#one being not animating so much important stuff from the manga

[leviismybby]

You know, I would love an OVA about Erwin's time as a normal solider before he became the commander. There is so much to his story and his character is amazing, I felt like again WIT left out a lot about him too. Like this panel right here, it made me understand Nile's and Erwin's relationship better. Marie must've been a babe tho haha.

[akkivee]

.

[spicymancer]

Somethin I've noticed about your designs is that you've got a fair number of big boys (large, muscular, chunky etc.) but most of your female characters tend to stay pretty thin and lithe, with the biggest they get being kinda muscular.

Do you have any intention of adding some big girls to your cast?

I have a few! Though you're right, the percentage disparity is pretty telling.

To be honest, it's absolutely a weakness of my character design sensibilities, and I'm doing my best to improve. I really should draw more varied body types.

To look inward for a moment, I suspect that I'm experiencing a bit of a brain poison feedback loop. Drawing is, on one level, a leisure activity I do to have fun, and on another level a Job that do for Money. Both having fun and making money are important for surviving in the Capitalist Hellscape we all occupy.

When it comes to leisure, I obviously tend to draw inside of my comfort zone. I learned to draw by mimicking artists that I admired growing up and comic/manga art has historically not been great about body diversity. This then reinforces the feedback loop of mostly drawing one kind of face or body type. (in this case: cute anime girls) A common artistic bad-habit exemplified here in this Nozaki Kun comic.

(Monthly Girls Nozaki Kun is incredibly good and a little too real)

Combined with the fact that being less practiced at drawing outside of my comfort zone, makes these designs end up taking more work to match the quality bar I have set for my work, this in turn means that it's more of a struggle to build up those muscles and bring those characters to the point where I'm happy with their design, which then makes that sort of drawing feel discouragingly like Work. Even if it's work that's worth doing (which it absolutely is)!

On the "monetary" side, I've built my audience on the characters I find easy to draw and so many of them expect/want me to draw more of that sort of thing. And having built an audience that desires that thing, they are often less engaged by things outside of that. Not to mention the economic strain of posts that do poorly will affect how much money I make in a given month.

This isn't limited to "bigger women" but a lot of MxM stuff I draw tends to do poorly in my algorithm, discouraging me from drawing more of it even when I want to! This phenomena is probably worst for folks on Youtube who are DEEPLY punished by the algorithm for daring to make videos outside of their established niche. ("You're a videogame content creator, how DARE you have an opinion on BOOKS")

This is all to say that I am grateful for you reaching out and expressing interest in seeing more variety and it's a good reminder to expand my artistic horizons a little more. Nothing is for everybody and there's definitely sections of my lovely audience who are underserved by these absences.

For more thoughts on this sort of discussion: there's some excellent TBskyen posts on this subject.

In addition I'd like to shout out artists like @jam-etc and @lillhappycloud who draw incredibly fantastic and appealing bodies of all kinds!

I hope you'll bear with me as I work to improve while probably still drawing a lot of my Usual Stuff. I'll now leave you with a relevant Princess Bride Quote.

Best Wishes.

[dunmeshistash]

Does anyone else feel like they portrayal Kabru "cooler" in the anime than he is in the manga?

There's so many tiny differences that I feel like add up to a lack of the complex characterization he has in the manga. Small stuff like his facial expressions in certain scenes that to me reveal who he actually is behind his façade.

One of the ones that bothered me the most was this as he realizes Laios' true nature of a monster lover

In the anime he feels analytical/ thoughtful during this part but in the manga he's clearly more thrown off/disappointed with the realization.

And worst of all from the episode when he says bye to Laios

This is what we see of him as he says goodbye, his side profile from not too close and his EAR

And then he says "don't forget it next time" while posing and leaving as if it's an afterthought and not the main point he was making

This is how this interaction goes in the manga

His expression as he thinks about asking

His expression as he asks him to remember

He makes sure of it before even moving onto the exit. "Don't forget it next time, okay?" It's important for him and to me all these small expressions are important to realize that, it isnt some cool exiting phrase he just says, I thought thats what it felt like in the anime 🤔

And now on today's episode

Isn't this framed as Shuro seeing him as someone sinister? While in the manga this is framed as something lame edit: unhinged about him not something mysterious (Kabru looking at him moving away from Kabru vs Kabru moving away showing his back to shuro)

I might be thinking way too much into this but all these little details add up to me and make me feel sad that part of the complexity I love about Kabru is being lost. I was wondering if anyone else that read the manga felt similarly.

[amphitriteswife]

Goo dating headcanons

💸 Dating goo can be a real roller coaster. A fun roller coaster that is. There could be problems here and there but in his eyes it’s nothing he can’t solve. Yes it is true that he prioritizes his job over you sometimes. But that’s because his job is very ‘demanding.’ But it pays well, so he hopes you understand.

💸 Fair dates, cinema dates, shopping spree, restaurants, coffee dates and karaoke dates. (Sometimes with jonggun tagging along even though he himself doesn’t want to and goo forced invited him to go) he can’t always make it, but he does make it up to you in one way or another. Always.

💸 if you go to a far date, expect him to scream and yell in every attraction you go to. Yes he’s afraid of heights. Too bad you didn’t know, you have to put with him now. Luckily he don’t throw up. Oh but he WILL try the claw machine’s and not win shit. He spent a lot of money on it too by the way. Bro might start crying. Or just sit on the ground or sum. You might even feel bad for dawg😔

💸 if you are the one to actually win a plushie and give it to him, bro will scream. He’ll immediately hug it and start thanking you. You bet he’s taking pictures of it and posting it on all his socials. Even sending it to groupchats and Jonggun himself with a caption of ‘look what my girlfriend got me hehe😝😈’ and yes he also sends it to you. He’s putting the plush on his bed or in a special shrine he made with gifts from you.

💸 personally, i think Goo also seems to be a best friend and boyfriend. He would want to be in love and love you if you get what i mean. Ofcourse his best friend is jonggun, but that’s different from how he loves you. A main thing that is important to him is understanding, you don’t need to accept. Just understanding for him is enough.

💸 If you date Goo, it’s high likely that you too are a fan of anime. He doesn’t really mind which type you are. Manga, manhwa, anime, donghua even BL or GL. He doesn’t really care which one you enjoy. He just likes the swords in em you know. He would probably talk to you about his favorites and you about yours. It could be that the two of you read/ watch together or that you made trades on watching each other’s faves. For him it feels like he can share a hobby with you which he appreciates.

💸 I can see you meeting Goo at a bookstore. Both of you at the Manga section eyeing the same manga. You having if in your hands first and Goo demanding that you give it to him with a serious gaze, however his face would twist in mild surprise when you do actually hand it to him. He would say he is joking but you would insist that he can take it, he would find your indifference and calm nature intriguing. He would stare at you for a while you pick at another manga and decide to buy that one instead. You didn’t bother arguing with him because you didn’t think you’ll see him again. Unfortunately, he kept showing up even when he saw you avoid him. Which eventually made him say. ‘Miss. Go on a date with me.’

💸 Goo likes to call you ‘sugar’ or ‘sweetheart.’ Because he thinks you’re lively, sweet, addictive and always lighten his heart. He feels as if he can say anything to you, no matter what it is. Sometimes he even wants to tell you everything about his job, but he knows he can’t because it’ll put you in danger and he can’t risk that. You mean too much to him to make you see the stuff he does.

💸 Now when it comes to you being Goo’s girlfriend. There are a lot of people you don’t know who are in Goo’s life. And he also doesn’t think it would be relevant for you to know all of them. He would probably introduce you to Jonggun who wonders why you haven’t left Goo yet. And maybe James who is rather aloof and is on pretty neutral terms with you. Its save to say that James likes you better than Goo. Jonggun on the other hand doesn’t necessarily engage with you, but does little things like asking you to look after Goo or keeping him on a leash.

💸 Goo would go to concerts with you. Even if he doesn’t listen to the same music as you. He’ll make sure he handles everything from tickets to seats to time stamps. He’s pretty laid back about it too, he has it handled but isn’t stern about it. He’ll buy you merch if that’s what you want, even going as far as to go buy it himself during the concert so that you can still enjoy seeing your artist(s). If it’s in another country he’ll ditch his work probably and still go with you anyway. If the concert has lightsticks you can be rest assured: he already bought those.

I’m sorry it’s short. I ran out ideas😭

[shigayokagayama]

What are the biggest losses between the manga and anime? I just finished watching mp100 and I'm curious what the manga has!

ok biggest losses are kind of hard to define because like. anime and manga are two inherently different mediums and there are a good amount of cuts that improve pacing and then a good amount of cuts that people sort of argue over the merit of so im just going to go for biggest differences. i would also highly recommend reading the manga just because it is a pretty different experience tonally along with the minor plot differences and cut scenes + theres a bunch of omakes that both flesh out characters that dont get too much focus and have some really good bits in them. putting the rest of this post under a cut bc i ramble

mogami arc

this one is kind of inescapable i feel like but the anime version of the mogami arc had a LOT of things trimmed for a couple different reasons. season 2 already got an extra episode in order to do the fire scene as a cliffhanger so with the way things shook out the director had to choose between a. cutting a bunch of stuff out of separation arc to make it one episode so mogami arc couid stay three episode or b. cutting a bunch of stuff out of mogami arc so separation arc could stay two episodes. imo they made the right choice, whats even the point of adapting mob psycho if you dont get confession arc right, but some of the cuts to mogami arc will be dearly missed and others will be fought over to the end of time. cuts include:

minori being established as a brat in a video everyones shown and the video being part of how reigen deduces shes possessed (reigen deducing her possession in the manga is generally just a lot better done and after you read the manga the scene in the anime feels so awkward because you know whats missing

the psychics deciding to band together to beat this little girl to death to save themselves and shinra stepping between them to protect her and getting utterly thrashed, not by mogami, but his fellow psychics

reigen trying to convince mob to leave without him and call for help while he distracts him which leads to this

the general mogamiland section lasting a lot longer and being more brutal (notably the stray cat mob feeds getting killed in front of him)

mob getting fucking torn to pieces by spirits during the fight instead of ambiguously dying offscreen

generally would recommend if nothing else reading the manga version of this arc and confession arc because i feel like these are the only two where you lose like. a significant amount of the story and themes from the cuts. speaking of....

2. WHY THE FUCK DID THEY CUT THIS I WILL BE MAD UNTIL I DIE

maybe its just because i reread this arc on its own probably 50 times before the anime came out but this is the only arc where the cuts actively piss me off because there is absolutely no reason they had to do it. they cut a bunch of important shit, left in things that didnt need to be there, and added scenes that contribute literally nothing to the overall point. if they just did any one of those things or combo of two of those things i wouldnt be as mad but it feels like they put a bunch of filler in then speedran the actual story

cut #1 that pisses me off: HOMOPHOBIA?????

THERE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A HEART IN HIS EYE. WHY DID THEY NOT INCLUDE THIS. THIS IS THE CULMINATION OF TERUS ARC. THIS IS HIM SEEING THE PERSON HE HAS IDOLIZED AND DEIFIED IN HIS HEAD AT THEIR LOWEST AND STILL CHOOSING TO LOVE HIM, AND THROUGH THIS HE IS CAPABLE OF BEING LOVED EVEN THOUGH HES NOT PERFECT BECAUSE NO ONE IS. WHY WOULD YOU CUT THIS?

cut #2 I NEED WHOEVER CUT THE DIALOGUE FROM THE FIRST PANEL IN PRISON

the lack of inclusion of the first panels dialogue along with the cuts to the mob and shigeo conversation (WHICH WE WILL GET TO) make me think the person who adapted this arc fundamentally misunderstood what was happening. this line. is. THE POINT. THIS ISNT SOME SEPARATE SCARY THING. THIS IS MOB. HE IS CHOOSING TO DO THIS BECAUSE HE IS SCARED AND ANGRY AND HURT BUT HE IS IN CONTROL OF HIS ACTIONS AND ALWAYS HAS BEEN.

cut #3 HE DOESNT WANT TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR HIS ACTIONS

this entire conversation is so good and i was looking forward to watching it voice acted for so long and its just. gone. for me the "i am shigeo kageyama who are you" reveal felt like a gut punch because the opening being "i knew i would be needed" made me go "oh hes like possessed or his powers are sentient or something" and this conversation was the slow unraveling of my view of these as two separate people and instead as a scared, traumatized teenager who has convinced himself that the parts of himself he hates are something else outside of his control instead of an intrinsic part of who he is because if he's convinced that the parts of him that are able to feel desire and frustration and anger and malice are him then he'll lose all these relationships he's worked so hard to cultivate as his perfect, non confrontational self. and of course that isnt true. all his friends and loved ones are making their way to the center of a damn hurricane because they see he's in distress and want to help him. but he cant see that so he pushes them away. ugh. mob. protagonist of all time.

cut #4 WHY WOULD YOU CHANGE THE COMPOSITION OF THIS I CAN LITERALLY SEE HOW THIS WOULD BE ANIMATED IN MY MINDS EYE W

can you imagine how beautiful this would be in motion. just. god.

cut #5 HE WAS TALKING OUT LOUD. REIGEN HEARD ALL THIS

:(

cut #6 the bowling arc

so the scene where reigen takes his shoes off is supposed to be a lot more solemn bc like. taking your shoes off before killing yourself is a trope in japanese media (ive heard it started in media and bled over into real life but i might have it backwards?). reigen knew he was probably going to die. anyway i cant take this scene seriously because of this edit

the bowling arc.

cut #7 WAAAAAAAAAAAA

WAAAAAAAAAAAA *sniff* AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

cut #8 homophobia again

rip pensive fruity tea sip

cut #9 mob threw the cake directly in reigens face on purpose

i literally experienced every stage of grief realizing this got changed. why. its so perfect. why would you change this.

3. World Domination arc

so WD arc is in a very interesting place where it had a lot of scenes cut but unlike the other two most of the cut content youre like. yea probably best not to include that. ill start with the good content that got cut then go into the weird content

serizawa got his power drained by toichiro. i am quite sad this scene didnt make it in because its sorta heartbreaking

teru fighting off the claw assassin is shown and we see that teru can both make shadow clones AND hold a barrier while attacking, he seems to be the only esper with this ability!

the reason dimple could tell mob's family was alive is that there was no sense of grudge at the house which would have been left behind by people passing in a violent manner

mob briefly goes unconscious during the start of the toichiro fight and dimple possesses him and says "shit"

dimple possessing mob shoots shibata with a gun

we get mukai lore.

it doesnt make any sense and just raises more questions but we get it.

toichiro has a team of telepaths to recap where everyone is because this arc took an entire calender year to update

literally everyone shows up to fight shimazaki. i cannot stress enough how many people show up to fight shimazaki. it would be faster to list espers who dont show up to fight shimazaki

the middle school delinquents show up and start fighting the claw grunts literally completely out of no where and this is never brought up or referenced ever again

when mob and ritsu get home ritsu says all their stuff is in boxes and they need to hurry and redecorate the house before their parents get home which implies that shou packed the entire households worth of belongings into boxes and hid it somewhere before lighting their house on fire which is such a funny mental image that i cant even be mad at it. loony toons ass plot point.

4. other random interesting cut things

takenaka is just generally more of a bitch during alien arc. "ah i think they took him" remains one of the funniest goddamn panels in the manga

peak

alien arc overall is a lot funnier in the manga, i have a slight preference for the manga version just bc theres a lot of really good bits that didnt make it to anime but the anime version is so heartfelt and nostalgic it makes me happy

between omakes and small things that got cut or changed for the anime teru just feels way more fleshed out in the manga. like. anime teru is a completely different person. its hard to explain if youve never read it.

the all girls school part originally went right before the ghost family stuff and was the beginning of mob's existential crisis about why spirits and people get different treatment but tbh it works well where it is i just wish it werent. like that.

the scene where ritsu and teru shake hands was teru draining ritsus power which he seems to have learned to do from encountering ???%

teru.

ow

thats all i can think of off the top of my head, im sure ill realize i forgot something some time after posting this but. yeah. read the manga its good

[bobur-the-berry-guy]

Omg bobur posting twice the same day??Unbelievable! also im feeding another one of my pookie bear besties

Kaoru relationship hcs!

‧₊˚ ⋅* ‧₊✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧⋆.˚✮•🥥•✮˚.⋆✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧‧₊˚ ⋅* ‧₊

I'd say congrats on getting him but he's too busy mentally congratulating himself on getting you

He doesn't know how he achieved this or how you're actually into him but he's not complaining

Be prepared to reassure him that yes, you do love him and yes, you do wanna be with him

Ok for the pre-relationship

He pretends he doesn't care and that he's so mysterious..

And then he's so obvious

Not only because the rest of the club is (lovingly) bullying him into next week but let's be for real it might as well be written on his forehead

He stares at you like you're the only person in the room

He's also huffing and puffing about anything you ask him for help with but not once does he tell you no

He's so trying to hype himself to be more open with you but gets nervous over actually nothing

You smiled at him in class? Sweating

A side hug? Heart attack

Your hand brushed over his? Exploded in the spot

Typa dude to talk in the mirror and hype himself to not be scared of being around you and that he's the shit and then wimp out the second you move closer to hear him better

He wanted to tell you you're pretty but he almost said you're petty instead and gave up

His sister is sick of listening about you all day every day and then having to listen to him talk himself into "being a man🔥"

She might as well already personally know you with all that Kanzaki's nonstop rambling

The phantom busters are simultaneously so done with him and still don't let him catch a bre on how down bad he's acting

He's literally delusioning himself into confessing to you

I won't say much on confessions right now because there's something in the works, stay tuned hihi (⁠.⁠ ⁠❛⁠ ⁠ᴗ⁠ ⁠❛⁠.⁠)

He'd probably be hesitant to tell you anything about the ghost he sees in the beginning, but if you reassure him and ask long enough he'd eventually crack open

And not only about what he's seen but what that has made him go trough - the fear, the rejection, the loneliness, all of it

And when you genuinely believe him instead of thinking he's a freak? Yea, he knows it's over for him

Compares everything to shoujo anime scenes

I'm not even joking you could give him your water bottle because he's thirsty and his brain will automatically go to indirect kiss scenes

On the anime note he would be ecstatic if you're actually into his favourites

He won't say it but it would be so clear

Doesn't matter if you liked these animes beforehand or found them out trough him

Now, if you start watching something just because he likes it - that's something else

In your eyes it's probably a simple action but to him? Nah, that's a lot to him

He will remember that, probably tear up over it a bit too

Seeing that something would interest you just because it's important to him really gives his heart a pang!, ok?

Anyway

Will make constant references and send you stuff of the main couple and say "us"

You'd never know if he's telling u the truth or not when you ask him a question about what happen later on in the anime or manga

He would tell you the truth every now and then but you'd never know if that character actually died or it's just an au until you find out about it yourself💔

Would also send you random screenshots from later moments to motivate you to continue watching/reading the series

Would also facetime you just to watch anime

Would also sometimes have to rewatch certain parts or whole episodes because he zoned out staring at you

And if he cries bc sometimes happened he's either pointing the camera to the ceiling or he's straigh up turning it off lmao

Will make it seems like you're the one who suggested watching the anime if it's like slice of life or romance stuff

Just let him be..

Also he'd fangirl over certain moments and then pretend it never happened

"OHMYGOD THEY'RE SO CUTE AUGHH-- yea, the scene is nice, they're finally actually doing something"

Also if you invite him on a sleepover to watch something instead of facetiming?

He's arriving with a variety of snacks, drinks and a meal from home - he is PREPARED

His sister made it, he said

Would bring his best pajama to seem cooler

He's cooking up every scenario imaginable in his head

What if he has food on the corner of his mouth and you wipe it for him?! What if you feed him by hand?! What if you say you'd have to share the bed?!

Sure, entirely possible situation, but he's overdoing it

Now if you decide to lean on him or cuddle him while watching he'd be so stiff in the beginning I'm sorry

It's like hugging a plank

Give him some time to chill out and he'd be actually a bit clingy

Now if you fall asleep on him he's definitely going back to all these shoujo scenarios

He's sweating and he feels like he's having heart palpitations but he's gonna get over that too

Might or might not take a pic or selfie of you sleeping on him all cute and cozy

He's flexing in the club groupchat

On the chat topic, he's kind of a dry texter in the beginning but at least it comes off funny

He's the meme supreme and he has meme reactions for literally everything, but he doesn't send them a lot

He prefers to keep them to himself for just the right moment

On that note @/yukkuo has these "kaoru as ur bf texts" and i need to say check them out because that's exactly what i was picturing too they have ones for moragi also

If you ever compliment him for whatever reason he can only stare at you like an idiot for a good few seconds

You?? telling him he's pretty??? What is this alternate universe he's fallen in???

Especially!! if you compliment his eyes

He takes that straight to his heart

Please be tender with him

Hold his hand, play with his hair, hug him, cradle his face and kiss him all over - he's sensetive even if he acts like he isn't

He would let you touch his scars too

He usually avoids people's touch, but how could he refuse letting you when you're so gentle with him?

When he stops being nervous about you touching him he's definitely asking you to do it more

He won't say it though, that would make him too flustered

Instead he'd take your hand and put in on his face or in his hair and let you do your thing

If you insist on him telling you what he wants he will do it red and stuttering

Remind him just how much you adore him even if he hasn't asked you to reassure him

He tends to scare people away to the fact you're not only not avoiding him but also insisting that you want to be with him? Damn, he really lucked out

All in all, despite trying to appear all scary and mysterious, he's a giant softie

Just give him a big fat kiss, he needs it

๑Requests are open btw(⁠◕⁠ᴗ⁠◕⁠✿⁠)✧⁠*⁠。

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

I interpreted the "adaptation from the manga" thing to imply that they'll animate the 3 Yuus (like you said) but my partner proposed smth to me that raised my concerns... what if they only animate Yuuka? or like- default to a female Yuu? I could see that bc it would be probably easier for them to have only one protagonist.

don't get me wrong I like Yuuka and I know a lot of TWST fans are women but since the studio involved is apparently known for shojos I'm scared they'll make it seem like the story is romantic/the game is an otome... Which I mean- we do have SOME fanservice stuff but it's definitely not a romance story. That's why I'm scared 😭 if they do go that path... I much rather prefer the disconnection (?) of having 3 different Yuus than the possibility of this...

Also I'm just 🥲 I'm scared ppl will see that and say ahhh So Yuu has always been a woman!! Because as a trans guy, one thing that rlly made me feel valid in a way was seeing that in the game Yuu has no gender at all... I don't go by they/them but I'd much rather be referred as that than to be misgendered. It's a small thing but it's such an important detail for me (the fact that Yuu is gender neutral/can be whatever u want them to be) that it being erased in the anime would make me pretty sad... even more if ppl take the anime as "confirmation" of Yuu's gender, which it wouldn't be regardless if they end up giving us a girl OR guy Yuu- it would just be another Yuu interpretation different from the game.

But yeah, personal stuff aside, I'm more scared by the possibility of them making it seem like it's a romance story 😭 or ppl calling TWST an otome... which I mean... some people already have that misconception, even some fans...

[Referencing this post and this news!]

I definitely think they're probably leaning towards a new Yuu every season; otherwise, there would be a very uneven distribution of screen time for one Yuu over the others, and that leads into the problem of one Yuu being "more" canon than the rest. Yes, it will probably be easier logistically speaking to keep the same Yuu for the entire anime--but I also said the same thing when we only had the Episode of Heartslabyul manga, and look what happened with that. We ended up getting Yuuka and Yuuta following Yuuken, regardless of the logistical inconvenience of it all. I think if the anime intended to have a singular Yuu to follow for the main story, they would have chosen to adapt the light novel (which has Yuuya across multiple volumes) instead of the manga. The conscious decision to adapt the manga (with changing Yuus) says something to me. So really, I don't think we have to worry about one "kind" of Yuu dominating the anime. I took a look at the portfolios of the two studios collaborating for the Twst anime and didn't see a ton of shoujo myself. There was definitely a handful of them, but overall there was a spread of genres. I think Yumeta Company (one of the studios) has Tokyo Mew Mew New under its belt, which is probably one of its better-known works and maybe that's where the "they're known for doing shoujo" allegations are coming from? Don't quote me on that, though. I'm not someone who closely follows anime studios.

I would, however, like to point out that we shouldn't put all our stock into the studios behind the anime. Yes, they are obviously animating the project and thus have an influence on how the final product is. However, there are tons of other people involved (like the script writer) that will dictate how the anime looks and feels. (In fact, the script writer for the Twst anime, Kato Yoichi, is not known for writing shoujo.) I highly doubt all the staff involved at every possible level of production are conspiring to make Twst a genre it's not. (Related: I blame socialization for this, but it's a little sad that most of us by default think one woman + a bunch of men in a cast must be romantic.)

Now, to your main point. I understand the initial fear of people misunderstanding Twst as a dating sim/otome from how it is presented. Really, I do. I also understand the frustration that comes with people claiming Yuu's identity or gender or what have you is "confirmed". But to that, I ask you: so what? And I don't mean that in a "your feelings aren't valid" way (because your feelings are very valid!) I mean in like... Do these misconceptions others have truly impact your own enjoyment? Do the people believing in these falsehoods erase what you know is the truth? I would wager it doesn't. There has been and always will be those who see Twst or interpret Yuu as something they are not. Lots of us (myself included) thought Twst was an otome game when they first heard of its concept. People claimed Yuuken was the definitive Yuu when the first chapter of the manga dropped. That's fandom, especially the larger they get. If we fixate on those sore spots, it will ultimately make us unhappy because there will never be an end to misunderstandings. I would advise that you try and detach from those worries and just focus on having your own fun in the fandom rather than worrying about how others are consuming or reacting to Twst. Yes, we want Twst, a franchise we've seriously been invested in and love, to be seen a certain way--but I don't think that should come at the cost of your enjoyment. Fandom is meant to be fun, and we don't want to make ourselves miserable by stressing over the "what ifs", you know? Please focus on yourself!!

[ct-multifandom]

Big day for annoying people (me)

The two new eps of ML were good? Like wow it’s been great so far except ep 3 was comparatively a flop imo. Werepapas was so, idk, enticing lore-wise but I don’t have much to say that other people haven’t except that they’re clearly NOT neglecting past plot points, making the tone too silly goofy all the time, nor retconning important stuff like some people worried they would. We have been FED. I’m sure Felix is involved in that ring bs somehow, but idk if his intentions are pure or not.

Warning for the only salty thing I’m gonna say on this post: I’m so tired of going into the fandom tag and seeing people whining about “bad writing” problems that literally never happened based entirely on their own incorrect predictions they made up to make themselves mad. Ugh anyway. This post is gonna be about small details I latched onto in Daddycop!

We got to see glimpses of Sabrina and Max’s rooms this ep! Max’s room looks like a Star Trek spaceship but the books on his bookshelf are kinda giving those reference books at the library of like, archived government documents or research papers iykwim whereas the books in Alya’s room look like manga. An interesting thing I noticed in Sabrina’s room is that she has a line of framed certificates on the wall, maybe academic awards or something similar

Did they ever say if Markov can see Kaalki or not? I’m sure they will eventually but idk which option I like better. It’d be cute if they were friends but it’d be pretty funny if he had to watch Max talk to the secret floating ghost who lives with them now and not question it

List of things Sabrina dumps in the trash: yellow nail polish, the brooch Chloe gifted to her/bribed her with in season 1, the cat ear headband from her Chat Noir cosplay when she and Chloe were roleplaying as him and Ladybug in season 3, a beret, maybe the one Chloe tried to bribe her with in s1, Chloe-style sunglasses, a Queen Bee doll, a photo of them together in the old animation, and a mug/tumbler? Maybe a gift from her as well idk maybe they’re selling Queen Bee-themed Stanley cups over there.

:((((( Aw Sabrina nooo I hate seeing her so sad and the way she lied to her dad so he would think she’s happy and has friends

I think this might be the first time the show referred to Fire Captain Hessenpy by name?

Marinette’s scooter has the T+S logo on it and a sticker that says Boulangerie Paris

Between eps 2 and 4 I’m getting the sense that Sabrina uses Miss Hound as an escape kinda like CN where she feels like she can become instantly likeable, trustworthy, helpful, and useful through the inherent credibility of being a superhero. She has anonymity, can sort of start over on a blank slate, and is automatically implied to be a good person since Ladybug entrusted her. I’m guessing we’re gonna see more of that blank slate idea with other characters and what they’ll do with it, but it’s telling that Sabrina decides to transform to resolve people’s minor inconveniences, especially when she’s feeling bad about herself. It’s like she’s proving a point to herself but also giving herself something productive to do.

The GIRLS Ahhhhh let’s go lesbians

Noticing a clear absence of Alix. Ik the special implied she has to keep hiding in the burrow from Lila but she’s all normal-looking in the intro and they can’t shelve her forever. I feel like something is gonna change to make her be able to return.

^^^ ALSO she’s the only hero with zero design updates and my theory is that the purpose of that is so she can do contrived time nonsense like going back to earlier seasons and going forward without contradicting anything or revealing which time period she’s actually from

I gotta say the side character writing has progressively been better and better throughout the show. Atp they really feel like actual people with their own opinions and motivations. In the early days they felt more like lovable NPCs who talked occasionally but now they’re real characters? With free will? I feel like I just watched Pinocchio get turned into a real boy

The pro-healthy eating censorship/propaganda/whatever in this show is so funny omg. Juleka: I brought fruit tea Mylene: wow that’s so much better than the sugary soda we had last time LMAO. To balance out Rose holding a bag of popcorn they gave Zoe two burlap sacks full of oranges which tbf I’d rather snack on those during a movie than popcorn but still. I saw a vid recently about gravity falls adding random bowls of fruit next to characters eating junk food because they were getting flagged as promoting unhealthy habits. I keep thinking about that moment in Ikari Gozen when Mari asks Kagami out for “juice” when any normal teen would’ve said “coffee” like nope no caffeine in my good Christian miraculous

Love Kagami being a pretentious film nerd go hang out with Nino

RED ALERT YOU GUYS Mylene has an inclusive pride flag pin on her overall strap. Like the rainbow flag with the trans triangle and the black stripe. It’s not subtle or anything it’s just right there wow. Damn

The pin above it reminds me of Timebreaker’s logo. I wonder what some of these pins mean

Ok last season they seem to have established that Sabrina became friends with Marc and Nathaniel who were both explicit Sabrina Supporters since their akuma episodes, so it feels sort of convenient that they were written out of the narrative for this ep. I do see the whole Girl Squad thing and how she feels excluded when all the girls in the group hang out together without her, doing traditional girl things like movie night sleepovers, so I do think it’s totally valid. Her having absolutely zero friends is hyperbolized though.

On that note I have to wonder if the school might have several lunch periods because none of the male characters expect Adrien and Nino were there. Or maybe they just stage the scene with whoever is convenient. They might have flexible lunch schedules and all the other characters are off somewhere else.

Rose mentioned a girl whose name I didn’t recognize and after rewinding i can’t tell what she said. Aglie? New character? Maybe she’s that black girl with pink hair who was sitting with Adrien, Nino, and Sublime at lunch

KAGAMI AND ONDINE ARE CANONICALLY FRIENDS this is like the Superbowl for me. I’m so excited for Sleeping/Princess Syren I need to see her.

God the girls were so messy in that scene where they didn’t want to invite Sabrina lol I kinda love it I can’t even be mad

Zoe, your lab safety is atrocious. Not only are you taking your goggles off while still in the lab, but then you *leave the room* and *touch someone* with your gloves still on?! Diabolical. What are they even doing, soldering computer chips?

Marinette when I catch you Marinette

Roger’s relationship with Sabrina is actually so cute even though he’s kinda misguided as a person GOD when he’s on his way to console his crying daughter and Lila enters his mind space and he’s cradling his arms like he’s clearly seeing her as his baby 🥺 nobody talk to me

Alexa play I bet on losing dogs by mitski. Myyyy baby my baby…

We got a glimpse of the baddest bitch in Paris Xavier Ramier I’m so happy

Sabrina shapeshifted her necklace into a brooch. Huh. I guess you can just do that

The power of believing in herself allowed her to yassify her own character design into a cuter and more fashionable superhero! This is basically just like real life if you think about it

Her ball has a doggy nose on it awww

Lila telling Roger to turn around so she could back him up and fire the anti akuma was badass okay

I’m not sold on the loud ass makeup they have a lot of the characters wearing so I’m glad we got to see the girls with clean faces at the end there. Wow they look so normal! I’m also loving the pajama designs. I had to pause and look at all of them.

Zoe had to stop and hit Sabrina with that rizz stare to make sure Sabrina wouldn’t be coming up with any platonic explanations for her behavior

I never thought I’d say these words, but I think a love triangle between Sabrina, Zoe, and Max would be fun. Imagine Zoe is into Sabrina, Sabrina isn’t exactly catching the hint and sees Zoe as a really nice friend, Sabrina kinda likes Max, and Max is like damn these bitches gay. Good for them.

The end card is so baby omg

I TOLD YOU GUYS Sabrina was gonna get a makeover and people were like uH No iTs JUsT An aNimATioN eRroR oF a ScRApPEd DeSiGn girl why the hell would they leave a scrapped design in the intro, and there’s no way they would accidentally not notice that much less repeat it

Mark my words white haired Caprikid is not an error either he’s real and he’s gonna collect all the chaos emeralds to get that way

A new diabolical twink has hit the scene. Ray’s pompous ass immediately reminded me of Preminger from Barbie. He looks like he rides horses. Like he tells people he’s into sports but then you find out the sport is just horse riding. Immediately invested. Who is this diva. I want him to get hit by a bus.

Ooooo Zoe was up to some Delinquent Shit in America this is so juicy. I looove when suspiciously perfect characters get revealed to be secretly fucked up that’s the best. I’ve always loved those types of headcanons, that she was expelled from her last school and moved to a different country all of a sudden for her mom’s PR. If you think about it, that’s exactly what happened to Chloe damn. Daughter commits PR disaster, do zero parenting about it, relocate daughter far away to start over with little consequence! I wanna see some parallels. I feel like she made it sound like she moved because she was getting bullied at her old school, but what if that was a lie, or at least a partial lie? You know shit’s serious when the exposition is in the post-post-endcard scene

The pacing of these episodes has been satisfying compared to previous seasons, especially 5. They aren’t trying to shove too much in, but there’s still a lot happening and fiiiinally a nice mix of plot and fighting. I was getting irritated by how rushed a lot of the fights were last season like might as well just not have them at all

Late edit: back to the pajamas because I forgot to analyze them, I have noticed that Juleka’s pants have bats on them :) frickin bats. They also have like… a crescent moon with something sitting on it? idk what that is. It’s like a pattern of cute spooky Halloween imagery. But the pants and her black lace tank top versus Rose’s sparkly pink unicorn onesie is adorb.

Zoe has a yellow tank and seems to be wearing her usual leggings under running shorts um? Outside clothes in bed? And her pink slides give the whole thing a sans undertale vibe. Oh what the fuck why do the feet of her tights have individual toes lmao. The horror. I hate it.

I can’t tell what Mylene is wearing except a black t-shirt that might have something white on it. OMG EDIT 2 ITS IVAN’S T-SHIRT FROM HIS OLD DESIGN YOU GUYS SHES WEARING HER BF’S OLD BAND TEE AS PAJAMAS. This is headline news myvan nation. She has maybe pink shorts and her slippers look like Uggs.

Kagami’s silk pjs look luxurious. I love how her clothes this season went from just preppy to being very obviously EXPENSIVE like she’s blending in with the gang but she’s still clearly rich af.

Sabrina’s pjs are a classic set with her usual argyle pattern on them. 10/10 would give her a warm glass of milk and read her a bedtime story. I wonder what she needs eye drops for because she told Roger she needs to pack them.

Excited to see more yay! I love the little details. It’s kinda a bummer that Sabrina spent most of her hero focus ep sobbing but we ball (see what I did there) and the end was so cutesy. So excited to probably watch episode 11 before episode 6

[feroluce]

I've been yapping at a new friend a lot lately about Boothill & Rappa; she described them as "sidekicks in chaos" and! Yes! Finally!Someone else gets it! They're SO cute and so sweet, I adore them. They speak so highly about each other and they have a lot of respect between them! I love them being friends!

With the way Rappa calls him Lord (vs Ninja for everyone else) and how much she openly admires and mimics him, I'd like to think Boothill was the one that showed her the ropes when she was first brought into the Galaxy Rangers. Mentor/mentee and teacher/student are too strong of labels for how I see them, though.

Rappa and Boothill are like a college senior taking the new little freshman under their wing. Or the much older and more experienced coworker trying to look out for the fresh-faced little newbie who's just entering the workforce.

As for how they met and became friends in the first place, I like to imagine it was a case of Boothill's soft heart and being unable to turn a blind eye to things. ☆

Like Boothill wasn't on the mission where the Galaxy Rangers found Rappa, he was off on his own Hunt at the time. But given that the Galaxy Rangers have a leader (La Mancha) and they do seem to have some kind of organized efforts, I wonder if there's any kind of secret hq, or at least certain places where they tend to congregate, like how the Masked Fools have their taverns. Anyway.

Boothill maybe sees Rappa for the first time at one of these hqs (he came back when he heard there'd been a major breakthrough with Dr. Primitive). Or he maybe just happens to run into that Galaxy Ranger from 2.6 that initially found her, who then just. Wasn't really sure what to do with her after the raid. Boothill walks in all these Rangers sitting around like "well now what" because none of them actually expected Rappa to survive the memetic virus. Honestly, her brain should have fried.

Either way, Boothill comes across her by total coincidence. But I think he'd have a lot of sympathy for her because like. Aeragan-Epharshel had been an uncontacted planet before the IPC came around. And since they were there to fuck the place up, they definitely didn't expose the natives to the rest of the cosmos. To say that Boothill "left" the planet is a massive underestimation- he didn't just leave, he escaped. And when he got out, he was completely alone, with very little idea how the rest of the world worked or how to get by.

And right now, Rappa is much the same.

She doesn't know anything beyond the lab she was held captive in all her life. There's no way they would have allowed her to learn that kind of stuff, and I'm sure Kucha wouldn't have told her out of kindness. It would be cruel to taunt her with things she couldn't have.

So someone needs to teach her The Ways of the World! It's just a matter of deciding who.

Boothill: ...What're you morons doing.

The Rangers, in the middle of a very intense rock-paper-scissors tournament:

And Boothill likes these people. He really does! ...Ok, except that one guy. He's kind of a prick. But the rest of them are at least mostly decent! But he wouldn't trust them to keep a pool, let alone a whole human being. If he lets this girl go with any of these dumbasses, there's no way she'll make it. So Boothill smacks them around a bit and announces fine, he'll show the new girl how to be a Galaxy Ranger! If any of them have a problem with this, feel free to make complaints to his revolver ☆

Rappa watches all this go down with stars in her eyes, because Boothill is just like the heroes in her manga! Wow! So cool!

(When it came time to actually leave though, Rappa made some sad eyes at the Ranger from 2.6 that actually found her- for better or worse, she got a little attached. The Ranger told her to go on! Go! Just get out of here!

It's very important to imagine this like a movie where the kid frees the wild animal they bonded with skhzksksjk)

Afterwards, Boothill does actually take Rappa aside and ask if she even wants to be a Ranger. If she doesn't, it's fine. The Galaxy Rangers do a lot of charity work, and everyone knows someone who knows someone who knows someone. They'll find somebody that can help her figure things out and get settled. She can have an actual life now.

Rappa gives a passionate speech (that Boothill catches about 50% of sdlkfjasdl) about how she wants nothing more. She'd wanted it before she even knew the name for it. This was what she'd dreamed of, laying across the bed in Kucha's room, reading through his manga collection for the nth time.

Kucha isn't with her anymore. He'd died just to get her out of there. But she can take the opportunity he gave her and make the most of it. She can still keep her dream alive.

So yes, Rappa wants to be a Ninja Hero. Please teach her!

(Boothill: Bein' a Galaxy Ranger ain't easy shirt. Ya gotta be able to hold yer own in a fight. Can ya even do that?

And then Rappa fucking suplexed him and Boothill was like ok so the first parta bein' a Galaxy Ranger is- JSJJSJDKSK)

They're mentioned together so much outside of the main game, too. So I'd like to think even after Boothill passed on to Rappa all the street smarts he could, they still remained pretty friendly, and make the time and effort to meet up whenever they pass nearby. They just ended up getting along so well!

Like no, they don't see each other very often. They're each on their own separate Hunt. Galaxy Rangers still largely work alone. But they're the kind of buddies that can still happily greet each other the same even after months of not speaking. ♡

(Clutching my heart imagining Boothill telling Rappa she is now a full-fledged Ninja Hero, and she is now strong enough to make her solo journey! But he does give her his phone number. And he tells her that if she's in trouble- like real, real bad trouble- call him. Call him and he'll come runnin', to any corner of the galaxy, ok?)

[joeloverture]

whist i get what you are saying about confederate flag, why is it deemed completely okay to write about joel saying that he would have fucked his 15 year old daughter given the chance. this isn’t trying to be hateful, i’m just genuinely curious

okay hi! thank you for being sane about this and actually approaching from a place of wanting to widen your scope. id direct you to @whataperfectwasteoftime for more on the confederate flag stuff. they made a well developed post on that for a much more aggressive version of this ask.

im sure u can guess what’s under the cut so heed any triggers you may have and put u first.

i want to make something clear here that i previously haven’t. i don’t think this fic belonged on tumblr. it’s ambiguous in its TOS whether its actually a violation or not, but since tumblr operates in areas where writing csa is illegal, it was never meant to be here in the first place. ao3? sure. whatever. but this is stirring things up because it was in an unexpected place. tumblr has more rules whereas ao3 is the scarcely contained Wild West of fanfic.

furthermore — i wouldn’t say it’s completely okay. these things have nuance. i read the fic, because I saw something like this coming from down the road considering the fandom climate. i do think the fic was stylistically written in a way that was self aware of the characters mutual destruction of each other. i also think it was intentionally inflammatory in some ways. however, everything was adequately tagged. people were free to move on if it caused discomfort, which i also want to make clear is a normal feeling. whether it be interacting with eroticized fanfiction or fiction in general, it is an inherently uncomfortable feeling sometimes! it’s up to us to determine what agitates our personal limits. i don’t think others should be held responsible for our consumption. what joel said in that fic was repulsive. it was meant to be! i also want to reiterate here that darkfic isn’t for me. dark fiction, though? that’s my shit — and i don’t mean dark romance or a little life, but the same theory can apply to those.

if we begin to crack down on eroticized fanfiction, the terminology they use will bleed into other areas of literature. suddenly the language used to describe a minor in an erotic work (and trust me, the thought of this does nauseate me — emphasis on this not being for me) is forbidden in a work that is raising awareness or telling a story. these may seem like far jumps, but loopholes like this exist everywhere in the law. it is why worries about rights to privacy emerged during roe v wade. especially with the right, famously laden with pedos and their enablers, they will pretend to be protecting people by silencing any dubious erotic work, then trans and queer voices (notice how they are constantly called pedos), and then real csa stories will be suppressed so they can get away with more.

id direct you to a pending law in tx, in which any obscene depiction of a minor or someone who looks like one. (senate bill 20)

big win, right?

nope. it’s far too up to interpretation at the prosecutorial level. scotus actually deemed this unconstitutional in 2003.

it is legal to marry a child in texas. these lawmakers use fiction as their scapegoat to avoid the moral consequences of actions they participate in. laws like this may start at the level of, say, anime or manga. but it very rapidly will spread to appropriate television, art, etc that depicts trans and queer people. and even beyond that.

i worry where this goes. if we don’t speak up now, who will speak up for us when they come for us? because they will.

additionally, fiction ≠ reality. this is an important distinction. fiction can be a powerful tool to explore what we fear, what we have experienced, and what we wish would happen. i cannot police what others do. only what i write and how i respond to their words.

[welcometothejianghu]

Welcome to another round of W2 Tells You What You Should See, where W2 (me) tries to sell you (you) on something you should be watching. Today's choice: 少年歌行/The Blood of Youth

The Blood of Youth is a 2022 live-action adaptation of the tale of a deposed, disabled, and incredibly cunty prince who's on his way back to settle the score with his asshole father, and the rag-tag band of weirdos he accumulates along the way, including Spear Girl, Bad Monk, and Fire Puppy (pictured above).

I hope you like shounen anime, because this is the most shounen anime something is allowed to be without actually being based on something running weekly in Shounen Jump. What if Nirvana in Fire were also Naruto? It would be the Blood of Youth.

This show is an underrated gem of action-packed fun that not nearly enough people in English-speaking fandom have seen. In an attempt to correct that -- and ahead of an announced second season and prequel in progress -- I'm here with five reasons you should try it out.

1. Zero thoughts head empty

You do not have to pay an enormous amount of attention to this show to understand what's going on. The show itself does not always know what's going on. It got distracted by a shiny object over there, and now we're all gearing up to go punch the shiny object. We'll get back to the main plot when we're done with the punching.

It has a million billion plot threads going on at any given moment. Bad guys roll in from sects you've never heard of before, using superpowers with stupid names, only to get kicked into next week. There's approximately eleventy thousand characters -- so many, in fact, that I ran into problems several times while making this rec post, because there aren't readily available photos of everyone I want to talk about. Just look at the DramaWiki cast list. See how it goes on for like fifty screens? That's a little what the show feels like.

Except I'm not saying that like it's a bad thing, because the show knows it's doing this, and it acts accordingly. It telegraphs pretty well who's important and who isn't (and then it goes out of its way to color-code the latter, which is handy). What you're left with is absolutely a manga-style plot, complete with training arcs and semi-relevant sidequests, all working up to the final boss match.

It is an extremely self-aware show. On multiple occasions, something would happen, I would crack a joke about it, and then a beat later the show itself would make the exact same joke. I wouldn't call it an outright comedy, but it's still very funny, and on purpose. It has no illusions about being some kind of profound, meaningful epic. Mostly it's just here for a good time.

Yet this lightheartedness is what makes the powerful emotional parts really powerful by contrast. The show is not stupid; it's just goofing around most of the time. When it knuckles down, it can be devastating. And you know what? It does wind up being profound and meaningful about some stuff. How about that.

So yeah, if you're up for something that bops merrily right along and only occasionally rips your heart out, here you go!

2. Putting the poly in polycule

Bisexuals, rejoice! It's representin' time!

Here you go, I made a relationship chart of about 40% of the show's potential and canonical ships. I could have included so many more, but I only had so much space on the image, so I had to leave out some amazing ones, like the sword hedgehog who's real into this one cougar who could easily wipe the floor with him, or the rich nerd who thinks he has a chance with the aforementioned hot butch, or the fancy MILF who cheated on the emperor with a dreamy jianghu man and is trying not to cheat on him again with a different, slightly less dreamy jianghu man. See? There's just so much.

I would also say these are not exclusive ships. They are extremely inclusive ships. I am a fan of most (though admittedly not all) of the pairings listed here, and in fact of many of the three-and-more-somes indicated by these lines. They're such a cuddle puddle of shared intense feelings that it's hard to imagine anyone getting more than mildly jealous. Moreover, the potential for romance does not get in the way of hetero friendships; a boy and a girl who are each dating other people can go do adventures together, and (mostly) nobody gets weird about it, which is nice. If anything, what makes the overall dynamic so polycule-like is how equally friends and love interests get treated, meaning that it's not difficult to see a lot of crossover potential between those two categories.

If you're like me, you're hesitant about canonical romance, especially when it's straight, mostly because so many straight love stories wind up being tiresome, gross, and/or skull-poundingly boring. You will then be pleasantly surprised by how the canon pairings with members of the main cast are not like this at all!

Xiao Se and Sikong Qianluo are the main textual romance, and golly gee, they're just cute as heck. As the chart above indicates, I like interpreting them as two Kinsey 6's who have found their single exceptions, Mulder-and-Scully-style. Maybe one of the best things about their relationship is that it gets sidelined all the time for the plot. They're not so busy being in love that they forget to get shit done. Then they get a bit of downtime and get to go on a date, and you're like, aww, those sweet gay disaster babies are gonna do a little bit of heterosexuality. Just precious.

Tang Lian and Fairy Rui are right up there with the cuteness. She's a sex-positive dancing beauty who wants to ride that pretty boy like she stole him, and he's a shy sword boy so tightly bottled up that he'll explode if he sees a bare ankle. Avoiding spoilers, I will simply say that this is a pairing of two relatively soft people, until a bad thing happens to one of them and the other hardens up about it. If that's your jam, they're here for you.

Lei Wujie and Ye Ruoye are probably the most magical and the most practical of the bunch. They have a beautiful, super-dreamy, really horny sword-dance meet-cute, complete with its own pop song ... and then that's it, they're basically just together. She likes him, he likes her, good for them. In-laws aside, it's a refreshingly low-drama situation. Besides, I always love it when the hypercompetent woman gets the sweet, devoted himbo who'd do anything for her. Ruoye's had a hard life, and she deserves someone who can dick her down good at night and make her a nourishing breakfast the next morning.

And then there is, of course, The Ship:

Xiao Se and Wuxin are canonical, textual soulmates. The show treats their dynamic as more important than any other. It's so important, in fact, that the show has to sideline Wuxin for huge parts of the drama, lest everything get too damn gay. They each get a boyfriend catch on the other. They both do fairly reckless things when the other is in trouble. They are the secret hidden happy ending to the series. They share the kind of ride-or-die relationship built on mutually being the hugest bitches in any given room. Whether or not you think this is romance, it is extremely romantic, and the series agrees as much as it can, all things considered.

And if none of those flavors of love float your boat? Well, have you considered ... eunuchs?

3. She likes e4e

So I'm on record as being real into eunuch characters, right? Well, if you're with me on that, you are in for a treat here, because these are some absolutely buck-wild eunuchs.

There's five main ones, and I can't even begin to scratch the surface of what's going there. Like, really, I don't even think I understood all of what was happening with them. They're kind of the bad guys, but then they're kind of the good guys, but then some of them are the bad guys, but then they're just working for the bad guys, but then they screw over the bad guys, and ... it's just a lot, okay? It's a lot, and it's all happening with this bunch of catty bitches.

Also, you would not believe the difficult time I had finding any images for this section. I guess for some reason, fandom isn't way into a bunch of canonically dickless color-coordinated middle-aged men in weird hats? Whatever, man, they are missing out. If, however, you have the good sense to be into the intense and complicated (semi-romantic??) relationships among colleagues who also professionally just happen to be missing their external genitalia, buddy, strap in (and maybe strap on, depending).

Don't let me oversell how much these guys are in the show. They're not. They're vaguely important at points throughout, and they become incredibly important near the end, but they're hardly main characters. They're mostly back at the palace, doing their various schemes and looking absolutely fantastic.

So if they're such a minor part of the story, why do they get their own selling point? Well, I think their presence is a good example of two specific things about the show:

Specific thing the first: It's so queer -- not gay, but queer. Thinking back to my last selling point, you will notice how many of those straight pairings may look normie on the outside, but once you get down to it are not playing by cishet rules. (For instance, I've seen a lot of people read Tang Lian's resistance to sexual advances as asexuality, which, sure!) Likewise, there are lots of incredibly important, intimate relationships that don't conform to standard romantic pair dynamics. Add to that a lot of bodies with unusual characteristics and conditions, and you've got the makings of plenty of delightful non-normative love stories.

Specific thing the second: There are so many things going on with so many side characters that there's a kink here for everyone. Don't care for eunuchs? How about slinky villains with mind-control powers? Devoted servants who would do anything for their masters? Former bad guys who owe life-debts to the good guys who saved them? Bonded pairs traipsing around the jianghu together? Sons nursing legitimate grudges against the men who killed their fathers? Alcoholic widowers with incredibly slutty necklines? Mysterious cross-dressers with unconvincing moustaches? Vengeful brides? Martial siblings? Murderous royals? Guilt-ridden half-siblings? Boring star-crossed lovers? All these and more! It's a smorgasbord of rarepair fuel!

Also, I just love these toxic drama queens. It's like if RuPaul's Drag Race had the authority to have you executed.

4. The most intriguing outfits I've ever seen in anything (and yes, I'm including Winter Begonia)

Time for a fashion show!

The asymmetrical fits, the detailed embroidery on everything, the brilliant colors -- everybody just looks so good. And yet everything still looks ... eh, I don't know if "practical" is the word I want, but at least wearable. Nobody's dragging ten-foot trains of fabric behind them or wrapped in eighty floofy layers of gauze (except Rui, but she's special). Their outfits are strange and elaborate, but they don't defy physics.

What's truly stunning is how often they get new outfits. Xiao Se alone changes clothes about once every other episode, and more if he's getting a flashback. He is the fashion plate of the whole series, and every look he serves is pitch-perfect.

They're not outright color-coded, but the main characters do have certain colors associated with them -- which is extra-fun when you watch those colors bleeding into their friends' clothes as their relationships get stronger. I also think -- and I'm willing to be proven wrong on this point, but I think I'm right -- that they recycle some characters' outfits into parts of other characters' outfits. On more than one occasion, I'd swear that Lei Wujie shows up wearing the left half of something Xiao Se was wearing a few episodes back (tailored to fit him, of course, because that dumb ponytail boy is tall).

Where I think the costume design gets massive points, though, is that the costumes are themselves adaptations.

Before the live-action series, there was a 2018 3D animated donghua. I have never watched the latter, but apparently the drama is intensely faithful to the animated visuals, to the point where some fights are shot-for-shot remakes.

Of course, you can do a lot more with unreal clothing and bodies in animation -- and you can show a lot more skin, at least according to Chinese content laws. The live-action costumers chose to preserve about as many of the appearance beats from the donghua as they could manage, while still accepting the limitations of real-life bodies and materials. You can see some side-by-side comparisons here. The live-action outfits manage to be instantly recognizable without being slavishly devoted recreating to their inspirations.

So if you're sick and tired of dreary, ill-lit shows with bland palettes, this vibrant, colorful drama may be just the thing for you. It's a rainbow from start to finish.

5. Actually a good central plot?

Despite all the wacky delightful shounen nonsense that this show has -- and it has a lot -- the core of the whole narrative, which is Xiao Se's story, is surprisingly great and cohesive.

The short version is this: Xiao Se used to be Xiao Chuhe, sixth prince and somewhat heir apparent. Then he and his jerk-ass dad had a falling-out that resulted in the prince's having his martial arts abilities all but taken from him. He's been living the life of a very well-dressed innkeeper for several years, trying to avoid all of that palace garbage. But now his jerk-ass dad is dying, which means that a lot of horrible decisions are finally having unfortunate consequences for everyone, and Xiao Se's got to get back in there to make sure everything does not go to shit and land someone terrible on the throne -- even if it has to mean taking it himself.

His central conflict is between what he used to be and what he's become. Does he miss being Xiao Chuhe, high-ranked martial artist and future emperor? Or is he happier being Xiao Se, long-suffering nobody who can barely run a business, much less hold his own in a fight? What would he be willing to do to get back what he's lost? What are his obligations to himself versus his obligations to everyone else? How much is he responsible for his father's bullshit? And why has he wound up having to babysit this stupid Fire Puppy?

It's okay, they're best friends now. Lei Wujie decided.

No spoilers, but I liked Xiao Se's ending a lot. I feel it's very true to the character and shows a real understanding of who he is and what he values. And really, at the end of the day, sometimes all you need for a happy ending is your girlfriend, your girlfriend's girlfriend, your girlfriend's girlfriend's boyfriend who's also your boyfriend, your other boyfriend, his girlfriend, and your long-distance for-real soulmate.

Feel like giving the youths a try?

You can find them on YouTube or on Viki. But be absolutely sure that no matter where you watch it, you make sure to go watch the epilogue as well. (And if you get real into the story, well, here's a link to information about all the other adaptations.)

You are also welcome for how I did not spend this post going off for five hundred years on how much I love Wuxin and his funky relationship to Buddhism. I figured that's way too niche of a selling point for most people, and might indeed have even been counterproductive. But know that I could have.

Also, I'm very happy about the announcement of a second season, because that's going to mean Liu Xueyi has to shave his head again, and he looks unbearably good with a shaved head.

Oh yeah, did I forget to mention the whole motorcycle photoshoot?

In case you hadn't noticed, the whole cast is stupidly hot. Hachi machi.

[crumplstiltskin]

i love ur aus! your interpretations of the relationship dynamics in new ways that still feels true to the characters is really cool- take supernatural crazy stuff and making it fit in a more normal dynamic can't be easy.

do you have any opinions on how sukuna or choso get along with wasuke? (and do sukuna + choso both privately think of themselves as The Oldest Brother, or is one of them a middle brother?)

hey!!! thank you for sending this. i take it as a really big compliment ! i get very particular about that kind of thing so i'm glad it reads the way i want it to.

i'll answer this in the context of my aus. depending on the au there are minor differences though! and i hope you don't mind if i yap a little bit under the cut!

the most important part of this question is how wasuke's personality would mesh with them respectively so it's important to first consider what type of person wasuke is and how he would engage each of them. besides his appearances in the manga/anime we can deduce some of his personality through yuuji (how he was raised, his conduct, etc).

wasuke seems to be very even-tempered, family-focused so i think choso would get along the most with wasuke. choso is very gentle at heart and also family-oriented himself so wasuke would think highly of choso who is very outrightly passionate about it. wasuke himself doesn't seem to be overly affectionate physically or verbally but we know that he cared deeply for yuuji. choso being sort of the opposite way complements him well, at least in the context of caring for yuuji and i see him appreciating choso for making up for perhaps what he would consider his own limitations. wasuke would probably find it embarrassing but as a grandfather who loves his family he would be grateful for having choso in their lives.

sukuna and wasuke would clash more but not to the point where there is any real tension. i think they would bicker a lot, but only because they both seem like the stubborn type....probably share other personality traits too...idk..i feel it in my bones (and tbh in normal peoples au sukuna had a weird edgy phase where wasuke found him cringe af and he never let sukuna live it down 😭). in unckuna au and 12 years au they would both be very involved in rearing yuuji so they'd have long discussions about things after yuuji went to bed or something so this gives them a purpose to get along. not saying that sukuna wouldn't get along with him but to be completely honest sukuna is not the type of character to really care about much beyond himself. so they're like coworkers........but the work is yuuji. sukuna would respect wasuke out of principle (principle being he is an elder, he is his father/grandfather) and wasuke expects that from him, the end.

but knowing people like wasuke, neither of them are getting praise from him no matter how well they do or how much they impress him lol. he will tell them off immediately if they do anything wrong, and is not the type to say pretty words. if he wants to be nice to them he'll probably show it through action though; he'll go out of his way to buy their favourite fruit ("i got x today at the market, peel/cut them up for us"), drink tea and have snacks in the same room instead of sitting on the porch alone, things like that.

about the birth order...i think that's complicated. in normal peoples au i usually consider choso the oldest by a couple years (kaori's child from a past marriage or an ex). if it's the cousin choso au (where kenjaku is kaori's brother) he's around the same age as sukuna give or take. in sorceror au where he is a death painting choso is the oldest by far but sukuna won't acknowledge him as family for reasons (usually infantile and superficial) 😭😭😭.

in most aus sukuna kind of looks down on him for not looking like them and/or for not being human, and in most aus choso is not interested in sukuna beyond asking him to stop being mean to yuuji. almost writing off sukuna as yuuji's brother at all. almost... if it's any uncle au it's harder for him to ignore that i think...choso respects his elders...unfortunately...(he secretly thinks ill of sukuna in his head).

[chronic-shinposter]

I'm not sure about all of this, but can you give me a hint? The kaioshins dress very tightly and modestly because going out without clothes is considered sinful???? Was there such a thing in canon, or did fans make up a similar thing that kaioshin are like holy gods terrified of debauchery?

Warning: I go on a big ass essay that strays from your main question and of course everything listed here is opinions but with some anime/manga references to back up my thoughts. As a response to my coatless Shin post, that was just me being silly LOL. However this totally gives me an opportunity to talk about characters and I am all about that shit

A summary of my essay though: there is a moral code implied, but there's nothing specifically stated, and it's not so specific that it's about clothes and perviness and stuff. Every Supreme Kai (in canon) has a different idea of how to honor their position and their personal morals can be inspired by their duty but it doesn't mean they are one to one. Everything else is up in the air and are just personal conclusions (like, Supreme Kais all dress a specific way so it's totally possible this is a requirement, but there is nothing in canon about this) How someone treats the Supreme Kai role depends on the person though; some are way more relaxed and others are very uptight. Interestingly, sin IS mentioned in at least one of the English translations of the manga. (right to left)

Much like religion IRL though there are people who will use these codes and behaviors, meant to spread goodness and honor, to be toxic assholes. I actually kind of hate the general description of Supreme Kais in the DB wiki honestly because it goes with the assumption that every Supreme Kai (and adjacent role) is a good person when I don't think that's really true, it's just that all of them have similar jobs and their culture encourages politeness. Quite frankly, most of them kind of have a pole jammed up their ass and look down on others all too frequently (which like, they're gods, but in the context of the series they are SO UPPITY HOLY SHIT). Let's look at Gowasu, Elder Kai, Zamasu, and of course Shin. I think they're a good spectrum of the behavioral code in my opinion

Gowasu

Gowasu is one of the oldest acting Supreme Kais in the current canon. He is very polite and proper, good-natured, but has relaxed a lot over time and also just wants to have fun (bro wants to be a Godtuber in his retirement). I think because of his introduction, we kind of see that the standard for Supreme Kais is that they are mellow, like drinking tea, and tend to look at the little things. They very much have normal lives and might even teeter on the more "nothing ever happens" side, but time and peace can introduce them to ignorance just as much as inexperience can, leading Gowasu to make lapses in judgment about who he chooses as his successor.

Gowasu is honestly one of the most grounded Supreme Kais we've been introduced to because he is reflective of his mistakes and even remorseful, receptive to criticism and even questions the foundations of the god hierarchy in Dragon Ball Super. He also doesn't react much when approached casually by mortals, which shows that he doesn't believe himself to be above others even though, cosmically, he is. He is also, like, the only Supreme Kai we see actively get along with Shin as an equal even though age and experience lends him to be the "superior" one

Overall, Gowasu is experienced and looks at the good side of everything, but he is also casual and likes to be goofy. He very much understands that life is important but what use is that if you don't get to be a silly goober sometimes?

Elder Kai

Elder Kai is more on the extreme end in which him getting shit done is more like... an exception rather than a rule, he much prefers the lazy lifestyle that being so high on the cosmic ladder offers and he's not really afraid to show it. He is experienced (though we don't know if he was THE Supreme Kai of his time) but he does not give a shit about any moral standards, very much on the extreme end of the "life's about having fun" line

Elder Kai is openly a pervert-- in the original DBZ he says he uses his abilities to watch women from afar, he has nudie mags, eagerly accepts Goku's request when Goku promises him he can grab Bulma's boobs (I think this ended up getting dubbed out later lol). He believes in honoring age, which he shows when berating Shin for their difference in wisdom, but also in taking responsibility to give himself up first after Shin offers his own life to save Goku's.

He is not a bad person and holds respect for what it means to be a Supreme Kai, but he is no stranger to being a creepy fuck. He's a good example in that a Supreme Kai (past or future) does not really have to be what is considered "pure" to do the job and they have the free will to enact what they feel is the proper thing to do.

Zamasu

Elder Kai's all about having fun in life, while Zamasu goes to the opposite logical extreme: life is about perfection, and anything less does not deserve to be at all. I think Zamasu shows where this same behavioral code can go, because by all means he kind of checks all the boxes: he's polite, shown to respect his superior, takes his position as apprentice very seriously and similarly intends to take his role as Supreme Kai very seriously. He finds himself to be the most pure, but this idea is something he is so attached to that he ends up being one of the most corrupted of them all.

Similar to Gowasu, he is not above questioning the status quo-- he doesn't really put much heart into the Gods of Destruction and believes that holy beings such as the Supreme Kais should be in control of everything. In the manga, Zamasu views Shin and Kibito very highly at first because he thought that they were the ones that defeated Majin Buu. Of course, Shin corrects him and puts all credit to Goku & gang, which confuses the FUCK out of Zamasu because he believes Supreme Kais to be, well, the most supreme. Shin reflects in that the job should've been for the God of Destruction (in the manga here they loosely do imply that Beerus was asleep), but Zamasu is like "nah lol"

Zamasu weirds the fuck out of Shin by implying anything that exists is unnecessary, but kind of brushes it off because well that's Gowasu's thing to deal with LOL. (Sidenote this is why everyone should read the manga because they actually involve Shin in a very much Supreme Kai centric plot and it is actually nuts to me they don't do this in the anime. The anime arc is def my favorite arc in Super but they still kinda do Shin dirty)

I say all this to say that Zamasu's train of thought isn't exactly uncommon because the Supreme Kais are kind of in this culture where they are the most supreme, but most of them do have an understanding of nuance and understand why, despite being "the best", they serve a role and that role does not serve them. Zamasu doesn't have this nuance and we see where that goes as he makes Goku('s body) to be the exception to the unnecessary beings rule in his head

As an honorable mention, I want to say that Kibito isn't too different in this train of thought: he definitely finds himself to be superior to others, but he values Shin's authority so much that he is much more receptive to that nuance than someone like Zamasu, who eventually dismisses Gowasu's teaching. The worst Kibito would not be anywhere close to Zamasu because Kibito still believes in goodness outside of himself.

Shin

Shin I think is the best example of a Supreme Kai with a pure moral code that, in turn, is also not corrupted by that idea of purity. Similar to Zamasu, he's polite, shown to respect his superiors and his elders, and he takes his role very seriously. Shin is (from what I understand) the youngest Supreme Kai and also the newest, which also might be why high morals is so important to him in the current canon.

He respects Elder Kai as his ancestor, but is also horrified to learn about Elder Kai using his powers to be a creepy fuck, openly berates him for this, and reacts in disgust when Elder Kai tries to gift him a nudie mag (as Kibito Kai). Shin also states he's worried about how Kibito views the mortals, but believes him to have a good spirit and puts a lot of importance in that-- it's why Shin goes out of his way to meet Goku, and in the future timeline, why he goes out of his way to meet Trunks.

Shin is similarly disgusted by Zamasu when he reveals his true spirit and condemns him in the manga, believing that Zamasu broke the line of what it means to be a Supreme Kai at all. His values very much align with the Supreme Kai's job to preserve life and at the same time understanding that destruction is part of that sacred cycle. Shin deeply respects the current god hierarchy and doesn't question it; he just wants to do the right thing.

Though Shin takes his responsibility as Supreme Kai very seriously, he is pretty receptive to the fact that his universe has mortals more physically powerful than him and he is even thankful for this. He takes no offense to how casually he's treated by Goku & gang and listens to them. Shin, unlike other Supreme Kais we've seen, views himself explicitly as a servant to the universe; his life is just one part of it and if he has to give it up or to knock himself down a few pegs then that's what he'll do. I think we can even say he is a little too passionate about this idea, since he's literally offered his life to preserve another's at least 2 times now (one for Goku in Buu saga, another one in the Moro arc in the manga) to Beerus's dismay lol, and this doesn't count all the times he's gone out of his way or put himself in the way to save others from danger

One of my favorite Shin moments that I think captures who he is at a whole is at the end of ToP where it's just Universe 7 and Universe 11 left, and he leans over to say hello to Khai. I don't think this is a Supreme Kai thing, this is a Shin thing. He doesn't say hello because it's his duty to always be polite, he says hello because it is giving kindness in a tense situation.

in a nutshell

The different Supreme Kais (and adjacent roles) might have some similarities and I think their upbringing can give them a proper attitude, but ultimately they're all very different people and have different ideas of what it means to be a Supreme Kai at all. I'm sure there's a Supreme Kai out there in history that was always naked or a piece of shit or something but actually totally kicked ass at their job

Thank you for reading LMAOOO I just wanted to talk about them. Hope u enjoyed

[shrimsour]

Brand new rebrand WOOHOOO! Here's my new sona

Her official ref sheet ^

-Read more for more info and general FAQ at the bottom

She is powered by a lemon battery (like those potato batteries children make for science projects)

The lemon that powers her is a literal actual lemon, she is just that small that it appears big

Is still functionally a lemon

But also a mech example: tail and legs

Has a shrimp cove/aquarium in her torso/body skirt thing

She doesn't know she exists

Uses any pronouns just like me but I'm using she to avoid confusion as always grumbles

She is a glorified low poly ps1,2/nintendo gamecube,ds videogame character

Meet my silly little thang lovingly dubbed Shroomp by my friend. She is the new iteration of my persona Salty/Saltsour I've had for years atp, Salty was pretty outdated. It was very important to get Shroomp right since nonetheless Saltsour has established herself in several online spaces including this one and was honestly pretty iconic! I put a lot of effort into her successor since I wanna start being a storytime ytber in the near future and maybe even a vtuber on twitch.

She is basically a combination and a love letter to everything I love and everything I am.

She was originally supposed to be realistic and humanoid like Salty herself but I found her a bit too uncanny for a main sona. (And mainly rendering a realistic fish tank everytime I wanted to color in my persona would certainly prove to be hell, I needed something simpler, but also along the way I realized, something DIFFERENT)

Now to talk a bit more about what she actually represents that's so important to me. I packed her full of little things that make me happy.

Obviously the entire mecha genre, everything cyborg, machine, robot, give it to me. Especially if it's uncanny but also sometimes silly, a bit of both worlds.

The era of semi-early internet post 2010s. I hold Windows Vista and 7 in high regards. Things like notations on YouTube seem so far away now nobody knows what I'm talking about when I'm explaining how annoying click Xs on all of them was!

Probably the most glaring thing. The heavy addition of shrimp. I like shrimp. I like eating shrimp, I like watching shrimp and I'd love to have a shrimp cove of my own they are genuinely such adorable and helpful little critters, what's not to love?

Frutiger aero. Self explanatory. The future we deserved.

Nightcore, anime and manga culture during the internet's infancy. Her big beady eyes and poses aim to replicate the artstyle of anime girls from that era

Very old videogame character models. Early 3D model presentations from Nvidia, educational games, etc. I wish I still had my PS2 and PSP

My favorite colors and compelling thought out design instead of that ugly dress/set grey fuckass lookin thing on Saltsour

Divine machinery and uncaniness of computers and machines around us

Big ass black eyes with a shine are also meant to represent the autism creature lol since I very much behave like it often times

Skirt thing - I like wearing skirts, pleated especially

Whiskers, another reference to shrimp but I also think it makes her appear subconsciously like a cat, people love cats and so do I

Triangles. They are the best shape.

These are the first early concepts for Shroomp

She was meant to be a kreaczure™️ (creature) from the very beginning it was fate

THANK YOU for scrolling and reading so far I'm gen so impressed and thankful. I must've done smth right if I kept ur attention.

Now im gonna put stuff here that most ppl probably look for in a pinned post bc I'm devious

FAQ

Commission status: CLOSED for now

Program: Clip studio paint

Tablet: XP Pen Artist 15.6 pro

Brushes: eee will link soonish maybe remind me if you care

Art tag: #shrimposting for my original works

Old art tag: #saltsour arts for my original works before the rebrand

[dropintomanga]

Takopi's Original Sin of Toxic Positivity

Years ago, when I was dealing with a bad case of depression that made me really hate myself, I decided to take a total shift in perspective in feeling better. I read a book about how being positive actually does not help all the time with negative situations and how positivity is used to victim-blame people for problems they can't handle individually. Since then, I've noticed more of a resistance towards on positive psychology being touted as an absolute solution to life's problems.

And then comes this manga that sums up my experiences with the cons of positive psychology. With an anime coming out this year, it's time we take a look at a really great manga in Taizan5's "Takopi's Original Sin."

Oh yeah, there's some heavy stuff incoming after the jump.

The 2-volume story focuses on a little alien from a planet called Happian nicknamed Takopi. His job is to promote happiness all throughout the universe. One day, Takopi travels to Earth and meets a 4th grader named Shizuka. Shizuka is revealed to be a very depressed girl who is bullied at school by a classmate named Marina. Takopi notices how sad Shizuka is all the time and tries desperately to cheer her up as that's his job. However, all Takopi does is makes things much worse as everything he does leads to death and misery for those he involves himself with. All for the sake of making someone happy.

So for those who don't know, toxic positivity is the total suppression of anything negative in your life. "Oh, you're having a bad day? Just cheer up. You need to pick up your boot straps and stop crying. Sorry, good vibes only. Hey, there's a silver lining to all of this." I'm sure many of us have heard things like that by a good amount of people. Statements like this are made in cultures that are highly individualistic (like the U.S. for example). Also, even great things like body positivity can turn into toxic positivity as there are people who do want to express legit anger and frustration at terrible things about themselves or something that may not sustainable for them.

When you look at Takopi, he is literally toxic positivity despite his kindness. He says and does things without thinking about reality. In the first chapter, Takopi hands a long ribbon from his planet to Shizuka in one of their first meetings and Shizuka uses it to hang herself. And it's noted that Takopi is not supposed to give his planet's gifts to anyone outside of his planet. Takopi resorts to resetting time loops in order to make Shizuka happy and alive. Takopi also tries to make up with Shizuka's bully, Marina, thinking that talking it out will make things better. He does this by pretending to be Shizuka, only to realize that Marina has trauma of her own that can't be solved by simple reconciliation.

The story heats up near the end of Volume 1 as Takopi accidentally kills Marina with one of his gadgets to Shizuka. This unfortunately involves a male classmate, Naoki, who becomes an accomplice due to him having a crush on Shizuka and wanting to be close with her. Naoki also has his own family issues and ends up turning himself in. Takopi pretends to be Marina to cover up for the murder, but sees how bad Marina's home situation really is. Shizuka is distraught about the lack of her father in her life and resorts to travel to Tokyo to find him, only to see him with kids born from his new wife.

Seeing a now-warped Shizuka, Takopi remembers something that was important to him - he once met Marina when she was in high school and tried to make her happy. Marina wanted to be with Naoki as his girlfriend until Shizuka came into the picture. Naoki decides to go with Shizuka instead out of genuine concern for her mental health, but that decision ruins Marina's life as she ends up killing her mentally unstable mother in self-defense. Marina blames Shizuka for her life being the way it is and Takopi decides to travel back to the time period where all the central characters were in 4th grade to kill Shizuka for Marina's happiness. However, this draws the ire of Takopi's mother in Happian. As punishment, Takopi faces a permanent ban from his home planet and his memories would be erased when he goes to visit 4th grade Shizuka.

If you ever want to see a fictional example of someone who believes the power of positivity can solve family trauma and fail at it hard, what I said above sums it all. It's uncomfortable to see Takopi try to use his planet's gadgets thinking that they can stop emotional pain. It's even more uncomfortable when Shizuka, Marina, and Naoki all go through harsh moments as 4th graders because their parents never gave them the love they really needed.

The more I think about Takopi's Original Sin, the more I think about how people generally aren't good at tackling someone's pain. Most toxic positivity is unintentional. Sometimes, what we do is we're trying to make sure we're okay rather than the person in pain. Boundaries are important, sure. But then I think that doesn't mean you're truly listening and being present with them. I also think that we try to reassure ourselves that we won't end up like them and sometimes say the wrong things to get us away from dealing with negative emotions.

We all can't be therapists, but therapists aren't enough to make someone whole and actually happy. Takopi is an example of a therapist with so much standardized knowledge, but is unprepared to be contextually sensitive when he needs to be.

The ending of Takopi's Original Sin highlights Takopi's admittance to the fact that he never once tried to understand Shizuka. He realizes how flawed humans are even when they show kindness to others. In an earnest attempt to set things right, Takopi does one more time loop at the cost of his life and he subtly nudges Shizuka and Marina to actually become friends during an incident where Shizuka is about to be killed by Marina. The story ends on a happy note with Shizuka and Marina becoming quite close many years later.

Takopi proclaims that talking brings happiness more than any solution/device would. While I did say that simple reconciliation isn't enough, talking helps when there's a shared commonality brought out in a safe manner. In previous situations involving Shizuka and Marina, everything was about how different each other was. Takopi decided to become the commonality that the girls shared. Just like in real life, once you get past all the differences, the dynamic changes and things slowly become better.

The grand message is basically that life sucks a lot sometimes. It would be nice if we had people in our lives that are willing to acknowledge the cruelty of life and sit with us through it. We can't and shouldn't try to be superheroes. Trying to force a immediate solution to solve problems doesn't always bring the happiness someone really wants. I don't think people who have been (or going) through a lot want someone to save them at times. They just want a companion to be compassionate with them, actively listen to their complaints, and hear their cries.

Time doesn't always heal wounds. It's what we do with that time that matters. We can use that time wisely and patiently without sin to create a much better dose of happiness that embraces all emotions.