#like....i cringed at parts but it was surprisingly enjoyable

[weirdagnes]

Since i can’t pour energy into writing a whole fic/drawing stuff yet, I’m gonna dump some headcanons I have on Mishuggy.

(Long post ahead)

Shanks only bathes in the sea so its smell became his trademark scent. Buggy loves the seawater scent on him. He can never bathe in the sea anymore, so it brings him comfort when he cuddles with Shanks bc it’s the closest he can get to being in contact with the sea without feeling weak. Every time they meet, Shanks makes sure to bathe in the sea first before meeting Buggy so cuddle time will last longer.

One of Mihawk’s stims is running his hand through Buggy’s hair.

Mihawk is a night person, Shanks is an insomniac, Buggy is a morning person. Mihawk often joins Shanks when he can’t sleep, some wine and talking. Sometimes they’d be quiet and admire a sleeping Buggy.

Buggy’s voice gets low and rough often when his social battery is drained or he’s not in his stage persona (which is a very rare occurrence). Mihawk finds this incredibly attractive.

Shanks absolutely adores Buggy’s voice cracks.

Shanks is the best kisser, Mihawk is the most awkward/timid, Buggy has the most kissable lips (Shanks loves it when his lipstick leaves stains) but because of his nose, he’s the most awkward to kiss (if you’re not a professional Buggy-kisser like Shanks!)

Mihawk may not prefer lips-to-lips kissing, but he does love kissing other parts of the body like the hands, the shoulder, etc.

Buggy’s lowkey attentive to Mihawk’s infodumps on different kinds of blades, its uses and history. He’s fond of blades as well but more on short blades like daggers and machetes. He loses his mind seeing how cool Mihawk’s cross pendant knife is, and couldn’t resist showing off to him the hidden knives and explosives in his body (Mihawk wonders how he has not killed himself yet by accident).

Mihawk kinda cringes on Buggy’s habit of licking knives. He asks how has he not cut his tongue yet, Buggy is like “Hawky are u fr” then he chops off his tongue and Mihawk is horrified but quickly felt stupid remembering Buggy had devil fruit powers.

Buggy loves cherries and other sweet fruits. Hates pineapple way before he ate the Chop Chop fruit, and his distaste for it increased after eating it.

Shanks likes fish and Mihawk likes vegetable dishes (borderline vegan at this point).

Buggy loves warm colors (reds, oranges, yellows, gold). It just so happens that Mihawk and Shanks are associated with red and yellow.

Even though Mihawk and Buggy are complete opposites of a spectrum, they surprisingly get along well in terms of hobby. They both like to read, for one. Mihawk will mention a book in one of his infodumps and Buggy will be like “Oh yeah I love that one chapter where…” They both like art as well; Mihawk drew and painted in his free time when he was living in the castle, preferring still objects, dead sceneries, and chiaroscuro lightings.

Other than performance art (acting and acrobatics), Buggy is into cartography and drawing landscapes with oil pastels, but he often does maps more. When he does draw landscapes, the subject are often places where he has strong fondness/feelings of (his circus tent, Loguetown, the sea, etc). He uses small paper mediums and tucks them away. He only got to try painting when Mihawk offered. They had fun and created abstract - Buggy splashes paint spotaneously and generously, Mihawk feels the waste of paint but eventually lets loose (Buggy’s encouragement) and tried stroking the paintbrush like he wields his sword (when the canvas was slashed, they considered it a finished artwork).

Buggy and Mihawk also likes shiny things. Buggy loves treasure-finding more as an activity sure, but opening a chest full of shiny gems and trinkets is also what makes it enjoyable. He’s fond of jeweled earrings and rings but would rather keep them in a chest than wear them daily. Mihawk’s fondness for shiny things began with blades, but it also extended to shining gold colors. He’s not fond of gold for wealth purposes, he just likes shiny things.

Mihawk hates swimming whereas Shanks and Buggy love it (Buggy loves it more, but can’t do it anymore after eating his devil fruit). Mihawk hates getting wet for a long period of time + swimming is a strenuous activity, but he only learns it bc it’s a necessity for survival esp he travels by sea (and also bc there was one time where he almost drowned and its one of his most embarrassing memories. He was glad he travelled alone bc he’ll die of embarrassment forever if anyone lived to see that)

Shanks is a generous gift-giver. He isn’t materialistic himself, but the moment either Buggy or Mihawk express a passing comment about a rare wine he wanted to try someday or a map he wants to get his hands on - you got it. Shanks WILL find a way.

Whenever they go out together, Mihawk cringes at their fashion tastes. Shanks is more of a “this shirt is 10yrs old but hey its still usable” kind of guy. Buggy wears the most eyestrain clown outfits ever that will make you wonder “how did i end up with this guy”. In Shanks and Buggy’s head, they think Mihawk is an edgelord with his dark outfits on every occasion. Despite all this though, they find each other handsome.

[momo-shut-the-fuck-up]

So i ve done the main story in infinity nikki and im gonna stop playin now, before i squeeze the game dry of content and have nothing (new) to do on release.

Time for a lil review/thoughts post

I m not gonna review every single mechanic in the game, simply things that stood out to me or that i wanna talk about. I also wont add more images, i kinda want ppl to see the world for themselves... i ll share more when the game comes out tho.

There s a lot of text under this. Tldr, i like the game i think it's a solid, enjoyable experience with a good gameplay loop, the story isn't for me, and i'll keep playin of course. And u should try it too if ur device wont blow itself up tryin to run it.

Dress up

The bread and butter of Nikki games... it's good as usual. Game doesn't shy away from long skirts or coat tails or complicated ballgowns just cuz nikki can run and jump and dash now and i'm very happy bout that. There's some clipping issues once in a while, but it's nothing major and the clothes we do have in the game are lovely. There s an evolution system for some of the sets, which makes em a diff color.... usually they can evolve once, but i saw Three extra evolutions for one of the UR sets and that scares me. Bcs to evolve them u have to craft the suit again. So u have to pull 4 copies of a suit to max it out..

Combat

Game's definitely succeeding in its quest for being cozy. There's no real stakes, combat isn't difficult in the slightest but i do welcome it- super simple but it's pretty fun regardless. The boss fights were surprisingly creative and fun for what they are, it's just unfortunate that you have to do them more than once or twice (crafting mats)- but they do change what the boss does so it's different depending on what mat u are farming for... and u can claim double or triple or however much stamina u got-le of the mat after u complete it once. So that s rly nice.

Exploration

I actually think it's really really good. Again this isn't a difficult or complicated game, not yet i guess... but with the major goal being "get new clothes" and "take pretty pictures maybe", the open world feels actively engaging to participate in. There's collectibles everywhere, little challenges you can do that are diverse but quick, styling battles, collecting everythin from animals fur to bugs to fish, and allll of this brings u closer to that never ending goal of woo more clothes.

However even if a challenge doesnt give you a blueprint, it's still just. Really Nice to exist in this world. It's very whimsical, as expected of Lilith, and the world has a combination of realism and cartoon artstyle that is just soso appealing to me. It's genuinely how i would've imagined miraland to look in 3d. Shame it's not the same miraland we know..

Story

Hmm... silly is one word i could use for it. Cute also. The story isn't doin anythin bad per se, and i did start skippin dialogue near the end w the pieceys because i want to keep at least Some part of the story for the game's release... but i get the gist of it, and it s just not my thing.

It feels like a story made for children, and it definitely would get a G rating. Easy and simple to follow, there's moments of tension or sadness sure but with the antagonist bein a literal babie lookin cutey fairy with a grown man's voice, or the creatures that i'm interacting with are a bunch of. Fuckin weird lookin big eyed balls of fabric that look closer to plushies than somethin Alive... it's all so silly and dramatic sometimes i can t help but cringe.

Part of it is a me problem, if u just open ur heart and free urself from the cringe the story is fine. It's just a little too kiddy for me and i so desperately hope it won't stay like this forever. My prayers might be answered though, there's a whole war beyond the borders and we have refugees around... shit's lookin bad for Umbrosa.

Other things i noticed that i liked:

The effect on nikki's skin when it's raining, she actually has water dripping down her face... its so cool

Momo capes are actually kinda neat ngl. Especially cuz the fucker follows u around everywhere, at least i can bedazzle him

Npc models look really good im a fan. They do suffer from "everyone is very beautiful" syndrome, which makes some of the npc villains look/sound ridiculous, but they have kid-teen-adult-elderly versions of models (i never see teen models in these games! Its cool!) And some body variation. The grandmas look so lovely i cry

The dark skin tone is really dark, and it looks quite nice and natural.

The lighting engine in this game is just rly good in general. God bless UE5

The edges of the map where there s forest, which u obv cant go thru, the forest is made to be darker, thicker.... i m a huge fan of this idk y. It's not just *invisible wall in front of an open field* nopee cant go there lets explore that area later tee hee. And it looks good to boot.

Camera function is p robust, has more options for changin brightness/saturation/contrast etc which i feel Shining Nikki lacks.

Some of the creature designs are so good man i looove themm <3.... the pieces are awful tho. Ok creature design is a hit and miss sometimes but the stray hatty? Peak. All the weirdy fashionable animals? Peak.

Bein able to quick switch thru ur saved sets while in the overworld is real neat

Oke that was it. Bye

[miki-kaname]

Anime I've Seen in 2024 (New and Old)

New

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Hashira Training arc - 5/10: Too short and over too quickly, really wished they could’ve added more.

My Hero Academia season 7 - 6/10: Tiring at this point, I actually don't care anymore.

Date a Live V - 7/10: It didn't shocked me like everyone else, I've seen heavier shit then this. Still, it's an appropriate finale. I've heard there's like two light novels left in the series. Maybe one day for season 6.

Sand Land - 7/10: The main story is fantastic and a great stand alone series. The second arc is okay. It's good but completely unnecessary.

Bocchi the Rock! movie - 8/10: Cramming a whole season into a two part movie is surprisingly good. Saw it in theaters and I had a good time. So... when season 2?

Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War - The Conflict - 8/10: So far, it's still great. It's very intense.

Dragon Ball Daima - 8/10: Great story, great characters, great world building, and great animation. The pacing though... cocktease.

Old

Dragon Ball - 10/10: Revisited as myself paying tribute to the late Akira Toriyama, who pass away this year. This series is still amazing and charming. Please watch it and ignore the fandom who hated it for no reason. Your life will change forever.

Dragon Ball Z - 9/10: This was the first time I watched it in the original Japanese version. A completely different experience. I had a ton of fun going through the whole thing again.

Lucky Star - 7/10: At first, I really love how these girls just sit around and talk endlessly. But then... it kept going. Then it got super annoying. And then it got to be not fun anymore. By the time I got to ep. 12, I remember saying to myself," WE GOT 12 MORE EPISODES OF THIS SHIT?" The ending was cringing, I'm sorry, I did not like it. I give it some time and... it wasn't that bad in retrospect, I was just not in the right mood. I'll give it another chance one day.

K-ON! - 10/10: I read the manga a year ago and I greatly enjoy it, so I was looking forward for the adaptation. Unfortunately, an unexpected moment occurred in my life that made me delayed my binge watch. Once I felt better, I finally watched it and... it was what I desperately want: comfort. The characters were great, the music is pretty catchy, and the overall experience was enjoyable. When it was over, I felt sad, sad that it was over. But it did heal my soul.

The Melancholy of Haruchi Suzumiya - 4/10: Surprised I didn't receive hate mail from my opinion of this anime. Why did I really hated it? Haruchi Suzumiya herself. Fuck! That! BITCH! I hated everything about her, she gave me flasbacks to Asuka from Evangalion, who is also GODAWFUL! This anime reminded me why I hated tsunderes, I never felt so much anger in my life. If there's any silver lining, it gave me Yuki Nagato, and Mikuru Asahina is cute. I know there's a movie, but I refuse to watch it.

The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan - 7/10: I got nothing to say about this spin-off, but I like this better then the main one.

Berserk (1997) - 8/10: Finally started watching this classic and, wow, this was not what I expect it to be. I was really into the story and the battle scenes were gory. The ending? Still haven’t recover from that dramatic experience.

Hidamari Sketch - 10/10: You know why I started watching this? I watch the second presidential debate, and it was a total shit show. To get away from politics, I put this on, not expecting what I was going to get. And what did I get? Possibly one of the cutest, comforting, fun shows I've seen in awhile. The girls were great, the animation was abstract, and it was pretty relaxing. I was a bit bother by the ecchi scenes, glad Madoka didn't had that treatment. By the end, you feel like you made friends with them. Or better yet, you became family with them. This is another show that heal my soul.

Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid - 8/10: This one has been on my watch list for awhile, but I'm glad I saw it. Another relaxing show that just happens to have plenty of scenes that goes TOO HARD! Like whole, was not expecting them to throw at me. Everything else is great too.

Yuru Yuri - 8/10: I thought I wasn't going to like this because of how mean spirited it can be. But... not only was this shit funny, but it's also heartwarming. This was a lot a fun.

What to expect next year?

[sirfrogsworth]

Review of Blue Eye Samurai on Netflix

There are some spoiler-ish things below, but I think most of it is in the trailer, so I don't think I will ruin anything. I'll warn you during the most spoilery section, though the show makes the "twist" pretty obvious from the beginning.

Premise

Blue Eye Samurai is a Kill Bill-style revenge tale that takes place in 17th century Japan. The samurai is half white/half Japanese. The show states that no white folks were allowed in the country back then, so the samurai tries to conceal blue eyes with some sweet BluBlocker™ orange glasses. The Samurai is displeased to have white heritage and decides to try and kill all the "white devils" hiding in Japan.

Will some reactionaries complain there is a show all about someone trying to murder white people? I have no idea. But they're all bad white people, so I'm hoping it won't become a thing.

My Hot Takes

A few episodes meandered a bit, but I enjoyed the series as a whole quite a bit. If nothing else, the sword fights were epic and bloody. I would have watched it for that alone. And there is some gorgeous art direction where they really take advantage of the 2D styled, 3D animation. Plus, Japan is just really pretty. There is also a puppet show that was brilliantly mixed in with the story and the way they animated it was next level awesome.

They fell into cliche a few times. I think they were trying to do homages and tributes but ended up in Derivative Land and some of them felt a bit cringe.

They used "Battle Without Honor Or Humanity" which is that rousing instrumental song from Kill Bill and it was way too on the nose. Like, yes, this show is obviously a 1600s version of Kill Bill, but you're not supposed to make it that obvious.

Also, there was a Metallica song that equally made me roll my eyes and think, "That is badass" so I give them a pass on that one.

And there were a few sections where it felt like you were watching someone else play a video game. I don't know how else to describe it. As if the narrative melted away and suddenly a bunch of Prince of Persia obstacles appeared.

That said, the story was enjoyable, the actors were great, the characters were interesting, the animation was solid, and the fight choreography was top notch.

The nice thing about animation is you don't have to do any jump cuts during the action, so you get to really *see* the fights develop. Thankfully they didn't make use of a lot of impossible-in-real-life camera moves, so it all felt very grounded. As if these fights could actually be filmed in live-action. I suspect they may have even used motion capture or closely adhered to reference footage. Most of the non-fantastical choreography felt like something a stunt performer could actually do. They even had some legit Japanese samurai-style sword fighting moves before it got to the "John Wick with a katana" part of the show.

Back in the day, samurai duels were more akin to jousting than fencing and usually only lasted one or two moves. It can be pretty exciting as long as you build tension and anticipation. But if every sword fight in the show was like that, it would probably get boring. But it was still nice to see it toward the beginning.

So the quality was a bit roller coaster-y at times, but I think it was a solid first season. And I am really hopeful they get a chance to smooth things out in a second. But it is Netflix, soooooo...

As far as content warnings, there is a lot of blood and sex and nudity. Women are very subjegated and some of those depictions are rough. There are some brutal torture scenes. And I think there is implied rape, but it isn't made super clear.

The nudity was surprisingly balanced which felt refreshing. So get ready for boobies and floppy cartoon peens. All the genitals get screen time.

Quick aside about erotic scenes...

There has been recent discourse about nudity and sexy time in media. My biggest issue has always been that men's bodies are rarely shown aside from the patoot. It is never balanced and I always felt uncomfortable with that arrangement. I know movies are a bit stuck because the MPAA has decided dicks in a sexual context are an automatic NC-17. But even in newer HBO-type content where they do show penises, they are usually prosthetics. Hyper real fake dicks on top of real dicks that probably cost tens of thousands of dollars to develop and apply.

Like, the folks with boobs don't get expensive prosthetics. Only the most famous actresses can opt for a body double. For years, if an actress wasn't willing to get naked they would just say, "Well, I guess we'll just have to find another actress."

And now if a guy doesn't want to get naked, apparently the response is, "Don't worry, we'll raise Stan Winston from the dead so he can make you a perfect megadick."

Women are usually asked to do the brunt of the nudity and I have long felt that wasn't fair and it was exploitative whether intentional or not.

I just think if you are going to ask actors to be vulnerable, everyone should do it or no one should do it.

I also think we need to see more normal non-porn genitals. Like, you can't brag about your progressive all-inclusive nudity if you slap a giant fake wang on every time.

/end tangent

And now, the spoilery part...

The big twist, which is really only a big twist for a character in the show and not the audience, is that the Blue Eye Samurai was born a girl. To avoid capture and death they essentially hid in a different gender identity. And I'm trying to decide if this is a trans story or not.

Sometimes it felt like the show was bluntly saying, "She's a girl. See, she has boobs and no penis. And we make a big deal about her getting caught naked. It's like Mulan!"

But then the show kinda/sorta implies that while identifying as a man was a tactic at first, the Blue Eye Samurai came to feel much more comfortable as a man most of the time and only revealed their feminine attributes to a select few. They also had a binding scene which felt like intentional trans imagery.

Since there wasn't the same concept of trans-ness in 1600s Japan as we understand it in modern times, I'm having trouble determining if this is just an homage to Mulan that wasn't thought very deeply about, or if this is allegory exploring a trans identity.

It is unclear if the identity was chosen purely out of necessity or if there was more to it.

Was it like... they tried on a coat because it was cold, but then they really liked how it fit and made it an essential part of their wardrobe?

Or was it just pure pragmatism? If they don't wear the coat they will die from exposure.

I'm worried they wanted to stay close to that line where they could say it wasn't a trans story if that ended up being more convenient. I don't know. I'm fine with allegory and I really enjoyed how they did it with Nimona, but this felt more deliberately ambiguous and it frustrated me a bit. It would be nice if we could just have blatant trans stories that didn't need to hide in ambiguity to avoid controversy. But maybe there were more obvious things I missed and my confusion is unwarranted.

I also think an argument could be made for ol' Blue Eye being genderfluid. Actually genderfluid would make a lot of sense. Their masculine side is the stoic warrior and their feminine side is their vulnerability, love, and humanity—reserved only for those most trusted. And when the two blend and they are a warrior woman they get super horny. So the entire spectrum is there.

I'm sure there will be a long complicated video essay analyzing this gender dynamic.

/end of spoilery section

In any case, I think if you liked Kill Bill, this might be a show that interests you. It has much less cultural appropriation and blatant stereotyping. No Pussy Wagon, but there is a cool horse. And they did use an all East Asian voice cast, so that representation was cool. And the co-showrunner was Japanese, and I think that influence definitely made a difference.

I give Blue Eye Samurai 7.5 Froggies out of 10.

[sw33t-oubliette]

can u trll me abt them

okau sooo :3

touch tone telephone (song theyre based on) is about this conspiracy theorist guy repeatively calling this radio host to try and get his theories on the radio . it can be read like a desperate love song from the conspiracy theorist's pov (ie "oh, i'm crying now / authentic tears / they flow out of me when i think about you / 'cause you're the only person in the world who'd understand")

starting with my conspiracy theorist . his name is pandora calder . 35 but he tells everyone hes 28 . really into conspiracies and the paranormal . works as a cashier at the dollar store and surprisingly has held up that job for multiple years . he is not enjoyable to be around . acts like if a robot was thrown into humanity and had to figure out how to act like a human and the first building the robot went into was a bar . has no filter just says what the fuck ever . trans guy and bi gay 🔥. hes like a soggy wet piece of paper . hes like the "can i try rizzing you up . PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PL" meme . hes also the guy from soft fuzzy man , hes Mist but he has a human form that he uses most of the time . his hair moves and floats like mist in human form . hes like if william afton didnt kill people and was a little normaler

onto the radio host . his name is laz thatcher . 41 . runs a radio show about ghost stories from people in the neighborhood , people come in and he interviews them about their experiences with ghosts . he doesnt believe in ghosts he just finds what people "come up with" interesting . he keeps denying pandora's requests to talk about his conspiracies on the radio show cause its a ghost show man wrong place . pandora only targets specifically laz's radio show because he has a little fag crush on laz . laz is also transmasc t4t ftw .... hes also the guy from lifetime achievement award , he died from getting hit by a got damn car (cringe ass) and got revived . i havent thought too hard about him in lifetime achievement award so i dont know alot of details about it yet . hes a pretty chill guy , way normaler than pandora . gets enough money from the radio show doesnt have another part-time job . hes pretty normal for now but as i work out more about lifetime achievement award he may get weirder

okay thats basically all i got so far 😁 made em like yesterday so they are prone to change and evolution . thank you for listening to me talk about my Guys

[anonzentimes]

do you also get so so so sick of "my fandom sucks" jokes? i got into sonic last year and the series is awsome but the fandom (mostly on twitter) is annoyingly full of "dont mess with us sonic fans we dont even like the games", and then i got into danganronpa and the exact same thing happened. people dont allow themselves to just enjoy anything for some reason????? as if they had to have a justification or apologize for having fun with a thing perceived as annoying by non fans??

anyways i really like your posts, thoughts and rambles so for that and as a fellow sonic and danganronpa enjoyer i want to know what your thoughts on this whole "haha i hate my fandom *stays in the fandom*" phenomenon are. i find it rather confusing personally

DUDE. OH MY GOD KINDA SAME??? Okay, I got into Danganronpa 3 years ago now and only recently last year got into Sonic, Well more like I finally got out of denial about the fact I could be a Sonic fan since I always cared and researched about the franchise more than somebody who wasn't a fan would LOL.

Anyways, It really depends on the context of the joke because I think it's funny when people don't even remember basic information and it's used there? But otherwise it's kinda weird and pointless. The reputation of the fans with media I liked alongside knowing someone who viewed their own interests negatively caused me to become really embarrassed about my interests for a while. I'm finally just kind of embracing myself again and not caring much anymore, I think the jokes and general feeling of people trying to apologize for enjoying something is a lot more harmful than people think. I can say a few of my joking "I hate the fandom," sentiments but it's always followed by SOMETIMES or a PART of the fandom when referring to any drama or specific people misunderstanding things. Every generalization has exceptions and I think it's quite unfortunate people kind of put themselves in a corner like that sometimes.

Honestly it also depends on what the person means when they say it too actually, because sometimes saying that means from the person that they've admitted they have this "bad" status as a fan of something and kind of have accepted it? Like they accept they have that status, say the status is bad, and then stick to it because they've accepted that they're "bad" and enjoy the thing. It honestly is kind of an interesting phenomenon. I don't know, it just kind of all depends on context I suppose.

Just overall I think the attitude people have of bunching status together because of reputation is kind of harmful but inevitable. I do know that whatever phenomenon it is I've been recently stopped being harmed by it from embracing myself lol. I still understand it has a reputation and I may say something like "Yeah, I'm a sonic/danganronpa fan" in a teasing way when it comes to cringe culture jokingly, but genuinely like I'm not sorry or guilty for enjoying anything anymore at all. I mean like, I'm the person who's gone out in public with my surprisingly comfy monokuma jacket and sonic backpack before LOL I don't care what anyone says I'm just having fun and living my life happily with the time I have in this world. I don't need to waste energy thinking about the reputation of the fans of the thing I'm enjoying as long as I'm enjoying it, and honestly life has been so much nicer after that finally solidified in my head again. Nobody lives forever and I'd rather spend it being myself and enjoying what I want to.

Basically my conclusion is this: It can be funny depending on context, primarily when someone isn't having great media literacy, and I think it's fine when exceptions to a generalizations are considered. HOWEVER in general I don't enjoy the negative tone people have towards themself and the guilt about enjoying something that is created with the negative attitude sometimes. We're all just like people on a floating rock I don't think anyone cares if you like the silly hedgehogs, and if they do then they're kind of a loser for getting upset over your enjoyment they should be more concerned with themselves and their enjoyment loll.

Sorry if this has typos or anything lol I was about to go to bed but this resonated with me so i wanted to get my thoughts out right away. Thanks for the ask!! <3

[kosmicdream]

Ode to Togashi

Stream of conscientious incoherent rant about manga/hxh below, read at your own discretion as i AM NOT EDITING IT: 

While I’m still in the mood to talk about art and what i love about manga, i feel like i wanted to share (some) of my thoughts on why HXH continues to be one of my favorite stories. Togashi’s writing method continues to be probably like, the closest one that i aspire to replicate in my own work, partly because i love to see how much it builds and learns from itself, reinvents itself, ect. But i DONT think Hxh is perfect, even if i wouldn’t change anything about it or togashi’s writing style. 

When I first got into HXH, it was actually through the old anime. I watched that all the way thru before reading the manga, and when i was watching the anime it was during a period of time when i hated all shonen. I still kinda hate “the shonen” model, despite loving many shonen series, but something abt HXH pulled me in to give it a try and i was quickly hooked. I of course, already had experience with YYH growing up as a teen but i somehow missed HXH completely until my early 20s. I had already started trying comics by then, but it was EGGSHELLS and i had not started FFAK at that point.

HXH almost lost me at greed island my first round, ngl. I appreciate it now, andi still think the set up for Greed island was amazing but the arc itself.. I was not into it, mostly cause i think the villain for it was kinda lackluster and i didn’t really think the world of greed island had a strong design sense. There was interesting aspects, i enjoyed Bisque as a new character and she helped carry a LOT of the weight of that arc for me, but it was kind of a drag. IDK if it was also partly the adaptation for that arc, but i didn’t enjoy it much more in manga form either. It just went a bit faster. However, the end of that arc and the final fight was surprisingly brutal and enjoyable, which made me optimistic and helped me to continue. And then the chimera ant arc was the first arc i read ONLY manga first and i truly fell in love with it, obsessed even. That arc, as many readers already know, is probably like the closest thing to FFAK’s “Parent” for inspiration. Obviously, FFAK draws from a lot of things (Trigun is probably the 2nd strongest influence on FFAK) but it isn’t quite the same as HXH. As MUCH as i adore hunter x hunter part of me does cringe and laugh that like, in the end, a battle shonen manga still excited me that much but like.. As MUCH as i clearly love battle manga.. I am so over them. You know? Who cares. IMO. No matter how great it looks, i probably am never going to be more impressed (visually) with an action scene than the ones Yukito Kishiro drew. He did it, He won the action manga game to me. I have no idea what’s actually happening in Gunnm most of the time but as far as the visual spectacle of it all, it literally doesn't even make sense how good his action scenes look. (I could talk a lot about Gunnm too, but i’ll save that for another time IG) Like how the fuck does someone draw that good and it just made everything else by comparison just like, not.. Matter too much to me anymore. Which is great, because I can then look at other aspects for a work rather than just being drawn in by the visuals. And stuff. 

Where i’m at now.. I dont want to read another, even if its drawn well and .. the powers are SO powering or whatever. And i love to draw action scenes, they’re really hard and i still have so much more to go to learn about them. At best, I think im okay at them. But even when i work, i just get tired now so i cut them down a lot. Thats partly because i jsut dont have the time to draw fighting scenes. So i kind of feel embarrassed by a lot of them that ive made, i know I was lazy. Lazy in a way I’m not proud of the result, but im proud of the compromises to get the shit done. Which is the most important think in the end, to juggle your own expectations and limitations with the timeframe you have to get somewhere you need to go. I will still read more action/battle manga in the future.. But im in no rush. And im certain, for the most part, they arent going to teach me anything I don’t already know. They might entertain me and i might be like “..huh!” at a few things, but my expectation for them to do more than that is pretty low. I’m delighted when im wrong, but i cannot deny the apathy towards them is super deep. Togashi to me, is one those authors, that makes me really wake up and realize there’s still a lot of unexpected territory out there. 

He writes like an enthusiastic newbie, not a seasoned old timer that he is, who basically helped popularize the “tournament arc” and “dark edgy shonen” stuff with YYH. All his characters in HXH are geniuses, which is kind of a valid critique and can be annoying as hell too… Id say most readers dont really get how the hell nen works, yet somehow the story still functions so well in its character motivations/conflicts that it kinda doesn’t matter too much that.. It doesnt really make sense? We have to relearn what nen is basically every arc. Its not gonna stick. And yet im just so excited every time it updates and i really want to know what he wants to do with his new arc, if he is going to be able to do it. Nen to me is like a fake fantasy science that is tangible and real yet also you’re in a dream and you try to read the letters on a page, and you can read it but if you stare hard at it. The words are just blurs, or it doesn’t really connect. I like that there’s this malleable illusion that it functions in a way, that is concrete, but it isn’t really. But its enough that i can believe that for the characters, who are also not real, it is real for them. 

The fact that i can talk about “”””NeN””” like this to me is essentially why it becomes the perfect shonen to me because it takes itself so seriously, so genuinely, yet it also is nonsense but not in the way where its like.. Irony poisoned, “gotcha” twists? Im sick of all these subverting shonens that arent subverting anything. Or even just the attitude that is what makes a good shonen these days is to subvert, diminish, laugh, ect at shonen while completely stepping inside the same footprints again and again. So much manga just wants to be dragon ball, but dragon ball was good cuz it was just a fun, well drawn action manga that wasn’t trying to BE dragonball. It was just dragon ball. (maybe now its trying to be dragon ball, which is why i dont care about whatever sequel attempt we’re at now, but that’s another story.) Its fun to me that i dont know if Gon is gonna come back in Hxh. like, maybe he will and his powers will be restored ect.. But at the time of writing this, and for YEARS we just.. Have the main pals of the manga separated. Their friendship has changed. There’s a great shift in it. Gon met his dad, who sucks, but that kind of was his main quest. Sure, we have kurapika’s arc, and many other routes to go - but in a weird way HXH is done and it isn’t done at the same time. I’m just like, what are we going to do now. TOGASHI said flat earth real and was like, the other half of it is UNEXPLORED AND SO DARN DANGEROUS and theres SOM BIGGGGG DINOSAURS THERE and it just feels so gleefully like.. You’re on the swingset and some kid just keeps having to up the stakes but in the most kid-like way possible. For serious. But Togashi’s 58. But he’s right too, the dark continent IS so cool.. I just imagine leorio going there and getting so sick and shitting mutant diahrea and dying the SECOND he sets foot there and its awesome. That’s NOT what’s going to happen but im delighted at the opportunity.

This is the point where I’m writing something when i take a pause and wonder how the hell i got here. I have skimmed the above written text. Whatever point i think i was going to make, wasn’t made, but i expressed.. good feelings here. This is how i write. I typed all of that in about 15 minutes with no idea where it was gonna go. Part of the process now would be to go back, organize, edit, ect. To *TRY* to make it a little more comprehensible, as with all writing. Believe it or not i have gotten better at editing my own work. But the true nature of it all is still the same. And its the same in the way that i dont want, no matter how much i improve at my craft, i dont want to lose that enthusiasm i feel when i reach 58. I think that would be such a triumph, id be so lucky to be able to muster that energy. When I think of togashi, i think he has that. He has that real artistic spark that no amount of time/experience has ever diminished and that’s why i think he’s truly my personal favorite mangaka.  (maybe tezuka too)

[aroenby]

Surprisingly my 2nd favorite holiday is Valentine's Day. (My favorite is Halloween.) I think it's because I don't really associate it with romance. It makes me think more of Valentine's celebrations in elementary school. Making arts and crafts. Eating candy. Having fun with friends and family. I know a lot of people enjoy the romantic aspect of it and good for them! But I just ignore the romantic parts personally. It's way more enjoyable for me that way.

Don't be afraid to enjoy yourself however you want this Valentine's! Try not to worry about being seen as childish or "cringe" or whatever. Enjoy time alone or with friends or pets! Eat your favorite foods! Do whatever you like!

[nagichi-boop]

My thoughts on the Knuckles series

I want to preface this by saying that if you haven't watched the series yourself and have the means to do so, I suggest watching it yourself and forming your own opinions on the series. The episodes are about 25-30 mins long, so it should take about 3 hours. But if you'd rather give the show a pass, I understand, especially given that so many people have given rather mixed reviews on the series. I don't think I have much to say that hasn't already been said, but I thought I'd share my personal thoughts on the series.

I will be discussing spoilers in this post, though I won't be breaking apart the plot per se. I just want to discuss some thoughts on the series, good and bad, since I know some people have been very harsh on this series. And as a disclaimer, these are personal opinions rather than outright critiques.

For a tldr rating though, I'd give the series like...6.5/10?

Things I Liked

I really enjoyed the plot of the first episode or so. The scenes with the Wachoski family was probably some of my favourites for the series, even if only brief. I wasn't sure that they would include the other characters, so it was nice to see most of them. I wasn't super keen on the GUN agents necessarily, but I thought their story parts were the most enjoyable. I enjoyed watching Wade scheme to save him and immediately fumble the bag, but ultimately sort of recreate his plan? I also appreciated him using the siracha to free himself from the GUN agent since it was starting to wear a little that he seemed utterly incompetent - more on that later.

I once again appreciate the references to the Sonic universe. I only really noticed the Knuckles hat (which if I'm not mistaken is a reference to the OVA cartoon?), but I also saw someone mention Sonic 06 before watching it, which helped me recognise the reference to the game (both Knuckles' power and the creature that I assumed to be Iblis). I also saw a Reddit post pointing out that the alien attack mentioned by the bowling tournament announcers took place 50 years ago, which could be a reference towards Shadow, but it's not outright stated to be that.

The animation was surprisingly good. Part of me thought the animation quality would be off, but it was more or less on par with the movies from what I could see. Some scenes were a little off, but I can't really fault it since they're trying to incorporate an entirely CGI creature interacting with everything, but for the most part it was awesome.

Things I Didn't Like

I think one of my bigger issues with this series was the humour. That's not to say I didn't find it funny, but the constant surreal/cringe humour eventually wears on you. It worked at the beginning because Knuckles and Wade alternated being the 'straight-man', but for the most part, the characters fell into the same 'I'm dumb' type of humour. I don't quite know how to explain what I mean by this, so I guess I'll give a few examples to illustrate what I mean.

There's Knuckles himself, whose 'stupidity' mostly comes from him not fully grasping human culture. There's also Wade Whipple, who is portrayed as an idiot or loser, something he's called by the other characters. There's Jack Sinclair who acts intimidating while still being dumb behind his seriousness, and was the kind of character that seems threatening until they're dethroned, by which time they start wailing like a baby. We see this mostly when Wade is captured and 'duels' with him, only for him to lose and plead with Wade not to take his clothes this sounds really sus out of context. I didn't particularly care for him, which made some scenes drag as Wade's story with him was being addressed, but he's more of a stepping stone character for Wade's development.

I thought Knuckles and Wade themselves were funny for the most part, but it does begin to grate a little when their goofy humour is pretty much all you get. I get that Wade is the underdog guy, but it didn't feel much like he actually grew as a person. I thought perhaps he would learn to be more self-reliant and competent, but even at the end of the series, he mostly just stalled for Knuckles. This sort of ties into the complaint a lot of people have that the series focused less on Knuckles and more on Wade, which I agree with. It was set up at the start that Knuckles was looking to find his home and purpose, but it didn't feel like that was fully explored. It was sort of implied at the end that the Whipple's were his home, but it felt like a lose end more than a solid conclusion. I also wouldn't have minded if Knuckles actually spent time training Wade, but that didn't really happen either. Most of Wade's 'development' happened away from Knuckles, which made Knuckles feel more like a bit character a lot of the time.

And then there's Wanda Whipple. I'll be honest, I really disliked her character. For the first few minutes it was fine, but the entire scene with the Whipple family dinner just felt awkward and annoying to me. It felt like I was watching two children argue, which I suppose was the point, but watching a grown woman act like a child was just uncomfortable and felt like it was dragged out for ages. I think the only scene I found her funny in was towards the end when she dislocated her thumb, but that was about it. Every other scene she was in felt unenjoyable for me, and frankly I hope she's not in the third movie at all (or if she is, please make it short).

I suppose I could sum this complain up as there being too many comedic relief characters without there being straight-man characters to balance out the chaos. The beginning worked well because Sonic, Tails and Maddie worked as straight-men for Knuckles, so it was funny to watch him be a menace since we could see everyone else's reactions. But for the rest of the series, it was mostly just silly humour. Even the 'adult' jokes weren't particularly funny to me (thinking specifically about the metal detector scene), but maybe I'm just not the right demographic for this kind of series? Who knows.

I watched the series with my dad, and I agree with his thoughts on the series. He felt it could have been done in a movie instead of having a tv series that seemed to drag on a lot. I do agree that some scenes felt like they were going on for too long, which at times felt like I wasn't even watching a Sonic series at all. I guess they want to flesh out the characters unique to the movie universe, but it felt a bit weird to have Knuckles barely involved in the plot given the series was named after him.

It's unfortunate because I think that they initially set up something interesting. I thought they'd focus on the GUN agents pursuing Knuckles, with Knuckles training Wade along the way. But the GUN story got shelved almost immediately to focus more on the bowling stuff - Wade and Jack had an awkward sword dual, and Wade had a bowling match with his dad? I honestly thought The Buyer (that ex GUN weapons guy) would be Wade's dad, but instead we randomly got introduced to Pistol Pete...I dunno, it felt weird to me. It felt like they mashed three unfinished stories together into one weird amalgamation.

I feel like they could have focused more on the GUN agents plot. Perhaps they could have clashed a few times with Knuckles and Wade, but ultimately fail over and over. Wade would have learned indirectly from his warrior training to be strong enough to defeat Jack at bowling and show his progression. The GUN agents would be replaced by The Buyer after he grows tired of waiting for them to fulfil their deal, and who would be more of a threat. While that's happening in the background, we could watch the bowling tournament with Jack losing instead, then have The Buyer crash the party like he did in the actual series. But this is all just me brainstorming what I would have done.

Anyways, those are my thoughts. It's a shame since I love the Sonic movies a lot, but I'm not too worried about Sonic 3 based on this series. Jeff Fowler (the writer for the movies) only wrote the first episode of the series, which was arguably the best episode, so I am confident that Sonic 3 will be good. Admittedly it has me a little worried, but I'm trusting them to do Shadow justice with his debut.

Sorry this is such a long rambly post, but hopefully it's cohesive enough to follow for anyone actually reading it.

[yourladystar]

Star's Engage Catalogue Day 29 (part 1)

Sorry for the abrupt cutoff yesterday, something came up. But before I start the paralogue, I wanna really highlight just how hard it is for me to pick who I want to give the pact ring to. So allow me to go into detail of the 10 candidates I have for this.

Yeah, you heard me right.

I said 10.

I was really hoping last night would make it easier for me, but no.

Also, this isn't in any order from least likely to most like, it's just how they're listed in the support list I have for Alear right now.

Seadall

Y'all already know by this point that I fell in love with Seadall the second we got a screenshot of him and I went feral when he first appeared in the game. This man is absolutely gorgeous, his voice is soothing, and he has an enjoyable personality and an interesting backstory. And I like how it works for his and Alear's supports.

Rosado

Outside of being a gender-nonconforming icon, Rosado is so likable and his supports with Alear was surprisingly really good. Having someone in your life who not only validates what you do but understands it is so satisfying, and I can totally picture these two adventuring to find the next hidden beauty the world has to offer.

Yunaka

This one genuinely shocked me. If you remember the tier list I made before Engage came out, you know I didn't have high hopes for Yunaka. And when the game came out and I saw the fandom reception to her, I got even less enthusiastic about her. I felt like I was gonna get another meme character who's only noteworthy for one thing that the fandom beats into being outdated faster than it became popular.

Boy was I wrong!

Reading her supports and learning about her past, struggles, and newfound goals skyrocketed her to being one of my favorites, and Alear's supports with her was part of it.

I know she's a fan favorite, but you guys are honestly not giving her the proper attention.

Diamant

I love both the Brodia brothers and while I like Alcryst more, I ain't about to sell Diamant short. His supports with Alear really sold it for me. The two were able to see each other's vulnerabilities, came to understand each other outside of their painted views, and are now comfortable with being who they are underneath their brave exteriors with each other.

You gotta love a pairing where the two expressing their weaknesses brings them closer.

Zelkov

Zelkov is a character who just gets better with each support of his I unlock. It is actually unfair how amazing this character is. And I love his supports with Alear.

I'm a sucker for pairings where character A has a hobby or interest that others find either weird or disturbing, but character B not only finds it interesting, but actively engages with character A on it. It's one of the main reasons why Shinsai is one of my favorite Danganronpa ships.

Even if I don't pick him, there's no denying these two got great chemistry.

And their A-support was cute as hell.

Alfred

Even discounting their supports, Alfred feels like the option the story itself is going for. I have been taking screenshots of every gay moment these two have shared and it's a lot.

I tend not to care for canon pairings ever since I've come to realize that shipping one character with multiple people is fine, along with the fact that a lot of canon pairings in Fire Emblem don't hit it for me, but these two feel the most expected by Engage's narrative and they do a damn good job at making you believe it.

Ivy

I love this absolute cringe-fail of a woman. I love every moment that showcases her as the walking barely functioning disaster she is and her supports with Alear balances this with her softer side that just wants a break from the hell that is her life.

The Elusia sisters both deserve a vacation to just not worry about anything.

Alcryst

I knew from his first scene that I was gonna love Alcryst, yet that still feels like an understatement. Soft boys with anxiety really draw me in, and Alcryst being an absolute sweetheart on top of it sold me so hard on him.

Also, I know I commented on Alfred having notable gay moments with Alear, but Alcryst also had his fair share of them.

I just love my Brodia boys and I want them to have happiness.

Amber

I love this f*cking idiot so Goddamn much! He is such a lovable goofball who makes me smile anytime he's on screen! His supports with Alear are simple yet so cute to watch these two dorks bounce off each other.

Amber honestly has good chemistry with every character I've had him talk to, which is kinda nuts!

Pandreo

And last but certainly far from least. Pandreo was someone who I knew was gonna have an interesting dynamic with from the moment he and Alear met, and I was not disappointed by that. You really can't get any more of a wish fulfillment than being able to hang out daily with the very deity your church worships.

Also, Pandreo seeing more of Alear's humanity by inviting him to his parties and being kinda embarrassed about it is funny and adorable.

But yes, this is my current dilemma.

I'm just hoping that by the time I'm done with the paralogue, I'll finally have my answer.

[hapuriainen]

Hapuriainen's animation, comics & games of 2022

It feels every year these get shorter and later... but better late than never!

Anime: 

Ranking of Kings, Magia Record s3, Machikado Mazoku s2, Futari wa Precure Max Heart, Delicious Party Precure, Spy x Family (part 1), Tiger & Bunny s2 (part 1), Yashahime s2, Magic User's Club, Tokyo Mew Mew New

Overall Yashahime was a disappointment but at least the Moroha stuff was good. As for Tiger & Bunny it was a delight to have Kotetsu back since this was my number one series back when the first season came out, but the netflix release model really killed all momentum it could have had and I still haven't managed to watch the second half.

Webcomics: 

Magical Mom, Cloudy Wondrous, Apricot Cookie(s)!, Strawberry Seafoam, Miss Guillotine

This year I read a lot of webcomics, which has been documented on my magical girl tumblr. On the manga front there wasn't anything new but I still continue with many series from past years. A shoutout to One Piece for having its worst year to date but at least the Wano arc is now finally over.

Movies: 

Encanto, Turning Red, Lightyear, some Precure movies, Children of the Sea

Games: 

Zelda Skyward Sword, Link's Awakening, New Pokemon Snap, Hyrule Warriors DE, Pokemon Let's Go Eevee, Pokemon Scarlet

Overall this has been a Game year (rather than anime or manga). I learned that nowadays games save on the console and not the cartridge so I could borrow games from the library and only buy them myself if I liked them enough (and then continue on the same save file). Unfortunately this was after I spent money on Skyward Sword which was not worth the 60€, meanwhile New Pokemon Snap and Pokemon Let's Go were enjoyable for the price tag of 0€ and Hyrule Warriors I had to get for myself and now I have over 100 hours on it. And Pokemon Scarlet was surprisingly fun too.

The awards:

Best work: I guess I have to give this to Hyrule Warriors since I've played it unexpectedly much, the story was dumb but I'm having a lot of fun in Adventure Mode.

Best music: Tal Tal Heights from Link's Awakening, Hyrule Warriors in general having a lot of good music, Area Zero music from Pokemon. Also the Bruno song.

Best visuals: Strawberry Seafoam for reminding me of retro girl shows

Best character design: Cloudy Wondrous, a very cute and creative magical girl look

Best OP: Spy x Family, the song is mellow and fun and the visuals are great

Best ED: Spy x Family for the visuals, no real standout songs this year

Biggest WTF: Children of the Sea overall, what even happened in that movie??

Best Girl: Kuroe from MagiReco

Best Boy: Ehh let's go with Bruno

Best Side Girl: the queen from Ranking of Kings being a surprising highlight of the whole show

Best Side Boy: Arven from Pokemon seemed super cringe at first sight but his bread storyline turned out to be the best part of the whole game. Also Groose from Zelda

Worst Girl: No total duds this year, let's go with Yui from Precure. Or Yuuko from Machikado Mazoku

Worst Boy: n/a

Worst Side Girl: Cia from Hyrule Warriors with her dumb outfit. Or (I'm sorry I know she's popular) Iono from Pokemon kind of annoys me... Oh right also Fi

Worst Side Boy: Trace from Pokemon Let's Go was a major disappointment for a final boss and it didn't really feel anything beating him. Also Porun from Precure

Best romance: For the first time in years I have a ship (botw Link and Zelda) but since I didn't play it this year, let's say that Loid and Yor are always a delight to see in how positive and respectful their relationship is

Best non-romantic relationship: the Spy x Family family stuff

Worst romance: Hyrule Warriors making it a plot point that the game's Link and Zelda will end up as a couple but giving them zero chemistry or development

Worst non-romantic relationship: Yashahime for keeping the new heroines separate from their parents 99% of the time

Plans for 2023:

Botw 2 can’t come out soon enough

Until then I’ll probably keep playing Hyrule Warriors

Pokemon Arceus

Hirogaru Precure

Overall expecting a very Precure year, since they revealed new sequel seasons and I have to watch the originals by then

Evangelion has been on my watch list since 2014, maybe I’ll eventually get to it if I keep including it.

Tiger & Bunny & Spy x Family part 2

TMM New s2

[arcadevalorie]

Rating Books I Read In 2024

(No one asked for this but in order to be free you must first be cringe.)

Of note is that these are all the horror genre because nothing else hits.

RING by Koji Suzuki

A hood classic of course. Loses some points because it starts at a crawl and doesn’t really improve from that pace for a good while, and the main character’s friend isn’t very likable (He’s not a token “annoying friend in a horror story” character, but I can’t explain him being unlikable without a slight spoiler)

8.5/10 A bit dated but I recognize that a lot of “tropes” hadn’t been done before and some of the parts about Sadako herself are just a product of the time and country from which the work originates. Solid and I completely understand how it laid the groundwork for a horror icon

—

Cows by Matthew Stokoe: I miss the person I was before I read this. I will not be taking the plunge into “extreme horror” ever again and “splatterpunk” books are off the table. A lot of this is gross in the intrusive thought way and I don’t mean the meme intrusive thoughts but ACTUAL intrusive thoughts. I have a strong stomach so I never gagged or anything but honestly? If I respected books a little less I would’ve burned this after I finished reading it. Instead it sits on my shelf as a monument to never having to read it again. 😌 I suppose I cannot rate it just one way because it wouldn’t be fair

Enjoyment: -100/10 As someone who has seen REAL GORE and worse, I was “what the fuck”-ing the entire way through and felt genuinely dirty. Not in a “whoa, good horror!” way. In a “is the author okay?” way. Also I think the author hates fat people or at least his portrayal of the main character’s mother (named only as “The Hagbeast” for the entire book) certainly makes it seem so.

Dead Dove Principle: 10/10 “Well, I dunno what I expected.”

—

The Vegetarian by Han Kang: classed as horror but it’s not scary, the horror is in how tragically sad everything is and makes really good use of Korean societal norms and taboos as a vehicle for it all. The arguments are genuinely infuriating due to both hypocrisy and an obsession with control because (spoiler) somehow your daughter scarcely eating due to gruesome nightmares is more shameful than trying to force feed her meat after she wouldn’t touch anything at the family dinner because everything on the table is animal products.

7/10 Starts slow but with the interest of taking place from the titular vegetarian’s husband’s point of view. The point of view of a man who hates his wife. Not that he would ever SAY he hates his wife, but whenever this man speaks about his wife it is only to talk about things he dislikes about her or things he’s ambivalent to but wishes she was more like other women about. By his own (internal monologue) admission this man is with a woman he finds so mediocre because he recognizes that he himself is MID. (If this is setting off red flags for you, the author is a woman.)

—

Winterset Hollow by Jonathan Edward Durham: Surprisingly not too graphic even though there is violence and of course death depicted. I actually appreciate that a lot because the story not dwelling on the manner of a death really does reinforce that while there is personal stake in it for the characters doing the killing, it’s not a thoughtless murder spree. It’s a hunt.

7.5/10 Main characters were likable even if it was a slow roll, only really picking up in the last act. Kills were…efficient. Antagonists were actually very sympathetic and while their anger is 90% misdirected I won’t say it’s misguided.

—

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

9/10 HOO BOY this one took me a good while. First, to work up the courage to crack it open. Then it was a slog to start because the entire prologue is just about Johnny Truant who is at certain points the weakest part of the story.

There’s lots of ado about nothing, I must admit I started skimming his sections the further in I got because, sir, this is a Wendy’s Drive-Thru. There’s only so many times I want to hear about your day drinking, doing drugs or getting your dick wet. (A lot of his later writings also read like they were written by a person who’s completely hammered.)

He is a vital part, however, because the book itself is practically an ARG and once you actually get into The Navidson Record proper, Johnny’s footnotes help kind of ground it, and LORD do you need grounding with how trippy things get.

Certainly not for everyone, not just because of the length and formatting, but because there’s layers to the suspension of disbelief required, and while I personally like media this dream-like, not everyone is going to enjoy that sort of thing.

—

The Troop by Nick Cutter

6/10 This one was…really tame, to be honest? It took a LONG time for me to give a shit about any of these characters, (I honestly can’t tell if the characters are supposed to be likable) largely because the main cast is 4 teenage boys from a small town. And they act like it. I think I was supposed to feel sorry Kent because of how miserable he was in the end but…he acted like a teenage boy raised by a cop and it IS his own fault that he died. Ephraim was kinda my favorite of the group because he had probably the least egregious personality although Max was fine and Newton was just a fella.

(It does earn points for getting me to dry heave at the description of a character hacking up a “scallop of worms and mucus” and rolling it around in his mouth. Intrusive thoughts had me looping that imagery in my brain and I actually put the book down for a sec because I couldn’t stop gagging. I gagged while typing that out, too. Nice one.)

[the-cat-chat]

October 14, 2023

Jennifer's Body (2009)

A newly-possessed high-school cheerleader turns into a succubus who specializes in killing her male classmates. Can her best friend put an end to the horror?

JayBell: I saw this movie once a long time ago, so I was really excited to finally rewatch it. And honestly for a semi-teenage drama horror movie, it holds up pretty well. Some of the jokes are kind of outdated, but not so much that it ruins the enjoyment of the movie.

Megan Fox's character says some of the stupidest things in this movie and I love it. And Amanda Seyfried plays the best counterpart to Megan Fox's mean girl type character. I think there is a surprising amount of serious themes and concepts explored in this movie, both on the surface and in subtext. The relationship between the two leads is so much more complicated and interesting compared to how female relationships are usually shown in movies like this.

I do want to say that Amanda Seyfried's character's boyfriend was just blah. Like she calls him crying about this very tragic and traumatic thing she's been through and he's like, "Do you want me to come over?" Like duh??? Ugh I just didn't like looking at his stupid face.

But also Amanda Seyfried's character is not spared my criticism. She seems totally obsessed with her friend and dependent on her. So after Megan Fox's character gets caught in the fire and is acting totally out of it, it is unbelievable that she would just let her get carried away in a van full of adult males without making a huge fuss about it. She surprisingly just lets her go away with them, and I find this too out of character. I know it's necessary for the plot, but at least have her get knocked out or lost in the commotion or something.

P.S. I really like the ending of the movie. Very cathartic in a strange way.

Rating: 7/10 cats 🐈

Anzie: When I was in my emo angst phase and Panic! At The Disco’s “New Perspective” was my entire identity for a whole summer and probably fall? Yes. Did I wait like a rabid animal to get the dvd copy of this from the public library. Yes Again. Should my mother have been more concerned? Definitely, probably, maybe? That being said, I haven’t watched this in a verrrry long time and felt this spooky season was the perfect time to recapture part of my soul with this besties flick.

Is it cringe nearly 15 years later? Yes. But is it iconic? Yes! I loved pretty much all of this movie back in the day and I still do love it, but for different reasons. And I think I can appreciate it more now that I’m older. One glaring new thing is how absurd Needy’s character reacts to everything? And I loved Chip but…woof man. Back then I did notice all the weirdness and just ick of the relationships, but now it’s something entirely different. But that also feels very important to the story? Amanda Seyfried and Megan Fox are just absolutely perfect in their roles and I don’t know if it would have worked with anyone else. I like to how on the surface you can take it as just this fun, ridiculous story that is just insane and bizarre, but actually does touch on the bigger concept of sexuality as women, and how it can be a double-sided coin,(needless to say how treacherously ick that is as a teenager while simultaneously being empowering???) and the dynamics of female friendships. Plus it has some killer lines. I will forever remember lime green jello for all my days.

Alsooo “Through the Trees” is the best friendship breakup song ever. And it can still make me cry and I still feel it in my soul.

L-O-V-E Adam Brody as a kind of knock off/ Satan loving Brandon Flowers. 💕

Rating: darrreee I say 8/10 Demons 👹

[themovieblogonline]

Eddie Murphy is Funny AF in You People

You People is the new Netflix romantic comedy starring Jonah Hill, Eddie Murphy, Laren London, and Nia Long. The movie is co-written by both Joah Hill and director Kenya Barris the creator of Black-ish. You People tells the story of a Jewish white man and a black Muslim woman who fall in love. the biggest draw in this movie is the social and cultural clashes with the in-laws that lead to some funny AF moments in the movie. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCMHc-IFAB0 You People Netflix Review I really enjoy you people and I'm going I definitely recommend catching this when you have the time. Here's what I liked: THE GOOD I came into this movie for Eddie and Eddie Delivers. Sure, Jonah Hill's Ezra makes me laugh but I came here for Eddie. Eddie plays Akbar Mohammed the father of Lauren London's Amira Mohammed. I get a different style of comedy from Eddie than I expect but I still really like it. Akbar goes out of his way to make the engagement to his daughter difficult for Jonah Hill's Ezra.  Eddie is matched by his counterpart in Julia Louis Dreyfus who plays Ezra's mother Shelley Cohen. Shelley nails the typical tone-deaf mom perfectly and is hilarious in her performance. Thank you Netflix for providing this SNL reunion I didn't know I needed. Ezra Miller and Lauren London are the focus of the love story in You People and are surprisingly cute together. They're meeting is adorable with Ezra mistaking Amira's car for his Uber and giving her a scare. The montage of their dating life is adorable and I actually believe them as a couple while watching. The crap hits the fan when Ezra wants to marry Amira and decides to ask her parents' permission. Nia Long flexes her comedic range and is able to shine alongside Eddie and Jonah in Rosco's Chicken and Waffles. I really like the absurdity of the moment as it's a creative way to highlight Akbar's polar opposite personality. My favorite parts of You People are when Amira and Ezra's families interact. The humor in these moments can get dark, and sometimes cringe, but they often deliver some funny moments. David Duchovny delivers a super duper dry humor love-it-or-hate-it performance. I won't ruin it but he has a moment in the movie with Lauren London's Amira that had me chuckling. The littering of guest stars for family members makes for some fun moments and adds spontaneity to an already surprising movie. THE BAD Some of the situational humor feels forced or just feel unrealistic. Jonah Hill and Eddie Murphy are paired together in some of the funniest scenes in the movie but also some of the worst. There's a scene in which Akbar brings Ezra to play basketball in a black neighborhood.  It's a love-it-or-hate-it scene and I just don't like it. I also don't like the barbershop scene even though I understand the intent. There's also a random joke later about storming the capital that's also a miss. This movie suffers from a lot of missed opportunities. There are times when You People will build momentum and tease leaning into some potentially funny moments but shies away at the last second. These moments happen throughout the movie when You People feels like it's on the verge of greatness but holds back. Even the ending of the movie shies away from leaning into some of the subjects and wraps things up neatly seemingly from out of nowhere. OVERALL You People is a very enjoyable movie and is entertaining from beginning to end. I feel like I came into this movie for Eddie and but I left with a family. This movie does a great job of walking the line and bringing humor to sensitive topics. I can see this movie played for a lot of families of couples in similar circumstances and I will absolutely recommend this to any that I know. Read the full article

[bladesoflightandshadow]

most valid bsc characters thus far:

• spike the cactus

• the baby cow (whom i have christened carrots) & its mom

• brooklynne

• juliette

[katwatcheskny]

Hi I hope you're fine :) I'd like to request a dabble with Doma and a female slayer. Like Mitsuri this slayer dreams of findind a husband who's stronger than her. So when Doma and the Slayer meet BOOM he falls in love, and when they fight he's like "you said you wanted a husband stronger than you. Well, here I am~". And now she has to deal with this motherfucker who's always following her around, fighting her (and winning) to try to win her heart. (thank you sorry this was long lol)

douma's crush wants to marry someone strong

type: drabble

pronouns: she/her/herself

word count: 1449

content warning: mentions of blood, depictions of injury

a/n: hello! i literally could not think of a better title. but i did like this request. douma is a surprisingly easy character to write for, which was very surprising to be honest. but i do enjoy it. this was fun to finally get to and i hope it's enjoyable. it came out more yandere than i thought it would, but that's where my brain took me. idk, the demons with human readers often come off as slightly yandere.

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She had said it once aloud.

He was a foolish hinoe, meant to accompany her in slaying a lower moon. His name was Taka… Takashi? No, it was Takahiro, she was sure now. He had dark hair and unremarkable features, he was shaking so terribly, sure that he would not survive the night. (Y/N) could not fault him for being afraid, that would be monstrous of her to be so apathetic, so uncompassionate.

Takahiro survived that night. Not on any merit of his own, but rather from sheer luck and the abilities of the hashira he had been assigned to, saving him from what would have been a terrible fate. (Y/N) had never minded saving her fellow demon slayers, it was not as though they could afford to keep bleeding numbers the way they did regularly. (Y/N) did not mind saving Takahiro, he was a good person who she was fond of, and thought deserved better than to die at the hands of some despicable demon.

His fear was not what made him foolish to her. But rather, it was what he did from the small courage he gained after surviving a deathly battle that caused her to always remember him as a fool. When he asked her to marry him.

It made her cringe to remember it now. 

Perhaps, she should have said ‘yes’ and been a silly, foolish girl. Like some romantic, lovesick girl who allowed herself to get swept up by the first decent man to offer to marry her and live an ordinary life as some unimpressive man’s wife. But, (Y/N) would never have become a hashira if she was someone who aspired to live an unexceptional life and settle for less.

“I am sorry. I would only marry a man who is stronger than me.”

That was the only time she could recall ever voicing that notion aloud. There would never be another circumstance where she could imagine herself saying that. It was not as though she was proposed to everyday, nor that she needed to reject a marriage proposal and cite her reasoning. Instead, she kept it to herself and only reflected on her dream of a strong husband in her sleep.

Now, (Y/N) was bleeding. She was sure that she had some broken ribs. Her foot was sprained, and with each amount of pressure she kept putting on it by refusing to lie down and die, (Y/N) threatened to tear a ligament and detach it from the bone. There was a ringing in her ears, were they bleeding too? She could smell her own blood, her nose was not broken. Three of her fingers are, though, and she struggled to hold her sword in both hands. (Y/N) had never been so brutalized in a battle before. A part of her told her that this must be her time, this would be the demon who kills her.

At least it is an upper moon who would do her in. Upper two, no less. 

She continued to hold herself up, despite her damaged internal organs and broken bones, determined to fight until the end. There would be no shame in dying then, (Y/N) told herself. It would be a worthy death of a hashira, even if she would never have her impossible dreams and hopes. 

He had been playing with her for a while now, she had realized a while ago as she tried to steady her breathing enough to use her breathing style. (Y/N) had known that the strength of the upper moons was to be feared. While the ranks of the lower ranks had been changed over the millennia as the demon slayers had managed to kill them from time to time, the upper ranks had not. An upper moon had not been killed in hundreds of years. That was their power, their ruthlessness, their competency. Their strength.

“Nothing to say now?! No teasing of how you want to eat me like you did my Tsuguko, you bastard?!” It was a bit undignified of her to taunt this demon who watched her quietly, holding his fans to his face to hide his expression. But, she had hit her head pretty hard a while ago and she would be dying very soon. Dignity was not her greatest concern anymore.

(Y/N) tired of awaiting her death, took her final lunge at him in her fifth form. She watched as the demon finally moved, his fans prepared to deliver what is for sure to be the killing blow if she is lucky enough to have a quick death. 

The blow did not hit her. She felt an impact, a gust of air that felt like a winter’s blizzard nipping away at her nose and cheeks, burning them red and wiping her hair uncontrollably. But, she did not feel as though she had been struck. (Y/N) still felt as though she was whole as she finished her final form.

Her nichirin sword had been cut in half, she realized all too late. She stood less than three feet from him, she could smell her dear successor’s blood on his lips (or was that still her blood she was smelling?) She stared at his chest, what remained of her blade was stabbed into his midsection, not that it was worth anything. (Y/N) could not bring herself to look up, only watching as her hands began to shake as she realized that she was really going to die.

The demon dropped its weapons, they were more than unnecessary now. She had no means of fighting back anymore, he could kill her in an instant with his bare hands. In lieu of ripping her apart, the upper moon brought his hand to cradle her chin, his long, painted nails trailing her jaw.

“Oh, my dear (Y/N), I have no doubt you would be quite delicious.” She felt him prick her cheek with one of those sharp nails of his, and a thin line of crimson blood ran down her cheek. His grasp was as strong as he expected, (Y/N) was powerless to escape his grasp and her will to fight him waned. He lifted her, he was very tall she now realized, bringing her closer to him by the grip on her face. (Y/N) dared to look up at him. He was more human-looking than most demons she had slain before, but inhumane all the same. With that pale skin and those rainbow pastel eyes. His tone was so jovial and light-hearted, “but why would I waste such a perfect bride?”

(Y/N)’s eyes snapped open, painfully wide as though she had awoken from a nightmare. Her ears were still ringing, they were probably bleeding, she would have thought she went deaf but she heard him with perfect clarity. He was so close she could feel his breath, and he spoke so gleefully. There had to be some mistake, though. This demon couldn’t have called her a bride?

His free hand ripped what remained of her sword from his chest cavity and tossed it aside. He wrapped his arm around the underside of her thighs and lifted her from her tiptoes to his eye level, her feet hanging pitifully in the air, her body pressed up against his, as though they were lovers embracing. His other hand wandered from her chin to her cheek to her hair, an attempt at affection, she decided. The upper moon smiled so widely, he closed his colorful eyes and exposed the fangs of his teeth with his grin.

“You said that you wanted a strong husband.” The memories of that foolish boy, the battle with a lower moon, her miraculous victory, and her rejection of his proposal flooded back to her. She had never told anyone else that she desired a husband stronger than her, never said those words aloud before or again after that. Had he been there that day? If he hadn’t been, then this demon could read her very thoughts. “Oh, my poor (Y/N), you don’t have to be sad anymore. I am here now, the husband you desired.”

The pale-haired demon, Douma, pressed a kiss to her cheek where his sharp nail had nicked her earlier. She was surprised when she did not cringe from his touch, instead she only subconsciously surrendered. (Y/N) was so exhausted and her mind was so disorientated, but a dark part of her was just grateful that she was not going to die. That in a sick way, she was safe.

He licked the trail of blood as he pulled away. “So sweet, my little bride.”