#so clearly SOMETHING was critically lost in translation there

[tyrantwombat]

*deep sigh of frustration*

MTL

[pikahlua]

Not the same anon, but there was a thread on X summarizing problems with this chapter and how rushed it feels. I think these are pretty valid criticism if I am being honest. [link removed] I really love MHA and I want to enjoy this epilogue, but I really do feel like it is being rushed in some places.

I resubmitted this ask to remove the link. I'm not interested in sending critics flying at someone I disagree with.

The link you provided is for a criticism that is precisely the sort of commentary my blog exists to correct. Why are you guys judging the story based on a bad fan translation??? Is that really what the issue is here? If you're feeling like a chapter is rushed based on Rukasu's rushed summaries or my own disjointed, unnatural-sounding translations or the fan translations that just push along with awkward translations they clearly don't research that well, yeah, I bet it does seem pretty rushed.

Fan translation (left) vs official translation (right)

Some differences are stark and some subtle, but they all lead to totally different readings!

And as for this criticism:

And while I get what Horikoshi was trying to communicate here, the execution is just... Absolutely tone deaf

I don't understand how anyone could say something like they know what the author intended in good faith when they KNOW they're reading a fan translation.

Starting with the 1st page: now, I get Horikoshi is trying to this monologue more for the audience to highlight Uraraka's self sacrificial tendencies similar to Izuku in order to explain her behavior and showcase her flaws. [...] Because, in universe, Uraraka is breaking down with guilt and grief over someone she finally reached/understood sacrificing her life for her, something only SHE knows, and Izuku shows up, ignoring what's going on, and starts "explaining" her flaws and HIS feelings about it all. [...] Now, again, I understand that Hori is trying to communicate to the audience that Izuku has realized Uraraka's flaws and struggles and is deciding to become her support instead.

This reading completely ignores the fact that Ochako doesn't want to open up. Izuku is trying to convince her to! That's what's happening in this scene! He's not "ignoring" what happened with Toga--because he doesn't even know what happened! That's part of why Ochako is so upset!

I've explained before how the western fandom has a bad reading on these so-called self-sacrificial "flaws" Izuku and now ostensibly Ochako have. This is not the first time a character has realized they relied too much on another person's strength and let that person shoulder their burdens alone. All Might acknowledged the same thing with Katsuki after DvK2. I do not think what Izuku is doing here is "explaining her flaws and HIS feelings about it all." My reading of this scene is based on their conversation after she lost to Katsuki in the sports festival. He's saying the same stuff she said to him back to her. He's talking about HIS OWN flaws. He's saying "You are my hero, the way you've been since the beginning is heroic, I admire you, when you're hurting I'll protect you just like you protected me, I won't be a burden by relying on your strength to get you through and letting you handle your pain alone anymore, I'll pull my own weight and be here for you now that you need me, it will be easier to shoulder the pain together." That last part is coming from her UA speech, of course, and I don't know how it could be more relevant to addressing Ochako's pain. "Please open up to me, just like you encouraged me to do." That's what he's saying!

Now, the other criticism this person levies is that using Izuku as a vehicle of exposition is clunky. I don't disagree, but the thing is...this isn't new. This isn't unique to the ending. He's been like this really since chapter 1. I've criticized this before. This isn't a sudden change that makes the ending feel any more rushed than any other part of the story. To focus on this just feels like an attempt by the critic to FIND something to criticize.

I do think there is an emotional reaction at play in the fandom's general response here, but I'm not convinced that the criticism I've been reading actually gets to the heart of what's upsetting people. Something IS upsetting people. Is it BAD WRITING? I'm not sure. In some (not all) cases it seems to be a bad reaction to tragedy or anticlimax. I do also think there are people who have convinced themselves such and such will be addressed, that these two characters will talk about X, etc. etc. and they're panicking that there may not be any space allotted for that in the end, and that's why they feel things are being "rushed." I certainly have some criticisms I could levy at the ending, but I'd like to wait until the ending (the OFFICIAL ending) before I put them on the record.

The thing is, in the end, "what Horikoshi was trying to do" is entirely irrelevant to the final product. If all we do is just argue over what we each think Horikoshi was trying to do, we'll get no where. This was hammered into me in my education, that what an author intended is useless to literary analysis. When I find something in a story that doesn't make sense to me, I take a step back and try to figure out what reading does make it make sense. Sometimes I have to ask others their opinions to puzzle it out. I do appreciate that you sent me this criticism, but I am not yet convinced the fandom has truly identified any concrete issues with the actual writing of the ending as of now. I'm not saying the ending is perfect, just that the problems I see with the ending are very different from what the fandom so far keeps talking about.

[prezaki]

Bucchigiri?! and 'being Honki' - a Show about Identity and Human Connection

With Hiroko Utsumi's newest work as a director now completed, I want to take a moment to discuss the thematic through-lines of Bucchigiri?! and explain why I think that the story was very coherent even if it first seemed erratic.

At the heart of the series is the concept of the Honki Person(TM) - and that's where the confusion starts. Leaving the word 'Honki' in Japanese for the subs suggests a lore-heavy emphasis on some kind of supernatural mechanic in-story. It caused many viewers expected a well-defined shounen-typical power system - but that isn't what Honki is nor what it was ever meant to be.

"Honki" is the Japanese word 本気, which means Seriousness, Earnestness (or doing something 'in earnest, for real' if used as an adverb). 'Honki People' literally just means 'Earnest People'

And thus "Honki" is doing double duty as a red herring Lore Concept and a regular word - an intentional ambiguity that is inevitably lost by translation.

In the show, the characters do initially think of the 'Honki Person' as a literal thing to become (a supernaturally powerful master martial artist) rather than as a state of being in which one is earnest - but the thing is that the narrative proves them wrong.

But before we get to that, we need to dig a little bit deeper into what a Honki Person is thought to be in-universe:

"Historically", those thought of as Honki were fighters who participated in conflicts 300 years ago - a bit after the end of the Sengoku Period, the continuously warring states that had defined Japan for two centuries. With the advent of the rigidly structured Edo Period, honorable fighters with no clear systemic alliance were no longer needed and the aspiring Honki People(TM) were mercilessly gunned down. This feels out of left field for an anime like Bucchigiri?! to focus on, so I propose a second more allegorical layer to impose over the literal pseudo-historical read.

Even beyond the historical fact that gun imports changed warfare, the usage of guns here is deliberate to represent something. Guns are associated with authorities, and contrasted against the Honki People(TM) shunning weapons and fighting only with their own bodies.

To be Honki(TM) means to be true to yourself and secure in your own identity - this is something that is a hindrance to a social system that relies on rules and groupthink to sustain itself. Supporting this assumption, the theme of 'death' by weapon/authority is mirrored in the show several times:

On the one hand, we have the NG Boys, a gang set apart from the other gangs in the story by their even more rigid hierarchical structure and their willingness to use weaponry. They all follow one leader, have one uniform look, and appear basically brainwashed into blind obedience.

The association of weapons=structure and authority is made pretty clearly through that alone, but is also enhanced by all the members of the NG Boys living under constant threat of being fed to the real authorities of society: the police. Fear keeps everyone in line.

And further, the idea of society as an oppressive force (especially to the lower class) is put into direct focus through Mitsukuni and Matakara. Poverty is brought up briefly before through Senya (our main Honki Person(TM) was a nameless orphan after all) and brought back with the Asamine brothers:

Mitsukuni wishes to escape his social status in order to offer a better life to his brother - and he's forcibly held down by the oppressive system around him.

The cop that causes Mitsukuni to go to jail is equivalent to the guns that shot Senya and Ichiya.

(Utsumi has explored this underlying socially critical current before. Not for nothing, her previous series SK8 opens with the memorable bridge of the title song reading: "before society can kill us".)

But Bucchigiri?! isn't about overthrowing the system. It's about the individual. Understanding the context about authority just helps setting the real theme into focus.

And that theme is to hold on steadfast to who you are and allow yourself to connect with others, even in various kinds of adversity.

After this long, long preamble, let's get to the actual main characters!!

Matakara and Arajin are people who are ruled by fear and who spend 11 episodes running from others and themselves in two very different ways.

Arajin is pretty hated as a protagonist, which amuses me a little, because nobody hates Arajin more than Arajin hates Arajin.

His past cowardice in failing to protect Matakara has clearly shown him that he is a pathetic person and he's spent his whole life since then trying to avoid being reminded of this. He avoids Matakara, the strongest reminder of his failure, but further than that he avoids connection with anybody that he could see as a peer.

Arajin is solely focused on finding love and romance because he feels inherently inferior to every person he would be invited to contrast himself against. He avoids other guys because he hates himself. He shuns connection and pursues only people (girls) he views as different enough to not invite any comparison.

Matakara meanwhile has major abandonment issues - he's lost his parents, Arajin, and his brother. Everyone important to him keeps vanishing from his life and in order to keep himself from feeling powerless about this he decides to blame himself.

If it's his own fault that people leave him (because he's weak) then there is something in his power that he can do in order to avoid being hurt again (becoming stronger). In order to maintain this state of motivational self-hatred, he puts others on a pedestal.

Matakara needs Arajin to be strong, powerful, honest and admirable... because that is the image he holds himself up by. In Mitsukuni and Arajin, Matakara creates god-like icons to chase after. And by doing so, he also shuns genuine connection.

Being confronted with Arajin as a flawed person gives Matakara a breakdown because it makes it harder to run from his own loneliness by focusing on chasing after Arajin.

Arajin is always running, but Matakara is always chasing... because he can't stand to look behind and face his monster.

In a lot of ways, Arajin and Matakara can't connect because they care about each other. Arajin can't stand what he allowed to happen to Matakara because he cared about Matakara. Matakara clings to Arajin because he loves him.

This theme of love hindering connection is again mirrored in two other characters - Senya and Ichiya, of course.

Ichiya, unwilling to confront his own terminal illness head-on, wishes to avoid it by goading Senya into killing him. By doing this, he can run from his own weakness and put Senya on a pedestal instead.

Meanwhile Senya is attached to their connection as-is and wishes to maintain this master-disciple dynamic forever - going so far as to deny his own strength in order to avoid acknowledging their changing dynamic.

Both of them are denying something about themselves.

It is their self-denial that makes their communication and thus connection break down.

Ichiya can't make Senya go Honki(TM) (which should have definitely been translated as an adverb here, e.g. 'failing to make him get serious') because he is also not HONEST with him or himself.

In the finale, Senya finally admits his motivations (his illness, his perceived weakness) and he is rewarded with the honest fight he'd been craving. They both stopped running.

This theme becomes even clearer through the two leads, of course, but even earlier than that it exists in Mahoro.

Mahoro's scene in episode 6 is the thematic linchpin that carried the whole show on its shoulders. Through Mahoro, everyone in the cast gets their first glimpse at true unrelenting Honki(tm) - and it is something totally unrelated to fighting prowess.

Mahoro is physically powerless against Akutaro, but she won't run. She has a heart that won't run away, the key quality of the Honki Person(TM), because she has an unshakable sense of self-identity.

It would be easy to dismiss her cutesy design as a contrivance to give Arajin a conventional-looking love interest despite going to Delinquent Academy - but it also says something about HER. Mahoro marches to the beat of her own drum. She does not care that she does not fit in, she does not mind being alone - she'll stick right to her own aesthetic and priorities.

So it's easy for her to call out Akutaro - and in doing so, call out the whole cast along with him:

You're empty. You are nothing but a shell, shaped by how you relate to those around you. You have nothing to offer.

And how are you supposed to connect with anybody, when you don't even know who you are?

(Notably, Mahoro is also a character who refuses to compromise on her self even for love - she knows she does not appeal to Marito, but she's not changing herself to be more his type. Her Honki does not budge, even for him.)

And lest you think I am exaggerating by connecting the theme of identity and emptiness back to all of the cast instead of just Akutaro: it does come back with Matakara.

Matakara can't believe anybody would know him and care for him, because he doesn't know himself.

For Matakara, facing himself means acknowledging his fear of abandonment rather than externalizing it as a hallucination of a literal monster.

But facing yourself doesn't just mean facing your demons, it also means facing your own positive qualities. And that is Arajin's story.

Even as Arajin turned into a scummy, evasive and selfish guy, there is a part of him that has a throughline to who he always was. He's someone who can get invested in others with reckless abandon.

Whether as a child with Matakara, or in the present with Mahoro... Arajin wants to connect.

Bucchigiri?! is a show full of innuendo and sexual gags. Merging with a genie gets equated to sex, fighting gets equated to sex... and of course this is for laughs, but it's also thematic.

Because all these things are about connection. About facing someone else with your whole self.

On a literal level, yes, Arajin absolutely wants to get laid. This is his sincere desire, and good for him.

But at the same time, his battle cry of 'I want to lose my virginity!' is him crying out for a real connection, even at a time when he shunned the idea thereof.

In the end, being a Honki Person(TM) has nothing to do with fighting. Fighting is the way a lot of the rough and tumble guys on the show like to connect, but it is not the only way to do so and not the only way to be Honki(TM).

Arajin never learns to love brawling - he did it out of circumstance and necessity, but it's not his hobby. He does not need to discover some hidden love of fighting, because this show fundamentally isn't about how 'fighting is inherently good' or anything.

It's a show about how even when you hate yourself and think you're as low as it can get, acknowledging your own self in full is the first step to finding a real bond with somebody else.

It just also happens to feature a bunch of delinquents who love to punch a lot.

[stagefoureddiediaz]

So they’re really pushing the communication aspect of all the relationships we’re seeing this season aren’t they -

Athena and Bobby - not communicating until they have to, then communicating well and them being stronger than before.

Maddie and chimney doing pretty well at communicating but things getting a bit lost in translation occasionally but even then they still end up on the same page and the strength of their relationship is evident. And they tell each other everything and that tendency is healthy and helpful

The subtle communication between Hen and Karen (that I’m sure were going to come into play much more as the season goes on) that speaks of how much work they’ve put into their relationship and how well they know one another

The fact we’re now seeing Maddie and Hen communicating after their chat last season - how much growth there has been there when before it was non existent - how Hen is trusting of Maddie because of Chim.

Some interesting tension in Hen and Chims friendship - the evidence that they normally communicate well but didn’t this time - which is pretty jarring when compared with the Jonah arc that showed their friendship off so amazingly. So this not communicating this time is setting off a mini siren and I think it’s being done e to set up some bachelor party shenanigans

The fact that Chris is prepared to be open and communicate with Buck - building on what we’ve seen in previous seasons - that Chris has this safe space he can be open in.

Then we have literally all of the calls and people on the boat - showing poor communication for the most part - rocket couple just sniping at each other, hot tub couple not being fully honest/keeping information from each other, car crash dude being incapable of communicating properly but also unwilling to. Lola and Norman not communicating so their marriage has become broken, the comma line on the ship being taken out by the pirates, the family all talking over one another and missing their sim who doesn’t communicate and is in his own world. The various other characters such as casino chips guy - communicating loudly over everyone else and drowning them out.

Tommy faking communication issues from the chopper.

The only ones we see communicating well are the captain and her second in command.

And then we have Buck and Eddie’s communication being all over the place. We have them talking and communicating well when talking about Chris, and they’re more in sync with each other on callls etc than we’ve ever seen them. But then we get this juxtaposition with other aspects of their lives - girlfriends and relationships. Even the Shannon aspect isn’t something we see them discuss - Eddie overhears it.

And that’s the crux of things really isn’t it - this inability to communicate with one another around relationships - because it’s the only thing they’re not talking about with one another. (We could argue that they’ve not talked about their trauma as well but the trauma is so very connected into their respective relationships that it feels like it’s one and the same)

I’m not sure exactly where I’m going with this beyond it clearly being a season set up around communication (even Maddie and Chim exchanging vows is them communicating) and that the show has loudly been setting up a failure to communicate for Buck and Eddie in this specific area is pretty telling given if you ask me- it’s the elephant in the room for them and it feels like we’re about to finally hit critical mass with it

[heretichromia]

Thoughts about Gladiia and Kal'tsit

I'm frustrated by (among many things) how little context we still have for Gladiia's relationship with Kal'tsit.

Even post-Path of Life. I was hoping for some more information, but at the very least the MTL of Path of Life is much more sparse with...characterization than I'd have liked it to be. I'm hoping that the official translation reveals things that were lost by automation, but I won't hold my breath.

The juxtaposition between Kal'tsit and her mother in their IS3 dialogue is really interesting. It's one of my favorite passages in the game. There's so much there, but it's also very specifically an early dialogue between them. At the time, they'd only recently met, and we only get snippets of anything that suggests a deeper connection between them in their other interactions.

More on that below the cut.

There will not be any Path of Life spoilers here. I don't really feel comfortable using Path of Life to support my arguments before it gets an official translation.

Does Gladiia see Kal'tsit as a mother figure?

Despite her being an adult woman, she's still—at the time of their IS3 conversation—trapped in the mold that her mother made for her. She reflects and realizes that the very virtues she's always fought for, the greater good she was prepared to sacrifice her life for, were planted in her by her family and her nation, and that she's never been able to "[swim] against the tide." Kal'tsit was the first person who prompted her to consider otherwise, to offer her some form of self-determination. She's attentive to Gladiia, directly contrasted with her mother's neglect. Her voice is cold, but her actions are warm, and that warmth is directly contrasted with her mother's at every beat. It's hard for me to read this passage without coming to the conclusion that Gladiia sees something of a mother in Kal'tsit, the mother she needed instead of the mother she had.

And...that's kind of the only place we really get that! And we don't even get the full conversation! Not that we need to, I think the passage is perfectly fine on its own without going in depth about what Gladiia shared with Kal'tsit and what her reactions were.

...So long as it's also supported by other passages that can help us fill in the blanks. Which we...don't have a lot of.

It's...abundantly clear that Gladiia has incredible respect for Kal'tsit. She's defensive of her, she speaks highly of her, and she actually listens to Kal'tsit when she contradicts her, often without argument. That doesn't mean she always behaves how Kal'tsit wants her to behave, but she clearly values her opinions and her judgment. She's obedient towards her, to someone completely uninvolved in the Ægirian power structure. The mere suggestion that the Inquisition could handle her in the event of conflict bruised Gladiia's ego enough that she turned confrontational in the middle of mission-critical negotiations, but she behaved the instant Kal'tsit pulled on her leash. This has been spoken about to death, so I won't belabor it any further, but it reflects some surprisingly warm feelings on Gladiia's behalf.

But that's...all we get.

We don't even get many looks into how Kal'tsit feels. She's obviously empathetic and caring, but that's...Kal'tsit. That's how she is, always. She's trying to carry the world on her back as much as she can while knowing that it needs to be able to stand on its own. If Gladiia does see Kal'tsit as a mother—

—which, if true, isn't even necessarily an indication that she sees the actual nature of their relationship as that of a mother and daughter, or preclude them from being on more equivalent footing (friends, partners, or even lovers); the entire Abyssal Hunters story is full of familial bonds that aren't necessarily literal—

—it's unclear if Kal'tsit sees Gladiia as a daughter, an equal who's lost her sense of direction, or just another of many, many lost children that she's taken temporarily under her wing until they can fly on their own. Kal'tsit is notoriously hard to read, by her own design.

Gladiia herself is hardly emotionally forthcoming, or perceptive for that matter. I think it's unlikely she knows exactly how Kal'tsit feels. Has she ever given it much thought? Has she considered speaking with her about it? My personal read on Gladiia is that she likely wouldn't unless prompted to, as she's had to be prodded to engage with others on an deep interpersonal level (mostly by Laurentina outside of this one conversation).

This gives a wide range of possible dynamics between the two of them that I would really like the story to actually give a damn about exploring! I find myself straining against the Abyssal Hunter story sometimes. I am extremely invested in these characters but only really interested in the plot by how it develops them. When the plot is intimately personal to the involved characters, like with the Sui storyline, it works wonderfully*—but the Seaborn as a plot device are extremely hit-or-miss.

*I do not actually think the Sui plot has consistently worked wonderfully, and I think it has considerable problems with direction, but I think this one part of it is actually pretty praiseworthy. See: Here a People Sows, where the entire thrust of the plot was deeply ingrained in character motivations.

[lemonlyman-dotcom]

Okay, I will send it again with my name attached. You're right, if I want to stand up for what I believe in and people I care about, I shouldn't hide behind an anonymous message for the sake of not causing drama.

I think you are missing the very important point that tweet is making about racism by hyper-focusing on the use of the word 'normal'. Yes, you're right, there is no such thing as 'normal English' and yes the person who tweeted it should have used a different phrase. I agree with that. But the tweet is not saying that Spanglish doesn't exist. It is critiquing a larger problem of English speakers fetishizing the Spanish language and Latinx characters.

The second part of that tweet clearly has this fanfic character speaking a version of Spanish that is supposed to not make sense for comedic effect to demonstrate how ridiculous it can sound for someone to just use Google translate with no effort put into understanding a language. For many years and in many fandoms, monolingual people have been rightly criticized for writing multilingual characters in a way that just throws in random words with no understanding of how multilingual people actually speak, and it's especially a problem when white writers are doing it to characters of color. That is the criticism that the tweet is addressing. Focusing on the use of the word 'normal' instead is missing the incredibly important point about racism that's being made. And that matters to me.

The use of the phrase “normal English” is highly offensive to me, and many others, and I think it’s fair to call that out. Pidgin English is normal. Spanglish is normal. Speaking with an accent is normal. I do think there is a point to be made about just pulling something from Google translate and calling it Spanish, which I believe was the intention of that tweet. But, unfortunately, the tweeter lost me with their offensive, whitewashed phrasing. And, again, as you say it is important to stand up for what we believe in. Otherising people based on if they speak with an accent is something I strongly stand against.

It’s true that Latino folks are fetishized in our culture, I’ve seen it plenty. I, personally, did not read that tweet as speaking about sexual fetishization but regardless I do agree.

There’s more nuance to it, and saying there’s a normal and a not normal English is not the way to go about it.

Now, I also do agree that if people don’t feel comfortable writing Spanish speakers speaking Spanish, because they don’t speak the language and don’t have anyone to help them, that is more than fine. I can always tell when someone has just plugged an English phrase into Google translate and copy+pasted lmao. Please, friends, do not do this!

I do think it would be lovely if more writers felt comfortable to reach out to someone who does speak Spanish, so that they can give Carlos, Mateo, Tommy, the Reyes family etc a more authentic characterization, since we have seen them speak Spanish and Spanglish on screen repeatedly.

One final point I would like to make is this, I think a lot of people don’t realize that Spanish isn’t a monolith, and it’s gonna vary from region to region and country to country. So just because someone from, say, Guadalajara wouldn’t say something doesn’t mean a Tejano person wouldn’t. That nuance in the dialect is very important, and we should be thinking about that as we’re thinking about how these characters would speak.

[a-slut-for-smut]

Nanamin deserves better than Mei Mei

Don’t forget how creepy she is towards Ui Ui

Ya know, I really wish people were more willing to think critically about the stories they consume vs taking every at face value. Sure, when you see something questionable in a story, question it, but immediately writing off the story/story element as “problematic” just because you don't like it or triggers you is such a disservice not only to the storyteller but also yourself by stunting your own media literacy skills.

As ive addressed why NanaMei pair well in previous asks, i'll focus more on the controversy revolving around Mei Mei because its something i really want to get off my chest. The more i think about the arguments made against her the more i get these puritanical and anti feminist/non-conformist vibes from them and its really concerning to say the least.

She's Greedy/Selfish

Yes, shes money hungry. She shamelessly honest with what she likes and what she wants; she has a personal code/credo and stanchly follows it and its hard not to respect that energy. She's motivated and grounded in a way that seems out of place in the 'sorcerers must protect humans' fantasy world, but in the real world? Of course we'd look out for our own self-interest/preservation- shes as real and relatable as they come. She's logically driven (vs emotionally) and honestly if she was a man i bet the fandom wouldn't blink an eye (and prob would slobber all over him) but as always God forbid women have a strong sense of self and refuse to conform to the patriarchal ideals of what a woman should be.

THAT panel

A lot of the fandom screaming in*cest & p*edophile for this panel and i'll admit not surprised it raised eyebrows but not really reading this as sexual. Yes theres nudity, but body language makes it pretty obvious if nudity is sexual or not and well, its not- and how the first thing fandom thinks is "omg they f*cked" because shes topless or whatever is very telling. It's not a stretch to think she would be comfortable with nudity and a sense of propriety seems out of character with someone as shameless as her. She probably splurges on 1000 thread-count Egyptian cotton sheets with all the money she makes, who wouldnt regularly sleep nude on those?

As for UiUi its inferred he used his CT to escape/save their lives directly before, all the more reason he would be tired. Mei Mei even apologies for waking him, implying his CT exerts him and he should rest for the day. Ui UI’s “oh my how shameless!” is said in surprise, indicating he probably blacked out after his CT and woke up fully clothed in bed with her, NOT that he’s tired from having a wild night banging his sister 🙄

I wonder about the japanese dialogue and if there is any nuance/context lost from the english translation, but I interpreted her "Do you not like me that way" was in reference to the shamelessness of her personality, essentially asking him "do you not like me the way I am?" and not her nude body because the translation used "that way" vs "this way", the latter being suggestive. And the fact that they shared a bed to sleep didnt seem OOC given their close familial dynamic.

Sibling Relationship

Its established in-universe that they are "calculating", so naturally they work very much in tandem as far as motivations go and re-enforced from what we seen in their battle tactics. Clearly Mei Mei is offense and 99% of the time can handle any issue on her own, but for that 1% she cant? Thats where Ui Ui steps in.

Ui Ui would never be in danger if Mei Mei is around, and fandom seems to ignore this fact when they say Mei Mei manipulates him to self-sacrifice himself (and her crows) for her benefit. If Mei Mei is fighting and her life's at risk, yall think Ui Ui (or the crows for that matter) stand a chance?? Maybe if he could teleport away himself which is what his CT suggests, but who really knows, and more importantly would he even consider abandoning his sister from what we seen?

I see it as a failsafe CT, only to be used in emergencies since it drains him considerably as Malaysia scene suggests- which is why he wholeheartedly waits (and binding vow) for permission from her to use it, not as a form of control or abuse or simply to please her, but to know if/when as accordance to the battle strategy mapped out by her. Shes shown as a tactician/extremely logical when it comes to battle and will use whatever is at her disposal to win if it means self-preservation (even if it means abandoning the battlefield altogether). Her loyalty is to herself above all.

And her asking “are you willing to die for me” is literally asking consent- she is asking, 'this could be the end- will you do what’s necessary for me to win this?' To which he resoundingly concurs, seemingly out of devotion but realistically if she dies where would that leave him? It’s as natural a response as one could be- in nature mothers will fight tooth & nail to protect their offspring, but at the cost of her life? What would be the point??? Offspring wouldn’t be able to survive without her, they’d be good as dead.

As far as their dynamic, there is clear affection from both sides- Mei Mei is more playful while Ui Ui is reverent. Ui Ui adores her, not atypical of a much younger sibling, but especially so given how accomplished Mei Mei is. It's stated that she inherited their weak family cursed technique, but rather than be solely defined by it, she trained herself to the maximum physical limit, THEN mastered her so called "weak" technique into one of the strongest out there (probably why she acknowledges Maki as a promising sorcerer, she sees herself in her).

If that isn't admirable than i dont know what is, and if GOJO of all people respects her, then thats saying something. But while he respects her and acknowledges her strength, does he trust her? Probably not, not like he does with Utahime who is supposedly "weak" in comparison. And i personally like that dynamic- despite not trusting her to "do the right thing" and expecting her to be self-serving, Gojo knows/respects her as a person and fellow sorcerer. Gege gives us layered interpersonal relationships between multi-faceted characters and yet so many are quick to reduce them to a single trope and its a little sad honestly.

In conclusion, yall need to relax on the pearl-clutching and have a little more perspective by all means hate on her if you dont like her but at least hate her accurately lol

[nogacheloveka-blog]

The Bad Sanses somehow ended up in the Backrooms. №7

<-Switch to Russian ver.

next 8

prev 6

This is the translation of the another post from Russian to English. I understand English, but it is very difficult for me to write in English, so I asked chat GPT to help me. I have corrected some parts, but there still may be mistakes.

I'm experimenting with shadows) I like that Nightmer now looks like a happy octopus. Contrary to tradition, he was the first one in the photo, not Killer(I like how his fur turned out). But with Cross, I can't seem to draw his mech sharper and harder. Maybe in the future, I'll be able to do something that satisfies me. I feel like I messed up the perspective a bit in the drawing, and maybe some characters seem a bit lower/higher than I tried to draw them before, but I tried to maintain proportions =)

The new level was a network of mazes with walls made of ancient brick, through the gaps of which light passed. They were so narrow that Nightmer clearly felt a wave of irritation from the Destroyer, apparently afraid of accidental touches with someone. He himself didn't like the excess of disturbing light in this place.

Their smiling pets, on the other hand, enthusiastically entered the bright tunnels, gathering in groups around lanterns and torches, gradually depleting them until they went out with a characteristic sound. Since the author of the notes did not specify the exact path of penetration to level 3 through this place, most likely they had to wander back and forth for quite a long time until they finally came somewhere, or Error did not feel the transition between levels.

They slowly walked in the dark through the corridors following the Smilers absorbing the light. The material of the walls changed more often than on level 0: they passed through caves with glowing moss, hospital corridors with long incandescent lamps, round tunnel-pipes with blinding light from grilles. The latter gave them hope that they could finally get out at least to the Antivoid, but when Killer tried to stick his head out of the window, he received a very painful burn, which made his bones blacken. Insensitive to pain, he looked more surprised than angry. Fortunately, his HP was not affected. Nevertheless, the group stopped so that Horror could treat his injury.

It seems that the light on this level was not particularly friendly. And this helped them to pay attention to the fact that there were fewer former dog monsters around them now. Continuing to watch them, it turned out that their number decreased when they attacked flashing sources of light. Apparently, the decision to follow them protected the guys from unnecessary injuries. When their pack's number approached critical, Error was hit by a flashing light. Fortunately, the flash only hit his scarf, completely destroying it, which made the enraged Destroyer unleash his fury on hostile photons, at the same time completely destroying their accompaniment.

Fortunately, not far from the battle site, they still stumbled upon a hole in the wall leading to a richly decorated but empty bathroom. This was level 3.

The author of the notebook has no records about this level. He wrote a lot about how to get there, but did not describe it. Since all the levels before this one were quite empty and not heavily populated with hostile creatures, the group did not worry about the future.

Nightmer reacted quite optimistically to this place. He felt that sweet negativity was flowing in the pipes around them, which was unusual for him and deafened any presence of other creatures. It was clear that he would not be able to use his aura effectively here, for example, to search for lost ones or communicate with entities. Although the power that now overwhelmed him was good. (he is worried about the condition of others, maybe they should leave this place as soon as possible)

Error is still too vulnerable from the damage to his scarf and doesn't want to talk to anyone.

Cross saw through an open window a neighboring room where hundreds of garlands wrapped around prison bars. A mesmerizing sight. He heard a distant sound like a working generator and a faint smell of gasoline.

The rest decided to take a break from running away from the light show.

Nightmare belongs to Jokublog Killer belongs to RahafWabas Dust belongs to Ask-DustTale Horror belongs to Sour-Apple-Studios Error belongs to CrayonQueen Cross belongs to JakeiArtwork

[whump-tr0pes]

Breakfast, Part 1

Many thanks to @newbornwhumperfly for being so generous in letting me put their boy Morja in Situations, and many apologies to them as well for holding onto this story for so many months while waiting for me to finish it.

My masterlist

Morja is a diathésimos, one of a class of indentured servants owned by society’s elite - though some would call them slaves. He has been tasked with a mission of critical importance by his anóteros: to infiltrate a dangerous family that has taken refuge in the north, and kill the criminal that they are harboring: Gavin Stormbeck.

“It is your part to kill me, mine to die without flinching.”

— Epictetus, from Discourses (Translated by Robert Dobbin)

Your Part to Kill | My Part to Die | To Die Quietly | Despair | Dawn | Breakfast Part 1

Contents: captivity, conditioned whumpee, past drugging, thoughts of death, past torture

~

There were footsteps in the hallway. Morja was instantly awake, eyes wide open, back ramrod straight as he sat up. He stared at the door from his sleeping spot on the floor, doing his best to stop trembling before the anóteros of the family - Gray, they told him to call them Gray - came in. They’d done that every morning for the past five mornings now, taking away his bucket of waste, bringing him something delicious for breakfast. It made Morja’s stomach flip with shame to be served in such a way, and by the anóteros no less. If his owner benefactor heard of this, he would be whipped for his insolence. He was still waiting to be whipped now.

He was waiting for worse things than a whipping. He was waiting for drugs in the food, but not a single meal had left him sick, or weak, or unconscious, or in pain. Perhaps it was a slow poison that would work through his body over weeks rather than hours, but Morja couldn’t see the sense in that. Morja had puzzled over it in the days that he had had to himself; when this family had Isaac Moore - whom Morja now knew was a diathésimos like himself - at their disposal, why would they not use him to put Morja down like the threat that he was? Why would they waste their food, their space, their time on him when they were planning on killing him anyway? The time he could understand, even though it made him sick with terror: the time was to break him. The time was only the first step in the torture. But why was the food not drugged? His own anóteros drugged his food. How could this family of criminals, traitors, murderers do less?

The door handle turned, and he shuffled to his knees, just like he had every morning since he’d been locked in this room. And, just like every other morning, he slid his hands behind his head and laced his fingers together to keep them from shaking. He kept his eyes riveted to the carpet just in front of his knees as the door opened. 

“Good morning, Morja,” Gray said gently. They stopped at the door. 

Morja froze. So the torture would begin in earnest today, then. Starting with going without food. He squeezed his eyes shut and forced himself to blow out a slow, even breath. “G-good morning, anó– Gray.” He must still be polite, even though he was terrified. His anóteros had made sure he could do that.

Still, he was thirsty. It had taken so little time for him to become soft, after having been given food and water so frequently. Morja’s eyes opened again, as he began to see the plan laid out in front of him. He wondered of Gavin Stormbeck had concocted it, or if the entire family was gifted in the art of torture. 

“I’m going to stop whatever thought process you’re so clearly lost in right now,” Gray said, their voice soft. Morja braced for whatever blow was coming. “You’re still being fed. You’re still getting water.”

Morja blinked, swallowed. His eyes flicked up towards Gray. His stomach lurched as he realized Gray was the only one standing in the door. 

Where is Isaac Moore?

Gray was already speaking again. “What I wanted to ask, without Isaac here, so you wouldn’t feel pressured either way,” they said, “Was whether you would care to join us all for breakfast?” Gray shrugged. “In the dining room?”

Morja shivered as he tried to decipher the meaning behind Gray’s words. He had been tied to a chair and interrogated in the dining room the first night he had been in this house - perhaps Gray was playing a game with him, trying to get him to agree to another interrogation for their own amusement. Or perhaps they simply wanted to move him to another part of the house under false pretenses. Morja was in a reasonably defensible position in this room, and that might be the case. Or perhaps… 

Morja swallowed hard, desperately hoping he was not playing into some sick game by guessing. “To… to serve you? Anóteros?”

The corner of Gray’s mouth turned down, and Morja knew he had guessed wrong. He shuddered and bowed his head low to the floor. 

“No, Morja,” Gray rasped, holding their hands out to the side. “No, it’s like I told you… We don’t want anything like that from you. I was wondering if you would like to… eat with us. At the table, instead of in this room. That’s all. Not serving us. Just as an equal.”

“Equal…” Morja croaked, staring at his knees. He realized he had spoken out loud and closed his mouth with a snap.

“Yes,” Gray said, sounding tired. “Is that… something you would like? If that would frighten you too much, I understand, but… I think it might be nice.”

Morja’s hands were shaking behind his head. Isaac Moore would be out there, and Gavin Stormbeck. But if he didn’t go… If he displeased this anóteros, and didn’t go… 

He swallowed bile, swallowed his fear. He drew in a quavering breath and slowly, slowly let his hands fall until they pressed into the carpet in front of him. “Yes,” he murmured, nodding jerkily. “Yes, if it would… please you, anóteros, I’ll do it.”

“It would please me for you to be free,” Gray said with a tone that Morja didn’t recognize. “And this, I think, is a good first step. Let’s see how this goes.” They took a step into the hall and waited for Morja to get to his feet before they started walking towards the dining room. Morja fell into step behind them. They had their back to him as they walked, he realized with a start. 

He could kill them, if he wanted to. It would be so, so easy. They towered over him, but he was strong, packed with muscle, as hard-won as his scars. A kick to the back of the knee, and his hands could close around their neck, or he could bash their head against the wall. He didn’t need a weapon. He was the weapon, and he could kill this traitor, just like he had been trained to. Just like his anóteros had commanded him, just like it had been beaten trained into him for years. Isaac wasn’t here with his gun. Morja could do it, and then go find Gavin Stormbeck to complete his mission. It could be over in a second.

Morja’s hands shook as he clenched them into fists. 

But Gray trusted him. They had to, or they would never do something so foolish. Morja couldn’t understand why Gray would turn their back to an enemy, someone they knew had been sent to kill one of their own. His throat tightened, and he swallowed hard. He forced his hands to open at his sides. He stared at Gray’s back, brow furrowed as his chest ached with an emotion he couldn’t name. 

Continued here

@womping-grounds , @free-2bmee , @quirkykayleetam , @walkingchemicalfire , @inpainandsuffering , @redwingedwhump , @burtlederp , @castielamigos-whump-side-blog , @whatwhumpcomments , @whumpywhumper , @stxck-fxck , @whumps-the-word , @justplainwhump ,  @finder-of-rings , @inky-whump , @thatsthewhump , @orchidscript , @this-mightaswell-happen , @newandfiguringitout , @whumpkitty , @pretty-face-breaker , @cinnamonflavoredhugs , @pebbledriscoll , @im-just-here-for-the-whump , @endless-whump , @grizzlie70 , @oops-its-whump , @kixngiggles, @1phoenixfeather , @butwhatifyouwrite , @carnagecardinal ​, @annablogsposts , @suspicious-whumping-egg

[shootingstarpilot]

Fic Writer 20 Questions

Thanks for the tag, @merlyn-bane!

1.) How many works do you have on ao3?

Eight!

2.) What's your ao3 word count?

217,911

3.) What fandoms do you write for?

*sobbing* Star Wars, my beloved. The brainrot is real; I am consumed. When I was still on FF.net, though, I had stuff up in Harry Potter and How to Train Your Dragon.

4.) What are your top five fics by kudos?

back then, i was dauntless

how to bring him home

if i don't make it back (from where i've gone)

though some would harm you

like lightning changing hands

5.) Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I absolutely do! I feel bad because I know I've gotten some lovely comments on chapters that aren't the most recent one, and those tend to get lost in the inbox, but I promise I'm working on it- if you get a response from a comment you left a year and a half ago, don't hold it against me 😅

I do it because I want so badly to build community here! I love getting comments from people, responding to something with a wee hint of a tease because I'm AWFUL and then getting a keysmash of a response and then exchanging snippets in the comments, truly, it fills me with delight- and I've met some absolutely wonderful people who I got introduced to by responding to comments-

Anyway. Community. That.

6.) What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Oh. Hm. Hm.

I... guess it would have to be though some would harm you? Although I'm not sure if I feel confident in that designation, because it's very much part of a multi-work series. And I'm too much of a sucker for happy endings to write a stand-alone fic that doesn't have one, I think.

7.) What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Oh, neural plasticity, for sure! Short and sweet <3

8.) Do you get hate on fics?

A bit. I can brush off the "actually the Jedi were the real monsters" assholes easily enough, but honestly, the comments that hit the hardest are the ones that clearly come from people who think they're offering ✨constructive criticism.✨ Not only because I didn't ask for it, but also because saying my work is "fatiguing" or "I'm sure there's a decent story here, but it's being buried under what you're trying to do with it-" there's nothing constructive there.

Side note: the person who left that last comment deleted it about half an hour later, because when I went to reply, it had vanished from my inbox. I don't know if they did that because they didn't want me to be able to reply, or if they realized that what they said was unhelpful and mean, but if they ever happen to see this-

I still got the email, prick.

9.) Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Write? No, I haven't quite worked up the panache to try. Reading, on the other hand...

10.) Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

I do have snippets of one crossover that I actually posted in an anonymous collection, ha- an old BBC Merlin/ Good Omens/ Supernatural fic that I dug out of my old documents. Other than that, no- unless you count the Prequels and the Clone Wars as different enough to qualify as a crossover.

11.) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of!

12.) Have you ever had a fic translated?

Also not that I know of- very much open to it, though!

13.) Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

Since I don't think taking drabbles in tumblr chats to ridiculous lengths counts, I'd have to say no- I'd like to, though!

14.) What's your all time favorite ship?

Codywan. Fiercely, unwaveringly Codywan.

Just to reinforce this- 292 of my bookmarks consist of Cody/Obi-Wan. The next most common romantic pairing (Aziraphale/Crowley) has less than half that, at 121.

I'm a goner, and I can't even bring myself to regret it.

15.) What's a WIP you'd like to finish, but doubt you ever will?

OKAY SO I've written snippets of a modern AU focusing on Helix, Needle and Stitch, and I'm totally gonna take this opportunity to rage about it. I'm probably never gonna finish it, but it gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling, so, hey- what else is fic for, really, if not for indulging yourself?

At first, it's just Needle and Stitch. It's just been the two of them, for as long as Stitch can remember. Needle's only a few years older than him, but he's raised him, kept him in school, kept a roof over their heads and food on the table-

Food on Stitch's plate, at least.

Then, one night, Needle does not come home.

A hit-and-run, the nurse tells him, although the words will not trickle through until much later. A coma.

He will not, they say patiently, come home for some time.

(There is so much that needs doing.)

Helix, meanwhile, is studying physical therapy at the local community college and working part-time at his brother Ace's bakery.

It's during one of these shifts that a skinny little twerp comes in and hands him a job application.

(Rent and bills and Needle Needle Needle-)

It doesn't take Helix long to realize something is... off.

Ace tells him not to push it, but-

The kid's a good worker. Great, as a matter of fact. He's never late. Stays past closing, too, if they've had a rush. He tells Helix about his brother and nothing else.

(His brother hasn't come to visit.)

Everything that's not sold at the end of the day gets packaged up and given out. They only toss in the dumpster what's really, truly inedible- stuff that got dropped in the kitchen, scraps left over from customers-

He thinks it's raccoons, at first, until he peers in and sees Stitch flatten himself against a heap of bags in the corner.

They package up leftovers for him, after that. A bit more than leftovers, maybe. Ace sets aside sandwiches. Helix buys him a thermos and tells him it's been in the lost and found for over a year. They make sure he eats.

(Needle's getting transferred out of the ICU.)

Stitch is trying. He's doing everything he can, and more besides. But Needle's life is too expensive and he's buckling under the weight.

(He hasn't even grieved. Not really. No room. No time.)

Eventually, something has to give.

He does.

(He hadn't expected someone to be there to catch him.)

Featuring:

Helix stumbling into adopting first one, then two idiot kids

Ace being a supportive brother

Needle finding his way home

Mace Windu as Needle's (unfairly attractive, Helix thinks) neurologist

Obi-Wan as a hospital social worker who gets assigned Needle's file

Cody as Obi-Wan's husband, Helix's cousin, and children's book author (Stitch's favorite)

(listen I am WEAK for author!Cody, truly)

(Helix was totally the one who got them together and he regrets it every day of his life.)

Sheev Palpatine as the epitome of the evil of the American healthcare system

The Melidaan crew running a long-term, non-profit care facility that offers both in-patient and out-patient rehab services

16.) What are your writing strengths?

(I'VE PUT TOO MUCH THOUGHT INTO THIS. SHIT.)

17.) What are your writing weaknesses?

I am, apparently, really good at writing breakdowns. >:3

18.) Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

Dialogue does not come easily to me. I have to work a bit to hit my stride. But I think it turns out well enough!

Hm. Coming from a purely technical perspective here, I think the reader should be able to understand everything that's spoken in a fic. If a character says something in another language, then I think the best way to convey that is, "X muttered something Y didn't catch," or, if the listener recognizes that it's at least in another language, "X muttered something in French."

If the reader should understand it, then something along the lines of: "'I knew we shouldn't have trusted him,' X muttered in French."

If the POV character doesn't understand the language, it doesn't make sense to provide the reader with a perfect transliteration of what the other character is saying. The character wouldn't have that knowledge. It can really take me out of the fic when two characters suddenly start conversing in written-out sentences in another language, and I have to scroll all the way down to the footnotes for translations.

19.) First fandom you wrote for?

But then again, that's just my opinion- I'm sure others have their own thoughts on this!

20.) Favorite fic you've ever written?

Harry Potter.

Hell, I have to say like lightning changing hands, if only because whatever fic I'm writing at the moment is my favorite. It's the act of creation that does it for me!

(Also because it's such a good opportunity to explore so many relationship dynamics.)

No-pressure tags for @jedi-enthusiast, @themonopolyhat, @shadow-pixelle, and @foreverchangingfandomsao3!

[messinwitheddie]

Hoola what’s it like living with Lyric nd his family during your retirement? Learn anything knew?

Hoola "I was reluctant to move to urth at first, but Lyr begged me to move in with him and his mothers. I didn't have the heart or a valid enough excuse to refuse.

Life on Earth is a culture shock, I'm not going to lie. I still struggle to understand Lyric and most other humans in his "family". I used to criticize Zim for how little about human culture he understands, but having lived here, amongst you people, I get it wholeheartedly. Every day is a learning experience.

Apparently, there are several dialects of the "English" language. Half of Lyr's family speaks "American" English and the other half speaks "Australian" English and both rely on 60% idisims that escape the translating capabilities of my PAK. Just develope a universal Urth language and stick with it. Be more back-asswards, humanity! Sorry, sorry. That's insensitive, but it's... true. There are SO many languages and dialects for each language and idisims and slang for each language in each "country" within each region on each content, it's so hard for me to follow. Good Glord and her whole army, I'm trying. I'm really REALLY trying, but it's no use. Despite my higher educational training, I sound stupid when I speak in human languages.

I rarely leave the high end condominium or the city of Sydney Lyric and their mothers live in generaly, but when I do, I HAVE to to have one of my human roommates with me or I get completely lost. On Irk, in the areas underground and on the surface, the map is based on an easy to navigate, clearly numerically labeled grid. Same goes for Conventia, the Massive, Producia, Foodcourtia, Conventia, Devastis and 99.9% of the rest of the rken empire. Not so much on Earth... A lot of untamed forrests and rural areas. A lot of primitive cities in th upper- Americas, Europe, Australia and probably on the other continents too, but I haven't travelved to them yet. Lyr's co-mother, Gaz, is excited to take me to the "country" of Mexico in South America this summer. I hear the food is great, so I'm looking forward to the trip.

Maybe I should have stayed with Mad Madem Mem on her rogue planet. Her hive needed an experienced medic, but I've served the Irken Empire for SOOOooo many centuries. I REALLY needed a decade or so of low-pressure relaxation before my expiration timer clocks out. Lyr's uncle Dib keeps in regular contact with Zim and Mem, so if I am needed, I will gladly go back."

All-in-all, I am enjoying my stay... Hoop would have loved Earth, I know it. In a strange way, Lyr reminds me of him... There is something intriguing about human family clusters. Maybe Lyr is the smeet fate and biology denied Hoop and I... I'm grateful I can live the rest of my life with people who care about me and who went out of their way to include me in their family cluster. Their loyalty and love is incomparable even through a thick layer of dysfunction and human flaws. It took me a while, but I understand why Zim became so attatched to these monkeys.

[blackberry-sage-tea]

I see a lot of people discussing the Veilguard art book and lost potential in the finished game, but most of the time it's about the Joplin cut of the game and the dropped ideas from it. I didn't think that was necessarily fair, because while a lot of Veilguard's plot has remnants of the Joplin cut, it involved a lot of spitballing from years and years before the game's release.

The concept art in the Veilguard section of the book is closer to what the game was intended as a finished product, and there's a lot of interesting tidbits to take out of it as well. I'd like to highlight some things.

(please forgive the crappy quality of the pictures I've included here but if you want to see the art properly you should really buy the book because it's gorgeous)

(tagging this as "veilguard critical" because my primary interest is exploring ways in which the finished game falls short of its extremely cool concept art)

Armors

Almost all of the armors in the game are a direct one-to-one translation of armors designed in the concept art, but with a few key differences that result in them looking significantly more garish in practice (sometimes it's the brighter/more saturated colors, but mostly I think it's character models that have very different proportions than a lot of these were clearly designed around). I've included a couple--I think if you compare them you'll see what I mean.

Another thing worth mentioning is that a lot of these come with special helmets or masks that "complete" the look--in the case of the Veil Jumper heavy armor I've included below, it's kind of nonsensical without one because it's clearly meant to resemble some sort of bulky diving suit (I don't think it was conceived as a combat armor at all). The game doesn't (iirc) include the helmets with the armors or tell you which one matches which.

I think this is down to technical/time constraints. I don't know pretty much anything about the modeling for the game and how the character creator shaped its character design principles, so I won't say anything more than that, only that the concept art and the finished game seem to have differing ideas of how character silhouettes should look.

Also of note is that the design notes of the mercenary armor set describe it as "an easy disguise for Rook to use to blend in when traveling in northern Thedas". These are the armors used in Blood of Arlathan--and yes, the concept art features hoods, helmets, and masks to cover the face.

Environments

Most of the environments that show up in the game can be found as direct translations of concept art from this book (albeit brightened and more saturated in-game), but there are a lot of dropped concepts.

Rivain was supposed to have an extremely diverse culture with even some ethnicities players wouldn't even recognize as being from Thedas, and a note that the growing Qunari community in the country alarmed "both Tevinter and the Qunari Triumvirate" (fascinating idea, too bad no Rivaini city made it into the game). There are some city ideas in early concept art but most of it is coastlines.

Minrathous has TONS of concept art for parts of the city we are never able to go to, such as an undercity, high town, the dwarven embassy, the Colosseum, mansions, etc etc.

There's concept art for the Black City in the Fade, making me wonder if we were going to go there at some point in development.

There's concept art for an Antaam dreadnought, so we were probably going to go on one at some point.

Arlathan had a lot of planned environments for more ancient ruins, areas of the forest that were being warped by magic, more ominous trees, etc. Another instance where something was supposed to be a lot bigger than what we got. Some of the art that looks like it was almost fully modeled are some "altered gravity" environments like the sort we saw in Trespasser.

The Anderfels was originally going to be mostly the red, cold, cliff-ridden desert that it's been described as in previous games. Instead, Hossberg is a swamp (I see no concept art for it in the book?). I think we were also supposed to see way more active Warden architecture, like outposts and stockades.

Something that I don't think is ever brought up (and is obfuscated by the terminology the game uses) is that the Lighthouse is a stolen eluvian hub, and the buildings are all separate buildings that got caught in the magical radius when Solas stole it. The light at the top is meant to scare away dangerous things from the Fade. Solas apparently is supposed to have deliberately offered this place to you as sanctuary? I don't think any of these things show up in the game, though Rook mentions a non-existent conversation with Solas talking about the Lighthouse.

There's a bit where it shows Neve's room in the concept art and it's so disappointing to compare that to the finished game. She almost had a proper noir detective office, dark and with "single lightbulb" style lighting. In game it's a very warm, bright, cutesy little space. It's not the only place that does this, it just highlights my biggest issue with the game's approach to its environments. Many of the locations are the same but the atmosphere is significantly weakened by its lighting choices.

Enemies

I mostly want to use this space to talk about dropped enemy/creature types, since that was something I felt the game was lacking and made the worldbuilding feel much smaller than Inquisition.

The art book has a dropped concept they called the Scoundrels, which was a set of enemies using reused assets that would serve as recurring mini-bosses, it seems. I've provided an example of some of them, which involve pallet swapping and mix-and-matching existing art assets to prove the concept. You would have choices on how to deal with them once defeated (like kill/spare), like the Inquisition judgment scenes.

They experimented with different types of dragons, including one designed around a bear animation rig instead of your typical high dragon.

Rivain was going to have a whole host of sea monster enemy types to encounter, including a "mermaid", a giant lobster monster, and a "land shark"

The Necropolis looks like it could have had way more enemy types than what we got, with suggestions of more "mad science" Frankenstein-esque enemies, giant skeletons, etc, as things the Mourn Watch typically fights or has to calm down.

Arlathan was going to have more types of plant enemies, including Sylvans and Veil Jumpers who were "incorporated" into the forest Annihilation style.

Factions

The game's factions in the art book each come with little blurbs that outline the intention behind their conceptual designs (most of which were put in the game, as I talked about earlier with the armors). I found these interesting mostly because of the parts that don't seem to match the finished product of Veilguard.

The Antivan Crows were designed around being showy, wealthy, carnivale/acrobat assassins, essentially. There was meant to be a wide range of Crow "types" at play, with some more ominous and threatening and others more stylish ("the elegant to the scoundrels"). One thing I want to quote directly comes at the end of the blurb: "They may not be nice, and it is totally reasonable for a player to be opposed to working with assassins, but this specific group is not intended to be uniformly grim". While the idea that they're a beloved part of Antivan culture seems planned from the start, this concept is still a far cry from the uncritical support you and your allies are forced to express in-game, and the "family friendly mafia" feel that pervades most interactions with them.

The Shadow Dragons were designed around being underdog vigilante criminals against an impossibly powerful political machine. The book explicitly cites both "Batman the Animated Series"'s Gotham as well as "The Shadow" (the latter for the Viper specifically) as inspiration (despite this, the game has only 1 nighttime scene in Tevinter and that's at the opening), which would imply that they were meant to be seen as anti-heroes. The bit at the end of this blurb is also revealing: "To redeem the Tevinter they love, they might have to make deals with demons both literal and metaphorical". This, too, suggests there was supposed to be a conflict of having to take extreme and underhanded measures to achieve their noble ends. They don't do anything objectionable in game so the remnants of this idea in Neve's storyline just looks like oversensitive hand-wringing.

The Lords of Fortune are essentially the fun-loving adventure faction. The blurb suggests a group with less scruples than what we got in game (emphasizing the money incentive when recovering or preserving artifacts, for example), but on the whole the big issue with this one is that it seems like most of their content didn't make it in. Their armors are so gaudy because they like to wear the treasure they find, and they're often so scantily clad because they're proud of their bodies and like to show them off (which would have been clearer with more Fortune NPCs to interact with).

The Mourn Watch feels like the most accurately realized faction in this game, because aside from some tonal differences (which, again, feel very much like color and art style problems) they are pretty much exactly what the concept blurb describes. Masters of necromancy who guard against threats from beyond the Veil and within the necropolis, who specialize in anatomy and all things spooky.

The Veil Jumpers, I think, were supposed to have a heavier emphasis on the danger of exploring Arlathan forest. The blurb feels almost like something written for a recruitment poster--Are you a brave enough dude to join an expedition to reach the forbidden city??? Reaching Arlathan sounds like it would have been a harrowing ordeal (no one has even set eyes on it), Veil Jumpers would have had homes in campsites, aravels, and tree-houses, and the reasoning behind inviting non-Dalish into the faction (which is suggested to be a very recent development) would have been justified by the sheer danger present in every waking moment of being in the enormous, shifting, transformative Arlathan forest. Also, in the really early designs, some of them were shapeshifters.

The Grey Wardens are...well, they've already been designed in previous games so there isn't actually a lot to add here. Probably the biggest thing talked about in the notes that I'm disappointed by is that there was, originally, an intention to make the Northern wardens more distinct from the ones we already knew. There would be a lot of warden types where some were dark and hardened from what they'd experienced, where others were more the classic knight in shining armor. Some would have remnants of the cultures they came from (like an Orlesian warden in a fancy outfit wearing a mask, or a warden that looks kind of like a cowboy), others would fit the mold of a standard warden more strongly.

As a side note I want to say that I see a lot of concept art of the factions "in action"--it's clear they were thinking about ways in which they handled missions and engaged with the world. I am reasonably sure that the faction system as a whole was part of the multiplayer design philosophy that got dragged into the final singleplayer game--you're just supposed to pick a faction and can play missions for them with your friends. The story is bare-bones but it doesn't have to be elaborate because it's the gameplay experience that brings you back, not the story or characters. They just need to be cool enough to draw your attention.

The reason I bring this up is because in-game your main experience with these canonically awesome, badass faction members is them standing around doing nothing while you go out and do most of the hard work for them. Having a bunch of factions of adventurers shaping the world around them makes sense for a game where you are playing with others--not so much when you're in a single-player game that doesn't allow for extra NPCs to tag along.

I think it would also explain why some factions have less content than others--all of them were created under a different design philosophy than the one they were finished under (where the story relevant ones were prioritized over the ones that weren't).

Others

Other tidbits I wasn't sure where they fit in:

The notes on Venatori magisters indicates a "daytime" and "nighttime" appearance set. This, coupled with another note on the Rivaini coasts that mentions the environment changing with the tide, implies there may have been some kind of day and night mechanic in the works that got scrapped (similar to DA2).

Notes on Antaam and Venatori enemies suggests there were more support classes (ex, an Antaam war drummer).

There are several creature or outfit designs (such as the Crow head helmet) that are said to have been made as "Halloween" outfits--this seems to me like a remnant of when this was planned to be a live-service game, perhaps as part of holiday armor packs.

Assan's back legs were conceived as actually being part dog rather than part lion.

Emmrich becoming a lich looks like it might have been more explicitly motivated by his fear of dying (choosing to become undead for immortality) rather than his fear being the barrier between him and lichdom as the game has it (he frames it in-game as being more of some kind of protective duty).

Anyway, I think most people who have paid attention to the development of the game are aware of the idea that DA4 started as a single player game, got scrapped and remade as a live service multiplayer, and then that got scrapped and remade into the single player game that we have today. Now, I can't claim to be particularly knowledgeable on the subject, but the impression I am getting by reading the art book is that massive amounts of Veilguard's game design is still based around being a live service multiplayer.

I think the concept art of this game and its factions is so grandiose and dramatic compared to what we got because they would have originally had the time and funding to make those levels while people are paying for and playing the base game. The factions have very few developed NPCs and bare-bones storylines because the intention was originally for you and your friends and other players to be what the factions consisted of. The gameplay is an action RPG because tactical RPGs don't work well when you're playing something live with other people. The environmental design is mostly linear "dungeon" style levels with very few open hub levels because anything that leads to you wandering around ignoring your friends for story is not good for the multiplayer. You get no faction interactions because each one was its own self-contained part of the game players could pick from. Etc etc.

I think the process of making Veilguard was taking the story from Joplin (which has a chapter of the artbook that extensively details its story but suggests very little if any assets were made for the game) and the assets from Morrison (a game that has no chapter of its own in the book and no indication of what, if any, story it would have had) and stapling them together even though the two of them were not at all designed with the other in mind. They spent their development time making what they had as finished and unbuggy as possible, and then had to give up on the rest because they didn't have enough time.

I know this was kind of already obvious to anyone paying attention (I've certainly seen some people talk about it before) but I didn't feel like I really understood it before reading the art book. At the same time--Veilguard looks like it had a lot of cool concepts? Even assuming a lot of these are from Morrison, like, these factions could have all felt like they worked? They could have kept that grey morality feel (in fact it sounds like they planned to), the themes of comradery while fighting against what seem like insurmountable odds, the sense of adventure and danger. The art style includes ideas both wondrous and frightening, and it could have added a lot of richness to the setting if nothing else.

I felt this way reading the Inquisition artbook too but the foundations of the series still feel pretty sound, you can see a lot of love and work and creativity went into the designs for this.

I just don't feel like the finished game matched what I see here.

Would love to see the 80 pound version of this book, Matt Rhodes.

[jaysflix]

Blind

Pairing: Papa Emeritus III / Reader (gn) Genre: angst, fluff Warnings: mentions of death. Also, I don't speak Latin, so forgive me for the rough translations.

Oh, so many ideas for drabbles. I'm getting back on track this time I promise. Chapter 4 of my series is in the works but in the meantime, my account needs a little reviving, take this Terzo drabble I've had in my mind for a bit.

“He represents this frustrated old guy who hates everyone, especially himself. But despite his wounds and his darkness, he has a sense of humor and is endearing, like most of my heroes. The late actor Christopher Lee was an inspiration to me. In many ways, he is Papa.” (Metallian 7/2015) (x)

1.7k words

Through the lens of the world, many would see the utter disgust ripping from the seams. Thread, tinged red with passion and a wave of fuming anger, began to tear, unable to safely retain his truth. It could only hold back so much, he was close to tipping toward the breaking point. After all these years, you'd think he'd at least open the gates, sharing his frustration with a tussle. No, he was trained better than that. Living in constant need of praise from his deadbeat father while trying to uphold the terrifying role of the papacy molded the mind to take whatever criticism was handed to him. He would no longer argue, for it proved to be useless in the past.

So, there he sat, his ears actively shunning every grim word spewing from his father's mouth, the presence of his brothers not helping his case. They said nothing, faces solemn and gazing to the floor. They've all learned their lesson when it came to barking back. It's hard not to when Nihil clearly doesn't know what he raised if he raised them at all. Nihil was an open book; air-headed as they come, narrow-minded, and worst of all, regardless of his power, he's just a submissive toy to his lover, whom he remained unfaithful to and still expects something in return for his hard work. What a sad, old fart.

Well, like it was any of Terzo's business anyway. He'd much rather see his own father suffer in the hands of Sister Imperator, who was much more present in his earlier years than he ever was. She was the one to encourage Terzo to pursue the "Papa-Path" (as he referred it to) like he had a choice. Nevertheless, he would've declined upfront if he had one.

The room had gotten silent as Nihil finished his unnecessary rant, and all Terzo could do was sit there and take it. He felt a strand of thread stretch thinner, bound to break. Slowly he breathed in, easing the enhanced discomfort of his mind. There was a slight ringing in his ear, substituting Nihil’s booming voice. Terzo peered up through his brows, fingers placed on his temple to further show his disinterest. His brothers awaited a response, though they were more invested than he ever was. Instead, he dropped his hand, hoisting himself up from the wingback.

Nihil and Terzo were closer in height as the old man's back curled toward the grave. Give a few years and he'd be with the rest of the family underground, lost in the dark halls of sacred catacombs. His mind cursed him, a sense of relief at the thought.

He glanced over to his eldest brother, who always wore a somber expression for as long as he could remember. Primo, being the first, had to experience the burden of becoming Papa as soon as he could think. At first, the idea of holding so much power to influence others felt, ironically, like a blessing. Until he'd gotten older, he realized and regretted being delivered to the blackened hands of his father. Then, he was burdened, not once, but twice more as Secondo and Terzo arrived around the same time. Primo raised his brothers involuntarily. He wanted them to be better than Nihil, and the rest of the clergy.

Terzo loved him dearly for the tender memories, and it pained him to know that Primo wanted more than to be Papa.

As for the middle child, who knows what he really wanted? Secondo kept to himself most days. He was a studious man before his reign, fishing for attention from anyone of a higher status. Then, during his time, he only lasted a few years after dedicating most of his life to fully understanding the responsibility of being Papa. Not only that, but he wished to share his love with the world.

That left Terzo, who was quite troubled for some time before becoming a puppet. There was nothing left for him now. His time is coming to an end. No fights. Just acceptance.

His brothers glanced back over at him, along with his father. Terzo said nothing, robes draping delicately over his legs, getting caught in the wind with every step forward and out of the conference room.

The thread continued to stretch thinner as he made way through the familiar corridors. He'd taken a longer route back to his room, traveling through the silent garden Primo would spend the rest of his days in. He always appreciated beautiful things. Terzo copied him, deciding he too would cherish the grace of well-kept flowers. Even as the days grew colder, the petals managed to bloom brightly.

Centered in the whimsical garden, down the short flight of stairs, an osier surrounded itself with a ring of stone, beckoning Terzo to sit underneath its bowing arms. He found the right space to rest on, thoughts quickly rushing to his head in the silence of the night. He shuddered thinking of the opportunities that could've been out there for him if his blood wasn't damned.

The early autumn breeze slipped through the hedges, earning a ripple of bustling leaves which calmed the tightened nerves. It was a drastic change in setting; from rising tensions to a quiet life of nature. However, he was too into his stirring thoughts to notice another troubled neighbor wandering behind where he sat. Until he heard the dragging of feet against the graveled floor, his head whipped over his shoulder. There was a sign of embarrassment through his words,

"I didn't realize this place was occupied. I will go then." You wanted to laugh at his proper behavior. It was very unseen when you were with him. He hadn't registered that the presence was familiar because the moon had been shielding itself. He turned again, jumping ever so slightly upon realization.

He breathed out heavily, "Oh, gratias Satanas." Terzo pinched his nose, frustrated, yet relieved. That's when you laughed.

"Is all well, Papa?" He scoffed.

"I wish I could say it was." You walked over, sitting closely at his side, bringing a hand to rub softly across his shoulder blades.

"Do tell. It's beneficial to let these bottled feelings loose." Terzo looked at you, straightening his posture to seem more collected, though you could tell he was not. He looked into your soft eyes, so full of passion, so alive, and so very kind. There was never a moment where he doubted his love for you, and he wanted so badly to live in your arms forever, forgetting all his responsibilities and the rest of the world who expected too much from him.

You felt his eyes look up and down rapidly at your lips. Taking his hand with a small, reassuring squeeze, you kissed him. It was a short one, light in the way he hated. Terzo desired to kiss you heavily, letting you feel his frustration with the burning heat of his body merged against yours. But you were persistent, wanting to hear his words in order to help him truly overcome his worries. Terzo, when upset, could never formulate the right sentences.

"Papa, I know it's hard." You pecked him again, this time holding on a little longer. He sighed into it, hands darting to your cheeks so you wouldn't break away. He pressed hard, trying so desperately to let the moment last. He kissed you again and again in the same spot, the thread losing control only to snap. Terzo's tears didn't make it past his lashes as he blinked them away. It hurt to feel him so shut off, each kiss laced with a sadness you've never felt before. He was so tired of everything. His lips finally pulled from yours, leaning against your forehead as his hands rested where they were.

You caressed his wrists,

"Please. What is wrong?"

"I'm afraid." He confessed.

"Of what?" Everything, he wanted to answer. There was a lot to be afraid of, but what struck his heart was the fear of leaving this world with no legacy left behind for people to remember him by.

Being forgotten.

"My work. It all means nothing. I am nothing." His hands missed the warmth of you when they returned to his lap.

The confession dropped like a bomb. Questions filled the silence in the air. For how long did he feel like this? How did this happen? Why does he think this way? I am nothing. His words repeated in your mind, shattering your soul.

You protested,

"Oh Papa, that's not possible."

"I don't believe that."

"But it's true!" He stifled a sarcastic laugh. You spaced out in thought, thinking of a way to make him see. You grabbed for his hands,

"Then, we'll switch eyes."

"What?"

"Have you got a spoon?"

"A spoon?" You knew it was a silly thing to suggest, and of course, it was all jokes, but you wanted to say something that will at least bring his mood up from the pits of his stomach.

Nodding, you told him your plan.

“Yes, a spoon to scoop our eyes from the sockets. We can trade them." He laughed. It was working.

"Then what?" You smiled,

"You'll wear mine, so you can see that you are worth more than anything in this world. You mean so much to everyone who ever crossed your path."

“And what about mine?”

The wind ruffled the leaves again. September's wind could not be mistaken for October's. It was much gentler, a soothing introduction for the wilting that was to come. Colors die as the months move on before new life is reborn in April when rain is gifted across the land.

Terzo felt the ticking strike in his eyes. Sand drained to the bottom of the bulb hanging over his head. Time was nearing to an end.

“I’ll get rid of them.” The answer got caught in your throat. He’d warned you about his last moments so long ago. At first, it was too far in the future to even consider. Now, you felt the reaper crawl closer.

“But then you won’t be able to see.”

“You see yourself as nothing. I’d rather succumb to the void than wear your eyes, because at least I’ll know you’ll be here, as something.”

As silly as this conversation had ended, Terzo felt lucky. Even in his grave, the fear was replaced with peace. You'd remember him always, not by his role, but by the sputters of white in the sky and the cold wind in the garden, where you offered every part of your warmth that would stay in his still heart forever.

[pochapal]

1. Congrats on the kinda blown up post!

2. This is a really weird, kinda stupid ask, but out of the Umineko characters u know, who seems like they’d be the most fun to play in a ttrpg? I ask because I know multiple people have done this one character and, for spoilery reasons, I have no clue how.

1: thank you i guess! feels weird to have a post gain traction among people beyond my usual follower circle lmao

2: now the first thing you need to know is that i don't do ttrpgs or understand anything about them in any meaningful way so this is very hard to consider. i do think the dice rolling factor of certain tabletops plays nicely with the whole "demon's roulette" angle of umineko except for the part where umineko only pretends like it's a series of random chance events and not a thoroughly premeditated script but maybe chance vs control could thematically translate into a good ttrpg character basis maybe? i guess the hard thing with umineko is that everything including its characters was not designed for a rng roll one outcome of millions scenario but instead deliberate consideration and understanding - idk much about ttrpgs but i feel like needing to take a 3000 word break to painstakingly sketch out a deeply biased account of a character's tragic backstory in order to explain the relevance of the morally questionable action they have just taken (the explaining of which being as plot-critical as the actions themselves) isn't the most friendly thing you could mix in with a ttrpg formula.

as character archetypes i think a great deal of umineko characters ire fun and engaging to explore on their own terms, but ttrpgs often have a growth/power fantasy element baked into them that isn't entirely congruent with the grounding theses of most of the cast. natsuhi is deeply fascinating as an individual but "powerless woman who is snared in the twin nets of pride and desperation and whose only agency is whether or not she can uphold a conspiracy to people who can leverage all kinds of abuse towards her" doesn't really work in any kind of rpg sense. if natsuhi were to get "stronger" and "advance" this would lay ruin to the underpinning tragic essence of what makes natsuhi *natsuhi*. same goes even for characters like battler who you'd think would click more with this formula - even a hypothetical mystery-solving based ttrpg could not accommodate battler as the inherent gamification of the narrative necessitates truths and evidence being revealed on a diegetic level in such a way that battler could actually figure out, and at that point what we're talking about is basically danganronpa instead of umineko.

i think in this way despite being a vn and thus a form of video game so much of umineko is heavily resistant to being "played" in the traditional game sense. there is a game going on in umineko between writer and reader, but this is a game of thinking and interpretation and understanding and not something that can be broken down into quantifiable Progression Units. the only "final boss" of umineko is your own lack of understanding and this fight is waged in your own head and not within the fabric of the story - even if in umineko proper battler "figures out" the mystery, it won't end up in a climactic final fantasy-esque showdown with beatrice on rokkenjima. gamification is kind of like "fantasy" within a narrative context (this is something i have/will talk about more in the writeup so forgive me if this isn't clearly defined yet) in that it's an embellished obfuscation of truth in the Romantic sense where you get lost in the process rather than the results - in theory, battler cornering beatrice during the denouement and saying definitively "this is the truth behind everything" is as a decisive an action as battler using the power of anime and friendship to energy blast beatrice into ash. the difference is the former keeps the mystery and tragedy front and center, while the latter out of necessity makes it specifically about battler as the center of the narrative universe.

this goes into the territory of mystery fiction and whether or not the designated Detective (capitalized in the stock archetype way and not the literary analysis dichotomy way) character must also occupy the traditional role of protagonist in the Hero sense. battler is the central character in umineko and the most crucial information is filtered through his lens, but battler is not the Hero of umineko - he is a passive witness to the tragedy who can only grow more desperate and powerless as the atrocities continue to pile up. the troubling thing about a lot of mystery is how you make a Detective that isn't basically just a cop - there is a certain power tension in mystery where through uncovering the truth the Detective takes the obfuscating "power" held by the Culprit and redirects into a clarifying force of their own. a denouement is when the Detective has, after a sort of hero's journey, acquired enough truth/power to unmask/dominate the Culprit, and as a "reward" is able to use the power structures of society (police, carceral punishment, "Just" murder) to get their way (return to a status quo) where the Culprit was previously able to use the power structures of mystery narratives (tricks, unreliable perspective, misdirection, "Unjust" murder) in order to get theirs (subversion of the status quo in accordance with their motive). all of this very easily feeds into copaganda-esque regurgitations of power dynamics and grows more prominent the more physical agency a Detective-Hero has in their given narrative situation.

bring those elements to a gamified stage and what you're left with is more a simulation of dominion through your character's power biases than a nuanced understanding of the social conditions that led to the formation of these events in the first place. you could of course perform a complete dissection of the Events and Circumstances of a ttrpg's setting, but is producing a diatribe on social structures and reinforcement of power akin to "playing"? i think maybe an umineko character might work in an undertale/deltarune-esque manner where there is an explicit conflict and tension inherent to the non-neutral action of "controlling" a character, but i don't see how that easily fits into the dna specifically of ttrpgs. there is an element of roleplay in ttrpgs where there is a meeting of the player's self and the character's self in order to produce the performance of the game-narrative in accordance with the structural rules. laying out like that i guess there's overlap between the premise of a roleplay-focused ttrpgs and the Witch Narrative, but both have different causes and different end goals. in a ttrpg no matter what in some form your goal is to "win", to attain something and move on to the next thing - everything in a ttrpg/game serves more as a vessel to enable the player to both achieve and experience a victory-state. there are ttrpg types that could interrogate these elements in a satisfying way, but nothing in umineko is directly about these things and thus a translation in this form would be to lose something in the process.

you don't come to umineko to "win" umineko. or if you do you'll quickly figure out that that is something not possible within the story's verbage. mystery and horror and tragedy do not produce victory in the conventional sense and any story in those genres that uncritically ends on a "victory" is dubious at best and incompetent at worst. in these worlds and fictions, how is it that something you could call victory can be attained? what sort of person would you need to be in order to strive for this victory? if any of the umineko characters were capable of this trajectory then they would never have ended up in the situation that they are in. to not only be concerned with powergaming but also to have the ability to do so fundamentally changes an individual's position within a narrative - for the premise to exist it implies a way out of any potential hardship, that if you're good enough at [power verb] then you can attain autonomy/power/dominion. nobody on rokkenjima ever had any of these things, which is why this is all happening in the first place. i don't think you can ever satisfactorily separate umineko characters from their disempowering material conditions like that.

the silly answer to this question, of course, has to be beatrice who has already been roleplayed by half of the cast of umineko at this point anyway. beatrice "exists" and beatrice is a vessel for power so in this way beatrice is already kind of a ttrpg character in that sense if the ttrpg's goal is desperate slaughter through at least two layers of metaphor and obfuscation. the important thing to take into account is that a playable ttrpg character "exists" and so maybe if more people on rokkenjima were into roleplaying none of these horrors would be happening lol.

[neonscandal]

Neon, from all openings and endings songs of BNHA & JJK, which are your fav? Why?

Ooof, you're probably expecting really deep analysis to accompany these likes but my pleasure is not always that deep so please lower your expectations! I'm usually listening and looking at the animations for easter eggs and vibes, if anything, I don't religiously look up translations. Some of your questions are so funny to me, I'm sorry to disappoint if this wasn't what you were expecting!

This is a light skinned man. IYKYK

JJK

Off the top of my head, I feel like JJK has no misses? Hitting different vibes but nothing that feels like a theme song. Don't get me wrong, I love a good "Gotta Catchem All" or Pokemon Rap, too, but I prefer songs that don't feel out of place if it just popped up on shuffle, you know?

KaiKai Kitan - THE TROLLING.

Lost in Paradise - Catchy AF. Plus, this was as close as we were getting to a filler episode. I love how "simple" the illustration style is but the animations of each character have so much personality in their movements. Plus, provided a solid cozy cosplay on the last day of cons when you want to dress up but don't want to be encumbered as you hit the dealer room and artist alley.

Give it Back - even without the translation, this is sad. The animation is sad. The idea of this day that never happened when you think about the canon timeline is sad. It inspired a mediocre lil oneshot because why would they do this to me, specifically? This, of course, is animating something so realistic but ethereal.

Ichizu - okay, so maybe I looked up the translation to this one too and just.. SatoSugu.

Where Our Blue Is and Lantern - make me want to burst into flames? Also, I had a no-sleep-epiphany the other night where, if Geto was the last blue spring of Gojo's youth and blue is the basis of Gojo's strength then... I failed to make a sensical connection because I clearly don't rest and I'm unwell. It's currently 3:45AM. But it was something along the lines of equating that Gojo is not at full strength without Geto.

Specialz - this animation is just. 😘👌🏾 Also the breakdown at "I love you, baby". Nevermind that it is synonymous with tragedy and trauma. King Gnu clearly must have known that when signing on since a great deal of JJK songs are theirs

More Than Words - Again, simple illustration but also capturing this idea of youth for the trio which... after S2 is so *melt emoji*?? I think the theme of romanticizing life and their connection to one another while actively contrasting with murder and mayhem is so funny to me. 🥲

God tier level looping, tbh. Ty for your service @osakaxkobe

MHA

Def more of a casual enjoyer for the music on MHA. Especially since the brain rot for this series didn't set in for a very long time so I had to go back and look up each song.

Peace Sign - my niece and nephew dance to this song dramatically and, knowing none of the words confidently, sing anyway. I think it's the instrumentals and the clapping that does it for me haha

Odd Future - lowkey meets the "appears on shuffle without being too embarrassing" requirement but, with MHA being as pervasive as it is... will not beat the weird kid allegations if this pops up because I think it's recognizable

Merry Go Round - That "Hey Brother Listen" popped off so does the crescendo.

Hitamuki - I just like the graphical switch up to the comic book style because isn't it so silly and cute just to preface some trauma??

North Wind - are you kidding me? Showing all these critical moments from Deku's first. person. perspective. to elevate how important the people shown are when we've had largely the whole story from his actual first person perspective? As he's running to catch up to everything the story has built up to like running through a museum exhibit. Inspired. Beautiful. No notes.

Sketch - for the depression. ✨

Datte Atashi no Hero - just... fantasy AU. Song I can do without but who am I to ignore the best AU illustrated and animated? A nobody, that's who.

Believe - Hawks really said "The next time the cherry blossoms fall, I hope we will all be smiling" and then everything went to shit.

Shout Baby - less song more visual commentary. Hero or villain, it all started where Class 1A is right now, some of it even sooner (like with Tenko).

[brownbitchshit]

Review filled with probable unpopular opinions and spoilers.........

Before I start the review,I'd like to say that I went into watching this movie with the absolute mindset that there's no way a book like RWRB (which is one of my most favourite books of all time) can be adapted into a 2 hour long movie and since series wasn't doable, I'll have to make do with this. So I truly went in with the hopes of seeing my FirstPrince and generally getting the heart of the movie. But contrary to what people are saying, I think the movie tried to adapt too much of the book plot and lost the main vibe of the story in the process. As I go into the details and spoilers, I'd like to be clear that they are my opinions only. It's in no way an attack or criticisms on anyone who loved the movie. So please do not take it personally and consider it my ranting.

................................. Spoilers.….....................................

1. First problem I have with the movie is how much it tried to adapt of the book. I know, it sounds controversial but lemme explain. The book had too many plots and I personally felt like despite cutting down characters and simplifying some major plot points, the movie tried to show too much of too many plots. In the process, the plots that needed the time to breathe in order to translate the main heart of the story, got lost in translation. For example Henry losing his father, his existential crisis, him being in the closet for the crown. Even though he kept saying he cant be out and everything but the story never really showed what's at stake. Even Stephen Fry's King seemed very harmless which made the entire plot kind of moot. Same goes for Alex. Without his parents' divorce, his entire I don't think I'm good enough vibe just didn't come across. I generally felt like in order to get all the stories across, they didn’t spend any time to capture the fear of them being together, the horror of being out and the repercussions of what it meant and mostly why their characters are more than just 'Privileged public figures who live in palaces'. By not showing Henry's mom they erased the pain and impact he had of losing his father and by not showing June and Alex's parents' divorce,they erased the explanation about his fierceness and determination.

2. I personally was in support of aged-up Alex and Henry simply because it made their love-story more solid. But the problem was despite having aged-up cast, Matthew Lopez tried to keep their characters very true to the book. Which meant at time Taylor Zakhar Perez as Alex looked extremely immature and weird acting like a early 20 something guy when he clearly was not. Also his entire 'They don't like me' 'I don't know if I'm good enough' insecurity seemed childish especially since none of his other issues were shown like his parents's divorce or ADHD. Again I think instead of going through the checklist of getting all the book plots done, they should have explained Alex's background a little more showing why him as a brown man feels this need to be the best, why he finds it so hard to accepted by people. Obviously they mention it, but they never get into it. Which is a shame tbh.

3. Erasing June and keeping Nora while not explaining who Nora is, kind of lightened Alex's character even more. Apart from helping Alex to realize his sexuality, she literally served no purpose. At least if June were there, they could've shown some sibling bonding and a deeper look at Alex's character and explain the whole dynamic of being the first son and daughter of USA while being POCs.

4. The few changes that truly bothered me which served no purpose at all and again changed the tone of the film are Alex's confession scene in the rain and him giving a speech without Henry's input. I don't know why they chose not to give us the passionate reunion when Alex storms into the Kensington and instead cut to the V&A scene because honestly it didn’t make sense. We could do without the V&A scene and instead spend more time on them talking about their feelings more and just spend more time into that moment to build its momentum. It all felt extremely rushed which easily could have been avoided. And also why Alex will choose to come out without Henry and make a speech about their relationship without their input made no sense. It just made it seem like being Bi and dating Henry is easier for Alex and he had no real threat by putting himself out there like that whereas in the book we could feel how vulnerable it made him and how scared they both were when he made the 'America, he is my choice' speech.

Now the things that I liked/loved :

1. The lake scene. The entire scene was so well done, maybe because for once they took the time to slow down and let Henry's emotion show for once. I thought it was more beautiful than it was in the book.

2. Alex's involvement in the politics. If there was one thing that Matthew Lopez did to adjust the plot to Alex's age was this and I personally liked seeing this bit because again for the first time it gave us a glimpse of who Alex was and what his ambitions were which was lacking from the rest of the film.

3. Alex's scenes with his family was spot on. No complain there.

4. Alex and Henry's intimate scenes were well done. Although I wish they were a bit longer and more sensual but I liked it. I am confused though why is this film R-rated (except for TZP's butt scene) because the sex scenes were extremely innocent.

5. Henry when he finds out about the leak. That scene was again well done because they took the time to show the emotion and the heart of the movie.

To sum it up, I feel like the movie tried to adapt too much of the book. I think Matthew truly made the movie like a fan which in my opinion backfired a little. Because I think since this book is too long to be adapted into a movie, the best course of action should've been to capture the main theme of the story and make many changes accordingly. I think he chose to serve the book lovers, which is not a bad way to make an adaptation but I think as a movie, it is what let it down. As the book fan, you probably will be happy to see the plot checklists being ticked in. But as a movie, I found the plots very rushed, characters underdeveloped and underutilized, unnecessary storylines and the love story underdeveloped. Although I would give kudos to Nicholas Galitzine and Taylor Zakhar Perez because they were good as Henry and Alex. I wish Matthew had done a better job with their character development because these two could have really made Henry and Alex into 100% perfection and take the movie to the next level.