#such as in japanese class... i do feel like a cartoon character. like one of snow whites dwarves. im Slowly. im Idly.

[bmpmp3]

actually speaking of my name, dara, its like fun because it is just 2 very simple syllables so its in all kinds of languages all across the world as a name and as a word. and like. okay usually it means something super nice like super wise or like a gift or like a leader or awesome tree or awesome pearl or rich or fortunate or whatever, stuff like that. so lemme tell you how awesome it was when i found out in some dialects of japanese it means idiot <3

[knichii]

OK. does anyone else feel irritated that eng dub seems to be favoured in mha? in edits, in fics, it's clear most people watched dub and idk it's been rlly grinding my gears.

okay, to get this out the way, I don't like mha's eng dub. I don't like any of them. half don't fit their characters, 75% of the time the tone lands forced and awkward, and its literally just unbearable for me to watch I'm sorry. I have this issue with a lot of anime and cartoons so this isn't solely a my hero problem, but this is definitely the most severely I've disliked a dub. and yet I cannot escape it.

one of my biggest issues is the nuance that's lost in translation. anyone with any familiarity with the Japanese language will know what I mean. list of examples:

HONORIFICS

1. iida refers to class 1-A with '-kun'

2. yaoyorozu refers to class 1-A with '-san'

3. asui refers to class 1-A with '-chan'

3. deku with '-kun' (m) & '-san' (f)

that says SO MUCH about their characters, how they view their relationships, how they view themselves,, but in dub?? all of that's lost. ESP the significance of deku still calling bkg 'kacchan'. [simplified, '-chan' is used for cute/endearing things. it stemmed from children mispronouncing '-san', and became a childish, cutesy way of calling someone, usually someone you're VERY familiar with. it implies a shocking ammount of intimacy] thru years of bullying, all the rocks and straight up non existent road of their relationship, deku STILL calls him 'kacchan', the ONLY one allowed to do so ("but kaminari--" NEENAWNEENAWNEENAW).

in eng dub it gets reduced to a mere nickname, lacking all of its weight.

another thing is bakugou sub vs dub (...)

URGGGGGGHHHH

the most recent example is when bkg says "of course you pulled it off, Icyhot." (I forgot the context tho) in sub, he says "of course you pulled it off, TODOROKI".

THATS SUCH A NICHE, SUBTLE WAY OF SHOWING HIS DEVELOPMENT THATS TOSSED STRAIGHT OUT THE WINDOW. translation (manga) also has him calling his seniors 'senpai' which is... not what he says in sub????? 'senpai' indicates respect for someone your senior,,,, which. bkg would never show. (or only in EXTREMELY rare cases, MAYBE)

there's also my peeve abt names. this may be an only me issue, but I don't like it when japanese names are written in western format (e.g Izuku Midoriya)... ("this guy cannot be fr rn" unfortunately yes I am). I don't have a reason for this, and I'm aware it's niche and irrational, but I always cringe a little when I'm reading a fic, that's SET IN JAPAN, and their names are written Given Name, Family Name. emphasis on SET IN JAPAN. THEY ARE JAPANESE. THEY ARE NOT AMERICAN.

bkg's hero name. his og one which was translated to King Explosion Murder, losing all of the wit and cleverness in the jp original. this post goes into more detail and is very cool check it out

slightly irrelevant but bkg's jp va, Okamoto Nobuhiko, like. wow. the bkdk fight? the voice cracks? the ANGUISH?? the softness in his voice when bkg was abt to die (the hallucination w all might) ??? like,, wow. the emotion is so much more raw than it's conveyed in eng

I've gotten off point. point is I WISH MORE PEOPLE APPRECIATED AND WATCHED IN JP SUB. IM SCREAMING INTO THE VOID AND MY OWN VOICE IS ECHOING BACK I CANT DO THIS ANYMORE.

(note: jjk was my first anime fandom so I'm probably spoiled. over there, sub seems to be favoured, barring a few iconic lines [ray chase lwk served as sukuna in the shibuya arc] and the fics, like 70% of the ones I read, used japanese honorifics and culture. in comparison, mha was a bit of a shock. the side of the fandom I washed up on is so... American??? maybe I'm in the wrong place idk. everything's just extremely white and slightly uncomfortable.)

this was a bit of a vent post,, obviously ik people are entitled to opinions (even if they're wrong), I js wanted tk if anyone else felt the same way

reading this back, I'm aware of how chronically online I am. yeah. still tho

[atticollateral]

dearest artists, i bring thee inspiration on this day (because I also really need it)

YOU DON'T WANNA DRAW ANATOMY? YOU DON'T WANT TO PRACTICE?

I raise you the following (things I tell myself to motivate myself when I don't even want to look at an art program/my sketchbook):

think of all the gay shit you could draw... I mean, you're going to draw gay shit anyway, but think about if it was GAYER and FANCIER TECHNICALLY because of your MAD SKILLZ. You'll have your fellow gays whooping and cheering for your gay shit!

think of all your BLORBOS and SPECIAL LITTLE GUYS. you could draw them even BETTER than you are now! :0

think of all the tasteful nudity you could draw. (I have so much in my old sketchbooks! the kids can and will draw tasteful nudity! It's inevitable! sorry puritans! the human body isn't inherently sexual!) (I am still mad about the shitty bans on high school art classes in the us on artistic nudity)

with the power of anatomy, you can do dumb shit, like anatomy that isn't real but still has a basis in reality! (great for horror, trust... and also fantasy in general)

THINK ABOUT THE CUDDLING SCENES YOU CAN DRAW. THINK ABOUT IT. Everyone likes a good hug or cuddle scene. You could be doin' that. Or kissing, if you're getting into that territory.

(I have been drawing and making art for 12 years now and I still struggle to draw characters interacting! No artist moves at the exact same pace, it's okay)

In most drawing styles regardless of focus there is a basis in real-life anatomy and appearances, but don't think I mean hyper realism! My style is very japanese anime & western cartoon esque bc of what I started drawing for and from. Do not fear if your preferred style doesn't fit into a specific genre or style; it's yours! Art is supposed to be fun, but you'll gather more enjoyment the more you practice, so... PICK UP THAT PEN(cil) AND PRACTICE! P.S. Tracing is okay if you're using it to learn (as long as you're not straight up stealing someone's art, duh). Trace those references if it helps you get a good sense of what you're doing. Use rulers, use mirrors, use anything you want. Set your ref right beside your art so you can look at it. Don't feel bad if you have to look at it a lot, it's all a part of the process. People who say tracing and references are bad can shove it. Artists have been drawing from sight for forever. Don't listen to them :3 All art (that is made by your hands/body) is real art. Don't be discouraged <3

One thing I agree with, that my art teacher recently told us: If you're feeling frustrated, you're getting somewhere; keep going!

[rotingdoll]

A rant about the whole “weird kid” competition on tiktok

I genuinely don’t get this weird kid competition on TikTok “when they say they were a weird kid but they only like anime” yeah because before 2020 that was considered weird and kids who were into anime used to be viewed as weird by their peers anime only gotten popular in recent years. I really don’t get why people have such a need to be “weird” this individuality complex is very frustrating tbh I think being a “weird kid” was more about the way someone interacted with the media for example gravity falls a very popular show that almost every kid grew up with there is a different between watching and liking the show to begin active in the fandom reading fanfiction making fanart and doing stuff that might be considered”cringe and weird” to other people who watched the show but aren’t as much into it. Or another thing that was very popular fnaf there were kids who played the game or watched YouTubers play the game and get scared and there were kids who drew themselves as an animatronic. Even when it comes to simply liking something for example anime it depends what anime are we talking about if we are talking about anime like dragon ball that’s is very very popular and well known and a lot of people watched growing up of course it will be seen as less weird than an anime with 12 episodes no season two that no one talks about.

The thing that annoy the most is that the majority of those who say stuff like that unironically and judge other for liking something they don’t consider”weird enough” will also judge you if you like something they think is “too weird” for example one time I was cosplaying yui Komori at a con and had the same people I saw making similar TikToks about being the weird kid laughing at me or come to ask me what’s wrong with me for liking it and some of them were cosplaying form franchises or character that are not any better than DL.

Until this day I really feel shameful for liking something that isn’t popular I’ve been into anime since I was very young I remember in elementary school kids from my class found out I like anime because I was drawing precure fanart in my notebook in class and they thought it cringe of me to watch a Japanese cartoon and I remember cosplaying yui from diabolik lovers for Halloween in elementary school (yes yes I know I got into dialovers way too young) and my classmates didn’t know anything about it they didn’t know about how in the anime community this game doesn’t have the best representation but they still thought it was weird and cringe

Even if stuff like anime and other “geeky” things are more mainstream and less weird (I’ll argue other wise because of how fandom spaced are in recent years but that’s another rant and this one is already long enough) nowadays back then they weren’t and liking them was weird and “cringe” so a lot of people who say they were a “weird kid” because they liked anime or fnaf were considered weird back then

[blueikeproductions]

More CyberWorld/EarthSpark stuff that stuck out to me.

Another page in the planning document cropped up, & it gives a general overview of what Hasbro had in mind at the time.

Two new shows are planned to come out, but this page confusingly doesn’t mention CyberWorld, just an “animated kids series” & an “animated pre-K series”.

The other pages still reference CyberWorld, so mostly going by what we’ve seen, CyberWorld is meant to be the kids series, but it’s a big question mark on the pre-k show. Rescue Bots ran its course, I got the feeling lil’ kids weren’t interested in RBA since it didn’t last as long, stories were both too preschool but also trying to tack on IDW centric ideas by forcing Laserbeak to be forgiven and becoming an Autobot, for reasons. Stuff that’s not interesting to lil’ kids or their parents.

When RBA ended, a new toyline took over but I don’t think it sold super well, nor did it have any fiction.

As well as only including Optimus Primal & BW Megatron Gator…? It was a random line, and clearly just filler to eke out RB style toys longer. I don’t see the new Pre-K show being this, but CHT did sell Decepticons as enemy characters unlike RB/A, so the Pre-K show might be based on the Great War this time? Or at the very least, stuff like the Decepticons robbing banks and power plants, lol. Or some gag about Soundwave illegally downloading music, only to be put in his place, but with a contradictory gag about the human kids and Bumblebee doing the same from time to time.

It’s pry too late to ape it now, but a modern pre-K show I could see being Spidey & His Amazing Friends tonally with toys similar to Paw Patrol’s. Like say you have the standard Optimus toy partnered with Spike (Skybound or G1 doesn’t matter), and the trailer transforms into a big jet for Optimus and Spike to ride in. Something like that.

As for CyberWorld.

The current assumption based on the toys, is it might be a return to vehicles vs animals that both RiDs, Beast Machines, Beast Wars II and ROTB (kinda) did.

The Decepticons seemingly being animal themed supports this (plus if Meg Bull IS Megatron, Megs trying to push off road Optimus off a cliff in bull mode is hilarious), though Galvatron is the odd one. The only one with a beast form is the BWII version…

Hasbro might be more open to Beast Wars again but they’re still a bit dodgy about the Japanese cast despite Lio Convoy and Magmatron. I could sooner see a G1 Galvatron than BWII Galvatron, but the fun approach would be an Armada Galvatron inspired design that borrows from G1, Energon & BWII.

Toy speculation suggests the line might be a repaint line like the old TF Universe series made up of Cyberverse, RiD15 and EarthSpark molds.

A possibility. Cited speculative examples of Sky-Byte being his Cyberverse toy, Chomp & Stomp Grimlock being another go at the AoE toy of the same name, & Mirage being RiD15 Blurr make sense, but I dunno. Scorponok and Galvatron stick out, as I would think they’d have to be new molds, though an argument can be made for a G1 colored version of RiD15 Scorponok… Similarly, they might repaint TFP Predaking into Galvatron if he’s a repaint and they wanted to homage BWII, but I’m leaning towards new molds for now.

CyberWorld ISN’T a cartoon, but a toy only subline or size class meant to replace the abandoned Core/Legion class.

Inconclusive. The tiny toys don’t seem to sell well as it is, Legacy just stopped being restocked my way so no BM Cheetor or Energon Megatron for me. Also guys like Iguanus shelfwarmed HARD. Rungs were still clogging Ollies until recently. CyberWorld is also shown to be the successor to ES in most of the documents that we can tell.

The CyberWorld cartoon will have a half of a half shoe string budget like Cyberverse and possibly be similar to it.

Inconclusive but not out of the realm of possibility either. Hasbro has been having its own problems lately, while Paramount is practically on fire right now. A lot of people mostly just seem to be clinging to how similar World & Verse sound, with the logo also looking slightly similar but still different enough. A lot more people also seem resistant to the idea of more Cyberverse either way. CV didn’t perform well either, the toys clogged store shelves from start to finish, heck the first wave went on clearance immediately after Christmas, and the series JUST came out, the messy, lackadaisical approach to the show’s (lack of) story, the bad voice acting, etc. It’s not a fondly remembered show as much as some make it out to be. And even then, you’d sort of expect, if it was directly related, Hasbro would shove Bumblebee front & center, despite the CV cartoon wanting little to do with Bee as it went on. Like let’s be real, if it was a CV sequel, Bee, Windy & Shadow should be here right out the gate. They’re not. At all. Windy is practically benched in favor of Elita now.

Mirage is the focus (seemingly) instead, presumably due to the ROTB version’s popularity. He’s certainly more fun than the rich snob that may or may not be a traitor the G1 version tends to be. Not that you can’t make the G1 version interesting but boy has Hasbro not really had any interest in doing so beyond his invisibility gimmick.

So really until told otherwise we know very little. All we know for sure is EarthSpark is being slowly phased out in favor of CyberWorld & a potential Pre-K show. The Slag Podcast host has given a knowing wink, and has a show planned that will presumably lay these Snaketicons out straight, as people have been calling him a lying liar again for sticking to what he knows. Similarly some have pointed out Nick Roche may have also been lying, giving false hope EarthSpark is continuing on when it’s pretty clear it isn’t. S2 is it people, one way or the other, and the new CyberWorld order is coming whatever it ends up being.

[frostyreturns]

Frosty Ruins Where Is Anne Frank

I have to admit going into this one I have my biases against it. First of all it was made in 2022 and nothing produced in the last 5-6 years has been good. Also because it's about nazis and jewish people I can't imagine it's going to be a faithful or accurate movie in the slightest because nobody in hollywood understands even the first thing about what a nazi is. Other than that I'm going into this movie totally blind, never heard of it before, never saw a trailer and am not even aware of the premise beyond the title.

The movie opens with text on a black screen and starts with a typo saying "the diary is one of the famous books ever written" I think you might be missing a word or two there pal. This is the opening sequence...you didn't bother to proof read the first ten seconds of your movie? It's two sentences and you fucked it up.

I don't know who made this but the art style is like if studio ghibli was tumblrized. It's like a weird combo of cheap netflix cartoon character designs but done in the style of an expensive japanese anime. It looks weird and I don't like it but it's not as cancerous to look at, the art itself is not off putting enough to discard it based on look alone.

What is off putting is the premise, the imaginary girl that Anne Frank is writing to comes to life and goes looking for Anne. The words of the diary magically swirl into life...there's just something that feels off ethically with this one. Like that it's exploitive in some way but I can't quite put my finger on it yet.

Our first look at the nazis is as I feared...absurd. The nazis march down the street in all black cloaks like they're the fucking nazgul, and they don't look human, their eyes are totally black and their faces are ghostly  white and expressionless. It's actually a perfect representation of what demonizing something is. Now I'm not saying they weren't bad guys...but they were human. That should be the primary lesson people take away from nazi Germany...the horrors and retarded nonsense that thinking people were convinced to do. That's the horror of the story of the holocaust, that people who were once friends and neighbours are now hunting each other like animals, stripping them of their basic rights and dignity and doing so in the full belief that they were doing the right thing. When you turn a nazi into this snarling inhuman demon you unlearn that lesson.

Now I've never read Anne Franks diary but I am aware of the backstory and that there are multiple versions. There are multiple versions because when they realized they would be submitting the diary for publication there were a number of things Anne had written that the father edited it out because it made them look bad. The movie claims that never happened but they say a lot of stuff that's lies. Remember this is a child stuck in a room with people in a terrible situation so not everything she wrote would have been very nice, I understand there was some nasty things said about some of the people they were hiding with or something like that. And maybe that's what bothers me about the movie, it's not reality...it's taking a traumatic experience a child had...cleaning it up to fit a narrative and packaging it for entertainment purposes.

There's also a point in her description of the persecution of the jews that annoyed me, she claims the reason they were targetted was because societies always find a minority group to blame. But that's not what happened and again this is another major history lesson we should all have taken from nazi germany that everybody has forgotten. It wasn't because they were a minority, nobody just says I'm going to hate this minority group for no reason Germany was a society built on minority groups, there were many different minority groups. The reason they chose the jews and the reason many societies have always chosen the jews...and the reason they so effectively villified the jews was because they were seen as a privileged class of people. Because so many of the societies doctors, lawyers, bankers, were jewish. Jews are an insular community that looks out for each, because of their strong sense of family nationality and faith coupled with a desire to do well and to train their kids to do well, they tend to be overrepresented in many powerful and profitable industries. This was why they were targetted, this is why they were scapegoated...it's the same rhetoric that goes into any generic 1%er or eat the rich diatribe. It was the socialist part of national socialism, only the capitalists hoarding all the wealth were jews rather than just "the rich"

The reason this rationale is forgotten about, glossed over and rebranded is because it describes the behaviour and worldview of modern progressive politics perfectly. They ignore that part of it because they themselves are guilty of it. Hitlers speeches and writings about the jews were rewritten to be about white people or about men and have been published in progressive university journals. So they have to pretend it's just because they were minorities because to understand the reality would mean cognitive dissonance.

All that aside the movie also has this boring artsy movie vibe to it I'm not interested in. I don't need to sit here and watch a little girl play cats cradle in a police station while a soft mandolin plays in the background, or listen to melancholic indie vocals over images of an imaginary girl ice skating before dissolving into inky wisps.

There's also a fairly blasphemous part I don't think a lot of jews or any religious people would appreciate where they both imply that God's existence is ridiculous while also implying that Anne Frank is like God because she's everywhere...because a lot of things are named after her. There's a lot of moments like that which scream "non practicing jew." They really go out of their way to literally deify her and at one point call her diary a sacred object.

The whole premise of the movie is bizarre and it only gets more bizarre. The idea is you see flashbacks to Anne Franks life and they are mixed in with parts of the movie that take place in the modern world...where this imaginary friend is looking for her long gone friend. The movie is incomprehensible because parts of it play like a fever dream and the rest of it is people behaving strangely and saying things that are so out of left field and are not believable.

The most disgusting part of the movie is the ending, where they use the emotional manipulation of the holocaust stories and try to tie it to other political agendas that have nothing to do with the holocaust. At the end she threatens to burn Annes diary if the country doesn't let in all the refugees and let them all stay for as long as they want. The movie is just one long attempt to use jewish people as props to advance a political agenda and the whole movie reeks of it. I hated this movie a lot but I feel like I'd have a much more visceral hatred of it if I was jewish.

The movie ends with this white text that makes the completely baseless assertion that antisemitism, violent racism and persecution of minorities is on the rise.

boring, ugly, tragedy porn, incomprehensible propaganda.

f-

[desultory-novice]

Do you think that Daroach has killed someone off-screen? He is referred as a ruthless thief in star allies even after his friendly meetings with Kirby and him stopping the villians has more so to do with pragmatism than him feeling actually helping.

...!! A Daroach ask! I'm so happy!

Anyway, warning for brief talk of killing, stealing, and other immoral + gray morality stuff! And remember that regardless of what your favorite video game characters would do, everyone has someone who cares about them the same way you care about your most important people! (If you don't think YOU have that person in YOUR life yet, you will, someday! I promise!) </Dess positivity>

Now, Daroach gives me strong "phantom thief" vibes (The hat, the cape. Red is not exactly a stealthy color. It's clear Daroach cares more about style than being undetected. Plus, his JP description constantly throws around the word “calling card” - another staple of the phantom thief) and phantom thieves traditionally outsmart those they encounter rather than kill them but...

...If we're talking about a Kirby universe where everyone comes back to life in a week or so, then perhaps...?!? That is to say, at least as many as Kirby has "killed." (Aka, has "killed" no one that's gone forever :cough: ignoring Sectonia :cough:) But being ruthless (I did a quick wiki browse and couldn’t find a direct quote, but I trust that it’s mentioned somewhere) I'm SURE he and the Squeaks have gotten into violent confrontations before.

The question here is, who would a thief "need" to kill? Even in real life, a thief's focus is on stealing. Anything that gets in the way of that/complicates that process is something they DON'T want. That includes violence/violent confrontations. Killing someone and THEN taking their stuff is more liable to be associated with feelings of power/domination/control. Stealing CAN be about those things, but is usually more concerned with profit or survival. Or rebellion, if you're stealing from an institution.

(Btw, as for writing all that, I actually have zero experience with thievery - and I've never taken a psychology class, so treat the stuff up above with a grain of salt - but when you have ambitions of being a writer, you look a LOT of stuff up/think a lot about motivations.)

There's the possibility of Daroach having harmed or killed someone in self-defense, such as some yet unseen law-person or bounty hunter, but unless his reciprocation was particularly cruel or brutal, it doesn't exactly follow that such an act would lead him to be described as ruthless. And that level of violence doesn't line up with anything we know about the Squeaks anyway. They made Kirby apology cake!!

"Ruthless" does mean having no compassion or pity, but I imagine that is more in reference to the degrees they will go to get their treasure. Recall that Doc built at least two giant killer robots to stop Kirby!

...Oh.... 

...I just said "killer" robots, didn't I?

O-Okay. Let's just make a division here between cartoon violence and real world violence. I don't think the Squeaks have committed anything that could be comparable to the horror of real world violence. I DO think they have gotten up to their non-existent elbows in cartoon violence though!

But as much as I could imagine a growly Daroach threatening someone "to the pain" style in a dimly lit room, the tip of his cane pressed right up against their throat, I don't see him going through with it. He's got so many better methods of getting what he wants than serious violence! Plus, his dialogue in Mass Attack is a perfect mix of “Robin Hood” and “Noblesse Oblige.”

In fact, I went and checked the Japanese Star Allies description and while he mentions “taking” those “Dark Heart Gems” there’s no indication he plans on using them to do anything bad. Daroach speaks as if the thrill of the (treasure) hunt is what he’s in for more than anything. (And being able to lay back on a pile of gold and jewels like some kind of tiny, furry dragon.)

...He'd definitely make someone who hurt his crew regret it though!

Slightly related, I happen to love any HC in which the Squeaks are treated like space pirates, considering they have an airship AND are capable of inter-planetary travel! I feel like someone once mentioned that since Samus is (sort of) canon to the Kirby universe, she's probably seen Daroach's bounty on her radar, at least.

...Though I cannot say for certain what a Metroid-canon Daroach may or may not have done to earn that bounty!

[beardedmrbean]

Oh take care of your father, I understand the delays

But I wanted to thank you for liking my magical black American wizards ideas I do as I want to show that not all black people have victim complex

Because that magical negeroes

“Oh yes black writers, who are willingly to live in one of the most expensive and godforsaken cities in America and work in one of the most corrupted industries on the planet. Please tell me how the average black person must act like a slave to mainly upper middle class white people given the trailer.”

Perhaps it explains in the trailer, but how the fuck we got magic but still subverted? Did we meddling with druids and witches or something?

Not to mention a lot of white people were confused who this movie was meant for as they mention they would be down for a black Harry Potter

Funny enough my magical America idea came from a Disney channel sitcom and cartoon that was to cash in on the HP phenomen

Ain’t that bitch

Also as you picked up, I would focus on the cultural divergence. Like the American druids in general created their own culture and they and the Irish ones see each other as “cousins” than say brothers

Also for native Americans wizards, I will do jokes that the native tribes will probably like

A American wizard: Oh shit this native monster is going to kill us! What should we do?!

Native wizard: I’m from ANOTHER tribe, we need to go to the one that dealt with this guy

AW: Oh…i thought you would know…

NW:…I’m from a Iroquois tribe, this freak from Washington

AW: Wait there other Iroquois tribes?

NW: IT WAS A FUCKING CONFEDERACY AAAAAAAH-

Oh another one about outfits

AW: Oh okay, we got this ritual ready-Wait why are you wearing Victorian era clothing

NW: Because my ancestors wore these?

Aw: Oh….i thought you would wear all that precolonial garb..

NW: You mean, what that term we begrudgingly agree upon using for outsiders? Oh yes the full shaman gear? Well 1. We had to keep our most powerful magic away from our enemies prior to the Europeans. And 2. You need special permission from the tribe elders to get such items. Which I’m not in the mood to argue with

Aw: Does everyone have family issues?

My joke is that I will point out the different native tribes. Like a visual gag of a Cherokee and a Californian native being shoved into the same group much to their frustrations

Also as you mentioned Shaft and Black Dynamite. I was going to make character that homage to them and create a new wizardry group that came from the influx of Chinese and Japanese immigration. Basically a lot of Asian dispora created magical gun martial arts, though like if they fight someone from the ancestral home. You can see the difference between their tactics

By the pope, could there be someone with both cowboy and samurai ancestry I could make? Is that possible? How I don’t make it goofy as possible?

You could do a lot of cool shit if look past America beyond the surface levels

Gonna be Friday now it looks like, better these things go wrong in the hospital though, gotta make sure to have a nice flavorful meal for him when we can finally get him home.

Heart surgery is bad, but 2 weeks of hospital food it torture.

But I wanted to thank you for liking my magical black American wizards ideas I do as I want to show that not all black people have victim complex

You're excited about it and I can tell that makes it double worth reading

Perhaps it explains in the trailer, but how the fuck we got magic but still subverted? Did we meddling with druids and witches or something? Not to mention a lot of white people were confused who this movie was meant for as they mention they would be down for a black Harry Potter

Good question for #1 and for #2 there's also a lot of us that don't feel like being talked down too and told they're racist

Funny enough my magical America idea came from a Disney channel sitcom and cartoon that was to cash in on the HP phenomen Ain’t that bitch

Nothing wrong with being inspired by Disney, Walt was all about that.

Also as you picked up, I would focus on the cultural divergence. Like the American druids in general created their own culture and they and the Irish ones see each other as “cousins” than say brothers Also for native Americans wizards, I will do jokes that the native tribes will probably like Joke goes here

Quality

AW: Oh okay, we got this ritual ready-Wait why are you wearing Victorian era clothing NW: Because my ancestors wore these? Aw: Oh….i thought you would wear all that precolonial garb.. NW: You mean, what that term we begrudgingly agree upon using for outsiders? Oh yes the full shaman gear? Well 1. We had to keep our most powerful magic away from our enemies prior to the Europeans. And 2. You need special permission from the tribe elders to get such items. Which I’m not in the mood to argue with Aw: Does everyone have family issues?

true how come they're in their traditional garb and we aren't? german heritage American Wizard needs magical leiderhosen.

Also as you mentioned Shaft and Black Dynamite. I was going to make character that homage to them and create a new wizardry group that came from the influx of Chinese and Japanese immigration. Basically a lot of Asian dispora created magical gun martial arts, though like if they fight someone from the ancestral home. You can see the difference between their tactics

That'll be a group from Oakland/San Francisco then, get the most crossover between the groups there.

By the pope, could there be someone with both cowboy and samurai ancestry I could make? Is that possible? How I don’t make it goofy as possible?

You could do a lot of cool shit if look past America beyond the surface levels

Damn right you could.

[brick1458]

Characters of both dalmatian series that I relate to ( part one)

This is just a short blog to all the characters from both the original series 101 dalmatians and the series 101 dalmatian street that I pretty much relate and share personality with

First we have the original 101 dalmatians series

First up there's rolly the only thing that I have in common with him is that I'm always hungry

Next is cadpig now when I was younger I used to always be the fun one and tried my best to always be 100% happy 24/7 and completely calm and peaceful about everything even though at times I can sound sarcastic but whenever I get mad or feel My rage boiling that's when my inner cadpig comes out

Now for the 101 Dalmatian Street series

First up is dj now just like dj I have very good tastes in music a love every kind mostly my tastes of music includes pop, Techno, country, rap , k-pop, reggatone, and hard rock but I also like to be like the kind of guy that knows how to throw a party

Then we have Dolly and the Dimitri Trio

Now like these 4 I can also be a bit wild loud and reckless but hey? That's just the point of fun am I right? Like this one time when I was at school we were having a field day and I went so wild running through the sprinklers that everyone in my class started laughing cause of how wild I was good times good times especially that crazy water balloon fight in fact I actually started having a more wild and rebel personality since I was like 10 years old

Next we have Dylan

When I was in school for like math and science I wanted to know everything about everything like an answer within an answer to a question that's the way I was whenever I heard a math lesson but for science like paleontology or astronomy or even history I mostly got my results from cartoons instead of actually studying like this one time we had this packet with a story about Japanese samurai and while everyone else kept going back to the story I got most of my answers from a show that was about samurai well technically the show was called power rangers samurai and super samurai but anyway from one episode of super samurai where they first unlock this mode called shogun mode that immediately told me that the answers to one of the questions was shogun

Next is Dante

Now this personality basically came when I got to 15 through 19 years old and I'm still going through it a little bit now I'm not talking about how he panics about the world ending I'm more talking about the heart broken and depression and isolation sort of personality cause tbh that's mostly how I feel now a days irl cause I'm a graduate from school I can't see my school friends because the ones that graduated with me moved on with their lives while I never know what to do with mine, I'm the only kid in my neighborhood and I can't make any new friends irl because I always worry I might end up the wrong thing

[harutostablet]

Moving Day

(Info: Wrapped in a love worn case that's covered in stickers in multiple languages. The mix of stickers rang from faded cartoon characters to pictures of a young Haruto and various people. On the inside of the flap there is a photo of a 13-year-old Haruto with his arm draped around a younger boy who is giving the peace signs. On either side of the boys two bright eyes Japanese girls wearing matching blue saris hold onto the boys' shoulders. Standing behind them, is a good looking, Japanese man with chiseled features holding the set. The photo is full of cheesy grins worthy of a photo frame. Splotches of bright colors cover their hair, faces and clothes.

The tablet is about the size of a standard spiral notebook (10.5 in X 8 in). A purple stylus sits in a holder. When touched, the screen lights up to show six pictures that have to be touched in a certain order in order to unlock it.

It is set to record any incoming messages that Haruto saves in a cloud. Entries are sent to a private blog written under a pseudonym.

When not being used he puts it in under his bed to keep it from getting stepped on. )

Entry: I made it through my first week! Most of my suitcases are unpacked. I had to put the other stuff under my bunk for now. I'm sleeping in a bunk!!! It's like staying in a summer camp or hostel maybe? The first night reminded me of home in a weird way.... sleeping in a puppy pile at the hotel. A different hotel, a different city. The only constant in a chaotic life. I don't miss it. That's why I came here, right? To do something on my own. I'll get used to it here. I've already walked around campus and most of the village. It only took me a week Blah. Definitely needs some new chucks. I hear there is an onsen and some other stuff, I just have to find them

Classes seem pretty interesting. I'm taking general studies...I guess I'll pick a major at some point. All in all I met some cool people and somehow ended up with a cake. It's definitely not boring here. The people alone are pretty interesting. One of the students made a book disappear and I got an exam by a turtle doctor. I was freaking out at first but then the doctor said the that hit me to the core. "People are people." Real AF! After that, I just decided to chill and enjoy the ride. <<Incoming call from AOI>>

*A thumping bass come through, followed by flashing lights that mess with the graphics on his tablet. *

"Haru!" The image of one of his older sisters waves from the little box. Even though he can hear fine, he brings up his hands as if he can't. A pout comes across her face before the message ends. Another window pops up with a message. Aoi: Haru!!!!!!! Why aren't you answering your phone!!!!!!!

Haruto: It's dead.

Aoi: Liar!!!!!!

Aoi: At least send a text so we know you haven't gotten lost and dead in a ditch somewhere.

Haruto: Didn't get lost

Aoi: Liar!!!!!!!!

Haruto: It's a big place…..

Aoi: I can feel you pouting through the Internet. Well, next time answer your phone or we're coming there.

Haruto: Don't come here!

Aoi: Then answer your phone!

Haruto: Not in class. Or club stuff.

Aoi: Club stuff?

Haruto: I don't know

Aoi: Whatever. Have fun. Love you!

Haruto: Love you too

<< End Message>>

I may join a club. I don't know yet. Totally can't tell Aoi that yet. She would want me to join all of them.

[atlantic-riona]

@an-spideog

That's a really great question. I do have a fondness for O'Siadhail's Learning Irish, mostly because that was the one used to teach me when I was a child. I like that he includes a lot of grammar, I like the fact the exercises have you translate from Irish to English and from English to Irish, and I like the audio. I don't like that the grammar can be confusing as an independent learner—I was very confused for a long time about several grammatical items and O'Siadhail's explanations were very technical and difficult to wrap my head around, even as an adult.

I've tried the Gaeilge gan Stró series as well. I like the dialogues, but the set up of the chapters themselves can be a little confusing? It seems to jump around a bit.

I like the Buntus Cainte series, from what I've seen of it on archive.org, but it looks like it's very light on grammar explanations, and focuses more on speaking and hearing and seeing. Which is fine! But it seems like the kind of book used best in a classroom, with a teacher to help provide those explanations.

I've tried a lot of textbooks, online programs, etc., and I feel like my problem with most of them is that they focus extensively on reading/writing, not enough on speaking and listening, and they either do too little grammar or too complex grammar in the beginning.

I could just be really picky. I don't think there's a perfect language book out there for any language, but it seems like other languages usually have new and updated textbooks coming out, and a lot of the heavily recommended ones for Irish are from the 1960s. This is probably because Irish is an endangered language, and it seems like most "newer" textbooks are aimed at Irish schoolchildren (which is great! I want the focus to be on reviving the language in Ireland).

But it is kind of frustrating sometimes to see the same problems in every adult learner course for Irish. I've taken German, Italian, and Japanese classes, and none of them were perfect either, but maybe because there was more available to choose from, it felt less frustrating to work around?

I think my ideal Irish course would be like the Tobira Japanese textbook course, which I absolutely adore. They have audio for all the vocabulary, dialogues, texts (including repeat audio where there's space left for you to repeat the word or phrase). They have a two spread page before each chapter with all the vocabulary, and then another spread with all the same vocabulary next to pictures. Each chapter opens with three dialogues that cover the vocabulary and grammar that will be used in the chapter. Then each activity works piece by piece through each point of the lesson. I loved that the first chapter was all about correct pronunciation - it broke down every sound made in Japanese, and had audio of the sounds so you could repeat them and have better pronunciation, rhythm, and tone. There was a workbook that had additional exercises, and also writing exercises - I would love an Irish book that focused beyond simple translation to things like spelling or other writing needs. I also loved that it was so visual - there were pictures and cartoons everywhere. For every activity, you could do more than one thing. So for example, if you had a "telling time" activity, you would have the various characters shown doing different activities in front of the clock or calendar. You could progress from "it is 9:00" to "Naomi is swimming at 9:00" to "Naomi swims in the pool at 9:00." It was really helpful for building on previous lessons and tying concepts together. It was repetitive, but simple, so you grew more confident and were able to tackle the more complex ones later. They have a website, and I'm sure it's used in courses, but I did it as a self-study course/refresher before I went to Japan and it was very helpful.

when you want to try learning Irish again but all of the adult learner textbooks make you want to scream

[38sr]

Who was your inspiration to getting into industry

Can you explain briefly about how did you study before getting into the animation industry

Oooh, hmmmmm. It's not so much a who but what inspired me to work in animation. This is a bit of a story so I guess sit back, grab some popcorn and enjoy my incoherent thoughts. So for as long as I remember, animation has always been there in my life in the sense that I watched a lot cartoons and animated films. Also, I was always drawing as a kid already (according to my mom since age 2, credible source). But even then I never had any aspirations or an inkling of a thought to pursue animation.

Drawing was just fun, cartoons were just fun, animated films were just fun and was just....an escape from the reality that my parents were divorced and going through custody court meetings over me and my siblings. But even then it wasn't a perfect escape 'cause it was the early 2000s and media was pushing the "perfect nuclear family" concept that just wasn't my reality. So what was the thing that changed my mind? In April 2007, my aunt took me and my siblings to a film festival in NYC where we watched a Japanese animated film called Brave Story. This was at the height of the Pokemon craze and my aunt thought the movie was a Pokemon movie so you could see why she took us there haha. And I'll never forget this moment 'cause this movie quite literally changed my life.

Brave Story was the first ever piece of media I ever watched where the main character's parents are separating and it was shown through the perspective of the child. Thinking about it always makes me a bit emotional because up until that point....it felt like no one understood or saw what me and my siblings were going through. Adults who were around us and knew of our situation had presumptions about us, media that had a character with divorced parents always portrayed them as mean, angry or bullies to the main characters of a perfect nuclear family because those kids' homes were "broken" therefore we were too. Was I angry? Yeah, but it stemmed from confusion and lack of articulation skills to express myself as a 10 year old. I really wanted to escape from the reality because I didn't know how to handle it as a child...nor was there anything I could look at to help guide me.

Until I watched Brave Story and saw the main character go on an adventure that taught him how to cope and navigate his new reality. And it was an animated film! For the first time time I had thought, "I could be the main character too? I can go on adventures and not have to have the perfect family? I don't have to be certain type of person in order for stories to be written about me?" It just BOOM! Blew my mind! And....I can't quite explain the feeling but there was just this thing growing inside me that made realize, "This is what I have to do. I need to do this. I'm going to do this." And from there, the rest is history. Since I was like 10 I just, never looked back and whole heartedly poured myself into doing whatever I could to work in animation.

After that, geez I feel bad about answering this question because I didn't learn how to animate until I was in college. But yeah, I just remember drawing A LOT. I didn't have the resources to study animation so I just drew a lot of comics, watch even more animation (including anime), try to replicate the things I liked, made flip books in my Five Star notebooks, anything I could do that was close enough to animation. It wasn't until high school that I finally got to take an art class that taught me drawing fundamentals (figure drawing, composition, perspective, color theory, etc.) and I was neck deep in textbooks to keep my grades as high as possible for college applications. I knew that my family didn't have the money to send me to the CalArts, SVA, and what not unless I had the grades to get scholarships. And in the end, I never went to any of those schools haha. The school I went to was a private art school and the animation program....let's just say wasn't the best and I ended up doing more on my own than the school did. But that's a story for another day if anyone is interested in knowing my art school experience haha. But yeah, that is 1) a very long explanation on what got me into animation and 2) a brief summary of what I studied before getting into an animation program and learning to animate (primarily drawing fundamentals). I hope that answered your questions!

[some-triangles]

ON THE GRADUATION OF HOLOLIVE 4TH GENERATION’S KIRYU COCO

Some context is going to be required here.

Hololive is a group of virtual youtubers, or vtubers.  This group is run by Cover Corporation, a talent management agency, and is organized along the lines of a Japanese idol group, meaning that new members are added in batches (referred to as “generations“ here but generally called “classes.”)  There are between five and seven generations in Hololive’s Japanese branch, depending on how you count, two in their Indonesian branch, and one in their English branch.   There was also a Chinese branch, at one point, but they all graduated.

Graduation: when a real life idol reaches a certain age (23 or so, usually) and is deemed too old for the business, she “graduates” from her group, with great ceremony, and has to figure out what to do with the rest of her life.  But virtual idols don’t age.  They could go on forever, or at least as long as the person playing them can do the voice.  Nonetheless, graduations do happen - one member of the fifth generation resigned shortly after her introduction following a doxxing and harassment campaign, and the Chinese branch quit en masse after one of the Japanese Hololive members referred to Taiwan as a country.  That member was Kiryu Coco: Yakuza, drug dealer, guerilla filmmaker, edgelord, bilingual comedian, host of the weekly Reddit Shitpost Review, and, fundamentally, an anime dragon woman with enormous tits.  (Her horns are real, but her tail, she lets us know, is a plug-in.) 

Coco announced her graduation yesterday.  She will be the first established member to leave the group.  It came as a shock; sure, there had been a difficult period following the Taiwan incident when mainland Chinese trolls were invading her streams and spamming her chat (the community referred to these people as “antis”, hilariously,) but that had blown over, for the most part.  We knew there had been conflicts between her and Cover management over some of her more risque material - she was constantly pushing the boundaries of what was acceptable for an “idol”, or, frankly, for a female public figure of any kind in Japan - but she was so integral to the community, building bridges between the generations and the different language groups, refining and amplifying and in some cases inventing the running gags that were integral to the identities of so many of her colleagues, and, in general, working more hours than a human being should to make Hololive a success.   Burnout is of course a big deal with streamers but Coco so rarely let her fatigue come across, and it’s not even clear that that’s what happened here.  Coco is, most likely, going on to bigger and better things.

Except “Coco” isn’t.  

A Hololive vtuber is a weird gestalt entity, composed in part of the affectations and backstory and design created for the character and in part of the personality, real life and real history of the performer.   We know that Coco’s real mother is sick and had to go back to America for treatment, because Coco tells us what’s going in her life, except she says that Mama Dragon has to go far across the sea and Papa Dragon is staying home; this blending of reality and kayfabe (a term in general use among english-speaking Hololive fans, tellingly) reminds me of pro wrestling, where the best characters and storylines make use of real personalities and events and rivalries to give them their charge.  In Hololive as in WWE the company owns the character, but if a performer leaves WWE we know we will probably see them again soon enough.  They’ll be under a new name, but it’ll be the same person with the same face and the same moves and the same personality - maybe tweaked a little to avoid a lawsuit, but close.   With vtubers, though, it’s a different story.   There is a person called Kiryu Coco with a voice and a face and friends and a history and on July 1st there will be a big farewell concert streamed live over the internet and then that person will cease to exist.

And that’s weird, right?  I had enough of a parasocial relationship with this fake person that when I went to my discord to be sad about her imminent departure I had legitimately forgotten that she was a big titty anime dragon lady and that I was going to get roasted the second someone googled her.  She’s just Coco in my brain, and I know that the woman who performs that role isn’t actually about to be erased but part of me insists that I’m awaiting an execution.  That part of me - the part that had me writing “but what if cartoons were real and had feelings though” stories when I was in high school - is doing backflips about it.   I can’t figure out the meta here.  Does this entity have a soul?  Does it live in a certain streamer who also goes by KSON, or somewhere else?   Will it haunt the giant statue of Cover CEO Motoaki “Yagoo” Tanigo looking sad that Coco built in Minecraft as her last great contribution before her departure? 

Whatever she is and wherever she’s off to, she will be missed, and I will hear her cheerful “good morning, motherfuckers!” on the wind. 

[tatlandtaelsurveys]

Twenty One

Survey by Robotease

1. Do you like zombie movies? I do! I watched Train to Busan. I am watching the Kdrama series All of Us Are Dead. 2. What’s the grossest/worst thing you’ve ever seen in a public restroom? Bloody period or tampon on the ground. Missed the trashcan? 3. What’s the most wasteful thing you regularly do? I don’t recycle as much as I could. 4. What’s the most difficult apology you’ve ever had to give? .... 5. What’s the worst relationship advice you’ve ever seen? “There is more fish in the sea” Just don’t start. 6. Have you ever volunteered in a hospital? If not, would you ever want to? I have not. I am not against doing it, but it isn’t something I really want to do. I want to do more volunteering so it is possible. 7. What was your worst Halloween costume? Being a white trash can...You can imagine the jokes while being a teenager in high school. 8. Who has/had the worst reputation in your graduating class? I really didn’t know. 9. When was the first time you can remember feeling mature? Owning up to mistakes. 10. Have you ever had a disappointing Christmas, or any disappointing holiday if you don’t celebrate Christmas? Not disappointing but i think either when in a bad place, or there is tension in family. It wasn’t disappointing, but my birthday this year was a little hard, with a lot going on and recent events. 11. Do you have any character bandaids in your house right now, or just plain ones? I thought I bought some recently. A cartoon character I know but I don’t recall who it was.

12. Have you ever had to give a pet away? Yes..3. 13. What’s the junkiest junk food you’ve ever eaten? Potato chips, pizza, and dips. Good stuff though. 14. Did you play pretend a lot as a child? Were there any recurring plots or themes? I did. As a kid my best friend and I would pretend we entered a portal, and entered the forest and she was the fairy princess of the forest. We’d go outside and explore an old barn house she had. :) 15. How do you feel about runny egg yolks? It is interested to look at but I don’t care too much to eat it like that.

16. Has a teacher ever tried to teach you something that was undeniably wrong? Nothing that comes to mind. 17. If for some reason you had to give up one of your hobbies, which would you choose? IF I had to choose, puzzle workbooks but it’s sad to think about DX. 18. Have you ever hidden a relationship from your family? No. 19. How much do you know about first aid? Putting a bandaid on, holding pressure to a wound to stop bleeding, and pinching the bridge of nose to stop bleeding, and a brief idea of making a stilit if you get bit by a snake.. Other stuff. used hydrogen peroxide myself for open cuts and Neosporin. I am CPR certified and heimlich maneuver certified in training. That is all that comes to mind so pretty basic things haha. Nothing doctor or intense stitches and stuff. 20. Which of your relatives do you know the least about? My older cousins and they’re children. I see pictures on Facebook but they live in another state. 21. Have you ever meditated? If so, did it do anything for you? I try and I can’t sit for very long but maybe the breathing did something. 22. Have you ever given advice to someone who was much older than you? Yes. 23. Have you ever used a view-master? Had to look it up and didn’t recognize the name but yeah we had those as kids! 24. Do you ever listen to talk radio or podcasts? If you do, what are some of your favorite shows? I like to listen to Japanese podcasts now and then and some Trash Taste.

25. When was the last time you got ice cream from a truck? It’s been a while haven’t seen many icecream trucks around but maybe a few years ago. 26. Are any of your favorite bands broken up or on hiatus right now? I think some have broken up. 27. Do you know any sex workers? If so, how do they feel about their job? I don’t know any one personally. Are we talking about porn or prostatution? Not my line of work but they’re not necessarily bad people. 28. What’s the biggest art project you’ve ever attempted? How did it go? Nothing big I can think of. 29. What kind of wild animals do you see most frequently where you live? Cows. LOTS of cows. But I like it. I find them cute :). 30. Have you ever cooked anything other than s’mores over a fire? Hot dogs! 31. Are there any items in your house that you use for something other than its intended purpose? Hehe. 32. What do you hope the afterlife is like? I would like to go to Heaven.  33. What’s the worst behavior you’ve ever seen from a child? I think horror stories I’ve read of teen-child killing small kids. :( 34. Have you ever planned an act of revenge? Not like anything serious like killing or hurting. 

Something in water balloon fights or pranks and harmless stuff. 35. Do you and your parents share any of the same hobbies? Yes. Watching Football for one. 36. Do you think it’s more exciting or scary to get older? I think it’s scarier in some ways.  37. How was the reception of the last wedding you attended? A lot of fun!! 38. Do you have any physical photo albums? Ones from elementary that we put together. I gave a physical one to my boyfriend. :) 39. Would you feel comfortable working at a sex shop? Hahaha kind of. I’d go to one and look around but I would be embarrassed if family or like if I left my teaching job and saw someone I knew. I have been to some though. 40. Who was the worst friend you ever had? Not sure. They had annoying points but not the worst. 41. What’s the biggest sacrifice you’ve ever made? I am not sure.. 42. Have you ever campaigned for a political candidate, or otherwise played an active role in an election? No. 43. What’s the coolest hand-me-down you’ve ever gotten? What about the best one you’ve ever given? Dresses and sweaters from my sister. 44. Do your parents and grandparents get along with each other? Yes. When grandparents were a live, they did yes.

[thatyanderecritic]

Hey, could you analyse kimi ni aisarete itakatta? The main character and possibly her friend seem kinda yandere, tho i can't tell if it's because most of the characters are pretty brutal anyway lol, i also couldn't go too far without taking a break lmao. Cw for compensated dating, noncon, bullying and quite a few cockroaches. It's okay if you decide not to analyze it! When i say brutal i really mean it.

Hey there demonkodomo! Kai here to answer your question.

To be quite frank we don't really do analyses for any stories since there's isn't anything to take away critically from mangas, anime, etc. in relation to yanderes. If there's going to be any analysis, it'll be a dry essay on bullying and school culture in Japan based on the synopsis I'm reading.

But if you mean a review on this series, that is something we do. Well, not a full review. Just a quickie one.

That said, as demonkodomo said, there are some triggers in this story. So before anyone decides to read what I have to say or check the manga themselves, you should know this manga has prostitution, pedophilia, noncon, bullying, grotesques imagery, and mental breakdowns... like, a lot of them. Like every other page.

Disclaimer: I didn't exactly "read" the manga, I just skimmed through it to see what was up. Also know that the perspective going in is someone super tired and desensitized to bullshit. Take my grumblings with a grain of salt.

That said, I don't think anyone here is a yandere. Just a bunch of stress out and severally traumatized teens who needs therapy. This is quite the common... what's the word, genre? Sure, let's go with genre. Common genre with Japanese media that has to do with themes of bullying. If anyone notice, if a manga isn't one of those "Feels good" stories, bullying is either handled as power fantasy where the victim gets revenge or the story gets sadder and sadder as the victim mentally breaks. This manga is the latter.

Kimi ni aisarete itakatta has lots of highs, lows, and caricatures of people. To say these characters are realistic... well, I guess there's always the possibility (And this one time I had this classmate who was exactly like the female main character and acted like an insaine Ben Shapiro in the middle of class as he monologued about how he was bullied in middle school. So after that experience, kinda hard... not to laugh at these mangas as I'm reminded of that moment.) Anyways, these are people pushing and breaking each other. Tensions and actions are constantly being pushed to the extremes... and more importantly: to a shock value. This story reminds me of the billions of Japanese indie/artsy/borderline-snuff films Julie and I watched one summer (now that's some real triggering stuff that makes this manga look like a kids cartoon).

The characters were already mentally unstable and the purpose of "love" isn't so much as romance but more of using romantic love to obtain something that they don't have. I guess real romantic love is bloom somewhere between the pages, but for the moment right now? These characters aren't truly "lovesick", more like love/attention/touch-starved.

[desultory-novice]

character ask. rat.

Ah, the eloquence that Anon has failed to supply in their ask, I shall make up for with my own flair and panache, for what else are the legendary Squeaks known for, if not style!

...I swear I'm not a Daroach kinnie, I just love his type, okay?!

003 Daroach

How I Feel About This Character:

...I like cartoon mice. I'm not afraid to admit it! Whenever you've got an ensemble cast of anthropomorphized animals going on, tv show or game, my eyes just go to the rodents! And I like phantom thieves. Ooh boy, do I like phantom thieves... And I like the color red, especially when paired with top hats. So, uh, you put all those things together and you get a character Dess is going to like QUITE A LOT.

And I'm not the only one! Look at him! This is OFFICIAL ARTWORK!

Like, Magolor is a total chatterbox, but when it comes to dialogue in Kirby games, Daroach RAN so Magolor could float. How does he have so much character?! How does he have so much character that is sitting there and HAL just moves on...?! (If only Squeak Squad had a better rep as a game, or if Mass Attack came out a little earlier, he could have became a series regular, perhaps.)

Any/All the People I Ship Romantically With this Character:

More like who WON'T I ship with Daroach?!

...Hopefully you've all read "Dreamy Gear" in some form, where Daroach is just casually sleeping on Meta Knight's couch, entering through his window every night, talking about all his private habits to anyone who will listen, covering for him, and kissing him when the...! :SHOT: ...Ouch... Anyway. they're married. They're married in that universe, I'm sorry. I don't make the rules.

I actually forgot this during my DMK post, but I just now remembered that Star Allies pic of Daroach and DMK fighting back to back and it's like...oh no...they would be good too...

Oh, and I have a Daroach crack ship! Yesss, a crack ship. Are you ready? Daroach x Captain Vul! You heard me. Both of them have this mature vibe (...I've seen silver fox-style gijinka of Daroach that should be illegal...) and Daroach is a mouse and Vul is a bird of prey...but in this case, the tables are turned because Daroach is the master thief and Vul is, in a word, incompetent. And the way Vul gets all shooketh in Dreamy Gear whenever Daroach shows up! Anyway, thank you for letting me put that in your heads.

...To answer my own question of who I won't ship with Daroach, the answer is Adeleine but I always laugh at --the expression-- he gives her in the Star Allies victory picture. Maybe it’s the oldschool FF fan in me, but I feel he’s the kind to flirt harmlessly with her in a "...Perhaps if my lady was older..." kind of way. 

(...Waddle Dee squad cars appear. "Here Come the Squeaks!" plays.)

My Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship For This Character:

I've done this three times already and I actually think I keep getting this question wrong but whatever. I'll keep at it. I actually really like Daroach with THE SQUEAKS. Considering that none of the rest of them have any dialogue to speak of, you can just sort of sense their tight-knit band of brothers vibe? Daroach is so confident in his little Squeakers. And Doc...well Doc made Mecha Kracko and I hate that boss! (/pos) Spinni and Storo are good too. I love that they worked all of them into Star Allies! Class act!

My Unpopular Opinion About This Character:

I'm so sorry, I only have popular opinions that should be held by EVERYONE about Daroach, such as: "He is the most attractive Kirby character." "He should return to the main series." "He deserves to be represented in more merch." "He is a great cook, an upstanding gentleman, and an excellent lov-... :SHOT:

...Oh, here’s one! I have no idea where this falls on the scale of opinions, but it IS an opinion! I completely LOATHE how his name was localized! 

They did so good making sure "Mahoroa" became "Magolor" in English. How could they take a beautiful name like ドロッチェ, a clever combination of the Japanese word for "thief" (dorobo) and the Italian word for "sweet" (dolce) and come up with something that has the word ROACH in it?! I'm not always a huge weeb, but I will -always- pronounce his name JP style for this reason.

One Thing I Wish Would Happen / Had Happened With This Character In Canon:

...Maybe not getting jobbed by the worst last boss in Kirby history...? AHEM!  U-uh, the Triple Star!! The Triple Star is CLEARLY important (despite being terribly silly looking) yet with future Daroach appearances being a massive unknown, we still know almost nothing about it? Where did it come from? Is it another Halcandran artifact? How'd he get it?! (I actually have my own headcanon about that. Will make it a post someday.)

Favorite Friendship For This Character:

Outside of shipping them, he and Meta Knight are, again, amazing in the Dreamy Gear Novel. But also Kirby! Daroach is so soft on Kirby, sticking around to help him out for a really long time and talking to him, like, OMG, cute!

And Adeleine in an obviously non-romantic way. I keep thinking about I-like-eyes's post where Daroach and Adeleine are talking about fanfic (idk if it's a quote from something or not, anyway it was hilarious) and that is exactly the kind of thing I want to see more of!

My Crossover Ship/FREE SPACE/Video Recs:

...Uh, fandom? Where are the Daroach videos?! How am I supposed to link an amazing Daroach AMV if no one has made one?! There is that Rhythm Heaven parody, 「こっそりドロッチェ団」 which is super cute but still...

Anyway, he may not be loved by AMV creators, but according to what I've seen, he's fairly loved in both the Mie novels and many of the manga adaptations! I don't know if this is one of the ones that is out of print or not, but someday I'd like to see more of the Kirby manga that released right around Squeak Squad's release date that I recall bumps him right up to regular cast member!