#not really monogatari related

[nadenadenadeko]

what do you think of possession (by ghosts) as a story element?

no idea if this is a real person asking this and if you are why you’re asking me but:

very cool concept imo! both in horror scenarios..non-horror scenarios..

i guess it can be a little ??cheesy?? sometimes? but the idea itself is p sick . Characters being corrupted/not in control of their own body and actions is something i like in general. ghosts are so op if you think about it

also since this is a monogatari blog: it’s kinda weird nothing like that really happens in monogatari huh. i think. (I haven’t seen monogatari in like 3 years)

[kinokoshoujoart]

oops all rock (springtime edition)

i’ll be able to draw digitally again soon! ;w; in the meantime i’ve been scribbling a lot on paper…

could not wait for Soon, so i resorted to coloring it using the markup tool in default iphone photos app (don’t do that ever again)

[sylhea-raemi]

[satsuki-yumizuka]

Nadeko for the blorbo bingo :3

nadeko is special among my blorbos in that theres definitely something wrong with her but its like. within reason. u know. i think she was totally in the right for everything she did and i think she deserves to do whatever she wants !! so i would not skin her and i do think im normal about her. i also think she should be put in more situations so i can see her more. bless 🙏

[youkaigakkou-tl]

Yohaji Final Exam! (Trivia quiz)

Take it here -> https://youkaigakkou.smartbuzz.jp/app/Quiz/16

You'll get one of 3 possible phone wallpapers if you get all questions correct!

Question translations below ⬇️

Q1: What does the NEET Beniko do at home?

Game

Study

Cook

Work out

Q2: How tall is Oota-kun in his giant form?

100m

110m

120m

130m

Q3: The Ogata twins were reading a youkai smut manga when their phones were confiscated. What was the smut manga's title?

Yuki-onna in the afternoon

Melancholy of the Kuchisake-onna

The Nure-onna's wet spot

Youkai diaries

Q4: During a lesson outside school, they ran into an old woman. What was her job?

Medium

Yoga instructor

Fortune teller

Hostess

Q5: When the group went to Haruaki's house, where was the train that they took going back headed for?

Hakata

Nagoya

Hiroshima

Okayama

Q6: When Hijita won first place at the scavenger hunt during sports day, what did he call himself?

The rice paddy wizard

Mud field-sensei

The mud devil

The galewind mud ball

Q7: When Haruaki was the anchor for the obstacle relay race, how many boxes was his first obstacle?

100

500

1,000

10,000

Q8: Tamao and Kuniko were late one day, they said their reason was "saving a XXX who was being shaken down". What was XXX?

Dog

Cat

Sparrow

Turtle

Q9: In the Karasutengu troupe, Ranmaru is the captain, Bonmaru is the lieutenant, what is Tenmaru's position?

Scribe

Public relations

Accountant

Advisor

Q10: During the Spookology exam at the old schoolhouse, the class divided into 4 groups. Which hand sign did Fuji Touya make when the groups were decided?

Rock

Scissors

Paper

Heart

Q11: Mame's family in Shikoku is part of the Shikoku Tanuki Alliance XXXX group? What is XXXX?

Ponpokopon

Pokoponpon

Ponponpoko

Ponpokopoko

Q12: Takahashi Akira likes cars. What color is his current favorite open-top?

Black

White

Red

Blue

Q13: Factorize this equation: x² + 5x + 6

(x+2)(x+3)

(x+1)(x+4)

(x+5)(x+6)

(x+2)(x+4)

Q14: How many hydrogen molecules are in 2.0mol of H2O?

2.4 x 10²⁴

2.4 x 10²⁵

2.4 x 10²⁶

2.4 x 10²⁷

Q15: Arrange these events in chronological order:

Kiyomizu-dera built

Envoy missions to Tang China abolished

"The Pillow Book" completed

"Genji Monogatari" completed

Envoy missions to Tang China abolished -> "The Pillow Book" completed -> "Genji Monogatari" completed -> Kiyomizu-dera built

Envoy missions to Tang China abolished -> Kiyomizu-dera built -> "The Pillow Book" completed -> "Genji Monogatari" completed

Kiyomizu-dera built -> "The Pillow Book" completed -> "Genji Monogatari" completed -> Envoy missions to Tang China abolished

Kiyomizu-dera built -> Envoy missions to Tang China abolished -> "The Pillow Book" completed -> "Genji Monogatari" completed

Answers:

1 4 3 1 1 4 3 2 1 4 1 2 1 1 4

The Haruakis when you get a wrong answer/didn't get all questions correct are really cute...

Also here's all 3 wallpapers so you don't have to redo the quiz 20 times getting the same 2 every time and end up having to get the 3rd one from someone else

[gren-arlio]

So. Let me tell y'all about a guy named Camus. And a girl named Lala. And other folk. Welcome to Episode 14 of Waku Puyo Extras.

(Ah, back at it again writing these things.)

Hey guys, Gren here, and welcome to Episode 14 of Waku Puyo Extras, a series where I cover basically random stuff about Puyo and Madou as a whole. The Waku part is just because my brand is a single game I translate.

As my free time gets smaller and smaller, the drive to show off cool stuff remains about the same. Thank goodness school is over soon. I'm still alive, don't worry.

Finals and AP Exams are very much happening, so I'm spending that time studying. I'm hoping I pass.

Now, you would expect me to write about PPPP (P⁴ as I call it, Puzzle Pop in other locations) since it released and has a ton of stuff, notably well written characters. But alas:

I'm an Android user. Can't play it.

Frankly, at the moment, I'm not too interested in it right now.

So, the last episode was about Draco, that famous lass. What about this time? Well, since 80% of my work here is Madou related, why not give a showcase of some of the lesser known characters as a whole? Manga and novel stuff included.

With that, hope you enjoy. Also I said a bigger post is coming soon and drop it a literal month later. Damn.

So, Who ARE These Guys?

If you're not familiar with these characters, I honestly don't blame you. These guys are considered kinda niche in the franchise, but are more well known than some guys. I could mention Hanzo and no one besides people who played the game he's from or read the wiki would know him. Oh, or maybe Skeleton-D if we wanted to.

For now, I'll just cover the people have at the very least some stuff about them.

We'll begin with Camus, easily the most recognizable one that we'll be covering today. I swear if he was in Puyo now, he'd be so damn popular.

(From the manual of the Mega Drive release of Madou 1. Notable for being one of the very few times Camus is drawn with the teenage Arle and Lala, both 16, making Camus 18 in this.)

The man, or rather boy, in that photo is the fabled Camus of the Sable Ord- I mean Madou Monogatari 1, both on the SEGA Mega Drive and Game Gear. Since this is a game where Arle is in kindergarten, Camus is her senior. Yeah, senior is the word for this one. He's notable for being the only person to get a perfect score on his exams, that lucky bastard.

Oh yeah he's also like 8 years old for the record in that

In the game, he's both helps you and hinders you for different reasons. Sometimes he's very nice and teaches you things, and other times he's taking stuff from you for playing the game for longer than three hours.

However, at the end of the game (Where he also might help you depending on some stuff), it turns out he was an illusion all along, which is always...fun, you know? That one guy who's been helping you out turns out to not even be real, least in the Game Gear version of things.

Honestly? He's a pretty interesting guy in the game. Arle holds him with some respect, and Lala quite literally has a massive crush on the guy that she's willing to show. Unfortunately.

(Things are really serious in the Kindergarten Exam Fandom...)

He can come off as rude but at the very least he means well. And my goodness, his theme in the game is good.

Underrated gem.

Now, up until a while ago, I kinda thought that'd be the only games he was in, a grand total of 2 whole games. However, by doing this for...a year now, turns out that there IS one more appearance of Camus, presumably to be 18 in the game because...Well, Arle is a teenager there.

Arle Man'Yuki. Or Arle's Travel Log.

Now if I'll be honest, I STILL dunno all too much about the game, despite doing an entire episode on it. The game is super text-heavy, so I don't know EVERYTHING besides some of the Japanese history involved with it. (Crazy how the Heian Era is now some JJK meme. Time is a fun concept.)

Here, Camus has taken the role of the leader of the Shinsengumi, Kondo Isami. It's a long story, so... I'll just link my own work here. (I FINALLY LEARNED HOW TO PUT LINKS IN MY TEXT...)

I never covered Camus extensively in that game due to his admittedly small role in that game, but he's a fairly upstanding guy. Schezo works under him as the vice leader. Ain't that cool?

Check it out if you're curious about that, some basic Japanese history that may be a tad inaccurate, or JUMP HERO.

And err...that's every game he's from. Yeah, he's in a grand total of what, three games? It's not much but it's still something. He's a very cool lad.

-----

Wait, who's Lala?

I'm glad you asked, me. Lalah is a character from Mobile Suit Gundam that works with Char after he...well, this is a Madou blog. If only I could talk to you about Gundam. But alas.

Lala is ACTUALLY a girl who's the same age as Arle, and the girl who's madly in love with Camus...as I've told before. But she does have a little more than just that, don't worry.

In the Game Gear version at least, she sneaks into the tower Arle went into to graduate, upset that she wasn't the one to take the exam, but rather Arle. And yes. She broke a brick wall to get to her.

(A 6 year old is stronger than any of us. LMK if you can run into a brick wall just fine.)

Now if I had to describe her, it'd be "Arrogant but funny as hell". Because she's arrogant but funny as hell. Arle calls Lala her BFF, to which she doesn't take that reply nicely and says they ain't BFF'S, they ain't even friends. Straight hater energy. (She wasn't able to take the exam due to a cold.)

Camus appears to stop her from interfering, and she goes on this tangent about how wonderful he is, and how he always eluded her... and chases him, as shown more above.

Things start to get funky when you get deeper into the tower, as Lala makes a literal trap hole, and Arle falls down. However, Lala is mad that she fell and NOT Camus, leading him to appear in the floor above and basically say "Idiot. I'm not falling for that." and she continues to chase him.

Her reign of terror ends when Camus SEALS HER AWAY for the rest of the game. But she's okay after it all don't worry. Arle summed it up the best way I could. She ends up fine after the end of the game, however.

Lala also appears in Chaotic Final Exam too, now 16, but honestly...it's one of the games where I know next to nothing about it. Apologies. Just know that she's there and not Camus. (Though with the style of how the game looks...probably for the better.)

She's just overall what we call in the industry... a girlfail. She tries her absolute best but fails so, so much that I can't help but laugh at her and pity her at the same time.

-----

I have no cool segway into this section. Introducing... Rasp.

You might've seen them around if you've checked my blog here or there as a front page image for my works.

And you'd be right. Rasp is from the Waku Waku Puyo Puyo Manga, a brand new character just made for the thing. They're basically a minion who mostly impede the way for Schezo and Rulue. I say "they" because, well, Rasp is genderless.

Fun fact: Their salary is unknown, but they apparently get paid more than a Manga artist, so take that as how you will.

Rasp does appear frequently throughout the volumes, and does indeed fight Schezo. While they do lose, at least they looked pretty cool while doing so.

-----

Lightning Round:

Now these devilish goofballs are folks I want to show...but don't have much info on them just yet. Or there wasn't that much to begin with.

Septem:

(Creatura...La creature 98...)

Septem is another genderless character from the series, coming from Arle no Bouken, a game I know next to nothing about. All I know from it is them and that they cling to Arle like a sister. I love them.

This is absolutely one character I wish I knew more on, since she's much more developed as a character...I just don't know much about Arle no Bouken.

Dark Witch:

(What is this, a doppelganger bargain sale?)

Now she has a little more to her that I DO know but it's nothing spectacular.

Planned to be in Puyo N but was scrapped due to the idea of her being too serious, which is quite the reason for Puyo, but appears in Comet Summoner anyways as a final boss.

You can even play as her, and fight Witch herself and beat her... and possessing her. Kinda, sorta.

Runelord:

(Dweeb appeared in one game and changed a man)

Runelord is an odd case, because some of his lore is stuck onto True Madou Monogatari, which in of itself...is kinda iffy lore wise. And also really long.

In Madou S? Wants Schezo to be the next successor, he says no, fight happens, Schezo wins but is affected anyways. Apparently he was beaten by Lagnus, but that comes from True Madou, so the accuracy of the Canon can be very much debated. It all depends if you think it's Canon or not.

-----

And honestly, that'll be all for this time around. Apologies this took so long. Life's been quite the journey. Graduation's happening soon, and finals are happening soon. The list goes on. I'm hoping I get by through the school year, but alas, I'm happy you read this.

Adios.

[amemenojaku]

some pictures of my visit of Shimonoseki/Dan no Ura today before I forget to post them (next post will be from my backlog and touhou-related, either shinmyoumaru or megumu & tsukasa? we'll see)

love the cute art and the big 'enjoy Shimonoseki!! ☺️' even though one of the most heart-wrenching events of japanese history happened right here

the sea from Mimosusogawa park, which used to be part of the sea too. the current really is as strong and nightmarish as people say it is, so just looking at it from the park is enough to make you picture how tough that battle must've been 😓 there's also two really beautiful statues facing one another here: Yoshitsune doing his legendary leap and Tomomori about to jump to his demise

after that we went to Akamajingu, the shrine dedicated to emperor Antoku. I don't have good pictures of the front gate right now, but the whole shrine complex is gorgeous and very reminiscent of depictions of the dragon palace. walking there and just taking in the atmosphere, thinking about how they made it this way specifically because of what Antoku was told before drowning, made me feel all sorts of things 🙃

the Heike crest was everywhere, obviously

monuments to the Heike; they looked a bit run down... you can kind of see one in the middle of the picture but some pink flowers had fallen from a nearby tree and right on the stones. the color's completely wrong but they look a little like sal flowers, so obviously they caught my eye, but I have no idea what they could be. if I see them again I'll take better pictures... and if someone knows what they might be then by all means please let me know 😩

there's a little place with a beautiful statue of Miminashi Hoichi and a recorded biwa performance playing in the back, actually right next to the Heike stones shown above, so the atmosphere there was very special.

finally I had a look at the very very small but really interesting museum-ish room of the shrine; no pictures allowed but they had stuff like gorgeous screen paintings of the different Genpei battles and some nice swords and pieces of armors, clothing, statues of Antoku and old complete versions of the Heike Monogatari scrolls (in closed, sealed boxes, sadly). I bought one of the catalogue books so I might write about it in the future when I have time to just sit down and look at it...

[jariten]

My Favorite Manga from 2023: Part 1

And now that the themes are over and done with, here are my general favorite reads from 2023:

夕暮れへ (Offshore Lightning), Saito Nazuna [Drawn & Quarterly, trans. Alexa Frank]

柔道部物語 (Judo-bu Monogatari), Makoto Kobayasho [Kodansha Bunko ver.]

ZERO, Taiyo Matsumoto [Shogakukan Bunko ver.]

Midori no Uta: Shuushuu Gunfuu/Lü Zhī Gē - Shōují Qún Fēng (緑の歌 - 収集群風 -/綠之歌 -收集群風-), Yan Gao

動物たち (Doubutsu-tachi), Panpanya

月館の殺人 (Tsukidate no Satsujin), Noriko Sasaki & Yukito Ayatsuji [Shogakukan Bunko ver]

I will skip the latter three titles as I already talked about them in earlier roundups, but let me once again say that they're very good and I enjoyed them so much.

I always seem to find a work that gets stuck in pre-order purgatory and in 2023 Offshore Lightning finally made it out. After Talk to My Back and The Sky is Blue With a Single Cloud I was really looking forward to seeing who Drawn & Quarterly had picked this time. Of course I wasn't disappointed (and surprised that it was a one-shot collection I had been half eyeing in Japanese for a while). Saito Nazuna delivers some poignant stories about families at a breaking point as well as life and death. I was personally very taken by In Captivity and House of Solitary Death, which are the more recent stories in the collection.

I got my sports manga fixes in this year too. First one I had hyped myself up for for years and the namesake of a previous favorite...the oft referenced in the Makoto Kobayashi-verse: Judo-bu Monogatari. When Sango Jugo (whose name is literally the kanji numerals 3 5 15) gets tricked into joining his school's low ranking Judo club. After surviving a brutal hazing ritual it would seem he's only sticking around out of spite, but after what seemed to be a fluke win could it be that he actually got a talent for this sport? Thus begins Jugo's 3 year journey as a high school Judo athlete. I already knew that Kobayashi is one of the best sequential artists in the game but I'm just blown away over and over by him andhis mastery of the comic format. Add the trademark outrageous visual comedy and the charming cast of characters; I rank it with Slam Dunk as one of the few manga that get physical reactions of true excitement and happiness out of me. (In fact, Makoto Kobayashi is named as one of Takehiko Inoue's influences)

I also finally read Matsumoto's ZERO which had intrigued me since the editor's afterword in Ping Pong that described the two works as related. And I don't know where to begin, blown away, entranced, had me thinking and wondering, absorbed in one sitting. The bunko edition also included extras from the 2018 edition like a editor's and author's retrospective, and a short comic written by the scriptwriter of Takemitsu Samurai, Issei Eifuku who was around for the development phase of ZERO.

[maritessa]

I just read Ore Monogatari and can I just say that Suna is such an AroAce icon I absolutely LOVE him.

When Yukika showed up, I feel so bad but I was PRAYING for her downfall because I DID NOT want Suna to get together with anybody 😭 I'm sorry y'all but it just wouldn't feel right. Suna says he's never really had an interest in dating anyone, he's never really had those feelings, and while he says it would be nice to experience them— he's never really felt like he's missing out on anything.

A lot of people argue that his thinking of wanting to try to be in love is a sign that he's not aspec but I think saying that is dangerous for the community. Aspec individuals can also yearn for a connection, it's a matter if we can and in what way. Being connected doesn't necessarily mean "romance", Suna always makes a point that he wants to be with someone like Takeo aka his best friend who's always there for him, who he feels natural with, who he can just vibe with.

I can relate with him in that sense! I have a partner right now and we are NOT romantic in the slightest, we just want to support each other in our own endeavors and talk when we update each other on it. I think that kind of relationship suits Suna best and it's gonna take a while before he can discover that because everyone around him is very alloromantic 💀 (it kinda irked me when people kept pushing him to get a girlfriend cause haha happened to me too and it was not great)

I'm blabbing at this point but I love the idea of Suna being in a polycule with Yamato and Takeo but he's not really dating anyone, he's just there. He's a very vital key of their relationship but he's not really committed to anyone (I guess Takeo if you count being the best bro as a commitment).

[puyopuyoconfessions]

Welcome to the Puyo Puyo confessions blog!! Send in takes, opinions, or just things you like about the Puyo puyo (or madou monogatari/sorcery saga) games! (Feel free to repost, by the way. I request you credit me, but that’s not required.) Along with that, I’d like this blog to be a fun place to discuss Puyo and interact with the community!!

My main account; @pancake-moth ☆

Blog Moderator Bio

Name(s): Harpy (Also Moth works too)

Favorite Puyo character: I really like Satan & Harpy

Timezone: EST

Please tell me if you want a post removed, or I made a mistake on your post. Love you all!! ❤️

Rules;

-Stay on topic

-No graphic violence or nsfw, slight nsfw comments are fine as long as they are not directed to minors

-no images (unless fanart or image submissions for backgrounds on the posts, or merchandise!)

-dont make it too long, one paragraph is enough. Do not write a whole essay. Preferably 4/6 lines of text max.

-Do not argue about character ages

-Along with that, please don’t mention pedophilia, non-con, or anything of the sort in confessions.

- DON’T. ARGUE. It saddens me to have to say this but of course confessions might start controversy. I want to have fun takes about characters, ships, theories, or just funny comments! I do NOT want people arguing about dumb things

-Doesn't HAVE to be a confession. You can share some of your own puyo stuff as well!! It will just be tagged as #not a confession.

-Don't send things like "is this blog dead" when I'm inactive. It annoys me.

-Don’t send things that are boring or repetitive. If you see if someone has already made a post about what you’re confessing, don’t send it. Along with that, don’t send basic messages like “I like harpy” for example say “I like harpy because shes cute and really tries her best to sing”

-Anything related to politics, real life events or war will be removed

-Headcanons are always welcome, I have nothing against neurodivergent headcanons, transgender headcanons, sexuality headcanons, or even race headcanons!!

-if you have pictures of harpy please send them i need photos of my girlfailure loser

Well… that’s it for now… have fun sharing~♪!

[x0401x]

Hi, if you don't mind, can I ask from this ask game :

https://www.tumblr.com/theclearblue/761071267749265408/anime-asks-because-why-not?source=share

For no. 4, 6, 8, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 20, 23, 24, 28

Thanks if you want to answer whichever that you want.....

Ayyy, sure! Sorry for taking so long to reply to this!

4. Least favorite anime character: Kinoshita Kazuya

This one was hard. I usually have lots of characters I like and lots that I’m neutral about but none that I quite hate. One character that left me particularly grossed out, though, was this guy. I can’t say I hate him, but I’ve never been so instantly put off by a fictional character. The combination of being plain disgusting and stupid with having absolutely no redeeming qualities and nothing going on for him was particularly unsettling. It’s not even that he gave us nothing; he really only gave his worst.

6. Popular anime that you didn’t like: Violet Evergarden

Y’all know me. Y’all know where I’m coming from. 🫠

8. Anime character you’re the most like: Honestly, no idea. I’d like to know people’s opinions on this one.

13. Funnest anime you have watched: This one is kinda abstract. I have no idea how to measure the fun. My all-time favorite isn’t exactly what I’d call “fun” and I have too many that I consider fun animes.

14. Saddest anime you have ever watched: Midori Shoujo Tsubaki.

I know that this one aims to be a lot of things way above its intention to be melancholic, but it’s definitely the anime where I’ve felt worst about the protagonist. The ending is surrealistic yet too real at the same time. It’s probably the anime that had me going “damn, that’s sad as hell” the most.

15. Anime you never get sick of watching: Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi

I have quite a few anime that I’d rewatch anytime if I felt like it, but this is the only one that I feel like rewatching whenever I see anything related to it. I probably have answered this in every anime ask game I’ve played, but Sen to Chihiro is my all-time favorite anime and movie.

Another anime that I never get tired of rewatching is Gakkou no Kaidan. I used to rewatch it every year on Halloween as a personal tradition when I was a kid and I have a physical copy of all the books in the series. I only don’t rewatch it anymore because I hardly have time for binging nowadays, but if I could do it again? Damn right I would.

16. 10 best animes you have watched: That’s tough! I have a long list of favorites. Aside from Sen to Chihiro, in no particular order:

1. Heike Monogatari

2. Fullmetal Alchemist (I’m combining the first one with Brotherhood here because I love the whole franchise and I’ve always felt that they complete each other)

3. Mushishi

4. Card Captor Sakura

5. Inuyasha

6. Rurouni Kenshin (the first one)

7. Soul Eater

8. Nana

9. Yu Yu Hakusho

10. Monster

18. 10 worst anime you’ve watched (this one is also in no particular order and there’s actually way more than just 10 but here we go):

1. PUPA

2. Diabolik Lovers

3. Drammatical Murder

4. Kaze no Na wa Amnesia

5. Nora

6. Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2025

7. Berserk (2016)

8. Mahou Shoujo ni Akogarete

9. Ro-Kyu-Bu!

10. Kamierabi GOD.app

20. Least favorite anime ships: Literally any inc*st and p*do ship.

23. Unpopular character you love: I don’t really have unpopular characters that I love, but there sure are characters whom I love yet a good chunk of the fandom detests.

24. Popular character you hate: Also don’t have any. I’m either neutral or love them. But then again, there are characters that the fandom is obsessed with yet make me feel next to nothing.

28. Most upsetting moment in anime and why: The entirety of Tsurune, lol. Because the novels (albeit not well-written) are leagues above it in content, depth, overall plot and character handling. It’s pretty much a spiritual experience once you realize what the author is trying to convey, which the studio not only didn’t understand but also tried to run from like the devil runs from the cross. Pretty sure the author also wasn’t too hyped about some things in the anime, as implied in one of her afterwords.

This was fun to do! Thank you!

[typellblog]

Oh Mighty Typell, do you have thoughts on the fanservice in Monogatari? Your essay on Tsubasa Family made me get the Tsukihi panties conversation, where previously I had sped through the book at that point because it weirded me out. The Hachikuji stuff and the Karen teeth brushing are parts I just can't figure out an explanation for

So first and foremost one does have to admit that this is the author's completely undisguised fetish

Bearing in mind that this is just a normal part of Monogatari's narrative that forms part of the appeal for some readers, that likely forms part of the appeal for the writer, and that these facts provide the majority of the impetus for its inclusion-

We discover that the writer nonetheless knows what he's doing, and matches the fanservice to the kind of story he's trying to tell overall.

Sometimes this leads to a fanservice scene that people embrace as deeply meaningful - take for example in Hitagi Crab where she undresses and how the sensual way this is described contrasts deeply with how her attempted rape in the past is depicted. The fanservice emphasises Hitagi's agency, but also her vulnerability, in a way that avoids coming off as tasteless. But did she really need to strip to convey this? Well, probably not.

Sometimes this leads to fanservice that people struggle to explain - I would say that the stuff in Nadeko Snake is pretty high up in terms of pointlessness, being the most excessive arc in Bake despite not really having much to say. We can relate how Nadeko's body is displayed to some themes of the arc, how it characterises her as someone who dislikes being perceived. But did it need to be bloomers and a school swimsuit specifically? No, lol.

As for the examples you mentioned, the consistency and depth of Koyomi's assaults upon Mayoi prove somewhat intractable to most, but consider how their first interaction wasn't sexual in nature but just a fight. I think both the physicality and rudeness of it are important. The rudeness is an element of Koyomi's characterisation as someone who can often violate boundaries in the pursuit of helping people, while the physicality relates to Hachikuji's ghostly nature and inability to normally interact with others. There's a reason why she seems to welcome Koyomi's usual greeting after it becomes an established routine. But did he really need to grope her breasts? Well, no.

Karen's teeth frustrates me more and more over time because of how disconnected from the overall narrative it seems, but of course on a basic level we can still make something of it. Karen changes her appearance with Tsukihi's clothes, and in doing so forces Koyomi to re-evaluate his perception of her. Their casual intimacy (as represented by the deeply familial symbol of the toothbrush) is complicated by sexual desire (need I remind the reader that this forms the main appeal of incest porn) and results in, idk. Koyomi seeing her as more adult? Like I said it feels frustratingly disconnected from the rest of what's going on but at the same time it does inevitably orient itself around Koyomi's relationship with his sisters - the fact that it's deeply character-driven adds to the appeal.

I'm sure more work could be done here, especially with the context of the rest of the series that I haven't looked at too deeply yet, but one warning I want to give is that you shouldn't approach this with the object of explaining the fanservice away. The fact that it is sexual in nature can be deeply necessary to what it is saying, or, like in Mayoi's case, it could be easily substituted with play-fighting.

Point being, the fact that it icks you out might lead you to assigning it more weight than it was ever conceived with.

[animeomelette]

I think a part of the reason that the reaction to the AO3 Monogatari tagging issue was so strong is that it's a series that deals heavily with themes of mental health and neurodivergence, and having three separate tags that are all functionally identical comes across a lot like a trap intended to cause issues for some people with certain types of OCD, even if that's obviously not the intention behind the decision.

For most people the difference between the novels, anime, and manga is so minuscule as to be completely irrelevant, but for a sufficiently OCD person having three separate tags could, for example, lead them down a path of constantly compulsively changing the tags on their work, because using more than one would mean that it's incorrectly marked as a crossover but using only one could mean they'd wind up spending more time obsessing over which tag it's more "correct" to tag their fic with

It also serves to create a sense of elitism around the fandom, projecting the false impression that only people who have read the novels are true Monogatari fans and potentially discouraging people from engaging with their hobbies or the community around the series if they've only watched the anime or read the manga

Really this sort of hyper-granular tagging being mandated upon users just has to potential to lead to a lot of negative obsessive-compulsive thought spirals that could be avoided by just having a single tag for what is ultimately a singular fandom

Obviously there are also just broader issues relating to search functionality here, but part of the reason I think I so passionately want to see this changed is because I can see this causing mental anguish to people who want to engage with a work of fiction I'm deeply fond of

[studentofetherium]

The thing about watching the Monogatari Series is that seeing how each character approaches situations with their own bias and through the filter of their own trauma really got me to appreciate my own subjectivities and that's really awesome for an anime! 😃

it's great! there's so much complexity in the series because we can come to understand the warped view that everyone sees themselves through and relate to that. none of these characters are flawless and the narrative is never viewing them objectively. instead, when we look at them, we're looking at them through their eyes and viewing the world through a warped lens. it's really interesting!

[444lpblue]

Undead Unluck #1 - Undead and Unluck

Screenplay: Gakuto Haishima Storyboard: Yuuki Yase Episode Director: Yuuki Yase Chief Animation Director: Hideyuki Morioka Animation Directors: Hideyuki Morioka, Shunichi Ishimoto, Yuu Fukuoka, Yumenosuke Tokuda Key Animators: Kazuhiro Miwa, Hideyuki Morioka, Shiori Tanaka, Kumiko Kawashima, Kyouko Niimura, Naoto Yoshida, Nobuo Takahashi, Hiroyuki Ookaji, Shunichi Ishimoto, Rin Ogawa, Yuuko Dangi, Mahora Muraki, Akio Kitahara, Katsuyuki Tsubouchi, Hirokazu Satou, Yuu Fukuoka, Shingo Fujisaki, Yasuto Hirohara, Rie Oomori, Yukio Okano

Yuuki Yase is possibly one of my favorite directors of all time, and I don't exactly hide this. The Kubikiri Cycle is one of my all-time favorite anime series that has continued to mesmerize and be a part of my life since its airing. Yuuki Yase's direction of that series was simply one of the best I've seen. The very concept of Zaregoto is one that is more driven by dialogue and conceptuality than even Monogatari, I would say. He was able to somehow represent the oddity in Zaregoto in visual form. Not much was happening, but the way things were framed made it uncomfortable, it felt confined even as they were in this large, spacious castle cloaked in ambiguity, the characters themselves were uncanny in a way. Let's just say I was completely charmed. So when I heard that Yuuki Yase was going to direct Undead Unluck, I was very curious, as I had never read the series before, as it never really interested me. I had a feeling I would like it since it's Yuuki Yase directing it, but I never expected it to this extent.

My jaw dropped during the cold open of the episode, all of which was helmed by Taiki Konno, who you may have seen earlier this year in the ending visual for Magical Destroyers which aired this year.

I would love to post every frame of the opener here, but of course, I can't do that. Within a very short timeframe of maybe 2 minutes, you're introduced to this fictional manga series that our main character is reading, all while relating it back to her traumatic past. It's genuinely beautiful and haunting at the same time. The buildup to the explosion of the plane was intense, and when it happened, even though you're barely beginning the episode, there's a sense of catharsis in seeing the tragedy occur. The artstyle throughout was very much Konno's usual style but it felt less constrained and more self fulfilling than any work he has done in previous anime. It felt like a great opportunity for him to showcase himself and that he completely did.

The rest of the episode took a very different turn than the intro but it was still every fun. Close up eyes shot, the use of color and desaturation much like in Fire Force or Kubikiri Cycle is prevalent here and it mixes well in creating intrigue during the introduction of Andy.

The overall production was a lot of fun, and it was superbly well animated. With the key animators' staff being completely stacked, it wasn't surprising. The actual story premise was even more enjoyable than I had anticipated, and I'm going to continue enjoying it. However, I have a feeling that Yuuki Yase is elevating this to a different level that I wouldn't experience than if I just read the manga.

[valhallakonbi]

i meant new ask: character headcanons?

oh okay i wasn't sure my bad!

i'll start off with some small ones and gradually get to the bigger ones:

i can't tell if you were the one to come up with it or if it was established in the novels but i really like thinking of ougi as a neat freak... since koyomi is one, it ties in nicely

vegetarian koyomi & sodachi are also very good (i think veggie koyomi is yours and sodachi is annabelle's)

kanbaru and hitagi actually kissed in middle school. several times maybe.

yotsugi has a crush on nadeko but she doesn't understand that it is one. nadeko has noticed something's up but isn't sure yotsugi knows either

uni senjougahara can drive a motorcycle (please picture koyomi in the backseat as well)

hanekawa knows way too much about cars and all the men she meets at diners and gas stations overseas are really impressed with her, whether they like it or not (she drives manual btw.)

kanbaru wanted to become a sports doctor after meeting with numachi again, so i think she would mostly work with teenagers. i'd like to think that she frequently visits naoetsu and that ougi and kanbaru are still friends and reading buddies even when kanbaru grows into an adult.

my biggest headcanons are not fun ones and they are senjougahara related. reader discretion avised (mentions of eating disorders, cancer)

it's pretty on the nose, and it's edgy, and it's not revolutionary or anything, but hitagi crab as an analogy for eating disorders works extremely well in my eyes.

as someone who has dealt with eating disorders it makes for a very true-to-life tale of a girl whose response to multiple trauma has been control of other's perception of her by violent means (mindful of what people are saying about her, can't let anyone know about her secret, threatens and bullies anyone who tries to get closer to her). this is coherent with anorexia as a way to regain some form of pride and "autonomy" when you feel like everything's been taken away from you. the "weight" aspect is a major factor in how people come up with this interpretation, it's a pun on "omoi" (heavy ; feelings / ties / memories) and how cutting these off completely is easier than dealing with them... and eating disorders oftentimes serve as a way to shift the focus on something other than the actual traumatic event. i remember it functioning the same as addiction on a neurological level.

anyway, what i like about this reading is how the analogy makes it non voyeuristic. the lack of voyeurism (ironic, huh) when it comes to traumatic events is something i really appreciate in monogatari. even as she's talking about the ways she was emotionally and sexually abused, we're not directly shown, we listen to senjougahara talk. a lot of stories about eating disorders are very graphic with the subject matter. seems people can't talk about this stuff without putting extra stress on the "disgusting" aspects of it (critically underweight bodies, laxatives, vomit and other forms of purging). this kind of stuff does nothing except add shock value and try to warn readers or watchers about self-image issues and how starving and purging is bad and gross!! like they don't already know. with hitagi crab as an analogy for anorexia, the self-image/societal perception aspect is neatly implied and the root of the problem (relationship with her mother) is addressed directly.

the other on-the-nose, edgy thing, is senjougahara had a critical operation which saved her life when she was little. it's never been said outright what her disease was, but cancer is prevalent enough among kids and it fits her motif.