looks so much like the crying cat image here. How can you be so horrible to a face like that Mireille.

I get the sense Chloe doesn't give two shits about Mireille and only decided to tell Kirika about her because her dying would make Kirika upset. In a similar way to how Homura treats Sayaka, I guess. And she is right that it would make her upset. She is dependent on Mireille since she is the only person she actually knows. And I don't think Mireille realises that until the end.

The end of the episode was really cute. I am really starting to get attached to these two.

And that's the end! I decided to do a little sketch of Chloe at the end here for those who read this whole thing

There is a significant lack of Noir content and I want to change that so I might post some art on my art blog (^o^)v

[storm-driver]

if i may ask. thoughts on the trollhunters movie

how did they do voltron a second time

under the cut for spoiler discussion

I don't think it's the worst "finale" we could've gotten, but it's verily lackluster, considering how great the ending for og Trollhunters was.

I think the worst part is arguably the 'Unbecoming' part during the last 10 minutes, especially since Jim had finally gotten his amulet back and was REALLY ready to throw down again, just like the good old days.

The original series already showed us that Jim not being the Trollhunter wasn't destiny, so it sorta feels like a kick in the teeth for Jim to casually pass it on to Toby. I would want to think the implication is that Jim is going to bear the burden of knowing there was a worse outcome in the other timeline. But that still feels just as bad.

The idea is that the ENTIRE journey we all just went on was null and void. Did it happen? Yes, because Jim remembers by the end and he's going to use that knowledge to make this second shot better. But it feels so cheap at the end of the day.

It was like they wanted to write a little more tragedy into the show, but knew that they needed to give it a big send-off that would leave fans with some decent closure. Unfortunately, the closure comes in the form of having to accept that the massive journey you just went on has been forgotten.

Now, if this had branched into some mega version of "Unbecoming," where Jim has to face the consequences of his actions, I don't think that'd be a bad idea. But it ain't where the series ended, and thus, I don't like to consider the movie when I think about the series as a whole.

Besides the ending, I don't think the whole movie was bad. I thought the opening sequence with tryna get Nari to safety was cool and beautifully animated. There were a few scenes throughout the whole movie that I thought were fuckin dope, like the scene where Jim gets the amulet back while he's gonna fight Belroc. That whole sequence was very hype and it honestly felt earned.

The animation quality for the movie as a whole is immaculate. Nothing looks out of place as far as the original series goes, it just looks like they got a higher budget for the movie and told the animation team to go nuts. Again, it's gorgeous and I'm glad I watched it for the animation alone.

I have always had my faves and dislikes in the voice cast of ToA. Unfortunately, I still haven't gotten past the loss of Anton Yelchin for Jim. His new VA does a splendid job in his memory, but part of why I loved Jim so much in the original series was that passion from the late Anton. Of course, that's nothing that can be fixed. I have no issue with Jim's voice as it is, I just mourn what we've lost. Everyone else in the main cast does a great job, and I have a soft spot for Douxie especially. He was a beautiful addition to the franchise as a whole.

Besides that, I wouldn't want to rag on the movie fulltime besides saying the Steve and Aja sideplot was someone's disguised fetish, so I'm not commenting on that at all. I also thought Aja and Krel's presence in the movie was very weak, considering how fun a sideseries 3Below had been. The Varvatos mech was cool, even if it was just another Pacific Rim. Wish they'd been in the movie more as leading protags.

I'll write down one last thing: I thought the ending of Wizards ended kinda weak, considering how long it'd been since we saw Troll-Jim, and I personally would've loved to see more of that version of him before it got swept away in plot resolution. So not getting to see that side of him for the movie felt like a semi-loss. I don't mind that he got saved. Just that it was too soon and we could've seen more of that troll-ish side like we saw in the original series.

Overall opinion? Very poor quality close to the whole franchise. Not a terrible movie as a standalone. Good animation, bad writing choices. I don't personally think of it as canon, or accept it as a proper ending.

I can't think of much else to say, but if you wanted my opinion on anything I didn't say here, totally okay to respond or reblog with further discussion! The series as a whole means a lot to me and I enjoy talking about it, even if we do a little nitpicking.

[theangelicpyro]

Sorry to come in here but since I love dub directions, as a hypothetical question, who was your dream cast for each? I just love thinking of all the possibilities and scenarios of HOPEFULLY which company can sponsor in the future the whole 200

omg hi anon! i'm going to mostly skip the characters that i liked the official dub voices of if that's alright, and list out the ones i haven't heard in the previews yet or don't remember ^^ also sorry if the explanations are lackluster, i've been looking up so many videos to see ranges of va's i'm writing down and spent hours trying to decide! let me know if you want more characters, and which ones in particular if you do

reborn: i actually don't mind veronica taylor's take on him too much, but something about it just sounds off to me idk, but i can't think of another va except for christina vee to pull off reborn

tsuna: erica mendez's nagisa shingestu from udg would be a great voice for tsuna

yamamoto: johnny yong bosch, i've seen people put him as mukuro which honestly i think would be great too, but takeshi's vibe fits more in my mind

gokudera: eric vale with his voice for sanji one piece, he sounds enough like a nerd and still be angry

ryohei: kaiji tang, there's not a specific voice to pinpoint but i believe he could do a very energetic but still slightly older sounding big brother

hibari: might be a strange pick but cody christian's cloud strife, kyoya has a very smooth voice and i can definitely imagine hearing an "i'll bite you to death"

mukuro: robbie daymond, his range with goro akechi alone (though that vocal performance is extremely impressive) is so fitting for mukuro

chrome: valeria rodriguez using her voice of sucrose from genshin OR suzie yeung's fuuka from persona 3 reload

bianchi: allegra clark, specifically her performance as boss from ai the somnium files

haru: monica rial, watch ouran's dub renge is literally her

dino: max mittelman with his voice as atsushi from bsd, with a hint of ryuji from persona 5

byakuran: daman mills' lyney from genshin but more sinister would fit marshmallow man so well

this was really fun to do actually, thank you for the ask!

[gojonanami]

Dearest Sab,

I can't even find the words to express how much I have enjoyed reading chapter six and this series as a whole.

For me, this series holds such a special place. I have had so much fun watching its inception, reading each part, thinking about it, and I am so happy that it concluded on such a wonderful note. I think I will look on this time fondly – I have truly had such a fun time reading your work, engaging with your page and watching this story grow.

As for this chapter, I truly really enjoyed it. It's so good. I loved the way you chronicled their journey. I am so amazed – you're honestly such a fantastic writer. The dialogue literally made me cry.

I think the lines said by Suguru were some of the most romantic lines I've read. I was literally, physically moved as I read them. They're just so potent. You can literally feel his love through the screen.

This chapter was so enchanting that I just can't find enough words to chronicle it. It's such a beautiful stories that I can wax on and on and write pages on your story. I just know that I can write a 5000 word response to this series – the length of a short dissertation.

I am still reeling from the scenes. They're replaying in my head. From the beginning scene, to the scenes with Yuta, to Suguru's dream, the ice cream date, the presentation, the reconciliation...

And, oh my gosh, Yaga knowing? Ah, of course he'd know! And it ended up being so sweet...

And the scene in Suguru's office? His passion, want and love? It was so romantic, I literally had to pause and stare up at the ceiling because I was feeling myself getting heart eyes. It's so good.

And the end too?? The poodle?? And getting a new place? How sweet?

(Also, you set up Yuta's part so nicely. Looking at his future? What a cool way of doing it!!!)

This is such a beautiful series. I love it so much. I love Professor Geto so, so much. He's so, so cute.

Thank you so, so much for producing this gift <3

I know you've written before about worrying about writing long stories, but honestly, I have enjoyed them so much. I loved reading each part – they read so well & they flowed so well.

I'd like to acknowledge how much work you've put into this series. I respect you so much and admire you so, so, so much for writing so much and so well and so cleanly.

Thank you for writing this series which holds such a special place in my heart. It is truly a gem. A beautiful, beautiful gem.

Dearest anon,

this is so sweet — I can’t find the right words to reply to this 😭💕the series holds such a special place in my heart too and the fact so many of you resonated with it means the world to me. the engagement and love you all had for this series was the thing that kept me going and kept me inspired so thank you really 💕😭

I’m so glad 💕 I’m sorry it made you cry but also thank you 🫶🥹😭 it’s one of the highest compliments a writer can receive 🫶 it means so much to me that you especially enjoyed this part since it is the conclusion to the series and I’ve seen so many of my favs ruined by a lackluster ending which is why I went about this s particular way and way it took me two weeks to write it (even though I’m on break between jobs at the moment).

that is so sweet and if anyone wrote an essay about my fic I think I would sob because this ask is already enough to make me cry haha. I’m so glad the scenes were memorable — I was worried it wasn’t cohesive enough and truly tried to make sure it was.

Yaga wasn’t supposed to know but as I wrote it, I thought it would be perfect for him to know 😭 and to help them find each other again.

after how much happened in that goddamn office with me toying with all of you, I had to let them do it at least once hahaha.

ahhhh I’m glad you liked the ending — I had that last scene in mind from before I started part five — I only knew I was going to reference the first scene of part one. the rest came as I wrote it. and the set up for yuta came after since I added it in since I nearly forgot to add it in there.

thank you so much for reading and for your lovely words — I can’t tell you how much they mean to me. I do worry about it haha -/ it seems like the stories that are popular are just smut — and I like including smut but I also love writing complex human relationships (not bashing pnp in any way because smut is so freaking difficult to write) and so my fics are long — and obviously that’s not for everyone. It makes me happy that it flowed well 😭😭😭 I always worry about that!!

thank you so much for reading and for being here and for your incredibly kind words — there’s no words I can find to thank you for being here and sending this my way. 🥹💕 I hope you’re here for the other stories I wrote 🫶

[nogooddeetz]

i’ve been in a starkid mood so: here’s my personal ranking of the team starkid shows so far before i see nerdy prudes must die, because… why not? (my criteria depends on things like writing just as much as it depends on arbitrary things like what random character/song i imprinted on as a teen.)

anyway here is the list:

1. a very potter musical (it just can’t get better than this - even in today’s climate as they truly made a crackhead out of every one of joanne’s characters and plots and since she had nothing to do with the actual production so… fuck her)

2. the guy who didn’t like musicals (this one is, in my opinion, maybe the strongest show writing-wise they’ve done so far)

3. starship (this one was my absolute favorite when i was a teenager and it still has a special place in my heart - i love a good sci-fi trope plus taz as a character and a couple of the songs just hit so right for me)

4. the trail to oregon (i’m not even sure why but this one just works so well for me; 6 cast members, minimal set, nuclear family at the center of it and it’s just… so fucking funny)

5. a very potter sequel (nothing can quite reach the level of hilarity of the first avpm but this one is not all that far off)

6. firebringer (this has, in my opinion, some of the funniest writing; every one liner seems to hit right and that deserves props from me - plus several of the songs are good even out of context)

7. a very potter senior year (out of the trilogy it’s the most lackluster, which makes sense given the changes in things like cast and venue, but it still has that avpm energy that’s just delightful)

8. black friday (this one again definitely shows how far they’ve come with story-writing, but i just wasn’t as invested in the characters or taken by the songs in this one, with the very important exception of the song black friday! that one i think is one of the best songs they’ve ever written)

9. twisted (i enjoy this one as a whole, as a huge fan of wicked it speaks to me and is funny, i just once again wasn’t as invested in the characters or taken by the songs so it tends to fade into the background compared to some of the other shows on the list; i do want to say dylan saunders performs the shit out of ja’far though)

10. holy musical b@man! (this one is just generally hilarious; the whole vibe of the show is just ridiculous and it’s a fun, light watch with a few banger songs, though i didn’t get that much out of most of the characters - i did almost put it at #9 because of the songs and joe walker’s batman though)

11. me and my dick (i’ve only seen this one once and as it was the one to follow avpm, i think i was just kind of bored in comparison - there were definitely funny moments, but i can’t remember a single song if i’m honest)

12 ani: a parody (again, i’ve only seen this one once and i honestly don’t remember much, but the fact that i haven’t felt the need to rewatch it tells me enough - i think i was a little bored throughout watching it the first time)

(really the only ones i don’t rewatch consistently are the last two, so i like all the other 10 shows a lot and numbers 8-10 could really easily be shuffled around between their spots on the list)

what do you guys think? do you agree (are also correct)? did i piss you off severely? let’s discuss!

[luveline]

honestly, ive just been trying to catch up on my tbr and its been super backlogged so not all of them are what i usually read. i liked most of what i’ve read but they’re honestly not anything i’d write home about 😭 i did finally get to read the ballad of songbirds and snakes which i’d been dying to read because i was obsessed with the hunger games trilogy in my preteens lol. i thoroughly enjoyed it so that made up for some of the lackluster reads recently!

a head full of ghosts sounds extremely interesting and you’ve just gotten it added to my tbr lol

i’m the opposite of you, in that i find it a lot easier to read than to watch tv when i get like this. what have you been watching?

This year my TBR is maybe 30 books long and I've not made a dent <\3 I don't know why, I think I find it difficult to stay immersed in things lately! It's likely I've been doing too much writing (even though compared to myself it's not much more than usual) and i can't let myself relax!!

I really loved the hunger games too but I haven't read that one yet, I can't decide on watching the movie or reading the book first! I've heard both good and awful things about a head full of ghosts but it was written by the author of cabin at the end of the world which was then made into the movie knock at the cabin and I liked that so hopefully it' good!

I've been watching a bunch of stuff I've already seen before but I started only murders in the building, I thought the first season was fun but I'm on the second season now and it's not as fun, but I think I'll finish it anyways! Also rewatching movies over and over like blade runner 2049, interstellar, nice guys. I did watch one if never seen before last night called isle of dogs but I don't don't I payed enough attention to it to understand it

[owlixx]

What I Played This Summer

So, I kind of forgot that I had been doing something worth jotting down, so this is going to cover the entire last month of what I’ve been doing in video games.

- I’ve been trying to even remember what I’ve been playing since I beat the whole Kirby series back in January.

[That was very fun. Has also been fun playing Forgotten Land with gf more recently]

- For sure I tried to do Wario Land next but got burnt out on Wario Land 3 being longer than expected.

[Even just a bit of WL4 has been great. Looking forward to wario world because I played it as a kid. And Shake It as well. Might do all the wariowares too when I get there]

- I got a PS3 and a GBA since then.

[Spent a lot of time just farting around and fiddling with these guys, booting up random games]

- Basically, I had just beaten Minish Cap when Tears of the Kingdom came out, and then I had kind of been between games ever since beating Tears of the Kingdom.

[I did really enjoy Minish Cap despite having to use a guide sometimes and cheating fully on the final boss. Also of course really enjoyed TOTK even if I have some nitpicks like the dungeon cutscenes, lackluster sky islands, the rupee economy, weird control scheme, etc]

- I played Bulletstorm, War For Cybertron, probably some Call of Duty, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance.

[always wanted to play Bulletstorm as a kid and I think the writing decently holds up aside from the odd R word here and there. WFC I loved as a kid but now seems hilariously grey and gritty. FFTA is honestly really cool but missing some QoL stuff I’m used to in modern SRPG so I had thought of starting FFTA2 and I did, but only to the second turn lol.]

- I beat Sonic Frontiers.

[Its…fine. As a massive sonic fan, I’m not keen to ever replay this one but I did really enjoy the tone of the story, the writing, and my first few hours in the open world. I really hated the cyberspace levels, the mandatory minigames, and the monotony of it all. The boss fight music is easily the best part]

- I played a bit of Redfall as a joke, for like a week.

[Its just worse borderlands, and I’m pretty critical of borderlands even as a committed fan of it.]

- I had a friend over for a week and we beat Lollipop Chainsaw.

[Brilliant game. Tried to transition to playing the similar\adjacent Bayonetta but the writing in LC is too good]

- Twice I purchased around ten (each time) Vampire Survivors-inspired games and played them each at least a little before fizzling out.

[I think my most played was Rogue Genesia until the content well ran out. I did also enjoy Halls of Torment and Brotato]

- I bought a physical copy of Watch Dogs Legion for five bucks.

[There’s nothing…wrong with it, per se, it’s just less than the sum of its parts and I had a hard time feeling motivated to keep playing. I didn’t enjoy the profession system being tied to random collectibles. I did enjoy the base gameplay and the Legion concept, but it just made me want to play…]

- Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. And that’s something I want to talk about more in depth in my next post.

[lunas-otome-blog]

Luna's Review: Paradigm Paradox

Official Summary:

High schooler Yuuki is as average as they come. She enjoys a mundane life of school, friendships, and generally being uninterested in boys, until one day she finds herself outside after curfew and face to face with a horrific monster. Just as all seems lost, Yuuki is saved by four female superheroes… and is invited to join their cause and protect the colony from the Vector threat!

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Luna's Thoughts (Spoiler Free)

I heard before going into this game that it was a bit of a snoozefest, but hey, I dislike a lot of games most people like, so I figured I might have a different opinion.

Unfortunately the rumors were actually kinder to this game than it deserves. It is so, so mid.

With the most generic plot description ever, I didn't have high hopes at the start, and it doesn't ever take off. The common route starts off with protagonist Yuuki thinking about how average she is, while casually mentioning the only interesting part of the setting, which is that the game is set in a post-apocalyptic world. We get a vague explanation (the environment degraded) but it isn't really satisfying.

Instead, we do a typical anime-style run-through of all the romance options — with Yuuki LITERALLY running into two of them, in a row.

The art is lackluster, as are the monsters (there's only one model with recolors) and whoever wrote the dialogue must have done so while counting the hours to the end of their shift. Conversations are clipped oversimplified and extremely generic. Nobody asks questions. This game is what you'd get if you asked a middle schooler to come up with an otoge plot.

There's a couple of fun plot twists that could have been the saving grace of this game ... if they weren't in basically every route. The first time they were revealed, I thought it was super fun and unique. But then I had to to play four more routes with the same "twists" and watch Yuuki's same reaction every time. Say it with me now: plot twists that apply to all the routes should be in the common route!!

Yuuki has it right in the first few sentences of the game: she is very average. She has no specific qualities other than being "nice." That's a pretty normal trend for otoges, but if you've read any of my other reviews, you know I like when protagonists have actual personalities. (Variable Barricade and Jack Jeanne, my beloveds.)

Honestly, though, the boring plot and protagonist could have been saved with better writing and more focus on interesting characters. Instead, you have eight romanceable guys, dividing what could have been decent characters into fragments of interest. There's not enough lore to sustain eight characters separately, so there's a ton of overlap in what you find out in each route, making the later routes you play super boring.

The game could have been improved immensely if they'd combined some of the character routes and had maybe five solid characters instead of eight barely fleshed out ones.

The worst part of this game is that it's so middling. At least with other games I didn't like, there were reasons to carry on — pretty art, fun dialogue, etc. Before playing Paradigm Paradox, my least favorite otoge was Even If Tempest, and that one was easier to get through because the system was so awful it made me furious. It was fun to hate it. But Paradigm Paradox is not fun to hate. It's just meh.

The real paradox of this game is how it manages to have so many threads and yet so little substance.

I did manage to finish all the good endings, so please find below my reviews of each character. Light spoilers abound.

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Hyuga Route (Spoilers)

Hyuga's route was so short and lackluster. Following the version of the common route where protagonist Yuuki is taken to the villain compound, she's introduced to the bad guys who live there and asks absolutely no questions about anything.

For no reason at all, Yuuki decides that she has to convince Hyuga to stop attacking humans — despite the fact that the other characters also attack humans — and goes along with him as he heads to Yuuki's hometown to fuck shit up.

(Side note: the town is canonically half a day's travel by foot from the villain compound, meaning every time the bad guys have attacked, they've traveled at least eight hours round trip. Why? This could have been solved by writing the towns closer, or established some sort of vehicle travel between them. It doesn't really affect the plot, but it's one of those things that made me realize the writers really didn't care lol.)

Anyway, Yuuki learns Hyuga's backstory during the long walk and then immediately runs into the very people Hyuga's trying to take revenge on. Yuuki gets in his way, resulting in him hurting her. He then decides he likes her and dedicates his life to helping her recover — even though he was attacking her through the entire common route?? Does it make a difference if it was an accident?

Anyway, she recovers, she says one thing that sets him off, and Hyuga goes right back to trying to attack humans. The same scene happens AGAIN, and this time Hyuga decides to quit attacking humans. Then he and Yuuki leave on a journey.

There's not really any romance in this route, and it could easily be read as a friendship route. Honestly, that didn't bother me too much. What really bothered me was the repetitive nature of this route, the lack of substance and Hyuga's 180 attitude change mid-route.

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Saibara Kamui Route (Spoilers)

This was the route that convinced me to finish the game. It was actually really pleasant. The pace slows down from the awful and expedited common route, and you get to actually meet Kamui and his grandpa. He seems to cozy up to Yuuki too quickly, but there's a decent explanation for it.

The dialogue is still pretty cringey, but I actually felt like I got to know Kamui as a character. The plot twist in this route was unexpected but really fun. Of course, I learned later that the same plot twist exists in nearly every route. But at least it was a fun reveal the first time.

I do think the ending was too neat. If it was that easy to defeat the villains, why don't we see the same technique used in other routes?

There isn't a lot of lore explored in this route, but with eight romance options, there isn't really a lot of anything explored in any route lol. Ultimately Kamui's route was just a sweet magical girl romance, and I was into it. And Kamui's grandpa is the best character in the game.

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Miyama Ayumu Route (Spoilers)

Ah, yes, the perfect student council president who is secretly an asshole. A classic.

This route starts off kinda weird, because to qualify for it, you have to get the scene in the common route where she hangs out with Ayumu in a classroom for a while. But during his first appearance on his route, neither character seems to acknowledge this happened.

This route introduces the adorable Ritsu, Ayumu's little sister and the only reason he's still breathing. She and Yuuki have a sweet friendship, though it's very underdeveloped because we don't get to see many scenes of them spending time together.

Yuuki has a little more personality in this route, but in a forced way. She doesn't like how Ayumu is treating his fans, and self-righteously demands he amend his behavior, which is just such a weird hill to die on for someone she barely knows.

This route follows the same arc that Kamui's does — Yuuki makes a good impression on Ayumu, he starts losing his powers, and he does something self-sacrificing. This route was less successful to me, though, because Ayumu just didn't seem to have much of a reason to like Yuuki. As in Hyuga's route, his opinion of her changes too quickly to feel natural.

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Yukinami Route (Spoilers)

Yukinami is more or less the yandere of this game, committing acts of unspeakable violence with no second thoughts and no concept of friendship or love. I was excited for this sort of dark character in an otherwise very surface level game.

Was it successful? Eh. I think Yukinami's cheery personality combined with his horrific lust for violence made for a pretty scary character at first. But after Yuuki learns his backstory and decides to pity him instead of fear him, the route takes a weird turn.

Yuuki treats him as more of a child from that point on, but remains attracted to him, creating a really strange dynamic. Like she's literally explaining basic concepts to him like a preschooler. It made me pretty uncomfortable.

Anyway, Yukinami changes his tune really quickly and decides to listen to Yuuki and not fight humans anymore, and that's the route. The romance was too fast and not well developed.

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Ayase Mihaya Route (Spoilers)

Mihaya is the only character who retains the same personality in his hero persona and out, so I did appreciate that. But man, this route starts rough with terrible dialogue and overexplained gestures. It felt like the writers didn't trust the player enough to understand when Mihaya was being nice.

This is one of the routes that really could have been highlighted if they condensed the number of characters. I'd have loved a longer version where Mihaya and Yuuki fight against the system together, but no, it ends before they get to do anything.

This was an alright route, but it highlights everything wrong with this game — namely that there are too many characters so the routes are too short and not fully fleshed out.

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Ibuki Route (Spoilers)

This route starts out the same as all the other routes, including the same (now obvious) plot twist. We already learned Ibuki's backstory in Yukinami's route, so there were no surprises to be unlocked for him, but we do get to learn about Yuuki's backstory, her parents and, finally, the mysterious Uncle Yashima she's been corresponding with the whole time.

One thing I really liked about Ibuki is his gender fluidity. Unlike all the other men who transform into women in this game, who treat their feminine persona as a secret identity, Ibuki seems to identify Moravia as part of himself. He doesn't need to be in her body to use his powers, but he feels more powerful in that form. I loved that!

This route actually does a pretty good job of making Ibuki seem scary. Unlike Yukinami, whose scariness came from his undeveloped sense of right and wrong, Ibuki seems to have already decided he's willing to make an enemy of the entire human race, and is just waiting for Yuuki to agree with him.

Despite being one of the better and more fleshed out routes, it ends too quickly, just like all the others. In an ideal version of this game, Ibuki would have been the true end character and gotten a nice, long, full route.

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Tokio Route (Spoilers)

Tokio doesn't make much of an impression in any of the other routes. The one thing I noticed about him is that his personality is very different in his superhero persona. I wondered if that would come up in his route, but it doesn't lol.

Tokio is meant to be the logical scientist of the game, smoothing conflict for efficiency rather than because he cares about Yuuki, and this is fairly successful. But for the character billed as one of the more important ones (at least by the icon on the switch which shows Tokio and Ibuki) Tokio's route doesn't actually provide any information we didn't already know from other routes.

The ending felt kind of true-endy, but it was too fast and too clean to have much impact. They basically were planning a heist and pulled it off with zero consequences. Why bother with even going through the motions if it's all going to go according to plan? Also, if they could just make all the researchers forget what they were doing, why would they not do it in every route?

There's a scene where Tokio asks to call Yuuki by her first name that didn't translate well at all because this game doesn't use Japanese honorifics. In English, he asks to call her "bud" which was so stupid lol. It's giving "Ayu, why are you such a freak?" from the English dub of Kanon rofl. But jealous Tokio is kinda cute. I didn't think his route was much of anything, but I did think he was one of the better characters in this game.

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Ryo Route (Spoilers)

I actually really liked Ryo's character. He's set up as the stoic, unemotional guy, but it turns out he actually has a sarcastic personality that only comes out when Yuuki gets closer to him. His affection for her happens too fast, but the pacing is bad in all the routes so whatever lol.

This is definitely the most expansive of the routes, as it's the only one that even mentions the outside world. As usual, Yuuki asks very few questions, and most of this route is her going from person to person and receiving scraps of information from each.

The main thrust of this route is that Ryo is not only a double agent for the Vectors and the Blooms, but also a triple agent, a spy sent from the ominous outside world to do ... what, exactly? He doesn't specify. But Ibuki makes the vague assumption that he's here to destroy Yuuki's world, and we're just supposed to make that leap along with him, despite no evidence. Of course, it turns out to be true, but it's just such lazy writing.

The end of the route was fine, I guess. I didn't think it went far enough. The character's just get ready for battle and then it ends.

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Grand Finale (Spoilers)

In the Grand Finale, I figured out why Ryo's route ends abruptly. It's because the finale is just an extended version of Ryo's route lol. It's literally the exact same plot, except the pacing is awful because there's a giant info dump at the beginning revealing all the plot info we already know from playing all the other routes.

The ending scene is just a big battle, but we don't see any of the enemies beyond a couple of planes. Are we really expected to believe that an entire army set to destroy all of post-apocalyptic Japan decided to focus their attack in one location? Also, they're just gonna give up after one fight?

There was just so little thought put into this ending lol. A properly mediocre ending for a mediocre game.

[thescrapbookingscientist]

Bimonthly Media Roundup

- The Locked Tomb (Books) - My sister's currently listening to the audio novels for these, and talking about them has reignited my love for the series. There's rarely ever such a big fandom presence around wlw-centric media, and for this one to come from a sci-fi/fantasy novel series is particularly incredible, I guess it just proves how entertaining the series is.

- Spx X Family Code White (Movie) - The Spy x Family movie is on Crunchyroll now which catches me up with the animated part of the series. I like the show as a whole though I don't think the movie was it's strongest showing. It wasn't bad per say, I did like Yor's misunderstanding infidelity plot-line as well as Lloyds mission to gather materials to make a dessert, but Anya (the most entertaining character) was a bit sidelined and overall the movie spent too much time on bland action scenes and montages. There was also an annoyingly long poop joke and a lack of the generally good comedy the series overall has, particularly in the latter half. I wouldn't call it a skip as I still enjoyed these characters, but it's not really a must see either, fans aren't missing anything substantial by skipping this one.

- Cowboy Bebop (Anime) - Not much to say yet only a few episodes in, but boy do I miss 90's anime character designs and detailed space western backgrounds, even with the square ratio it's a treat to look at.

- Jujutsu Kaisen (Anime) - Still in Gego Hell. In between the fanfics I've been reading I've been writing an enemies to friends to lovers Actor AU with nepotistic child actor turned type-casted romance lead Gojo being forced to costar with recently famous and well respected prestige indie actor Geto, which is fun to think of scenes for even if it will most likely never see the light of day.

- Steins;Gate (Anime) - Welp we finally finished Steins Gate, and while I definitely wouldn't call it the worse thing I've watched, It is the largest gap I've ever seen in regards to it's hype and reputation versus it's actual quality. MAL might not be the only measure of popularity but it's usually pretty good at gauging overall fan opinion, and this series is the 3rd highest ranked anime of all time with 9's and 10s across the board, with it frequently popping up on anitubers favorites lists. I'm not usually one to give things number scores as I think they are too vague to be useful, but if I were to give this series one it would probably be a 4/10, 5/10 at best, and that's me being generous. Honestly the only real positive I'd give this series is that the 'sending text messages and memories into the past, altering the present such that only the protag keeps their memories" is a pretty interesting time travel method, even I don't think it gets used to the best of it's abilities here. Other than that though I cannot for the life of me imagine how the series got so popular, other than the obvious nostalgia value combined with pandering to otaku culture/self insert harem protag combined with pseudo-intellectual science babble. I'm npt normally this mean but man, the first few episodes of this series were almost unwatchable with a bland color pallet, annoying archetypal characters who babble on with inane and honestly cringe dialogue, and absolutely no notable plot progression. About halfway in the plot picks up and it becomes mildly more interesting, but not enough to excuse the lackluster visuals and lack of any interesting characters or relationships, especially given that they go for the most basic of all time loop plots of "no matter how you change the past this innocent character dies over and over" without really justifying why in the same way that Madoka or even Life is Strange does. I'll probably watch some video essays on this as I'm genuinely curious why people like it, though I doubt my own opinion will change. Groundhog day loops are some of my favorite story devices but even as a big fan of the trope I wouldn't recommend this one, half of it is straight up painful to sit through and the other half has been done far better in other media.

- One Piece (Anime) - The Sabo and Imu stuff is neat but I am seeing what people meant when they said One Piece is a much better binge read than serial experience, I like the story but the short episodes and week wait time makes all the time wasting with random unimportant characters thst much more noticeable.

- Tiger Tiger (Webcomic) - The new pages are so cute, with Jamis not understanding why he's so jealous, Remy having his 100th existential crisis, and Arnos dumping some crazy lore then just watching in silent amusement at Jamis and Remy's mutual pining. A+

- Cult of the Lamb (Video Game) - Watched a friend play this on vacation and it looked so cute and creative that I bought it myself. I love how cute the little player Lamb character is, though the side noses + both eyes on one side of some of the character designs are a bit off-putting. Raising your own little cult in a game tied to Lovecraftian style old gods but in a cutesy animal aesthetic is right up my alley, I'm excited to learn a lot more of the lore surrounding them.

- Genshin Impact (Video Game) - Natlan is here! Not sure why everyone is so white, which is annoying, but I'll probably still be trying hard to get the geo lion girl as a geo healer would pair perfectly with my Navia. Natlan's Savannah/safari environment and new animals are neat though I'm not big on the new movement styles as I would prefer to stay as myself rather than switching between animal forms, even if the animals are pretty cute.

Listening To: Good Luck Babe, Red Wine Supernova, My Kink is Karma, Casual, and HOT TO GO! by Chappell Roan, Harpy Hare by Yaelokre, The Mind Electric by Miracle Musical, Dial Drunk by Noah Kahan, Save a Horse, Ride a Cowgirl by Chloe Breez and Annapantsu, Too Sweet, Lunch, Bitter, and Stick Season covers by Reinaeiry, Tounges and Teeth and Metaphor by The Crane Wives, Espresso, Taste, and Please Please Please by Sabrina Carpenter, Like a Prayer by Madonna.