#past that idk what their goals would be or much further plot..

[goatpaste]

Circling back to thing and tryna pin things to one another in my head for this idea because I like the concept, but how to execute

Because I like the idea of an Oliver twist style story but it literally couldn't have gone ant worse

Like Gigis already run away from home, but ppl still know her at the retired/late rich jokeys daughter and her meeting her group of friend via then trying to get her and ransom her to her mom which doesnt work out very well between, giorno already ran away from home, has no desire to return home in fear of stressing her mother and is a strong stand user which no one was ready for. Ultimately leading to her earning their respect and hanging out with their lil crew and leading into some other bigger adventure she got swept up in because of her

But thinking of the motivations for them mmm

mmm been tryna pin down a general plot idea for my dinopant/sbr giorno,, which has been a struggle beyond very very vauge ideas,, but i think im leaning to loving the idea of an oliver twist inspired story,,,

[maoam]

About SnK/AoT: What do you think of Ymir as a character? Not the founder Ymir (is this how is she called in English? Idk)

Like, I really started to like her character during the second season, the one that isn't "marry me Christa" all the time, and I think she was outed too soon from the cast- like, I would have loved to see her bonding with Historia further now that the two of them got even closer. So I would like to know what do you think about her and her bond with Historia (outside shipping and all that drama related to it)

Sorry if you already talked about it in the past!

I think she was a good character but I completely agree with you that she got offed a bit too soon. Or at least, Isayama should have confirmed her death earlier so people wouldn't have had hope for her return. I also hate how Isayama just didn't mention her at all after her letter was delivered (aside from showing small panels from someone's memories) and also reduced her to that hair sniffing joke.

She's a very refreshing female character. Very rough around the edges, not feminine at all, and very blunt. Her character is meant to enhance Historia's character, so she can leave the Krista identity behind and become Historia. This is why it's kind of funny to me when people who like Ymir hate Historia.

However, unlike how many theorized back in the days, she wasn't anyone big, but just a normal orphan girl with an unfortunate past who wanted to protect the person she loved. She had no grand goals like Eren/Zeke or ties to royalty like Historia or anything like that.

When Ymir is first introduced, her behavior is very harsh, but it's also subtly pointed out that it's a way for her to cope. In the first arc, we don't really know much about these two characters yet, aside from the fact they are always shown hanging out together, and that Ymir s the mean one and Krista is the nice one.

After the initial first impressions we are shown a flashback where Ymir approaches Krista about her helpful behaviour. There are already hints how she sees through her facade. But the story will come back to this later. Ymir seems harsh, but she has that tough love persona, which will become more clear later. She is always looking out for Krista/Historia. She's basically a tsundere who hides her feelings behind harsh exterior. Everytime the two are shown in other scenes, they are together. The build up is very good.

In Clash of the titans arc the two become relevant to the plot because Krista holds the key to the secrets of the walls, and Ymir's name is the same as the one the talking titan uttered. Of course, we will later find out the talking titan in Ilse's story used to be a human who was part of the cult Ymir was in and mistook Ilse for Ymir due to her brown hair and freckles.

We (as in the readers who understand) find out more about Ymir's personality and how she cares for others when she tries to distract Connie from thinking about his family's faith, or when she is reprimanding Sasha for trying to please others, telling her to just be herself.. She's an easily misunderstood character due to the way she behaves. It was frustrating to watch so many anime onlies misunderstand her character.

In this short moment, Isayama tells us Ymir's sexuality as well as the fact she's not from the walls. Very nice job.

The way Isayama revealed of Ymir and Krista/Historia's characters was very well written. A lot of people didn't expect them to be that relevant.

Isayama used Ymir's screentime in general very well. I'm not surprised people fell in love with these two's dynamic immediately. The coming together of two people with tragic pasts and one of them helping the other conquer her inner demons was well done.

It's wonderful how nicely these two different girls meshed together. Isayama was shining when writing them in Clash of the titans.

Ymir's influence carries on even after her death, because it's both due to her and Eren's words why Historia rejects the serum in the Reiss cave.

I also like that this was the last panel of her in present time. The focus was on her, not on Reiner and Bertolt.

But, the end of her character writing was slobby and rushed. It left a lot of people confused by her actions. Why would she do what she did? To give Marley a weapon? To the people who try to kill the people of Paradis, including Historia? Even with possible guilt or empathy towards Reiner and Bertolt, it just doesn't really fit her character, in my opinion. Isayama should have at least shown us a believable transition on how this happened. But he kind of just sped through it. And Ymir getting an off-screen death and only a quick mention by Porco is another thing that frustrated me a lot.

While Isayama used to write both Ymir and Historia so well, he really dropped the ball with them in the last arc. But he did so with many other characters too. It's sad. The bad ending has kinda soured my feelings for snk but I try to take the good parts of it and pretend the ending doesn't exist. Ymir was still overall a good character.

[toxifoxx]

Hi hello

Questions about Henry

You've mentioned he was also selfish with his motivations and knew about William's activities. Did Henry actively destroy evidence to cover up the crimes? Or did he just do the sweet talk press release kind of cover up companies do to distract from scandals?

What other kinds of sketchy or morally grey things has Henry done in order to further his own interests? And does anyone know about the things he's done?

Also, if Henry and William are split up in your interpretation, how did the two of them meet in the first place?

Did Charlie come from different past relationships or were they adopted? And if the latter, did she know? (Also the same for the Afton kids, are they from a previous relationship or adopted?)

What role did Henry originally play in the upstart of the company? If he's heavily motivated by his own personal goals, was Fazbear's always the end game for him? Or was it part of a larger ambitious career goal? Does Charlie's death impact his goals at all?

hiii thanks for the ask!

i'd say henry probably didn't destroy much evidence, since william was pretty meticulous for the most part. however i think he probably would have destroyed camera footage, so all that's really left is eye-witness accounts. and if he were to notice stray bloodstains left anywhere, he would clean those up too. he usually let william do the sweet talking but since william was no longer part of the company he had to do it himself, and he did decently enough. but in the end both he and william were suspects (bc of how henry is describe to react in the books, although my henry is. significantly more chill about it because he already knows what happened. he's just a bit nervous (he did help cover it up after all), accidentally contradicts himself a few times, also perceived to be lying because he can't make eye contact(AUTISM!!!)), but both of them got off for lack of evidence. mentioned it b4 but he's covering for william because "if william wants to ruin everything they ever worked for FINE but he is NOT taking henry with him!!!"

this got kinda long so the rest is under the cut

henry covers up accidents at the pizzeria a LOT to keep the brand safe. its kind of the last thing he has left for himself after charlie's death (+ his wife is either dead or divorced him, still deciding). i would presume he probably does some shady tax stuff too. no one really knows about what he's done, and he's honestly kind of elusive to the public eye, so there generally isnt much information that gets out to the public. the only people who would know are william and probably his wife.

i am very much a henry and william met in college truther (its fun). william flying from britain to utah to get away from an abusive home and henry just uhh. just having lived in hurricane all his life, raised by a pretty standard christian family. by miracle they end up at the same college. and they were roommates. oh my god they were roommates /ref

henry had charlie with his wife, so she's not adopted or anything. she's also his only child from that relationship (not sure what to do with sammy? idk how i'd shove him in the plot, so he doesnt exist rn). for the afton kids, both evan(cc) and michael are from william and his wife. however elizabeth is from william and henry (will's wife looks JUUSSSTTT similar enough to henry that william gets off with it(FOR NOW) but she is absolutely suspicious)(i think its funny)(its not mpreg william is just trans)(his wife is too and thats most of the reason they stay together so long)

william and henry started the company together not expecting to go much further than fredbear's but after they became a huge success they pretty quickly started planning new locations. work on the fnaf 1 animatronics started before the bite of 83 so they were partially done before fredbear's had to shut down but never used yet. sorry i went off topic anyways yeah henry is pretty motivated by his own personal goals, he wants to be super successful + improve on his technology + entertain people and show them how cool animatronics are. im not sure i'm interpreting the part about fazbear's being the end game for him correctly but i guess i'd say yes to that? charlie's death hits him super hard and for a few days he cant really bring himself to do anything. but then he just starts throwing himself into his work to cope with her death. i think charlie's death didnt get really any coverage at all so most people dont even know it happened (+ the bite of 83 would have been quite recent at that point and would have way more of an impact on the brand as they struggle to cover it up)

[lesbianyosano]

manifesting Fukufuku dying in each others arms -> I am losing it slowly anyway thoughts on the newest chapter?

this has been sitting in my askbox since september and im really sorry anwsering took so long, but ive been trying to articulate how the last few chapters/last episode made me feel and im still not sure, because there have been so many bizzare choices made by both asagiri and the ppl behind the anime i still cant wrap my head around it fully (this got stupid long sorry)

starting with fukuzawa, i made a post a while back talking abt how i was assuming he was going to die/why it'd make a lot of sense, and there were really two main reasons for that; 1. he hasnt had anything interesting to offer for the story for a while and 2. his ability actively stops other important characters (mainly atsushi and kyouka) from further developement. the first thing is now gone which im pretty happy with! i love fukuzawa a lot so it's nice to see him finally have a purpose in the main story and im excited to see where it will go (also fukufuku you will always be famous to me <3333333), but the issue of his ability is still very much here. ive seen ppl theorize that all men are equal is just him lying and there is no ability but i honest to god would hate that, bc it would seem like such a shallow twist. atsushi's conflict with the tiger is central to his character so if it suddenly got revealed that a huge reason why he's even capable of using his power is just placebo "believe in yourself" bullshit i think i'd tear my own hair out. so im still thinking fukuzawa may get killed at some point, esp with the position he's been put into now and how much he seems to not want it.

and as for the "chuuya was never a vampire" fiasco, i honestly have no words, it was so unbelievably bad. ik there's been a ton of posts about how "its actually good" bc fyodor's death was caused by his inability to trust, and dazai's belief in his allies is what put him at an advantage, which is nice yeah, but it doesnt change how fucking stupid of a plan that was. if their goal is to kill fyodor, why not do it in that flooded room? fyodor escapes solely bc chuuya gets him out but if he was concious the entire time why not just leave him there? why continue to pretend? im usually not a huge fan of getting angry over plot holes when the narrative and themes are whats more important, but this is just so blantantly stupid. it feels like asagiri just wanted a plot twist for a plot twist's sake. mersault in general is so poorly constructed as an arc (dazai communicating via his heartbeat,,,, give me a break) but at least you'd hope it would end in a way that makes you excuse all of that, and then it doesn't. i think this post sums up how i feel about this than i ever could

and the fact that its december and we are STILL behind the fucking anime asagiri be so for real. it's easy to see now that the constant half chapters and short releases were a deliberate choice to have the anime catch up which i dont love, but fine, whatever. but now??? what the point of half releases? these chapters have been ready for a long time, and there's no way asagiri and the editors and whoever else is involved arent aware of how frustrated the readers have been for years now. the only explanation i can think of is that maybe the manga will have a different arc conclusion and ctheyre trying to idk, make it seem like we're following the anime closely? idk this shit is so stupid

overall this past arc or two have been bad, there are some elements that make them enjoyable still, but there is no theme consistency and overreliance on cliff hangers (that ppl still somehow buy). it feels like there are no stakes to the story, and that's really bad. maybe it's why i was hoping for fukuzawa to be killed alongside fukuchi idk, it'd finally feel like something is changing

on a brief positive note i quite enjoyed fyodors death, weird catholic freak, ofc nikolai is cradling your arm like this. i was a little suprised to see fyodor killed just yet (bc he always needed to die for the story to be able to wrap up eventually), but given the jesus quote, he may as well come back in some way tbh

[starsandstormyseas]

End of Year Wrap Up

thank you for the tag @thecharmedburrowspn-files <3

Total number of completed works

None this year, over the past five I have 2.

Total number of WIPs worked on this year

Two, Liberty Horizon and Wolf Spider. Other minor short stories and plot bunnies from various fandoms, but none substantial.

WIPs neglected this year

I neglected Wolf Spider ): I wanted to be further along.

Fandoms I’ve written in

Almost entirely Marvel/MCU, but I've written stuff for ASOIAF, SPN, and other things.

Total word count

I can't do math but let me try: Liberty Horizon: 15 chapters, 75226 words Wolf Spider: 5 chapters, 15676 words Total: 90902 word count, not including small misc. one shots Ive done

Looking back, did you write more than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you expected?

Less than I wanted, but more than I thought. 20 updates is a higher number than i thought, more than the one chapter a month average I thought i had lol

Did you take any writing risks this year?

Well, trying to write more than one fic at a time has been a very mild success

Do you have any goals for the new year?

Trying to increase my update schedule, and progress in both LH and WS. I'm hoping to finish Wolf Spider this year, since i have it all plotted out and word count per chapter is much shorter. It also won't have any sequels so in that way its easier on the brain.

Biggest disappointment?

Not writing more smh

Biggest surprise? 

Surprised I managed to snag as many new readers as I have despite my much slower updating this year than in the past.

Most popular story of the year?

Liberty Horizon, the only one I've been consistently updating lol

What’s your own favorite story of the year? 

Liberty Horizon lol, but Wolf Spider has so much potential I want to achiece ;-;

Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion

I guess Wolf Spider, but its got a lot stacked against it. Writing it as a standalone where new people who've never read my other stuff, and being able to appreciate and understand this fic on is own, is kind of a tall order. Especially when I don't have any canon characters directly in the mix.

Most fun story to write

I actually really like Wolf Spider and building up my vision of the Red Room, and tying in Black Widow lore.

Most unintentionally telling story

...idk what this means...

My favorite part of fandom this year

I'm seeing more pushback to the MCU in terms of production and storytelling, which is cathartic seeing after feeling dissatisfied with it for several years now. I love seeing people rewriting canon (better) and for their own purposes. No pressure tags: @soliloquy-of-nemo @iron-parkr @inkoutsidethelines @dreamerwithapen1

[jellytamalies]

Dear lord. You have put significantly more thought into this than I have (respect my dude)

Okay so the original au was mostly a product of me getting atla brainrot and mushing Merlin characters the best I could into the same ish story and plot.

But, if I where to try having the au more similar to themes and plot in Merlin…

so in the original au:

For some reason a bunch of people are genderflipped. Why did I make this decision. Fuck I don’t know 🤷‍♀️ I felt like it? (So be prepared for flipped pronouns in random places)

Merlin is a water bender from the southern water tribe, (for some reason idk man) she’s sent by her mother to learn waterbending/healing in the northern water tribe, where she apprentices under gaius.

The chief and elders start feeling tensions from the fire nation (warning war incoming) and decide to start Merlin on her training 2 years early. She learns combative waterbending for about a year, then is shipped to the earth kingdom. (Btw her animal guide is aithusa :))

about 6 months later, rumors of an assault from the fire nation reach Merlin. Instead of sticking her training out she decided to try going back home to defend her people. (Bang bam storm rip)

key difference from ATLA: There are still some water benders left. Because let’s be real, tracking down and killing the pacifist monks with giant blue arrows on their heads is a lot easier than tracking down every single person from two tribes on opposite sides of the globe that probably spread all over the world via trading (not to mention other water benders like the swamp benders)

let’s speedrun the rest of the main characters

Arthur: Princess of the fire nation, sole heir to the throne due to her father being an only child and her mother dying in childbirth. Sent by the firelord to hunt down the avatar. (Ends up defecting)

Morgana: son of important general who dies in the war leaving him an orphan. Taken in by the fire lord. Revolted by general horribleness of the war. Challenges the firelord to an Agni Kai, gets half his face burned off, fakes his death and goes to earth kingdom and meets-

Gwen: Son of blacksmith. His brother is an earth bender who leaves to go do stuff. His father is taken by the fire nation (for reasons). Afterwords he meets Morgana. Then they find the avatar (wow. Don’t question how an iceberg got into the earth kingdom. Please don’t)

killghara (how do you spell that): The former avatar. Holds a grudge against all of sozins descendents. Suprisingly violent for an air nomad. Offers cryptic advice or tells Merlin to straight up murder people.

uther: Fire lord. Goal is to finish eradicating the water benders (and taking over the earth kingdom too ig) While bending does fit pretty well into the role of magic, There is a genocial dictator sitting right there. Don’t got to change what ain’t broken

Lance: non-bender warrior. Meets team avatar. Leaves. trains with the kyoshi warriors. Joins team avatar

So, how would I alter this AU to better fit Merlin?

the 100 year time skip has the unfortunate side affect of splitting a lot of characters (gaius, uther) into two pieces (one from the past and one in the present) so I would probably have to cut it out.

Honestly gaius or killghara both fit pretty well into the role of avatar Roku (similar to how gaius and Uther are mirrors to Merlin and Arthur, Roku and Sozin where like, the lamer version of Aang and zuko)

(And if I’m being honest. Having Morgana as the avatar would be pretty cool but whatever)

In this case the main setting would probably have to be cauldra or at least somewhere in the fire nation.

There probably wouldn’t be the looming threat of the comet (or at least it would be further away) to give more time for Merlin to make poor life decisions.

in general uthers motivations are very different from sozin and ozai’s. He doesn’t exactly want world domination as much as revenge.

okay here we go:

Uther (the firelord) and Ygraine are unable to have children. Uther goes to his great bestest friend in the water tribe (nimeuh) to help him out. -insert spirit stuff here- Uther gets +1 daughter and -1 wife. instead of facing the consequences of his actions. He develops his military, and invades the two water tribes.

the other two nations are like: Woah Dude! What the fuck??

and declare war (well it’s mostly just the earth kingdom for Obvious reasons). Uther kills the avatar (killghara) and starts fighting the other two nations.

At the same time, One person from the water tribe flees to the earth kingdom and meets Hunith. And wow the avatar is born.

fast forward a bit. Merlin can’t really learn waterbending from a master water bender. Instead she learns earthbending. Later she goes to the fire nation to learn firebending

okay so I actually really like the idea of gaius being an airbender (having him renounce his whole culture just to stay in the home he made in the fire nation is exactly the horrible thing that bbc Merlin would have done) but in this case it makes more some to make him a water bender, plenty of culture renouncing can still happen (rip. airbender gaius is going to the same box as avatar Morgana)

throughout this entire time Merlin learns waterbending from gaius in secret. She meets the aggravating fire princess. The significantly less aggravating ward of the fire lord. And a fellow servant who she becomes close friends with. this post is becoming very long. so just imagine that plot shenanigans happen. Kilghara spirit whispers in Merlin’s ear “hey you should totally befriend and manipulate the princess so you can control the fire nation” but Unfortunatly for him Merlin has selective hearing and instead hears “become best friends with the fire princess and protect her with your life”

uh does the war end? Does Uther die? Does Morgana have a villain arc? Does Arthur die? How does Merlin learn airbending?? Idk man up to you the world of weird crossover au’s is your oyster or whatever

Leon is in fact still long suffering. He is eternally long suffering. He can’t escape their shenanigans no matter the universe

2/?

(prev)

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

I have been watching the new event on YouTube so I haven't seen everything that's out yet, but the fact that the nrc boys, who wanted to just leave, didn't take the opportunity to make the mc do most of the work for them this time (considering the only threat, that I know of, would be Rollo being that the flowers cannot harm them) I know mc is just kind of there for the story. I honestly don't really see why they are even involved most of the time if they aren't going to do anything, but I feel like this would have been one of the few times that a magic less person taking the lead would make the most sense. idk I feel like it's a bit of a missed opportunity to give the player a chance to actually be involved but I also haven't seen anything after they decide who's going to go to the tower so maybe they do play a bigger part lol

Well first (just a correction), it’s mainly Idia and Ruggie that don’t want to do much to help and want to run away instead. The others are pretty motivated to stay behind and get back at Rollo for what he’s doing and/or to stop the flowers from spreading further. Idia and Ruggie do eventually change their minds and agree to help; everyone realizes that Rollo’s plot has deep ramifications for the world at large.

I understand the frustration of Yuu going along with everyone to various locations but then not actually doing anything to be of use, but this has been the case for the majority of events. Yuu (and Grim, to some extent) are mostly present so that the other characters can explain lore to them and/or for fanservice moments where they get to interact with some of their characters in cute or more laidback scenarios. They’re not really meant to play a big role or to be the one that the story focuses on, they are mainly the lenses through which we view the world and the conflicts of Twisted Wonderland. (I would actually argue that this is also the case for some of the main story as well, since it often centers around the OB boy and their trauma rather than on Yuu and their struggle to get home.)

In the context of Glorious Masquerade, it makes more sense for Yuu to be more involved, as they, a magicless human, would have the advantage against the crimson flowers (which suck up magic and attack those who have it). However, I don’t think this lack of magic would necessarily make Yuu any more useful to the NRC boys’ mission to stop Rollo 😅 Like, sure, the flowers may not be interested in Yuu, but that doesn’t mean Yuu can do anything to stop them on their own. It’s not like sticking Yuu in the front of the group would repel the flowers or drive them off; the flowers advance regardless of whether someone has magic or not, it’s just that they don’t outright attack those without magic. The only feasible way to make the flowers move one direction or another is by using magic to lure them (as we see the NRC boys do in part 4). What would Yuu realistically be able to do to help in this scenario?

The goal is for the NRC kids to reach the Bell of Salvation and to ring it, thus flooding the crimson flowers with magic and causing their roots to combust from being overloaded. That involves climbing the tower there and beating Rollo, who is likely guarding the bell. I guess Yuu might be able to make the climb safely since the crimson flowers would leave them alone, but how are they going to get past Rollo, who is extremely proficient in magic and could easily defend himself from them? Yuu doesn’t really have any combat abilities to speak of—and if any NRC boys tag along with Yuu to protect them, that would take away the whole point of sending Yuu in the first place (since the flowers would attack the NRC boys, as they have magic). In fact, that might just overcomplicate things, as the characters may expend their limited magic to defend Yuu, and it might call more attention to the group and attract the flowers. It seems like Yuu would be just as much of a liability as they would be a helping hand 💦 so I see it as less of a missed opportunity and more of a decision made for practicality.

What happens in canon is that the NRC boys take to scaling the tower while Yuu and Grim stay behind with Trein to help the magic users of the City of Flowers. I realize this may not be the most exciting thing in the world to do (especially since the story largely cuts away from Yuu), but this is just as noble of a thing to do in this situation. If Yuu had gone with the NRC boys, it would have been adding an extra body to account for in the inevitable battle with Rollo, and the locals would continue to suffer without any hope for relief. The work that Yuu, Grim, and Trein are doing is still important, even if we don’t get to see it. They’re just playing a different part than the NRC boys are, and that’s valid.

[b0rista]

OH MY GOD! ok i’m crying. can i request bertholdt with a female s/o. she’s in the scouts and it’s the shiganshina battle and mikasa + eren pin her down and she has to helplessly watch bertholdt get eaten. OH MY GOD I GOT THE FEELS. tysm if u do this, idk why i’m in the mood for angst rn.

— majority rules.

where even when she pours her soul within her footsteps, she's just not fast enough.

AN: y'all comin for barista's SOUL HUH ✋ also i am SO sorry this took so long! here u go, love! alsonsnd this is unedited forgive me plLsl.

WARNINGS: extreme angst, death, language.

even at your fastest pace imagineable, you weren’t moving fast enough. your calves ached, and your hands were covered finger to finger in blisters and gashes. despite the pain, you moved, and as quickly as humanely possible. hell, at the rate you were going, not even the best of the best could surpass you in speed. it was the adrenaline, the outright fear, and the premeditated heartbreak that urged you to move faster. at this point, you barely had a choice. despite fighting for the opposing side, you knew where your heart stood. with him. 

and by god himself, you were going to save that. 

“y/n!” the screams of your comrades acted as nothing but static within your eardrums, gaining not even a hint of your attention as you plunged forward, venturing above the demolished city as you worked toward your one and only goal— before the present, you had the same goal as your friends, your family. win this battle, and take back wall maria. like the others, you just wanted to take back your land. that was all. that was all you wanted.

not this.

“you’re going to do what?” you asked, looming above the steaming carcass of both your friend and ally, armin arlert. well, what you thought was a carcass. somehow, he was alive. alive, and about to ruin your entire life as you know it. him, and the others; your friends. utterly flabbergasted, your knees would tremble, and your pulse would skyrocket. 

“you couldn’t have expected us to allow him to live, y/n,” hange would say, her single eye shooting toward the rooftop of which she stood on. her tone was cold, and it practically pierced you, “not after all that he’s done. we haven’t any other choice.”

“any other choice?” you spat, earning your commander’s glare. everyone was staring at you, in both uncertainty and pity. they were fully aware of your relations to the enemy, and yet they knew what was right. they knew what they had to do. and, deep down, so did you. you knew, but you denied the reality of the situation with every fiber of your being. because although you were aware of what was unjust and what wasn’t, love trumped whatever moral highground you had left. and dear god, did you love him. you loved him. you loved him, and they wanted to take him away.

“you have plenty of other choices, godammit!” you shouted, eyes widened in fear. your shoulders trembled, and the grip you had on your blades was deadly. as a precaution, you could see mikasa in the corner, her own swords drawn. by whatever means necessary, she was ready to cut you down. even so, you would be heard. “you’re going to kill him? he’s our friend, he’s our comrade, he’s our bertholdt! dammit, he’s-”

your words would only fall from your lips in a hoarse, cracked sob: “he’s my bertholdt!” 

this earned you nothing but silence in return, frightening you further. looking up, you faced the grim sacrifice that either you or the others would have to pay- and unfortunately for you, majority rules. 

“it doesn’t matter.”

the words struck you, sending you into a frenzy. eren stood before you with confidence, his gaze plunging into your chest with the utmost ferocity. 

“whether you’re able to live with the loss or not, we’re feeding bertholdt to armin.” 

now, here you were. with your entire squadron turned against you, you weren’t given any other choice. if anybody was going to save bertholdt, it was going to have to be you. and even if it meant turning against everything you once believed in, you would do it. you had to. 

mercilessly, you ran. with every ounce of energy left inside your being, you ran. unconscious, your love lay on a faraway rooftop, swaiting his very own demise without even being remotely aware of it. from a distance, you could see him. he was vacant of all four limbs, the steam from his regeneration process rising from off of his wounds and into the air. as if he were peacefully asleep, his eyes kept shut. and while his were closed, yours were brimming with tears. oh, bertl. what have you done? 

desperation was the only thing keeping you moving, and it did so with an utter lack of grace. you sprinted sloppily, and you rid yourself of any sort of technique. you couldn’t think, you could only do. unfortunately for you, doing wasn’t enough. just as you neared the still body of your love, you were pulled back by the ends of your hair, slamming you into the ground. as you smashed downward, the terrifingly large footstops of another being arose from a distance. 

“are you in love with me, bertl?” 

the question was abrupt, and it wasted no time in taking your boyfriend utterly aback. “what?” he asked, blinking down at you. as quickly as the single word had left his lips, a drop of sweat threatened to trickle down the side of his face. “what do you mean?”

“what do i mean?” you simply repeated, a teasing smile creeping onto your lips. the two of you were sitting beside one another on the edge of your bed, comfortably dressed for bed. had either one of you thought to look out the window, you would be sure that it was passed the middle of the night. still, it was the lighthearted conversation that urged the both of you to stay awake, basking in the presence of the other. the time you spent together was crucial, and you made sure to savor every single moment. 

“you speak to me as if you’re in love with me,” you said, moving to rest your head against the boy’s shoulder, “and you touch me as if it’ll always be your last. we may be an item, bertholdt. but the label can’t be all that we have.” 

despite how sudden your words may have been, the brunette knew enough to take them into consideration. through the silence that erupted in suite of your mild tangent, he would only contemplate. then, as if he’d finally gathered the courage to let loose, he would sigh. wrapping an arm around you, you would be brought close, where he then buried his nose within the crook of your neck. had you known any better, you would have assumed that he did it to hide his face from your sight. 

“yes,” he would say, much to your surprise. “yes, i am in love with you. i always have been, i think.” 

your jaw agape, you weren’t exactly sure how to react at first. you hadn’t expected his answer to be so simple, to be so confident. feeling his long, strong arms wrap around you as you were pulled into his chest was heavenly, and with his words poured into the mixture, you wanted to melt. however, because you were clueless, all you could think to do was laugh the matter off, earning you quite the stare. 

“now, now, there’s no need to exaggerate. really, you could have just-”

but before you could even finish, a calloused hand would place itself onto the side of your face, moving your gaze so that it would face bertholdt’s gaze. the two of your faces were close, noses nearly touching. with a tender, soulful look, his sage eyes would pour into yours, brows ever so slightly furrowed. 

“i love you, y/n. if anything, that’s an understatement. please, never doubt me in that regard.”

as you were thrown into the rooftop beneath you by the likes of mikasa, it was the past words of your lover that pushed you to fight. even against an ackerman, you would fight. arching your blade behind you, you angled it with the luckiest sort of precision, pressing the very tip of your sword to the clump of hair your comrade had balled up into her hand. with a single slice, you cut it off completely, freeing yourself of her grip as you slipped from in between her legs. in your hindsight, you saw a blonde headed titan— armin. the plan had already been set in motion, and your time was cut short. 

with a shout, you ran. however, before you could get even get more than a single step in, you were pulled back, a pair of arms locking either side of your shoulders into place from behind you. eren’s face loomed beside your own, his eyes closed as he aided mikasa in holding you down. with the two of them combined, you couldn’t move. as you struggled, you were pressed into the crumbled surface of the roof, rendering you defeated. now, all you could do was watch.

“LET ME GO!” you would scream, all to no avail. tears coated the sweat that trickled down both sides of you face, leaving your voice hoarse as you shouted, pleaded, and cried all at once. your vision was blurred, and you couldn’t even clearly see as the titan that was once your dying comrade reached down to grasp the awakening body of your love, plotting to take him away from you for good. it was all happening so quickly, you readied yourself to wake up from the nightmare that was reality. wake up, wake up, wake up. 

nothing could wake you up, except for a single thing. to your absolute horror, just as he was dropped into the clutches of death itself, the last thing bertholdt could bring himself to scream was your name. 

oh, and how it would ring in your ears for the rest of your days.

[nonokoko13]

Spy x family: is it worth reading?

I have seen many people asking if Spy x family is worth reading so I would like to reply to all of them at once without making spoilers. I'll try to be half objective half subjective. English is not my first language so I apologize for any mistakes.

Tw: minor spoilers? None? Idk

Main Genres: Action, comedy, spying, slice of life

Subgenres: fond family, fluff, angst, romance

Is it worth reading?

I think it depends on the person and what kind of genre/humor you like, but in my opinion this series may even attract people who aren't fond of manga/anime in general because how complex yet simple and entertaining it is.

The trama is very well written from head to toe, with details on the story's background that you may not seen; relating things in a way that even the most ridiculous/less obvious ones can make sense and/or be meaningful. However, because the author tries to make a story that may be serious in a light way, the deep topics are usually not dark enough to brush off the comedy and vice-versa.

Not main characters have importance as well, which I think it's great because not always series you see second characters having many screen time, often being left behind or being superficially written with their potential wasted. In this manga that's different.

Everyone behaves the way they do for reason or a past that later is explained or hinted by the author with subtlety, so the people who is used to having something essential rubbed in their faces may be harder to realize at first.

The most lovable characters have selfish interests as well as antagonistic characters. There's few to none people there that have never done anything at least once for their own benefit, whether it's morally correct or not. Their complexity isn't completed fast either, and you can have reasons to dislike a character another person kin or love for something else they like about them, to later finding yourself changing your opinion. Moreover, you can dislike, hate or disagree with a character but being unable to invalidate the point they may have within a moral conflict and the same way around.

For example, the main spy is loved by nearly everyone because it's easy to warm to him, although trying to sanctify him and stating he's totally good is impossible. He may not be mean or unsympathetic, but he's still manipulative and he's not above to play dirty to some extent to fulfill his goals, although he's not the only one. To think the characters help others because they selflessly want to is wrong, at least they don't do it entirely because of it in every situation; which makes them more human than a stereotypical hero or villain.

Is it for everyone regarding sensitive topics? If you ask me about it I would say yes and no. Yes because except the bloody scenes who I would skip if I'm watching it with toddlers sensitive to it, the rest of the time is genuine fluff or a enjoyable mix of slice of life and shonen (and the violence is fast spaced enough to not make it hard to read/see). Of course, if you dislike blood or violence in general it may be unappealing but that's one of the main aspects of an action/spy series so it's up to you.

The humor is present through the series along adult content (blood and violence among others) as I said before. During a serious scene you can find the situation they get into hilarious or the cast fooling around at the same time without quitting all the drama there's in. Comic relief is a good trait for those who prefer not to think too much about the angst as well as for those who wants to deep into it by exploring further what is happening, and in spy x family that's well managed.

Summary

Plot: Dynamic regarding action and well-paced regarding arcs; the author takes simple concepts and develops them very well thought out. The main romance is a slow burn type and not too cheesy if you're not interested on it but if you like warm-hearted moments this series is suitable for you; humor/fluff and ansgt sometimes either changes dominance from a panel to the next and hits you like an anime truck or get darker/lighter as the chapter goes on but overall it's well balanced.

Cast: Very diverse regarding age, social status, job, personality and moral ethics. There's no black and white, just less or more morally acceptable characters. They're interesting and you can get attached to them without sharing their thoughts on x topics and vice-versa. Many of them are physically appealing or have a good design as well.

"The end justifies the means" is a summarized way to describe the characters beliefs, frecuently used by them to comfort themselves for what they do and go through to get what they want, whether they're delusional or know perfectly they're not different from their enemies. They have flaws and virtues, almost everyone hides something to keep up the appearances, but their lies are likely to break down eventually.

Artstyle: Objectively is able to be simplistic without skimping on details and expressiveness, subjectively I think it has both some pretty aesthetic panels and meme material in characters expressions. I love how Endo designs the backgrounds and outfits but what I like the most in a style is the unique characters' features to make them different despite being all of them in the same series and drawn by the same person.

Anime or manga? Both. The anime hasn't come out yet but I believe that if you like one you may like the other. The action scenes hopefully will be awesome animated but the manga style is often better than the anime style; plus if you're impatient you can read the newest chapters while watching the anime to hear your favorite lines accompanied by the soundtrack, which is an addition the manga doesn't have.

Personally I would lean to the manga even with the adaptation released because I started spy x family when it didn't have even 20 chapters and I want to stick with it but just because you prefer one you shouldn't deny to try the other. The chapters flies once you get into it and if I had to resume the series regarding any aspect without spoilers I would say:

Do not judge a book by its cover

[zhuhongs]

Since rewatching the guardian drama after reading the novel has made me mad about how bad and good both of them are I am Obligated to write out a list of what I think the perfect merger btw both versions of canon are. This will be in list format otherwise I’ll end up writing like 6k words again. 

TLDR: the genre stays as supernatural from the novel and not Sci fi, bc that was rlly not fleshed out well. Shen Wei is a ghost king, and all the dixingren are ghosts or demons like originally intended. The ghost race naturally exists and wasn't born from kunluns shoulder fire or anything. They just exist separate from humans. Not all ghosts are former humans, some people are just born as ghosts, like Shen Wei. Zhao Yunlan has the guardian whip and all the cool stuff that comes with the Guardian order.  Overall, i’d keep the novel’s plot and relationship progression and ending without the backstory. Instead the backstory is a merger of both canons. From the drama I’d keep the characterization and themes as well as like half the extra cases and omit the other half. 

I’ll be elaborating much further on my ideal backstory and other stuff under the cut bc the rest is 1.5k and I don’t wanna clog the dash 

Okay SO In my ideal backstory there are two timelines just like the drama but the mythology of the book. The god Kunlun is actually zyl that went back in time and became a god. But the one that went back isn’t the current Zhao Yunlan. There has to be an original timeline where the god Kunlun never existed. Thus the great seal nor the separation of the three realms don’t exist either. Zhao Yunlan must go back in time to become a god, meet Shen Wei in the past, and create the current timeline where the separation exists but isn’t perfect. The current timeline is the one that the majority of the series takes place in.

In the original timeline, Zhao Yunlan is just some dude living in a world where ghosts, fairies, and all other beings just live in a giant free for all and it's kinda just a mess. 

Like there’s government in modern context and all and all races live with each other but there's constant tension. ZYL works at some equivalent of the SID (same staff and side characters, but novel vers. Lin Jing is a monk, CSZ a zombie, etc) to protect people and all that and their job is rather hard. One day encounters the thousands year old ghost king Wei (who isnt shen wei yet bc zyl gave him that name in the future) who works alone as like a rouge cultivator of sorts. He lives on the surface undercover as a professor still bc he’s trying to not catch Yezun’s attention but does all the stuff he normally does as Heipaoshi. The two ally together for a case and bc they both have the same goals of getting all races to live in peace. At current, there are forces working together to decimate the human race, all lead by Yezun

As they work together they become closer and all that. Shen Wei tells him about how he was unable to prevent the great war 5 thousand years ago and neither could the gods so  he’s spent the past 5 thousand years trying to make up for it. As they search for ways to stop Yezun, they gather the 4 hallows and learn how to use them to manipulate time so ZYL can go into the past and stop the great war and separate the three realms (living, dead, ghost).  Shen Wei wants to go back with him but he can’t because he was alive all those years ago so if he goes back it will create a paradox. ZYL promises he’ll find Shen Wei in the past and create a timeline where they could be together in peace (that is the current timeline)

When goes back he becomes the god kunlun because there needed to be a new god born at the time to prevent the war.  Also this time traveller looked promising to Nuwa, Fuxi, and Shennong. And I know in the guardian universe gods are usually born and ppl don’t become gods. EXCEPT this can happen when a god passes on smth from their body onto them bc that did happen in the novel with Kunlun making shen wei a demigod. And since fu you and ma gui are supposed to be gods Nu Wa and Fuxi I think that when they die, they should make ZYL a god and that's how this stuff happens.

So like ZYL explains to the gods the time he came from and how he wants to save everything and they make him a god and he works to save everything just like he did in the drama but this time with the novel plotline. During this time he meets young Shen Wei (he’s still like a hundred or so years old) and they get close and all the stuff from the backstory happens. He gives him his name, all that good stuff. The entire time doesn’t let him know that he’s from the future or that his real name is ZYL. He just poses as kunlun. 

The two of them alongside the other gods (who still die at the times they do in the novel) work together to end the war and establish the great seal and set up the cycle of reincarnation, per the current timeline. Although the seal and cycle of reincarnation aren’t perfect. Gods can’t reincarnate, and ghosts still don’t have souls. And just like the novel, doing all of this kills ZYL bc it takes a lot of energy to create the seal even though it isn’t perfect.

Shen Wei of course doesn’t want ZYL to die and zyl says it's alright because he fixed the timeline so there must One day they will meet again and ZYL reveals the truth about the timeline to shen wei before he dies. This becomes the promise that Shen Wei mentions to meet again. Before he dies, ZYL gives him the shoulder fire as a memento ( i still like the candy wrapper necklace deal but i’ll take this too. Maybe both.. The pendant is still just rlly cool.. Gay ppl)

Shen Wei knows gods can’t enter the cycle of reincarnation and still makes the deal with Shennong to strip Kunlun of his godhood and let him reincarnate. This sets us into the novel timeline where isn’t allowed to meet any of zyl’s reincarnations before he becomes zyl otherwise he will die and also fuck up the timeline. The same 5 thousand years of pining still ensue bc Gay Ppl and i love making Shen Wei suffer but he doesn’t have the shrine room thing bc i think thats weird and yea.. Bad. 

In the meantime Shen Wei does a lot of things mostly just protecting the great seal and working for Hell to keep the peace but still does other stuff. He still watches out for ZYL’s reincarnations but doesn’t do much besides make sure they don’t die a premature death. They meet again finally at the beginning of the series and the timeline resumes like canon. And that's my master plan that merges both drama logic and novel logic while making a much better timeline. (I hope that makes some sense)

Da Qing is still Kunlun’s pet cat and important. Novel backstory applies to him. And I already mentioned him kinda but as for Yezun (Gui Mian in the novel) his deal is similar as in the drama but just a ghost. And he is a big player in the great war, he thought Shen Wei abandoned him as a kid but they were just separated. Shen Wei doesn’t know it's him till the end of the war and couldn’t stop him in the OG timeline and vows to bring him to justice and make amends. Shen Wei continuously tries to explain things to him but he just won’t listen and is imprisoned in hell bc yk… war criminal stuff and yeah he’s the main antagonist trying to break the great seal bc he’s still made about the past. Idk. Yezun wasn’t well written in the novel OR the drama so like… honestly he just needs to be completely rewritten and I don’t care enough about that. He can just be a weak villain idk

the drama characterization stays the same for everyone else bc found family go brr. However for Lao Chu i… hmm… i think he should still be a zombie but the reason he killed someone should be related to his brother. I like that addition and then shen wei realized his sentence was unjust and exempted him. i like that storyline merger. bc the brother thing and him admiring Heipaoshi was drama only. in the novel lao chu just murdered some kid for a rlly whatever reason.

uhhh in terms of the cases… id make adjustments to most of them. i think the li qian case should be like the drama bc the novel just had her as a murderer and it was boring. 

For the mountain river awl one was fine… novel version was funnier and more interesting action wise tbh… rip zyl and his exorbitant flirting. uhhh the whole reveal that shen wei was the soul reaper thing was kinda… ehh in the novel but i did love the comedy of afterwards Shen Wei pretending he went into cardiac arrest when he actually just… has no pulse bc he's a ghost. 

ID KEEP THE WORTH IT SCENE AND RAIN SCENE… THOSE FUCK SO HARD… I love the drama for adding those every damn day. the novel version of zyl losing his sight sucked and was sooo boring.  Keep the drama version on that.

also id keep dr. cheng. i'm very pro dr. cheng and her friendship with shen wei it adds so much to his character imo. keep the fruit seller man and his wife for the merit brush..omg it adds SO MUCH the way the drama did it.. like the drams build up with the novels pace of that arc.. mwah. it felt like it dragged a bit in the drama but if it went faster and without the hospital ep and with sha ya (sorry sha ya) that would've been so good. tho keep novel version of da qings memory loss and lao li. that was rlly impactful.

id say keep some of the cases like the mirror one, the eyes doctor one, etc. just to like.. yk have more to fill in general.. novel pacing but drama characterization without the bs that wasn't fully realized. and novel ending ofc. And that’s it!!

I hope most of this makes some amount of sense  but it probably doesn’t. In my head it all tracks but like ik most of u don’t know anything about the novel so this sounds like gibberish. Also I know this would literally never happen but this is MY ideal merger of the two canons that I feel compelled to expand on for some reason. Anyways, as io said,, we need to rebuild guardian. Like literally let me and the mutuals write Guardian and it will be 500 times better.

[angelofthequeers]

City of Ashes thoughts

Got bored, devoured an entire book in a few hours like back in the good old days of a happy little autistic kid with hopes and dreams and no burnout 🙃 Tagging @repulsolife again for the lolz.

Prologues normally make me wary but this one worked. It set up the main mystery in the story in a way that wasn’t immediately obvious and made me want to read more to see why Valentine needed Elias’ blood and why he needed to summon a demon in the first place.

I can’t tell whether it’s me being aro as hell, knowing that Clary and Jace have to be endgame and can’t be if they’re siblings, or just not being invested in the Clary/Jace relationship. Maybe a mix of all three. I just found myself not really caring about the whole incest/forbidden love thing while also questioning the appeal of it. But I did appreciate that it was Legitimate Relationship Drama instead of the tired old cliched misunderstandings or “we can’t be together for arbitrary plot reason” (which is why I don’t read romances in the first place), so point to Cassandra Clare there. Miraculous Ladybug also has legitimate reasons for the love square not being together, which is why I’m so invested in them.

Still like Clary. She’s annoying at times in the way that teenage girls can be annoying and self-centred while trying to figure themselves out, and she’s explicitly called out in the story by Jace and Simon and the people she hurts, so she’s nowhere near the perfect goddess that people who accuse her of being a Mary Sue call her. I did feel for her trying to lie to herself and tearing her hair out trying to figure out who exactly she was, because her stable identity as Clary Fray was ripped away not too long ago and she hasn’t had the time to really sit down and think about who the heck she is. She’s just a pretty typical teenage girl trying to figure out her place in the world, when the world happens to be full of deadly threats that are out for her and her friends and family.

I also liked that her affinity with runes was expanded on and further hinted at. There’s an actual reason for her having a special gift, and she’s not the only one, and I want to know more.

Still don’t like Jace. I feel for him. I get the inner torment he went through. I get that trauma makes you act in fucked-up ways. But if he’s able to look at a kid and laugh and say that the kid basically got what he deserved, it’s gonna take a hell of a lot more than a troubled past and an identity crisis after being rejected by his adoptive mother to make me like him. He’s an arse.

And especially because no one calls him out for that. They rag on him for being reckless enough to pick a fight with werewolves, but literally no one apart from the wolves themselves calls out Jace for pretty much laughing at the death of a child. Even Luke is just like “kk guys he’s our ally so like chill” and covers Jace’s rear, when he could have also at least tried to scold Jace for mocking the death of a kid.

I hate Jace right now, if you couldn’t tell.

I hope that changes, because otherwise I’m really not gonna care about the Clary/Jace drama that seems to be driving these books.

I both like Simon more in this book and also dislike him more. I like him because Clary was giving him mixed signals and I don’t blame him for interpreting them the way he wanted, because he’s only human. Or, well, he was. I dislike him because he’s basically acting like he’s entitled to Clary as his girlfriend, carrying on about how long he’s loved her and acting as though being her oldest friend is enough to stake a claim on her.

Clary was kind of just along for the ride when it came to the relationship part of this book; and I get she was trying to figure herself out, and that it’s a normal human thing to try and “settle” for what they think they want and to have things both ways, but she didn’t really do anything. It was Simon and Jace calling the shots by breaking up with her or storming off in a fit of rage or whatever.

But I did like Simon outside of the relationship drama. And even though I think (????) I’ve read this book like literally years ago and knew he became a vampire, it was still a shock when it happened, and the scene where Valentine ‘killed’ him made me stop reading for a few minutes to process, even though I knew Clare wouldn’t kill off one of the main characters. Especially after he already had a ‘death’ scene earlier.

I also liked the nods to him being Jewish. I know Clare is Jewish herself, so it was a delight to read about these little things, especially how Jewish vampires might work.

Isabelle was same as always. Her banter with Meliorn was amusing, and I loved how furious she got in defence of Jace, but she was kind of just...there.

Max was cute. I like Max. He’s totally going to die later on.

Alec got some real growth this book and I actually like him a lot now. He’s still himself but he’s not a raging prick to everyone.

Loved Maia. I hope she’s a more major character later on, because I’d really like to see more of her.

Imogen was meh. I knew as soon as Stephen was mentioned that she was going to have a change of heart and die defending Jace somehow, and I was right. She was a solid antagonist and her motives were understandable and she was a good foil to Valentine; I just didn’t really care much about her.

Valentine is very suitably creepy. He’s excellent at emotional manipulation, especially when he left Jace alone in the Bone City after killing the Silent Brothers, and I actually know about the plot twist regarding Valentine and Jace because I’ve seen Jace’s real name floating around since this series came out like a decade ago. So that makes this even more chilling, because Valentine knows that Jace and Clary aren’t siblings and he still perpetuates that lie to mess around with both their heads and still continue to claim that he’s Jace’s real father to try and persuade him to the dark side.

He really reminds me of Gabriel Agreste from ML, and I would hurl Gabriel into the sun, so Clare’s done a good job with him. And just like Gabriel, he’s a pretty standard villain who’s willing to do anything to achieve his goals, even if that means being a hypocrite and sacrificing his morals and beliefs. I’m not so much invested in the Evil Plan part of him as I am in the Horrifically Manipulative Jerk part of him, and I did enjoy reading more about how he charmed the Circle to his side in the first place.

The worldbuilding is still as alluring as always. I was so invested in every little bit I learned about Clare’s world, and I liked how the Clave was established as theoretically on the side of good but in practice kind of...lacking. It really enhances the idea in these books that good and evil are both clear, solid positions but are also hazy and can’t be that easily defined.

I enjoyed City of Ashes more than City of Bones. It had a good deal more action and the murder mystery was intriguing, and the world was also fleshed out a good deal more. Now I just have to hold off on City of Glass until I get City of Fallen Angels (😭), which is where I think I stopped reading the series back when I was like 13 if I did read it? I don’t recognise the last two titles in the series like I do the first four. Idk, it’s been a decade so I don’t remember anything.

[musicboxmemories]

2020 Fanfic Year in Review

I was tagged by the awesome @ladytp-annex​ – thank you!!! 🥰

Total number of completed stories: Okay, so I have two pages (one for “serious” works, and another for hanky-panky), and naturally, the trash is going to have more completed works since those are just one(or two)-shots. For my smut page, I’ve completed 7 works this year, and for my regular page, I’ve completed 3 (though I’ve written 12 works overall).

Total number of words: Lmao, you’re really going to make me do math in the year of our Lord, 2021? *sighs* FIIIINE. *whips out calculator* For my smut page, I wrote 24,301 words, and my regular page 28,074 for a grand total of 52,375. Dang, I didn’t realize I wrote so much in my trash fics, haha.

Fandoms written in: Emma 2020 and Turn: Washington’s Spies. Over half of that prior word count has been written in November - December, LOL.

Top 5 by Word Count:

1. The World is Made Wrong  2. Starve This Sin 3. Secrets, Silent, Stony 4. Entwine Our Bodies on Common Ground 5. Grovel

^^^I don’t feel comfortable publicly linking my adult fics, because I don’t like to associate my two pages at all. The adult fics are for Emma 2020, so if anyone wants to read them, just DM me and I’ll give you the links! 😊

Top 5 by Kudos

1. Starve This Sin 2. Interruption 3. Be My Guide 4. Grovel 5. Entwine Our Bodies on Common Ground

^^^My trash page definitely won out here, haha. 😅

Top Fic Overall:

“Starve This Sin,” hands-down! I was floored by how many hits/comments/kudos it got, especially after being in the tiny Hannibal fandom since 2013. I guess Austen fans wanted more than a “repressed hand touch” for once, LOL. At first, I was genuinely worried about that, because Austen doesn’t seem to be a smut-driven fandom. But I guess this was further proof that there’s always a place for that lol.

Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d expected?

Much more! I took this year off to write two books (er, back in 2020), so I wasn’t expecting to take breaks here and there to dabble in fanfiction, especially since my interest in Hannibal had finally dwindled to pretty much nada. Before Emma 2020 came out, I didn’t have any other interests! I’ve written fanfiction every year since 2003, so I thought 2020 might be the year I finally lost my mojo! Thankfully, I was wrong. 😊

What’s your own favorite story of the year?

Idk lol, I like different stories for different reasons. I like “Starve This Sin” since it was fun to write, but I also got way more poetic than I usually do in “Secrets, Silent, Stony,” and it’s been a delight writing an old character of mine in “The World is Made Wrong.”

Did you take any writing risks this year?

I guess there’s always a risk in throwing yourself out there, especially if you’re like lil’ ol’ me who ships rarepairs. Thus far, people have (mostly) been polite. I would’ve been able to say “HAVE been polite” if it weren’t for last week, when I received a rude review for one of my ship choices. I’m old and set in my ways. If you don’t like what I write, KINDLY GET OFF MY LAWN. 

Do you have any fanfic or profic goals for the new year?

Nope! I’m back to focusing on querying my books. However, I am still going to write whatever plot bunnies strike my fancy. Idk what it is about TURN, but I’ve never had as much inspiration for a fandom as I have with this one. Six of the 12 fics I wrote in 2020 were for TURN, and as I mentioned earlier, I wrote them all in the past two months (especially December). I’ll be posting another new fic for it soon, so that’ll be my first fic of the new year!

Most popular story of the year?

Still “Starve This Sin,” lol.

Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion:

Weeeeell, all of my TURN fics are going to be underappreciated, because I rolled up in here 3 years after the show’s cancellation lol. And couple that with the fact I ship rarepairs? Yeah. Nobody’s reading my stuff except for a very precious few (and I appreciate each and every one of them!). 💖🥰🤗

Most fun story to write?

Probably The World is Made Wrong. Back in 2017, I self-pubbed a book, and for whatever reason, I decided to resurrect one of the side characters (who was coincidentally my favorite character) and make her a main in the TURN universe. Her personality is exactly the same, but now instead of a gothic heroine, she’s from a rich Tory family in the 18th century. My chapter word counts used to average about 1-2k, but with this fic, I’m churning out chapters averaging 3-4k, sometimes even spilling into 5k territory. I’ve been pretty inspired since I wrote 23k (the additional 4k I’m speaking of hasn’t been published yet) in one month!

Most unintentionally telling story?

Like, symbolically? I never go into my writing with a plan, so happy accidents do occur...but I’m not so sure that’s happened this year.

Biggest disappointment?

How dead the TURN fandom is lol. I mean, the fanfiction tag is actually super active (it often has several updates per day), which I find amazing, but the actual interaction itself is reflective of a dead fandom.

Biggest surprise:

My inspiration! Just judging by my past fic writing behavior, if a fandom is dead/doesn’t seem receptive of my works, I tend to duck out pretty quickly since it doesn’t feel worth the energy. But for the TURN fandom, I honestly haven’t been bothered. More interaction would obviously be wonderful/welcome, but for once I’m doing this for ME, and I think that’s important. CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT!!! 😛

I tag @niksnarration @missjewel @bundyshoes @i-find-the-beauty-in-chaos @fandomsbyladymelodrama @simplykayley @rey-of-luke @ohbillyboi and whoever else wants to do this! If any of you haven’t completed fics this year, don’t feel bad -- 2020 was rough. 😓

[chaoticspacefam]

2020 In Review: Wordcount Tag

I was tagged for this by @actualanxiousswampwitch​ , thank you! I’m not sure who’s already done or been tagged for this cause I am, once again, late to the party LOL but I shall (no pressure and sorry if you’ve already done it!) tag: @rainofaugustsith​ , @darth-bagel​ , @thatmmolesbian​ , @thelastenvoyyy​ and anybody else who wants to do this. Yes, I promise I mean you!

Words: 45,314

Published: 0 (I’m not counting the couple of Six Sentence tags I’ve gotten, they’re snippets of an unfinished piece & are included below instead :), or roleplay replies, cause that feels like cheating lol.) I actually wrote a lot more than I thought I had, this is a rough guesstimate as well, as my oneshot WIPs tend to be all over the place across something like 6 different documents, some of which have existed since 2018, so I had to guess at how far up to count from the end for some of them, but I think it’s a fair guesstimate XD I also have included lore/worldbuilding docs in this because that was a 3-month long Lockdown 1.0 Boredom/”Canon is a trash fire so I’m ignoring that and making up my own lore” passion project and I’m goddamn proud of how much I wrote for that. It’s the most I’ve written in one stretch (think I finished it over a span of 3 nights or so, once I’d done all the research and made all the notes ofc ^^)

Not Published: 45,314

The Breakdown:

swtor - 45,314

for creeping shadows (my main longfic/part one of the subterfugeverse series) - 1,553  - Aria, stop being difficult! *shakes fists* XD

oneshots - 16,223

lore/worldbuilding (for subterfugeverse naturally) - 23,001 (is this ALL tomato alien lore? pretty much, yes, yes it is :’D ~400 words is “the WIP reworked timeline to correlate my worldbuilding with the canon timeline that was released”, but 98% is just...me thinking way too much about Purebloods and how they deserved way better goddamn lore. I blame @fluffynexu ‘s amazing tomato worldbuilding posts,  reading them when I went looking for “canon” lore one day for the rp is what got me started down that rabbithole (it’s awesome and if you haven’t already you should totally go check hers out too :DD), I had a “fuck you then canon I’ll do it myself too >:L” moment and once I started I couldn’t stop until I’d crapped out literally over 20k words on the subject *whispering* thank you LOL)

zephyrverse au bonus oneshots - 4,537 (stuff I wrote to fill in time gaps or “just cause I had a plot bunny”, relating to mine and k-christine’s zephyrverse au rp. None of these will likely be posted publicly, but they still deserve to be counted as words I wrote this year :’D

As you can see, most of my “muse” this year came from sporadic oneshots :’D The Ahaszaai twins also properly plot-bunnied their way into my brain in late 2019 and haven’t stopped making a nuisance of themselves the whole fucking year. Every time I tried to carry on with a chapter, one of the two of them would pop up like “Nooo write about ME! pay attention to ME!” - Yes, Ni’kasi, I will get to you this year, I promise XD

New Things I Tried:

Just Writing. Not worrying about whether “it wasn’t part of the next chapter” or “it comes from a part in the story that I’m nowhere near close to posting yet”. If I felt like writing something, or for a specific pairing/feeling/scene, whatever. I wrote until I ran outta muse juice. Yeah, it meant I didn’t technically “finish” anything this year BUT - the important thing is I wrote stuff. and that’s all that really matters, eh? :’D

Polyam ships! May not seem like a big deal but I spent a long time talking myself out of them because of internalised toxic monogamy and finally saying “you know what, fuck it! I can ship three or more people together and it can still be a perfectly wholesome, healthy and loving relationship and that’s okay” was a BIG thing for me this year.

Dialogue Scripts: which I didn’t count as wordcount because really it’s just word vomit of general tone/inflection and dialogue that I came up with right before falling asleep which I didn’t want to lose. Basically, if an exchange or a particularly punchy or moving line of dialogue popped into my brain but I wasn’t ready to write the whole scene that it fit into out, but didn’t want to forget the line(s). I wrote it out in movie script/script-style roleplay fashion e.g. Character’s Name: (emotion, hand gestures etc.) [Dialogue here] and so on. I know this is probably a well known trick of the trade, but I never took it seriously until this year. Seriously, do it. It’s great.

Favorite Thing I Wrote:

Hmmm, a snippet for Andronikos/Ni’kasi that I started this week which isn’t posted yet (saving it for this week’s Six Sentence Sunday so look out for it! :D) was pretty fun to work on, I love their dynamic and Kas is suprisingly fun to write for.

Also the Aria/Vano proposal scene that I posted a snippet for the week before last. I’m having great fun with that scene, and I really enjoy putting a non-serious spin on the classic “proposal scene” tropes. Can’t wait to finish it, though it may be a while before the full one goes up on AO3, as it depends whether it ends up fitting in as part of the mainfic or as an additional oneshot

And I have a D’leah/Kissai oneshot that I need to give another once-over before I finally yeet it onto AO3 and Tumblr for you guys to see :’D

Favorite Fic I Read:

@sleepswithvillains Eleanora/Quinn fic, Helplessly Hoping. I’m horribly behind on chapters and I gotta catch up and read the finale this week, but it’s been a helluva great ride and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the story! <3

Also The Invitation collab with @tishinada featuring Zas and Fiona had me squealing, I can’t wait to catch up on HH and see more of these two, they’re adorable ;-; @a-muirehen​ ‘s Relu/Merkara series of course! I’m a complete sucker for (friends to lovers to in Ariano’s case but yea pfpfpf) enemies to lovers ships and these two are just so good, I am on the edge of my seat every time we get a new snippet for them, ngl (grimace emoji) @darth-bagel ‘s Sylvas/Graz’zt and Sylvas/Liz/Rilfaen snippets which they’ve been spoiling me with on Discord @mercurypilgrim ‘s Ven’fir/Quinn AU oneshots, Cloudbank (Western was a particular favourite, but all are very good!) and of course @rainofaugustsith ‘s Lana/Viri updates are always fantastic, some personal favourites from this year were Almost There & Memory of Healing :3 (I totally still go back to read Commander & Advisor too sometimes, getting to see Viri be a little diabolical and messing with “MiNiSTeR LoRMaN!” was and still is my favourite thing XD)

If I’ve left you out I’m sorry!! These were the ones that stuck out in my memory, but I’ve loved everyone’s writing this year, it’s been great :3

Writing Goals:

to actually finish and post chapter 8 & 9 of Creeping Shadows. Then we’ll get to the meat and potatoes of the story and maybe Aria will stop being a brat and fighting me every time I try to stick to a semi-regular update schedule Get off my butt, finalise the name and get started on Ni’kasi’s part of the Subterfugeverse story. Maybe run the updates in-tandem with Creeping Shadows but idk if I want to wait till after CS is done before I start posting Kas’s side, or do them side-by-side yet, we’ll see ;) Keep writing! I know better than to pressure myself by setting a specific word count goal, that’s never worked well in the past

At least 2 chapters of each of the works mentioned above would be great though, more would be better! We’ll see how I go

Words of Thanks:

honestly, to everybody in the fandom I’ve met this year. Anybody that I follow, thank you for being there and engaging with me and/or posting amazing content for me to look at! I came over from deviantART where the SWTOR fandom is incredibly small and generally quite inactive and the contrast since moving over here has been incredibly uplifting. I very nearly cancelled Creeping Shadows and stopped posting fic for my SWTORverse altogether because I got next to no engagement on dA and it was very disheartening to the point where I felt I could enjoy the game and the rp partners I had, but the solo projects I’d put so much thought, time and love into already weren’t worth continuing. You guys took that spark and kept it going and I really don’t have enough words to say how grateful I am for that. Even if I haven’t published much this year, making posts on this tumblr, interacting with everyone and working on lore, plot points and so on for Subterfugeverse has kept me going through the Hellish Year of Nightmares that was 2020 <3

to the amazing new friends I’ve made in this past year, who have listened to me ramble about headcanons, character backstories, writing snippets (and rambled/sent some back), keep being awesome: @walk-ng-d-saster , @darth-bagel , @kyber-heart , @deepseacritter , @thedinalixlegacy to further friends and meme tag buddies, I get so excited every time I see a mention for a new meme or ask game in my inbox, so thank you!! : @mimabeann , @palepinkycat , @a-master-procrastinator , @raven-of-domain-kwaad , @actualanxiousswampwitch , @thatmmolesbian , @a-muirehen to my regular commentors/rebloggers/likers/askbox lurkers, I see every one of you and every time your users pop up I grin like a kid in a toy shop: @starlightjedi , @sparkles-and-rust , @wilvarin-chan , @sunsetofdoom , @ask-an-andalite , @thelastenvoyyy . @lyrishadow and more because Tumblr only goes so far back and I have the memory of Swiss Cheese. If you regularly comment, like, reblog, or anything, from me, know that I see you, and I love and appreciate you for it! <3

I couldn’t possibly remember to tag everyone and I promise if I missed you out it’s not because I hate you! Anxiety just sometimes be a bitch and I don’t wanna look like a clown calling someone a “friend” if I’m not explicitly sure we are, in fact, friends. I think you’re all awesome and I’m so glad to have moved over here and met you all <3

[blue-likethebird]

Shimizu Kiyoko: A Meta

Recently, Haikyuu finished its last match and ended an 8-year run in Shonen Jump. I love Haikyuu. It has so many unique characters with complex motivations, a plot that had me invested for 4 years straight, good pacing and a fanbase full of talented creators. It had a big impact on my style as an author and even motivated me to try out for my school’s volleyball team back in middle school (but I ended up getting hit in the head with a serve and cut after the first tryouts ended rip.) But like every story, Haikyuu had a few flaws too.

Shimizu Kiyoko is without a doubt one of my favourite characters after Michimiya and Suga. But when I reread the series following the manga’s end, I had the uncomfortable realization that as much as I love Kiyoko, the way her character was handled fell into a few -kinda misogynistic- pitfalls. Well, this is me taking a closer look at that. Below the cut is the full meta, which contains spoilers for the final arc of Haikyuu!! You’re free to add your thoughts, argue that I’m wrong, or call me a bitch and block me at your own discretion!

In fairness, Haikyuu is a series about a boys’ volleyball team, and that premise doesn’t leave much room for girls outside of the supporting cast. At the very least, Furudate did a good job making the female characters in his series likeable individuals with distinct personalities who have lives of their own outside of the guys. Even characters like Michimiya, Kanoka and Mika -who are comparatively minor characters serving romantic roles in the story- have identities not revolving around their relationships with boys. I’m glad that the girls were allowed to express ugly emotions, have supportive relationships with one another, and weren’t solely defined by what guys they were in love with. On that level, Haikyuu is leaps and bounds better than a lot of other shonen mangas ie Boruto’s Dad.

Unfortunately, Kiyoko’s arc fell slightly short of the mark. In the grand scheme of things, she really didn’t have much to do and her identity as a character is comparatively murkier than others once you strip away her relationships with the men in Haikyuu. Given her potential, popularity, and the higher standards Haikyuu set for its ladies, it’s a bit disappointing.

“But blue!” Someone in the back row pipes up. “You said yourself that Kiyoko isn’t a main character! Authors don’t develop the supporting cast nearly as much as the protagonists!”

Well yeah. If authors expanded on every character to the extent they expand on the lead, then it would be impossible to get to the actual plot. But hey, Oikawa appears less frequently than Kiyoko does and his motivations and interests are given time to develop. Heck, Yachi only joined the cast in chapter 73 and the series explores her interest in art and relationship with her mother really well during her introduction. We don’t know Kiyoko’s family situation, or why she quit track, or what drives her to put so much of her own time into the volleyball club. And the scenes where she has an impact on the story, or the game going on, or Hinata’s quest to become a great volleyball player, or another character she interacts with are few and far between when stacked up against other members of Karasuno’s volleyball club. The only exception would be Kinoshita and Narita, who have the bad luck of being Haikyuu’s version of “those two guys” so that’s not exactly the best demonstration of what Kiyoko has to offer.

Then there’s my beef with the pedestal she’s dropped on: Both in canon and out, Kiyoko is presented as a perfect goddess who can do no wrong. This setup has so much room to expand on and deconstruct, which dozens of stories have done incredibly well. Even Haikyuu itself has done a similar thing through Kageyama’s relationship with the other Kitadaii alumni and the “king of the court” storyline. Yet Kiyoko never gets a chance to explain her feelings on being held to such a high standard, nor is it ever brought up as something that could be uncomfortable for her. It’s briefly implied that she’s somewhat out of her element when she’s the centre of attention in the “do your best” scene, but that’s not really touched on further. Given that haikyuu has acknowleged being held to unreachable standards is damaging, it would have made sense to acknowledge Kiyoko’s perspective too. Is she insecure about being considered flawless? Is it something that brings her confidence or boosts her ego? Idk, because it’s never explained clearly. It’s like a porcelain doll: Kiyoko is perfect, but by keeping her up on a high shelf to maintain that perfection, we miss the chance to get a closer look that could help further our appreciation of her.

It’s not that being one of the less dynamic characters is inherently a misogynistic pratfall, since there are plenty of male characters out there who could give a cardboard box a run for its money in terms of complexity. However, given that Kiyoko’s character is already floundering among all the unaddressed idealizations around her, to have so little opportunity to address that and how damaging it can be, well it’s not great to say the least. She’s also one of the only characters in the whole series to suffer from this particular burden. It’s kinda difficult to handwave that as just a weird coinky dink that Kiyoko’s not given more development while the arrival of Lev at Nekoma warranted a dissection of how this affects their dynamic. 

This all builds up to a defining moment. The one that made me realize how Shimizu Kiyoko had never quite escaped the trap so many other shonen manga ladies since Sakura and Orehime had fallen victim to.

The reveal that she and Tanaka got married between the end of nationals and the time skip. That was when I realized that for all I loved her and the series she was a part of, the writing surrounding her was misogynistic. 

I have a... variety of emotions about this particular relationship’s road to becoming canon, and they’re not especially positive emotions either. I could prattle on for ages about the execution or buildup, and a whole other post could be written about why I always interpreted her as a lesbian, but that’s best saved for another time. How was Kiyoko falling in love with Tanaka a weak point?

To put it bluntly, it’s because she didn’t.

We’re shown over and over again that Tanaka has feelings for Kiyoko. That was established in basically the first scene they appeared together in. What irks me is that she never gets the same: that the ‘hints’ that Kiyoko returns those feelings barely qualify as hints at all. Yet, with one scene where Tanaka carries her bag, we’re supposed to believe that the few scraps of interest she’s shown throughout the 300+ chapters of the manga they’ve both appeared in is a strong enough end point to lead to them getting hitched. Come to think of it, is there ever even a scene outside of the bag carrying where they spoke one-on-one about anything meaningful? Did Tanaka ever get to see her as more than her pedestal that we saw? The scene they ended off on is where most romance arcs start for heaven’s sake, and it ultimately disservices both characters. 

Once again, poor Kiyoko got screwed over by the series denying her a chance to express her feelings, and the marriage bomb came off as less of a satisfying conclusion to either of their arcs and more like a one-sided “wear the girl down” pullout where the girl in question is treated more like a prize than part of a healthy relationship. That kind of “romance” is more at home in a cliche action bland-com than Haikyuu, where the relationships are written with more complexity. This would have so easily been avoided with even one throwaway line. But since Kiyoko never got to express her own feelings, a crucial building block to a satisfying romantic arc was left out and the whole relationship toppled over like a jenga tower.

To wrap this up, lemme say that Haikyuu is one of my favourite series and one of the strongest shonen or sports manga I’ve read. I love both Kiyoko and Tanaka both a fuck ton, and I’m incredibly grateful that Furudate gave us such a powerful series these past eight years. None of this is me trying to bash the author, story, or any of the characters and I’m definitely not trying to argue that they’re in any way problematic. This is merely one interpretation of the series and an examination of a relatively minor part of the genuinely enjoyable whole. My goal in writing this longass meta wasn’t to condemn. But, in a manga whose biggest strength is having such well-rounded characters, it’s still somewhat of a shame that so much of Kiyoko’s potential stayed just that: potential. Haikyuu is a series that’s well-known for giving complex personal stories to all its cast from major player to one-chapter rivals. Why is it that Shimizu Kiyoko -who’s been a regular presence in the story since the very first chapter- couldn’t get the same?

[endearingsalt]

I’m starting to really think I may no longer be worth fixing. Like in Theseus, you know. “What’s worth saving’s never worth letting go to waste,” and all that. Idk. I may not be the former anymore. I kind of, did what I set out to do, it feels like. Don’t really have much of a purpose these days. I’ve been strong in the past, I think I can say that, but it wore me down too much. I couldn’t weather it. Or, I did, but am at the limit. I’m too tired to heal. Maybe I really did burn myself out trying to keep others warm, and maybe I failed, and maybe either way, I’ve burned too far down now. 

I don’t want to seem lazy, but patching this one up seems too hard. Like too much work. You know I’m not usually afraid of work. Especially developmental work—it’s beautiful, to me, and God-breathed, perhaps even sacred. I want to feel that beauty now. I want to be overcome by it, let the Spirit fill me, and set to work. But “it can feel like the end to have to keep going.” And it does. All I can see is the mountain. And I know, I know, I know it’s all just one step at a time. Miniature goal by miniature goal. I’ve done this before. I’ve even helped others do it before. I know. 

It feels like I’m past the crisis point now, and this is the breath I was longing for, but now I find the breath itself is a crisis, and the crisis can never end, and yes, I really will be like this forever. I’m so tired. My world is so small. It isn’t really, I know, or it shouldn’t be. I don’t understand it. And even if it is small, why can’t I find the beauty in that smallness? I usually can. I can usually look at the details. I usually think the details are where the most beauty is, far better than one massive overview of something you can never truly see. So why am I discontented? 

It feels like the time for my story to fade into obscurity. My part in whatever narrative I lived in is over. 

I keep hearing, it seems, the message, that I must get back up once again. That I can’t just stop where I am, and it seems like the universe is conspiring to pull me along, perhaps gently, but with force. One more step forward. One more step forward. Teaching me the things I know over again, but they haven’t gotten easier, and only get harder, and I’m so tired. I’m so tired. I wish, and maybe it is too much, maybe it is impractical, maybe it’s romantic, maybe it’s irresponsible, maybe I’m wrong, but I begin to wish it were okay for me to stop. Even if just for a while. I wish it were okay for other people to support me, really support me, not just the amount I let others in. No, I don’t know what I mean by that. And I don’t mean to belittle the relationships I already have. They are fine and good, lovely even, and certainly keeping me afloat even now. As I said, what I’m theoretically wishing... I’m not even sure it’s possible, and even if it is, I’m not sure it’s right. I just wish it. I don’t know why. Other than that, I’m so, I’m so tired. I’m hurt, I’m deeply wounded, the cuts have all piled up. I don’t know. 

I’m badly bruised, and the damage runs deep. The amount of effort needed to even so much as stop further pain, let alone reverse any of it, or even grow past it, is enormous, and I’m not sure I have it in me. Even if someone else gave everything they could for me, I’m not sure I have enough left to give of myself, for myself, this time. I’m not sure the attempt is worth it. The one certainty is that it would cost immense effort, and the attempt isn’t sure to succeed, and even if it did, what use am I, even in a more functional state? As I said, perhaps I had a purpose at one point, but now? I’m not sure I’m worth saving. 

I wished for a denouement, but maybe I’m the kind of person who simply leaves the page and isn’t discussed again. I played my role in this plot. The need for me is over. Kill your darlings, perhaps. So what am I to do now?

[luckystarchild]

INUYASHA Volume 01, Scroll 01: “The Accursed Youth”

Welcome to Lucky’s INUYASHA recap—a recap of the Inuyasha manga by me, Lucky, an anime fan who has somehow never read it or seen the anime before.

Over the course of these posts, I’ll be recapping and reacting to the events of a chapter (or series of chapters) of the Inuyasha manga. I’ll be using the official VIZ manga volumes as my source material. References to Not Quite Kagome (“NQKagome”) pertain to my ongoing fanfiction series, Lucky Child.

And without further ado... chapter 01 of Inuyasha (or volume 01, “Scroll 1,” as VIZ titles the manga chapters.)

We begin in media res; Inuyasha has stolen the Jewel of Four Souls (the “Shikon Jewel”) and is rampaging through a village. He wants to use the jewel to become “a true demon.” Kikyo, mortally wounded, shoots him with an arrow and pins him to a tree. Her body is burnt along with the jewel by her young sister, Kaede.

I don’t generally like prologues that employ flashbacks in writing, as they sometimes seem like a way to shoehorn in backstory that either isn’t necessary OR backstory that could be imparted through the reader more organically. (They’re all-too-often lazy, basically.) But this is a manga, so maybe it’s not so bad. Not sure how I feel TBH.

Was sort of surprised we learned what Inuyasha’s goal concerning the jewel is so soon; thought maybe that would get dragged out a bit longer, though IDK why I got that impression exactly. I’ve seen a few random eps of the anime and know he isn’t fond of his own half-demon status. Perhaps I feel like we should’ve earned this revelation during the narrative and on Inuyasha’s terms, rather than have it handed to us right off the bat by a faceless narrator. But that’s me being overly critical, perhaps.

Flash forward to 1997. The day before Kagome’s 15th birthday. Her grandfather tries to tell her a legend about the Shikon Jewel, but she shrugs it off. 

Kagome’s family lives inside a big temple, and everything has a legend attached to it (including the massive 500-year-old Go-Shinboku God Tree), but Kagome never pays attention to them. Later, her brother loses their cat in the mini-shrine, specifically in the well house (which a sign declares the home of the Bone-Eater’s Well). Kagome bravely ventures inside to search for the cat.

Right off the bat, we get the impression that Kagome is a pretty average teenage girl—a bit of an airhead with a sharp sense of humor who isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty or shy away from a dark and spooky well house. Nice bit of characterization in just a few panels. Well done, author-san.

NQKagome Bonus: She’d probably pay more attention to all the legends her grandfather tells, which could give her an edge in the Feudal Era.

Kagome hears odd noises coming from the covered well; the cover pops off the well and a horrible, Noh-mask-faced women with a skeletal snake body to leap out and drag Kagome into the darkness. 

Her body regenerates, turning into a... centipede body. Not a snake. D’oh. Frightened as they fall, Kagome emits a light from her hands, breaking off the woman’s arm and sending her careening away into the dark as she cries something cryptic about the Jewel of Four Souls.

Soon Kagome stops falling and finds herself at the bottom of the well, but upon emerging, she’s lost in an unfamiliar forest.

I gotta say that as far as first-chapters go, this one is pretty good! We immediately know who Kagome is, where she’s from, what she’s like as a person, and this introduction to the supernatural is spooky and interesting. The stakes are high and the action is fast-paced, without an overload of exposition.

Kagome spots the God-Tree and hurries toward it, noting that she always used it to find her way home in the past, but she does not find her familiar home at its base. Instead she finds Inuyasha pinned to the God-Tree.

We’re treated to this gorgeous two-panel spread:

She notes that the boy pinned to the tree has inhuman ears before some villagers find her in “Inuyasha’s forbidden forest” and bring her to Kaede, the younger sister of Kikyo (who is much older than she appeared in the earlier flashback). Kagome realizes she is in the Sengoku Period (1467 to 1615 CE). The villagers theorize that she’s a spy, a kitsune, and similar before Kaede realizes that Kagome looks identical to the deceased Kikyo.

Kaede tells Kagome briefly who Kikyo was before the centipede woman attacks the village. 

That bit where Kaede tells Kagome about Kikyo is where I would’ve placed the flashback from the start of the chapter, FYI. Would’ve given the earlier parts of the chapter more mystery to withhold some information from the reader.

Also we have TOO MANY K-NAMES. Already three of the four named characters start with K, and two even start with the “ka” sound in Japanese. We have this problem with YYH and I foresee it being a problem as I type these names a ton, LMAO 🤣

So... Kagome realizing what time period she’s been magically dropped into after approximately seven seconds seems… IDK, kind of handy? Easy? The only info she has to go on are the vague references to “battles” a few villagers shout at her, and maybe the way they’re dressed. She supposedly doesn’t pay attention to old legends, so it doesn’t seem plausible that she’d pay enough attention in history class to discern what period she’s in now based on the cut of a kimono.

(Disclaimer: I’m American and the American education system is notoriously horrible at teaching the subjects of history and science with any accuracy, so I might be projecting my experience onto hers to some degree. Maybe Japan is better about this stuff. IDK, but thought I’d mention it.)

ALSO, Kagome jumps to the possibility of time travel really fast. I would jump to “this is a dream” or “I have fallen into a historical reenactment amusement park in which no one will break character” (a special hell of its own) first. Again, though, this chapter is moving quickly to draw in readers, so I can see why they didn’t give her confusion more screen-time. Especially with serialized manga, you have a handful of chapters (if that) to grab readers, so it’s gotta move fast as a matter of necessity.

I appreciate that some of the villagers mentioned “kitsune” in this section (and not just because it reminds me of all the reasons Yu Yu Hakusho is so easy to cross over with this manga). It shows that the supernatural is something the locals consider on a daily basis, which helps with worldbuilding.

Also, I wasn’t expecting the nipples on the centipede woman??? In her first panels, her breasts were covered up a bit, but now we’ve got detailed nipples. I’m guessing the scant few episodes of the series I watched were censored quite a bit. I’m wondering if there’s going to be more fanservice in this series than I expected, especially after reading that the series’ author, Rumiko Takahashi, advised the anime team to avoid using Kagome for any pantie-shots…

The centipede claims Kagome has the Shikon Jewel, and Kagome flees the village (toward “that light” in the east, which Kaede notes she shouldn’t be able to see) as the centipede woman gives chase. Elsewhere, Inuyasha wakes, stating he can smell the scent of the woman who killed him.

So I know a few things about this series already thanks to the research I did for Lucky Child, and chief among these things is that Kagome is Kikyo’s reincarnation. We can already see this tidbit coming through in obvious ways: Kagome’s resemblance to Kikyo, the Jewel being connected to her somehow, etc. Kagome seeing that light is probably a power she got from Kikyo, too.

It’s interesting that these connections are as physical as her having the same scent as Kikyo, though; scent is informed quite a bit by genetics. Obviously we’re dealing with magic and not science in this story, so I’m not looking for infallible logic when it comes to this reincarnation plot device… but it’s almost like the magic here overrides things like genetics and the extreme differences in what Kagome and Kikyo must’ve eaten in their respective times when determining their scent and appearance. The soul is more important than the body, etc. Wondering how consistent that will remain over the course of this admittedly massive story.

And that’s it for chapter 1. This was super fun! I’m guessing I’ll have more to say once we get past the set-up and are introduced to more characters, but overall I think this was a really strong start to this feudal fairy tale.

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