#sorry there isn't exactly a translation for the title

[basi-boy]

"下剋上" (Gekokujou) by Ichigyou-P feat. Kagamine Rin and Len (April 2, 2008)

[danieyells]

UPCOMING CARDS!

Episode 15 is tonight!!! Which means the episode cards are in and the next episode title is too! ARE YOU READY FOR SPOOKY GHOSTARUBI??? I love these cards they've got a bit of an eerie flavor. . . . .

Also sorry for the wait I had some delays and priorities out of order lmao. . . .

Subaru's empty eyes lend so well to this expression just. . .aaa it's a beautiful card. . . . ALSO A LITTLE SUBARU THIGH FOR FREE??????

Character Card: Hell Flower(「奈落に咲く花」  "Flower That Blooms In Hell") Skill: Hidden Hobby(「隠れた趣味」  "Hidden Hobby") Fully Awakened Skill: Convincing Actor(「迫真の芝居」  "Realistic Play") Warding Card: Rainy Garden(「雨の庭園」  "Rainy Garden")

His snake-like eyes and then they've got him with an orochi. . . . . .it's just a great looking card and he's so shady and I love him.

Character Card: Hypnotic Gaze(「心を掌握する瞳」  "Eyes That Seize Hold Of Your Heart") Skill: Frightener(「驚かし役」  "Frightener" more or less 'frighten assignment' as in 'it's his job to scare you') Fully Awakened Skill: Teaser(「からかい上手」  "Good At Teasing") Warding Card: Unseen Charity(「見えない施し」  "Unseen Charity")

AYO GHOST FEET FOR FREE????

Character Card: Night Parade(「妖怪道中殊玉絵巻」  "Kotodama Picture Scroll Of Spirits' Journey" this is so hard for me to translate haha sorry this is clumsy) Skill: Cowardly Ghost(「怖がりなお化け」  "Cowardly Ghost") Fully Awakened Skill: From The Other Side(「��岸の住人」 "Inhabitant Of The Other Sude") Warding Card: Ghost Stories(「みんなで怪談話」  "Ghost Stories With Everyone")

So normally I know who's in the next episode because of sprite names being added into the StoryPresets file. However no such sprite names that indicate the next ghouls were added. I'm not sure what that means exactly. . .perhaps that break they mentioned before is coming after this. Nonetheless Episode 16 is called "The City Of Ill Omens" (「凶兆を告げる街」  "The City That Heralds Bad Omens")

That's pretty exciting, isn't it? I'm eager to learn what it means!!! Getting ahead of ourselves though we haven't even seen this episode yet!

I say the same things every time because they bear repeating

Gacha is gambling and gambling addictions are serious! Please be mindful of any spending you do on this or any gacha game. If you do spend, please set a limit for yourself and keep to it. Remember that banners rerun and you can get a character you missed further down the line. It doesn't have to be now. Seek help if you're struggling with your gacha spending!

My Japanese isn't very good at all so please take my translations of titles with a grain of salt!

Step out of your comfort zone now and then and find a safe way to explore that which frightens you!

Here are the card stats!!

Have a good night!!

[mypoisonedvine]

hiiii for the sleepover thing (so so so early because i cannot translate time zones for the life of me) do you think you could do aemond with either 8 or 150? your choice!

150: "Stop distracting me."

oh aemond I missed you <3 warnings: SMUT (18+ ONLY!!), breeding, cockwarming, dom/sub dynamics (sub reader) with 'king' and 'master' as titles for aemond

It's not like you were trying to be difficult, but you weren't sure what he expected of you; how could you not be all over him? He just looked so handsome like this...

He was so focused-- of course-- as he stared forward at the book, his eye following each line; you were content just watching him for a while, but then your fingers started tracing up his arm, your nails tickling his shoulder and chest... your lips pressed gently to his neck, following a line up to his ear, until you smiled by his jaw.

"I told you not to move," he reminded you in a stern mumble as he turned the page of his book.

"M'not," you pouted defensively. You knew because it was taking almost all of your willpower not to; straddling his lap with his cock resting deep inside you, all you wanted was to roll your hips and feel that perfect friction-- but he told you to stay still and keep him warm, and you wanted so badly to be good for him.

"Your hands are," he noticed, grabbing one from where it was petting his chest and gently moving it away.

"That counts?" you frowned.

"Of course it does," he scoffed, "it's moving, isn't it? I told you to stop distracting me."

You sighed and laid your head defeatedly on his shoulder. "Forgive me, my prince..."

You tried not to smile when he tore his gaze away from his book to glare down at you; you didn't want him to know that you knew exactly what you were doing. "Your king," he corrected.

You blinked up at him innocently. "Sorry," you cooed, "I forgot."

"Forgot?" he repeated with a hiss; you loved when he bared his teeth at you like that.

You loved it even more when he pulled your hair and let you feel those teeth on your neck, making you whimper in pain but grin with excitement at the same time.

"Forgot who you belong to?" he pressed. "I know you didn't. You know exactly whose you are."

He set the book down behind you, and his free hand came down to grab onto your thigh; you weren't sure it was permission to move, but your hips jolted a bit of their own accord.

"So say it," he demanded.

"Yours," you promised, "I belong to you-- my king, my master--"

He hummed in agreement as he pulled you closer, keeping your chest pressed to his as he started to barely move his own hips beneath you. Even just the slightest friction after all that waiting made you moan loudly. It was like your body had molded to fit him perfectly, and his cock shifting within you made you a little sore just as much as it brought you pleasure.

"I only belong to you," you rambled, hoping if you said more that you would get more in return. "Only you can touch me, I live to serve and please you, my king-- ohh, fuck--"

A low growl echoed in the crook of your neck as you finally started to ride him-- your pace still slow and patient, but with plenty of its own desperation. "I think I'd rather be your king than everyone else's," he admitted with a purr. "If I had to choose."

Your heart sang when he said that; you moved faster, holding tight onto his shoulders. You certainly couldn't guarantee that the rest of the kingdom would be as loyal to him as you were.

"So insatiable," he praised as he licked and sucked at your neck more aggressively, his hands guiding every movement of your hips encouragingly. "If I give you my seed, then will you let me read in peace? You just need my bastard in you to calm you down?"

"Y-yes, please," you begged shakily, "I would do anything, my king-- everything I can give is yours."

He smiled proudly, you could feel it against your skin: "Then that's what I want from you. Give me everything."

[little-mari-on-a-roof]

Frenglish differences in Miraculous - Episode 9

Evillustrator/Le Dessinateur

The French title is "Le Dessinateur", which simply means illustrator. There's no pun in it, as opposed to "Evillustrator".

Hawkmoth

En: Ah! Artists can be so emotional. I love it.

Fr: Ah, les artistes sont tellement sensibles. C'est une cible parfaite !

Ah, artists are so sensitive. It's a perfect target!

Aren't YOU also supposed to be an artist, Gabriel??

Hawkmoth asks his akuma to "draw him [Nathaniel] into our evil web" in English. In French, he says "accomplis mes noirs desseins", which means "carry out my dark plans", and is also a pun. Indeed, the word he uses for plan/intentions here is "dessein", which sounds exactly like the French word for a drawing : un dessin.

Hawkmoth to Nathaniel when akumatising him

En: Are you tired of having your creative spirit crushed? Evillustrator, I'm your friend and a patron of the arts. I'm here to offer you support.

Fr: Cela ne te dérange pas que ton talent ne doit pas reconnu ? Dessinateur, je suis le Papillon. Un grand amateur d'art. Je viens te proposer mon aide.

Doesn't it bother you that your talent isn't recognised? Dessinateur, I am Hawkmoth, a lover of the arts. I come to offer you my help.

Chloé to Miss Bustier, about Marinette

En: Uh, Miss, can't you add her to another group?

Fr: Euh, Madame, vous pourriez mettre "celle-là" dans un autre groupe ?

Miss, couldn't you put "that one" in another group?

Chloé refers to Marinette in a very rude way here.

Alya calls Sabrina and Chloé "that twosome of terror" in English. In French, she says "ces deux pestes là" : "those two pests".

Chloé to Marinette

En: Later.

Fr: À plus, boulet.

Later, boulet.

Here, Chloé once again refers to Marinette as a "boulet" (see The Bubbler for the explanation of the word).

In the library after Evillustrator has left, Ladybug groans at Chat Noir's pun in English but not in French.

Ladybug

En: Sorry, I'm just a little camera shy.

Fr: Désolée, je suis un peu allergique aux selfies.

Sorry, I'm a little allergic to selfies.

Chat Noir to Ladybug

En: So what's the deal? Why are you acting so weird? Come on, you gotta admit that having this girl worship you is pretty awesome.

Fr: Bah quoi, où est le problème ? Pourquoi tu le prends comme ça ? Avoue que c'est plutôt flatteur, non? Cette fille est complètement fan de toi.

So what, where's the problem? Why are you taking it this way? You have to admit it's pretty flattering, isn't it? This girl is a complete fan of you.

Tikki to Marinette when she gets mad about Chloé

En: Well, simmer down. A hot head isnt going to get you anywhere.

Fr: Calme toi Marinette. Ça sert à rien de s'emporter comme ça elle en vaut pas la peine.

Calm down Marinette. There's no use getting carried away like that, she's not worth it.

Yes Tikki drag that girl in the mud.

Chloé - Chat Noir

En: Are you any good at particle physics? - Oh, this cat's got particle physics in the bag.

Fr: Est ce que, par hasard, tu t'y connais en physique ? - Oh, la physique c'est ma matière préférée.

Do you, by chance, know anything about physics? - Oh, physics is my favourite subject.

Adrien is a nerd!! Another thing that's interesting to notice is the fact that the French dub only always says "physics", meanwhile the English dub translates it to "particle physics".

Chat Noir to Marinette

En: Well, that birthday boy date of yours is bad news.

Fr: Je suis ton cavalier pour le bal de ce soir, Princesse.

I'm your escort for tonight's ball, Princess.

The French word he uses to say he's her date is "cavalier", which literally means knight and is rather old fashioned. Basically, he's trying VERY HARD to be a handsome gentleman. He then calls her Princess again when leaving her (he instead says "Little lady" in English at that moment).

As opposed to this cute nickname (Princess), Marinette calls him "ce gros matou" : "this big tomcat". (In English, she just says "this boy".)

Chat Noir - Ladybug

En: Well, well, look what the cat dragged in. - No cat dragged me anywhere, Cat Noir. I flew in all on my own.

Fr: Ah bah tu t'es enfin décidée à venir. - Tu sais bien que j'étais occupée, Chat Noir. J'avais une mission top secrète.

Well you finally decided to come. - You know that I was busy, Chat Noir. I had a top secret mission.

Her top secret mission was actually teaching him how to do his job to get them out of the glass cage.

[shunin-gumis]

L4mps Main Story Translation

Designs of Happiness A01

Title: ep.1 Well-being by myself

Characters: Nagi

Summary: One night, an interesting radio show could be heard at the Flower Laundry...

JP Proofreading: aca @463ce6 on twt EN Proofreading: jes @arcanecrayonn on twt

No matter how hard I try, a worthless person like me could never trace after the path to "happiness" that everyone else gets to experience.

As the gentle loneliness of the night envelops me, I drift between fleeting moments of happiness, barely holding on to see the next day.

-It was one of those days.

Location - Flower Laundry

Voice from the Radio: Coming to you live from HAMA Studio no.3-

Arisa: It's Arisa and~

Teresa: Teresa's~

Arisa and Teresa: Intelli-radio: Aristotle~*

Nagi: Sonia, could you turn up the volume?

Sonia: Okay~

Teresa: The rain sure isn't letting up huh?

Arisa: True~ It's quiet but it's perfect for getting some me-time in, whether it's to study or get some reading done.

Arisa: As we were talking about before the commercial break, forgive us if we go on too long on the mechanisms of achieving Happiness, just blame it on this lovely night we're having~

Sonia: ...

Sonia: Nagi-shan, you've been working on your bike all this time, but you made sure to eat dinner, yesh?

Nagi: Eh? ... Ah.

Nagi: Now that you mention it, I might be really hungry right now.

Sonia: Geez~

Sonia: You're still in the middle of work, so I'll get you shumthing you can eat with one hand.

Nagi: Thank you, Sonia. If you weren't around, I'm sure I would've ended up a mummy by now.

Nagi: "A mummy was discovered in the middle of the city!" Could Flower Laundry possibly be the next new hot spot...

Sonia: Don't say shumthing so ominous. It's exactly to prevent unfortunate people like you from ending up in such sad situations that helper robots like me were created.

Sonia: Pleash wash your hands and wait there.

Nagi: When did it get so late...

Nagi: I should get the bike back in the garage for now...

Arisa: While countries and corporations were competing between themselves for economic growth, the end result was that most of our environment was destroyed, and resources dried up in the blink of an eye.

Arisa: Did humanity manage to achieve true prosperity after this? Was it worth the cost? The answer is a resounding "No". Although the country's GDP* has increased four, or even five-fold, the happiness-index has flatlined for the past 100 years or so.

Teresa: Wait, really? A 100 years ago, people couldn't even have their clothes dry automatically, right? They also had to wash the dishes by hand... No way, that reminds me, they even had to vacuum the dust off the floor themselves or something right..?

Arisa: I think they'd still be using brooms about a 100 years ago?

Teresa: No way~ That's way too retro for me! I can't imagine life without all the smart appliances we have now. I mean, a world with no food-printers? Yikes.

Sonia: Here you go, "fresh" off the food-printer...

Nagi: Right on time.

Sonia: On time?

Nagi: I was just talking to myself. Thanks for the meal.

Arisa: Okay, I get how much you love your smart appliances, but do all these materialistic things truly fill your heart? Does it really let you sleep better at night?

Teresa: Hmm, you do have a point. The more convenient things get, the more it feels like the world is telling me to be time and cost-efficient, but before I even realize it, I'm already doom-scrolling on dazzle*...

Arisa: "More convenience! More income!" Such concepts are shoved in our faces constantly... How about trying to remove ourselves from this endless equation? There's quite a few factions amongst the younger generation who never expected much from society nor themselves...

Teresa: Sorry, that's just not for me. Chasing after your dreams, working towards your goals: those are the things that make life worth living. Growing as you compete with others is part of it too. And then when you finally get your hands on the things you've always wanted with your own effort... It doesn't get better than that.

Arisa: That's right. That's why people have come up with a strategy guide-

Arisa: The era of learning the Psychology of Happiness is upon us!

Teresa: The Psychology of Happiness?

Nagi: What's that?

Sonia: Oh! There's a response on the shop's PeChat*, hm...

Sonia: Nagi-shan, we just got an order. The customer will be coming by in ten minutes to pick it up.

Sonia: They're requesting a bouquet that can cheer up their girlfriend who's feeling down about making a mistake at work.

Nagi: ―

Sonia: Nagi-shaaan.

Nagi: Ah, sorry. Can you ask them what her favorite color is?

Sonia: I already did. Apparently, she likes the color blue!

Nagi: Blue... Blue, huh.

Nagi: I think we can use the nemophila we just got in earlier today. Add in some large calla lilies and sky-blue baby's breath...

Nagi: Maybe some delphiniums and blue stars could work as accents...

Sonia: And what about the ribbon?

Arisa: To explain, the Psychology of Happiness is the study that aims to help anyone, of all ages and gender, understand how to engineer and replicate the mechanism of happiness in their own lives.

Nagi: Replicate... happiness?

Sonia: Nagi-shaan, are you listening?

Nagi: I'm listening. Could you bring out the thin, light blue ribbon from the back?

Sonia: Got it. I'll leave the card here too.

Nagi: Okay, thank-

Teresa: Wait, some people find it easier to be happy because it's hereditary!?

Nagi: What!?

Sonia: Huh!?

Sonia: Geez, don't scare me like that. What's got you sho worked up?

Arisa: That's right. 48% is already determined by our DNA.

Nagi: .....

Sonia: Nagi-shan?

Arisa: Just like how some people might find a dish spicier than others, some can experience happiness easier than their peers as well. This is a hereditary factor, determined by our genes from the moment we're born.

Teresa: No way! So what you're telling me is that half of the happiness we can experience in life was already decided while we were in our mothers' womb!?

Nagi: ......

Sonia: Are you okay now? The customer will be dropping by soon.

Nagi: ...! Right, I need to get this done quickly...

Sonia: I'll go ahead and cut the flower stems under water.*

Nagi: Thank you. Could you also get the blue gift-wrapping paper-

Sonia: I've already spread it out for you!

Customer: Um... I'd put in an order just earlier.

Nagi: ...Ah.

Nagi: Sorry, could you please wait for just a moment? There's just the finishing touches left.

Teresa: So, what about the remaining 52%? Don't tell me it's influenced by the environment we were born and raised in.

Arisa: Not at all, the influence from your environment makes up only about 10% of it. As for the remaining 42%...

Teresa: ... Is it based on our actions?

Arisa: Correct! This means that, out of 100% achievable happiness level, about 42% of it is within our control.

Nagi: Wow. I've never thought about it that way.

Customer: Huh?

Nagi: No, if I think about it, is that really possible?

Arisa: Just as how the right diet is different for each person, once you figure out the method, anyone can achieve happiness. How it comes to bear fruit for you, is up to you yourself.

Nagi: If half of it is determined by fate, and the other half is uncertain... Could it really be that simple? Then maybe it's also possible for me to.... No, it's probably just a waste of time in my case. I shouldn't get my hopes up. Just thinking about it is making me depressed.

Customer: Erm... Are you alright? You've been muttering to yourself for some time now...

Nagi: Ah... Sorry about that. Don't mind me.

Customer: Right...

Nagi: Thank you for waiting. This is the completed bouquet. Is it to your liking?

Customer: Wow...! It's beautiful... It's just how I'd imagined it, I'm sure my girlfriend will be happy with it.

Nagi: I'm glad to hear that- Ah.

Nagi: That's right, I almost forgot... Excuse me, would you mind handing the bouquet back to me? There's one last thing I need to do.

Nagi: Mu....

Customer: Mu?

Nagi: Mu.....nn!

Customer: Um, what exactly are you doing...?

Nagi: I've instilled some energy* into it. In other words...

Nagi: It's something like a good luck charm. When your girlfriend receives this bouquet, she'll be so happy that she'd be skipping along the pavement.

Customer: To the point of skipping...

Nagi: Oh but, even without my little charm, I'm sure she would be plenty happy just knowing she has someone who would get her a bouquet when she's feeling down.

Nagi: In any case, I hope the two of you can skip along merrily.

Customer: I-I see... Thank you...

Nagi: Thank you for your patronage.

Sonia: Thank you very mush!

Teresa: Whaat, is it time for us to go already? Too bad, I really wanted to talk some more~

Sonia: Phew... I'm glad we finished it in time.

Nagi: Yeah, it's all thanks to your help Sonia.

Sonia: It's a piece of cake!

Arisa: Arisa and Teresa, your guides for psychology, signing out!

Nagi: Anyways, good job. Let's do our usual thing.

Arisa: Let's meet again when the fountain of knowledge wells up again!

Sonia: A high-five right? 3, 2, 1..!

Arisa and Teresa: See you again!

Play Ivory MV

Notes:

Sonia has a bit of a lisp so I changed a few words to match her speech

Intelli in Intelli-radio is short for Intelligentsia

dazzle is a social media site in the 18trip universe

PeChat is a messaging app in 18trip universe

GDP stands for Gross Domestic Product.

Cutting flower stems under water prevents air bubbles from going up the stem and helps in keeping the cut flowers fresh for longer.

'Muuun’ is the sound he makes when he’s instilling his happiness energy/thoughts(念) into the flowers, literally.

Flower Language:

Flower Language is important to Nagi's character and a way for him to communicate his thoughts, so I'll always note it down whenever any are mentioned.

Nemophila Lovely, Wish for success, I forgive you, Clear heart

Calla Lily Gorgeous beauty, Purity, Gracefulness of a young maiden

Blue Baby's breath Gratitude, Luck, Innocence, Kindness

Delphinium You spread happiness, Clear and bright, Generous, Precious

Bluestars (Amsonia) Trust in one another, Abundant love

Fun fact: The flower passed around in Ivory is a Delphinium! Meaning Nagi spreads happiness, which is what he does by sharing his happiness 'energy' but also that he brings joy to those around him by simply being himself.

Next -> | Masterlist

[melverie]

"The one who reduced me to what I am now is you"

So @impish-ivy asked me to look at the English and Japanese versions of Solomon's and Nightbringer's conversation in 10-A, and there are two things in particular that I'd like to highlight a little (if you want to compare the two versions yourself, I've included the Japanese version, my translation of it and the English version of their entire conversation below the cut)

The first one is about this:

The Japanese version actually more closely translates to "The one who reduced me to what I am now is you" (aka the title). It's a small difference, but it adds a lot more malice to Solomon's words + it also slightly reframes that agreement of theirs that Solomon was talking about to imo

I still wish NB would focus more on its namesake so we could figure out what the relationship between Sol and NB is and what exactly happened between them but oh well.. We still have 6 lessons to go for this season, so maybe we'll get lucky and they at least drop a few hints for us

Anyway as for the second one:

"If you had chosen this, it would have been easy". The "this" is what I want to focus on real quick

Given that right before their conversation, Solomon was asked to choose between demons and angels (tho he ultimalety ended up chosing humanity), so it would make sense to assume that that's what Nightbringer is referring to. But since the meaning of "this" was never specified, it could also mean that the actual purpose of the test might have been to see if Solomon would be willing to abandon humanity instead

Considering that Solomon has now repeadetely asked MC to side with humanity, and how there's also been some emphasize on how demons and angels do not see humans as equals, it's definitely possible, at least

Anyway, translations below the cut for anyone that wants to read through them!

This is how I've structured it:

[speaker]

日本語バージョン (Japanese version) [my translation (I tried to stick as close to the original meaning as possible)] English version

⸺

???

......困った人だ [...you're a difficult person] ...You always have to be difficult.

???

いや、面倒な人だ、あなたは [No, a troublesome person is what you are] Or perhaps difficult isn't the right word. Troublesome is what you are.

???

もしくは、その両方ですね [Or both] Actually, I suppose both are true.

???

こちらを選んでしまえば、楽なのに [If you had chosen this, it would have been easy] If you'd only chosen our side, it would've made things so much easier.

Solomon

あはは。ご期待に添えなくて悪いね [Ahaha. I'm sorry for not meeting your expectations] Ahaha. Sorry to disappoint you!

Solomon

俺がそうしないことは、君も知ってるだろう？ [You knew I wouldn't do that, no?] But you must know I wouldn't do that, right?

Solomon

どうして今さら俺を試すようなことをするんだ？ [Why are you testing me now?] So why are you testing me? Shouldn't we be past that point?

Solomon

俺の信念が揺らいでるようにでも見えた？ [Did it seem like my believes were wavering?] Did you think I might be questioning my convictions?

???

揺らいでいる、とは思っていません [I don't think it's wavering] Not at the moment, no.

???

ですがー [But...] However...

???

あの方......。 可愛い弟子のあの方が巻き込まれても [That person... Even if that cute apprentice should get involved...] What if your adorable apprentice were to get caught up in all of this?

???

あなたが揺らぐことはないのでしょうか [...would you never waver?] Perhaps then you might reconsider your convictions?

Solomon

それは脅しかい？ 悪魔みたいなことを言うんだな [Is that a threat? You sound like a demon...] Is that a threat? You know, you sound just like a demon...

Solomon

でも大丈夫。MCも俺と同じ気持ちだからね [But it's alright. MC feels the same way as me, after all] Still, it doesn't change anything. Because MC feels the same way I do.

???

あの方の本当��望むことを、自分なら 理解していると？過信しすぎでは？ [Do you think you can understand what that person really wants? Are you overconfident?] You think you know what it is your apprentice truly wants? That you can see inside the heart of another? That doesn't strike you as overconfident?

Solomon

そうでもないよ [Not really] Not at all.

???

その傲慢なほどの自信は いったいどこから満ちてくるのか...... [Where on earth is that arrogant self-confidence coming from...] You have confidence to the point of arrogance. Where exactly does it come from, I wonder...

???

あなたこそ、悪魔のような振る舞いを しているのでは？ [Aren't you the one acting like a demon?] Have you considered that you're behaving quite a bit like a demon yourself?

Solomon

悪魔のような振る舞いかあ。 でも考えてみたら、仕方ないことじゃないか？ [I'm acting like a demon? But if you try thinking about it, isn't it inevitable?] You think I'm behaving like a demon... Well, if you think about it, that's to be expected, right?

Solomon

だってさ [Because] I mean...

Solomon

今の俺を減らしたのは、君なんだから [The one who reduced me to what I am now is you] You're the one who made me who I am today, after all.

Solomon

そうだろう？　「ナイトブリンガー」 [Right? "Nightbringer"] Isn't that right, Nightbringer...?

[lastivkaa]

OK MY RANDOM YOUTUBE KNOWLEDGE FINALLY NEEDED

DIES IRAE is a Catholic sequence, a hymn-type thing, singing about the judge (Jesus) who will come one day, on this dies irae or "day of wrath" and kinda fix everything. In it, the character sings about the hope for forgiveness

JESUS ​​ARTHUR CANON LOL

That is, probably not quite. Dies irae is exactly the day. A moment, if you will allow me, if it was meant here, I believe that iudex would be used, which is literally translated, or perhaps Rex tremendae majestatis "King of terrifying will" which are both in this work.

Maybe I'm boring, but it's interesting. Because the song, although it is called wrath, is not really about that, it is about how cool Jesus is, and how he lived for people's sins, and how tired he is etc

What is more interesting, this title in the context of the show can mean both that Arthur and John judges in the context of the song, and that they are the one who sings, AND THAT they occupy both roles separately. Where I assume Arthur is one who judging and John is who been judged

It may look strange, but it makes more sense to them than the other way around. Yes, John is (part of) a God in this world, but it is Arthur who is more suitable for the one who "suffered for sins" and John is clearly the one who is still feels guilty of Arthur (for Arthur it isn't John but Frao)

I'm ready to fight for it with knives. Fuck the metaphor of God kneeling before a mortal and begging for forgiveness is SO FUCKING GOOD

[It is translation of my Ukr-language post, which I made while listening to the episode in parallel, so it may contain inaccuracies and just look strange, sorry]

[zzalina]

One day more or Sale el sol? Los Mis 2010

Okay so yesterday I made a post about Los Miserables 2010 and discovered there's more people who love it??? Someone asked me about the spanish translation of les mis and it was the straw that broke the camel's back for me to finally make a post. You have NO IDEA how long I've wanted to talk about this. Anyway, today I'll be talking about the 2010 spanish translation BUT I already have in my drafts a post comparing the spanish 1992, spanish 2010 and the original english versions (Edit: not in drafts anymore, here it is!). Without furhter ado, here are my thoughts about Sale el sol:

First things first: the title. "Sale el sol" means "The sun rises". I didn't use to like the translation because they could have gone with "Un día más" (as they did in 1992). It means exactly "one day more" and fits the music almost perfectly (you just have to pronounce it a little bit weird but nothing that isn't a common thing to do in songs). But then I saw this tweet:

"The phrase the sun rises instead of one day more to speak about resilience in a country in which the sun was used by fascists makes one feel mental peace, feel justice, feel art and revolution, it feels like recovering the light and coming out of the shadows"

A little bit of context: Spain was in a fascist dictatorship until 1975. There is a famous song from that time called "Cara al sol" ("Facing the sun"). It was the anthem of the Falange, a political party, but it's still used today by fascist groups. In this context, claiming the sun for a message like the one this song sends is really poetic justice and I just love it.

They also use the idea of the sun rising in "La canción del pueblo/Do you hear the people sing?" (I'll make a post about that one too) so it really links the two songs together in a very beautiful way. I could speak about the title for hours, but let's go to the lyrics:

On the left you have the original english lyrics, then the 2010 spanish ones and then the translation to english so you can see the differences. Pretty similar tbh

Marius being so dramatic in every langauge

Éponine's verses are always so sad but there is something about her feeling like she doesn't even exist for Marius that breaks my heart even more 💔

There's a lot I could say about Enjolras' part related to the 1992 translation but that will be a different post. Now take a moment to appreciate how Daniel Diges sings this lines pls look it up I love him

As you can see, in the translation we sadly lose the repetition of "one day more" 😔 Also Javert saying that the revolution will be born dead conveys to me the certainty that he had that it was not going to work. The army won't have to do much because the revolution will die by itself (and he was right, the people didn't join 😔)

Honestly I don't fully understand the Thenardier's part in english so I can't properly compare it, but they're so caothic in both languages, this part is so funny.

My favourite part of the song 😭 In english "Do you hear the people sing?" is the title of another song but since that one is called "La canción del pueblo" ("The people's song") they couldn't keep the verse exactly the same. But it's the first verse of The people's song

Just Javert's part bcs it's different, the others are kept the same than previously if I'm not wrong. Once again, there's no repetition in spanish 😔

I find it funny that since the original one talks about dawn at the end they translated it to "un día mas", doing the opposite of what they did with the title. It made me wonder for years why didn't they use it for the whole song since it fits the music. But now I know and you know too.

If you made it this far thank you for reading the post. If you liked it, there'll be more and if you didn't like it I'm sorry but there'll be more because I have a lot to say ✨

[canirove]

Friends, lovers… and an orange | Epilogue

Author's note: And we've made it to the end! 😞 I must confess I was very insecure about this story when I started posting it and I still kind of am, I know it isn't one of my bests 😅 So the fact that you guys have read it and supported it, means a lot more than usual. I hope you like this last chapter (it finally explains what the orange on the title means 😅), and again, thank you very much for reading 💜

Previous chapter

Masterlist

A few years later…

“Mase, we are gonna be late for dinner.”

“We won't. C'mon.”

“Can we at least walk a bit slower? You know heels aren't my thing, and on grass…”

“Then grab my arm. But c'mon, Addie. I don't want us to miss the sunset.”

“It's just the sunset, Mase” she chuckled as they continued walking through the gardens of their Italian villa. Because after all the summers they had spent there, and all the things they had lived and that had made it feel like it was their second home, Mason and Adele had decided to buy it. 

“Today is your birthday, Addie. Everything about it is special.”

“I see… Is that the reason why you've made us all dress so fancy tonight?”

“Exactly. Only the best for the woman I love” Mason smiled, his dimple showing. 

The previous year they had celebrated Adele's birthday at the beach with a big barbecue, their friends and families wearing just their swimsuits. But this year, for whatever the reason, Mason had been super picky and planned everything for everyone to the point that he had made a schedule with all the things they were going to do throughout the day. He had even booked a day just for Adele, their mums, Jourdan and Rianne, where they had gone to a spa and then to shop their outfits for the big day. 

“Ok, so, umm…” Mason said when they made it to the spot he had chosen for them to watch the sunset. “Remember when I came to Italy to shoot my perfume campaign?”

“How to forget the perfume that started it all” she chuckled.

“Yeah” he smiled. “Well, half of the team was Spanish, and during lunch time we were talking about relationships and things like that, and one guy explained that in Spain to say that you've found your other half, you say you've found your media naranja.”

“Your what?” she laughed.

“My Spanish sucks, ok? Don't make fun of me” he replied, sticking out his tongue. “The literal translation would be to find your half an orange.”

“That's… weird.”

“It actually isn't. You are half an orange, and someone else is the other half of that orange. When you meet and get together, you make an orange, you complete the other. And that reminded me of us.”

“Are you calling me half an orange?” 

“Addie…” he sighed. “I'm trying to be romantic and you are making fun of me.”

“I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Please continue.”

“Oranges have always been important to us. Our first kiss was under this very same orange tree. A perfume that smelled like oranges got us into a mess that led us to getting closer and to you falling in love with me. And it was here again, under this tree, where I confessed my feelings for you, which also led us to finally being together.”

“Yeah, finally” she smiled.

“So yes, Addie” Mason said, taking her hands on his. “You are half an orange. My half an orange. And together we make the most perfect one, an orange that was always destined to be made of those two halfs, of you and I. Of us together. Like you once said years ago, we are soulmates.”

“We are” she smiled.

“And because you are my soulmate, my media naranja” he said with his bad Spanish, making her laugh while letting go of her hands and getting on one knee. “Adele Antonia Turlington, would you marry me?”

“Mase” she gasped when she saw the little box on his hand, the most beautiful ring inside it. “Mase I… I… Yes.”

“Yes?” he asked, his smile growing bigger by the second, his dimples showing in all their glory. 

“Yes” she repeated, tears already rolling down her cheeks. “Yes and a million times yes. I love you, Mason” she said after he stood up and put the ring on her finger. “I love you, I love you, I love you.”

“I think you are gonna have to say it again, I didn't hear you” he smirked, wrapping his arms around her waist.

“I love you, Mason. My soulmate, my half an orange, my everything.”

“I love you too, Addie” he smiled before kissing her, cheers and clapping being heard somewhere.

“What… what was that?” Adele asked.

“That has to be our family and friends.”

“What?”

“They were watching” Mason said.

“What?” she repeated, this time louder.

“I wanted to remember this moment, so I asked them to hide and film it and take photos.”

“Aww, Mase.”

“Cute, uh?” he smirked. “But there is more.”

“More?”

“More” he smiled before taking the hand where her new ring was shining and starting to walk towards where the voices had come from.

“Mase, what… What is all this?” Adele asked him. 

“Our wedding.”

“Our what?”

“I know we just literally got engaged, but I don't want to wait, Addie. I want to marry you and make it official in front of everyone we love that I want to spend the rest of my life with you as your husband.”

“You… what… I…” she mumbled, looking from Mason to where their parents, their brothers, and some of their closest friends, like Jourdan and Rianne, were waiting for them. 

But they weren't the only thing that was making Adele's eyes be about to pop from their sockets. They were standing next to an arch made with white flowers and orange details, the sea and the town nearby being perfectly framed behind it. It was simple, but stunning. 

“Is this the reason why you've been acting so weird this whole trip and being so annoying with your schedule? Because you were planning it all?” she asked. 

“Yeah… Sorry about that” Mason said. “But I was so nervous, Addie. I wanted it all to be perfect. And I know you probably had in mind something bigger, something with more flowers and live music and…”

“I love it, Mase” Adele cut him. 

“Really?”

“Yes” she nodded, trying to not start crying again. 

“Then do you want to do it? Do you want to marry me?”

“I already said yes, didn't I?” she chuckled, showing him her ring. 

“You did, yes” he smiled. “Shall we, then?”

“Yes” Adele smiled back.

“Ok. Then wait here, I'm gonna tell everyone” Mason said before running towards their family and friends, leaving Adele alone with her thoughts. 

She was going to marry him. Him, Mason, her Mase. And she was about to do it in her favourite place in the whole wide world, the Italian villa where they had made so many memories together, the one that meant so much to them and that now was their home too. 

“I believe this is for you” Luca said, meeting Adele and giving her a big bouquet of flowers that matched the ones on the arch.

“Thank you” she smiled. “But shouldn't be dad the one walking me to the altar?”

“Love you too, sis” he replied, rolling his eyes.

“I didn't mean it like that, Luca. You know I love you and that you are my favourite little brother.”

“I am the only little brother you have, Addie.”

“Alex has always been like a little brother to me too.”

“Yeah, try to fix it now” he said, trying to look mad.

“I love you, Luca” Adele said, caressing his cheek. 

“I know you do, Addie. I know” he smiled. “Anyway, should we do this? I think Mason is starting to fear you may run away.”

“I'm not running away, you idiot” she said, hitting her brother.

“Ouch!” he complained. “You do love him, don't you, sis?”

“With my whole heart” she said, looking at where Mason was standing, Toni trying to tame his hair. “But you still haven't told me why dad isn't walking me.”

“Oh, that. He's marrying you.”

“What?”

“Yeah” Luca said. “He got some kind of certificate and is legally allowed to do it. So, ready to become Adele Mount?” 

“I'm not changing my last name, Luca.”

“Good” he smiled. “Then let's do this.” 

“Yes” Adele said, taking the arm her brother was offering her, her heart beating so fast in her chest she felt it was going to break her ribs. And as she got closer to where Mason was, she felt it could actually happen.

“You look gorgeous, Addie” he said.

“I look the same I did five minutes ago” she chuckled. 

“Are you ready, guys?” Adele's dad said, making them stop looking at each other like two idiots. 

“Ready” they both said. 

The ceremony didn't last long. Her dad gave a little speech, Jourdan sang one of their favourite songs (she had always been an amazing singer), and they exchanged their vows and the rings.

“And now I pronounce you husband and wife” Adele's dad said. “You may kiss the bride.” 

“Finally” Mason said, wrapping his hands around her waist and making her lean back like they do in movies, all while she laughed and held onto him. “How was that for our first kiss as husband and wife?” he asked against her lips.

“Perfect” she smiled.

“Just so you know, it is going to be the first kiss of many. Because I'm gonna be kissing you for the rest of our very very long lives together… wife” he smirked, his left cheek dimple showing.

“Looking forward to it… husband” she giggled.

“I love you, Addie” he said, brushing his nose against hers.

“I love you too, Mase” she replied before kissing him again. 

━━━━❃━━━━ FIN ━━━━❃━━━━

[oshinohoshi]

Oshi no Ko Chapter 155 Thoughts

The chapter title is Happy End! Well, not for Hikaru. He's so broken we don't even see his face

The framing of this as the end of Ruby's revenge is interesting but um... what revenge? We haven't seen Ruby thinking about revenge since she lost her black hoshigan. This would hit a lot harder if Ruby had done anything lately to show she cared about revenge

It's a real shame because Ruby's lines in Ch 115 when she was doing the impromptu audition with Frill and Akane gave me chills

I still dream about the day my mother died, even now... will everyone I love end up dying?... I want to go to where everyone is. I want to die too. That's powerful stuff! Of course she would want revenge. But then she realizes Gorou is alive and everything is fine again (??)

As for Ruby's forgiveness, unfortunately that happened off the page (sadly that's become a running theme lately with how rushed things feel to me). Her conversation with Hikaru in Ch 147 is the closest we got to seeing her make that decision

And what exactly did she do in her acting to deliver that forgiveness? I'm tired of being told about it, I want to see it

I'm not sure why Ruby was chasing after Hikaru in this chapter with double black hoshigan if she was all set to forgive him but  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Anyway, none of that matters because Miyako is back, hugs are back, Aqua is crying in his mother's arms and... OK BUT WHERE WAS MIYAKO UNTIL NOW? WHY DID YOU FORGET HER, AKASAKA? Never mind, sorry, this was an adorable moment

Someone finally remembered Yura Katayose. I really hope it's shown how Aqua realized she had anything to do with this

Nino jumpscare! I am obsessed with Nino's obsession with Ai. The toxic yuri is off the charts and I'm eating it up

Look at this poster. Nino could have simply cut her and Ai out of it but no, she took the time to cross out and scribble over the other B Komachi girls, presumably for daring to breathe the same air as Ai

If you have not, you need to read 45510 (translated by aihoshiino) which is not only the basis for the lyrics in Idol but a deep dive into Nino's psyche. It was obvious by this point, but we now canonically know that Nino is the narrator in 45510 because of the panel in this chapter where she hits the delete button

Wait, hold up, Nino is using an mp3 player? My god, she really is stuck in time isn't she

She has trash bags all over her house because this woman is a shut in who does nothing but watch videos of Ai, listen to old B Komachi songs, and stare at her poster. Honestly? Same. I see you, Nino, and we can be delusional together

I believe in another life that Nino healed herself with a lot of therapy and a yoga retreat, stopped putting Ai on a pedestal, embraced her sexuality, and confessed to Ai. They're now living with the twins in a small house on the outskirts of Tokyo. Nino writes a mommy blog called "My dream life with precocious twins: me, myself, and Ai"

Get it? See what I did there? Okay...

[understandableparadox]

Bottom of the barrel isekai: b-rank adventurer with an evil look becomes a daddy to the protagonist and his childhood friend.

Well if i'm reading it, that's a goddamn lie, hello! Pull up a chair, drink my tea, piss on my wife, you have the most control in this world because you are the specialist lil fella that can do not a lick of wrong! It's time for another bottom of the barrel isekai review! Today, you can read the title above, go fuck yourself if you think im going write it out every single god damn time.

Come out boys, girls and some other thing, frogs? Is that what the enbys like these days? Frogs? Anyways let's do the song and dance!

Our titular main character is a dude from japan, they wasted their live away being a disgusting fucking neet and playing video games all the live long day, being a whale in pirates 101 and domeing me from across the map as widow maker on royal!  

Anyways he fucking Dies and gets reincarnated in the game he and his singular friend dearly loved known as bright fantasy, now as we can see in the picture above, perhaps he reincarnated as some sorta giga god, perhaps his party abandoned him because they didnt understand the monumental boon a tax accountant has in another world… perhaps he was summoned by the king to Fuck his wife for him! 

Wait a second… is that a sharp detour…? FU-

Anyways gray is reborn as a Thug Npc, or someone with a dark background, his looks mean, he has a average appearance and some fucking sick shoulder gaurds.  He is a moody lil nobody, which is why it's such an insane hook to see it open with two children begging to be adopted by him in the opening

Now before you get too scared that we are running into uncharted territories since we haven't had anyone betray anyone and the MC has not turned god inside out, we get to dive back into the cool cocoons of familiar fantasy tropes with the adventuring ranking system. I'm not going to bother to explain it, if you got a letter grade in school then you know what it means. Get close to the A and that means you are the Big Boy adventurer who does the Big Boy quests. 

Now i do appreciate the authors restraint and only making him the Second Biggest boy and attempting to make him Not A Twink

We almost have a guy who is on a bulk and not a cut, sigh, one day. 

Anyways we pull back ground tall dark and who cares to learn that these two are matchstick kids. Dead broke kids who are attempting to sell flowers they have picked to the people on the street. They were attacked by nobody you are going to remember and get healed by gray. They then decide to beg him to save their ailing parents because I guess wonka isn't around to give golden tickets to get them out of bed or whatever. 

They tell them their names, one of them has the super special name of the Super Main Character. What a coinkyDink. Gray knows that if he is to be a villain (???) then his job is to avoid it. Luckily he went to the Katarina claes school of villainy and decided that ethical action is actually more important than meta narrative logic. 

Cut to Tiny tims lakeside property and we see the rest of the family living the fucking dream!

I'm so sorry, i have this mental tick where i accidently say “dream” instead of “nightmare”.

Also Stella is a vampire, why? Fuck you thats why. 

They explain that they have been getting by by the skin of their teeth through a combination of the street urchin grind set of selling flowers and getting church donations. Gray beats up some assumed child abductors outside and gives a somewhat creepy smile. 

Next chapter is about Gray stealing an orcs' balls to create a high end potion (viagra) to nobles so he can get enough money to buy something called a “home”? I'm not sure what that is exactly, i'm not sure what the translator was talking about, i've certainly never heard of someone “buying” or owning one for certain.

I don't actually have much to say about this guy, this is the guy who makes the ball potion for gray, I just like him, he has a funny face, I like looking at it. He looks like someone I would trade yugioh cards with while he tells me about his super cool oc and I would listen because he is a fun dude. 

But yeah, the manga is mostly about this guy being a slightly more psychotic late stage kratos, being a dad, trying to raise a bunch of random kids he found, trying to give the main character a taste of normalcy before the plot kicks and and shit goes sideways, oh and sometimes he brutally kills people. 

His main goal is to have a family and that's about that. 

So let's start getting into things. 

The title has no interest in creating an expansive world that is original, everything of it is meat burrowed and stitched into its own narrative to support its own plot line and to explain why this happens and why that is occurring at this point. Now I do not believe that this is inherently a bad thing. In fact it's fine. Not every single manga needs to be the next genre defining piece of media. In fact we need things that are average, we need things that build the genre or else we can never have exceptions to the rule.  The magic system, the team system, the classes, the guilds, the plot, it's all what you would expect from something with final fantasy inspirations. Semi (not really) complicated fighting systems that only make sense to pad out the loving tedium of a game. “Complete this many quests of this level to rank up.” “collect this many monster parts to complete the quest” and so on and so fourth ad infitum until god has to pop out and ask what the fuck is going on. 

The art is great in places. Most of it is very bog standard, you aren't going to get that much out of it if you are expecting groundbreaking designs that really make you scratch your chin in wonder at how they made something like that up. But it's very clearly competent and knows how to give each of its characters that needed cover before you read the book. People that need to look like unlikeable thugs look like unlikeable thugs, children that need to look sweet and innocent look sweet and innocent. The artist is really good at goofy expressions but they are a bit few and far between to really satisfy my desire for evil fucked up faces, oh kekegurui… if i didnt hate your plot so much i would be so much more obsessed with you… 

The tropes I've already gone over. It uses every single trope but more so in the way someone would do if they were playing a new game plus. You don't want to do the rigamarole of the heroes rise so you make them overpowered and whatever so they can get to the stuff that you have deemed important, that being fatherhood simulator and housing market simulator. The world is secondary to the plot the author wants so they grab the tropes they want to ensure they can focus on that part of the story with impunity while hand waving some other things and give ol daddy gray his badass moments to make the editors happy that this is infact enough of a power fantasy. You know, to keep those freaks that actually buy the manga happy. 

As for kink stuff, none that I can see. The author only seems to want women to fawn on the main character so they can complete the golden vision of the dead emperor abe of the nuclear family, perhaps hoping to tempt his blessing from beyond the grave… 

This was a little bit of a boreing read. I cant entirely recommend it, but if you want to see some edgy boredline twunk be a dad to a bunch of random kids he adopted then yeah, go for it lmao. 

[sevensoulmates]

So I remember you saying that when tv studios are making their shows, nothing is left to chance and every decision they make is carefully put together, right? And when they first revealed the title for the fourth episode I didn't really knew it was the name of a song by Ella Fitzgerald, it's only recently that I read the lyrics of the song and it must mean something right? Because it's obviously a love/pining song.

Btw I was meaning to ask about your favorite Eddie/Buck moments that made you think "There's no way this is platonic" of course you don't have to explain in detail if you don't feel like it or don't have the time but it's always joy to read what you have to say about buddie 🙏😄

Hi there! Sorry for the delayed response! As typical of me, my opinion on episode titles is gonna be on the realistic side and this answer is kinda rambley. Obviously, episode titles reflect the content of what the episode will be about, but it isn't always exactly what it seems on the surface. And that's on purpose, we usually get episode titles in advance before the episode airs and they don't want it to spoil the entire thing (hence why I don't think "placeholder titles" like "henren begins" or "buddie begins" are real).

911 has been known to borrow some of their titles from well-known movies. Examples: "Love, Actually" -> "Buck, Actually", "Oceans 11" -> "Oceans 9-1-1". "Brawl in Cell Block 99" -> "Brawl in Cell Block 9-1-1".

They've also been known to copy super common phrases. Examples: "Careful What You Wish For", or "The One That Got Away".

They also use quite a lot of questions in the titles. Examples: "What's Next?" and "9-1-1, What's Your Grievance?" and of course a million 911 puns.

When it comes to song titles, that's a little harder to judge. Song titles often have common phrases like the ones mentioned above in them, so some titles could coincidentally overlap with song titles. One example is "Wrapped in Red" which is also a Christmas love song. Or they have episodes like "Love Is In the Air" where the song is also played in the episode ending montage. These are also just common phrases and don't necessarily have to be associated with a song.

"Buck, Bothered and Bewildered" is a bit of an odd case (as is "You Don't Know Me" but for a different reason), because it is undeniably the title of a very well-known song. But plenty of other shows have made use of the title and song in episodes before so it's not exactly unprecedented.

In my opinion, I don't think we should be taking the song lyrics themselves 100% at face value and expect them to translate point for point into the episode. That's just a bit unrealistic. BUT I do think the overall vibe of the song, and the general meaning of the phrase "bothered and bewildered" can be taken as a general idea of overall themes that will be explored in the episode, but not just for Buck, even though his name is titular this time. Episode titles almost always refer to the general themes that ALL prominent characters with arcs in this episode are feeling. So chances are it will apply to Athena, Chimney, and Eddie too. My speculation is likely that Chimney is also going to be confused by Buck's actions (and possibly something to do with Maddie) And Eddie will likely also be very very bothered and bewildered by Buck's actions and feelings in this episode. Maybe Tommy too?

I am fairly positive this episode will provide huge hints and steps in the right direction toward buddie canon. And I also want people to remember that characters DO NOT always have everything figured out. Just like normal humans, they can misunderstand their own feelings, not recognize the truth/gravity/context of their feelings, and even LIE (straight to the audience's face) about their feelings. Here is where learning how to (realistically) read subtext and not be afraid of it comes in.

As for "friends wouldn't do that" moments, well I think @useramor explained it best with their post here. ALL of buddie's moments could have a platonic reading to them, but it's the extra layers of desperation, hiding feelings unnecessarily, the lack of boundaries, the merging of entities, and the way they can never actually acknowledge or define their relationship in any true way, that makes almost all of their moments ALSO read as romantic. In my opinion, if writers want a moment to be read as entirely platonic with little to no room for romantic readings, there are ways to do so where at least most of your audience will understand. Instead, the 911 writers tend to place nearly all of buddie's interactions in a platonic-romantic limbo, and I personally think that's on purpose. Biding time, if you will.

[switch]

I'm trying to figure out Vlad's speech pattern, do you have any tips on writing his dialogue?

ohh yeah that's tough. i struggled with that for a while and i'm still not 100% sure how exactly i'd put it to words since i kinda just started feeling it out...

uh i think one thing that especially helped with vlad for me was really listening a lot to his voice acting and then just sort of... imagining how his particular deep and kind of slow-spoken and kingly cadence would translate to and sound in written dialogue... does that make sense...

i mean one, uh, 'nice' thing about vlad is that he doesn't have a lot of written dialogue. between his gameplay/my room lines, his interlude, the gray collar event, vegas, valentine, and halloween revival, plus his relatively sparse dialogue in apoc, you can basically look at... everything he's ever said in, like, a day for reference (heck i've got like a 10 minute video of every single line he says in the apoc anime). i will say that some of his early my room lines do have a bit of an odd feel to them, though...

uh, anyway, as for more specific tips... uhhh.... he tends to use more refined or formal or even old-fashioned-sounding language, but critically without sounding excessively flowery, either, as he's often also pretty direct and conveys authority in the way he talks at the same time. especially if he's giving some kind of speech, or talking about something before battle, or scolding someone (apoc and vegas). he says stuff like "fool," "unsightly," "end yourself", "i thank you/you have my gratitude" etc... when he does get more poetic or indirect is in higher bond levels where he starts alluding to things more than outright stating them (bond 5, bond 10, ascension 4), so that's also situational.

it's also sort of shown/implied that he lightens up a bit more when dealing with kids or teenagers in chaldea, and obviously the protagonist, but he really never feels casual even at his most relatively casual or happy state. when writing him i'd definitely recommend veering towards more formal language than you might think is necessary vs risking making it sound too casual, as i would say it sounds out a lot weirder fast when a vlad is accidentally written even a bit too casual than it does when he's written maybe a little excessively formal. he also doesn't seem to laugh a lot outside of brief "heh"s or "hehe"s or even the occasional "oho". he seems to go "hm" or "hmph" sometimes if he's contemplating things or not happy about something... maybe it was sort of a weird translation, but the end of his interlude 1 where he just outright says "sorry for forcing you to accompany me" instead of anything more... noble-sounding feels like kind of a rare big deal thing, for him.

a lot of fan translations outright write him into using "thee"s and "thou"s and "canst"s and such, or at least having him switch to talking like that in certain situations, which i do definitely think works contextually for him. he doesn't use contractions a lot of the time ("there is" "i am" "it is" "i shall", etc) but he does still use them sometimes, (there's multiple instances of "i've" and "i'll" peppered around at the least), so it's not a hard and fast rule- it seems to just be more dependent on who he's talking to and whether or not it works with the flow of that particular line of dialogue. he tends to address other people by titles of some kind rather than by name.

actually i do remember one time the way vlad talks was described to me as something like the way some kind of dark anime villain would talk. he talks like an anime villain who isn't actually a villain...

ugh does any of this make sense, i don't know, so much of this is situational.......

[tetrakys]

this was never in the history of forever ever gonna happen and i understand why it didn't and why it won't but i would've died 1000 deaths for a male mc in mcl. not even just in new gen, i would've loved to be gay asf in hsl, ul and ll too:') this isn't like a critique or anything but a guy can dream right😂😂?

lol anyway, just wondering if maybe you have any recs for otome with male/gn mc? or if not if you know someone who might? mcl is the only one I've ever gotten really into so i don't know about any other games like it 🙃

I'm sorry, friend. I really wish you and everyone were able to play the game as you wish and wouldn't have to "adapt" to what is available. Unfortunately some features like a male MC or multiple f/f routes are too expensive for a small company like Beemoov.

Tbh I haven't seen many otome games with a male MC around, otome by definition have female protagonists. There are lots of BL games around though (BL = boys love) where the MC is gender locked as male and all the crushes are male. I've never played one so I can't recommend any but if you look for BL games I'm sure you're going to find a ton!

Other than BL/yaoi games, there are games with no visuals of the MC so you can assume they are whatever gender you prefer (oten they let you choose pronouns). Generally these games have no illustrations or they do but only show the crushes alone without the MC. A few names I can think of are Arcana, Obey Me, Touchstarved (only the demo is out at the moment), When The Night Comes and other games from the same company (iirc there was some drama around it but I'm not informed). Again, take a look around because there are many! I think these games are generally referred to as Amare games, because they have the same formula of otome games but aren't strictly aimed at a female audience.

The only otome game with visuals I can think of which attempted to have both female and male MC and also multiple routes (5 male and 5 female) is Sweet Elite. However, I would say that it failed in this attempt, because in 12 episodes of the first season, there is only one episode with 1-1 illustrations with the crushes, then there is one episode where there are illustrations of the crushes alone, and everything else is group illustrations, max 2 or 3 per episode. (To me it ended up feeling more like a friendship game than a romance game.)

So, clearly, it's even more proof that when games have a big visual component and also offer customisation, it's basically impossible to have two genders MC. Unless it's a huge company producing them, but I'm not even sure that's the case because Is It Love? games for example were produced by Ubisoft and they didn't even offer look customisation, let alone gender customisation.

Another suggestion I can give you, is to check out mobile apps such as Chapters, Choices and Episodes. These aren't exactly otome games, but more similar to romance books translated as games. They have huge libraries and several titles are either gender locked yaoi or you can pick your own gender. You can even customise the looks of the MC and the crushes, but of course there are no CGs.

Oh, and one last thing that comes to mind, another option for you could be to check out dating app simulation games, basically fake tinder apps, they have lots of crushes each one with their own story, you can choose pronouns but your avatar will never appear in game or in CGs. A few names I remember are MeChat, Love Link, Love Verse, but I'm sure there are more. The stories can be quite entertaining so I suggest you check them out. (I remember MeChat had both a Lysander and a Castiel lookalikes).

So really, there are SO MANY games around that there's no need to stick to one where we have to adapt to game features we don't like. Ultimately MCL's main target audience are straight, cis women (with a very small offering of f/f routes) and I wouldn't stick to it if I weren't one. I remember when I started playing 11 years ago and I was looking for more games in a language I could understand and I could find very little, now instead there's so much competition that there's something for literally everyone.

Good luck with your search, let me know if you find anything you like! 💕

[osshisan]

hello, about the new enstars fan post where you say that most of the story is sort of unavailable, where do i start digging? you mentioned the wayback machine and the wiki, is it the fandom wiki? + do you recommend a specific story to start with?

OOO thank you for asking i'm so happy to help with this! i hope you don't mind if i write under the assumption that you're a complete beginner with enstars lore >v<)7

(this is also going to be just for the first game (referred to as "!-era"), since i'm actually less read on !!-era (the second game/the one that got localized) than i am with ! . i think it's necessary though since ! has the most basic necessary lore in it. this means the newer units, alkaloid and crazy:b, won't be mentioned-- SO sorry if you were hoping to hear about them in particular)

putting under a cut to not clog peoples' dashes! i'm so sorry this is about to be long but important es stories are going to be even longer so. prepare

where do i find the stories?

using the wayback machine to browse the ensemble stars fan wiki is a great, easy place to find a good majority of !-era stories! you can still use the direct site to preview stories for summaries and involved characters, but unfortunately since happyelements struck the fan wiki for copyright and got every translation hosted on it taken down, wayback is the only way i know of to access links to stories that were hosted there.

here's the link i usually refer to for quick access to stories on the wiki! this one will bring you right to the main story. to branch off and find others, use the Story tab under the wiki's title!

if a story you want to read isn't on the wiki, or you'd just rather read from a different source (wayback runs a little slowly + search bar won't work, and fandom wiki is... what it is), a quick google search is still likely to get you where you want to go. many fan TLers still host their story translations in places like tumblr blogs, dreamwidth pages, twitter threads, or other personal websites!

most basic lore please start here - main story and The War™

the Main Story in ! covers trickstar's revolution of yumenosaki against the status quo enforced by the student council, led by eichi (also leader of fine). you're about to get very acquainted with trickstar; other units do play important parts but trickstar are your protagonists for now. what's equally important about mainsto though is the introduction to dreamfes, SS, and how these idols are actually battling it out through singies and dancies. it'll get you familiar with how things work around here in ye old enstartown, how wild and absurd stuff can get, and you'll get brief intros to several characters and units as well! not everyone but... most of them

after mainsto i strongly recommend reading the Reminiscence stories (aka The War™) !! these take place 1-2 years before the main story and contain VERY juicy general lore for the series. if you aren't leaning towards any units after main story, you probably will be after these. the war stories also provide REALLY important context for character development of LOTS OF THESE GUYS. you don't really have to read them in chronological order (i didn't), so if you're curious: Crossroad features Undead and Akatsuki (particularly rei and keito), Marionette features Valkyrie (past), Checkmate features Knights (get ready for leo tsukinaga), and Element features Fine and Switch (this is a big one). Wonder Game, though it isn't exactly a reminiscence story, is also good to add on-- there's some more on ex-fine and switch in here!

"i read the necessities, now what?"

THE FUN PART: LET THE HEART LEAD, BABY!!!

hopefully from reading the main story and the war someone will have caught your eye, whether it's a particular unit or one or two characters on their own! from here the best path to take is just to follow whoever you're interested in and want to know more about! there's lots of stuff going on with like every unit so the world is your oyster... and if you're lucky you'll get worms of the brain like me and my valkie disease <3

the best resource ever for where to go next is this reading list spreadsheet !! i use this ALL THE TIME; it's sorted by unit and further by individual character to point you to stories that will teach you about your chosen guys.

and that's about it!! SO SORRY if you weren't expecting such a wordy response but i am cursed with verbosity and this series has So Much. i am also thrilled to help people enjoy enstars because for as long as i spent making fun of it, i've actually come to really like and enjoy it... it's definitely a lot of reading but i've had so much fun i haven't minded at all. i hope you can have some of that fun too..!!! love and peace...

[mxanigel]

coming for the fic title game "Putting together broken pieces"

This has been sitting in my ask box forever and I'm so sorry it took me this long! (reference post here)

But now that I'm starting to get swallowed up by BG3, though I'm still in Act 1, I like the idea of this title being related to Vix supporting the companions they're closest to, specifically Shadowheart and Gale.

Vix grew up learning to respect life and the forces in the world around them. (Sometimes learning the hard way, like when their storm magic went out of control.) Respecting life doesn't mean avoiding violence or deadly outcomes at all costs; it means understanding that each life has value, a creature's actions affect that value, and their value must be considered in relation to the value of what's alive around it. But respecting life does mean respecting oneself as part of the ecosystem, and a person can't keep learning and growing and changing if they're dead. Thus Vix isn't a fan of recklessly endangering oneself or pursuit of self-sacrifice.

It's probably not much of a spoiler at this point to bring up Gale's early-game need to consume magic items. But what he shared about why he needs them, what he'd do if he couldn't sate what's inside him... that hit Vix hard. And then he said "If you do not give up hope, neither shall I." Vix isn't exactly a radiant, joyful, hopeful person. But they're inspired to be that for this misfit crew. An inspiration that carries over to their interactions with Shadowheart, one that eventually translates into a love that, honestly, Vix isn't ready for.