#most androgynous ever tournament

[dc-tournaments]

[spectrehalstan]

LOOK AT THIS EVERY ONE VITE HAL

[perseus-jackass]

Good luck in your endeavors campaigning for spectre hal. I have voted for Hal twice now because your argument was compelling

Thank you very much. Everyone read Spectre 2001 immediately

[hotvintagepoll]

Propaganda

Rita Moreno (Singin' in the Rain, West Side Story)—She’s an EGOT, an absolute legend for how she navigated her career as a woman of color in the fifties and sixties. Her performance as Anita in West Side Story is why I go back to that movie so many times. She is an icon and she is the moment.

Marlene Dietrich (Shanghai Express, Witness for the Prosecution, Morocco)—Bisexual icon, super hot when dressed both masculine and feminine, lived up her life in the queer Berlin scene of the 1920s, central to the 'sewing circle' of the secret sapphic actresses of Old Hollywood, refused lucrative offers by the Nazis and helped Jews and others under persecution to escape Nazi Germany, the love of my life

We are in the quarterfinals of the Hot & Vintage Movie Women Tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Propaganda is not my own and is on a submission basis. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut.]

Rita Moreno propaganda:

"Amazing showstopping actress in her one big memorable role as Anita in West Side Story. She sings and dances with unmatched joy and energy, and then breaks your heart with her acting. Rita took a role that felt as a stereotype to latina women and made it compelling and multifaceted. Her subsequent career was filled with mostly side roles, but she still managed to excel in whatever Hollywood threw at her."

"It’s Rita!! The EGOT herself! She can act, she can sing, she can dance, a triple threat. Obviously absolutely iconic as Anita in West Side Story (her part of the Tonight Quintet is the sexiest part of the film, fight me). But before that she was the amazing Zelda in Singin’ In the Rain!?! Thanks Zelda, you’re a real pal."

"She continues to be amazing but also she's got legs for days."

"THEE iconic rita moreno, EGOT winner, civil rights activist, theatre legend. watch her documentary "Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It". also her rendition of "fever" on the muppet show"

Marlene Dietrich:

ms dietrich....ms dietrich pls.....sit on my face

its marlene dietrich!!!! queer legend, easily the hottest person to ever wear a tuxedo, that hot hot voice, those glamorous glamorous movies…. most famously she starred in a string of movies directed by josef von sternberg throughout the 1930s, beginning with the blue angel which catapulted her to stardom in the role of the cabaret singer lola lola. known for his exquisite eye for lighting, texture, imagery, von sternberg devoted himself over the course of their collaborations to acquiring exceptional skill at photographing dietrich herself in particular, a worthy direction in which to expend effort im sure we can all agree. she collaborated with many other great directors of the era as well, including rouben mamoulian (song of songs), frank borzage (desire), ernst lubitsch (angel), fritz lang (rancho notorious), and billy wilder (witness for the prosecution). the encyclopedia britannica entry im looking at while compiling this propaganda describes her as having an “aura of sophistication and languid sexuality” which✔️💯. born marie magdalene dietrich, she combined her first and middle names to coin the moniker “marlene”. she was a trendsetter in her incorporation of trousers, suits, and menswear into her wardrobe and her androgynous allure was often remarked upon. critic kenneth tynan wrote, “She has sex, but no particular gender. She has the bearing of a man; the characters she plays love power and wear trousers. Her masculinity appeals to women and her sexuality to men.” in the 1920s she enjoyed the vibrant queer nightlife of weimar berlin, visiting gay bars and drag balls, and in hollywood her love affairs with men and women were an open secret. she was an ardent opponent of nazi germany, refusing lucrative contacts offered her to make films there, raising money with billy wilder to help jews and dissidents escape, and undertaking extensive USO tours to entertain soldiers with an act that included her a playing musical saw and doing a mindreading routine she learned from orson welles. starting in the 50s and continuing into the mid-70s she worked largely as a cabaret artist touring the world to large audiences, employing burt bacharach as her musical arranger.

First of all, there are those publicity photos of her in a tux. Second of all, I have never been the same since knowing that she sent copies of those photos to her Berlin lovers signed "Daddy Marlene." Not only is she hot in all circumstances, but she can do everything from earthy to ice queen. Also, she kept getting sexy romantic lead parts in Hollywood after the age of 40, which would be rare even now. She hated Nazis, loved her friends, and had a sapphic social circle in Hollywood. She also had cheekbones that could cut glass and a voice that could melt you.

Her GENDER her looks her voice her everything

“In her films and record-breaking cabaret performances, Miss Dietrich artfully projected cool sophistication, self-mockery and infinite experience. Her sexuality was audacious, her wit was insolent and her manner was ageless. With a world-weary charm and a diaphanous gown showing off her celebrated legs, she was the quintessential cabaret entertainer of Weimar-era Germany.”

The bar scene in Morocco awoke something in me and ultimately changed my gender

"Her manner, the critic Kenneth Tynan wrote, was that of ‘a serpentine lasso whereby her voice casually winds itself around our most vulnerable fantasies.’ Her friend Maurice Chevalier said: ‘Dietrich is something that never existed before and may never exist again.’”

"Songstress, photographer, fashion icon, out bisexual phenom (notoriously stole Lupe Velez and Joan Crawford's men, and Errol Flynn's wife, had a torrid affair with Greta Garbo that ended in a 60-year feud, other notable conquests including Erich Maria Remarque -yes, the guy who wrote All Quiet on the Western Front- Douglas Fairbanks Junior, Claudette Colbert, Mercedes de Acosta, Edith Piaf), anti-Nazi activist. Marlene was a bitch - she had an open marriage for decades and one of her favorite things was making catty commentary about her current lover with her husband, and her relationship with her daughter was painful- but she was also immensely talented, a hard worker, an opponent of fascism and the hottest ice queen in Hollywood for a long time."

"She can sing! She can act! She told the Nazis to fuck off and became a US citizen out of spite! She worked with other German exiles to create a fund to help Jews and German dissidents escape (she donated an entire movie salary, about $450k, to the cause). She looks REALLY GOOD in a suit. If you're not convinced, please listen to her sing "Lili Marlene". Absolutely gorgeous woman with a gorgeous voice."

Gifset link

"Bisexual icon and Nazi-hater. Looks absolutely stunning in the suits she liked to wear. 'I dress for the image. Not for myself, not for the public, not for fashion, not for men'."

"would you not let her walk on you?"

[running-with-the-feels]

Headcanons for the Separation Au(One where Kuai was the only one taken to the Lin Kuei as a child) idk I am not good at naming Au’s

Bi-Han Headcanons

- Bi-Han goes to his families grave every birthday for every member of his family and every holiday, no matter the weather nor what is happening in his own life, he goes and leaves different things like food, flowers, and small trinkets. It’s one of the most well kept graves.

- He held on close to the belief that Kuai Liang was alive, somewhere, and tried for years to find out more about the Lin Kuei but to no avail.

- He kept as much stuff he could of his families personal items from jewelry, toys, etc. He still has Kuai Liang’s old stuffed animal on his night stand that he refuses to part with.

- His cyromancey was dormant for a long time, due to his truama he repressed a lot of his own memories and emotions of the more painful portions of his life. It didn’t unlock fully until his late teens when he had a mental breakdown to a fuck ton of stress in his personal life. He covered his bed room in ice.

- He trained in Martial Arts, it’s something to focus his anger on, as he has gotten older he has mellowed out and found more healthy outlets, but he is still a skilled fighter, compared to Kuai Liang, he doesn’t have the aim to kill mindset obviously, he’s comparable to Mk9 Johnny cage, likes to fight but never thought nor ever had the want to seriously injury someone.

- Speaking of Johnny, they essentially are childhood friends, after moving in with his mothers close friend(she was the god mother), he grew closer to the local kid his age named Johnathan Carton. They went to the same dojo together and even the same university.

- Bi-Han was planning to stay behind in their hometown, but Johnny who got a gig in Hollywood pushed him to do move to go with him to California.

- Bi-Han and Johnny did go, but took different paths, Johnny on his way to become a rising martial arts actor, while Bi-Han opened a bakery, not wanted to have a overly complicated time there as he paved his own way.

- They had vastly different schedules and barley saw each other. But still set up a time each month to spar with each other on the insistence of Johnny( “You have real skills and talent! Don’t get rusty”)

- Only took the job as a fighter choreographer as a favor to Johnny(also not because he has a crush on his old friend not at all) and he only did it as a side gig when he wasn’t busy.

- There were nights were their got super drunk and high together, we’re Bi-Han and Johnny’s feelings all spilled out and they ended up hooking up. Since then their relationship has been in a strange place. They’re not together but they’re not in a simple friendship anymore.

- Both pine after each other but have a lot of their own issues about getting into a relationship so it takes a long time.

- Johnny is only the second person to know of Bi-Hans cyromancy. It was a weird conversation and it took Johnnt awhile to let it sink in.

- Bi-Han went with Johnny when the actor was invited for the tournament. He thought it was a stupid idea to go(he thought it was a cult thing) but he wanst going to let his friend go alone.

- It’s during Johnny’s fight when he spots a familiar symbol of the Lin Kuei, the same people that killed his family and stole his baby brother from him.

ooooooo love this

Johnny will sometimes come with Bi-Han to the grave, and after they move to hollywood and. Johnny starts making money, he pays for the flight out and back every year so that Bi-Han can keep that connection to his family

Bi-Han is convinced that he would feel it if Kuai Liang was dead. Meanwhile, Kuai Liang has vague memories of a family and a life before the Lin Kuei that he has learned not to talk about, but clings to. They both hum their mother's lullaby in order to sleep

Bi-Han ended up with a very eclectic and androgynous style bc he'd wear as much of the jewelry he saved from the house after they died as possible, even getting his ears pierced just to wear his sister's earrings

After the breakdown, Bi-Han started practicing with his cryomancy again, but struggles to control it for longer than a minute

Has several trophies from martial arts competitions and did join a fight club when he was younger. Johnny was the one to pull him out of that and convince him it was a bad idea

Johnny was the only person who didn't treat Bi-Han like he was broken or pitiable, which led to Bi-han feeling comfortable around him and protective of him. Bi-Han has beaten up several bullies on Johnny's behalf

Bi-Han and Johnny actually had a really big fight about Bi-han wanting to stay, leading to Bi-han realizing that he doesn't like it when he can't talk to or be around Johnny, so he followed (also he's pining)

Bi-Han always used to back with his mother (who had owned a bakery herself) and so opened the bakery in her honor. He named it Mama Ru's

They usually use the bakery basement if they can't book a room anywhere else to spar. This has lead to many nights where they have ended up hooking up.

Funnily enough, Bi-Han ends up as a highly sought after fight choreographer, but won't take any job unless Johnny asks, which leads to Johnny getting more action roles

The drunken pining hookups have them both really confused, bc they both like each other and want to move forward, but they're also terrified of trying for something and having it break down. They end up in a situationship and it hurts them both for a while, especially when Johnny brings Bi-Han as his date to a premier of a movie they both worked on but spends the whole night flirting with other people.

Actually getting together required the intervention of no less than 4 other people

The first person to know about his cryomancer (outside of his family) was Angela, Lian's (the older sister) girlfriend who survived the attack by the Lin Kuei and still keeps in touch with Bi-Han and Johnny. She has actually worked as an sfx artist on some of Johnny's movies

Bi-Han is a protector at heart and has played bodyguard more than once so despite Johnny's protests, Bi-Han isn't letting him go to the tournament alone

Bi_han interrogates Cyrax after almost killing Sektor in Kombat about where Kuai Liang is, learning that Kuai Liang is here at the tournament

Bc Kuai Liang is Sub-Zero from the start in this au, Bi-Han sees him fighting Scorpion and intervenes, throwing himself over his brother's prone body and basically begging for his life. The situation is too similar to what he saw his wife do in the vision Quan Chi showed him, so Scorpion backs off

Kuai Liang, delirious from his wounds, smiles up at Bi-Han and just says "I knew you were real" before passing out.

Now we just gotta figure out where Sareena fits into this so I can get my bireencage fix

[fushigowo]

𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐎𝐌 | 𝐙𝐄𝐍’𝐈𝐍 𝐌𝐀𝐊𝐈

╰┈➤ knight!maki x princess!reader

╰┈➤ warnings: implied homophobia, arranged marriage, explicit smut, soft dom maki. maki and reader are both 21 (as well as megumi and itadori)

Arranged marriage is the worst thing a royalty could ask for. 

You cannot explain how much you loathe meeting several heirs from other kingdoms so yours can benefit from this union. Numerous heirs that came to your kingdom for your hand in marriage is twice your age and every time they'd kiss your hand, you'd stare at them at disgust and act rude all dinner. However, it's still up to you, the princess, to choose which heir who asked for your hand to become your king, your… husband.

So far, there are only few heirs who you think is capable of leading a kingdom with you. They all came from strong kingdoms, stronger than yours to be exact. Fushiguro Megumi, Itadori Yuuji, and Toge Inumaki are the ones who you're choosing between. In the end, you chose the one from the Fushiguro Kingdom. You weren't pleased, he wasn't either. You thought Megumi was the best choice among the three. 

And so, it is settled. Your marriage with Fushiguro Megumi is sealed and the ceremony will be held in your kingdom. Once it is done, both of you will unite the two kingdoms, making it the biggest and strongest amongst all. This union will not only benefit each other's kingdoms but the people of it as well. You'd do anything for the peace and prosperity of the kingdom, especially for the people. However, you just don't understand why marriage is the only option for the kingdom to unite. 

You're still young. At the age of 21, you still want to do what you desire to do; explore the world, travel and discover new things; become a renowned painter; and rule the kingdom on your own. You don't want a king to rule alongside you, you don't want to be seen as the king's wife, you want to be seen as a strong leader, a fearless queen. Kings can rule without a queen, but why can't a queen rule without a king? That doesn't seem fair, right? Not only that you wanted to be known as a talented painter, but you wanted to become the first queen to ever rule a kingdom without a king by your side. 

Years of studying, leading, and fighting, you have consumed every bit of knowledge that a ruler must know in order to become a good one. With you being the first queen to rule a kingdom, you will be part of history. In a world where women are seen as weak and vulnerable, you wanted to prove to the other kingdoms—to the entire world—that it was you who ruled the most flourished and peaceful kingdom. Not only will you be part of history, but women will see you as a source of strength, power, and hope.

Although, there is one woman who inspired you to become who you are now. The strongest knight in your kingdom, your personal royal knight, Zen'in Maki. The woman possesses short, dark green hair that is styled in an androgynous haircut, large scars on the sides of her face and all over her arms, an eye patch on her left eye that is under a round glasses. Zen'in Maki is much taller than you, with your head only reaching her shoulders.

Maybe there is another reason why you don't want to marry. Well, you've been in love with Maki since the both of you were teenagers. It was the first time when the kingdom had looked for new recruits in the knights. The only girl who signed up was Zen'in Maki. She is the embodiment of the word fearless, headstrong, and fierce. During tournaments, Maki would often steal the spotlight, making her the first woman to ever reach the second highest position as a knight and that is, being your personal knight. 

After Maki was given the position, she moved in the castle so she could protect you and look after you. At the age of 17, you and Maki had gotten so close, that the both of you were inseparable. At that point, she told you things she'd never told anyone before. Her past, the reasons why she wanted to become a knight and serve in the palace, her family, her sister, everything. 

After that, the both of you became intimate with each other. Foreheads touching after hugging each other; whispering sweet nothings; stealing kisses secretly; sleeping next to each other; and taking baths at the lake near the woods. 

At first, you were at war with yourself. Confused about the emotions that you're feeling around Maki. You don't understand if these feelings are still counted as friendship. Do friends normally kiss each other's cheeks and foreheads? Do friends take baths with each other? Do friends sleep next to each other while holding hands? Do friends do all of these things? These feelings… you don't know how to perceive them. You hadn't felt these feelings to anyone, not even those princes that your parents arranged for you. Even though some of these princes are your friends and are good in terms with, you never do things that you do with Maki. So, what exactly is she making you feel?

"Love," she says.

"What?" you ask.

"I love you, Y/N," she whispers as she holds you closer in her arms, letting her forehead touch yours.

The warmth of her body sent shivers down your spine, making you take a deep breath as you absorb the heat from her and slowly, you felt yourself calming down in Maki's touch.

"You can't be in love with me, Maki," you whisper as you close your eyes, trying to stop yourself from releasing a whimper and letting your tears fall. "You and I are from different worlds. Even if we love each other, they won't let us become one and… society, they won't accept this, especially my father."

"I know," she whispers. "I know, Y/N. I've been wanting to tell you that for so long, I can't hold it anymore. I know you love me too, Y/N."

You gulp.

Why is it so easy for her to express that? you ask yourself.

Even if you wanted to admit that you love her, you just can't. The idea of falling in love with a woman is something you've never expected and never see coming. You have always told yourself that you like men. You constantly argue with yourself that men are the ones that you are supposed to like and… love. However, you try so hard to feel these things to the princes that your parents try to set you up with. You just… you just can't.

The feeling of holding hands with Maki is nothing compared to dozens of hands you've held amongst the princes. No one made you feel these feelings other than Maki. Kissing princes never made you feel a spark rushing to your entire body, your entire being. It never made you feel as though you are at the center of the universe, the center of it all. It never made you feel as though you can eat the world raw and see every bit of wonder in mere seconds. Those feelings… you only felt those feelings with Maki.

It's her… It's only her who can make you feel as though you are in paradise, in Cloud Nine, floating in the vastness of the heavens feeling nothing but pure euphoria. It's always her.

Sure, you tried kissing other women your age in the palace. You felt things that not even princes can make you feel. The kisses they gave made your heart race, made you feel fluttering inside your stomach as if there are butterflies inside… those are other things that princes can't make you feel.

And yet, you are still finding it hard to say those words… to admit to her and yourself that you never feel love or like towards men… only women..

Why? Why do you find it so hard?

Because in this society, where a man and a woman can only love each other, people will feel hatred towards someone who are in love with the same gender.

It's unfair. If a man and a woman can love each other without being hated and unaccepted, how come a man and a man or a woman and a woman can't?

So, how is it going to be easy for you to admit this? When this is the society you live in?

Until then, you are going to wait for the right time.

"Megumi, why don't you and Y/N spend some alone time in the palace garden?" Megumi's father, Fushiguro Toji, turns his head on you. 

Megumi didn't hesitate to stand up and you follow. Through your peripheral vision, you can see Maki following you and the prince. She is your personal knight after all. Since the arrangement of your marriage with Megumi, you haven't spoken a single word to Maki and you haven't been sleeping comfortably without her. You're used to her being by your side, even on your bed. Her embrace would always feel as though you are in the safest place in Earth.

I miss her so much, you tell yourself. If Megumi and I get married, does that mean Maki and I won't speak to each other again? No… I don't want that. But I still have to marry… and I hate it.

"… princess? Are you alright?" Megumi asks. He's been asking you about your preferences for the wedding. If you wanted it to be held at the palace garden, at the seaside, at the cathedral, but your thoughts are circulating around Maki. 

"Uh… yes. I'm fine," you answer. 

Megumi takes a glance at you before turning his gaze to Maki who raises an eyebrow at him. The man secretly gulp yet he maintained his composure. He clears his throat before telling Maki to give you and Megumi a moment with each other. Maki was hesitant but still followed the prince's orders. Now, you and Megumi are alone in the palace gardens. 

"Something's bothering you," he says. "Do you mind telling me?"

"Uh—I… I'm not bothered, Megumi. I'm just—"

"Overwhelmed? I understand if you are. I am, too." Megumi sits down on the fountain. You did the same. "If I'm going to be honest, I never wanted to agree with this. Pardon me, I think you are amazing but I don't want to marry this young, and I… I am in love with someone else." 

"Oh…" you turn your head down, realizing that the both of you are in the same situation. "I'm sorry I dragged you into this mess, Megumi. So, that means you and I are in the same situation."  

"You're in love with someone else too?" he asks. You bite your lip before nodding slowly. Megumi gives you a soft glance. "What's he like?" 

Not he… she.

Maybe it won't hurt to tell Megumi about your… true feelings. After all, the both of you are acquaintances for 3 months. The two of you had shared sibling bonds with each other, that you're comfortable with telling stories and… insulting and judging every person in the palace, including the kings and queens. So, maybe… Megumi can be trusted with your secret. 

"Not he." you chuckle. "It's a she, actually." 

Megumi's eyes widen in disbelief before he turns his gaze down, and mumbles, "oh…". Now, you're contemplating your life decisions, overthinking that Megumi won't talk to you again after hinting to him that you are in love with the same gender as yours. 

"That's interesting…" he mumbles. "Who is she?" 

"Maki." 

"Oh… I'm not actually surprised." he chuckles. "It's either the both of you are not good at hiding or I'm just too observant." 

"You're probably too observant. After all, she and I had been intimate since 17." 

"Then I guess it won't hurt to say this to you, too," he mutters. "You see, when Yuuji, Toge, and I were courting you for your hand in marriage, I happen to fall for another… prince asking for your hand." 

Your eyes widen when you heard him mumble Itadori Yuuji's name. Megumi told you about how disappointed he was when he got picked by you, then again he thought that if you picked someone else, it's always gonna end up in the same situation. He and Yuuji won't see each other again, and a marriage between two princes isn't accepted. It turns out that you and Megumi really understand each other's situation.

For the rest of the day, the both of you spent your time in the palace garden talking and telling stories. Megumi's father, Toji, teased the both of you about how you're getting along and about… having beautiful children of your own. Little did he know that the both of you are not interested in having children. 

"Do you think I should confess to her? Finally admit to her about my feelings? I haven't spoken to her in 3 months," you mumble next to Megumi. 

"I think you should," he says. "This situation isn't going anywhere if you're still going to ignore her." 

"You're right." 

"And she's hurt, you know. I see it." 

"I have to go to her," you whisper.

"Then go." he says. 

With that, you are up on your feet and ran along the hallways of the palace, searching for your woman. 

Where could she be at this hour? Right, at the tallest tower where she and I would stargaze.

You pick up the pace as you run up the stairs, holding the hem of your dress so you won't trip on it. Minutes of still climbing up, you can already feel yourself drenched in sweat, your breathing went shallow. 

Finally, when you reach the top of the tower, you see Maki sitting on beside the window. The woman suddenly stood up and asked if you are okay. You catch your breath before giving her a proper reply, saying that you are completely fine. 

"What brought you here, your majesty?" she asks. 

Not the formalities.

"Maki…" you breathe. "I… I'm sorry. I know, this might be so sudden but I—I want to be with you, Maki." 

"H-hey, where did all this—"

"Just let me finish!" you yell, making her stop and signaled you to go on. You take a deep breath before saying anything. "I want to be with you, Maki. I don't just mean sleeping next to you, kissing you in secret, embracing you—I don't want just that. I want… I want to marry you, Maki." 

The woman's eyes widen at your words and her mind process the things you just said to her. Maki walks closer to you and embraces you in her arms. Just then, you feel as if you are floating above the clouds, with no worries, no pain, just ecstacy and euphoria. How you missed this embrace so much. 

"You know we can't marry each other, right?" she whispers on the crook of your neck. "You don't know how long I've wanted to embrace you again. I can't even sleep knowing that you aren't by my side." 

"I missed you, too, Maki." you mumble as your arms wrap around her neck.

"As much as I want to marry you, Y/N, I don't think the palace is going to allow us." Maki pulls away from the hug and holds both sides of your face to make you look up at her. "But I can't bear seeing you being married to someone else." she whispers and rests her forehead on yours. 

"I'm done hiding these feelings, Maki." you whisper. "I'm going to march right in front of my father and tell him about my love for you. If he doesn't accept this union, so be it." 

"But what about your—"

"I know," you mumble as you close your eyes. "But that's who I am, Maki. I can't change anything, not their feelings and not mine." 

Maki gently caresses your cheeks with her callous hand below your soft ones. Slowly, she leans in, letting her lips meet yours and then suddenly, you are at the center of the universe again, feeling every wonder in this world just by tasting Maki's lips that can be compared to the sweet ambrosia from the heavens. 

The soft and passionate kiss turned into a heated one. Maki parts your lips with her tongue, entering your mouth and writhe against yours. You feel your back hitting the stone wall as Maki continues to ravage on your sweet lips. Her kisses, then, travel to your neck, making you let out a whimper because of her hot kisses and nibbles. Maki's hands caresses every inch of your body, lifting the hem of your dress to caress your thighs, sending you a warm sensation with her touch. 

Maki pulls away from your neck. The both of you are breathing heavy and catching your breath as you stare deep into each other's eyes. 

"As much as I want to make love with you, I'm not going to do it at the top of the tallest tower in the palace where everyone in this goddamn kingdom can see us." she mumbles. 

"My room?"

Maki's kisses are the epitome of slow, sensual, and passionate. Her warm lips continues to nibble on your neck, down your collarbone as he sucks your skin, leaving a mark that would surely be noticeable yet you couldn't care less about it. Her hands wander around every inch of your body, not a part of it was left untouched by her delicate hands while yours are tangled against her hair as you feel the sensation of her kisses rush through you, sending heat down on your crotch.

Maki's lips left your chest and give her full attention on your lips as she parts it using her tongue, sliding inside of your mouth and writhing against yours. As she laps your mouth, her hands are busy untying the back of your dress, making it loose around your shoulders so she could easily slide the fabric off of you.

Once every piece of clothing is off of you, Maki tells you to wrap your legs around her waist, which you immediately did so. The woman continues on kissing you as she carries you to your queen-sized bed. She gently puts you down and continues to plant soft kisses on your skin, making you whimper against the warmth of her touch.

"Mmm… Maki… more, please," you moan against her touch.

"Tell me what you want, love," she whispers. The warmth of her breath against your skin are sending ineffable sensations on your body, making you squirm against her. "Tell me what you want so I can give it to you."

"I want—want you to touch me more, please."

You hold Maki's wrist and guide it down to your wet folds, the contact between her fingers and your slit caused you to close your eyes and whimper at how a simple touch can give you so much pleasure that you've never felt before.

Your action made Maki's breathing shallow. Seeing you underneath her while guiding her fingers to draw circles on your clit is something that she had imagined several times before, and yet reality seems to be so much better than her fantasies. And hearing you plead her to touch you more? How could she say no to that?

With that, Maki gives you a soft look before pinning both of you wrists above your head and let her fingers do the work to pleasure you. Maki continues to draw circles on your clit as she kisses your neck, leaving marks and bites on it while you bury your face on her shoulder.

"Ah… feels so good, so—haa—good."

Maki releases both of your wrists for her other hand to play with your hard nipples, which added to the pleasure she was giving, making you arch your back.

After minutes of toying and rubbing with your clit, Maki inserts two fingers inside of you, splitting your wet folds, which made you whimper. Not wasting any time, she inserts another finger, making you cry and grip her shoulder tight.

You played with yourself numerous times before yet you never had the courage to insert two fingers inside, let alone three. Not to mention that Maki's fingers are longer than yours, that she can easily hit the spot that you're trying so hard to reach.

Maki's fingers went from slow to a sudden rapid pace, creating lewd and squelching sounds that accompanied your whimpers and moans echoing inside the entire room. Your breathing went shallow as well, your chest rising up and down to catch your breath.

"Oh, f-fuck! Maki, wait! 'm gonna—oh, god—please, slow down—shit!"

Despite your pleas and cries, instead of stopping, Maki whispers things to you and continues to finger you in such a brutal pace.

"It's okay, baby," she whispers. "Don't hold back. Cum for me."

With one last thrust of her fingers inside of you, you let out a hoarse cry as you release around Maki's fingers, soaking it your juices. The woman gives you a soft smile before licking her fingers to taste your cum. She leans closer to you until her soft lips meet your forehead to plant a gentle kiss on you.

"You did so good for me, darling," she whispers before kissing you passionately on your lips.

You hum on her kiss as your hands wander around Maki's curves. She pulls away from the kiss before lowering herself down to your aching pussy. Even though you look at her with half-lidded eyes, you can clearly see her smirk as she leans in closer to taste your wet folds.

Her tongue flattens on your slit, making you grip the sheets underneath you and arch your back.

"Ah! Oh, god—!" You whimper and squirm.

Maki continues to lap your folds, licking and sucking your clit that made you see stars. The lewd slurping sounds that she made filled the room along with your wanton moans. Your constant squirming made Maki a bit pissed so she held the back of your thighs, spreading your legs wide and leaving you no ability to try and close it. With that, she continues to aggressively devour your cunt as if it's the last meal she's going to taste.

"Oh, fuck, yes! So good—feels so good!" Your hands make their way down to Maki's head, gripping her hair as you push her head even closer to you swollen pussy.

Maki stares up at you before smirking devilishly. She gently pushed her index finger inside your wet folds as she continues to eat you out, which made you arch your back and your fingers digging on her scalp. Maki inserts another finger and didn't hesitate to thrust inside of you while still sucking and licking your pussy.

The combination between Maki's skilled fingers and tongue made your toes curl and eyes roll to the back of your skull, making you see stars. Your moans became even louder than before—maybe even loud enough for someone to hear from the outside of your room.

"Oh, god! Fuck! Yesyesyes, Maki! 'm gonna cum," you cry. "'m so close, please!"

You scream as you feel your orgasm rippling through you once again. Maki lets out a chuckle and hums before giving your slit one last lick. She pulls away from pussy and stares at your body in its full glory. The woman starts to remove every piece of clothing that's clinging on her. You watch and play with yourself, rubbing and drawing circles on your clit as Maki removes her clothing.

Your eyes soften once you get a perfect view of Maki's body on top of you. Her body is full of scars and marks that she got from training and fighting, but despite that you find every inch of her so beautiful, so perfect that you want to kiss and worship every part of her body.

"You're so pretty, Maki," you whisper. "Want to kiss you. Please, let me kiss you."

Maki gives you a gentle look before leaning down on you and presses her lips against yours. Her chest are making contact with yours, which made you feel shivers down your spine because of her warmth. Maki pulls away from the kiss and settles on top of you while you lay down on your back. She lifts your leg up, letting it rest on her shoulder while the other remains down on the sheets. Maki settles her glistening folds to yours, gently touching each other's clit as she grinds her hips against yours.

Maki's breathing went shallow as her movements became rapid. The contact between your clit rubbing against hers made you feel closer to climax once again that you grip the sheets underneath you, your legs shaking and breathing growing even more shallow as you feel yourself cumming again.

"Ahh, shit—you feel so good against me—fuck," she moans on top of you, not stopping her hips from grinding.

Maki continues to grind harder against you. The air is filled with your synchronised pants and moans along with the wet sounds of your pussies rubbing against each other.

"Maki, 'm gonna cum again," you whimper.

"Me too, fuck. Cum with me, baby. Please… please, I need you," she moans before planting soft kisses on your legs and whispering sweet nothings. "You're so beautiful. So, so beautiful."

"Ahh… fuck… I—I love you, Maki. Love you so much," you moan.

"I—fuck—I love you too, sweetheart. I love you so fucking much," she replies.

Your moans synchronized as you feel each other's clit throb against each other, both of your bodies trembling in unison as you feel yourself cumming again.

Maki pulls away from you before she leans down to kiss you again, still breathing heavy. She gives you a gentle kiss on your forehead before settling down beside you. You lean to your sides to look at her and so did she. Maki's fingertips gently caress your cheeks before pulling you close to her, resting your head on her chest. She plants a soft kiss on top of your head and strokes your hair.

"I'm gonna marry you someday," she whispers.

"Do you really think he'll approve of us?" Maki asks while she strokes your hair. "And cancel your… marriage with that Fushiguro guy? And let us marry each other?"

"Hmm… I don't know, Maki," you say. "It's worth trying though, right?" you smile to her, making her smile back and kiss your forehead.

"Yeah. Even if he didn't approve of us, I'll still find a way for us to marry each other," she chuckles.

After taking a bath with Maki, the both of you make your way to the palace garden where your father, the king, usually drinks his tea and read some of the old books from the library. Hand in hand, you and Maki make your way to the king, which caught your presence.

"Father, Maki and I have something to tell you," you say, trying to hide your quivering voice.

"What is it, dear?" he asks.

"I—we, uhm—" you stutter until Maki decides to talk.

"Y/N and I want to tell you about our romantic relationship with each other," Maki utters without a hint of nervousness. "We figured it would be best to tell you about this and because we're both tired of hiding."

Your father stares at yours and Maki's hands intertwined with each other then his gaze went up to you.

"We are thinking about getting married, father. Whether you and this kingdom like it or not," you say with full bravery.

"And you want me to call off the wedding between you and Megumi?" he asks.

"That would be best, yes, your highness," Maki replies. "I can't bear to see her being married off to someone else." Her fingers tightened around yours.

Instead of reacting negatively, your father lets out a chuckle which turned into a loud burst of laughter. You and Maki stare at each other with confused looks, wondering why your father is not reacting the way that you two were expecting to.

"Very well then. I'll inform the other kingdom about… another union," he says, making yours and Maki's eyes widen.

"What?" you ask.

"It's about time you kids admit it to me," he says. "The both of you aren't actually good secret keepers. Also because I heard… things that I wasn't supposed to."

Oh, my god.

"So… you approve of our union?" Maki asks.

"Why, of course! I don't see any reason not to. If a man and a woman can love each other, then a woman and a woman can do so too," he chuckles. "When I was your age, I remember falling deeply in love with my best friend… who is also a man."

"Why didn't you tell me this before?" you ask.

"Well, it was a long time ago," your father says.

"What happened to him?" Maki asks, which made your father's mood… darken.

"He died in a war," he mumbles. "Ah... Very well, the both of you shall have a wedding and my blessing, of course."

With that, your union with Zenin Maki was spread across the kingdom—well, across the entire country. Some of them weren't pleased with the idea of the marriage but some were overjoyed. Megumi congratulated you on your union with Maki. He also informed you about his… confession to his father, who also seemed to be proud with Megumi's feelings. He and Yuuji were seen hand in hand together at your wedding, which you and Maki congratulated them.

Over the years, you ruled the kingdom, alongside your wife, Maki. Your names will be remembered by history as the first queens who ruled the most powerful kingdom in your country together. After all, maybe a queen needs another queen by her side.

© fushigowo | reblogs are appreciated ♡

[grass-skirt]

what are your least/most favorite anime trope?

Okay this took me a long time but in my defense I was giving it serious thought! So here’s what I’ve got so far. 

Tropes I love:

Characters who are adorable and tiny and also unreasonably powerful

Shark teeth. Allow me to repeat myself. SHARK TEETH!!!!!! I fucking love characters with shark teeth.  

Cat ears. I’m not gonna lie, I like cat ears. On boys and girls. Cat ears for everyone (everyone who is cute).

Characters who are really nice but who look super scary. I’m not talking about delinquents who are secretly softies. I’m talking full Angel Densetsu–characters who are super nice and don’t even try to be scary in any way but unfortunately for them they come across as so intimidating that they can go “Excuse me you dropped your pencil” and ppl freak out because they think they’re about to get stabbed

Giant, terrifying, massively powerful man with super scary face!! ….and a tiny adorable child on his shoulder who loves him.

Misunderstandings used for comedy. (You know, like the school delinquents all becoming terrified of a character who is actually a total softie)

Your standard 4 Heavenly Kings style overpowered groups. Like the Student Council or the neighborhood delinquent crew.

I do kinda like tournament arcs. They can be a lot of fun.

Super hot androgynous characters who more often then not are evil. Is it bad representation? Yes! But they’re cool and hot so like… yeah

Super buff giant women. Are there enough of them? Hell no. But I love them when they are there.

Local girl is dumbass but boy does she try her best with a whole lot of aggressive enthusiasm! (Think Little Witch Academia)

Smug evil women. The real powerful ones who the main characters try to yell at and defy but she’s just still there grinning smugly and talking about how cute they are for thinking they can stop her.

Tropes that should die:

Female characters who are supposedly super strong and powerful but never fucking get to do anything ever. 

Sexualized earlier mentioned tiny, cute, and powerful characters (”they may look like a 10 year old but they’re actually an adult or thousands of years old!” doesn’t make it any better) 

Incest subplots… which is a different but kind of related topic since it’s usually younger sisters who are in love with their older brother or vise versa)

Perverts who never shut up about saying gross things and harassing every single woman around them but are still core members of the main group and will never fucking go away or die. And like 5 year old boy characters who are perverts and are used to creep on women in a secret and ~non-predatory because they’re just a child~ way

I really could just say fanservice as a whole. I mean, take your pick. The female character who just ~loves~ telling the MC to feel her giant boobs? Dudes tripping and falling face/hand first into a girl’s boobs? A group of boys peeking on the girls in the hotsprings episode but getting yelled at and slapped so it’s all okay b/c the girls can stand up for themselves (or not)? Female characters constantly talking about each others’ boobs and groping each other? Female characters being kidnapped and stripped and chained up naked and possibly tortured so that 40 year old animator and manga artists can get off on it? Burn it all. Sex and sex appeal and all that isn’t inherently bad, but jezus anime and manga cram a lot of it into inappropriate situations and in super sleezy, gross forms.

Characters acting like they need to dedicate their entire lives to the shit they said when they were 5 years old (aka, fantasies about girls’ physical and emotional purity because they’ve spent their entire lives in love with 1 person only)

Similarly, harems where a ton of girls fall in love with a dude because he’s like… kind of nice sometimes. That, and the reverse of where there’s a million girls all in love with the same guy because he’s emo and brooding and mean (we all know I’m talking about Sasuke and Tobey Maguire in Spider Man 3)

Characters who want to say something important (usually confessing their feelings), starting to say it, and then going, “…No… It’s nothing” *fake smile*

A never ending series of massive villain and hero powerups. Oh, you just beat a villain who could blow up the entire earth? Well this next bad guy can blow up the whole solar system. And then the next guy can blow up the whole galaxy! (cue training arc and/or massive gifted powerup.) Ya can’t substitute good writing and an interesting plot with characters who can destroy an increasingly large number of buildings or planets or galaxies.

Oh, and here’s another related one. Where the main character scarifies his abilities to temporarily gain the power to defeat the bad guy who was so overpowered that there was no other way to defeat him. Aaaaaaand then he gets his powers back 1 or 2 arcs later with no long term consequences for the supposed sacrifice. (Looking at you, Bleach.)

Overly complicated attempts at philosophical depth that don’t actually mean anything and barely even relate to the plot. “This world is but a hollow egg, propped up by a sea of roses with thorns that are built from the hearts of men who dream of honey but can’t grasp the apple before them…” *Followed by 5 more minutes of back and forth debate delivered through abstract symbolism and then the villain and MC sword fight.* Symbolism is real and can be done well and with genuine meaning behind it, but a lot of the time there’s just nothing actually there. Plus, symbolism is something you show. You can’t just have a dude say metaphors about apples and dreams for 5 minutes and have it count. 

This one’s actually a bit more serious IMO. You know the whole Naruto/Sasuke dynamic? The one where person A and person B are friends, and then person B decides to do horrible things and hurt everyone around them but person A still views them as a friend no matter what? Yeah not a fan. Friendships aren’t a contract where once you call someone a friend once you need to be their friend for the rest of your life and tear yourself apart trying to help them. It sets bad expectations to kids about what friendship is when they think that their friends will continue to want to spend time with them and see them as their friend regardless of how shitty they’re being.

Alright that’s all I got for now!!! 

[5bloodyroses]

Are We Not Equally Blind? Chapter 1: A New Case

AN: The beginning of this story takes place after Reikai Tantei managed to save Yukina, but before the Dark Tournament.

 Yusuke was sleeping peacefully after another successful mission and was dreaming (having nightmares) about his training with Genkai, causing his eye to twitch slightly in his sleep as he mumbled incoherently about "sadistic grannies". Yusuke’s “peaceful” slumber was brought to a jarring stop when he was abruptly woken up by Botan who was “gently” shaking him to rouse him from his sleep. 

 "Yusuke.....Yusuke.....wake up......WAKE UP YUSUKE THIS IS IMPORTANT!" Botan shouted as she “gently” shook the Spirit Detective awake.

 "Huh? Botan? What the hell are you doing here? Goddammit, I was sleeping!" Yusuke yelled furiously at the blue-haired reaper, confused by her sudden appearance.

 "This isn't the time for sleep right now, Koenma's got another case for you an-" Botan spoke urgently and quickly, silently wishing that Yusuke would just listen and do as he was told for once.

 "Another one?! I just solved one for that stupid baby! Can't this wait till morni-" Yusuke shouted indignantly, jumping up from his bed.

 He was, understandably, angry since it was 11 ‘o’ clock at night and it was the weekend. Between juggling his job (which he wasn't paid to do) and junior high (which he skipped 90% of the time), Yusuke was wiped out and felt like he deserved some R 'n' R.

 Okay, Yusuke did deserve a break for fighting (and almost dying) the Toguro brothers and their demon triad. But it’d been a week since the fight, which was, in the eyes of Reikai, plenty of time for him to rest (well…in reality, it’s not a lot of time, but when one considered how little strenuous activity Yusuke actually does, it is) especially since he doesn’t really do much besides skipping school as much as he can, play games in the arcade and beating up some other (normal) teenagers his age (and older). Plus, for Yusuke, fighting normal, and more importantly, human teenage boys was not difficult before he died, much less now. So really in the grand scheme of things, Yusuke moaning about his work wasn’t entirely justified. (In the eyes of Reikai and Botan). However, to Yusuke, who was a lazy slacker, it was perfectly justifiable for him to kick up a fuss about being ordered to work in the middle of the night. (Not that Yusuke would ever actually admit to being a lazy slacker, but he’ll never dispute it.)

 "No Yusuke, it can't! Koenma said that this case is of utmost importance! Kurama and Hiei are already with Koenma already and we cannot waste any more time waiting for you!" Botan interrupted Yusuke, she was tired of his whining already and wished that Yusuke would actually think about his responsibility as Spirit Detective for once and just understand that Koenma needed his help. Yusuke, surprised by Botan's outburst, grudgingly agreed.

This was mostly because he actually valued his hearing and didn’t want Botan screeching at him so late at night. He wouldn’t be surprised if she had woken his relatively new neighbours with her caterwauling, which didn’t bode well for him because they could potentially spend the rest of the night or the next day asking his hungover mother why they heard a girl screaming in their flat, or alternatively call the police because they might think that someone is being murdered. That being said, Yusuke was a little curious to know just what was important enough for Koenma to call him so late at night.

 After (reluctantly) agreeing, Yusuke told Botan to wait as he dressed and left his flat to go wake Kuwabara (all while complaining every few minutes in his loud and obnoxious voice).

 ~mini time skip~

 At Koenma's office

 "Alright pacifier breath, what's so important that you woke me up in the middle of the night?" Yusuke asked

 Ignoring Yusuke's insult, Koenma got straight to the point and brought up the image of a young male around Yusuke and Kuwabara's age who wore light blue and white Chinese style fighter clothing (similar to the ones Kurama wore in the Dark tournament only it has a hood) with the hood covering the majority of their head leaving only their face and black fringe visible. The male appeared to be quite short with pale skin which made his dark hair stand out even more. One of the most striking part of him was the red marking on his forehead, just above his eyebrows that was in the shape of a Chinese lotus blossom. The other was his heterochromia eyes, with the left eye being a deep green and the other a beautiful dark blue. His eyes were larger and wider than the eyes of most men but were narrower than females. Overall, his face was well proportioned and rather androgynous, but his figure was a little feminine as it was slim and lithe. In Yusuke and Kuwabara’s opinion, they looked even more feminine than Kurama. Actually, Yusuke and Kuwabara assumed the person on the screen was a guy, and they would never actually say that Kurama looked like a girl to his face.

 "This apparition is Ren, according to our files and is rumoured to be a Sacred Spirit. This would usually mean that he’s from Spirit World, but what little we have on file about him isn’t exactly well documented. Some of our sources from the file claim that he is a demon from the Makai, not a Sacred Spirit.” Koenma began, and looked, despite his incredibly youthful appearance, stressed with dark circles beginning to form under his eyes.

 “Woah, hold up!” Yusuke blurted out with his customary frown of anger mixed with confusion.

 “Yes, Yusuke?” Koenma replied with a deep breath, a reminder for himself to be patient with the fourteen-year-old spirit detective.

 “Uh, what’s a Sacred Spirit? And what’s the difference between a spirit and a demon?” Yusuke asked. This kind of question had been nagging at him for a while since he was sure (since they had told him) that Kurama and Hiei were demons, and Botan was the grim reaper (or ferry girl, whatever that meant) and wasn’t considered a demon. However, no one had actually stopped to explain to him what apparitions and demons were and the actual difference between apparitions and demons, if there was any.

 “Well Yusuke, a Sacred Spirit tends to be or usually are the children of the older spirits in Spirit World or the ancient ‘Gods’ of Ningenkai. Those gods are from the oldest and strongest spirits in Spirit World their equivalence for human standards would be Celestial beings. Now normal Sacred Spirits, and I’m using this term quite loosely, are bound to different shrines in human or Spirit World or to stronger apparitions in Spirit World.” Koenma said, beginning his explanation. “Are you following me so far?” Konema asked, trying to minimize the number of questions caused by Yusuke or Kuwabara’s confusion.

 “Okay, yeah I’m followin’.” Yusuke said while Kuwabara nodded.

 “Good, now, Sacred Spirits are contractually bound to the shrine or apparition until:

a)     The God or Shrine owner, or apparition dismisses them.

b)     The God or shrine itself become dilapidated due to no one believing in the God anymore.

c)      They die while serving the one they are bound to.

d)     In the rare possibility that they go rogue, and kill the one they are bound to and leave.” Koenma finished looking at Yusuke and Kuwabara, waiting for them to process and understand the information he has just told them.

 “Has Ren gone rogue?” Kurama asked, frowning slightly in apprehension. He knew that killing an apparition that was of God status in Ningenkai was a great offence, and if Ren was successful in doing so, he would be a formidable opponent.

 “Thankfully no, well at least I’m thankful right now anyway. In order for Ren to have gone rogue, then he would have had to be in contact with an apparition or shrine that we are aware of and, from our research, no shrine or apparition in Spirit World has undertaken a contract with Ren.” Koenma explained to the fox spirit.

 “Then why the hell are we here?!” Yusuke shouted in frustration.

 “If you let me finish, you’ll find out,” Koenma said rather tetchily, sucking on his dummy, making tsking sounds at Yusuke’s impatience. “The reason why I have called you all here is not for Ren’s crimes.”

 “WHAT?!” Kuwabara and Yusuke shouted in anger and surprise. “You mean you woke us up for nothing!?”

 Botan blinked in surprise.

 “But Koenma, you said this was a matter of great importance…If Ren hasn’t committed a crime, then why…” She asked in confusion.

 “Because in reality, Ren’s files in Spirit World are…there’s so little information it is not even a file. According to Spirit World, he has committed no crime, yet he has been imprisoned here in Spirit World for centuries under my father’s orders in the highest security cell we have, even the three treasures don’t get as much security as he does.” Koenma sighed, suddenly looking centuries older than he appeared. “However, 10 years ago, somehow, Ren was able to escape and, although he was weakened by the escape, he managed to disappear somewhere within Ningenkai.”

 At this statement, the Reikai Tantei's heads all turned sharply to stare incredulously at Koenma while Botan stood open-mouthed in shock. 

 "He was able to escape," Hiei stated as he shared a look with Kurama whose face was unreadable and looked back at the toddler prince. Hiei couldn’t help but feel a little impressed if Ren had escaped the cell Hiei was thinking about. Holy Talismans to trap both demons and spirits, chains that restrained and sucked an apparitions spirit energy and round the clock security. Although Hiei did scoff at the security, what little they had, in Spirit World.

 Koenma closed his eyes in worry as he continued. "Yes Hiei, he was able to escape unharmed despite all the holy talismans that we had used to contain him."

 “So he escaped, big deal, I don’t see why you’re so anxious about.” Yusuke scoffed, right now, he didn’t care if a dragon had escaped, Koenma seemed to have woken him up for nothing and he wanted to go back to sleep.

 “Shut up Urameshi! Can’t you see that this is important! If he could break out of prison, who knows how strong he is?!”

 “If Ren has escaped for so long, why wasn’t Ren apprehended at the time? Surely it would have been wiser for you to take advantage of the situation and his weakness?” Kurama asked, his brows furrowing, something about this case didn’t make sense and it didn’t sit well with him.

 “I honestly don’t know,” Koenma admitted after a few moments with a deep sigh. “At the time there was so much hullaballoo about his escape but when I started making preparations to send people after him, my father stopped me. Even a few years ago, when I suggested that we go after him, my father just ignored it, like he didn’t even want to think about it. But now he’s ordered for Ren’s retrieval.”

 “Well, that’s stupid,” Yusuke said, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

 “Yeah, makes more sense to get ‘em when they bust out,” Kuwabara commented lowly after he had calmed down.

Hiei silently agreed with the two of them. ‘Looks like the two fools are using their heads for once.’ He thought and wondered, for a moment just how long this moment would last, silently scoffing when Kuwabara opened his mouth to speak.

 “…So…What do you want us to do?” Kuwabara asked after a few moments.

 ‘Apparently not long.’ Hiei thought, unsure whether he should be annoyed or disappointed by his stupidity…or both.

 “I, or rather my father, needs the four of you to track down Ren and bring him back here,” Koenma answered him looking the group in the eyes, before looking away.

 After a few minutes of silence, Yusuke and Kuwabara agreed to find the missing "convict" and turned to return back to their homes, sleep and start searching for Ren in the morning. Hiei and Kurama waited until Yusuke and Kuwabara had set off with Botan before looking Koenma's in the eyes and began their inquisition. 

 "What’s the real reason we were called here Koenma? I know you don’t want us to just capture him. Besides, you have told us nothing about this Ren, what are you hiding from us?” Hiei 'asked' (demanded).  His gaze, along with Kurama's was so intense that Koenma couldn't continue looking them in the eye anymore. Koenma looked back down to his desk with his eyes closed, choosing his words carefully before steeling himself and looking back up to the two demons.

[everettaddamsmacleod-blog]

The Player of Games - Review and Deconstruction I

So, in this whole “a friend is paying me to review books” deal, as it turns out, I need to actually review the book. So- The Player of Games, is it any good?

Yeah. Good book. Well written, tightly structured, asks fun questions. Don’t expect to fall in love with any characters. If you’ve ever wondered about the problem of ennui in Fully Automated Gay Space Communism, I have a book for you!

But I suppose the more interesting thing to write about is - what is there to get out of the book? Why, other than the joy of Iain Bank’s calvinball scenes, should someone read this?

Because it’s 2018 and like most things, the book’s about gender identity, masculinity and the allure of fascism1.

The breeze was cold and freshening under ragged clouds. Out to sea, beyond Hassease village, where the weather was coming from, he could see tall veils of rain under a dark front of storm clouds.2

Side note: I wrote a lot about this book, so I’m splitting it up into three parts. When I get all of them up I’ll edit in links. Part II: Azad: Vicious but Sexy Part III: Getting the Girl Handsome Androgynous Person

From this point forward, I assume knowledge of the text. So, spoiler warning.

Part 1 - Gurgeh’s a Dick

This was my second time through this book, and so I got to notice a lot of details I didn’t during my audiobook listen of it. I got to pick up on the significance of the names Possession and Stricken for games. I noticed how the three main boards of Azad paralleled the three main sections of the book: the Board of Origin (Gurgeh at Ikroh, introduction of the Culture and Gurgeh’s discontent), the Board of Form (Proper introduction of Azadian culture, and Gurgeh’s immersion into it), and the Board of Becoming (Gurgeh embraces his own Culture-al values). I also got to notice Flere-Imsaho’s machinations to manipulate Gurgeh, his bird watching habit, and a number of other details I missed on my initial listen.

Like this one other thing I noticed about this book: Castration comes up a lot.

Aha! A motif.

The first time it is mentioned explicitly comes while Mahwrin-Skel/Flere-Imsaho is in the midst of blackmailing Gurgeh to contact Contact and speak on its behalf. Reading this a second time, it is clear that the drone is very consciously and meticulously manipulating Gurgeh here- the drone hasn’t really been expelled from Special Circumstances, it doesn’t actually need Gurgeh to do this for it’s sake, this is all part of the ruse to get Gurgeh on the voyage to Azad. And so, in stating its case, in getting Gurgeh to have the strong emotional response that would compel him to act, Mahwrin-Skel is appealing to Gurgeh’s own sense of impotence and frustration with the Culture’s somewhat neutered mode of existence, all while Gurgeh has been literally paralyzed.

“Don’t you know what they’ve done to me, man?” the machine said, shaking him. “I’ve been castrated, spayed, paralyzed! How you feel now; helpless, knowing the limbs are there but unable to make them work! Like that, but knowing that they aren’t there! Can you understand that?”3

Then, as Gurgeh is beginning to get a sense of how Azad really works with real players and what this society values, he accompanies Shohobohohaum Za to - well, lets just call it a den of iniquity. There they witness a fight where a female Azadian - the first female Azadian we have seen be anything other than submissive and demure - wrestling a strange alien.

The audience behind them went “Oooo”. Za and Gurgeh turned round to see the victorious woman pulling her opponent’s body up out of the mud by its penis; the aliens being’s head and feet were still under the glutinous, slowly slopping liquid. “Ouch,” Za muttered, drinking.

Somebody in the crowd tossed the woman a dagger; she caught it, stooped, and sliced off the alien genitals. She brandished the dripping flesh aloft while the crowd went wild with delight and the alien sank slowly beneath the cloying red liquid, the woman’s foot on its chest. The mud gradually turned black where the blood oozed, and a few bubbles surfaced.4

And here Gurgeh gets to see literal castration. Given the space it’s given in the text, I think we can infer that this scene- wherein a woman supposedly selected for docile servility in this culture - violently slices off alien dick, makes an impact on Gurgeh. Indeed it does:

“I believe you are a male.”

“Yes,” Gurgeh said. His palms started to sweat.

“My bet is castration. Removal of the male member and testes against apicial gelding, on this one game on the Board of Origin. Do you accept?”

“I--” Gurgeh swallowed, but his mouth stayed dry. It was absurd; he was in no real danger. The Limiting Factor would rescue him; or he could just go through with it; he would feel no pain, and genitalia were some of the faster regrowing parts of the body… but still the room seemed to warp and distort in from of him, and he had a sudden, sickening vision of cloying red liquid, slowly staining black, bubbling… “Yes!” he blurted, forcing it out. “Yes,” he said to the Adjudicator.5

And so our castration setup begins its full payoff as Gurgeh is pressed into a body bet to progress further in the Azad tournament. Directly after accepting this bet, Gurgeh loses hope of winning this game, he loses the will to do so, and we learn that Olz Hap, the young woman who nearly beat Gurgeh at a game in the beginning of the book, has “produced the Ultimate Stricken result.” A final strike that leaves Gurgeh “unsure what to know, or think, or remember, or even be.”

But what did Gurgeh think he was before this?

For starters, an indefeatable game player, the best that the Culture has to offer. And, crucially, male.

“I feel you want to...take me.” Yay said, “like a piece, like an area. To be had; to be...possessed.” Suddenly she looked very puzzled. “There’s something very… I don’t know; primitive, perhaps, about you, Gurgeh. You’ve never changed sex, have you?” He shook his head. “Or slept with a man?” Another shake. “I thought so,” Yay said. “You’re strange, Gurgeh.”6

Most of the Culture seems to change gender with a fluid nonchalance. It gets mentioned in the background rather frequently - so-and-so is changing, this person spent so many years as a man, don’t let the aliens dissect your junk because the way we made it easily change is a state secret, etc. Gurgeh has some discomfort with the idea, however, and has avoided it. He’s even vaguely concerned to notice that six of the ten former lovers that showed up to bid him farewell became and stayed men. To Gurgeh, gender identity, his gender identity - his masculinity - is an essential part of him, and he fears losing (or not fulfilling) it.

This is also entwined with the other thing that sets him apart from the rest of the Culture: His drive to possess, to dominate. He plays games with conversations that make an unwitting opponent of someone he means to shame, to dominate, for fun. He is goaded into cheating at Stricken by the thought of not just winning, not just beating his opponent, but dominating the game itself by obtaining the Full Web victory condition. While he says his reputation isn't something that matters to him, it clearly does, as his reaction to the thought of being caught cheating is to threaten suicide. His position as the Culture’s dominant game-player is clearly very dear to him. I think the only reason he doesn’t like the shooting game at the very start of the book is that he’s not good at it- he can’t dominate.

This is also apparent with how he approaches relationships with women - he’s there to dominate, possess them, according to Yay. We also get to see him with Ren, and there he also displays more possessive traits while having sex with her. His bristling at the transitioning of his former lovers and his approach to women shows that he sees female-ness, femininity, as an important trait as well- one that has a role that he wants it to play. Namely, submission and passivity, even if he would attest otherwise. His subconscious desires and assumptions make themselves known. Femininity is there to be possessed and dominated by masculinity. Domination and possession are traits he codes as masculine, and so he values them as part of his identity as male.

So I think its clear that even before the body-bet happens, one of Gurgeh’s driving fears is emasculation and fluidity of gender roles.

Also the nature of truth and reality, which makes it even more relevant in 2018, but since I don’t really get in to that topic, I thought I’d leave it out of the opener.

Banks, Iain M. The Player of Games. Orbit, 2008. p. 67. get it, has-ease village but theres a storm a-brewin?

Ibid, p. 70

Ibid, p. 197-198

Ibid, p.  249-250

Ibid, p.  28

Aaand theres where I’m leaving off for today. Tumblrs text editor is not that fun. Tune in next time for a ramble about fascism.

Links to the other ones:

Part I: Gurgeh’s a dick

Part II: Azad: Vicious but Sexy

Part III: Getting the Girl Handsome Androgynous Person

[recentanimenews]

Bookshelf Briefs 2/25/20

DAYS, Vol. 16 | By Tsuyoshi Yasuda | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Usually with sports manga I can find some emotional beat to highlight, but this volume really is just a bunch of soccer. Not that that’s a bad thing. Seiseki has progressed to the second round of the All Japan High School Soccer Tournament and their opponent is Ichiboshi Academy, whose unpredictable playing style proves challenging. Tsukamoto takes a bit of a backseat this time as Yasuda-sensei focuses on some older players like Oshiba, whose experience gets him past Ichiboshi’s impressive defence and allows him to score the first goal of the game, and Usui, who is shockingly bested by Ichiboshi as they score a goal of their own. It may not be deep, but it is fun, and I always appreciate how clear Yasuda’s panels are, particularly in depicting pass and shot trajectory. I’ll keep reading! – Michelle Smith

Don’t Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro, Vol. 2 | By Nanashi | Vertical Comics – When it comes to teasing titles, I like this better than Uzaki Wants to Hang Out (which I’ve dropped), but it’s still well below Teasing Master Takagi-san. Where it does succeed is in the art—Nanashi is really, really good at drawing embarrassment, and knows it, so the entire title revolves around both leads getting red-faced and twitchy. The problem continues to be that Nagatoro does not get enough scenes where she’s shown to be teasing rather than just torturing him, and the “senpai” remains a thoroughly wet protagonist. That said, the addition of her two friends did make a nice addition, as it brings out her jealousy. No one toys with my senpai but me! – Sean Gaffney

How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift?, Vol. 2 | By Yabako Sandrovich and MAAM | Seven Seas – The blatant fanservice is still there, but there may be slightly less of it, or perhaps I’ve just gotten used to it, as I was not as distracted by it this time around. Instead I remain fascinated by the workout advice, as well as the wacky adventures of the girls getting the advice, primarily Hibiki, who remains the best thing about this book. We’re also introduced to a new character, Zina, a Russian girl who really wants to be true to the stereotypes that Japan has about Russians. She’s fun, losing to Hibiki in a competition and then transferring to challenge her… and ending up in a different class. Again, I’m surprised that, despite some really blatant service, this remains refreshingly non-sleazy. – Sean Gaffney

An Incurable Case of Love, Vol. 2 | By Maki Enjoji | Viz Media – Maki Enjoji’s titles always seem to have heroines that I really enjoy, even when they’re screwing up. Case in point: Sakura at a party gets drunk and basically talks FAR too much, both to the group and later on to Tendo. Despite this, it’s really rather adorable and not pathetic, which is sort of what you’d expect. The manga also gets good later in the volume, as she deals with something that nurses also have to handle: a stalker who became obsessed with her as a patient. As for Dr. Tendo, he’s dealing with a rival for Nanase’s affections… and also a rival in teaching her how to be a good nurse, as he valiantly donates his poor arm until she shows she can put in an IV properly. This is just fun. – Sean Gaffney

Kase-san and Yamada, Vol. 1 | By Hiromi Takashima | Seven Seas – This is not the first Kase-san book, but the title change signals a sea change: the girls are in college, and Kase-san and Yamada are now definitely the focus rather than flowers, pastries, etc. That said, their couple status is both the plus and the minus of this book: as Erica Friedman and others have noted, both of them are dating but decidedly in the closet. And this is a problem on both sides: Kase becomes jealous when Yamada is invited to a group date, and takes steps to intervene; likewise, Yamada realizes that Kase has a roommate, and that, when her love is sick, she cannot simply rush to her side to take care of her. Real life tends to put crimps in a relationship. Maybe next volume they can tell the roommate about it. – Sean Gaffney

Komi Can’t Communicate, Vol. 5 | By Tomohito Oda | Viz Media – The majority of this volume is devoted to a culture festival, where our class has decided to do a maid cafe, mostly as Komi wants to do one. She may have trouble communicating, but she’s still the princess of the school, and a lot rides on her opinions. Of course, there are challenges. Tadano ends up being forced into a maid costume as well, Najimi’s attempts at making money break school rules and come close to violating actual laws, and Yamai exists. We also meet one or two new characters, including a sempai type and an “easygoing” type who tends to wander off, get lost, etc. Komi-san runs on cliches—deliberately so—but it remains at its heart sweet and heartwarming, especially when the two leads are interacting. – Sean Gaffney

Let’s Kiss in Secret Tomorrow, Vol. 1 | By Uri Sugata | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Saya Kanra and Yuto Kozaki have been friends since elementary school and chastely dating since junior high. Yuto gets a makeover prior to starting high school, wanting to look cool and gain some confidence. The makeover proves too successful, alas, and now he has so many fangirls that Saya, fearing ostracism, has pretended not to know him and adopted the guise of someone disinterested in love. Now they’re trying to keep their relationship secret, occasionally aided by nerdy junior high classmate Amabiki, and talking mostly over voice chat, where things have started to get steamy in the tamest possible sense of the word. This may not be the most robust premise for a series, but I did like that the situation causes Saya to question both her own identity and her past assumptions about Amabiki’s quality of life. This series is complete in three volumes, which feels about right. – Michelle Smith

Living-Room Matsunaga-san, Vol. 1 | By Keiko Iwashita | Kodansha Comics – Originally a digital-only title, Living-Room Matsunaga-san has now achieved a print release! Due to family circumstances that aren’t fully explained, second-year high school student Miko Sonoda is shunted off to live not with her uncle but at her uncle’s boarding house with a bunch of strangers. Miko’s mother seems utterly unconcerned about this, and expects Miko to handle things herself. Thankfully, Miko is pretty capable for a teenager, with occasional lapses, and though she’s initially intimidated by her new housemate Jun Matsunaga, who comes across as belligerent and domineering, she soon realizes that he’s kind, caring, and passionate about his work as a graphic designer. Various situations ensue and Miko finds herself falling for him. While I’m not enthusiastic about a teen/adult romance, I do like these characters, the art style, and the kitty, so I’ll be proceeding on to volume two! – Michelle Smith

The Man Without Talent | By Yoshiharu Tsuge | New York Review Comics – While several of Tsuge’s shorter manga have previously made their way into translation, The Man Without Talent is his first long-form work to be released in English. In the accompanying essay, translator and historian Ryan Holmberg describes it as “Tsuge’s most popular and accessible work.” Originally serialized between 1985 and 1986, The Man Without Talent incorporates semi-autobiographical elements into its narrative. The story follows a cartoonist who seems to have largely given up on cartooning despite the pleas of his wife. Instead, he tries, struggles, and ultimately fails to make ends meet by selling stones he finds along the river near his home. The manga is an occasionally surreal but compellingly honest work, in part an examination of poverty, creativity, society, and self-determination. Readers rightfully intrigued by The Man Without Talent will soon have more of Tsuge’s manga to look forward to—Drawn & Quarterly has a seven-volume series of collected works planned. – Ash Brown

My Androgynous Boyfriend, Vol. 1 | By Tamekou | Seven Seas – Hooray for more josei! Souma Meguru is a beautiful guy who gets profiled in magazines and has many followers on Instagram. He’s been dating Machida Wako, busy editor, for seven years (ever since high school). This slice-of-life series depicts their domestic bliss as well as some of the challenges they face, like rumors that Meguru is actually dating a fellow male model or Wako’s coworker’s assumption that Meguru is female. I particularly enjoyed the chapter in which they go to “Ikeya” and Wako invents backstories for Meguru as he sits in various display rooms. It’s nice to read about a couple that has been together for so long; their relationship exudes trust and devotion. That said, it’s a bit weird that Meguru looks about twelve throughout, when he’s supposed to be so hot. Overall, this was pleasant and I’ll most likely check out volume two. – Michelle Smith

Our Dining Table | By Mita Ori | Seven Seas – I have read thousands of volumes of manga at this point but seldom have I encountered one as intensely charming as Our Dining Table. Yutaka Hozumi is a lonely salaryman who lost his parents at a young age and was never accepted by his adoptive siblings. When a pair of brothers comes into his life, exuberant four-year-old Tane Ueda and harried college student Minoru, Yutaka finds a family that will not only accept him but actively desires he be present as much as possible. I loved the slow progression of Yutaka and Minoru’s relationship; it’s one of those where it’s absolutely clear how they are healing each other of their trauma and what each finds appealing in the other. Also, Tane is incredibly adorable and it’s obvious how much fun Ori-sensei had when drawing him. I loved this without reservation. – Michelle Smith

By: Ash Brown

[dc-tournaments]

Why do they deserve to win?

Tim Drake

Bruce Wayne

[swipestream]

SUPERVERSIVE: Four More Anime Reviews

Hinamatsuri, our first anime

Four Anime Reviews is one of the most popular posts I’ve ever done on the site. Since then I have watched a lot – and I do mean a LOT – more anime, and enjoyed almost all of it (I will only actually watch something to the end that I enjoy).

In light of that, I have thought carefully and decided on four more anime to review. The rules: They must be an anime I have not written a review or article on already…and that’s it. This means nothing on Mob Psycho 100 or One Punch Man, even though Mob Psycho especially is probably my second favorite anime that I’ve watched since that original article.

I’ll also be sort of kind of breaking that rule for the final review, but that show NEEDS to be talked about.

The 10 star rating system is gone. I realized I would have to rank too many shows I really liked below 5 of 10 if I wanted to be consistent. So now it’s just thumbs down and thumbs up.

(I wrote a couple short articles on already airing anime, so my short conclusions on them: Cells at Work improved as the season went on, added real character development and intelligent world building, and ended on a high note. It is my easy winner for anime of the summer 2018 season. Steins;Gate 0 spun its wheels a bit in the middle and had some hilariously bad action scenes but the last four or so episodes were fantastic and it too ended on a REALLY high note.)

And without further ado:

1) Hinamatsuri – Yoshifumi Nitta is a high-ranking member of the Yakuza whose life is turned upside down the day a young, probably autistic girl named Hina with psychic powers inexplicably shows up in his apartment. Nitta pretty much has no choice but to adopt the little girl and wacky hijinx, as well as moving familial bonding, ensues.

Review – This was another show from the summer 2018 season, but I didn’t watch it until much later. It really took me by surprise how much I liked it. The characters are lovable, the jokes are consistently on point, and they do an excellent job juggling their surprisingly large cast of characters.

While the jokes are great, and the show really is very funny, where it truly shines is in its serious moments. The bonds formed between the characters – not just Hina and Nitta but several side characters as well – are consistently touching, and even some of the gags have a sweet edge to them that just makes you smile, like when Hina decides to throw a party celebrating Nitta’s promotion but somehow gets the idea that parties are supposed to look like funerals. It’s a great gag but it’s still touching that Hina makes the effort to go that extra mile, as well as an excellent character moment – the first time in the series Hina decides to do something nice with no ulterior benefit to herself.

Best girl is Hitomi.

Is it superversive? – Very! Not just in its main plot, but throughout its several subplots as well the story is consistently uplifting.

Recommendation – Two thumbs up. It isn’t a must-watch classic, but it is a lot of fun.

2) Last Exile – Claus Valca and Lavie Head are sky couriers on the planet of Prester, a steampunk style world where two nations are in perpetual war and flying machines known as vanships rule the skies. One day a dying courier asks them to complete a dangerous mission: deliver a little girl named Alvis to a flying battleship known as the Silvana. And our adventure begins!

Review – This is one of the classic anime of the early 2000s that helped anime boom in the U.S. Like Trigun before it Last Exile was more of a hit overseas than in Japan, perhaps due to the heavily eurocentric atmosphere, though the split was not nearly as extreme (you can go so far as to call Trigun a bomb in its home country).

The reputation is deserved. Last Exile is a fantastic show. The visual style and tone are reminiscent of Miyazaki’s Castle in the Sky, though with a more adult edge to it. The plot is intricate and complex but well written, and all secrets are revealed in the end.

The characters can sometimes come across as a bit two dimensional with one exception: Dio (no, not that one). Dio is probably the series’ biggest achievement, along with its revolutionary integration of CGI into the airship scenes. Introduced originally as a mysterious, androgynous, and rather creepy figure, he becomes almost a metaphor for the show as a whole as it progresses, as solving the mystery of who and what Dio also solves the mystery of what is really going on in the plot. He is by far the most memorable part of the story, which is a real compliment as the story itself is also engrossing.

Is it superversive? – Extremely so. Like Pazu before them Claus and Lavie are the sort of people to selflessly commit themselves wholeheartedly to a stranger – Alvis – despite barely knowing her, and this is presented as the correct and moral thing to do. Characters who start off looking like they’ll be threats become allies and the story ends on a high note.

Recommendation – This one IS ammust-watch classic. Two thumbs up.

3) Yu Yu Hakusho – Yusuke Yuremeshi is a young punk who spends all of his time fighting and going to the arcade. One day he knocks a boy out of the way of a car, getting hit himself and dying as a result. Then a cheerful young woman with a flying…paddle…informs him that she’s the grim reaper and that due to his selfless act, if he wants it, spirit world is willing to give him a second chance at life. After seeing the reactions of his sort-of-girlfriend, principal, and mother he agrees. On his return Yusuke is made the Spirit Detective of Earth, hunting down demons and punching out bad guys to save the world.

Review – One of the more influential shonen anime, this early 90’s show shows its age occasionally but for the most part holds up exceptionally well. In contrast to Togashi’s later and far inferior anime Hunter x Hunter (maybe the most overrated anime of all time), Yu Yu Hakusho is fast paced (almost no fight goes longer than two episodes, a trick My Hero Academia stole) and always fun. Togashi’s real strength, however, is in his exceptionally well realized characters. The main group of Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, and Hei is one of the most memorable and entertaining in all of anime. Not only are their personalities distinct and memorable, but each of them has an interesting backstory and goes through a TON of character development as the series progresses.

The Dark Tournmanet arc is, rightly, considered one of the greatest arcs in anime history. It goes on a little long but the high points of that story are so high who really cares? But the show isn’t perfect. The arc following Dark Tournament noticeably drops in quality and Togashi has a really, really big problem with killing off major characters even when it makes sense both narratively and metatextually – to spoil a scene, the revival of Genki was particularly egregious. This problem gets even more ridiculous in Hunter x Hunter, with the utterly absurd revival of Kite. Still, back to Yu Yu Hakusho, the show picks up again by the Three Kings saga and while I’m still five or so episodes away from finishing it completely it’s hard for me to think I won’t be satisfied by the time it all ends.

Is it superversive? – Yes. Just listen to the OP. How can it not be?

Recommendation – If you’re a fan of any modern shonen you really should see Yu Yu Hakusho and get a look at a lot of classic tropes used when they were still fresh. Two thumbs up.

Actually, you can see a lot of its DNA in My Hero Academia, leading to…

4) My Hero Academia – Young Izuku Medoriya is born quirkless – powerless – in a world where the vast majority of society possesses some sort of superpower. When Medoriya gets a chance to meet his favorite hero, the legendary Symbol of Peace, All Might, he convinces him he has what it takes to be a hero. Seeing his potential, All Might gifts him a special quirk that can be passed down generation to generation: One for All, a quirk that stockpiles power. But in order to harness this power, Medoriya, who takes the hero name Deku, needs to train at the prestigious superhero academy UA High, where he begins his journey to become the world’s greatest hero.

Review – This is the one I’m sort of almost cheating on, since I did write a review of the movie. Rawle already talked about season 1 and Nathan gave it a rec last year, but hoooooooly crap. We need to talk about how exponentially this show improved.

Season 1 was…okay. It was good. I liked it. I decided to keep going with the show on the basis of strong recommendations and the excellent final fight scene that ended season one. And then season 2 happened. And it started with a tournament arc.

And suddenly, the show was amazing.

Previously the show had focused on Deku, leaving the rest of its colorful cast in the background. Season 2 shifted focus, turning into a true ensemble show, with side characters – even side characters who weren’t the center of any stories – getting their own arcs and backstories. The sports festival reaches its climax in a fantastic battle with Deku and the fire-and-ice powered Todoroki, and this is the moment the show passed “really good” and became exceptional. The interweaving of Todoroki’s backstory in the middle of the exceptionally well choreographed fight, combined with the strong narrative being told by the fight itself, really cemented the series identity as a vehicle for both stellar action AND compelling drama without losing its optimistic, can-do spirit.

It is also not the best fight in the series.

The show isn’t perfect. Season 3 was arguably both the show’s best and worst season. The first half of the season, the training camp arc up to the unbelievable battle between All Might and All for One – one of the greatest fight scenes of all time – was clearly the highlight of the entire show to date, but the preliminary exam arc in the second half fell a little flat. The stakes in the prelim exams weren’t high enough to make the stories compelling by themselves and it lacked the strong interpersonal drama that drove the sports festival of season 2, though the arc did end on a high note.

Even so, how does anyone not love My Hero Academia? Literally every single person I know who gave the show a shot is now a huge fan. It is brilliant.

Is it superversive? – Oh, HELL yes. It’s probably the most superversive show on TV right now. Deku is seriously inspiring.

Two last things about the show:

The soundtrack KICKS ASS. Each OP gets progressively better. Make My Story is an earworm. You Say Run goes with anything.

UNIIIIIIIIIIITEEEEEEED STAAAAAAAATES OOOOOOOF SMAAAAAAAAAAASH

Postscript: There are two honorable mention anime I really wanted to talk about but didn’t quite make it onto the list this time. Robotics;Notes came out of nowhere to surprise me with a well-written slice of life story about a school robotics club in an alternate history where robots are a much larger part of daily life. It takes place in the Steins;Gate universe but aside from a couple of Easter eggs this is incidental.

And Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic is absolutely fantastic and maybe my second favorite shonen anime to HeroAca. They’ll both be on next list.

SUPERVERSIVE: Four More Anime Reviews published first on https://medium.com/@ReloadedPCGames

[hotvintagepoll]

Propaganda

Greta Garbo (Camille, Anna Karenina, Queen Christina)—Enigmatic and alluring and made me bisexual. The perfect example of the eroticism in silent films that literally transcends text. Could literally not change anything about her expression but you knew by looking at her eyes what she was thinking. She’s so gorgeous.

Audrey Hepburn (My Fair Lady, Sabrina, Roman Holiday)—Growing up, Audrey Hepburn desperately wanting to be a professional ballerina, but she was starved during WWII and couldn't pursue her dream due to the effects of malnourishment. After she was cast in Roman Holiday, she skyrocketed to fame, and appeared in classics like My Fair Lady and Breakfast at Tiffany's. She's gorgeous, and mixes humor and class in all of her performances. After the majority of her acting career came to close, she became a UNICEF ambassador.

This is round 5 of the tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut.]

Garbo:

A cold-ass Swedish WLW Sphinx. Had plans to murder Hitler that she never got around to. "She will remain always a child of vikings, moved about by a snowy dream."

First of all, she's on the money; that's how much of a treasure she is. She's beautiful in such a distinct way you need very few lines to draw her. (Drawing by Einar Nerman) She managed to be mesmerizing in both silent and sound films. She kissed a woman in Queen Christina (and probably several more in real life). She was super dry and really funny in Ninotchka. She got the hell out of Hollywood and stayed out, living for almost 50 years after her retirement.

Garbo is one of the many reasons why I'm gay. If you haven't seen Queen Christina please do, She is so gender in that film. Also her accent makes it sound like she's always talking in cursive and it's so hypnotic (or at least I think so).

She's a gay introvert, like all of us here on Tumblr.

Probably a lesbian, absolutely a mood when she retired

Mysterious and aloof, charismatic and enigmatic, with beautiful androgynous characteristics, Garbo is undoubtedly the most eccentric and unique Hollywood vintage star. Her aversion to fame and stardom makes her even more desirable to the audience, and her insane chemistry with the camera, an actress one of a kind! Her particularity and her oddity is what discerns her strongly from her hollywood co workers at the time, noone was like her and would never be like her. I think, to the utmost extent, that she deserves the title of the hottest vintage star, even though that would be an understatement of what she is!

SO gorgeous, her thick Swedish accent makes will turn your brain into pudding

Audrey Hepburn:

"She may be a wispy, thin little thing, but when you see that girl, you know you're really in the presence of something. In that league there's only ever been Garbo, and the other Hepburn, and maybe Bergman. It's a rare quality, but boy, do you know when you've found it." - Billy Wilder

Raised money for the resistance in nazi occupied Hungary. Became a humanitarian after retiring. Two very sexy things to do!

where to begin......... i wont her so bad. i literally dont know what to say.

My dude. The big doe eyes, the cheekbones, the voice. The flawless way she carried herself. She was never in a movie where she wasn't drop dead gorgeous. Oh, also the fact she raised funds against the Nazis doing BALLET and she won the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her humanitarian work.

"It’s as if she dropped out of the sky into the ’50s, half wood-nymph, half princess, and then disappeared in her golden coach, wearing her glass slippers and leaving no footprints." - Molly Haskell

"All I want for Christmas is to make another movie with Audrey Hepburn." - Cary Grant

I know people nowadays are probably sick of seeing her with all the beauty and fashion merch around that depicts her and/or Marilyn Monroe but she is considered a classic Hollywood beauty for a reason. Ironically in her day she was more of the alternative beauty when compared to many of her contemporaries. She always came off with such elegance and grace, and she was so charming. Apparently she was a delight to work with considering how many of her co-stars had wonderful things to say about her. Outside of her beauty and acting ability she was immensely kind. She helped raise funds for the Dutch resistance during WWII by putting on underground dance performances as well as volunteering at hospitals and other small things to help the resistance. During her Hollywood career and later years she worked with UNICEF a lot. Just an all around beautiful person both inside and out.

No one could wear clothes in this era like she could. She was every major designer's favorite star and as such her films are time capsules of high fashion at the time. But beyond that, she had such an elegance in her screen presence that belied a broad range of ability. From a naive princess, to a confused widow, to a loving and mischievous daughter, she could play it all.

Look at that woman's neck. Don't you want to bite it?

[dc-tournaments]

[dc-tournaments]

[dc-tournaments]