#losers club cosplay

[terracebatman]

Kermit the frog is in trouble.

[aldomedinasaldivar]

Eddie Kaspbrak | Lose'r Club

[frogshunnedshadows]

Shout-out from me / my old Richie to everyone still an "It" fan / cosplayer.

[deadboyclub]

🦇

[wosemi-sama]

and the crowd went mild 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 also no chara dividers im lazy rn

these r so short id add more but im rushing rn sorry lmfao 😭😭😭

intended lowercase!

misc. obm hcs

LUCIFER

wakes up at the ass crack of dawn every single morning.

wears those old man pjs. with the long hat and fuzzy slippers and gown. you know the one.

most bitter coffee you've ever had in your life how he can drink it is astonishing.

his bed, his mattress, his pillows are all as hard as rock how does this man SLEEP.

sleeps like hes the corpse at the funeral hes that one image

MAMMON

will pull you into a headlock and call it a hug.

LEVIATHAN

guy who had mountain dew and cheeto dust in his veins instead of blood. guy who marinates in his room for two months straight. guy who- (i am immediately shot dead).

did a collab with the anti-lucifer league to create a 100k words dialuci fic to piss off lucifer (dont worry about him he got paid in anime and tsl merch).

TRULY believes he is the #1 tsl fan. and also #1 ruri fan.

wimp who VOLUNTARILY makes you cosplays if you are a cosplayer or even if you aren't. it will happen.

vtuber fan. he was like "hey i wanna be a streamer but i dont wanna show my face but i also want to be an anime boy! wait-" and now hes a vtuber.

has accidentally referred to all of his brothers as "chat" at least once. hes never recovering from that btw.

SATAN

cannot stop annotating books he reads for the life of him.

all of his books are just filled to the brim with sticky notes because all he does is annotate.

once he has a crush he will start imagining him and them in the same scenarios as the characters in romance novels he read. (loser alert!!)

sneaking a new cat into hol like once a week (he never succeeds btw).

ASMODEUS

oh boy his room REEKS of perfume and body spray.

"i sprayed my new perfume in every nook and cranny! smells so floral and elegant, don't you think?" (it smells like a bath and body works threw up.)

surprisingly plays the trumpet and BOY is he loud. bro is absolutely blasting those notes.

worst driver ever btw.

BEELZEBUB

freckles all over!! like a lot. *im not beating the insane allegations*

ate like 27 family size dorito bags, 30 dollars worth of taco bell, and four sprites in one sitting and he still hasnt recovered.

sleeps. like a lot. not as much as belphie but enough to be considered an eepy guy.

BELPHEGOR

will randomly grab every blanket and pillow he can get his hands on and make a nest in the common room if he's up to it. and then have everyone make a dog pile in it just so they can hang out and be silly.

will NOT clean it up afterwards. lucifer will tell him to and his only response will be "im tired..."

freckles like beel too i think theyre silly.

9829364 cow plushies. (theyre all from lucifer)

SOLOMON

will randomly gaslight people for no reason

"hey did you do the homework"

homework? what homework? there was homework? my, what even is homework? never heard of that.

"hey, i heard of this animal from the human world called a giraffe! can i see a picture?"

what? what's a giraffe? oh, those!! yeah, they're just myths. they're not real. purely fiction!!

yk that one post about tumblr funnyman solomon. he is a tumblr funnyman to me. he confidently posts his exploded spaghetti and gets 10k notes i think.

SIMEON

has a book club with satan and solomon. :)

probably writes oneshots of the brothers on tumblr idfk man (sorry to the simeon fans i write like nothing on this guy bro).

LUKE

bodily six ("but didnt the devs say hes ten?" shut up. /j)

along with that, also shorter than in canon. (since hes. yk. a first grader. that BOY is not five foot hes one sauce packet long dude.)

favorite store in the human world is walmart. i like to think his human world outfit is all exclusively from walmart bc thats funny i think.

DIAVOLO

hands of STEEL. he tries to grab your wrist and he nearly crushes it by accident.

ice cream!! he loves it :) his favorite is strawberry btw.

also this boy is NOT a himbo hes a smart man.

needs like a hug and some sleep and also a friend this boy works too much!!

BARBATOS

short. like really short. especially according to devildom standards since most demons are super tall.

"but isn't he six feet?" not in my heart.

somehow always making tea for some reason?? if he's not making tea then he's making pastries.

my boy does not SLEEP. hasn't slept since the sun has been birthed and doesn't plan on ever doing it.

[princess-glassred]

Imagine the losers club having to do an anti bullying PSA for school. Richie and Bev play the bullies, Eddie is the victim, Stan is the narrator, Bill writes it, Ben directs/edits it, and even though Mike doesn't go to school with them they let him hold the boom mic. Also Georgie begs Bill to let him help out too so he begrudgingly lets him be an extra.

Richie is late to set and nobody can get a hold of him until he saunters onto set in a shitty Henry Bowers cosplay, complete with awful mullet wig that is really just two wigs his mom sewed together for him. Bro walked up to set looking like It the musical Henry.

Everyone's acting is really stitled and bad since they're literal children, Bev is the only one who knows how to emote. It's got all the typical 1980's cheesy video effects and music cues you'd expect. Bill keeps rewriting the ending because he can't decide how to give Richie and Bev's characters comeuppance for picking on Eddie. When they finally do get a good take the camera dies so they gotta do it all over again.

It only gets worse when Henry drops by to be an asshole for no reason and he's so confused by Richie's costume that he just stares at him and abruptly leaves.

[zorak-show]

OFMD Valentine's Day Bingo

Presented to you all from the OFMD Losers' Club Discord is the bingo game of a lifetime. Two boards, one month, infinite fun.

One board has a different prompt on each square. Choose a prompt and create something! Fanfic, fanart, gif sets, playlists, a song, a floral arrangement, a cosplay, etch-a-sketch design, cake decorating, WHATEVER your little heart desires! Stamp each prompt you do until you have a bingo or black out. You can do as many prompts as you want in one creation. Or just do random prompts, one prompt only if you want, the point is just to have fun and create something! Any ship, no ship, any rating, literally whatever! Though, please do tag things appropriately when posting. The only thing I will say a hard no against is anything AI, other than that, go nuts.

The second board is the "cheerleader edition" for commenting, sharing, and promoting others' works. Can be works from this bingo game or anything you come across that deserves a little love. I want the point to be seeking out different creators from who you normally follow and finding those hidden gems that get buried in our massive fandom. You can share evidence of your comments or shares, but it's not required. And if you are a creator and see something that fits one of your works do not be shy to share that for folks who may be looking for something to leave a little love.

You can play one board, both boards, no boards, again no rules. Welcome to anyone to play even if you're not in the discord server. (If you want an invite just let me know.) Start creating now, but don't post anything until February. And this year is a leap year so bonus day for sharing things! woo hoo!

Again, please tag your stuff appropriately and use #OFMDFeb2024 so we can all find eachother. You can also tag me personally in anything and I'll be happy to reshare it too in case I miss it in the hashtags!

[ghost-of-a-wizard]

Been thinking about that one piece with club boys in their silly cosplays for two days at this point. Probably will draw rest of them later, I've put too much effort into this loser right here.

[devildom-moss]

"You look so cute in that skirt." (Levi, Asmo, Belphie, Thirteen)

MC wins a bet, and for their prize, they just wanted to go out with the loser and see them in a skirt.

(Leviathan x gn!MC) (Asmodeus x gn!MC) (Belphegor x gn!MC) (Thirteen x gn!MC)

(+18, suggestive)

Leviathan

You agreed that Levi could wear the skirt as a part of a cosplay. It was almost like you were going on a date with Ruri-chan. He would have preferred to see you in cosplay – and preferably in the isolated comfort of his own room, but losers can’t be choosers. Just the thought that you wanted to see him like that made him want to comply. Levi would try almost anything to make you happy.

“Ugh, I feel like everyone is staring at me, MC. I hate this.” Leviathan covered his pink cheeks with his hands. “I want to go home.”

You pulled Levi off to the side in a relatively quiet corner of the store.

“You are getting more looks than I anticipated – and I don’t blame them. You look so cute in a skirt. But we’re at a Ruri-chan themed pop-up shop, so it’s not like you’re that out of place. Do you really want to go home? We’ve barely looked at anything.”

“It’s hard to look when I’m dying of embarrassment! Plus, the last guy who bumped into me touched my ass without even asking.” He was clearly having a bad time. He didn’t even register that you called him cute.

“Yeah, I put a curse on him so one finger shrivels up and falls off every day for the next 10 days – painfully. I’m sorry, babygirl. Maybe we should call off the bet. You did so well already.” You reached out and pet Levi affectionately. “The shop is open all weekend. We can come back tomorrow in your regular clothes if you want.”

“Promise? You aren’t disappointed, are you? I’m so pathetic.” Levi looked like he was about to cry.

“I promise, baby. I’m so proud of you for trying this out for me.” You held his face and rubbed his cheeks gently with your thumb. “You did such a good job.”

“Y-you’re too nice to me.”

“I can teleport us back to your room. How does that sound?” You were still holding Levi’s face. Finding himself unable to speak, Levi nodded in your hands. He was precious. You dropped your hands to his shoulders and leaned in closer to whisper, “good. I can’t wait to get you out of that skirt.”

Levi let out a little yelp, but when one of the customers turned to see what happened, no one was there anymore.

In the safety of his room, you pulled Levi against you, sliding your hand down his waist to his butt. He buried his face against your neck, only making the little moan that left his mouth easier to hear. You pulled back and stared at his adorable, flushed face.

“And in case you missed it before, babygirl, I wanted to tell you before I ruin you: you look so cute in that skirt.”

Asmodeus

“What do you think of this one?” Asmo gave you a twirl, the hem of his skirt falling just below his ass. If he had spun just a bit quicker or if the skirt rested just an inch higher on his hips, you’d have seen his underwear. The skirt was all black, and, paired with a see-through lace shirt and a floral velvet corset, Asmo looked absolutely stunning.

“Too gorgeous to believe.” You smiled, and Asmo was overjoyed to hear you praise him.

“Then it’s settled. This is the one. And MC,” Asmo started before walking up and kissing your cheek, “believe it now?”

You turned and caught his lips. Asmo moaned against you, but you pulled away before things got too heated – while still leaving a smile on Asmo’s lips as he tried to calm his breathing. “Should we get going?”

A part of Asmo wanted to stay home, push you into bed, and have his way with you all night. But a bet is a bet, and you asked to go out with him.

Asmo took you to a club where he seemed to be earning even more stares than usual. He spent the first hour grinding on you and encouraging you to put your hands all over him as he danced. He was in his element right now: the partying, the dancing, the seduction – all of it. Asmo was never more beautiful than when he was enjoying himself.

When you finally paused for a break, you grabbed a few drinks and snuck upstairs where the quieter tables were located. By then, Asmo was drunk in his own way; his mind was clouded with lust for you.

The booth was by no means private, but everyone seemed to be minding their own business. Asmo waited for you to sit down before he straddled your lap on the couch. In this position, you could see the tent in his skirt. You inched your fingers up his thighs until you had snaked your way under the hem. Oh? Asmo wasn’t wearing underwear. You shot him a look, finally acknowledging the darkness that stained his honey eyes.

“Should we get a private room now, darling?” Asmo smirked at you, delicately stretching his arms over your shoulders and lacing his fingers together behind you. He inched towards your neck and started kissing it – intentionally loud and wet kisses coupled with the sound of his soft moaning.

“Should we?” You squeezed his ass to punctuate your question. “You don’t seem to be that concerned about privacy. Are you sure you don’t want it right here?”

Belphegor

Belphie stepped out of Asmo’s room in an oversized knit sweatshirt and a medium-length plaid skirt - both in a pastel purple.

“Ta-da!” Asmo beamed. “Isn’t he adorable? Well, give us a twirl.”

Belphie slowly turned in a circle, yawning half-way through. How cozy. Belphie came up to you and grabbed your arm, pulling you away. He lifted an arm up nonchalantly, the sleeve of his sweater flopping over his hand. “Thanks for the skirt, Asmo.”

You looked back at Asmo to wave. “See ya.”

“Have fun you two!”

Belphie took you to the botanical gardens. The Hell Jasmine was in bloom, and they dedicated an exhibit room to it. He was excited to see it. A sign posted outside of the room read “face masks are required for all demons entering the exhibit.” Belphie complied, grabbing one of the masks from the station outside.

“You’re so lucky to be able to smell the jasmine in public. It’s basically an aphrodisiac for demons,” he complained and went back to holding your arm.

“Doesn’t that detract from the exhibit a bit?”

“I guess so, but they’re still pretty to look at. Besides, do you really want me to be all over you in the middle of this room?”

“No comment,” you replied. Belphie giggled, welcoming your implications. What he didn’t welcome was the voice that called from behind.

“Is that you, MC?” Solomon caught up to you. “Oh, you’re with Belphegor. I was wondering who was clinging to your arm like that.”

“What are you doing here?” Belphegor asked, irritably.

“To see the exhibit, of course. They’re selling bottles of Hell Jasmine perfume for the duration of the blooming period. I figured I would pick up a sample. I’ve been quite interested in figuring out how to replicate the effects in humans. Maybe you’d like to be my test subject, MC.”

“Like hell,” Belphegor retorted.

“Anyway,” Solomon verbally side-stepped, “I suppose I’ll leave you to whatever this is and extend the offer some other time. By the way, you look very cute in that outfit, Belphegor. It looks like one of Asmo’s skirts.”

Belphie could tell that Solomon was trying to tease him. He growled under his breath, and you could feel the vibrations of it as he pulled your arm closer to his chest. Belphegor flipped Solomon off. Solomon chuckled in response.

“Very well. See you around, MC.” Solomon turned and wandered off in the opposite direction. You both heard him mutter (because he wanted you to), “perhaps I should try wearing a skirt for MC next time.”

“He’s right,” you added, much to Belphie’s surprise, “you look very cute.”

A small “hmph” left Belphie’s lips, muffled by the mask, which he was happy to have to disguise his smile and blushing cheeks. He pulled you further into the exhibit. “We’re buying a bottle of that perfume later. To try at home.”

Thirteen

“Hi-ya,” Thirteen greeted you from atop a tree branch outside of her cave. She waved before hopping down right in front of you. “I got bored, so I figured I’d wait for you out here.”

She took your arm and started walking – barely giving you time to drink in her outfit, which was a big part of the bet. You let her guide you through the forest as you tried to get a good look at her.

“You’re staring, pervert,” she laughed at you, but she wasn’t as insulted by your eyes on her as she pretended to be.

“Sorry.” You looked away. “I don’t get to see you in a skirt often. I wanted a better look.”

“It’s a bit embarrassing. I feel more feminine than usual.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“Not exactly. It’s just different. I have shorts on underneath, so I’m not worried about anything.” Thirteen stopped walking and stepped back. She smoothed down her skirt and looked up at you. She had on a black, ruffled skirt that showed off her skull tattoo. Her top was a mesh crop, and underneath, she wore a black bralette and a simple chain and leather body harness that went from her neck down to her waist and seemed to match the harness on her left leg. She still looked like herself – the same style that you would expect from her. “Do you like it?”

“You look very cute in a skirt, but also,” you cupped her cheeks in your hands, “you still look like you.”

Thirteen laughed and a soft pink tint painted her cheeks and ears, “I’m glad you think so.”

You couldn’t look away from her again. The way her tension seemed to melt away so quickly was endearing. It was such a simple compliment, but her joy was obvious. She was so easy to read when it came to you, and the honesty was welcomed.

“So, where are we going?”

“I didn’t tell you? We’re going to Madam Devian’s to try their limited-edition acid lavender cake. After that, maybe we can wander around, check out a few shops, touch some grass – whatever you want. And then,” Thirteen paused. She pushed you gently towards one of the nearby trees until you were backed against it and brought her lips up to your neck – hovering without touching you. Her hot breath tickled your skin. She continued in a whisper, “when we’ve had our fun, I’ll take you back to your house and see how long we can mess around until someone hears you moaning.”

[poisonedspider]

Taking a brief brain break before hopping back into drafts. Mostly because Dumblr is the worst and isn't accurate so I was like woooo I'm almost done then suddenly ALL THESE OTHER REPLIES SHOWED UP? So I was like...I'm gonna go find my Hazbin trading cards I got from the preshow pack. I remember getting them and being like who the fuck are half these people, though I screamed that I got Angel. Now that I've seen the show, I'm going to go through them and here is my stupid break down of them.

Oh hey, the first two cards that fell out when I opened the box were Angel and Husk. I didn't even ship them back then so I didn't intentionally place them together. Meant to be.

Sinners is such a generic card. Like wow, thanks for that trading pack. Glad I can just have all the sinners in Hell apparently.

Little did I know when I got these cards how much of a boner I would have for Vox. I am happy as hell that I have this card, but back then I was like who tf is this random ass television man.

Charlie's pitchfork. ITS HOLOGRAPHIC. That is all.

There's a Velvette card? I mean, of course there is, but I don't even remember seeing that when I opened this six months ago.

Cannibal town plaza. I remember getting all these items and locations and being like I DONT CARE but now that I am connected to them it's kind of cool actually.

....another fucking Charlie's pitchfork, only this time it isn't holographic so fuck that boring shit.

Katie Killjoy. Not only is she a cunt, but she's a cunt that barely got any screen time in the season so I think we need more of her.

The parlor. Who the fuck calls it that? I've just been calling it the hotel lobby. This isn't a game of CLUE. No one got murdered in the parlor with the butcher knife.

Sir Pentious' ray gun. I'd like this card more if I felt a strong connection to Pentious. It's growing because of @sirserpentine but before that I was like...I do not like this character I do not want this card.

Mimzy. Her boobs look really great on the card, gotta say. I think getting this card made me feel like she would play a bigger role. Maybe she was supposed to, because let's be real, her part of the song makes zero sense.

OH MY GOD THERE'S A SUSAN CARD> Going through these post-show versus pre-show is a fucking TRIP.

Moaning at the fact that I have a Lucifer Morningstar card.

Woooo Vaggie, and she is ALSO holographic. Should I pair her with the pitchfork? Also do I have the whole main cast? Guess we will find out.

Tom Trench. He can go hang with the Katie card. The only reason I like him is because he clearly watches Angel's work.

ANGELS TOMMY GUN. I did not appreciate this card as much back then, but I do now. Especially since trying to find a prop tommy gun for my cosplay has been ridiculously challenging.

Sir Pentious! Yay! Almost the entire main cast. The preshow deck came with....three decks? I think? So I still have quite a few to go. Making strides.

I remember getting this Loan Shark card and being like....the fuck are you. The only reason he even matters to me is because he wants to bang Angel in the club and we think that's kind of hot.

Shrunken head keychain. Knowing that this is what Charlie gifts Vaggie from her trip to Cannibal Town actually makes this card kind of sweet. I think before I assumed there was a correlation with Alastor.

Hazbin Hotel. Wow. It has its own card. Its like the entire show is named after it or something.

ANOTHER ray gun, only this time it's holographic as well! What is with all the weapons being holos? Give me more holo characters.

Winners. You know, until I started roleplaying here, I didn't realize they were actually called that? I know Adam says it in the song, but I thought it was just because he meant sinners were all losers, not that winners was actually their title.

Charlie Morningstar. C'mon card deck, only a few to go. Also this picture of her on the card looks super weird, and I honestly prefer her pilot name, don't at me.

Heaven's courthouse. Since this is one of my favorite scenes in the entire series, I'll accept it.

Lute. I don't remember this card at all. Now that I know all the characters, I'm glad I have this card as well. I just wish it would have her without the mask because gosh is she beautiful.

Razzle and Dazzle. RIP.

The heaven embassy. Not going to lie, I'm kind of over these location cards. I'm running out of cards and I am still missing some characters I love. I would rather have those.

Moneyshot. Angel literally rolled his eyes at the card and threw it.

Adam. Okay, okay, so the deck has every boy I plan on cosplaying, which I can appreciate....

...but guess I need to buy more decks because I DONT EVEN HAVE ALASTOR!? And it's a crime to not have Valentino (Angel is gagging don't mind him) but have the other Vees.

[danggirlronpa]

For the ship headcanons, how about Celeste/Tsumugi or Celeste/Kirumi?

I am VERY tempted to do Celestia/Kirumi, but I think the only time I've ever seen Celestia/Tsumugi in my life is when it was submitted for the rarepair bracket, and we were already at the stage where I was burned out and doing one bullet point per pair, so I'd love to finally give them a fair shake.

Okay well firstly. These two couple cosplay. Celestia is really embarrassed about it at first but the intersection between goth and nerd subcultures is Not to be underestimated, and I think she would quickly lose the desire to be Cool And Unapproachable in favor of the desire to make goth versions of Princess Piggles. It takes like a year but they are winning every cosplay competition there is.

And then they clean out everyone at the Magic: The Gathering table. Tsumugi is a gateway drug for being a nerd. Celestia does not know how to play. She just picked all the vampire cards. Tsumugi is so proud. They are banned, not for cheating, but because Celestia keeps demanding that the losers act as her footstools and bringing out a whip when they disagree. Tsumugi Is So Proud

Oh speaking of which these two are KINKY kinky. I'm not gonna get into it here but like. Looks at how Celestia interacts with Hifumi. Looks at Tsumugi's love hotel event. Looks at their mutual theme of extreme repression of the self. Just Trust Me. When they hit their thirties they don't run a swingers' club, but they are regulars.

I truly believe Tsumugi is one of the only people in these games who would take Celestia's fury completely in stride. Celestia loses the accent and tells someone they should choke on the dick they rode in on and Tsumugi puts her chin and her head and goes Oh You. She's a little irritated right now! And everyone else thinks they're nuts (they are)

[pics-pizza-peace]

young!Losers Club (IT 1990) Pony Cosplays

[aldomedinasaldivar]

Eddie Kaspbrak | Loser’s Club | Cosplay

[jennyislander]

Happy Sixth Day of Pride Month! The virtual Pride parade continues. If my health and schedule permit, I will make a post like this every day in June.

Toronto Realtor Julie Kinnear posted this among many photos of Toronto Pride 2019, noting that it was the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. Here we see cosplayers wearing Imperial Stormtrooper and Imperial Navy uniforms with non-regulation rainbow garnish and flying Alliance flags ditto. NERD PRIDE, say the signs.

I am old enough to remember when writing fanfic--not just the wrong kind of fanfic, but fanfic at all--was a thing you did not confess except to other nerds and maybe not even them. You could lose the respect of your parents, coworkers, or boss. You could lose your marriage and the right to see your kids. Cosplay was for no-life loser freaks who did it far away from home and hoped that nobody with the power to decide their future ever saw it. And when the weirdos raised money for a cause, it was reported with a joke headline. Even other nerds--the "right" kind--mocked them. I remember the Geek Hierarchy.

Nerds are mainstream now. Kinnear did not caption this photo, but based on the sheer quality of the costuming I guess that this is the 501st, which is a cosplay club founded by fans, but provided with an official backstory by Lucasfilm after the fact. They do charity work at public libraries and children's hospitals and raise money for Make-a-Wish. They have 14,000 members and a professionally designed website. Nerds are mainstream now.

But I remember.

Let's keep the days of the Geek Hierarchy in the past. If we fight for the right of every ‮odriew‬‎, everybody who cares entirely too much about something we think is ‮bmud‬‎ or contemptible or even yucky, to be who they are with cheerful confidence, we are fighting for our own rights too.

Ever seen an Imperial Stormtrooper dance? It's cornball and awesome and so, so nerdy. The DJ turns up "People Like Us" by Kelly Clarkson, to give them a hint.

[regarding-stories]

An embarrassment of riches

That's what this summer season is in regards to anime series. There were seasons (like this one) where the lack of good new releases was strong. Even last season was a bit so-so. Not this one!

I rounded up some of its Isekai already (together with some others I recently watched), but there's more. Oh yes!

Don't watch EPISODE 0!!

By which I mean "Dead Dead Demons DeDeDe Destruction". Seriously. If you want some minor spoilers I'm willing to oblige, but episode 0 apparently spoils the whole run of the series before it even starts. WTF?!?

"Dead Demons" presents itself (if you start with episode 1) as a story of school girls in Tokyo. Except a huge ass mothership shows up over the city, some people die, and then for a while, a whole lot of nothing happens. People live their lives and get used to this new development... somewhat.

But not really. People start to go nuts. (And who wouldn't?) The government is hush-hush. UFOs get shot down over inhabited districts. People die. And we as viewers get clued in to even more strange stuff happening.

Apparently the show is a re-cut of two movies into an anime series (and episode "0" a sort of epilogue). Its developments are dark and weird and lure you in. And somehow a few weirdo high school seniors growing into adults amid this unfolding slow motion drama is the icing on the cake.

Just don't watch episode 0.

2.5 Dimensional Seduction

I noticed this one as manga but didn't follow up to reading it first. And here it is, in animated glory! (It looks really good.)

Nerd boy is the only remaining member of the manga club where he mostly obsesses about his favorite character, Liliel, watching this old anime by himself. He, of course, has no interest in "3D girls" and only in his beloved waifu. (How serious he is you will see when you get to see his bedroom a few episodes later. I wonder what his mother thinks when she walks in...)

In comes Ririka, a cosplayer-in-the-making which obsesses about... Liliel! A girl our protagonist can nerd out with, and her cosplay of his beloved character is, of course, perfect. Conflicting feelings arise in no time.

A childhood friend (with a confirmed crush) shows up in episode 2 but given how they are billed in the credits and everywhere, we can safely assume that first girl wins, which makes this "love triangle" a bit sad and cruel right out of the gate.

The series actually has, beyond its cute antics, a few good observations to make about cosplay, its fanbase, etc. Nothing world-changing here so far, it doesn't obsess over details like "My Dress-Up Darling" does, but somehow that was refreshing.

It's a silly, predictable show with people tripping over and onto each other, as expected. (But not in a way where I fear they'd need dental work after.) It's cute and charming and I like it.

Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines

Anime titles are often abbreviations of their longer version, but this one is a play on words as well. "Makeinu" means "loser" and is built from the kanji for "lose" and "dog." "Makeine" in turn is a contraction of "lose" and "heroine." And the name's the program!

As the cast grows, we're introduced to a series of girls experiencing a unrequited crush and finding themselves rejected or realizing that they have no chance.

And our protagonist ends up getting involved in all of these scenarios right when they come to heads.

In principle this is a harem comedy, but its setup is clever enough and it's damn funny without resorting to being over-the-top and stupid. It doesn't seem to overdo the cringe and the characters get their own fleshing out, including the cast surrounding the literature/writing club that becomes the epicenter of it.

Wins the award for the most quirky bow tie design a school uninform can have.

Love is indivisible by twins

Can a show that has its spoiler in the title surprise you? Why yes, it can!

The show really revolves around our two protagonists, which I'd say are the girls (which also act as narrators), not the guy. They are twins, of course, but of different temperament, and they are childhood friends with the boy living nearby.

He has this big crush on the one sharing his literary interests, only to be asked out by the other. (Of course he's oblivious both have crushes on him.) In an unusual take on the genre, we see a full love story unfold in episode 1. So, if you were there for the first kiss, you can switch off now.

I don't think you should, though. The show wants to be a bit creative with its setup in spite of its spoilery name. I guess it will be interesting enough to see how it gets through the drama stage to a resolution.

The Café Terrace and Its Goddesses

(Technically this has been around since last year but quickly got a season 2. Also, I started watching it only now.)

Guy is off to Tokyo, studying, when his grandma dies, his only living relative and primary caregiver after his parents' death. They left on bad terms, and now he finds she took five strangers in in the year before her death - five young girls she ran the café with that was her livelihood.

They're off to a really bad start and frankly, I would have been totally on his side if he just kicked them out. At least one of them was up for blackmailing him (and also taking advantage that one of her friends has no self control when drunk).

The setup is unconvincing. When you follow the first season you see no clear indication why the MC was having a bad relationship with his grandma, he seems to go back and forth between a good guy and insightful and being brash and immature. The guy he turns out to be during the show seems to not follow from the guy we meet at first.

It's clear to see that the setup for the show is ... pretty much "The Quintessential Quintuplets" all over again. With a few differences... mostly in execution. One thing is that the show is nowhere near the drama level of the Quintuplets, with their regular "decision events" that turn out to be postponed. For almost a whole season it managed to avoid the "It's fated!" trap, only to then insist that all these girls have grandmothers who worked at a cafe his grandfather ran when he was his age. Oh bugger... And well, by putting a future scene with a daughter in that implies one of the cast is her mom. Yep, another Quintuplets move (though that show was more about showing weddings). To be fair, though, it doesn't pull this constantly.

Also, season 2 has one really good reason to apologize to Brazilians everywhere.

The show in general is funny and lighthearted, though the girls seem all too keen to be violent towards the protagonist for situations they pretty much cause themselves. (In a nice twist, they acknowledge this eventually.) Conflict tends to resolve rather quickly, as well. You probably can expect this to take around three seasons' worth before concluding, I guess. It isn't moving very fast, but since the story revolves around making the café profitable again as much as the blooming romance, it doesn't get too one-sided.

All six main characters (guy + girls) get rather likable once fleshed out and watching their interactions and antics is satisfying. If you ignore the somewhat rough start it certainly is a decent show.

Further mentions

"Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian" got an anime adaptation. I read some of the light novels and can't bother watching it for that reason.

"SHOSHIMIN: How to become Ordinary" is a thoughtful show about solving small mysteries, but I can't really write about it because I'm not entirely sure what its deal is. I guess they are yokai trying to pass as humans? Goes very slowly about revealing the core of its story. Gorgeous visuals.

"My Wife Has No Emotion" is a story about a guy falling in love with his household appliance robot. While the story will surely reveal she's more than that the initial setup is so cringe, I stopped watching and hoping he would just see the need for getting therapy. Lots thereof. (Also, how many Japanese just start drinking by themselves once 20...?)

"Dahlia in Bloom" is yet another Isekai story with a reincarnation background. It's a bit painful to watch a spirited young girl starting to give up her own personality for a guy's ego, so I still have not watched episode 3. I'm sure it will head straight to "I'm making my own way in life" right after finishing its setup.

"A Nobody’s Way Up to an Exploration Hero" is something something dungeons in modern Japan. Guy finds ultra-rare summoning cards and instead of becoming filthy rich by selling them, he now has a cute angel and a cute demon accompanying him on quests while he lies to his childhood friend about what he does. Hmmm...

[pari-patel]

Genshiken Blog Part 1

As predicted, this anime has a big presence on the fan community. I resonated with it because of its university setting. Although I am not in the manga, anime, or video game community, I immerse myself in the Indian and Bollywood community which allows me to gain insight on other communities with similar environments. I noticed characters in Genshiken often are misunderstood from those outside of their subculture, which parallels real-world biases against intense fandoms. Globally, we see fans in media struggle with stereotypes and prejudices like being called “geeks”, “nerds”, or “losers”. The anime, however, goes against these stereotypes by portraying their characters as nuanced individuals with an actual, real passion and interests with complex personalities and a deeper meaning behind each character.

Furthermore, as a pre-law student majoring in economics, I have encountered my own misconceptions about balancing a rigorous workload and personal hobbies. This resonates with the characters in the show as it depicts students deeply engaged in niche interests. They way they navigate their dual identities parallels my navigation of both balancing my workload, interests in dancing, working out, cooking, and immersing myself in my Indian culture and roots. I like to get involved with cultural organizations throughout campus to help me better explore my dual identities and dynamic nature.

In regards to the reading, Fiske argues that fandom is a means to a cultural production. Fans tend to create their own meanings and, form that point, decide what can and cannot be allowed within the designated community. In my opinion, it can either be viewed as a restriction on what should be kept out or an acceptance as to what can be allowed, possibly even a mix of both. This is depicted in the show where we saw club members engaging in cosplay and conventions. They are actively participating in their community, allowing them to delve deeper into this notion of fan identity in the face of societal beliefs.