#sb goes to japan

[es-beeohohem]

SHIBUYA FIT

[ladyhoneydarlinglove]

{one piece ficlet, zosan} chocolate

so uh. the ficlet i posted yesterday got WAY more engagement than i was expecting and i can't thank everyone enough for the likes, reblogs, and tag comments!! they definitely made my day, so have this little ditty that i threw together last night in honor of valentine's day! Rating: G Notes: pre-relationship

~~~~~

“Oi, mosshead,” Sanji said to Zoro as the swordsman entered the Merry’s galley, no doubt on the prowl for some post-nap booze. “Come here, I want you to try something.”

Zoro paused, eyes narrowing as he turned to look at Sanji. “Why me?”

“Because it’s for you, dipshit,” Sanji snapped. “And stop giving me that look. I’m not going to poison you.”

Zoro’s eyes remained narrowed as he approached the kitchen counter, clearly suspicious of Sanji’s invitation. Sanji bit back the urge to say anything, reminding himself that he needed Zoro to be complacent if this little scheme of his was going to work. So instead of spitting out some choice insults like he wanted to, Sanji slid a small plate with a few dark brown squares on it towards Zoro and said, “Here.”

As predicted, Zoro scowled deeply, first at the plate and then at Sanji. “Why are you trying to feed me this shit, cook?” he demanded. “I already told you that I don’t like chocolate.”

Actually, what Zoro had specifically said was that he didn’t like chocolate because it was ‘too sweet’, a statement which had thoroughly baffled Sanji because sure, some chocolate was sweet, but plenty of it wasn’t. Sanji himself vastly preferred dark chocolate over milk due to the complexity of flavor, but when he’d asked Zoro about dark chocolate, all Sanji had gotten was an eye roll and a scoffed, “Chocolate is chocolate, stupid cook. Doesn’t matter what color it is, it’s all too sweet.”

Which had led Sanji to the hypothesis he was currently testing.

“It’s not chocolate,” he lied smoothly. “It’s cacao.”

Zoro blinked. “Hah?” he said, head tilting in confusion.

“Cacao,” Sanji repeated. “It’s actually a bean that’s been fermented, roasted, and then processed into something called cacao liquor—“ (He had the suppress a snort at the way Zoro’s ears perked up at the word ‘liquor’) “—that’s then combined with a few other ingredients and left to solidify into bars for easy consumption.”

He gestured at the squares on the plate, which Zoro looked down at with a more thoughtful expression than before. 

“Beans that get roasted?” he said. “Isn’t that how you said coffee is made?”

“Uh, yeah,” Sanji replied, surprised that Zoro had remembered that. “That’s why I thought you might like this, actually. You like black coffee, and cacao has a similar flavor profile—slightly bitter, but complex. And the notes change depending on how it’s processed.”

“Huh.” Zoro picked up one of the squares, squinting at it curiously. “So are you supposed to drink it?”

“No, although there is a powdered form that you can add to liquids,” Sanji said. “But this one you just eat as is. It’s good for you, too, in small quantities. Lots of antioxidants.”

Zoro’s nose wrinkled. “The hell are antioxidants?”

Sanji waved a hand dismissively. “Don’t worry your mossy little head about it. Just think of them as another kind of nutrient.”

Zoro glared at the word ‘little’, but didn’t set down the square. He turned it over in his fingers a few times as if trying to gauge it for traps before he shrugged, apparently satisfied that he wasn’t about to consume anything nefarious. 

“Yeah alright. I’ll give it a shot.”

Sanji had to press his lips together to keep back a grin as Zoro took a bite from the square, growing ever more pleased with himself as the swordsman’s expression shifted from a curious frown to what on Zoro passed for wide-eyed wonder, which was a notable absence of his usual scowl and a slight raising of the eyebrows.

“So?” Sanji asked as Zoro swallowed, barely able to contain his glee.

Zoro shrugged. 

“Not bad,” he said, and Sanji bit his tongue to keep himself from laughing in Zoro’s face. On the sliding scale of Zoro-ism’s, ‘not bad’ was equivalent to a normal person’s ’oh my god, that’s soooooo good!’.

“See?” he said, unable to quite keep the smugness from his tone. “Told you it wasn’t poison.”

Zoro rolled his eyes. “Whatever,” he muttered. Then his gaze dropped to the two squares still sitting on the plate. “So can I take these?”

Sanji had to turn towards the sink so that Zoro wouldn’t see the triumphant grin he couldn’t hold back. Because yeah, Sanji could have just explained to Zoro that dark chocolate referred not to the color but to the higher percentage of cocoa-to-sugar ratio instead of tricking him into eating ‘cacao’.

“Sure, marimo. They’re all yours.”

—but where was the fun in that?

[opbackgrounds]

You know, it's really insane to think that, in Japan at least, every week's OP could still be someone's first. (Shout-out to that one SBS... I think you might be coming to it soon? Where someone straight-up asked Oda what all the Strawhats' backstories are.)

it goes in cycles as kids age out and new kids take their place. I remember there being an absolutely insane spike in One Piece book sales around the time of Marineford, driven both by what was happening in the manga and the insane hype around all of Oda’s involvement with Strong World and the 10th anniversary of the series. If you go back and look at the numbers for 2010, which had double the sales of 2009, in addition to the popularity of the most recent releases, volume 1 also made the top 100 with nearly 450,000 copies sold as new fans were getting into the series for the first time.

[setsuuestsu]

8, 16, 17, 31 for the kpop ask game! 😝

- sicktannies 🌹

thank you so much <3

8. an idol you’d love to be friends with?

honestly beomgyu of txt. he’s so silly

16. your bias(es)’ best look(s)?

this is going to be long

for hoseok…

-that one fansign in 2015 where he wore the red shirt and the blue jacket.

-melon music awards 2016. pink is just such a good hair color for him

-spring day bc of his cotton candy hair hehehe

-when he wore the black skirt

-2018 melon music awards his outfit his hair ughhhh

-2018 mama awards

-2019 THIS WAS HIS YEAR OMFG

-chicken noodle soup like damnnnn

-carpool karaoke he was literally so adorable in the middle and he looked so tiny

-i love his brown hair. that’s my favorite look on him

-brown wavy yesss

-MMA of this year HE LOOKED SO FINE

-also the lotte family concert??? the purple suit???

-and golden disc

-AND ALL THE DIONYSUS PERFORMANCES???

-also sbs gayo let’s not forget that

-finally i have this one picture of him rubbing his nose during a concert of this year and um it’s actually so adorable i have a whole album on my phone just with this one picture

-2020

-literally any life goes on performance

-AND THE ON PERFORMANCES!!!! his stylists deserved a RAISE

-and the undercut

-AND THE GRAYISH HAIR AHHHH

-and the one picture of him holding a spray paint can and he’s smiling at the camera and i think i had heart palpitations

-the mnet photo of him in a suit a light scarf ughhh it’s giving ceo that cares about you

-HIM WITH GRAY HAIR IS JUST

-vogue japan shoot

-esquire shoot

-him with the purple velvet outfit for the dynamite performance

-2021

-two words.

-PLATINUM

-HOSEOK

-also that picture of BTS visiting the president before going to the UN and hoseok had pink hair

-when i saw that photo i literally sobbed and my mom thought someone died

-she was disappointed in me

-2022

-literally everything about this year

-i was a little nervous because he got very thin

-but like he still looked AMAZONG

-JITB

-Billie Eilish concert

-W KOREA OMFG THAT HAD ME IN A CHOKEHOLD

-MAMA AWARDS

-THE FACT MUSIC AWARDS

-2023

-on the street ;-;

-MILITARY HE WAS SO FUCKING FINE

-2024

-so many buff hobi photos

-UGH I WISH THERE WERE MORE

-2025

-I live alone was so adorable ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-And chef & my fridge he was so cute shoving tiramisu in his mouth

-also he keeps sneezing so much???? sir don’t get sick

-him sleeping on live tho

-귀엽다 💕💕💕

-His HOS LITERALLY ANYTHING

-also sweet dreams???? soooo happy

for beomgyu …

-in freeze, his hair was gahhhh i loved it so much i cried

-sugar rush ride era the long red in the concept photos AHHHH

-there’s probably more but my brain isn’t braining

for felix …

- literally anything istg

-HIS LONG BLOND HAIR MADE ME SOB

-when i see him over the summer i’m gonna be screaming

-i want to do more but my head hurts

17. tell me three things about your bias(es) some people might not know about

aghhhhhh idek where to start. i feel like everything i know other will know so idk how to answer i’m so sorry

31. if you could only listen to one song for the rest of your life, which one would it be?

i had to take a day to think about this one but i think anyone by jeon somi. i love it so so much and the guitar is really nice

[basedkikuenjoyer]

Uh can i ask something...?

I'm confused, because I can't understand...if Kiku after all is transwoman, why Oda calls her a man in concept art? Why Oden refer to Kiku and Izo not as siblings but as brothers? Why Izo himself calls Kiku brother and not sister? Why Kiku eventually uses male pronouns (sessha) when talking? Why Kiku calles herself samurai if she should be onna-bugeisha (female samurai)? (Does it has to do with when they reveal truth about her she says "sorry, i am samurai") I mean... Why misgendering yourself? I heard that Jap language has problems with gender differences, but it should not be that bad..? If all of it, why Kiku is transwoman then? The only thing that i actually saw is that her words about woman at heart actually being used by transwomen in japan, but outside of it seems like Kiku is just a example of trap pr femboy in japanese media as it often goes... I guess, as a professional, you may help understand what does it even mean and how does it work? Does that mean Kiku is a man? I don't get it...

Hey guys look, I'm a professional Kiku expert. I wanna put that on my next resume. I'm going to assume this is in good faith and not just a troll, but I'm also not exactly gonna sit here and debate this either. So...realistically what it comes down to for me is the things the character says about herself vs. people who don't know. Like...Oden in the diary. He'd just met a 1yo, makes sense to me Izo probably did all the talking. Makes sense to me Kiku couldn't express that yet. A big part of her story is subtle about it but coming to terms with it and her family. Same with Izo in a noncanon scene, he just came back. Remember, my read is there was always something there. Izo/Kin maybe were stern about it when you were young, Toki being around caused her to be progressively more outright about it, the month with Tsuru gave you your first real chance at being "out" for lack of a better word. And Oden's whole flaw in general would also mean he's just oblivious to any inner conflict.

As for the vivre card calling her male with a unique extra bit about the woman at heart line...that's where Japanese gets tricky. There's no real distinction like we might casually say "physically male" here. Same with the sessha pronoun. It might be gendered to a degree but it isn't exclusive like in English. Do you think Big Mom is transmasc? Brook genderfluid? No, but they do kinda use pronouns like that for social reasons. To denote authority and politeness respectively. Likewise while concepts like Onnamusha exist in Japanese history...we don't see it elsewhere in Wano. I'd also add you're being a little selective. Adding the "O-" prefix to your name not to mention speech patterns that don't always translate and honestly even being so demure and quiet about yourself are all strongly coded too.

But that "woman at heart" line? There's really no ambiguity there. It isn't something a Japanese trans woman might say, it's as exclusive and cliche as if an English speaker said "Ehhh...woman trapped in a man's body" in that scene. Even moreso because no one really uses that English phrase much anymore. Not to mention we do have places where Kiku calls herself a woman or passes up a chance to correct someone who says as much. Same with your ancillary stuff like SBS answers, etc. Which to me is a hallmark of your trap/femboy characters. It's a cliche in and of itself to have them spell it out immediately so no one has to feel bad/awkward. Likewise...that wouldn't jive with asking to bathe with the girls because being undressed around strange men would make you uncomfortable.

End of the day, Wano's a subtler arc that trusts you to read between the lines a little. Kiku's story all makes sense as a trans girl who seems to have always felt that way making the best of a rigid society that imposed a very masculine role on her. She'll play that part when the people of Wano and her family need her too, but it's consistently framed as tragic you have to feel that way much like most of the lady samurai movies she's inspired by. We've also seen Oda play with so many characters in this space too, it's pretty clear Kiku's treated a little differently.

[smolwritingchick]

Next Bangtan Gal Chapters!

I'm having a blast rereading and editing. And damn I wrote a lot for this story over the years jeez. Over 250,000+ words so far from what was posted and edited.

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BTS in Kota Kinabalu (BTS head to Kota Kinabalu for vacation)

BTS Festa ( BTS celebrate their 2nd anniversary as a group)

Two Different Pages (Jen reveals she accidentally caught Rap Monster watching naughty videos in the studio and reveals another bombshell that shakes ARMY on Tumblr. Jen makes it known that it isn't wise to disrespect her)

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Don't Steal The Beef! (For episodes 7 and 8 of King of Masked Singer, Jen goes on the show as a guest judge, shocked to see Taeil revealed and fangirls over Ailee. BTS are back on Weekly Idol. Jennie watches a video message that an idol made on the show as she looks forward to making another friend.)

Distressed (Jen briefly goes home to see her family but things go downhill when sasaengs decide to follow her and crash her sister’s big performance) Some angst but ends with Jungkook major fluff!

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Payback (BTS film For You. Hobi and the Maknae Line prank Jen to piss her off by acting loud on purpose while she slept. Jennie gives them a taste of their own medicine by using pots and pans to wake them up. Jungkook is on edge as he anticipates Jen's move to prank him.) Remember Bad Girls Club? With Tanisha? I got inspiration from that for Jen's prank! Jungkook fluff!

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Dope (BTS film and promote Dope. Jen supports Black Lives Matter and talks to Namjoon about his comment about Tae and J-Hope's "too black" skin color. Jen reveals a hidden talent and celeb crush during SBS PopAsia TV.) some angst but ends fluffy!

One Person Won't Ruin This (Jen figures out a way to meet with the NY VIP fans despite the Hi-touch being canceled due to threats to Rapmon. When hanging with Kevin, Jen forgets about her outing with Jungkook.) fluff but also angst in this one :(

I Think I Love Her (The members notice tension with Jennie and Jungkook. Jennie shuts down dating rumors from AllKpop. Jungkook vents to Jimin about his feelings for Jennie)

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Rekindle (Jungkook finds the perfect way to ask Jennie for forgiveness as each member of BTS help out. Jen starts getting jealous for a change. JenKook finally get the members back for taking photos of them while sleeping on the plane.) One of my FAVS! Absolute CHEESE AND FLUFF with all members with MAJOR Jungkook fluff! :) I love this one soooo much! I always thought of this one as one of my best chapters. It's so cute. I love rereading it.

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BTS Run Episodes 1,2 & 3 ( BTS compete to be the best man/woman and hang out at an amusement park.)

BTS GAYO Track 1 & 2 (The members go through a Girl Group dance quiz and attempt to answer the correct song by listening to lyrics)

Tension Escalator (BTS have an Undercover Mission in Japan. For the tension escalator, Jen watches with nervousness and assumes Jungkook won't do anything drastic but is instantly proved wrong.)

Fan Signs (BTS attend a fansign and Jennie deals with more discrimination as OT7 supporters skip and ignore her during the fan sign. Jennie meets and hangs with Sam Okyere) some angst but ends in fluff!

ISAC 2015 Chuseok Special (Jen shows off her studio and gets noticed by her celeb crush. Volleyball becomes a new competition for the ladies at ISAC as Jen finds it to be her calling while the guys dominate in running.) One of my favs!!

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Running Man: The Golden Duo (Due to popular demand, Jennie is asked to guest star in a Couples themed Episode of Running Man, bringing Jungkook with her to go up against other groups of two.) MAJOR Jungkook fluff and things get suggestive at the end with some suggestive Jungkook content! One of my favs!

[winxwiki]

Iginio Straffi Interview “With my fairies I challenge Disney” by Silvia Brena, translated from Io Donna (10/09/2005)

originally transcribed by Iku, translated by me

Straffi talks about inspirations, his wife, Rainbow's workflow in 2005, their lack of unions and more!

If Winx doesn't ring a bell, it's because you don't have any female daughters. And if you don't know Iginio Straffi from Macerata, don't miss the seven reasons (and the moral) for the success of this 40-year-old creative. Who by staying in the province and marrying a cosmopolitan manager has gone global. “Mr. Rainbow, how does it feel to be one of Disney's most hated people?” Mr. Rainbow, born Iginio Straffi, age 40, from Macerata, does not answer. “You don't feel anything at all?” “I would rather people didn't think badly.” “Tell the truth.” "All right, I feel a certain pride in having annoyed a titan. It's inspiring."

[...]

Sivia Brena: So, Mr. Straffi, who inspired you? Iginio Straffi: “Chatwin, Simenon, Sergio Leone, Ingmar Bergman, movies like Blade Runner. Do I go on?" No, stop. And let's start again. In search of the real reasons and rules behind a phenomenon. [Reason No. 1-the metabolism of speed.] IS: “The first person to diagnose it was my pediatrician. He told my mother, 'Ma'am, your son is healthy, but he has a problem: he goes at 1,000 rpm and never relaxes.'"

SB: Number of emails received per day? IS: “Approximately 200, all ‘processed.’ I attack in the morning with Japan and stop at night with the US. In between, every day is Germany, Singapore and China." SB: Yes, but many are answering e-mails all day long and have not become cartoon kings.... IS: “You want a reason? then I'll give you three. 1) We control the intellectual property of our products: that is, we own our ideas. 2) In order to defend our product, that is, our ideas, we turned them into licensing, this has granted us the rights to all our assets. 3) People working with us come from all over the world. Yes, we have been fast." [Moral: Don't drop your ideas left and right. Protect them, they are better than privacy."]

[Reason #2 - Joanne. That is, what does a tenacious woman do next to a tenacious man]. SB: Yeah, what does she do with him? IS: “She gets married. We did it at the beginning of June. She is my right hand, my support, even moral support. She was the one who opened the markets of Asia for us, who bet with me on the development of licensing."

SB: Nice statement. IS: “It is the truth. My greatest joy is in the evening, at home, summarizing the day together." SB: But aren't you a bit symbiotic? IS: “On the contrary. It's cathartic to be able to be angry or happy as a couple over a success." SB: Never a disagreement, a difference of views? After all, you dragged a cosmopolitan manager from Singapore, who studied marketing at the prestigious Madison college in Wisconsin, deep into the Italic province. IS: “Diversity of views yes, of course. She has an Eastern approach. And American. For her, hierarchy is sacred. For me it is not. She thinks a well-liked leader is not doing his job well. I love consensus."

SB: When don't you see each other? IS: “We write to each other. Emails have been to us what letters used to be. They have kept the relationship alive." [Moral: Find yourself a partner in crime and hard worker. It also helps to save a paycheck."] [Reason #3 - Trust. and shame.] SB: Who believed in you? IS: “The president of Rainbow, Don Lamberto Pigini, an over-80-year-old priest who had a printing business. With him we laid the first brick." SB: Then? IS: “Joanne.” SB: As expected. IS: “And then I work in an atmosphere of trust, it's beneficial. And do you know why? Because I'm not equipped to disappoint. Those who work for me know that." SB: Explain yourself further. Does it have to do with the shame one feels in the face of failure? IS: “It has to do with my mother, who used to repeat to me, ‘Don't shame me, don't make me look bad.’” [Moral: Re-evaluate moms; they're still needed.] [Reason #4 - The team.] SB: How much work is done in your company? IS: “A lot, but hopefully with pleasure.” SB: Is there a union? IS: “No.” SB: No because you don't need it or no because you don't want it? IS: “With us, the key word is passion. No one here is a cog. We are an 'ad personam' company." SB: Boom. IS: “That's how it is. Because everyone sees that their ideas can live. And you work together. Each series, which is developed in six to seven months, has a team of ten designers dedicated to it." SB: Do you yell with your guys? Any mistreating? IS: “I confront. I tend to explain. And I can change my mind after a chat with a collaborator." SB: Do you explain your decisions? IS: “Always. Reason for disagreements with Joanne. She argues that a decision of mine should not be confronted with the opinions of collaborators. But by character I need consensus." [Moral: Aim for the creative philosophy of consensus, helps.] [Reason #5 - Don't give up.] IS: “We went through very hard times. The beginnings, the clash with Disney who accused us of copying their Witch. But then we won, partly because we started thinking about Winx in 2000, with Rai. Witch, the comic book, came out in May 2001." SB: Did you ever feel like quitting? IS: “I didn't mostly because of the guys who work with me.” [Moral: Don't work for yourself alone; be responsible.] [Reason #6 - The creative process.] SB: How does a good idea come about? IS: “I'll tell you how Winx was born. I first got the idea from watching the Japanese Sailor Moon, the story of five little fairies..." SB: You copied! IS: “I was inspired. The creative process comes to life by processing the already seen." SB: I mean, nobody invents anything. IS: “The basic elements of narratives are always the same, the skill is in remixing them. Look at the Japanese: they did Pokémon, then Digimon, then Dragonball." (TRANSLATOR'S NOTE: Iginio probably refers to the italian airing of each show, NOT the japanese airing. We all know Dragon Ball came first, but it aired in 1999-2001 in Italy and then reran every year) SB: A master, a mentor of yours? IS: “Rodolfo Torti and Sergio Bonelli, two greats in the world of comics.” SB: Specifically, what do you do: do you sit down with a pencil in your mouth? IS: “The gestation is very long. It can last even years. I only write when inspiration comes to me." [Moral: Don't get anxious]. [Reason #7 - The Roots.] SB: Let's talk about Loreto. Strange location for a company with a global reach. IS: “We were born here.” SB: Yes, but people migrate. IS: “There's no reason for that. We live better here. We go to the beach on our lunch break. And in the middle of the green you work better." SB: Yes, but you are out of any trade route. IS: “We have e-mails, cell phones, faxes. From a business point of view, yes maybe Milan would be better. But we make it from here as well."

SB: How? IS: “We take young designers from schools like Urbino and train them internally. We hire people from all over the world, there are many foreigners, especially in marketing. They love living and working in the Marche region." SB: But do you feel like a provincial? IS: “Yes, I think so.” SB: Define provincial. IS: “When I can, I like to go to my parents for lunch on Sundays. It's a ritual, it makes me feel good." [Moral: Don't look for Zen and the art of better living in distant philosophies, go back to your own home].

[jaeellec]

I'm having a bit of a rough time lately...Can't really focus on any writing or one single piece of art for too long - I just keep jumping all around and it is exhausting. So...I just decided to talk about my main character since I'm feeling more comfortable with sharing things about her. And be warned, this will be all over the place as well.

Here is her SBS trivia:

And below the cut are lots and lots and lots (and I mean, a lot) of details of development, fun facts, and further info on my girl.

🌙 Carmen is incredibly morally grey - I place her very firmly as a chaotic neutral.

🌙 Some cute, lighter things before I get in too deep with her character: As a child, she was very much a daddy's girl. She loves to make things; especially jams, wines (jet fuel, save for a lavender wine that is surprisingly pleasant), suncatchers, jewelry, and the occasional tambourine. She can read the stars. She really likes sweets - her favorite flavors being caramel, honey, and cherry. And she really loves peaches - her Devil Fruit was once a peach. As mentioned above, typically in a real-world setting, her mother is from Japan, so Japanese is usually a second language for her, but it hasn't come in One Piece. But she also really loves miso soup, especially when it reminds her of her mother's cooking. Her mother brushing her hair is a very fond memory for her, and she grew it out for her mother - playing with hair is a major sign of affection for her. She really likes the ocean and she misses swimming.

Anyway...

🌙 She won't hesitate to become violent - there's confidence in her abilities that can even overflow to arrogance at times. In fact, Carmen was so similar to Kid, I had to tone some things down. For example, in Gundam, she had the short choppy hair (which she gets at some point in every insert, but more on that later) and she always wore goggles either on her head or around her neck. She was a mobile suit pilot and she loved working on her machinery, so I took the tinkering and mechanic aspect away from her. Although...I do still have an old mechanic pin-up drawing I did a few years back...

🌙 Carmen still thinks robots are cool, though! Didn't take that away from her. She also likes dinosaurs, dragons, comics. Since the only one I'm aware of in One Piece is Sora Warrior the Sea, she's an avid Sora fan and goes straight to the strip whenever the paper drops. She also really likes anything considered scary and strange. She likes to catch spiders, lizards, insects. As mentioned above, she has a fascination with Thriller Bark. Her favorite holiday is Halloween - she loves all things Halloween. In the real world, the Monster Mash is one of her favorite songs.

🌙 Also...in a real-world setting, she fucking loves ALF??? (She's watching ALF all the time in Gundam)

🌙 Beyond her interests and sense of humor, she herself is also incredibly...weird? Strange? Off-putting maybe? Franky will describe her as sketchy earlier on (Wandering Star, episode 5), even as she warms up to everyone, I'm not sure that opinion really goes away.

🌙 Very much a trickster - it's her base for how she functions even later in work and play. If you've read any of Wandering Star, you know she absolutely cannot be trusted - not unless you truly get to know her, at least. But before that, she knows how to read people due to her job and absolutely will use it to her advantage.

🌙 She has ridiculous willpower when it comes to reaching her goals. Originally, she wasn't going to have Conqueror's Haki, but after reading more about it, I realized it would be absolutely fitting for her.

🌙 I kept with my other rules though. No Future Sight, she can't hear the Voice of All Things, and she is not a "D". Her middle name for well over a decade has been Dolores, so I removed it entirely for that purpose. While she is good with Haki because of her upbringing in a powerful kingdom with a Haki-based military and her family being personal friends with the Captain of the Guard who would train her from a young age, she is far less reliant on it now. However, she does often pair observation Haki with her powers, and has pretty much ceased use of armament. Her whole thing is just "don't get hit", which usually works out for her with her speed and precision - but is absolutely not always the case.

🌙 She doesn't like to use shields or wear helmets, even in battle. That was a big thing that came up often in her insertions for Berserk and Gundam. With armor, she just likes to keep everything light.

🌙 She doesn't like to wear shoes. That's just always been a thing with her. She will compromise with some black flats or comfy sneakers though.

🌙 I've noticed she's always incredibly nomadic. In AOT, it was the Survey Corps. In Berserk, she was a mercenary. In Gundam, she was Airborne. She holds rank across the board, too.

🌙 On that note, I'll say she feels very much like a natural-born leader. While she can be crude and cold (often) she still always very much cares for her men, and they give love and loyalty in return. In One Piece, you'll see what she was willing to give just to be sure her men had adequate training (for victory and survival), food, clothing, and shelter. Her and her men are always like a family, that's across the board. They like to sing a lot, especially around their campfires.

🌙 Singing and dancing is something that has carried over for her since I was a child. As much as I hate it, it is a major part of her as a character and has been from the start. In One Piece especially, after certain events you'll see she'll use singing to kinda self-soothe (also I've noticed when she sings, unless she's performing, it's always sad songs or love songs???), and dancing is very freeing for her. In stories across the board, she's always working at a club of some kind that leads into the main story. For Berserk, it was pretty much the same as One Piece when the Band of the Hawk came through. In Gundam, she was working in a far sleezier little place, stole a cop car to attempt to drift it to try to impress a guy and got arrested - with current world events, they gave her the option of prison or military. She chose military and went on to become a Major, and yes, at least one war crime was committed on her part. To further illustrate her brand of violence even from back then, there was one scene after she had just lost one of her men where she stepped on ground soldiers with her mobile suit, smearing a few of them.

🌙 The pilot thing always carries over in some way shape or form. If it's not a mobile suit or an aircraft, it will be a black Jeep or a black horse. In One Piece, she will come to find she adores sailing ships.

🌙 Another really big thing that will always carry over across the board is at some point, she will lose her hair. In Berserk, she willingly cuts it off out of grief. In Gundam, her hair is already short for the main story, and you get the event in a backstory OVA. For One Piece, I know exactly when it happens. Which, across the board, it is devastating because of how special hair seems to be for her.

🌙 Also for appearance, her weight can tend to slightly fluctuate as well. In the main story for Gundam, her stomach has a bit of softness. During WS, she's very toned, bathes often. Post-WS she's still fit, but her stomach is softer, she doesn't bathe as often (maybe every 3 days). Some TMI, she's not a dancer anymore, so she doesn't have to keep everything clean-shaven down there, and she doesn't. In WS, her scent was like a sweet spicey vanilla amber on her skin and flowery/fruity for her hair. After WS, she just smells like sea salt and her captain. Even though she has a pretty bad scar between her shoulder blades (that's new for her) she will probably get the moon phase tattoo down her back that she had in Gundam.

🌙 Aside from appearance, there are plenty of core story elements that have always and forever carried over and translated to the worlds, but I think that's all I'm willing to give for now while I'm actually posting Wandering Star.

🌙 For some more character development info: If you've been following me, you've probably seen me mention a handful of times I've had Carmen since kindergarten. My first memory of her is on the playground and she was a VeggieTales OC at the time (can you believe???) But her first full, actual insertion was Sonic the Hedgehog when I was in second grade. Fun fact: her eyes are still purple to this day because of her Sonic insert.

🌙 On that note, while she's gone through many changes and developments over the past couple of decades, you will see plenty other artifacts still shining through from her inspos. Esmeralda from Hunchback of Notre Dame was one to the point where it permanently affected part of her style (fully, depending on the world. But I love her One Piece insert because it somehow let her two distinct styles come together and kinda fuse).

🌙 If you've read episode 2 of Wandering Star, her meeting everyone was based off Esmeralda's dance, and even her family house words "Let Justice Be Done" spill over from that character. And those house words have been used in multiple inserts. Though I will say, over the years I've noticed she's developed her own darker sense of justice. Oh, also the Thane family crest carried over from Berserk (it's just Skull Knight's sigil - don't tell anyone).

🌙 Another huge impact for developing her to who she is today was Lara Croft (I was just...so into Lara Croft as a child...all the Tomb Raider games...man) - that whole 'tough girl' thing has stuck, but more importantly, it was the beginning of her dual wielding that was solidified with her Attack on Titan insert. Between the two, I've had her current fighting style for a while and was delighted when I saw how similar it was to Killer's own fighting style. Fun fact: when I make her in video games, I play as her - go for the choices she would make, the armor she would wear, the weapons she would use. In my thousand plus hours of Monster Hunter World/Iceborne and Rise/Sunbreak, I have only touched dual blades for serious gameplay.

🌙 Beyond dual-wielding, duality is a major character element of her I have picked up on over the years - how she's incredibly cold-blooded and brutal with enemies, but how she has such a sweet and devoted loyalty and a gentle heart for those she loves. I noticed duality even manifested itself with her power use in the world of One Piece, even as far as the attack names themselves in the form of a big scary word and a really pretty word (i.e. Eschaton Aurora). That's how it goes for all of her attacks, except one that isn't an attack - it's the softer, loving side of her power use and it's called Honeymoon, though it's never really said. So, there ya go.

🌙 Even further, she always has twins - Rae and Ciri (Raemond and Cirilla). BUT! Interestingly enough, if (and that's a really big IF) she reproduces in the world of One Piece, it'll just be a boy instead of the twins that's she's been having for over two decades. Which...i can't figure out why...But! I do have a name chosen for him! However, I came into this planning to kill her off before she reproduces - it was a rule when I gave in to her insertion. Think I'll just let things play out like I always do.

Anyway...that's enough for now. If you made it this far...wow. All I can say is I hope you like her! I realize she won't be for everyone, but that's okay! Her and her stories keep me going.

[bnhaobservation]

BNHA Observations, speculations and assorted info: The facts taking place during BNHA second year: July

So, in order to write my fic, I spend much time observing canon scenes, comparing the manga and the anime version, take note of details, translations and info in them as well as finding out how are some things called.

Since what I noticed/speculated/found out can be of use for other fic authors I thought to share as well.

OBSERVATIONS, SPECULATIONS AND ASSORTED INFO:

You might notice a special focus on the Todoroki family as all their birthdays and statuses are listed. That’s because this timeline was originally meant to focus solely on them and then I included info about the other characters.

LEGENDA:

BNHA: “Boku no Hero Academia” manga.

MOVIE 1: “Boku no Hero Academia The Movie ～Futari no HERO～” [僕 (ぼく) のヒーローアカデミア THE (ザ) MOVIE (ムービー) ～２人 (ふたり) の英雄 (ヒーロー) ～ My Hero Academia: Two Heroes]

SB: “Boku no Hero Academia: U.A. Hakusho (僕のヒーローアカデミア 雄英白書 Lit: “My Hero Academia: U.A. White Paper”)” called in English “My Hero Academia: School Briefs”

TIMELINE (JULY)

JULY 1: Todoroki Natsuo turns 19.

FIRST WEEK OF JULY (A WEEK AFTER THE STUDENTS DECIDED TO ORGANIZE THEMSELVES IN STUDY GROUPS - LIKELY MONDAY): Written part of the FIRST TERM FINAL EXAMS. [BNHA Chap 60. In Japan, during them, no regular classes are held so the same likely applies here too. Usually Japanese students are tested in English, math, Japanese, science, and social studies, plus health and physical fitness, home economics, music, and art. Also they usually last three days. If the same applies here this would mean they started on Monday and the practical was on Thursday. ]

FIRST WEEK OF JULY (LIKELY THURSDAY): Practical exam. Todoroki Shōto manages to pass it working in team with Yaoyorozu Momo. Todoroki Tōya, under the name of Dabi, along with Toga Himiko, joins the League of Villains. [BNHA Chap 60-68. The time is unclear here as the scene with the League of Villains might have happened the day after or even two days after as Shigaraki Tomura will meet Midoriya on Saturday... though it's also possible Shigaraki wandered for two days before meeting him.]

Pairing up in the practical exam are as follow:

Todoroki Shōto & Yaoyorozu Momo vs Aizawa Shōta/Eraser Head= WIN capturing Midoriya Izuku & Bakugō Katsuki vs Yagi Toshinori/All Might= WIN escaping Kaminari Denki & Ashido Mina vs Nezu= LOSES Uraraka Ochako & Aoyama Yūga vs Kurose Anan/Thirteen= WIN capturing Jirō Kyōka & Kōda Kōji vs Yamada Hizashi/Present Mic= WIN escaping Tokoyami Fumikage & Asui Tsuyu vs Ectoplasm WIN capturing Mineta Minoru & Sero Hanta vs Kayama Nemuri/Midnight= WIN escaping Shōji Mezō & Hagakure Tōru vs Snipe= WIN* Kirishima Eijirō & Satō Rikidō vs Ishiyama Ken/Cementos= LOSES Ojiro Mashirao & Īda Ten'ya vs Maijima Higari/Power Loader= WIN escaping

* In the manga it seems they won by escaping since they are outside the gate, though it's not really clear, in the anime they won by capturing

FIRST WEEK OF JULY (LIKELY FRIDAY): Eraser Head informs them they all will go to the Summer camp even if they failed the exam. [BNHA Chap 68. The scene with the League of Villains might have happened this day as well]

FIRST WEEK OF JULY, LIKELY SATURDAY (THE DAY AFTER): Todoroki Shōto goes to visit Todoroki Rei as he always does in his days off. The rest of class A minus Bakugō goes at the Kiyashi Ward Shopping Mall (木椰区ショッピングモール Kiyashi-ku Shopping Mall) to buy things for the summer camp. Midoriya and Shigaraki Tomura meet. [BNHA Chap 68-70, SB 2]

FOREST TRAINING CAMP ARC

SECOND WEEK OF JULY, MONDAY: Eraser Head tells the students they cancelled their usual accommodations and won’t reveal their destination until the day they depart. Shinsō Hitoshi starts being trained by him. [BNHA Chap 70]

THIRD WEEK OF JULY, AROUND THURSDAY: Tamakawa Sansa learns that someone saw Dabi entering in a building that didn’t have any tenants, the building being Shigaraki Tomura’s hideout. [BNHA Chap 83 It was two weeks before the summer camp attack]

TWO HEROES ARC

JULY, AROUND THE 20TH, POSSIBLY ON SATURDAY: Summer Break. Midoriya and All Might go to I-Island for the I-expo and meet Melissa Shield and her father, David Shield. Uraraka, Yaoyorozu and Jirō, who're there because Yaoyorozu's father received an invitation due to him holding some of I-expo sponsors' stocks and had two extra invites for her friends, meet Midoriya and they all end up at the place where Kaminari and Mineta are working. Īda, who received an invitation to go there due to his family being one of Heroes, meets with them as well. We're told the other girls from class A are also on the island but not with them. They then meet Kirishima who's there with Bakugō who got invited because he won the sport festival and allowed to bring a friend along, and Todoroki Shōto, who was there in place of his father, Endeavor. They all go at the party when Wolfram's group attack it. [MOVIE 1 The movie is clearly placed before the Summer training camp. Summer break in Japan starts around the 2th of August]

JULY (THE DAY AFTER), POSSIBLY SUNDAY: By dawn Wolfram's group is defeated. The Academy's exibit opens to the public. Some of class A kids will go to the pavillon where the academy's exibit is or so they planned. David Shield, from his hospital bed, talks to his daughter. [MOVIE 1]

TO BE CONTINUED…

[withered-rose-unbreakable-lotus]

About Show's voice

Honestly it's a good thing I go to Jrock one only for news, otherwise I'd be arguing every damn day. I go back to comments on A9's and Kiryu's hiatus in case sb heard sth more, cause some of those fans do live in Japan, but when I see stupidity I can't deal.

I saw people claiming that Show isn't a good vocalist, that that takes from their songs lately and that there was more passion in older songs etc etc. Let's talk music shall we? When you don't like a singer doesn't make them bad. It makes them not YOUR taste.

When A9 started their career Show's singing style wasn't "correct". There was more to his voice that couldn't be heard, cause of the way he was breathing while singing (many jrockers sing "with the nose" as you might have noticed or run out of breath easily and it takes practice to learn to sing while holding breath in the stomach and not the chest). However, at that time was also when Show's voice depth was showing better. Songs like Velvet are proof of that. All that changed later on, though. By the time songs like Gemini, Hana etc came to life, you could hear his voice was coming out smoother, it had highs and lows, nice turns etc.. PSC gave them a chance to a vocal instructor which believe it or not, not many companies in the vkei scene were willing to pay for. As long as the dudes were hot and were bringing people in, the companies didn't bother. Hell most bands never had a manager, it was usually the leader that took up all that work, while also perhaps composing or writing lyrics and designing, learning only through experience and asking around.

In recent years Show's voice seems to have changed again but in a different way (the flatness that comment I speak of, mentioned). After they left PSC, things remained the same for a few years but then it came. I notice the same change in Ryoga's voice (Razor, ex. BORN). Ryoga is one of the few vocalists that brings up what is going on in the scene regarding vocals and has been open about his troubles with his voice the last few years. Screaming fucks a voice up unless done right. Ruki's (the Gazette) screams seem to be less painful because he changed his technique. Still harmful but not as much as Ryoga's. Ryoga is one of those who goes to extremes though and has said that he will keep screaming until his voice dies. He needs a better instructor though and lots of resting cause he also deals with the second big voice killer in their scene and which applies to Show more too, since he doesn't scream much, the repeated lives. Vkei artists play way too many shows around the year, and not with breaks in between. They could be performing one afternoon, then run straight to a hotel, get their things, move to the next one and have only a few hours of sleep until the next show (I know every band in the world does that but to the extent they do it, there, is a bit too much. Also that + lacking guidance on how to deal with your voice shows us why so many vkei vocalists had to deal with vocal issues and losing their voice completely). Show has been doing that way too much, since he also belongs to a band that had many gigs and even though 2020 forced everyone sit their ass down and take a break, it already had done its damage.

It's not just a matter of passion to keep your voice healthy and tension up. Unlike other instruments like strings, drums etc, the voice is more delicate and even the things you consume can fuck it up. A guitarist won't lose his ability to play guitar if he smokes. A vocalist who smokes though will affect his breathing and vocal tone. If you want proof of why Show's voice could be sounding like that now, you can try singing one of their difficult songs. Try Gemini. The breathing in this song is crazy to me. If you like singing and know your breathing, try singing that song. Keep the highs high, no falsettos. If you aren't exhausted after that, either your diaphragm is a badass, or you do have better technique (most vocalists who've been doing this professionally can probably pull it off easily but it still is tiring). Imagine this song sang every day among other songs, for more than 1 year, shows that last 2 hours.

Show is a good vocalist, his voice simply isn't for everyone (no vocalist will ever be for everyone) and especially now that it's in a "weaker" state than what most people are probably used to.

[fireemblems24]

I have the rest of the game in my queue, so don't feel pressured to get to them all. It'll take a while for me to write everyone back anyways. But, yes! Blue Lions reactions are the ones I look the more forward too.

The Claude mistrust continues through most of AG. And #deserved.

I was living for all the little stories about Rodrigue and co growing up. I'm so happy Hopes added more about that.

Yuri looking at Dimitri and wishing M!Preg was real. That support chain is actually really cool. And, minor spoilers I guess, but Yuri's like "I'm only here because you're side is winning" in GW and SB, and in AG he's like "Dimitri, I protect you and fight for you because your plan will make my dreams come true." IDK, man, there's something so satisfying about seeing a commoner only believing in Dimitri, the only one who doesn't claim he knows what's best for them, and coming close to openly disliking the two who think they know better than everyone else.

Sylvain was a bit put out by that from Dedue, lamo.

RIP Annette/Felix. Someone who wrote this had a gay!Felix agenda lol. Esp the Dimilix because it exists outside their supports too. (I don't see why Felix just can't sleep with all of them and the Blue Lions just have a giant open relationship lol)

I'm glad they at least threw a few crumbs for the CoS. It's so funny how Dimitri (at least pre-Hopes, post Hopes I don't see this as much) was "the dumb one," but he is the only leader with a nuanced take on the church (Claude really just sounds like an utter moron and Edelgard you can never tell if she's actually believing the crap she's spewing bc she'll also say "I'm using this as an excuse")

How they picked and choose which ships got fed and which didn't is weird. Maybe Mercidue or Annette/Felix aren't popular in Japan?

I loved how Hopes did more supports about Annette's goofy songs.

Yuri's final support with Seteth goes more into the crest stuff and his backstory. It's inspiring me to replay 3H and get Wolves supports. But I'm DYING to do a Byleth + Dimitri only playthrough, which would make support unlocking harder so . . .

I really love the conflict with Sreng because no one is right or wrong. It's two people fighting over a resource that's vital to survive, but in limited supply in the region. It's interesting because there's no easy answer.

This route handled Edelgard starting the war much better than Houses. It makes sense for Dimitri's character to feel guilty and would seem hella OOC if he didn't bring that up, but bc of how other things are written, it sometimes comes across like Dimitri should get blamed for the war because he didn't hand over to Edelgard everything she wanted for no reason other than she wants it. So having Shez say that balances it, lets' Dimitri stay in character, but keeping it from being so borderline victim blaming.

I know it's Rodrigue who dies if you don't recruit Byleth. I know there's some cool cut scene too (and something between Felix and Dimitri?). If I ever replay, I'll just have two save files and only move on in the one where he lives lol.

I always hated how the fandom got angry at Rodrigue for trying to treat Dimitri well just because Felix was suffering too. The best thing about Hopes' existence is how the fandom turned around about Rodrigue.

Azure Gleam Ch 11

Spoilers below for AG Ch 11.

STORY

RODRIGUE is back. You have no idea how happy I am that he got more screen time (and is now playable!)

Ashe's not happy that some nobles kept their titles after turning coat, but they can't afford the chaos changing things would create right now, but they plan to in the future.

I am living for the Big Dad energy Rodrigue always has.

Do we get to kill Caspar's Dad? Please let me kill Caspar's dad.

Felix asking the right questions - asking if they can trust Claude. Annette doesn't trust Claude. Ingrid neither, but doesn't think he's as bad as Annette and Felix.

Gustave and the Knights of Serios are keeping the Alliance in check.

Once again, people asking if Dimitri can kill his step-sister. But Dimitri's like, guys, I killed Rufus. I can handle it.

Ohh, a letter from Patricia? If it doesn't have new info, why bring it up? Something disturbing. Confirmation she was always bad.

Yep, she helped plot Duscur. I mean, we all guessed she was an awful human being, so now we know.

Like, I don't blame Patricia for missing Edelgard or whatever, but setting your child step-son to get butchered alongside tons of other innocent people is straight-up evil.

Dimitri's worried about Shez, and she's opening up to him. It's pretty sweet. It's also so sweet how much they trust Shez even if she doesn't trust herself.

Honestly, Dimitri and Shez are so cute, as friends or more, it doesn't matter, they have a great relationship.

Shez would rather die than kill her friends 😭 We won't let that happen (it better not happen)

MAP/SIDE BATTLES

Seteth said he trusts me 😭😭😭

Rodrigue got to say two things this time, which means he made up for lost time last chapter.

Ok guys, Shamir just went up in my books. She said as a mercenary she'll get hired to kill anyone, but prefers killing bad guys, like the Empire. I love it. She hasn't said anything like this in GW or SB.

SHEZ & RODRIGUE B

LAMO, omg, I love Shez.

So it starts with Rodrigue taking Shez very seriously as Shez talks about how the war may be over by next winter because she . . . wants to have a snowball fight, like all the Kingdom kids got to do.

It's actually kind of sweet, seeing Shez want to just play and have fun with the Blue Lions.

Rodrigue, of course, love the idea.

And takes snowball fighting too seriously, talking strategy. Of a snowball fight. OMG I love this. I love him.

He'd do full-out battle with Lambert and go with kids.

Rodrigue lost, lamo.

So Lambert would rush into battle alone, and Shez thinks like father like son with Dimitri.

I also love how Rodrigue thinks Gautier is cowardly for laying and ambush for Lambert, but is totally fine with his own sneaking and waiting to strike.

It ended with them getting cussed out by Ingrid's dad for not taking the mountain seriously.

Shez can invite Rodrigue to join in.

Oh, man, I wish I got to see this fight. I can only imagine Felix when he realizes Rodrigue is involved and thinking it's dumb for taking it seriously, then taking it seriously. Ingrid being an absolute tyrant ordering people to follow her strategies. Dimitri scared he'll knock someone's teeth out. Mercedes being absolutely savage. And so on...

DIMITRI & YURI C

Excited for this.

Yuri's told a "funny knight" who's really strong is helping everyone out who sometimes sounds sheltered and obtuse and sometimes not. Yep. It's Dimitri.

Yuri's not happy seeing Dimitri in dangerous allies. Worried about him. But Dimitri wants to learn how the commoners live so he can help them rule better.

OMG, Yuri's like "you don't have an heir," worried about the civil war that will happen if Dimitri dies.

Yuri is determined for Dimitri to live a long and happy life because the people of Faerghus like Dimitri and Yuri likes the commonfolk of Faerghus.

Also love how Yuri points out that if war breaks out, nobles will die, but commoners get slaughtered. Wish he'd tell Edelgard that.

Haha, he says to bring Dedue at least.

OMG, I love Dimitri. He then just asks Yuri to be his bodyguard.

And Dimitri won't ask Dedue because he knows Dedue will just forbid Dimitri from coming, like a nanny, lol.

Yuri's entertained that Dimitri asked him to be a bodyguard.

SYLVAIN & DEDUE B

Dedue is impressed with Sylvain for interacting with a woman like a normal person lamo.

"Don't expect praise for merely doing your job." I love Dedue. That's savage af.

Sylvain was motivated to mature by Felix and Dimitri. He said they're both like brothers, which is why he wouldn't get left behind. I love this group.

Oof, Dedue "had" a sister. And now we're getting to learn about her. 😭 She liked flower crowns and was determined when she set her mind to it.

Dedue wants Sylvain to visit Duscur after the war, to visit her grave together 😭

SYLVAIN & FELIX A

Felix got into a fight with soldiers . . . . because they were making fun of Sylvain.

Felix called it the "worst decision in his life." Of course. Felix being Felix.

Felix didn't tell Sylvain because he was worried about Sylvain hearing the details about what people said about him.

I love the idea of Felix getting into a fist-fight with people insulting Sylvain lamo.

Sylvain thinks he deserves his bad reputation because of who he used to be. Felix challenged why Sylvain didn't change sooner. Sylvain has no defense lol.

Felix is ok with people making fun of Sylvain, but only certain people lamo.

Felix is blushing after saying something nice lol. Now he's pissed at Sylvain. And insulting him. Very typical Felix.

Sylvain says he's 7% more cunning than Felix lamo.

This one did go more into ship bait. I was surprised how un-shippy their C was, but I'm sure Sylvix fans loved this one.

DIMITRI & MERCEDES A

They're traveling to a village together. It's the one Mercedes used to live in. Dimitri likes how calm it is.

Mercie called Dimitri her friend 😭😭

Dimitri claims he's a king's knight lol. He catches himself. Also village woman finds Dimitri handsome. She has taste.

Mercedes and Dimitri talk about how open minded the church is and give credit to the overall teachings (lamo, eat shit, Claude)

Mercedes is grateful to Dimitri to taking in the Central Church because it helped the village out. It's why she brought him there, so he could see the good that comes from protecting the church.

Mercedes plans to show him around the town and introduce Dimitri to her mother and the priest.

Dimitri's nervous lol. Hahaha, Mercie says she'll tell him he's someone "very important" which flusters him lamo.

She made him laugh and smile.

This support was adorable. (and feels like it couldn't possibly be the same writers as SB and GW lamo)

MERCEDES & DEDUE B

Sad they only get one support. Their Houses one was amazing.

Mercedes is teaching cooking. The little girl gets scared of Dedue when he arrives to fetch Mercie.

Poor Dedue frightens children and animals :(

Mercie says lots of the kids are orphans, so they're scared, and that Dedue looks intimidating. She has a plan to make him not look as scary.

I KNEW IT! He's handing out flower crowns. I was going to say it was something with flowers.

Now all the kids love Dedue. Good. He's the sweetest man in Fodlan.

Dedue teaches them how to make the crowns.

Dedue is happy with Mercedes, but Mercie says it was Dedue's kindness who won them over. Of course they both give each other credit.

They both have such strong mom and dad energy.

SHEZ & ANNETTE A

Annette's up late working on music lol. Shez thinks the notes look like bugs lol.

Annette won't sing it though :( Her songs are legendary.

She wants a song that makes people feel happy when they sing it. Very Annette.

She heard the song Shez passed around getting sung by a dying mercenary, who died happy though because they appreciated the song. It made Annette appreciate the song more.

She is such a sweetie.

It's sweet to have a whole support revolve around Annette realizing her songs make people happy and help people. She'd love that.

OMG, I love Annette. Her new song is about a feast, then they go to get more ingredients, and then get into a death battle with a bear. Truly a child of Faerghus.

RAPHAEL & FELIX C

Raphael is drooling over Felix's food, so he gives it to Raphael, and Felix offers to go buy more.

Felix thinks he hears thunder, but it's just Raphael's stomach.

Felix is being nice, lol, insisting Raphael eat some of his food.

But now he's annoyed that Raphael called him a "meat buddy" or a bit. Felix likes the idea of hunting that Raphael suggested.

Raphael is so nice not even Felix can manage to get mad at him.

SYLVAIN & IGNATZ C

Sylvain feels bad because he interrupted Ignatz painting. He wanted Ignatz to look at a painting he brought home.

Sylvain knows painting styles (he knows it's not a common Faerghus style). But ofc Sylvain is interested in how pretty the woman in the painting is lamo.

He's curious about the woman's identity, but it doesn't seem in a fuck boy way, but a curiosity over a favorite piece of art way.

That Sylvain is into art just made him even cooler.

Religious art often has their symbols in the art (and Flayn's is fish lamo, good).

As a major art fan, I love this support adding little tid bits about Fodlan art.

Lamo, Sylvain studied art to impress ladies at first, but now he actually likes it.

SETETH & YURI C

Yuri chatted with a scholar, wanting to learn about the 10 elites because he didn't get a good education.

It's a support to explain how crests came to be and their powers

Yuri trusts Seteth with his crest secrets (partly because he knows Seteth already knows, and partly bc Yuri has taste)

Seteth encourages Yuri to cherish his crest and the power it brings

So is Yuri the son of an elite or something?

FLAYN & SHEZ B

Flayn thinks Shez looks good because she's dirty and that suites her lol. I love Flayn.

Flayn is wearing perfume. Seteth probably doesn't know lamo.

Flayn talks about how perfumes coming in trend shows that even in dark times, it's not all consuming. Very Flayn of her.

We're going trend shopping. She doesn't get to shop often.

Flayn is straight-up making shit up, lamo. She invented that Shez wanted to shop to raise Shez's spirits, not hers.

It's this more -uh - questionable side of Flayn that keeps her from being a one-note, overly sweet character. I love it.

CATHERINE & SHEZ C

Count Charon asks Catherine for more soldiers, but only Dimitri or Rhea could give that order.

Shez didn't know Catherine's family. She stays vague about it when Shez asks about her past.

Catherine, unsurprisingly, says she'd fight for Rhea if had to choose between her or her family.

Catherine asks why Shez is here. Oh, I can pick too - for friends, money, or to fight Byleth. Def picking friends. I think that suits AG Shez best.

Catherine looks happy with that answer.

Oh, I like that, live in a way that makes your past self proud.

ASHE & FELIX B

Their only support.

Oh, Felix is confronting Ashe about how he's a knight working for Dimitri. Should've known it would be about this.

Ashe defends Felix when he calls Dimitri a boar and tiresome lol.

Ashe says Dimitri does his job for him, omg, Dimitri, stop (but that's he's getting better).

Felix is like - you have to steal your job back from him!!! Use force if you have too - I love this, lamo

Dimitri promoted a lot of commoners to be knights, and there were some minor misunderstandings at first, but now no one cares

Felix asks Ashe if he's a noble or commoner, and Ashe is like kinda both actually, which is true

Awww, Dedue comes to Ashe's aids when he needs it (and Dimitri, but Ashe mentioned Dedue too)

And now Ashe is singing Dedue's praises, and ofc Felix insults Dedue, saying that blind loyalty will get him killed

And omg hahaha, Ashe is like that's sweet Felix, that you care about us, I always knew

I love how almost no one takes Felix's tsun seriously. They're all like "aww, look, he's chewing my old slipper!" energy

Ashe putting Felix in his place round 2, I love this. Ashe and Felix is always gold

Felix is like, it's just because more work for me if something happens to you!

Then he's finally nice, telling Ashe he does a good job

ANNETTE & SYLVAIN B

Their only support

This time it's Sylvain who catches Annette singing. Annette seems relieved rather than embarrassed.

Sylvain thinks her song is creepy (covers that, saying creative) and that only Annette could make it (affectionate - maybe)

Why is Annette always singing about swamp beasties?

Sylvain wants a song about something cute instead, so Annette naturally jumps to huge bears lamo

We need an Annette Bernedetta support about finding creepy stuff cute

Annette doesn't seem upset with criticism

Also, this is the second time Sylvain talks to Annette like a person and doesn't really flirt with her, more like siblings vibes it's cute

Annette's next song is even creepier lamo But Sylvain likes it anyways

DIMITRI/RODRIGUE/SYLVAIN PARALOGUE

This one is easy since all 3 are leveled up. I want to do other ones, but I may wait to save some cash lol.

They're up north, so Sreng? Yep.

So they're preparing for a Sreng raid.

So a hostage that grew up in Faerghus is now leading the raid. And Margrave Gautier treated him well even though he felt bitter about Sreng killing his wife. So Miklain's mother?

And now the Sreng hostage is using Fodlan knowledge against them.

Haha, Sylvain was going off about being lazy forgetting his dad was right there lol.

It's cool seeing papa Gautier and Rodrigue together.

The Sreng commander really came across like a dick. Rubbing in Miklain's death, not caring about all the men he got killed.

So did Claude do this in AG too? Incite Sreng? They guess Cornelia and someone from Adrestia too, which could be the case in AG.

Gautier takes credit for the fall. Sylvain got through to the guy apparently.

Dimitri's just happy they share a language now. He would know how important that is since he learned the language of Duscur.

I'm glad they fight over land. It's way more interesting and realistic than whatever the hell they did with Almyra.

Aww, Sylvain is dedicated to reaching peace with Sreng. Of course his dad is harder edged because they killed his wife.

Sylvain being so bent on peace and diplomacy just makes the people who claim he makes sense in CF make even less sense.

I had Shez believe in Sylvain, because AG!Shez is nice Shez.

Sylvain and Dimitri both hate resorting to violence and using warfare first. Both want to avoid it at all cost. I like the future of these two both being important in Faerghus.

Oh, cool, talk between Rodrigue and Matthais. I love the little stories we get of all of them. They were trouble makers lamo. They snuck out the night of the festivities.

Lambert wanted peace with Sreng and Duscur. Dimitri's half-way there, and he and Sylvain are working on the other half.

Gautier now agrees with Sylvain, Lambert, and Dimitri and a pathway to peace.

Aww, Rodrigue advised that he apologize to Sylvain, and he's going too.

Oh, I got the lance of ruin! Cool. Sylvain has his weapon now.

FINAL BATTLE

Not Dimitri being more understanding of the Empire nobles who''ll follow any leader that promises them more land than Edelgard does him and the other Blue Lions

He's thinking from the other's perspective, how it looks to them, not what it actually is - Claude and Edelgard could never

Shez is like, no need to feel guilty, hell yes

Felix is worried about Dimitri, in his very Felix way, meanwhile Dedue is like "we trust you"

I love so much that the importance of his friends' support is stressed so much more in AG.

Oh, I get Constance and Linhardt this battle. Cool.

Felix got lectured by Rodrigue lamo, he wanted to break ranks to chase after Monica

Lamo, Manuela's defeat quote is that she won't die single. Ngl, glad she just retreated.

It's really something that the Blue Lions show way more sympathy towards their enemy than the other routes do. They're the only ones that feel guilty for "invading." When the others are invading.

Glad they're bringing up that if they don't do this, Adrestia will not stop until Faerghus is destroyed.

Rodrigue has such a nice voice.

Felix got angry with Rodrigue when he said all the blame for invading will fall on Dimitri, but then Rodrigue said it's up to Felix to support him through it. This really is Dimilix the route, lamo.

Felix is like, duh.

Why is Shez talking to Rodrigue while it's late. I'm getting flashbacks. He died last time this happened.

They're both worried about Dimitri. And it's cannon that Dimitri falls asleep at his desk. Sooo much fanart of that lol.

Apparently Lambert did the same. Like father, like son.

Lambert had a shorter temper than Dimitri, but are very similar. Unlike Rodrigue and Felix. I get to disagree with Rodrigue there, so I will. Because I think they're more alike than they both think.

Ok guys, we finally got it. Why Felix is miserable outside of AM. He can't live without a great purpose pushing him forward. And in SS, VW, and CF he finds no great purpose, unlike in AM where working with Dimitri towards his version of the future does work.

When Lambert died, Rodrigue struggled to find another reason for being. So he devoted himself to his promise to Lambert, to make sure he sets his won back on his proper path is he loses his way.

Shez feels like Dimitri's been helping her, but she's helping Dimitri too. Like what Rodrigue is doing.

Rodrigue says he's only Dimitri's retainer, that's so false. But he says Shez is in a unique spot since she's a friend first, then he's her leader. Which makes me happy.

More teasing about Shez's origins.

Rodrigue says though that Shez's background or powers aren't what's important, it's about who Shez is as a person. I love so much how the Blue Lions keep repeating this idea, that it's not Byleth's or Shez's power. It's their worth as a person that matters.

Arval just called Rodrigue a wonderful human being. Based.

xxxx

[es-beeohohem]

da fit fo today at akihabara

[selenestarmoon]

Monkey D. Luffy: The Solar King of One Piece

We all know that Luffy was always associated with the sun in some way and here I will explain this connection and how even this is present in mythology and alchemy:

Let's start with Luffy's birthplace Foosha Village ubicated in Dawn Island, East Blue. We know that dawn refers to the moment when the sun rises.

In the Skypia arc Shandia worships the Sun God. Skypieans and Shandia prayed for the Sun God to act, at the same time that Luffy punched Enel and rang the bell through the sky. And in this arc is where we are introduced to Joy Boy, known as the Sun God. At this moment we are shown that Luffy has a connection with Joy Boy and to make it more evident they show us the silhouettes of both that are practically the same. Considering the later revelation that the fruit Luffy consumed is the same one that Joy Boy AKA the Sun God Nika consumed 800 years ago makes it seem like Luffy, the true "deity" defeated Enel, a false deity, as a result of the skypieans and Shandia prayers to the Sun God in general.

Then in the Water 7 arc Going Merry is destroyed and Franky builds the new ship which is called Thousand Sunny.

Later in Fish-man Island arc we learn that the fishman dreams of one day living in the sunlight (we found out later that Joy Boy made a promise to the mermaid princess and possibly living in the sunlight this is the promise). We also learn of Fisher Tiger, a former fishman slave who went to Mary Geoise to free the fishman enslaved there as well as free other slaves there including Boa Hancock and her sisters Sandersonia and Marigold. After his attack on Mary Geoise, Fisher Tiger, together with the fishman he freed, founded the Sun Pirates, 

a group of which Jinbe was part of and came to lead after Fisher Tiger's death , who later would be one of the Warlords of the Sea, while Arlong, another member, deserted after Jinbe became warlord and because his anger over Fisher Tiger's death, he with his original pirate crew goes to East Blue and terrorized Nami's village for years. The connection that the Sun Pirates have with Luffy is that Luffy confronts Arlong and defeats him, achieving the freedom of Nami and her village and as a result Nami joins his crew as a navigator and Jinbe saves his life several times and in the end of Whole Cake arc officially he joins Luffy's crew.

In Wano Country arc we find out that Luffy's fruit is not Gomu Gomu no mi but the Hito Hito no mi, model: Nika and that Joy Boy was the previous user of said fruit. And in this arc Luffy manages to awaken the fruit from him, defeats Kaido and brings a new dawn for Wano.

Now I will mention something that may seem insignificant to the point of going unnoticed and it's Luffy and the sunflowers. In an SBS Oda revealed that the flower representing Luffy is the sunflower, this is so true in Dressrosa arc Luffy wears a sunflower print t-shirt. 

This flower gets its name from its ability to follow the path of the sun as it turns in search of sunlight and also was used as the representation of the solar deity in many of the Amerindian cultures, mainly among the Aztecs in Mexico and even the sunflower features clearly in the shield designs of several prominent Mexican deities, including Huitzilopochtli, Tlaloc and Opochtli (god of hunting and fishing).

Another thing that seem irrelevant but that are also linked to mythology is the love that Luffy has for beetles.

It is known that collecting beetles is one of the main hobbies that children in Japan have, which highlights Luffy's childlike nature but his connection with beetles is also related to the sun as in ancient cultures these animals were considered sacred animals and in Ancient Egypt they were associated with the sun and principally with Khepri, one of the Egyptian sun gods who was the morning sun god who had the head of a scabbard beetle and morning sun is also known as a dawn

and Luffy loves beetles and in the manga its said that Luffy will bring the world to a new dawn.

Also, Gum-Gum Bajrang Gun, Luffy final attack on Kaido, is named after a Monkey deity from hinduism mythology, Bajrang Bali or Hanuman. Who, when he was a child, tried to eat the sun, mistaken it as fruit, making reference to Luffy, a character associated with monkeys and inspired by Sun Wukong, a character who was powerfully inspired by Hanuman and just as Hanuman tries eat the sun believing that it was a fruit, Lufy eats the Hito Hito no mi, model: Nika believing that it was a normal fruit and later believing that it was a paramecia type.

The connection that Luffy has with the sun is present even in alchemy, to understand this first let me talk about alchemy:

In alchemy there are two important figures that are known as Solar King and Moon Queen, which are two substances that, when united through the alchemical wedding, give rise to the philosophical child or the philosopher's stone, this is important because the final objective of alchemy is to create the philosopher's stone that transforms lead into gold and also creates an elixir of eternal life.

Therefore, they are often referred to as the "red man" and the "white woman", the "red stone" and the "white stone" as well. Essentially, the two principles are as follows:

Red: sun, fire and air, sulfur, active, golden, hot and dry, heart or soul, masculine.

White: moon, water and earth, mercury, passive, silver, cool and humid, mind or spirit, feminine.

Having explained this as Luffy has the characteristics of the Solar King.

To begin with, the Solar King and Luffy, in addition to being associated with the sun, are also related to royalty (Solar King is represented as a king and Luffy wants to be the Pirates King).

Sulfur has always been associated with yellow (one of the Solar King's colors)

and fire (confirmed by the triangle of the fire element present in its symbol),

and Luffy has strong associations with fire and yellow which are explained below.

Fire: Luffy has two brothers Ace and Sabo with whom he has a fairly close relationship. Ace was the previous user of the Mera Mera no mi and had fire powers and after his death Sabo eats the fruit and inherits Ace's powers.

Also in the Wano country arc, Luffy learns to use Ryou which makes his attacks appear to be on fire.

Air: believe it or not, Luffy is also related to air. Air is an element that is always associated with lightness and freedom. Luffy is from Foosha Village (basically mean Windmill Village), he's someone with a light and relaxed character and values freedom because his dream of being Pirate King is to be the freest man in the world, Luffy always frees individuals and islands from oppression and his fruit is a symbol of everyone's desire for freedom. Also his gear 4 and 5 forms have clouds and Luffy in his gear 5 form can fly.

Solar characters are active and Luffy is someone quite active, he seeks adventure and prefers action over words. Also the characters associated with the Solar King are related to the heart or soul, that is, they are governed by emotions and/or are empathetic, that is, they understand the emotions of others and Luffy is emotional, he only does things because he he wants to and incredibly Luffy is one of the characters with the highest emotional intelligence in One Piece (gets mad at Morgan for giving the marines a bad image because it hurts Coby's vision of them and his dream of being one, he puts his hat on Nami to comfort her and assure her that if he will help her, he protects Hiruluk's flag because he knows how important it's to Chopper, encourages Robin to express her true desire to live and orders Usopp AKA Sogeking to burn the World Government flag to show her that his support for her is honest, covers Katakuri's face with his hat black as a show of respect and because he knows how sensitive Katakuri is about his mouth, etc.).

The Solar King's colors are red and gold (or yellow) and Luffy is seen wearing these colors most of the time.

The Solar King represents the masculine so most of the characters associated with it are male and Luffy is male.

It would be quite interesting if Luffy began to share some characteristics with the figure of Moon Queen (Luffy also has associations with blue and white, he has associations with earth growing up in a place with abundant plants and with water wanting to be a pirate and navigate, his gear 5 transformation does it on a full moon) which, together with the characteristics of Solar King that he already has, could turn him into the philosophical child or simply he would help to symbolically form the philosophical child with another character, well, let's remember that the two main functions of the philosopher's stone are transforms lead into gold and also creates an elixir of eternal life and with Luffy these two functions can be related in this way: Luffy improves the lives of the people he meets and even frees individuals and even whole countries (creates an elixir of eternal life) and he inspires them to be the best versions of themselves (transforms lead into gold).

I don't know if it was intentional on Oda's part but finding these features was quite interesting for me.

[246sn]

mc enemiez! ( ✶ ) bonus chapter : manifestations // don’t forget to read the written chapter below! // word count : 845

⸝⸝ SYNOPSIS ‎𐪆 despite jungwon being a #humble leader, he was kinda salty about the fact that his almighty title of the “youngest leader in k-pop” has been taken by blackpink’s brand new juniors. the world goes against jungwon’s wishes in staying as far away from her as possible when they both end up being the new mcs for ‘the show’. ₊˚✸ ༘

“manifesting you win today.” you tell jungwon while he gives you one last big hug before going on stage.

“let’s hope we do.”

“if it makes you feel better, jiyeon bought six sets of your albums to make sure you won.”

“you know, that does sort of make me feel a little better.”

more of the story is below!

you two share one final laugh together before the lights turn on and the cameras are facing towards you both.

“action!”

“action!”

“airing on sbs mtv, japan’s tbs”

“mtv asia, mtv russia, mtv hits france, it’s the show!”

“it’s time to announce the show choice.”

“please reveal the results for the 3rd week of january 2022.”

you watched the monitor as the screen changed from you and jungwon to the results of each nominee.

jungwon inched closer to you while secretly reaching out for your hand to hold.

you probably thought he was nervous so you took the initiative to hold his hand. it was blessed-cursed’s first music show nomination anyways.

“digital, physical sales and streaming”

“video streaming, expert scoring, and early voting”

“and live voting, the winner of the show choice is…”

you and jungwon looked at each other with the same amount of shock on each of your faces right as the scores finished calculating.

“enhypen, congratulations!”

jungwon gave you a tight hug and waved goodbye before running towards the main stage where enhypen had already begun their encore.

you, alongside jiyeon who rushed from school to see enhypen win live, waited for them to finish their encore stage in their waiting room.

right as jungwon saw you, he took no time in pulling you in a tight hug.

“congrats! i knew you guys would win.” you say while you break the hug, only for him to hold your hands soon after.

“yeah?”

“yeah.”

right as jungwon was about to say something to you, he was immediately pulled away from sunghoon after that, saying they needed to film and take some pictures.

“i’ll just tell you later.” he mouthed, which made you let out a small laugh while nodding.

you watched jiyeon play minecraft on her ipad while patiently waiting for jungwon to finish taking pictures.

he must be taking a lot of pictures since you noticed sunghoon had already returned.

“you look bored.” he started as he sat down next to you.

“yeah, i think we still have to take pictures for the show’s twitter account so we’re just waiting on wonie.”

“oh, yeah. won likes taking lots of pictures.”

you smiled while recalling the day before where he wouldn’t stop taking pictures of either himself, you, or the view.

“yeah, i think i’ve noticed that.”

“so, y/n i-”

“y/n! let’s go?” you hear jungwon, who was standing by the door with his arm stretched out; ready to hold your hand, cut whatever sunghoon was saying off.

“i’m so sorry, sunghoon sunbae. let’s talk more later?” you stood up, looking at sunghoon who was just staring at his hands.

“great timing.”

“i’m sorry, i couldn’t hear you. what did you say?”

“oh, i said sure.”

“alright, talk to you later!”

you ran towards jungwon, immediately holding his hand when it was just at reach.

much to jungwon’s dismay, you let go of his hand right as you both arrived at the photo taking spot.

this was the second picture you two would be taking in front of this specific wall but you’d like to consider this the first since the actual first photo you both took was so weird and awkward.

“what pose should we do?” jungwon whispered to you,

“huh?”

“pose.” he said again while doing the heart pose.

“oh, you wanna do that? okay!”

jungwon stopped you from doing the heart pose by pulling your arm away from the other and secretly holding your hand behind his back.

“no, i meant what pose should we do?”

“ah… was the heart not good enough?”

“we did that last time… and yesterday too.”

“uh well i have nothing in mind.”

“here.” jungwon let go of your hand before taking your other one to do the number one gesture and letting you poke his dimple while he did the same with your cheek.

even after taking all of the solo pictures and the duo pictures, you could not believe what just happened.

you stood next to a wall to make sure you blocked no one's way while waiting for jungwon to take his pictures.

you saw him walking up to the staff with the phone in hand, you were near enough to see jungwon showing the staff the cheek poking picture of the two of you but not near enough to hear jungwon whispering to the staff, “could you send this to me?”

jungwon wouldn’t stop talking about how you two should do that every week and how that was his most favorite pose of all time now.

safe to say, you totally did not talk to sunghoon again that day since you were too caught up on jungwon gushing over that one single picture.

〈 masterlist | next 〉

⸝⸝ NOTE ‎𐪆 i very much enjoy jungwon’s obsession with hand holding thank u 😁❤️✨

⸝⸝ TAGLIST ‎𐪆 [status : open for taglist 2 / italics can’t be tagged] @enhacolor @youngbloodslut @ceoyjw @lunaflvms @enhyped-up @yizhoutv @fairycheol @kissuzies @yvesismywife @ja4hyvn @wony6ung @vlykai @one16core @papiibuprofen @hiqhkey @bloodylovelymary @luvarots @missmadwoman @hoonstrology @mitsukifilms @soobin-chois @venusesroses @bearseulgs @jiwlys @jaywonlix @jungwonniecore @awkwardnesshabitat @xuanya @ultnishimura @yjwfav @shynypeacekitten @stealanity @wonfiles @renjunvrse @niocity @higamersitsbarney @jwlvr @maeumiluv @annoyingbitch83 @darrensos @odetoyeonjun @s35nbae @nrksrealgf @afiaaaa19 @moonchilddfics @myluckycat @c9tnoos @yogurteume @gguksblush @drunkwithfever @staysstrays @limiliib @penghoonz @acciomylove @soobsdior

[microlm]

“Fodlan’s insular culture” as proven by…Shamir being one of Rhea’s top officials, Petra and Dedue attending the academy, AG’s Sreng and Duscur paralogues, Adrestia and Leicester having warm water ports they use extensively for trade with outside nations? Almyra pillaging for funsies, Nader talking about looting Faerghus to bring home “souvenirs?” The Western Church (closest to Adrestia btw) hating the Central Church because they’re mad that Rhea isn’t racist? Hopes Claude is a selfish, opportunistic weathervane rewritten to make waifu emperor not look so bad in comparison, don’t insult our intelligence by trying to make excuses for the story butchering him and Almyra. Good luck trying to pin that as Byleth’s fault too when Byleth opposes waifu emperor on 3/4 routes in Houses and Claude not being swayed by them or Ms Emperor, and by the fact that not recruiting Byleth on SB has them persuading Claude of Edelgard’s bad intentions.

Rhea literally did nothing wrong, Claude is just a character the devs didn’t really give a shit about and wrote poorly in one game to save time and wrote poorly in another to deflect from their waifu character’s bad actions.

Some of this I'm going to just copy & paste what I've written elsewhere because...I already wrote it so might as well reuse it!

“Fodlan’s insular culture” as proven by…Shamir being one of Rhea’s top officials, Petra and Dedue attending the academy,

"Tokens and exceptions are not proper rebuttals to things that are stated to be systemic issues. Rhea the individual may hire foreigners, but Rhea the archbishop isn’t exactly attempting to improve things overall for all foreigners, because again, Lorenz directly cites the church as a reason why they should reject contact with foreigners. Claude directly sites the church as being the reason why official diplomatic channels were never established with foreign nations, and Dimitri does not disagree. Edelgard directly states that the Central Church was used to uphold colonization of Duscur and Sreng. And outside of Cyril or Shamir who are under Rhea’s employ, the only foreigners we see outside of the literal underground slums are people hiding their backgrounds, political prisoners, or people who were colonized by Faerghus."

AG’s Sreng and Duscur paralogues. Adrestia and Leicester having warm water ports they use extensively for trade with outside nations?

Sometimes insular policies still have trade at the ports, while limiting what is allowed in. See japan under the sakoku policy. It doesn't change the fact that apparently no official diplomatic channels exist. Also the existence of conflict and the taking of land while expelling/slaughtering it's original inhabitants isn't exactly something you want to use as a positive example of good international relations.

Almyra pillaging for funsies, Nader talking about looting Faerghus to bring home “souvenirs?”

Indeed, I have always had a problem with IS' onesided portrayal of Fodlan's conflicts with the outside. There's hints that there's something deeper and more nuance--like Sreng having it's southern half taken, both of Cyril's parents dying, Brigid being invaded by Adrestia first historically--but there is never enough focus on those perspectives. And 3Hopes' made it worse with regards to Almyra, and I can't say I'm too fond of some other choices they made regarding Sreng. But that's probably not what you're here to discuss.

The Western Church (closest to Adrestia btw) hating the Central Church because they’re mad that Rhea isn’t racist?

Yeah, the western church does suck! I hope Dimitri goes through with making a northern church in GW.

Hopes Claude is a selfish, opportunistic weathervane rewritten to make waifu emperor not look so bad in comparison, don’t insult our intelligence by trying to make excuses for the story butchering him and Almyra. Good luck trying to pin that as Byleth’s fault too when Byleth opposes waifu emperor on 3/4 routes in Houses and Claude not being swayed by them or Ms Emperor, and by the fact that not recruiting Byleth on SB has them persuading Claude of Edelgard’s bad intentions.

I think the story does him and Almyra wrong in a lot of ways, I just don't agree with where it does him wrong and where the emphasis of those critiques lie. I've never blamed Byleth for anything?? "Claude doesn’t look to Byleth to see whether or not he should attack Rhea, but Claude having Byleth as an ally means that he has a direct line to the new archbishop of the Central Church to change its current doctrines. In VW, he doesn’t mind joining with the weakened Central Church because Rhea has already been deposed, and the one who now heads the church agrees with his ideals. In CF, Rhea is still in power, so he doesn’t join with Faerghus.

However, Byleth choosing to attack Rhea doesn’t move him to attack Rhea because in the war, Rhea is only one side of the equation--the other side is Edelgard wanting to conquer the continent. Byleth’s decisions alone don’t move Claude, and that’s a misrepresentation of what Byleth being his ally actually means for Claude."

And I enjoyed Claude's betrayal in SB! In SB he didn't hold any cards because he was defeated in his initial attempt to hold ground, unlike GW. As a result, he is unable to solidify the Alliance as a united entity to push back against the Empire, losing both Ordelia and Gloucestor as Imperial vassals in the process. Lorenz even chooses to neglect his own responsibilities as an Alliance noble in favor of currying favor wit the Empire. Claude can't use Edelgard and freely manuever as much in SB. But there was never a sense that it was an entirely willing process, Claude even says it was under duress. That's why Byleth being a military trump card also against Edelgard gave him the push he needed to openly push back against her. That's kind of what Byleth tends to be: a card that can be used for his goals (and a friend but like let's not pretend he's not also using them). But also keep in mind, that he is also against the Kingdom and the Church in this betrayal scenario, so even there he is displaying that he is his own faction. He's neither fully allied with Dimitri or Edelgard or Rhea. His flexibility is my favorite quality of his.

[linhmiu201]

Press F to pay respect to our Vanderwood, he never ceases to amuse us. :) He's basically promoted as Seven's nanny now. Give him some spotlight please Cheritz. 🙏🙏

Finally, I read the Judge End. It's sad how the RFA basically torn apart (I did agree that there should be a name change but throwing away the name and breaking apart ain't the same thing... *insert sad V emoji*) And it's absurb how harsh you would need to act in order to unlock it. At least now I totally understand why it only took a few 'soft' choices to lead you to the other ending, and why Cheritz seems to push us into getting Forgive End. They feel the need to sink us with lessons about forgiveness and keep saying that's the right thing to do because of Korean culture, I suppose. Be warned, this is just my own speculation.

When I was in junior high school, a certain Korean TV series was aired at noon. It was unfortunate that I had to go to school every afternoon so I didn't get to watch all of it, but that series left such a big impression on me. Its name is Phantom, an SBS series about hacking and cyber crimes. I remember this detail the most: a girl was cyber bullied to the point that she committed suicide. At that time it was so unfamiliar to me that I remember it even now. If you guys read Chinese web novels then you'd know that the netizens there don't really care if news posted online is truthful or not. If it is said that this celebrity or that idol had an addiction, committed adultery,... then they'll just assume it's true, and swarm said celebrity's Weibo with hate speech. And do you know about a case where an actor in Japan was revealed to have a girlfriend, his fans felt so angry and 'betrayed' that they pressured a production he was starring in to cancel his role? In the end, he got removed from his role for real. Does this feel familiar? That's right, it's Zen's route in a nutshell right there, where Jaehee was so worried about MC and Zen dating, because she knew fans would turn hostile to Zen once they found out he had a girlfriend "who weren't themselves". I don't know what's it like in other countries, but here, in Asian countries, many of the netizens are just so... uncultured, if I dare say. It's not only these 3 countries, but probably all over the world, cases of cyber bullying are still happening. How convenient it is for people to just hide behind the screen and spit cruelty at others or play god. They curse and sneer at prople who they think that were in the wrong, while maintaining a high sense of moral for themselves.

With VAE, you can see such behaviors reflected in the 'wrong' choices, for example:

Rika: My thoughts are evil. No, it's all because of my head. This head of mine can think of nothing but dark things.

Rika: I wish this head of mine would stop working... So that I won't do anything. So that I can't do anything.

The players then have to choose from 2 options, including:

Maybe you've been too obsessed with saving others that you forgot how to save yourself.

Or:

You know, that'd be the way you can be the least of help for others.

To reach the Judge End, we need to choose the second choice (alongside a series of fixed choices before that of course). Honestly, that choice is way too cruel for me, we're basically telling her to shut down her brain and stop functioning here (which she did, she fell into a coma), but in order to reach Judge, I can't help but choosing it, since I knew even 1 'wrong' choice could possibly lead to Forgive and that sweet free talk would remain unlocked forevah. If judgement goes too far, it's no longer judgement but pure cruelty... is what I think Cheritz is trying to tell us here. They're telling us to be more understanding even only a little bit, and don't take malicious pleasure in judging other people, even if they are wrong, because you never know whether a life would be lost due to such malice. For me, sometimes it's hard to tell whether I was pleased to see Rika brought to jail since I felt bad for those she hurted, or because of pure pleasure in playing justice defender where you get to curse the bad person all you want. If it's the latter, then it's bad - said Cheritz, probably.

Oopsie, I nearly forgot I took this picture. The wording is harsh, but I laughed for that savage line of Jumin. xD This is the Judge End where RFA members were utterly disgusted by Rika and shooed her away from their lives. It was all fun and games I honestly think their reaction was understandable given how badly hurted they were when suddenly we were introduced to a "Rika's Circus"... How could something be both hilarious and cruel at the same time?? Seven being the narrator, Jaehee's and Yoosung's exaggeration, Zen talking in monotone, especially Jumin's high-pitched voice and Vanderwood's "why the hell am I here again?" confusion, they were so hilarious I couldn't stop chuckling. ......Sorry that I laughed, what's the password for Wi-Fi in hell?

Entertaining as it is, the "Rika's Circus" thing is still something Cheritz made to guilt trip us. It wasn't real, it was only a dream MC had, but after laughing, we started to feel guilty. Brilliant, I must admit.

Anyway, although I did feel bad for her since V's route actually I still consider what she did is wrong, and no excuse for her actions. You and I, we can understand her, like her, but should never justify her crimes by blaming her past and mental illness. Likewise, V haters could hate him all they/you want, he kinda sorta deserves it with what he did wrong, but don't point fingers at him for the crimes Rika did. Oh yeah, now that I think about it, Saeran is a combination of both V and Rika, don't you think? He was a mentally unstable innocent like V who was exploited and suffered by Rika's hands, then became an abuser himself like Rika. Remember who locked and chained? MC in her room, starved her, verbally abused and kinda sexually harassed her? And then guess who had to sneak in to give MC food to eat hm?

My point is, these 3 characters are flawed as hell and they did so many annoying wrongdoings, but instead of purely hating them, how about trying to understand them? - was probably what Cheritz wanted to convey. Not my words since I have love-hate relationship with them where sometimes I hate them and sometimes I don't. And I still can't like Rika one bit if you ask me, never was, never will.

If you guys read this till the end and agreed with me, then you'd probably love this underrated masterpiece too. It's a parody that whichever fandom you go, you'd still see people using it... the ultimate scene we don't understand but can still enjoy... xD