#it’s still hugely underrated but now that I think about it more I get why some people like arma more despite its messy story

[no1ryomafan]

I don’t know what the release status will be of my Komyoji and Saotome family essay since a lot of people still need to read it-plus if I do another long form post on here it should be another damn lyric analysis on deep red or burn the run cause I’m slacking 💀-before I can really finalize it but one thing I do have to spoil about it is I’m low key sad after seeing how Mitsuko was handled that New Michiru feels less like a improvement of her character and just “she’s different because she felt like it ig??”

I don’t wanna downplay New Michiru as is she still the first iteration since toei of her to be an actual character? Absolutely, but I feel selling her as the best iteration is a little much when the writers didn’t use her enough in the story since she still is JUST a supporting character who doesn’t really get a character arc and also her personality being changed doesn’t really give her any benefits. Like don’t get me wrong Michiru being mean is FUN, but it feels like it was only done to give her more of a personality then uwu nice girl even though Mitsuko demonstrates you can still make that archetype compelling. But ultimately her being meaner also serves her from being less forgettable cause otherwise she barely needs to be in this story, like you can sadly take her out of New and not a whole lot would actually change.

…New Getter still peak tho.

[basu-shokikita]

About Depths of Humanity

So, I talked about The Duel some time back and I thought, why not do the same for this song too? It's actually one of my underrated faves from Doomstar Requiem.

This more of a rant than a strict analysis though, I just really enjoy thinking about the implications of this song and what it means in regard to Skwisgaar.

Let's start with Ishnifus' warning. He claims that inside lies danger, the ghosts of their pasts and their fears. He cautions them to stay alert and Dethklok brave forward, even if scared.

Inside, they encounter their old manager, old groupies and Skwisgaar's old guitar teacher, in that order. As promised by Ishnifus', they're all people from their past, coming back to haunt them.

Immediately, these people start recriminating Dethklok for not having paid them back after how much they helped them. In short, they're jealous of Dethklok's fame and money.

The band is clearly affected by the plaints, quickly forgetting what they were here to do. Except Skwisgaar, who reminds them all they have to find clues about Toki's whereabouts. It does not seem like they're listening to him, though.

Now up to here, I want to point out 2 things:

That Nathan and Pickles seem the most upset by these confrontations.

That, while Skwisgaar is disturbed, he still has their goal in mind.

About Nathan and Pickles, I think it makes sense, they are the leaders of the band, they're most conscious of its tremendous success. They also know they're extremely talented musicians, meaning, they're aware of their value. They know they're far from being these miserable pricks demanding rewards. Nathan had a nurturing family while Pickles used to be in a huge band, previously to Dethklok. They're both people that have been inherently helped by other people, which is why being confronted is actually uncomfortable.

Skwisgaar is certainly a different case. I have to say, I was pretty surprised to find out that he had a guitar teacher. Based on the flashbacks in Fatherklok, I assumed he had been self taught. Skwisgaar himself has admitted he was pretty poor in his childhood so it's hard to believe Servetta would've invested in his music education. Plus, he can't read music which I think would be hardly the case if he had gotten classes.

But anyway, I'll play along. This teacher is speaking English and he doesn't make any mistakes so I'm guessing he's american. Meaning, Skwisgaar took classes when he went to America, which was later in his life. To strengthen his game and/or learn the technical bits he might have missed before? Maybe? And if this was the case, then Skwisgaar would've felt less obligated to indulge to other people in his life, when he learned to be independent from a really young age. He doesn't feel like he owes shit to other people, because other people didn't give him shit. Thus, the Depths of Humanity effect is not that strong in him.

You could also argue that the loss of Toki is a far more terrifying prospect than these bitter acquaintances from their past but I'll elaborate on that further in this post.

Murderface? Well, Murderface has low esteem and is the less popular member in the band, so of course he can't fall victim to guilt-tripping. Because that would mean acknowledging he feels like he's in a better place than others, it would mean that he actually believes himself superior than others. But he doesn't, Murderface is convinced he's worth nothing, so this whole charade is more grating than anything. Which brings us to the next moment.

The way Murderface is coaxed by the Depths of Humanity crew, is when a seemingly fan approaches him and starts praising him, claiming he's the best one. And then, is when Murderface is hypnotized by the attention. He's already such a negative person, of course more negativity isn't going to get to him. But positivism? That's another deal.

Skwisgaar once again insists that they have to find a clue on how to find Toki but it falls on deaf ears. Nathan is grabbing his head in despair while Pickles clutches his chest in what seems to be an impending panic attack.

Now I really like the wording 'I'll look if you do, too' from Skwisgaar. It almost feels like, even in this situation, he's trying to sound cool about it. He doesn't want to be the only one caring this much about Toki, he doesn't want to be the one leading this operation. He's not a leader, he's never been a leader, even less when it comes to emotional stuff, which is the implicit purpose of this search. They care about Toki, and that's why they're looking for him. But is Skwisgaar seems to be unconsciously rejecting this fact. This attachment.

However, his bandmates aren't listening, too self-absorbed in their anguish to do so. Skwisgaar continues the search and is quick to point out at something on the wall. It's a flyer that he grabs and, immediately, seems to connect the dots about. In an unusual display of leadership, he tells Nathan to grab Murderface so they can leave. Their purpose has been fulfilled and they can finally escape this horrid place.

Okay, so this is my favorite bit, obviously. Once they're outside, Nathan and Pickles keep complaining about what they were just subjected to, and Skwisgaar stops them to show his discovery. It's the same flyer he just grabbed, and it features the place where Toki had his audition. Also known as the place where they all met Toki for the first time and Skwisgaar and him had the legendary duel.

We don't have a precise Dethklok timeline but it's been a long time since Toki joined the band. Several years, at the very least. And this building is nothing but a far away memory, from when they were a lesser band. From when they weren't the big rockstars they are now. So, it really begs to question that not only did Skwisgaar remember the place, but he did so at once, when he hadn't seen or heard of it in years.

...Unless, he had been thinking about it recently?

We know, thanks to the beautiful central section of the movie, that Toki had been thinking of his audition, of joining Dethklok, as a means to cope with the devastating reality he was faced with. We know reminiscing of his dazzling battle with Skwisgaar and the happiness he found within the band gave Toki strength to carry on. But what about Skwisgaar?

For someone who considered himself much better than other guitarists, to the point he didn't want to play with another one, to actually find an equal, someone that challenged him, it couldn't have been anything short of extraordinary for Skwisgaar.

The summit is for the very best only, yet it's quite lonely too, and Skwisgaar had been basking in that isolation his whole life. Until he played with Toki, then the idea of sharing his field no longer felt like an insult, but potential instead. He found someone that could improve his own playing, someone that could compliment his guitar, take it to even higher heights.

And so, Skwisgaar was the one to invite Toki to the band, more specifically, to tell him he wanted him in the band. While we can't factually know how the rest of the members joined Dethklok, we know for sure that Skwisgaar was the sole responsible for making Toki join, as the rest were already bidding him farewell for failing to keep up with Skwisgaar.

So, when the one person that challenged Skwisgaar's playing was taken away, it wouldn't be a stretch for Skwisgaar to look back on how it all happened. To ponder about the circumstances that lead them to the current situation. It's clear the whole band loves Toki and, unable to deal with their own sadness, drank and fucked to oblivion. This also applies to Skwisgaar, except that with him it's especially complex, given that he's the one that brought Toki to his world to begin with. Given that Toki and Skwisgaar share the same instrument. (Fun fact: you don't actually see Skwisgaar fiddling with his guitar in Doomstar Requiem, just puttings dat out theres.)

Obviously, this is a bunch of mumbo-jumbo but as any Pepe-Silvia-scene impersonator that respects themselves, I want to point out how interesting of a coincidence it is that, less than 2 songs later, Skwisgaar is saying this:

Right before they head in to rescue Toki and Abigail, Skwisgaar imparts some reflection of his. He's been wondering if maybe it wouldn't be better to go back to being a one-guitar band. Toki has been in Dethklok for a long time now, so it's interesting Skwisgaar has been thinking about this...

...Except, that's exactly what his mentality used to be like, before meeting Toki. Right when he was trying to convince Pickles that they didn't need a rhythm guitar, he spoke these words exactly. One-guitar band.

It's almost like Skwisgaar is trying to do some self-preservation by returning to his aloof roots. He made Toki join the band, now Toki's gone and in danger, and maybe this wouldn't have happened if they had stuck with Skwisgaar's original plan. Because they attempted to replace Magnus is why this came to be. The revenge Magnus promised did arrive.

I just wanna be clear. I don't think Skwisgaar believes he's the sole to responsible for this, I'm sure he knows Magnus is the main perpetrator here. But the facts remain the facts, and had they all stayed as they were, then they wouldn't be risking their lives now to save their fifth member.

Like this, it seems entirely logical that Skwisgaar would be thinking of his former reluctance, of the Duel, of everything. It's all fresh in his mind once again, because Toki's kidnapping has forced him to realize they're not actually untouchable. Their mortality is back on the table, and so are their bonds.

In short, Skwisgaar had been repressing all his emotions about Toki's disappearance, but from the Depths of Humanity onward, he can't help but show them. He can't help but admit to himself and others, that he wants Toki back. So much, that a bunch of angry and entitled people can't affect him enough to forget it. So much that it's making him remember how distant he used to be, before Toki. So much that it's making him realize how different he is now.

[bibibbon]

I made a huge mistake in going to the MHA subreddit. The braindead takes on 427 have me convinced I'm stuck in a parallel universe where we're reading a completely different story:

"It's great seeing Deku play therapist with the LOV, but all it seems to have done is make things worse!" A) Izuku shouldn't be having to play therapist to begin with, considering he's a 16 year old kid. B) most of the LOV don't see anything they did as wrong, so idk what the fuck Izuku can do about that. Also, WHY AREN'T PEOPLE HELPING IZUKU WITH HIS OWN GODDAMN FEELINGS?!

Apparently Bakugou killed Kurogiri, and there's absolutely ZERO reaction to it both in and out of universe. So of fucking course Izuku is a murderer, but not their precious Bakugou 🥱.

"I feel like Hori's really underrated as a writer!" Horikoshi doesn't know Show Don't Tell, how to actually develop characters, and how to craft actual stakes in the narrative from a hole in the ground. Also, MHA is one of the most popular mangas worldwide, so you're not even using underrated right.

"I feel like Horikoshi sees our discussions and then implements them in the story!" This I can kind of agree with, considering how much y'all hate Izuku and worship Bakugou. But on the other hand, I really doubt Horikoshi thinks the MHA subreddit is as important as you think it is.

"Bakugou's totally going to ask Izuku to start their own hero agency together at the end!" Jesus fucking Christ, just say you hate Izuku. How would that be a great ending for him? He not only has to see the source of his low self esteem and borderline suicidal feelings achieving the dream he'll now never have, but you want them to WORK together?!

@nutzgunray-lvt 👋

Well a lot of the time looking into Reddit is always a mistake unless you're asking a very niche question and you get an answer from 9 years ago or something.

I feel like a lot of people whether that be in universe or in fandom forget that izuku is a 16 year old child soldier. Izuku is more than a decade younger than a lot of the villains in the leauge. He is a child who has been exploited by the system and abused. We have seen in 425 izuku try and talk to someone but simply get brushed aside and while I don't blame shoto or ochako for doing that as they probably didn't mean it and are traumatised themselves it kinda of shows how much this has effected izuku. Also this doesn't help BECAUSE HORI GAVE US NO FLIPPING INTROPSECTION ON IZUKU'S BIT AGAIN!! Also Iam not sure if it's just me but Izuku's eye bags are heavily prominent in this chapter especially when he is talking to spinner.

The fandom especially the lov stans side of it love babayifying the actions of the leauge and hyper fixating on the humane soft side they may have while completely ignoring the horrible actions they commited. I talk about this better in one of @palesweetscherryblossom asks

I still can't believe that bk may of killed kurogiri. I don't even know when that happend and I checked the wiki but it says that kurogiris status is unconfirmed so I will be waiting until the last chapter to fully acknowledge if kurogiri is dead or not. However this brings up the point that the fandoms is being quite hypocritical if they're calling izuku a murder but not bakugo. They both killed people but for some reason it's izuku thats put into public light and bashing instead of all the other characters that have killed in the series including villains.

Yeah sometimes it feels like hori is looking at discussions of his series and implementing ideas but I think that goes more for his Japanese fans than us to be honest because after all they're his target demographic. I remember when I first joined Tumblr one of my earliest posts talked about how horikoshi's writing decisions were heavily influenced by his fans which may or may not be true.

At this point IAM convinced that izuku isn't getting a proper happy ending. Every time I think it can't get worse it does. Just by your comment of them starting an agency together haunts me just like the possibility that bk may become the number one hero

[dropintomanga]

Manga I Enjoyed in 2024

2024 has been an amazing year for manga. With the debut of the American Manga Awards to go alongside the Harvey Awards and Eisner Awards, we're about to head into some really fun times for manga recognition starting now. I read a lot of manga this year compared to last year, thanks to the libraries in my area.

But these few are the ones that impressed me the most.

Honorable Mention: Kagurabachi by Takeru Hokazono - I remember when I first read this manga, it became a meme. But once the meme died down, you got a title that's going to be another huge Shonen Jump anime hit. Reading Kagurabachi reminds me of the days when I loved BLEACH. The mix of sorcery, swords, and urban society combined with impressive art will leave a great impression on shonen readers. VIZ Media made an excellent decision in licensing the print edition as soon as possible as Volume 1 has sold amazingly well in bookstores across North America.

Favorite Ongoing Weekly Manga: Centuria by Tohru Kuramori - I swear more fans should know about this manga. Centuria is about a young man named Julian, who's been living as a slave for most of his life. On a slave ship, he meets a woman and a monster god - both who would change his life forever. Julian suddenly becomes endowed with supernatural powers and decides to pursue freedom however he can all while raising a child destined to be something more. This is a dark fantasy action series that is pretty much influenced by Berserk. Add the fact that Kuramori worked as an assistant under Tatsuki Fujimoto of Chainsaw Man and you have a highly underrated action series that will scratch any seinen fan's itch.

Without further ado, here's my top 5 manga of the year!

5.) She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat by Sakaomi Yuzaki - While this manga starts off as a nice yuri series about two women whose common interest is food, it goes into some good commentary about what it means to be a woman living in an extremely patriarchal society like Japan (which I'll discuss in a future post). I like how the manga becomes better with each volume as you get to see the cast grow and confront issues bothering them alongside each other. I appreciate that this series is about how eating food with people you care about is always worthwhile when you get a chance to do so.

4.) Home Office Romance by Kinetsu Yamada - This is a charming one-volume manga about two people who find love during a pandemic lockdown. Reading the manga made me relate to Nokoru, the male lead, as I share the same insecurities as he does when it comes to finally finding love and having the courage to push ahead with it. The manga also made me think about the early lockdown days of COVID as I did enjoy those days quite a bit. But nothing will ever beat actually wanting to be with someone in-person. Plus, good things do happen when you take the time to slow down. I knew this manga was a hit on Reddit and I can see why.

3.) Sketchy by Makihirochi - A librarian recommended this to me earlier this year around the summer, but the premise of skateboarding didn't appeal to me at first. I later gave the manga a shot after my library put it on their top 2024 book list. I was left very impressed. While this manga is about women trying to find more to life than love/work/school, I saw myself in the main characters due to finding a hobby (mahjong) that got me out there engaging with a world full of fun people not related to the daily grind. Sketchy is a testament to finding hobbies even as an adult and making friends there as those relationships are extremely important in ensuring that you still matter even if you're not respected by mainstream forces.

2.) The Darwin Incident by Shun Umezawa - This is a very clever, action-packed, political thriller. It's my favorite action manga of the year. There's so much social commentary that will greatly appeal to Western readers. What I love about the manga so much are the cliffhangers. I don't remember the last time I was impressed with cliffhangers in a manga. Every plot twist has been executed properly from what I've read. There's also some great lines from a really great cast of characters. I hope this series blows up when the anime comes out.

1.) The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn't Really a Guy at All by Sumiko Arai - A manga that has lived up to the hype it got online and in Japan. I love the design. I love the usage of green throughout the manga. I love Mitsuki and Aya. It may not be the most original love story, but I love this manga for bringing me back to the days of '80s/'90s rock music. My adolescence was defined by rock music and I felt that the manga is a love letter to the era I grew up in. Even though I listen to mostly K-Pop, I still listen to rock from time to time. When I see new rock artists bringing back sounds I grew up with for a newer generation, it makes my heart glad. I remember how much music from any era has the power to change people's lives. Music does give hope and courage to those who desperately need it. This year was a year where I finally dwelled back into music and that's why green yuri is my manga hit of the year.

If you haven't noticed, most of the manga I recommended are about relationships. 2024 was a year where I made some new close friends whose bonds I want to nurture. It makes me hopeful about people and those who I will meet in the future. While I can't make friends with everyone, I know how much the people currently in my life mean to me and I wouldn't be here without them.

Hope you enjoyed my list and I'll see you guys in 2025!

[shydroid3000]

OOO for the death note ask game, turning this back on you. 4, 7, and 23, again though you can pick a current favorite moment (lolol. indecision makers 😔😔) or just gimme some general misa thoughts if you’ve got em 👀

4. who’s your favorite underrated or obscure character? Okay, I'm gonna do my best to pick one that isn't too obvious, so: Sidoh! Haha. He's a weird little loser guy of a Shinigami and I love that. When he takes the notebook and touches it to the head of the one mafia guy while saying, "tag, you're it!"... or when he gets freaked out by Mello even though he himself is a literal god of death... I just find it very delightful. He's silly and pathetic in a way that really tickles my fancy lol. (The anime is much fresher in my mind so most of what I refer to will be anime-focussed; can't remember how manga version compares to anime with him). 7. was misa just as guilty as light? Ooh, guilt in relation to Misa and Light is interesting to think about. On the one hand, I do think that they're both culpable for their actions at the end of the day. I have maybe some more grace to extend Misa in terms of her having an understandable reason to go down that path, what with her parents being murdered (and almost being murdered herself). Like, that's a level of trauma that makes you go, 'yeah, I can understand why she was all-in on killing criminals with the death note, even if I don't agree.' Light, on the other hand, had this good, stable, pretty privileged home life, in addition to him being a top student, talented, handsome, etc. He's got less of an excuse, you know? The fact that Misa's drawn to Kira's ideals out of lived trauma, whereas Light is drawn to those ideals largely out of ego is sort of a meaningful distinction. (By ego I don't just mean the belief that he's exceptional, but I mean -- the way he is so desperately driven to protect his conception of himself as a Good Person. That's a tragic and heart-rending manifestation of ego, but it's still about protecting his ego). But I also think there's 'guilt' on the level of the actions and choices you make regardless of motivations, and I'd see them as more equal on that front. Misa was an enthusiastic DN user and participant in Kira's plans/ideology. She's motivated by different things than he is, but she makes her choices knowingly. I think it would be diminishing of her agency and complexity to say that she's less responsible for her actions than Light is, if that makes sense. (Also, there are things Misa is guilty of that Light isn't, and vice versa. E.g., Misa pushes Light's boundaries in a way that can be very uncomfortable; Light uses Misa/others without real regard for them).

Now, beyond all that... the question is obviously about their culpability for their use of the DN. But it also makes me think about each of their *experiences* of guilt internally, and that might be even more interesting to me. I think that their relationship to guilt is one of the things that makes them so divergent from one another. Because... running away from guilt is such a huge part of what propels Light to go all out with the Kira thing. So much of his psyche is shaped around that black pit of guilt where whispers of "I did a bad thing. If I did a bad thing I'm not a good person" come from. He diligently tries to cover over that and barricade it off. He crafts an ideology that makes his murders righteous, and commits to making a New World(tm) where the meaning of 'good/right' is reshaped around that. He makes himself a God so that his actions are beyond judgment, or at least he is, because his murders are divine - they're acts of creation, even of love and self-sacrifice. And then Misa... well, guilt doesn't seem to be as obvious a factor for her, whether as motivation or reaction. I mean, I could imagine a reading where there's some well of underlying guilt about the death of her parents and her survival -- I think that would make sense given the circumstances. But... we never actually see that kind of Bruce Wayne -esque psychology peeking through, so that feels more like headcanon territory than direct analysis. Obviously she has deep feelings about the murder of her parents, but she has a very different relationship to guilt than Light. She usually comes across as very free from guilt. She knows what she wants and what her priorities are, and she pursues those without shame. She's impressed by Kira so she becomes the second Kira; she decides she loves Light and wants to be with him regardless of whether he even likes her, so she pursues that undeterred by his response to her. It feels like Misa is always calmly pushing forward toward what she wants, whereas Light's sprint forward towards his New World is really a running-away-from. But at the same time... what kind of underlying emptiness would make someone so completely devotional in the way Misa is, wanting to devote themselves to someone who mostly loathes them, to the point of not even seeming to be hurt by that person's disdain for them as long as they can still have that person in their life? I think there's definitely beneath-the-surface stuff with Misa, but it comes across like guilt is a colour that just doesn't exist in her world. Whereas with Light, every shadow in his world is the colour of guilt. If goodness or righteousness are the rays of the sun, Light Yagami is the moon that reflects the sunlight while trying to create a reality in which those rays are his -- are him -- a reality in which he becomes the sun. And yet he's a moon, and the dark side of it that he disavows is guilt, is 'I did a bad thing', is 'what if I'm not a good boy?' (Wow, went overboard with the metaphors there but too lazy to edit lol). 23. what was your favorite moment and why? Ah, this is hard (guess it's my fault for asking you this one first haha). I'll try to pick 1 or 2 more serious moments and 1 or 2 silly ones lol. So, serious ones:

The warehouse/Light's downfall. Specifically the laughter, if I had to pick a moment. Excellent scene in both the manga and anime, but MY GOD I will never get over the sound of his laugh in the anime. I think about it every day. (Also looove the lip-twitching as he barely contains his deranged glee leading up to his "I win"). I also really like his death in both; his fear, being reduced back down to his humanity, in the most pathetic way. But the laugh moment wins out for me; the way everything that has been pent up, repressed, held back, filtered, pruned is just... unleashed. He's finally showing his real human emotion to other people in this unrestrained way, but it's so twisted as to be monstrous.

Also, the moment when L says Light is his first real friend. I know that Ohba said L is lying in that moment, but my own analytical framework doesn't prioritize authorial intention above all else. And I think there is so much complexity and richness in that moment. I don't think L is lying, but he is manipulating. And obviously even the truth within the statement is a complicated one. But I can't help but see a genuine sort of sweetness in there in that moment, amidst the mind games and adversarial context. Light and Ryuk's reactions in that moment are so excellent too. It feels like a moment where the world stops spinning, just for a microsecond. A moment where some alternate reality almost touches this one.

Silly ones (time for my sweet Matsuda to shine lol):

When L and Light are fighting during the 'date' with Misa and Matsuda calls the room to break it up, telling L some news about Misa's popularity. Then after L hangs up he's like, "Matsuda's acting stupid again." And Light is like, "well, that is his speciality." (The fact that belittling Matsuda actually does diffuse their fight LOL). And Matsuda is on the other end, his face dropping, like, "do they know we can hear them..?" haha. Just a perfect Matsuda/Light/L moment.

OBVIOUSLY the whole mattress gambit too lol

In the anime, when L reveals to the task force that he's actually all three of the world's top detectives, he says something like, "here, I'll give you this strawberry for keeping my secret." And then he holds out the strawberry he plucked from his cake and Mogi kind of vacantly takes it and puts it in his pocket LOL

Thank you for the ask!!! Sorry it took me ages to respond. It was half-done for a while but I wanted to add more thoughts to the second section and just got around to that lol.

ask game

[infiniteetcetera]

RAPID FIRE ACOTAR CHARACTER HOT TAKES

. [Mostly focused on side characters but thoughts about our mains too BC why not]

🔥Emerie is one of THE most underrated characters and deserved a bigger storyline in ACOSF (obviously it’s Nestas book but other side characters like Gwyn, Feysand, etc got more time that could have been hers)

🔥I don’t know why people really like Helion or want him with LOA😭 mans has let her be in an abusive relationship for DECADES & I feel like if he really loved/deserved her he would have blood dueled by now. he might make a fine father for Lucien but I don’t want to read a love story that involves a few centuries of abandonment

🔥I like genuinely wonder often if the rest of Lucien’s brothers are evil evil. Like if Eris is playing along to their abusive dad’s whims, how do we know the rest of them aren’t? They likely don’t know Eris is different so why would he know that about them? Lucien didn’t? IDK i’m just curious about more Vanserras

🔥Jurian is genuinely one of the funniest characters👀 his revival may be a little pointless but his vibes are immaculate and he’s underrated

🔥You don’t have to hate Mor for leading Azriel on (there are others reasons to not like her) but she definitely did💀aside from the fact every character including her says it we get literal scenes of it too. like she FR tells Feyre he has a huge dick and just says so many other sexual/romantic things about him that are NOT platonic, it makes sense he’s been confused AF😭

🔥Kallias and Viviane have one of the sweetest love stories in the series and I wish we saw more of them. they also just have such good vibes & if they’re gonna keep popping up for little cameos I want more deets

🔥TW SA: I won’t even argue about Tamlins wrongs against Feyre bc i’ve done so before & it isn’t worth the breath BUT it bewilders me that so many people ignore/excuse what he did to Lucien😭 aside from just the generally abusive vibes he not only ignored what Ianthe was doing to Lucien (when equally if not more depressed people like Feyre/Rhys noticed) but also made him have sex with that creepy ass predator😩 Lucien’s struggle with that is so overlooked in general but still bothers me people ignore Tamlins fault in it and that Lucien is now groveling for his friendship

🔥 While on the topic of SA, i’ve seen a lot of people in the fandom have such a gross attitude about what happened to Rhys recently. like man has plenty of flaws and has done a lot of wrong things but that’s not an excuse to make jokes about him being SA’d for DECADES especially when male SA representation is so rare and it’s dumbass jokes like the kind fans are now making that makes guys feel uncomfortable about speaking up

🔥One more on this topic, the SA Nesta experienced is also SO overlooked, even by the narrative itself. The general fact she was using sex as a form of self harm/punishment is also weirdly addressed a few times but then excused if it’s with Cassian in a way that’s so gross

🔥Feyre and Rhys having Nyx so soon was a bad decision. No matter how many people bring up the “oh they were so close to dying” “oh they don’t want to waste time” blah blah blah doesn’t change the fact that’s a TERRIBLE reason to have kids😭 like does the fact they made that decision kind of make sense given what they experienced? sure! was it at all smart or level headed or much more than a trauma response? literally no

🔥I feel like Rhys’ mom…kind of sucks? She’s spoken about more highly than any of the other ACOTAR parents but she literally forced her son to go to a child soldier camp she knew was full of misogyny, poverty, and a bunch of other barbaric practices, did nothing to help any of the other kids unless she was forced to (Rhys brought cassian home, and Az’s mom begged her to take him, she then let Rhys & Cas beat on this poor traumatized boy) and overall Rhys turned out far from perfect but actually could have been SO much worse when you think about it

🔥On the topic of bad parents KIER BEING ALIVE STILL IS SO STUPID AND MAKES NO SENSE.

[whinlatter]

something tells me you don't really like tonks, just a hunch xD

For the relationship ask if you're still doing it: harry and remus, molly and remus, teddy and adromeda. I would love to see what do you think <3

noooo i love tonks! i had a ball writing her and think that @evesaintyves’ rendering of her is one of fandom’s greatest gifts 😭 i just find it very funny that harry thinks she should low key get a grip. and as a clumsy young woman who should myself get a grip, i say: get off her case, hjp.

ok the remus + tonks/black extended family universe... hyped for this one. delicious choices, thank you anon. (i have a few more in the inbox i'm going to take a stab at but am trying to avoid spoilery ones or ones where i risk boring you all again by repeating old talking points, so if i don't get to one pls forgive me...)

right — to business. we begin with everybody looking at remus lupin waiting for him to put his crippling self loathing aside to write (1) singular letter to his dead friend's son:

i jest (to an extent). but i do think the entirety of harry and remus' dynamic is best encapsulated in one singular scene in PoA:

“When they get near me — ” Harry stared at Lupin’s desk, his throat tight. “I can hear Voldemort murdering my mum.” Lupin made a sudden motion with his arm as though to grip Harry’s shoulder, but thought better of it.

i know there's a very understandable move in AUs to imagine what would have happened if remus had raised harry - or, more often, if remus had been 'allowed' to raise harry by dumbledore. but looking past the whole plot-requiring-harry-to-be-at-the-dursleys thing, the truth is, canon remus lupin would never have put himself forward to raise harry, because of his own (not unfounded!) concerns about the precarity of his existence and the dangerousness of his condition. remus' sense of self - more specifically his fear of himself, and his very low self worth - consistently lead him to hold harry at arm's length from the moment he's introduced in the series until its bitter end. i don't think remus at all approves of the way harry is treated at the dursleys. but i can very much imagine that remus thinks it would still be better than the life he could have given harry if he ever had been called upon to serve as his primary caregiver. one of the most interesting implicit dynamics in the series is that harry notices this and does, to some extent, resent it (obviously the fact that he only ever calls him 'lupin' in his narration, though uses remus to his face, and also: 'Harry had received no mail since the start of term; his only regular correspondent was now dead and although he had hoped that Lupin might write occasionally, he had so far been disappointed.') while the harry & remus fight in DH is about harry's view of what remus ought to do re tonks and the baby, it’s also harry coming as close as saying to remus: you're letting your own child down like you let me down. ('I’m pretty sure my father would have wanted to know why you aren’t sticking with your own kid, actually... He had it coming to him,” said Harry. Broken images were racing each other through his mind: Sirius falling through the veil; Dumbledore suspended, broken, in midair; a flash of green light and his mother’s voice, begging for mercy… ‘Parents,’ said Harry, 'shouldn’t leave their kids unless—unless they’ve got to.')

molly and remus: i think this is a very, very underrated relationship! i know there’s a lot of molly-bashing around these days, especially if you’re a marauders and/or sirius and/or wolfstar stan. but i think it is very very overlooked that the person who looks after adult remus the most from 1995 onwards, and who shows him some of the deepest trust and roots for his happiness, is molly. for a man who has plainly known a huge amount of financial/food/housing insecurity, and who is so villainised in wider wizarding society, it is no small gesture for molly to not only provide for remus materially but also to trust him in a house with all of her children and encourage him in a romantic relationship he struggles to feel entitled to and worthy of. (i love sirius, but he is in no fit state to ‘look after’ remus in the last year of his life, and fandom’s continued unwillingness to recognise the importance of domestic/caregiving labour as a vital contribution to the resistance will never not be problematic af). remus clearly values and admires molly in return - the only time he actually ever entertains a parent/guardianship role is when molly is weeping over her boggart, crying onto remus’ shoulder (‘what must you think of me?’) and he assures her that if anything were to happen to her and arthur, he would be a part of the team making sure her children are taken date of (‘what do you think we’d do, let them starve?’) remus’ relationship with molly is often the more mild-mannered translator of her viewpoint to others (especially others with hot tempers), and mediator trying to find middle ground between molly’s protective instincts and the battle/ready instincts of others. (more grist to my sirius & ginny parallels mill — in DH, when a fuming ginny is desperately trying to sneak off to fight in the battle, it’s remus who appeals to molly and ginny to find the compromise of ginny staying in the room of requirement to know what’s going on but not actively fight, a mirror image of his role mediating the dispute between sirius and molly over harry’s right to know what’s going on at grimmauld in ootp…) molly accepts this compromise, a sign that she trusts remus implicitly (she never frets that a werewolf is living among her children in ootp onwards, and invites him to christmas readily even after months undercover with the pack) and also feels able to call him out (‘i’ve always said you’re taking a ridiculous line on this, remus’.) this is too long but basically — justice for molly and remus, unlikely buds!

teddy and andromeda: i weirdly think a lot about teddy lupin these days. i tend to imagine teddy as a very mild-mannered, affable, calm child, like who remus might have been had he not been bitten, with tonks' heart and sociability but also with something of remus' more philosophical disposition. i think he'd slip very naturally into a big brother role because, in part, he does see himself as having a responsibility to take care of people, and i think this would shine through in his relationship with andromeda. we know teddy was raised by his gran, and i imagine she feels enormously protective of him, perhaps bordering on strict in her desire to keep him safe from the harm that came to all the rest of her family. but i like to imagine teddy didn't act out against this too much, in part because he understands where it comes from and in turn feels very protective of andromeda. growing up in the aftermath of the war would make teddy as a child particularly aware of the grief and pain and the silences among the adults around him, and i think teddy would take any compensatory protective strictness on andromeda's part with good grace, and humour her for it. i like to think teenage/young adult teddy serves as the translator for any of his gran's more prickly edges, and that they have a very close relationship that both of them really treasure.

[illbegottenfaith]

intro post

hi, I'm E! looking to make more friends/mutuals, especially with other writers 🫶💕

currently reading: The quarantine princess diaries by Meg Cabot

currently watching: house md s5, new girl season 1 (rewatch)

currently writing: some theo drabbles :)

#e.txt - personal posts (not fandom related)

#e's fic recs - self-explanatory

#love letters - comments on my fics

my writing (masterlist) (updated 15.01.2024)

my edits (gifsets) (updated 07.01.2024)

about me

I’m a first-year college student. This account is entirely separate from my main tumblr account which is why I only occasionally stop by to upload whatever fic I’ve written recently. I joined tumblr when I was 14, in 2020, and started writing here in October of last year for a smaller fandom (that I still write for! I’ve just needed a change of scenery)

other things about me

I’m a chronic oversharer! I know it may not seem like it but I’m rlly restraining myself here ahah I am much much worse on my main account.

I am/used to be a huge swiftie

like any other college student I’m just so swamped with work but still need an outlet for creativity so I write a lot on my phone. I prefer writing on my laptop but I rarely have the time or energy for that and autocorrect is Not my friend so if you see an odd word here or there…please bear with me hahah

In high school I studied literature pretty intensely which has kind of made me very very picky about my writing and the books I read

(but I am majoring in a stem field I'm totally not bitter abt how male dominated my major is um anyway)

My favourite books include The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger, Heartless by Marissa Meyer (nothing too revolutionary but a riveting, well-paced book to get you out of a reading slump!) and Everyone I Know is Dying by Emily Slapper

My favourite comfort/self-indulgent authors are Cathy Cassidy (from when I was like 11, I think it’s half nostalgia but she really is an excellent underrated writer) and Meg Cabot

I think that’s about all for now! <3

[sorenversh]

Engage's story is kinda neat

I made this account some time ago, and I thought to myself... Why not post something? Since I feel controversial, I feel like I should say that Fire Emblem Engage's story is vastly underrated. It's definitely much better than what the fandom portrays it like. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't think Engage's story is the best in the entire series. Sacred Stones, for example, is a story that I enjoy much more. With all that being said, let's begin. Spoilers ahead, of course.

Engage's story is a pretty simple one at surface level. Protagonist must defeat bad guy. Another story following the Hero's Journey structure. However, saying that THAT'S all that Engage has going for is plainly wrong. Many stories, most that have a villain actually, could be summarized in that same way. And because of that, people ignore that we need to go deeper on the story, not just stay in such a surface level take.

Let's take a look at Alear as a protagonist. When I first played the game I didn't expect to like them as much, but here I am. Alear is a take on a lord that we haven't seen before. They start as a coward that is terrified of the corrupted, who really lacks any kind of leadership skills. Most lords we've seen either are kinda strong since the beginning or have some sort of special skill (Chrom is strong and has the falchion, Micaiah has her future seeing powers), and if they don't, they compensate it by having great intelligence and courage (Eliwood discovers a whole assassin group being related to his father and he still wants to find him)

When we look at Alear... We see nothing of that. At the beginning. They pretty much kinda depend on Emblem Marth. After Lumera's death, and specially after the 6 first emblems are taken away, some growth is seen in them. Sure, they still may get scared, but they show more determination than ever. Far more courage than when the game started.

When Veyle is revealed to be their younger sister, and knowing that Eveyle (Evil Veyle, basically) is literally taking control of her, shows just how much determination they have. From the scary wet cat that wants to run away just because of a few corrupted, to dying to protect their little sister. Literally. Alear dies just so they can ensure Veyle survives.

And because of that determination and inner strength, they decide to let Veyle revive them as a corrupted. The same thing that scares them to death. And all of that so they can make sure that their friends are alright and to make sure someone can defeat Sombron. And with such display of inner strength, the 12 emblems get to transform Alear into an emblem. Alear finishes the game with all the skills that they lacked in the very beginning.

The only thing that is not properly explained is the memory loss and the irrational fear of corrupted. Or... Is it? Keeping in mind the dialogue that Past Alear has on chapter 24, we know that some Alear siblings died BECAUSE of the corrupted. Even while being under the orders of Sombron, they despised them. Alear has PTSD because of the corrupted, and yes PTSD CAN result on memory loss while still retaining that fear of them, making Alear an extremely human character.

And while being probably some of the most realistic and human characters that all of Fire Emblem has, they still get ignored because "haha Colgate Chan goes brrr".

After talking about the main protagonist, I want to talk about the story. I can't remember the amount of times that I've seen people call this story bad. It's understandable if you don't like it, but calling it *objectively* bad is totally different.

In reality, Engage's story is simple. Not bad, but simple. A story can be complex but be bad (Callout to Sonic '06 for being both unnecesarily complicated but being reaaaally messy). It doesn't have a huge political drama. It doesn't a generational tale. It's a simple hero's journey. But that does not make it bad, does it?

Let's think it from another perspective. Don't just think about what happens. Think HOW it happens. Who do you meet on your journey? What tragedies did you stop and which ones you couldn't? What makes you want to keep going? If you think about that kind of thing when you think of a story, you'll like it much more.

And maybe I should add that having some cringe moments doesn't make the story bad. Yeah, Clanne and Framme being fangirling over Alear waking up is cringe. But you know what? They literally have an Alear fanclub. They are teenagers. THEY ARE CRINGE. They just saw the one they fangirl for wake up after a 1000 year long nap, of course they'd react like that!

As a reader, do you genuinely believe that every character should be calm and collected and reacting to anything the way you personally would? Or would you rather let the character's personality express the way they'd react instead, even if you wouldn't do the same?

Another thing that is more than talked about is the so called Avatar worship. But I've seen people say that there would be insane amounts of Avatar worship before the game even came out, so I'm sure that people just tagged it and refuse to actually understand anything at all.

Alear is a divine dragon. A god. But in reality their a really normal person. Out of all the characters that worship them in any kind of way, Alear THEMSELVES tells them that there really is no need to. Yes, this so called Avatar worship is an important thing because Alear explicitly dislikes it. I could also talk about how the games without an avatar also have lots of protagonist worship, but that's a story for another day.

Now, let's take a look at Lumera. Engage's "mom that dies early". Keeping in mind that she dies on chapter two, you'd never expect for her to be actually that important. Before you say anything... Yes. The death cutscene is too long. I agree with that.

Lumera is Alear's adoptive mother. We don't know much about their actual mother though. They met 1000 years ago, in the middle of the war against Sombron. Alear is a broken person in the past. The first one that ever showed them some kind of love or compassion is Lumera herself. Maybe at first she didn't plan to adopt Alear, but she turned into the maternal figure that they really needed.

Even if Lumera is the divine dragon, the one that finishes off Sombron in the past is Alear. All of that so they can finally be happy with Lumera... Not knowing that Sombron would make sure that they couldn't make that dream come true.

Once Alear wakes up, Lumera makes sure to try to make them happy. Treat them like their child. Only wanting happiness from them. But again, just a few days after their first encounter, Lumera sadly dies, her dream of being with her child stripped away from her again. And Alear, even though they don't remember her, still cries, for what she means to them is enough to pass through their PTSD caused memory loss subconsciously.

Lumera dying this early has a lot of meaning. First of all, she's the main reason of why Alear begins their adventure... Even if her death means that Alear must do it even if their clearly not ready for it. Second of all, she haunts the narrative. The queen of Firene and Solm, past Alear, all of them have Lumera involved in some sort of way, and the way she's present in our army is through the Libération, the weapon that belonged to her, and once Alear transforms into an emblem, through Alear's birthday gift that she gifted to her.

And once she returns, corrupted by Sombron, we don't see the madness that the corrupted usually have. We see the madness of Lumera herself, who has been stripped from everyone she loves time and time again. At first because she had to see them all die. And back in chapter 3, because she died herself. For a character with minimal screentime, she surely can be really tragic.

Not everything is tragic though. Her last moments have her regaining her sanity before leaving the world for good. Now she sees what Alear has become. Stonger. Brave. Determined. And what she wanted the most. She sees her child finally growing up to become a more than fine adult.

Now, one important thing. If you want to criticise the story... At least make sure you experience all of it. I've seen way more people saying that they started to skip the cutscenes to then claim it is bad than more people saying that they experienced it all and that is bad. If you refuse to engage with the story, do you really expect to like it? Give everything a chance, it's that simple.

[saddesthorseintheplanet]

Now that I'm thinking about it, Takemaru and the bear hat student might be the most underrated Hundred Line characters at the moment. I can understand why people don't talk about the bear hat boy. A lot of people do not like this character mostly due to his appearance. I initially thought of that too but I've grown to like him a bit. But I'm surprised about Takemaru. He has appeared in most promotional materials so far and he's one of the few characters that we know the names and personalities of.

In his introduction, despite his appearance he's a very selfless character with a huge sense of justice and seemed to really like getting his powers because he wanted to be a hero as a kid and I found that really sweet. He was still worrying about the residents of the Tokyo Housing Complex there too and also said he wants to get out of the academy to save more people. Though, I worry about the thing he says in the beginning where he said he has uncontrollable anger and advised Takumi not to go near him when that happens. At least he's honest and knows about it.

When you read the discussions about the game regardless of language. Most of the students are talked about in some capacity, the more thoroughly discussed ones are the Tsukumo siblings, blue hat boy, Darumi, Karua and Takumi. But you seldom, or never hear people talk about Takemaru and the bear hat boy.

To be fair, with a large cast, there's bound to be a few characters who won't be discussed as much as the rest. Which I think is such a shame especially when Takemaru is, in my opinion, quite an interesting character from what little we know about him and the cast so far. It's also funny that he subverted everyone's expectations of him when the TGS program aired. I hope this issue changes once the game or more content comes out. And I hope people can put aside their dislike for the bear hat's design to talk about him properly once we know more about him.

Tldr: Please talk about Takemaru and the bear hat boy more. They're currently the least talked about of the cast and are weirdly underrated.

(Sorry for the yapfest that I brought in, The Hundred Line community 😞)

[heyhellohihowareyou]

Why “Ball Game Tournament Time” is underrated as hell

BASEBALL EPISODE! BASEBALL EPISODE! Any anime that has a baseball episode in it is bound to get Hailey hooked!

And this one is about her Sugi boy! She’s all for him getting more screentime!

Out of context picture

I’m pretty sure that this was the episode that started the “Jiriki Hongan Revolution” intro (Correct me if I’m wrong) and since it’s tied as my fav AC intro, this episode gets points for starting it!

Baseball fanatic Koro is best Koro!

Anyways, did I mention I love baseball episodes because I love baseball episodes

Found a cute side character with freckles. Appreciate her NOW!

Two very good boys right here!

Kimura gets to do something! We must savor this moment while we still can!

Awww a cute Mimura!

I live for a badass Sugi boy (Even though this one is in Shindo’s head 😅)

Also, start the count for how many times Shindo looks like he’s about the piss himself

Ain’t this such a great episode! 3-E is succeeding and showing the main campus kids what’s what! Boy I sure hope no one ruins-

Bitch. Can you please stay out of my feel good sports episodes and not traumatize people at all? You’re bringing down the vibes man 😕

Well the girlies are back at least! Kind of wish we got to see them play though.

Kayano: “It’s just that the other team had huge jiggly boobs! It made me so made that I couldn’t concentrate!” Kaede sweetie you are not beating the allegations 🩷💜💙

Nothing to say except I like Maehara’s bewildered face

GAKUHOU STOP FUCKING MANIPULATING TEENAGERS FOR FUCK SAKE

I hate the man but those eyes though

Irina: “Aha! I think I get it! So you hit a ball with a stick!” Never change Irina. Never change.

Oh my god EVERYONE SHUT UP RIGHT NOW AND LOOK AT MY BOY!!!

Did I mention that I adore Sugino. Well, I ADORE SUGINO!!!

I swear to god Gakuhou doesn’t have life WHY ARE YOU HERE!?

Also, anyone else felt bad for Shindy this episode? Sure he was sort of a cocky bastard for the first part but man is he put through hell here.

Karmster using his bitch powers to good use (Yes, Karmster is his new name now)

Also this should be a meme template

I saw the glowing red eyes and my first thought was “Baki?”

Nothing to say except that I find Isogai’s little sigh cute

Bewildered Shindy

Gakuhou: “Crack a skull if need be.” Why aren’t you in jail yet?

We love Karmster’s little bitch face

Karmster: “Swing like you’re trying to kill us.” My guy is in distress

Nagisa: “That’s got him pretty shaken up.” Pretty Shaken- MY GUY IS TRAUMATIZED!

Again, poor Shindy. Like seriously get this boy some help.

I’ve caught two bright smiles in one screenshot!

Sugino: “Didn’t mean for things to get so crazy.” Shindy needs to go to therapy

Juuuust Karmster

Hadn’t mention before but I love listening to Sugi’s dubbed voice. For someone who shares a voice actor with the loud mouth that is Katsuki Bakugo his voice is nice to listen to

Sugino: “It was about being proud of my new friends. I wanted to show them off.” Sugino I fucking love you.

Welp that’s it. That was a good ass episode that we as a fandom should talk about more! It’s season 1’s version of leader time to me. In fact it’s part of my top ten favorite episodes of the series (I really need to make a list) I don’t say it that much but Sugino as a character brings me so much serotonin so watching this episode was a joy for me! Combined with the fact that I love baseball this episode was an absolute delight.

I keep forgetting how bad I feel for Shindy boy here. Like, he was just slightly cocky and he ended up getting manipulated left and right. Seriously, I wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up having nightmares about the 3-E students sniping him in his sleep or something.

Anyways, like I said. This is a good episode and we should really discuss it more. We should discuss Sugino more. DISCUSS THE BOY! <—— Barely discusses the boy in question

[floatingcatacombs]

Teekyuu and Hubris

12 Days of Aniblogging 2024, Day 7

Chronic illness begets a certain amount of magical thinking. Having to deal with your own body attacking itself at random intervals leads many down the path of desperation and conspiracy. That’s is why it’s important to instead channel that energy into little rituals that don’t provide any physical aid but do help establish a sense of control. In my own struggles with sickness, I’ve gained exactly one such ritual related to anime. For whatever reason, my consolation prize for particularly bad health days is shotgunning an entire season of Teekyuu.

This may sound like a huge endeavor, but these are two-minute episodes we’re dealing with, and that's counting the opening. Teekyuu is a moe gag anime about girls in a tennis club who only rarely actually play tennis. Everything plays out at a staggeringly fast speed, like it’s cramming four minutes of jokes into half that time. This works heavily in its favor! Even if only half of the jokes ever hit at best, the whole thing plays out so fast that the failures don’t really stick around in your psyche, but the hits can really add up. Fuck it, I’ll just post an episode, it'll fit within Tumblr's file size limit.

So, what did you think? Actually, don't answer that, just imagine twelve of those back-to-back. That’s the kind of shit that I’m on during the days where my gut has decided in advance to kill me. It is absolutely the kind of show that boils your brain, but sometimes you need your mind simmered for sanity’s sake. And for that, it is my ideal show. If watching Lucky Star is like basking in CGDCT moe, then Teekyuu is like getting slapped with it, repeatedly.

I could honestly end the writeup here, but Teekyuu actually has a surprisingly serious production history surrounding it, which I would be remiss to leave out. Also, I really like the idea of making you spend so much time with this essay learning arcane industry drama that you could have just watched a good chunk of a Teekyuu season. Now then....

MAPPA is a big studio! They took on adapting Chainsaw Man and Jujutsu Kaisen and the later parts of Attack on Titan and a million other high-profile anime, and are renowned for their fights and animation quality. Of course, they’re also notorious for paying terribly, taking on way too many projects, and absolutely grinding their workers into dust. They’re a company of extremes, but in a way that makes them extremely emblematic of where the anime industry is at right now.

It wasn’t always this way, though. MAPPA started out in the early 2010s with some lower-profile but mostly well-received projects, such as Kids on the Slope, Ushio & Tora, and an original titled Punch Line which one of my friends from high school insists is peak. And during this early period, they were also churning out season after season of Teekyuu. Shin Itagaki is something of a D-tier auteur when it comes to Teekyuu, acting as the director, character designer, key animator, in-betweener, and sound director for almost every episode. Itagaki’s actually got a pretty cool resume – he helped out on Princess Mononoke’s animation, contributed to a few Gainax shows, and wore quite a lot of hats on the underrated stupid comedy brawling anime Ben-To. But Teekyuu is his real brainchild, and it seems to have garnered enough of a following to justify continued releases (of course, the production costs must have also been pretty low).

Anyways, in 2015 Itagaki quits MAPPA and founds his own studio called Millepensee, with him as chief director and his wife handling the business operations.  With this newfound and total creative control, he goes on to make…four more seasons of Teekyuu, as well as two spinoffs. The dude knows what he wants. But that’s his pet project. His wife has greater ambitions, and is steadily growing the studio in order to try and take on a larger project. They manage to get Berserk.

It still baffles me that someone looked at Itagaki’s resume and saw his seven nearly-consecutive seasons of high school girls getting up to rapid-fire antics and decided that he was the one for this job. I guess he had enough cred from his past projects like Hajime no Ippo and Ghibli contracting that they decided he could take a turn at adapting probably the greatest fantasy manga of all time.

It wasn't just going to be his studio, thankfully. This was organized to be a co-production with the 3DCG studio GEMBA, who up until then had only contributed background VFX to various shows, and had never handled an adaptation on their own. So Itagaki's job as director and key animator in pre-production was to handle storyboards and guide the artstyle of the adaptation, making sure it mapped well to the 3D models and animation techniques the studio was using.

When Berserk 2016 was announced, a lot of people were worried that Itagaki’s recent near-exclusive work on moe anime would pose a problem with the Berserk artstyle, but it turned out to be the other way around. He wanted to stay extremely faithful to the original artwork with techniques that the 3D software of the era simply couldn't render in real time, such as cross-hatching that Berserk is known for. Instead Millepensee had to add 2D textures and effects over the completed renders, taking on the laborious and messy task of fixing it in post. That’s why the texturing looks so janky and inconsistently applied in the final project, a lot of it had to be done by hand against a strict deadline!

The information in this section is mostly taken from a very good ANN writeup.

In between seasons of this Berserk adaptation, and right afterwards, Itagaki released Teekyuu 8 and 9. I guess this was his way of letting off steam.  

You’d think that this experience would deter them from CG productions, but in 2020 Millepensee purchased a 3D animation studio, and most of their productions are now in a hybrid 2D+3D animation style with Itagaki directing. Granted, they're all low-rent isekai adaptations, but at least they're still getting work after Berserk.

The saddest part about this failed Berserk adaptation is that it could have gone way better had they just tried a few years later! Hybrid 2D + 3D pipelines started getting really good in the late 2010s, with Studio Orange and his old bosses at MAPPA both mastering the craft on shows like Dorohedoro and Land of the Lustrous. Nowadays it’s absolutely everywhere, and you hardly see anyone complaining, especially when it’s used for a striking artstyle or to adapt something that would be near-impossible to do right with traditional animation. It's probably the only way you could animate the later parts of Berserk sanely, but nobody wants to try again after the 2016 attempt went so poorly (and also Miura's fucking dead). Also sad is how MAPPA really came into prominence just as Itagaki was leaving, with hits like Yuri on Ice and Kakegurui and Zombieland Saga coming out year after year. Though I don’t know if he would have been assigned to any of those had he stayed, and he probably gets a much bigger paycheck now even though he's working on stuff ten percent as popular.

We have drifted far, far, away from Teekyuu, so I’ll just loop back by saying that Teekyuu changes a person. It is kind of evil on some fundamental level. And yet, it is occasionally load-bearing on my psyche, like pushing a reset button somewhere in my synapses. I’ve still got a few late seasons stashed away for when I need them. With the last one coming out in 2017, I think it’s safe to say that there’s no more Teekyuu on the horizon, but what we’ve got is plenty. Its total runtime is almost as long as a standard 12-episode season, even! Someone should just bite the bullet and make a hell-on-earth video upload or torrent that stitches them all together. It might have to be me.

[ecargmura]

Cherry Magic Episode 11 Review - Good Progression For Both Couples

Good progression for both couples! I love how each of them revolve around the mind-reading magic, but use it differently. Adachi is reliant on it and eventually makes a positive change in his life because of it, but still has some ups and downs when it comes to himself and his relationship with Kurosawa. Tsuge, on the other hand, doesn’t really use the magic all that much—only in a few occasions—but it did help him develop feelings for Minato and eventually experiencing a world he never dreamed of until now.

With Kurodachi (or KuroAda in the Eastern fandom), they are dating, but are experiencing some issues. Fortunately, Kurosawa is reflecting on his behavior from the previous episode. I like how Adachi takes Tsuge’s advice and writes his heartfelt feelings in a letter. I think that letters are super underrated and I’m glad that he did so. Sometimes, words and text messages can’t convey feelings as well as a letter. The letter left such a huge impact on Kurosawa that he legit went to Nagasaki to meet up with Adachi. Talk about down bad. I do like that they did apologize. Adachi realizes that he really likes Kurosawa as he states some of the things he likes about him in order for his partner to not feel too regretful. The way they kissed afterwards was super sensual. I legit had to cover my face while still peeking because it was hot. If you’re wondering, yes, they did bang. That means Adachi’s magic is no more. Please don’t be upset over the censored sex scene, it’s mainly due to television regulations in Japan, I believe. The moaning, though… there is a reason why the BL genre is so popular because some voice actors know how to moan…Kobayashi is one of them…

Speaking of which, I learned from someone in the Cherry Magic discord that Adachi has a palmaris longus muscle on his wrist. It’s the little nerve/muscle thing that pops out on the front of the wrist. Only 14% of the population have it, apparently; I have it too! Apparently, the muscle can be a bit sensitive, when touched, so…think of that what you will.

On the Tsugemina side, Tsuge wanted to get over Minato, but couldn’t. He tried writing, but nothing came out. His feelings for Minato are just too strong. He eventually attended Minato’s concert where he gifted him a new pair of shoes, which caused Minato to rush out and find him. They eventually confess their mutual feelings for each other and it seems that they finally are getting together! Congrats! I really like how Tsuge’s so poetic, befitting an author. I loved his quote, “No story compares to the real you.” Man, that was SMOOTH. While Tsuge did have ulterior motives and it did bother Minato, Minato didn’t mind it too much as he likes Tsuge a lot more than he realized and even told the older man to not give up—words that Tsuge told him before. What I like about the Tsugemina pair is that Tsuge isn’t too reliant on the magic. While he did fall for Minato’s inner voice, he made his own effort to get closer to him as best as he can and it worked. The only time he used the magic significantly was to help Minato patch things up with Rokkaku. That’s about it.

This was the most romantic of the episodes by far, but the wonky animation does take some romantic value away from it, but it’s only noticeable in the non-romantic scenes. I wonder if next week is the finale. I do wonder how everything is going to end. There’s a lot of content for Cherry Magic, so I do wonder if there will be a second season planned. The day the episode aired was the day before  Adachi’s birthday, which is March 21, today’s date. Happy birthday Adachi! What are your thoughts on this rather romantic episode?

[dailycass-cain]

so this is my first time reading Batgirl (TYSM for the guide!) and I'm pretty new to comics in general. I've made it to #41 so far, and I can't help but notice the huge decline in writing from #38 onwards with the change of writers. Maybe it's just exacerbated by how good the previous issues were; but it really feels like Cass drastically went from a rare female character that is actually written with the same respect and depth as the male characters to being turned into a "girl superhero" with boy troubles who gets forced into bikinis and love triangles. Since you seem to know a lot about what was going on behind the scenes at the time, did something happen? I know there's misogynistic/racist men in the industry who hated Cass so I was wondering if that was already brewing back then during her 2000s run

I think when it came post-Puckett era, Dylan Horrocks was faced with a choice: ape off Puckett or try something different with the character.

I'll be honest, the early Horrocks' stuff you're in hasn't aged well. The ideas are interesting, of exploring sexuality and Cass realizing she can "see" what men think of her, and I think the utter realization of Babs making a mistake is good. It's just the overall execution is more of a miss.

The thing is, #41 gives us an excellent in-character reason for her choices. It's just this is all balanced with Bruce being pretty awful to Cass during this period (because this is all in a lead-up to Horrocks "big" story for #50).

Horrocks run can best be summed as: starts "meh" has interesting ideas, but fails to fully execute them well. There are some standoff amazing moments in the comics (I think the Doll Man issue is quite underrated).

Though, you're right. This is the era when Dan DiDio began to rise to power within the DC Comics Company, and it shows during this particular run.

So during this "run" we had A LOT of things happen outside the comic.

#1 Batman: Hush going on, and that story is particularly infamous for neglecting Cass due to story writer Jeph Loeb's distaste cause she wasn't Barbara Gordon (artist Jim Lee, who now currently runs DC too had this idea but since 2020 has softened this stance and realizes the mistake made).

Add this with DiDio's bias toward the Bronze Age "iconic" characters (Barry, Hal, and Babs) you have this growing problem.

#2 Cass DID get to be involved in another comic. The Justice League: Elite maxi-series. Though she didn't show up in THE Batman story, Cass was showing up in two other series at this time. One, well is in my "infamous" Cass reading guide (Batman: City of Light), and JL: Elite.

The later series did a nice job with the "twist" that Cass was on the team and as an agent of Batman spying on them. It is an actually interesting and good story.

#3 This is the era the "editorial edicts" started to come in. So a rather infamous thing during DiDio's reign was editorial edicts that would force changes in comics (leading to some outrageous OOC moments). This happened TWICE in Horrocks' Batgirl run.

At a certain point, Horrocks is told via top brass that he's losing Babs as a supporting cast member and has to write her off the comic. So he has to write a Babs/Cass go their separate ways due to well you'll see.

The other is in regards to Stephanie Brown who'll be back in the comic past #50 (she left the series in #38). What Horrocks didn't know until a Bat summit around this time (where all the Batman book creatives discussed where to take the books in the coming months) is that Stephanie's days were numbered.

She was coming back (and as Robin), but they were killing off the character. Horrocks and Nightwing writer Devin Grayson HATED the idea and objected to it.

Sadly, they were outvoted and well whatever else occurred in those meetings (or after) resulted in Horrocks quitting the Batgirl series and DC Comics itself by #57 (this is why Horrocks' run on the book just ends abruptly with no real end). Horrocks is still currently just enjoying the life of writing and doing Indie comics.

Interestingly, whatever Horrocks said or did it's interesting to note his is the only run never collected fully by DC Comics. Sadly, the only Batgirl issues that were EVER put in a trade were the stuff that made him walk (Batman: War Games, the event that killed Stephanie Brown). That was until the mid-2010s when DC released a HC Batgirl Anniversary trade that also included stories of Bette Kane, Steph, and Cass as Batgirl. #45 (aka Cass wearing Babs' Batgirl costume) is in the trade collection.

Ironically, this bad management editorial would also eventually affect Kelley Puckett (who returns to DC with Supergirl Vol. 5 #23-29, 31-32) around 2008 to 2009 but then ALSO decided to leave DC and comics altogether.

Not those two, but also the writer who'd replaced Horrocks, Andersen Gabrych (who was one of the minds behind War Games). However, I honestly do love Gabrych's run on Batgirl more than Horrocks. It's just the edicts and the rushing toward the end of his run kind of sours it.

I hope all this information is helpful.

[ciaheyhimm]

Introduction to the Reichblr community! (Remake)

A year later...

Buonasera, Buongiorno or Buon pomeriggio (depending on the time of the day you're reading this post)!

It's nice to meet you all. My name is Beatrice, but I would prefer to be called Trixie or Tracy. I'm a 17 year old student whom has great expectations for the future as I would like to become a historian or a history teacher.

⬇️ Here are some informations about me ⬇️

[🤍] Yes, I'm Italian. I come from a very small town in the North of Italy.

[🖤] I'm a High School Student: I study languages and currently I know 4 of them which are Italian, English, Spanish and German. However, in the future, I would like to learn others as well.

[🤍] History is my cup of tea: it all started when I was a child thanks to my grandfather's books and my grandmother's stories. I began with a hyperfixation over the Ancient Roman period before I started getting curious over the WWII one during Middle School. I made my very first presentation to the class about some historical figures and then I graduated from Middle School by discussing about the Totalitarian Systems.

[🖤] Growing up, I bought books, many books (I love reading and it's one of my hobbies alongside drawing and writing). My studies were all focused on the Third Reich and it still is. I love learning about new intriguing facts, discussing about certain topics with my friends and make my own ideas. Despite my interest for Germany around that period, I don't agree with any of the ideologies of that time.

[🤍] The historical figures of the Third Reich whom I most give my attention to are: Reinhard Heydrich and Heinrich Himmler, but not only! I know it's a big common thing to see around here, but I'm really studying these two figures with particular interest because I need it to complete a book that I'm currently writing.

[🖤] Around late 2023 I began learning about the history of my country as well during WWII because I barely knew anything about it. In some ways, it's too much underrated and probably picked on without a clear motive. That's why I'm also here: I want to spread information about Fascist Italy and its most important figures.

[🤍] My favourite historical figures of Fascist Italy are: Italo Balbo, Galeazzo Ciano, Dino Grandi. These three are the complete opposites to one another but so interesting because their interactions are amazing, as they almost come out from a drama fiction (not kidding).

[🖤] I'm a roleplayer and this helped me a lot with the intention of writing a book as I feel much more confidence to gather my ideas and create something unique not only for me, but also for you.

[🤍] I'm a huge soccer/football fan: my favourite team is Juventus (idk, I thought it was a funny thing to add).

♤♤♤♤

I think that was all for now, if I have something more to add I'll make sure to modify this post.

My DMs are always open if you want to get to know me a little bit more. Otherwise, send me a friend request on Discord: vlahovicciana

If you have a question to ask me, make sure to send them anonymously or simply comment this post! 🤍🖤

Also, he's my Roleplay Ad in case you're interested:

[mrs-monaghan]

Sorry to say this but I don't understand why you jkkrs are so happy after reading about jikook from the book. I mean yes it was sweet that they talked about their trip to Japan or jk talked about how jimin came to find him when he was drinking alone and stressed but again..it's not anything which makes sure that they were a couple. In fact... after filming jk went somewhere to drink alone without telling jimin because he was feeling stressed..it only shows how they were never a couple. And jimin came for him to find him and comfort him...was again proved that how emotionally stable jimin always was as a person for every member in the group. He was always there somewhere comforting the members..jk was no exception. And you can find these types of emotional stories from every member about him jimin being there for them. But the fact that jk went alone...his own way after doing his work in the company... clearly shows that they were and still are.. great friends but nothing more.

Okay anon. I will gladly explain this to you in the most simplest of terms. Okay? So listen. Are you listening? On this post I said the following:

To a none shipper Jikook are good friends who went to Tokyo and walked down a dark alley. 2 friends who comfort each other when sad. To someone logical this is sweet and not that big of a deal. This is not information that should be stressing people out. Surely.

So yeah, the new moments are not ground breaking, they're just cementing what we already know. That Jikook is real. Those moments are about GCFT and that, dear anon, shows exactly how Jikook are a couple. Whats in the book is cute and just reminds us how close they are and how beautiful their rlship is.

Which brings me to your question as to why we are celebrating something that's not that deep. Well, here is why. Do you see this video?

That moment is exactly what OP describes it as

Like... its not a big deal. Jikook are just goofing about.. its not that serious and yet we celebrate it, why? You wanna hear sum'n crazy? This is not even an underrated Jikook moment. It's quite popular. But why?

Because we already know that Jikook is real. We don't need proof, we don't need evidence and we definitely do not need confirmation. We know already that they are a couple. From mountains of evidence you are ignoring and choosing only to look at what's in the book. But that's the thing anon, unlike you we don't forget whats happened since 2015 to date.

We already know Jikook is real. If someone came to me and asked me why I think they're real I won't show them what's on the book, I won't show them this video of them touching each other's necks. These are just a bonus! These just accompany the huge moments.

To summarize; We already know Jikook are a couple. So now we just sit back and enjoy the little tidbits we get here and there. And we coo and smile and laugh and just love them even more. That, is why we are celebrating the moments in the book.

We already knew the Tokyo trip was special but the fact that they can't move on from it, it means something. The fact that GCFT exists, it means something.

Anyway guys. Let's get GCFT to 40M. It was 30M before the book dropped and its now at 33M 🤭🤭🤭 this means its been watched 3 million times already and it hasn't even been 24 hours. And people really think we are a small ship? He he heee... we have fucking numbers bro!