#sorry for my faulty english and phrasing

[thesuntookgoodcareofme]

Was seeing discussion on queer communities in general as always and this could have been much better phrased but i think it's important to notice that being queer doesnt actually demand suffering but these two are correlated because of the way society as a whole treats queerness, word that comes from being distinct and irregular and not necesserely bearer of all curses, despite the desire for it to mean the later that some cishet people seem to exhibit (though not exclusively). Still, it is extremely important to notice how unequal is the prejudice against people in the queer community compared to others and it doesnt make anyone less queer, but it means some people are in more vulnerable positions than other of us and they are in much more risk of violence, and should have their safety and rights prioritized and ensured. No one should be left behind and by that we mean especially these more intersectionaly marginalized people

[perpetual-fool]

-

(It's not worth telling the whole story about this.)

I had the idea that people are running on 'fake' logic. Like, take the 'fact/opinion' false dichotomy. 'Fact' itself conflates 'true/false' and 'objective/subjective'. But 'opinion' merely means 'a conclusion or judgment'. I thought this sort of thing was just messy semantics, bad phrasing of the English language. But a conversation last night, struggling to explain 'subjectivity' to an old woman, convinced me otherwise. Analogous to having learned a faulty version of math, maybe.

I'm struggling to draw a conclusion from this. I guess, things don't make sense to me because they actually don't make sense, broken at the most fundamental level. It's not my fault. I have nothing to be sorry for. I will never figure things out when starting in the middle. Like, I can't just look at existing frying pans and deduce what the optimal frying pan(s) must be.

And maybe I'll get some sort of 'logic euphoria' by defining fundamental concepts. Like with math. I did enjoy math, once upon a time. It was a rush 'getting' how a new concept works, how it fit. But that was way back, second grade I think. It was simple enough that they couldn't fuck it up. Then there was an incident that made it clear it was just busywork. And then it became memorizing arbitrary equations. Which had always been the intent, they just messed up and accidentally taught me something meaningful.

And tangentially, is the pain due to 'logic dysphoria'? I mean, that feels about right. Like gender dysphoria except instead of gender it's everything.

Like, I was considering the other day an aspect of game design. I'm playing this thing, I have a perk that gives me money when I kill an enemy, and there's an infinite enemy spawner. Logically that should be a way to make infinite money. But of course, no, those enemies don't count. They could've justified it somehow, but they didn't. The logical implication is inconvenient here, so we're just going to break the rules. It's not allowed to just work. Maybe that's what intriguing to me about the Morrowind 'potion of potion making' exploit, that it's allowed to be.

Hmm.

[mcrmadness]

A Masterpost: ALL MY OLD die ärzte (aka Bela&Farin) COMICS (from 2010-2011)

I’ve lately been talking about my art, especially comics, here a lot but I have never posted my OLD old dä comics here! That’s about to change now. The old ones happened in 2010-2011 when I was 19-20 years old, so they are a bit cringy now :D The scans are my old ones so don’t mind about cat hair or something like that in some of the scans. And I know: my hand writing hasn’t really changed in the past 10-15 years at all :DD

And a slash warning (do I really need that with this fandom tho..?) because I used to draw just very fluffy Bela/Farin comics and they barely have any good plots even. There’s just 4 overall in this post and they all are quite short. But at least for me it’s fun to see how far I have come and how I’ve gotten better at drawing!

Anyway, without further ado, this is where it all started:

Bela&Farin - “Du willst mich küssen”

Simply the idea came from the fact I noticed that on the “Du willst mich küssen” single there’s only one additional song: “Die Antwort bist du”, and that one out of all the potential other songs from the studio album. (Now I’m wondering if I should try to redraw this some day to see my progress? :DD)

The rest under the cut because they get very cringy but if you want to read B/F fluff comics and facepalm at my idiotic humour, go ahead and click the read more link.

Bela&Farin - Bela will ein Baby

(eng. Bela wants to have a baby)

This one was the first I did in German and I traumatized myself. I had just started learning German and totally failed everything and an (old) online friend, native German, wrote something that indicated laughing and I felt so insecure about my German after that that even today I have a fear of saying/writing even simple German words in front of native Germans. She anyway “beta read��� the plot and corrected every faulty phrase (aka every phrase) and this is what she suggested that I’d write, and that’s what I did.

The plot shortly: Bela just wants to have a baby but he wants it with Farin obviously, so Farin says they’re both men and can’t reproduce together but Bela found a solution: he found them a surrogate mother. Problem solved.

***

Bela&Farin - “Beer Belly”

Prepare yourself for a cringe overload :)) I’m so sorry that you have to suffer through this.

With this the idea came from the live videos I was watching back then - lots of live videos from 2007-2009 and I noticed that Bela just kept growing and losing his belly all the time. (OMG HELP I’m crying because “SQUEAK SQUEAK” XDDDDDD)

Also the ending is... I don’t know what is it. I guess I just wanted Rod ot make an appearance and didn’t come up anything better than this ::D My peak of humour is right there btw: anything that happens at the background. That shit just never gets old for me. So I find that still funny in this comic but I have no clue how a bass can be pregnant.

Also hey, I have started drawing shadows :DD

And yes, Bela actually did have a cow t-shirt like that in some of the videos and I just had to draw it! And btw, the reason for the fluff is probably because the concerts where those videos were from? It was extremely slashy, Bela and Farin barely could keep their hands off of each other so you really can’t blame me for all this. The ship just sails itself.

***

Bela&Farin - “Zucker”

(eng. “Sugar” - this one was again in German because it wouldn’t work in English. This time I think I did all the language stuff myself but I can’t remember for sure so maybe I got help, maybe I didn’t... This is the last one of these old comics and my personal favorite. You can see that my style somehow went through some major changes but I don’t know what even happened there. I can’t remember.)

I can’t get over Farin’s hair in the last panel, I drew it so perfectly and I still don’t know how to recreate that lol. And now I’m losing it at that tiny “XD” in the grin panel because I found it so stupid looking - the first time I had even drawn a grin for him lmao. Also ignore Farin’s arm that has suddenly lost all its color. (Aka: someone forgot to color it.)

THE IDEA for this comic is simply in the name of brown sugar. At least in Finnish that is called as “fariinisokeri”, which always amuses me still after 12 years because I am a bit simple sometimes, and I figured that it can also be called “Farinzucker” in German so of course I needed to make a Bela/Farin comic about it.

The dialog for those who don’t speak German (too well) yet - Bela just goes to Farin to ask for “Farin sugar” and Farin first is like “nope” but then “jk” and they lived happily ever after. Or something.

***

BONUS:

Something I drew with a ballpoint pen once when I was visiting my aunt and cousin and was bored and doodled this. I like drawing repeated patterns like brick walls or apparently also flowers.

And I have no idea where did I draw this - maybe it was something to do with one course through the employment agency as I tend to doodle when in any kind of class. I feel like I had been watching “Die band, die sie Pferd nannten” prior to this, based on Bela’s looks.

And it was back in 2010, I didn’t have a smart phone yet so no internet to use for reference photos :D

***

So, back to the comics - I only made these 4 back then but before this I did draw other stuff and comics too. I drew several of them as horses when I still didn’t know how to draw humans, and I also have one of them as rats too. The rat one might work as a redrawn human comic, tho... Anyway, at some point I got annoyed because I didn’t like drawing them as horses or rats and wanted to invent a “human style” so then one night, this happened:

The texts are mainly just me chanting how I’m dying from laughter etc. That is actually what I do when I am very insecure of what I do and then I just start openly laughing at everything and myself, that way things don’t feel as bad failures than what they actually are :D (And yeah I know the article is wrong at some point, let’s just say I hadn’t memorized all the article stuff from German yet :D I don’t know if I had even started learning German yet at that point.)

But yeah, then I did find the style and these are the next sketches from my sketchbook:

The bottom left says “facial experessions” - and oh my god I was so damn cringe whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy---

but anyway, those were what I ended up with eventually and the rest is history. I think I’m still gonna make one post with stuff I drew in 2018 and that I haven’t posted here yet as there’s still a few of those, too.

[somedrunkpirate]

what we lack in words  (Ineffable Husbands Ficlet)

Read the whole thing on ao3 here!

Teaser:

Crowley sways his way to the front door, the ringing of the bell piercing through his head like a particularly persistent woodpecker. 

The delivery should have been here an hour ago, and Crowley and Aziraphale had spent the time drinking perhaps more than was prudent, if one wished to interact with the outside world in a fashionable manner. 

Aziraphale’s pouting while complaining of hunger had been the match to a rumbling fire of frustration, so by the time the delivery girl says, “It was with rice, right?”, there is no stopping the flames of hell. 

“Give it,” Crowley hisses, eyes flashing. “If you are too stupid to do this simple task, I do not trust you to be able to throw it away either! I shall do the honours.”

She makes no move to hand it over, which only reveals more foolishness. Who dares to stand in the way of Crowley, demon of the underworld, giver of choice and creator of sin? 

Crowley is about to set the record straight with some well placed infernal curses, when the kid goes from a defensive stance to a huff of relief. 

Aziraphale pipes up behind him, “What is going on? Why are we taking so long, I’m quite hungry— oh there we are. Thank you, dear, it's quite the weather isn’t it?” 

The teen mutters a very audible ‘Thank God’, under her breath, before saying,  “I am sorry, sir, for the delay. There was a traffic jam because of the rain.” Her gaze flickers between them before clearing her throat. “I think we might have gotten the order wrong too and your husband here is not taking it too kindly.” 

Crowley, in a mist of offence, opens his mouth to snap something— anything to put the fear of all that is unholy into this mortal child— how dare she point to him as the villain in this situation when she forgot the egg noodles. It’s Aziraphale’s favorite. It shan’t be forgiven. 

But just before he can speak, he trips over one peculiar word she said and all thought is scattered in the following proverbial fall.

Husband. 

Aziraphale smiles, the kind of smile that soothes even the most prickly of people, and says, “My apologies for my husband’s behavior. He gets fussy when hungry, you know how it is.” 

My husband? 

“I— we—” Crowley splutters, as Aziraphale steals the wallet right out of his hands and pays the abomination of food-delivery dressed in human clothing. “She forgot your egg noodles!”

Aziraphale pats his arm reassuringly. “I’ll just liberate some of your ramen, dear. You never finish the whole thing anyway.” 

At that, the girl sees her chance to flee and slips away in what should be considered a jog, but might look like a walk to the untrained eye. 

Aziraphale closes the door, seemingly completely unperturbed by the situation. He has no trouble guiding Crowley back to the living room, as he has reverted to a static state of complete confoundment. This is because the tiny metaphorical devils in the corners of his mind are too busy upending the archives of Memory. Short moving scenes and stacks of images are flung about mercilessly, all depicting the same inevitable event set to different settings. The Denial. 

“I’m not his friend” “I don’t know him.” “We’re not.” “He is not my—” 

Because always, without fail, Aziraphale clears the air of any uncouth assumptions that humans invariably make about them. 

Crowley never felt the urge to do the same. He would claim that it was professional curiosity— it can be quite useful to know the levels of intimacy different cultures and times reserve for different bonds, impertinent information for temptation all across the board. Secondly, he might claim that the implication of such intimacy is amusing, and therefore he’d wanted to maintain the illusion for entertainment purposes. Thirdly, if desperately, he could argue that this could up his devilish reputation; the idea that he’d tempted an angel of heaven to his wedding bed should be an accomplishment of his own, however unrealistic it might be. 

But this would not be the truth of it, and Crowley had lost the ability to effectively lie to himself somewhere in the last few weeks. Facing an apocalypse does wonders to one’s self-reflection. So he’s now very acutely aware of the real reason why he likes hearing those false impressions. 

It is proof. Though humanity’s perception is often faulty, they’d been able, over the generations, to recognize something that Crowley has always felt, but Aziraphale could not see. It had given him a little speck of hope, that if strangers could feel the tension between them then it wasn’t all projection and that maybe someday—

Yeah. Right. 

The point is, Aziraphale had broken the pattern, which is why Crowley has lost all ability to function.

“Come,” Aziraphale says, looking completely chuffed as he spreads out their dinner on the table. “I’m starving.” 

Crowley sits. Food is about the last thing on his mind right now. 

My husband. My husband. My husband. 

It grates on him, but sweetly— an ache that makes him understand why some people seek out pain for pleasure. He repeats the sequence of events again and again, trying to make it feel less like a dream. Even merely minutes removed, the complete surprise of it has given it an almost fantastical reality. It shimmers in his mind’s eye. A magic trick. It must be. 

Aziraphale, his bastard worth knowing, had not plucked the assumption from the mouth of a stranger and crushed it mercilessly underfoot. He hadn’t even ignored it. 

He’d confirmed it. 

Realising that for the second time doesn’t help matters. On the contrary, it results in Crowley completely losing his mind. 

“Angel, have I missed my own wedding?” Crowley asks idly. Like the idea amuses him. As if a wrong word on this will not break him— at least for half an eternity, give or take. 

When Aziraphale doesn’t immediately respond, Crowley continues, his voice climbing higher and higher as he goes. “Please tell me it was in a church. I’ve always planned to tapdance my way into your hand.” 

He tries to grin at the joke, but it fits like an earthworm on his face. It isn’t even a joke. It is revealing in a way Aziraphale should be able to notice. Any moment now Aziraphale will look at him with that particular frown of confusion, or the soft-featured face of pity. Or even more nightmarish, the gentle smile of kindness, and then crush this shadow of an assumption as mercilessly he’d almost done— almost always done. 

Crowley braces himself and—

Aziraphale chuckles. 

“Oh dear,” he says, pausing to hide a giggle with his hand. “That would have been quite something.” He shakes his head, cheeks flushed with delight, a mirth to his eyes that spells out the kind of admiration of shenanigans, which made him so frustratingly lovable— among other things. 

Crowley should be relieved— the regained security of his most tightly held secret is such a bout of luck that he should be on his knees to thank Her for it. 

But he isn’t. His fist clenches and his breath pushes and pulls with a sudden force. Every huff of laughter from Aziraphale shoots a hot bolt of something painful through his body. How dare he laugh like this? How dare he giggle like it’s nothing but a joke—like it doesn’t matter. As if none of it did. As if there is nothing instrumental and earth shattering about the fact that Aziraphale confirmed it. He agreed with what the stupid kid saw, even if it was just the easiest way to diffuse the situation. He’d never cared about that before. The denial was always more important. So why—

“Why did you—” Crowley stops himself, and takes extra care to keep his voice from climbing. “You always. Always. Denied it. Why did you— Why did you?” 

Aziraphale has stopped giggling and looks at him with wide eyes. “Oh, I’m sorry dear. I didn’t think you would mind.” 

“I—” Crowley sets his jaw and tells the truth. “I don’t.” 

He gets a sceptical eyebrow for his efforts. 

Crowley’s gaze flickers away, looking at nothing in particular. He feels too warm inside of his skin, like he’s stepped into a sauna without noticing. “I just want to understand, Angel.” 

There is a pause, but then Aziraphale clears his throat. “Well, the child was scared, so arguing the point would only draw out the interaction more. I merely wished to end it as soon as I could, granting the both of you peace and quiet.” 

The pitch of Aziraphale’s voice fluctuates in almost a circular manner, reflecting the way he is clearly talking around something Crowley cannot see the shape of, only knowing its existence by the absence of the complete truth. What is he hiding?

“Angel,” Crowley says instead, but the question comes across nonetheless. 

“I’m sorry! I just—” Aziraphale sighs. “It is strange to put words to it so explicitly, but I suppose I agree with the child, in a sense. The English language— as all human languages — is so limited in its descriptions of the higher emotions, which is understandable as they do not experience many of them in their mortal lifetimes… But I have to admit that taking those faults in account, husband is a more accurate moniker than not, relatively speaking.” 

Crowley’s eyes snap to Aziraphale, who is— unperturbed. Not flushed at all. His expression is one of serene contemplation, and Crowley can only theorize that his dearest angel has absolutely no idea what the word “husband” means. 

“I mean, you have to give them kudos for their tireless attempts to craft the right phrases. Poets, if nothing else, are the most determined of all to give language to what they will never understand. But nothing would describe what we are to each other. They could never comprehend a bond stretching over six thousand years; a friendship bridging the greatest divide, that of Heaven and Hell.” 

At this, Aziraphale shakes his head, smiling absently for a moment, and then returns from the far away place his mind had been to meet Crowley’s gaze with sudden intensity. His smile grows larger, but subtly so, like he is trying to tame it unsuccessfully. His cheeks remain un-flushed, but his eyes— his eyes are red and filled with emotion too large to name. 

“Crowley,” Aziraphale says, reaching over to take his hands. “We have saved the world together. We have been godparents, companions through the ages, and no one knows us more than we do each other. What other word is there but husband?” 

Crowley has lost his grasp on words all together. There is nothing to say— nothing to argue, because how can he respond to something so unbearably true and so torturously wrong at the same time? 

If he’d had the capacity to, Crowley would have said— yelled maybe: Yes. We are. We always have been. But no, you blasted angel. No we are not because I love you like human husbands do. And you do not allow me to. 

But he can’t, so instead he nods, very slowly, in a rare moment that is neither the truth nor a lie. 

He’s rewarded with a squeeze of his hands. 

“Oh, I am glad we agree,” Aziraphale says, joyful, and then releases him to gather their plates. “We’ve forgotten all about the food in our excitement. I’m going to heat it up for a mo. Do you want tea in the meantime?” 

The pure casualness of it all is giving Crowley an acute headache. He nods again. 

“Alright, don’t go anywhere dear, I’ll be right back.”  The rest is on ao3!  Tags @proficientatfreakness  @theheirofashandfire  @regvlusblxck @nooraamaliesaetre  @smileatthemoons

[chibimyumi]

If you're not too busy, could you give more examples of mey rins bad grammar speech? I find that quirk cool and interesting for some reason. When she says "I am are". You don't have to and sorry if you get too much requests. Btw I like your drawings for musical reviews. You draw them anime but still keep actors features, its amazing.

【Reference to Kuro 157 Summary and Thoughts】

Dear Anon,

Of course, it is my pleasure (⌒∇⌒)

So… this post will basically be ‘Lost in Translation III’, following Lost in Translation I and Lost in Translation II

Double Verbs

The most regular and iconic grammatical error of ‘clumsymaid!Meyrin’ is the double verb of ‘to be’ です (desu) with だ  (da).

TLN: ‘Desu’ is the polite form of the verb ‘to be’, whereas ‘da’ is the dictionary form.

Left ←

バルドッ　はし���ないですだよ！

Barudo Hashitanai desu da yo!

Bard, [it] is are improper!

Here, the proper grammar should be: “Hashitanai desu yo!” Meyrin however, added an unnecessary ‘da’ to her sentence. As ‘desu/da’ is already the ‘to be’ verb, it is incredibly unnatural to use this verb twice.

Right →

ハイですだ

HAI desu da

[It] is are Yes

In this case Meyrin is simply replying to Sebastian who tells her to hand him the letter. While a simple ‘Hai’ (Yes) would have sufficed, Meyrin added not one but two unnecessary verbs. ‘Desu’ and ‘da’ never follow each other, except - just like in English - when a speaker is specifically referring to vocabulary/grammar. (e.g. “it is ‘are’.)

Unnecessary Verb

すごくよく見えますだ

Sugoku yoku miemasu da

I am can see very well

Here the ‘da’ is entirely redundant as well. By just removing the ‘da’, the sentence would have been perfectly grammatical.

Incorrect Conjugation

Another trait of her incorrect grammar quick is the reoccurring incorrect conjugation

All the sentences spoken by Meyrin in the panels below are grammatically incorrect, but for the sake of this post, I shall only discuss the circled two.

Left ←

バルド　イライラする良いないネ

Barudo, ira ira suru yoi nai ne

Bard, it goodn’t so grumpy

Here, Meyrin wrongly conjugates the adjective ‘yoi’ (良い・good). The correct negative conjugation of this verb should have been ‘yoku nai’, not ‘yoi nai’.

Even if this adjective were properly conjugated, it still reads rather unnatural. It would be best to add a nominaliser ‘no wa’ (のは・’the act of xxx-ing’) to equate the verb to a noun before the phrase can be considered natural.

Hence, the grammatically correct phrase should have been:

イライラするのは良くないネ

ira ira suru no wa yoku nai ne

The act of being grumpy is not good

Right →

牛乳馬鹿にするでないよ

Gyuunyuu baka ni suru de nai yo

It’s not do make fun milk

Here too Meyrin uses faulty negative conjugation. The correct negative conjugation of imperative verbs should be ‘suru na’. Furthermore, she is also missing a particle ‘wo’ (を) in order to indicate the object to which the verb applies. Therefore, the correct phrase should have been:

牛乳を馬鹿にするなよ

Gyuunyuu wo baka ni suru na yo

Don’t make fun of milk

間違いあるないネ

Machigai aru nai ne

[There] amn’t mistake, indeed

Here Meyrin uses the wrong negative conjugation for ‘aru’ (ある・to exist).

‘Aru’ is an irregular verb, and its negative form should be conjugated as simply ‘nai’. Therefore, the grammatically correct sentence should be:

間違いないね

Machigai nai ne

There’s no mistake, indeed

‘Aru nai’ is indeed a mistake that many new learners of Japanese make, though this level of mistake is incongruous with the relatively high-level vocabulary/grammar Meyrin sometimes uses WITHIN the same sentence.

But then again… as a student of languages myself…

I hope this post helps add some extra enjoyment to consuming the manga!

[seigyokus]

Producer Letter #13

Same old translation-paraphrase mix as usual. Mostly translation this time though!

To everyone supporting Idolish Seven,

Thank you for your continuous support throughout 2017, a year full of new challenges that we couldn't have taken on without everyone.

We began releasing Part 3 of the story in-game, released singles and albums, and announced several new music videos underway. We were even able to present the path all of these idols have taken to everyone through the Idolish Seven Exhibit.

And so, 2018--

Both the anime and live are beginning to take shape. All of the staff members will be doing their best so that everyone will enjoy next year as well.

We are truly grateful for all of the support in 2017. As this 2017 reaches its end, we'd like to look back upon the year as well as announce our future directions for this project.

[About the Project as a Whole]

◆ About Part 3 We plan on releasing Chapter 18 of the story in January. Facing yourself, the importance of trust in your comrades, a new force rising to the top and throwing the idol world asunder, the unbreakable spirit and will to stand up to fight....

All of the various mindsets and expectations* will rise to prominence at the climax of the story. (T/N: omowaku can mean 'thought' or 'expectation/prediction/anticipation' so due to the lack of background context, I put both definitions in)

Once more... "Focus-- on the future and nothing more." Just like the feelings behind this phrase, please walk by these idols’ sides until the very end. (T/N: This whole bit is super vague! Also I forgot how I first tl'd that Part 3 catchphrase, or if I ever did it at all??? I feel like I have but my goldfish memory..........)

◆ About the Music Re:vale's new single 『NO DOUBT』 will be released on January 10th! The full versions of the songs are sure to surprise everyone, and we'd be very happy if you purchased the single. As we announced earlier today, we will also be releasing solo songs for each character on their birthday as part of our 『12 SONGS GIFT』 project! Please look forward to future announcements on this topic!

We also plan on releasing singles for the anime opening and ending themes, so please look forward to those releases as well.

◆ About the TV Anime "Idolish 7" (T/N: Stylized it as Crunchyroll does it since that's who's English subbing + simulcasting i7 this upcoming season!) On January 1st, we'll be broadcasting a special for Episodes 1+2 on TOKYO MX beginning 20:00 PM JST. This marks the start of the anime broadcast! Additionally, Episode 3 will be aired on TOKYO MX on the 7th, and be regularly broadcast from thereon out.

As for the anime opening, we'll be uploading it on YouTube around the time it airs on TV so everyone across the nation can enjoy it at the same time.

Please check the anime site and twitter for more details on broadcasting sites and stations.

Anime official site: http://idolish7.com/aninana/  Anime official twitter: https://twitter.com/ID7_anime

◆ About the Anime Spin-Off Series We were finally able to announce the spin-off series! This will be released as YouTube Originals so everyone can enjoy watching more animated stories about the idols. The first one will be 『TRIGGER 〜before The Radiant Glory〜』. The exclusive behind-the scenes story about TRIGGER's formation was novelized and comicalized, and now we hope you will enjoy watching the animated version. Here is a link to the teaser PV! 

More on this work will be announced at any given moment, so please look forward to it!

◆ About the Music Video Animations Next up in our Music Video Animation Series is IDOLiSH7's new music video, animated by MAPPA. This marks the 7th video in our series. We have not decided on a release date as of this moment, but we are dilligently working on the project and making progress. Please look forward to the finished product!

◆ About the Live At long last, we'll be holding our first live concert in 2018! We are still preparing the details for the next announcement, so please look forward to it!

◆ About the Comicalization+Novelization We have always wanted to expand on Re:vale's backstory ever since we began releasing Part 2 of the game story, beginning from the dawn of the band through their indies days. Thanks to Hakusensha, we've gotten our chance to tell their story through a three-part novel. We hope you are all enjoying 『Banri Ikkuu』's novelization, the first two chapters of which have been released online, as well as the comicalization, which began on December 9th. Please look forward to each of the stories told in 『Senko Fuma』 and 『Hyakusai Mukyuu』 as well! We would be very happy if you felt even a fragment of their feelings as you read these works.

(T/N: The Big Thing is that the number kanji from Banri, Yuki, and Momo's names are in the title of their parts. Banri gets his Whole Name which is kinda cool HAHA. I tweeted an explanation abt the titles a while ago and you can check it out here!) (T/N 2: Also wow official i7 staff is a Sadist bc i read both chapters of Banri Ikkuu out rn and let me tell u now all i felt was immense agony as i read abt how Banri felt, just Pain HAHA (it’s really good))

Additionally, we will be novelizing the chaotic world of "Ainana Gakuen" too! We are certain it'll be a very lively story, so we hope everyone will buy a copy of the book!

[About the Game]

We staff members will be giving it our all in 2018 as well so everyone can enjoy the game. We have plenty of events in store for this upcoming year, and we hope you will enjoy the game alongside the anime!

[About Upcoming Game Adjustments and Features]

◆ About Recently Added Updates We have added a Waiting Room feature in our latest update. We hope this will alleviate any inconveniences caused by holding multiple copies of an unidolized card due to lacking the items to idolize them, even if just a little. (T/N: You can read more abt this function here! Kind of interesting to see what the intended use was bc I am storing basically everything not a true SSR w good potential stats in there HAHA)

◆ Events We kicked off our first Rabbit Hall event in celebration of Christmas! Upon release, we have come to realize some of the features are faulty and we are sorry for any inconveniences caused. We hope that everyone will enjoy the event until the next. In 2017, we had a large-scale story release event and collaboration events. Likewise, we hope to implement all sorts of events for everyone's enjoyment.

◆ New Features We are currently on Version 3.0 of the game. Regarding the play style, we are aware that the interface and design are lagging behind in some aspects and we are deeply sorry to everyone for the trouble it has caused. We will be focusing on making the game easier to understand and play from here on out in addition to implementing new features. Furthermore, we understand that there are very few opportunities to obtain items for UR idolization. We are currently in the process of creating an enjoyable way to obtain them through gameplay, so please look forward to future updates on this issue.

◆ Questions, Comments, or Concerns about the Game Please contact us through our official home page through the following link: http://idolish7.com/contact/ 

Thank you for reading our letter all the way through. We truly appreciate it. The countless support from everyone gave us strength throughout this entire year. As for this upcoming year, there are countless challenges we have yet to take on, and we staff will do our best to continue delivering 'surprise' and 'fun' to everyone.

Thank you for everything, and we will be in your care next year as well.

Let's all Ainana in 2018!

THAT WAS A LONG ONE, and long time no post! Merry Christmas and happy holidays to everyone! 

Hopefully I’ll be able to find time to post a couple chapters of Part 3 this break, and thank you again for your continued patience. 

I’m super looking forward to i7′s big break on TV in just a few days, and please spread the love for this franchise!

[sunnydwrites]

Writing Believable Romances

Anonymous said:

I wanted to ask for advice if possible, as for writing the romance between two characters, how do I make it so that it does not look like a forced couple in the story? How can I develop a good bond between them without being able to say that it is something predictable? Honestly, I do not really like how romances are handled in juvenile novels in most cases and it’s something I want to avoid (I’m sorry if my English is bad 😫)

Hey Nony, thanks so much for the ask! (And no need to worry, your English is great!)

Romance is by far one of the hardest things to write; there’s so much to take into account at once and it’s easy to worry about how natural it seems. When done correctly, a well-written romance is extremely satisfying both to write and read, so I’m going to outline a few of the most important parts of romance and try to hit each of your questions.

Opposites Don’t Attract

This phrase? Throw it in the trash. This whole “opposites attract” mentality only applies to magnets. Your the characters involved in this romance shouldn’t be opposites, but complements.

Think of it this way. Character A is creative, outgoing, and stubborn. Now we have Character B, who’s analytical, introverted, and a push-over. Character A’s exact opposite, right? So why wouldn’t they get along with each other?

If these two worked well together, they’d be the exact embodiment of this “opposites attract” idea. However: These characters are literally the exact opposite of each other, meaning they’ll constantly be challenging each other. Character A will want to be in the spotlight where B wants to stay on the outskirts. B is constantly shooting down A’s creative ideas, and A is forcing B to do all these things without any resistance.

Not only will this dynamic quickly get boring and predictable, neither of these characters would see it in their best interest to stay with each other. It’s mentally and emotionally exhausting for these characters to constantly be fighting over the smaller things, so there’s no real reason for them to be in any sort of relationship.

Enter Character C, just as A is back “on the market”. C is passionate and thoughtful, an ambivert with a hint of rebellion. Why would this relationship work better? C shares A’s love for new ideas and is fine with both a night on the town and a night spent watching Netflix. The personality traits of A and C now complement each other; they agree on some things and argue on others, but because of their dynamic it’s much easier for them to work things out.

If you want a natural relationship, start it in the character development stage. Have one character fully developed and develop their to-be partner; don’t make them an opposite, but a complement.

Love at First Sight?

This aspect of romantic relationships developing immediately has long been known to be a faulty move, but let’s take that one step further. Now that we’ve gotten this “at first sight” out of the way, a lot of characters are falling madly in love with each other the third time they spend time together. This is also a definite issue.

The key to a good romance is the relationship that comes before it. Don’t take these characters from strangers to lovers; remember there’s a friend stage first. Take this time during their relationship to establish a working dynamic between these characters so the reader gets an idea of how they work together, with or without a romance involved.

Have these characters spend time with each other so they know each other well, give them inside jokes and shared hobbies and other things that would establish the possibility to pursue a romance. When you include a previously established positive relationship, it makes more sense for a romance to bloom. Not only this—it gives the reader an idea that a romance is entirely possible, and gives them the chance to view this pairing (or group) in a positive instead of an unexpected light.

Following this path—which is probably a good idea—makes it a little difficult to make it “unpredictable”. In searching for unpredictability, you run the risk of launching your characters from strangers (or acquaintances) to lovers immediately. In this case if you want unpredictability, you should be aiming for the natural type.

Instead of launching them into a relationship prematurely, make it a bit more of a slow-burn. Get your readers used to the idea of these characters being friends, and don’t announce the start of their relationship with any sort of grandeur. By creating a natural transition from friends to lovers, maybe through an absent-minded kiss or exchanging “I love you”s and realizing it later, the whole thing is more natural. 

In taking this path, you still keep the element of surprise; the whole thing happens so naturally that while the reader may have been expecting it but not expecting it right then.

Avoiding the Juvenile

You also mentioned that you don’t like the way more juvenile romances are handled. I think I hit both of your questions, but just as an extra measure I’m going to add in a few ideas to avoid the juvenility (is that a word? it is now) that we see way too often.

They communicate often, and communicate well.

They spent a lot of time together.

They don’t bottle up negative (or positive) emotions.

Accentuate that they have each other’s back.

Highlight their knowledge of the details (as in remembering little conversations and schedules).

Mutual. Respect.

Show them supporting each other’s endeavors, even if it means having less time to spend together.

Avoid writing characters who try to change each other.

They also take time to themselves to collect their thoughts and just have a personal moment.

All boundaries are respected.

If you want to write a mature relationship, think respect. Does this aspect of the relationship lack respect? If it does, seriously consider changing it if you want this to be a long-lasting thing.

Tl;dr—A natural romance between your characters should be compromised of at least three things: Complementary characters, an established dynamic, and mutual respect.

[rayo1-productions]

Miscommunication (Sci-Fi Short Story)

[””] = Alien Language

[“Can I sit here?”]

Like every other time, the fellow alien was unattentive. It annoyed him how often this happened. But this time, it wasn’t because he forgot his translator implant at home. This time, it was malfunctioning. He knew he didn’t have much money at home for repairs...

Grukjo was getting desperate. It was already problematic for him to fit in amongst the massive population of Alpha Crux, in the middle of Sector 4EB-UHG. The bus stop they stood by was lit with a neon strip of light; various bus routes cluttered the screens as other aliens grabbed holographic routes and made off in a transport car. His route hadn’t come on the register yet. He had to wait. But looking to his left, there was company unwanting of attention.

[“Excuse me?”] he asked again. Once again, the Do’Bashi man was undeterred. This was beginning to get annoying.

[“Excuse me. Can I sit here?”] He grunted through his lipless mouth. This time, Grukjo made sure to grunt louder, or rather he made it sound like he did. Pure roars from his species could devastate a small city. Sluggishly, the man put down his ear-phones, and looked to his right, much to Grukjo’s delight. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Su’Zek was as tired as a triburk, trying to relax his mind with some simple music. He had spent an entire seven hours holed up in a disorganized and dimly lit workshop, fatigued from accidentally dropping gizmos and gears, and spending up to 20 minutes looking for them.

Slowly turning his head to face wherever that voice came from, he did not expect to be met with a gargantuan silhouette eclipsing his shadow. Looking up, he faced a Klaxoxian: a race of big brute-like creatures with razor sharp scales lining their arms, horned chins, and jagged

1  [“”] = Alien Language

mouths without lips. The Klaxoxi were not known for this level of benevolence on display here, or these attempts at engagement.

But Su’Zek couldn’t blame a species for that. His family had been brought up with Galactic Basic. Basic was the language of the Human Race from Terra Sol, as derived from “English”. At the beginning of their universe-wide expansion, they reached out and united several species from across the galaxy to build the city of Alpha Crux. As a result, many species picked up this language, creating a more unified universe. This initiative was recent, starting about 70 years ago. But despite Su’Zek’s fluency, the transition for many other races was difficult, especially in this multicultural melting pot.

But looking up at this guy after taking out his ear-phones...he seemed harmless enough.

“S-Something you need?” Su’Zek calmly asked.

The Klaxoxian sighed in relief. Su’Zek widened his eyes, realizing he had been trying to get his attention. Su’Zek hesitated; ever since his workshop incidents, he was always tense around whoever he met. Alpha Crux hadn’t yet achieved utopia in the way the humans envisioned.

But the longer Su’Zek thought about it, the more he was willing to give “talking” another shot, even though this Klaxoxian was unable to do so. With his engineering expertise, he soon found out why: a faulty translator implant. Being an engineer from Alpha Crux’s Science Guild, he usually specialized in constructing and repairing such translators. But he had such an influx of customers in need of them, all of whom spoke exotic alien languages. These language barriers frustrated him, so much so that he just gave up cleaning his workshop after the last set of...incidents.

Arnav Bhattacharjee

“Oh...I see,” Su’Zek realized, reaching out for the small device attached to his neck. “Here, I’ll grab this.” The Klaxoxian was startled by the snatch away from him, but soon saw the Do’Bashi man, with his elf-like eyes and leafy hands, kindly begin fixing his translator.

[“Do I need to get a new one?”] The Klaxoxian asked with worry.

“Not if you’re sane. It’d cost a lot for just a couple of loose circuits.”

The Klaxoxian was taken aback, not expecting to be understood through his grunts. [“Y-You understood that?”]

“Of course I understood you there. I’m in the workshop all day working on these things for all kinds of aliens...including a few other Klaxoxian customers.”

[“Okay...but how much would this whole repair thing cost?”]

“Uh...sorry, I don’t know what you’re saying.”

[“What? Y-You understood me earlier!”]

“Yeah, that bus is taking too long. Lucky for you, I only memorize the same phrases other aliens keep telling me. Though usually this is the part where they trash my workshop.”

Between the small talk, the implant was fully repaired; it was only a few loose circuit breakers. As soon as Su’Zek returned the device, Grukjo quickly attached it back onto his neck. Both of them sighed in relief.

“Finally! This thing was a pain in the (untranslatable) since it broke!” Grukjo exclaimed. “So, can I finally sit here?”

Arnav Bhattacharjee

“Uh...yeah...” Su’Zek responded. He had a look of confusion; had this small interaction started because someone couldn’t say something so simple and trivial?

“I’m Grukjo, by the way,” he told him. “Gosh, you know how hard it is to just grunt all the time? I know I should be used to it, but no one can understand you.”

“Oh I understand that last part completely...” Su’Zek told him. “Or...I should have...”

“I still have no idea how much I have to pay you...”

“Don’t bother. It’s fine,” Su’Zek reassured Grukjo. “Save the money for something better. But...what now?”

Looking to his right, Grukjo found his route on the register. “Well, my ride’s here.” The Klaxoxian realized though that Su’Zek was looking away from the register. He didn’t seem to want to go. Grukjo realized that Su’Zek was trying to calm himself...he had had a rough day.

Now, it seemed to be the opposite. Su’Zek stood up with a new confidence, starkly different to the man Grukjo had met minutes earlier. Su’Zek turned to face the Klaxoxian with a friendly smile, and Grukjo was elated to see a new friendship blossom out of something so small.

“See you around, Grukjo.” He left the bus stand as Grukjo found his route and transport. His boss had earlier offered him a night shift. With a new level of calm, Su’Zek decided to give it a try. He’d remember these last few minutes, he’d remember to be calm for others. He’d try to extend, as the humans called it, “an olive branch”. All frustration was swept away, and for Su’Zek, it was time to get back to work.

He’d have to figure out how to make them stop trashing his workshop though...

[realtoads1477]

In Which I Explore My Understanding of Bullshit

“Begin at the beginning, and go on till you get to the end, then stop.”

--- Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland 

In the beginning (week three to be exact) there was bullshit. We began this class from the standpoint that many view rhetoric and bullshit as the same thing. According to James Fredal in his essay “Rhetoric and Bullshit” this is a common misconception, borne from the bullshittiest of discourse. Fredal defines the essence of bullshit as being influenced by what we recognize as a variation of the rhetorical triangle: bullshitter, bullshit, and bullshitee.

What makes someone a bullshitter is a certain type of deception—the bullshitter misrepresents his intentions and deliberately creates a false impression of himself in order to further his purpose. According to Fredal, in order to determine if someone is a bullshitter, you must consider the motives and goals, adequacy of methods, and mental health of the speaker. The mental health part is almost a side note. If someone actually believes he is George Washington, then he is not a bullshitter because his intent is not to deceive. As another example, consider The Wizard of Oz. He does not really believe himself to be a wizard, so that puts him in the running for master bullshitter. He puts on a big show to sell his really very helpful advice. The smoke and floating head he employs could be said to be elements of his style.

The purpose of the show is to boost his ethos so that his message carries more weight. Most people listen to the Great and Powerful Oz, but would they listen to the little man behind the curtain even if his words were the same? Since his goals are mainly to help and contribute to the overall good, even if his methods are a tad over the top, the wizard is not really a classic bullshitter.  

This is a relief to me as a writer and student, because sometimes I tap-dance on the edge of clearly conveying my message and dressing it up in fluff so that I might sound smarter and more impressive. Clarity and brevity in writing are important, but they should not come at the expense of creating engagement in your reader. Without engagement, the reader will not be there to enjoy your clarity and brevity; she will have clicked or turned past all of your hard work in search of something that really draws her in. In the case of strictly professional communications, clarity and brevity do not have to mean dry and personality-free. Writers should switch up their style and tone depending on their audience and purpose. If we return to the Great and Powerful Oz for a moment, once he realizes his Dorothy and her friends are not buying his smoke-and-mirrors show, he adjusts his style and tone to meet the needs of his audience and message. 

As I wrote in paper #3, it is important to judge the dish you wish to serve and the people who are to taste it in order to add the correct amount of “seasoning” in the form of voice, storytelling, etc. I just can’t avoid food metaphors in my writing. Sorry about that.

As for the bullshit itself, I was particularly intrigued by what Fredal terms “Cohen Bullshit”- nonsense that passes for brilliance because of the ethos of the speaker. I also was amused to see his inclusion of resumes and recommendation letters as types of bullshit (yikes, convicted). Bullshit, when boiled down to its essence, it is really using many words but saying nothing, constructing a wall of words that is ultimately hollow and will not stand up to close inspection. An element that may be considered here is the logical fallacy. I really wish we had spent more time on this in class because logical fallacies are so fun to play with and so important to recognize. When a person knows they are using a logical fallacy in their reasoning, this is bullshit because it is purposely deceptive and exploiting any audience who cannot recognize the faulty logic. If the logical fallacy is used accidentally, then the message may not be bullshit because the nefarious intent is not present.

In my first and second papers, I looked at writing in the non-profit field. I just took the Writing Proposals and Grants class in the fall, so this type of writing was already on my mind. When I was writing for that class, I often felt that crafting annual fund letters and grant proposals was akin to writing a resume—beefing up the facts to sound impressive. Often you find yourself using phrases that would be frowned upon in academia for being cliché. However, the reason these phrases are so often used is because they are familiar and comfortable for the audience. Writing for NGOs can feel like a sales pitch, but if you are sincere and really believe in your product, then according to the criteria set forth by Fredal, your writing is not bullshit.

Finally, we come to the bullshittee, or the audience of the bullshitter. Fredal presents two views of the audience. First, he cites scholars who believe that the audience is part of the bullshit in that because of their ignorance, indifference, or irrationality, they accept it as truth. The second view is that bullshit is not technically bullshit unless someone recognizes it as such.  I am reminded of the character of Eddie Haskell from the show Leave it to Beaver, which aired on Nick-at-Nite during my formative years.

 Eddie is a suck-up, a brown-noser who tries to make himself seem like an upstanding teenager in order to curry favor with teachers and parents. Of course, everyone on the show sees right through it and knows that Eddie is a bullshitter. If no one recognized Eddie’s bullshit, would he still be considered thus? This point to ponder is similar to the question, “If a tree falls in a forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound?” I think both views of the audience participation aspect of bullshit are correct to an extent. I think that there must be an audience that accepts the bullshit and one that sees it for what is truly is. This creates the tension that is inherent in bullshit communication—the frustration that the person is being deceptive but so many refuse to recognize it.

To sum up, while rhetoric and bullshit are not the same thing, bullshit does involve rhetorical elements. As professional writers, we must make it our mission to avoid writing that makes us seem like bullshitters because it damages our credibility. In the digital forums where our work will likely appear, missteps can follow and the faint whiff of bullshit may accompany our names and work indefinitely. It’s like dipping a toe into the bog of eternal stench—you’ll stink forever.

Resources:

Fredal, James. (2011, January). “Rhetoric and Bullshit”. College English. v73 n3 pp. 243-259.

[whiteaces]

Why I Stopped Saying Sorry So Much, And Why You Should Too

In my Reading Alice Walker class, I came across a quote in the book, The Temple of My Familiar that made me pause for a minute. The quote went like this:

“Too much respect for people who are not always respectful to you is a sure sign of insecurity, and [that display] of abject gratitude is rather depressing.”

You may not see the connection that I immediately formed after reading this quote, so I’ll explain. In my margins, I drew a star next to the quote and wrote “mom”. I thought of a conversation we had about four years ago. Then, at age 13, I was telling my mother how I often felt obliged to always be overly nice to people in power; bosses, teachers, and older students. I defaulted to acting timid and shy around them, even when I knew I was being disrespected. My mom told me she once felt that way, but as she got older, she realized that she wanted to be taken more seriously and viewed as an equal around others. Being a recent immigrant, she was very conscious of her English, and would start conversations by apologizing for her accent! In a way, she was limiting herself from being taken seriously, and resolved to change that. If she wouldn’t no one else would.

I immediately began to think of ways in which I too could change the way people perceived me, and the first way was by making a diligent effort to stop saying sorry or acting sorry as a way of being polite. So now, when I correct someone, I don’t say, “I’m sorry but I think you may have made a mistake here…” or when someone makes a grossly incorrect statement, I won’t begin with, “I could be wrong, but not all BlackLivesMatter protestors are thugs stereotyping based on race is faulty thinking”. Instead, I switched out sorry for better words. I say “excuse me” when someone in front of me abruptly stops in the middle of the sidewalk. When I knock on my professor’s office door, I’ll say “Good Afternoon” or “Good Morning”, but I won’t apologize for being there during office hours.

Of course, when I mess up or say an incorrect or inconsiderate statement, I’ll be the first to say, “I’m Sorry”. I’m not taking the phrase completely out of my vocabulary, just changing the frequency of which I use it. And you won’t hear me apologize for that.