#taking my shoujo seriously means also taking it silly sometimes

[dnangelic]

i saw a post on my personal about distinguishing between stories that have a message and then fail that message and then stories who have a message and then write it badly and like let me b real here dnangel as a manga is not a clear, well written masterpiece. it's not particularly consistent in what goes on really beyond the characterizations. in fact it's carried nigh entirely by its characterizations, which is why when u drop the ball with those and completely throw them away like the miserable excuse of an anime did, the whole entire series just Collapses. but it's a cute lil 1997 shoujo romp and that makes it goodbad. badgood. it's dated, but it's still overall pretty sincere. genuinely i do think a lot of sugisaki's intentions and heartfelt messages are in it and those are absolutely worth listening to, but mainly it's just supposed to be fun. as an rper too i'm like.... i take the plot seriously and try to dissect it and put it into something coherent and functional, nobody else has to. i'm already semi non-canon, but preserving sugisaki's inherent messages with her characters alongside being actually faithful to their canon characterizations is something important to me, and i also think that's fun. yakno??

[7ban-sama]

hello 7ban-sama !! i have a question.. about the mahou shojou tbhk au - so… if nene was captured by the evil horse twinsies??? would they maybe… corrupt her..??? what would happen to her ? would they take all her magic away.?????

Hiya. *placid smile* I'm being asked about my silly horsies... wow...

Ah but yes, Nene is being captured by them in my art... Well. Historically I've really liked shoujo as a teen, so I've read and watched a handful of magical girl things. I'm a fan... I even like ah, specifically the cheesiness of villains flirting with the heroine. So imagine my delight, that AidaIro would have the Yugi twins as some sort of dastardly villain counterparts to mahou shoujo Nene-chan...!! So exciting!

Kidnapping was my most immediate thought, I wanted to see it. 9.9 I imagine that Amane has been taunting Nene for a while on her adventures, but it's never felt too 'serious' to Nene... The twins, they are strange, Tsukasa like fangirls over Amane being cool, and Amane doesn't seem like he's taking anything too seriously either. Cycle of: they banter, they battle it out, they all go home at the end of the day. (The twins tf into unicorns and trot off together. Or, Amane like rides, Tsukasa, hyaa.) Episodic, whimsical. So at first when she's captured by them, she thinks this will be rote, that she will be rescued eventually or outsmart them. The twist is this is going to be permanent... (Like if this was an anime you were watching, you'd be shocked, wait what do you mean she's not going home? What? What happened to all the other stuff?)

I think the first thing Amane does is strip her of her power, like break her wand... I imagine that what lets Nene transform is some bond with Yako (?) as she seems to be standing in as a magical companion of some sort ww, but I think she would be channeling her abilities through the wand she's wielding. Breaking it would mean she can't cast spells etc. for the time being, and while being kept away from her companions she can't get help recuperating her ability. She will stay in her magical girl form until she is fully exhausted physically, however.

Nene still believes things are normal at this point, she thinks she will endure whatever... Random evil things they will do, use her as bait, or try and abuse her powers, huff huff-!! What she can't predict is that it has nothing to do with that... Amane has come to covet her, wants to steal her away. Imagine he hasn't even consulted with his 'faction', this is entirely personal, his own desire. It's... Amane, so he's become convinced that Nene is so into him, she's just playing hard to get at this point. Enough games though... Done with playing games.

While Amane is thinking all of this, Nene is... further behind, she may sometimes wonder if he "likes" her, but also doubt it since he's... evil?? Pfshh... So— while she is bound in rope, and Amane begins rambling, implying that this has been a long time coming, she is not thinking the same things he is. As he. Like starts, groping her, jkjfgh... and Tsukasa is behind her, restraining her, being instructed to move her around for Amane. Instructed to touch her as well! Confusing, disorienting, wait where am I-? That's how Nene feels.

I do imagine it being, fully noncon, something sprung upon her, ignoring any of her protests. Gets treated like she's being a difficult mare. Further restrained and made to wear (functionally) fetish gear, in the form of horse gear like, bit, halter, hobbles. Passed between the twins, run ragged. My vision, is VERY EXCESSIVE...!! But the point is that Nene is a normal girl, she had 'normal' expectations of what this dynamic was. Not ready for what Amane wants of her! The next shock would be that they don't release her at the end of this, even as Nene-chan has gone back to her normal, non-magical self. Just carry her off into the lair, keep her...

At this point, I do think of corruption...!! Both psychologically and magically. The first stage is just... excessive... sex... so much sex kfjfghg kind of mind-breaking Nene through this all. I think it's a little grim initially, really, because Amane has to process that she really was um, unprepared, and I think Nene would become despondent realizing she just won't be going home? And none of her team has found her or come for her... She doesn't feel valuable to them yet, and now she doesn't know what they're capable of, so there's this nebulous dread... Amane is kind of like, moody yandere, why aren't you happy to be trapped with me forever. But well, persistent as well, not going to let her go... Over time though I think Nene uncontrollably feels the allure of villain romance, and the, mystic being, unicorn, parts, like wait. I'm like their fair virgin maiden they couldn't resist. *really thinks about it* ... also it's crazy sex but also it feels good, there's just a point where it's like ahnghh wait but what IF this is my life. Forever now. HM.............

The magic part however... I actually owe it to my wife, she came up with something really interesting — a sort of magical horn that could TF Nene into a unicorn as well. But Amane would have to stab it into her skull. Simultaneously it would mind-wipe her, reduce her, made into a beautiful horsie as well... I thought of an extreme ending where Amane and Tsukasa give up their human forms and give up all they were doing, to live with this unicorn Nene. It'd be a crazy commitment though so it's the final note in their story, if that came to pass. Like Amane realizing he doesn't want anything else but to be with her and Tsukasa in some magical forest eternally together.

Ultimately I think they'd all have magic still, between them all. It's just that they're giving up the powers specifically granted by whatever their little familiars are, and whatever destiny they are tied to. It's like a story where the main character and the villains escape out of their roles... I mean, really it's a dumb hentai, but you know.

[okayto]

Mini-Review: Kamisama Kiss

Nanami Momozono suddenly becomes homeless after her dad disappears and leaves behind a huge debt, which forces her out of their apartment. On the street Nanami rescues a strange man from a dog and in thanks he gives her his house, which proves to be a run-down shrine, inhabited by a hostile fox-eared young man. Turns out she’s been given the position of local land god. This ought to be interesting... 

Me, scrolling through streaming options looking for something to play in the background without much commitment: huh, this looks like it’ll fit

Me: ...

Me: oh no it’s Good

(my roommate, initially passing by in the background: wait no I like this don’t watch it without me)

It sounds light and silly, sure: A mysterious man named Mikage gives Nanami not only his “house,” but (initially unbeknownst to her) transfers his position as the local land god to her. While the shrine spirits are delighted to have a god in residence again--turns out Mikage ran off 20 years prior--his familiar, the fox spirit Tomoe who has tried to keep the shrine running, rejects Nanami for both her humanity and his feelings of abandonment by Mikage.

But Nanami isn’t going to give up--in large part because otherwise she’d be homeless, but also because she’s stubborn and plucky--and does her best to learn a land god’s duties and fulfill requests, all while going to high school.

First order of business: making a contract with Tomoe to be her familiar. Like this:

(A question plaguing me throughout the entire series: did Mikage also kiss Tomoe???)

Tomoe is powerful, arrogant, and stubborn. He’s great at his job, keeping the shrine running, fending off threats, and can navigate the careful politics of formal situations. He’s not good at spontaneity or acknowledging emotions, both of which are Nanami’s thing. 

In fact, Nanami is the perfect foil: she won’t do exactly as he says--she’ll listen to him, sometimes, but won’t automatically do what he thinks is best, particularly when it’s not explained. Tomoe, when he’s not grumping about a human and a child and why does she need to go to school and her spiritual power is weak, is genuinely baffled by her gumption. He likes things orderly and predictable, and Nanami is not those things.

Nanami’s not perfect, of course, but her actions and impulsiveness make a lot of sense because, y’know, she’s 17. And for the most part, she takes her new situation in stride and works hard to do her new job even as she resents being bossed around by Tomoe.

Now that she’s involved in the supernatural world, Nanami finds herself in situations from trying to grant prayers, hosting other gods curious about this newcomer, questing for magical items, and attending supernatural-filled events.

Along the way, she picks up another familiar, a shikigami, becomes friends with a sarcastic tengu (crow spirit) disguised as a pop idol attending her school, and when you include the two existing shrine attendants, you end up with a core cast of friends who are 60% sarcasm, which is the best and most fun to watch.

Seriously, I would watch a miniseries composed of Tomoe, Mizuki (familiar #2 and snark king) and Kurama (tengu) all day.

What’s nice, and unexpected, is that on the romance front, it’s just the will they/won’t they between Nanami and Tomoe, and it takes a while. But considering how many other male characters there are, I was surprised that there wasn’t a concerted effort to put, say, Mizuki or Kurama in there to make a love triangle.

I mean, there are times when various other characters develop crushes on Nanami, but there’s no concerted effort to make that a problem. The other main male characters’ relationships range from “friendship” to “devoted platonic love.”

Kamisama Kiss is just pure fun. I expected silly shoujo fluff, and I got that along with more story and more interesting characters than I anticipated. The two anime seasons aired before the manga finished, so while there are backstories and character side-stories that don’t get delved into, overall it still ends on a nice note.

Verdict

English dub? Yes, and wooooo is Tomoe’s voice nice, so smooth. 

Visuals: Pretty supernatural boys, oh yeah

Worth watching? You know what I have a weakness for? Sarcastic characters who are secretly nice. You know what else I have a weakness for? Powerful supernatural characters with mysterious pasts who get tangled up with humans and often have to act as protector. You know what else I have a weakness for? When those two things combine into one character who also has pretty hair.

AND GUESS WHAT KAMISAMA KISS HAS:

The series is like candy. It’s colorful, sweet, and safe to use as a distraction from the world. At 25 episodes, it gives you a good amount of story without lingering too long.

Noted, there’s one minor recurring god who is often portrayed with feminine outfits and mannerisms but is referred to with he/him pronouns, and is repeatedly referred to as “he-she guy” by Nanami. Watching the dub, it’s not clear to me if this is supposed to be funny, rude, or if the character is supposed to not be a binary gender.

Where to watch (USA, as of October 2020): Funimation (sub and dub), Hulu (sub and dub)

Click my “reviews” tag below or search “mini review” on my blog to find more!

[shruggingcutely]

MocaTsugu! They’re gay and they kiss!

Big thanks to the artist who draws really good trans girl Bandoris and sold me on concepts such as MocaTsugu, everyone x Misaki, or Kaoru as top. They deleted most of their art from pixiv, though, and while they’re still active on Twitter I don’t really feel comfortable linking when I don’t know why they deleted everything. Why am I even mentioning this? First of all art is good and gay art of trans girls is good. Also, if you’re a decent internet detective you now have enough information to find them anyway. Please be nice

Also Moca is trans

Word count: 4.4k-ish

Rating: Lots of kissing and some references to, uh, physiological responses to arousal. And paper work. I did give it a T on AO3, though.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/16142222

Tsugumi filled the student council office with the clacking of the calculator’s keys. “Estimated expenses… hmm… Why so many tennis rackets?”

The numbers on the sheet checked out, barely legible as they were, so Tsugumi added it to the pile. Almost done now. Stretching her arms, Tsugumi looked around the empty room bathed in the orange of sunset. Usually this light made her feel connected to her friends, who were no doubt seeing the same vista, but the atmosphere in her school, this late, let loneliness win. She wasn’t going to call or text anyone, though, when it would just drag out her work.

Tsugumi checked the final few forms. If she hurried… well, she didn’t really have anything to do until practice. Was there a point in hurrying? Her friends would probably tell her to slow down, but Tsugumi liked working hard, especially when her job and its results were clear. She would surely find something else to do with the left-over time. Tsugumi’s experience had taught her those trying to keep busy would always find something, anything.

She blinked the exhaustion out of her eyes and went back at it. The drama club… That would probably take a while. As the star of the school’s clubs it needed a significant budget and of course the school would have to order the equipment and the club often tried to leverage its status and popularity by asking for the… not impossible per se, but certainly troublesome. Despite this, Tsugumi smiled. Maya would get some new toys to play with and her excitement frequently proved infectious.

A knock on the door startled Tsugumi out of her work rhythm. Before she could answer, Moca entered. Classic Moca. Strange for her to be at school this late, actually, as a member of the go-home club.

“I could hear you being tsugurific all the way outside.” Moca crossed her arms. “Still working?”

“Yeah, but I’m almost done.” Goodbye loneliness. If she could have picked a single one of her friends to suddenly show up, it was definitely Moca. She didn’t get as upset with Tsugumi’s workaholic tendencies, and she carried with her a relaxing aura. When they were alone her jokes also kinda became funnier? Or at least less mean. Why just her, though? Tomoe and Himari had shifts at their part-time job, but Ran not accompanying Moca was unusual. Moca liked to boast about their inseparable bond. “You’re on your own?”

“Ran realized she’d run out of guitar strings. Because I pointed it out.” Moca shook her head. “Where would everyone be without me?”

Tsugumi giggled. “But you didn’t go with her?”

“Mmh, Ran is almost an adult now. Girl’s gotta spread her wings a little. Ah, how time flies. But back to you, Tsugu. Whatcha doin’?”

“I’m just double-checking these forms before filing them away.”

Moca glanced at the sheet in front of Tsugumi. “Club expenses? Taking care of that isn’t your job, is it?”

Tsugumi forced a laugh. “Not quite… I don’t have to double-check, but if there is a mistake it will cause everyone a lot of trouble, so...”

“Found a mistake yet?”

“No….”

“Tsugu~” Moca’s voice took a sterner tone and she, well, ‘scowl’ was a strong word. Mildly disappointed mom face, maybe? “Aren’t you just burying yourself in busywork?”

“That’s not… Um… It’s very important and….”

“Someone else’s responsibility.”

Tsugumi couldn’t keep up the strained smile anymore. Nail hit on the head. “Y-yeah…”

“We keep telling you to take care of yourself and rest more, don’t we?”

“You do….”

“We’re not saying that to be mean. Well, I’m not, ‘cause I’m an angel, maybe Ran wants to be mean.”

“N-no! I, I know, but I… If I don’t do some kind of work I get restless and… and a little anxious and… think about stuff….”

Moca leaned forward and pulled Tsugumi in a pretty lax hug. Doubly lax because Tsugumi was sitting and Moca was not. “Tsugu, what kinda stuff?”

Tsugumi gripped Moca’s shirt almost out of reflex. “It’s just… Everyone… You’re all so good at… and I’m… I’m not, so…”

“Tsugu. Even if you can’t make yourself believe it, you are good. You are more than good enough. You don’t need to push yourself so hard. Your cute Moca guarantees it. We are all proud of you. Like for real. Pat yourself on the back for once. Ah, but listen to me getting all sappy, huh.”

“M-Moca….” Her eyes stinging, Tsugumi pulled Moca closer and sniffled. Hugging Moca was always a special occasion because of how rarely it happened, so Tsugumi tried to hold on tight to kind of… convince her not let go?

Moca stroked Tsugumi’s hair. “There, there.”

Tsugumi took in Moca’s warmth and trust and the faint smell of fresh bread that clung to her so often. It was comfort, it was home. It was Moca. Tsugumi wiped her eyes, mostly for show. “Thanks, Moca.”

“Well now,” Moca said, “this position is not the best, so if you could…”

Tsugumi immediately let go. “Sorry!!”

Moca stood upright and stretched her back a little. Perhaps with some theatrics. “So, how much until you’re done?” Sitting down next to Tsugumi, Moca absentmindedly stuck her hands in her pockets before realizing she was still wearing her school uniform with its pocketless skirt. She tried to play it off by patting her lap. Tsugumi pretended she hadn’t noticed.

“That’s… Three left.”

“Hmm. I can’t be of much use with that, but,” Moca shot Tsugumi a mischievous glance, “you could also not do it.”

Tsugumi giggled. “Now that I’m almost done and you’re here with me, I think I can finish it in record time!”

“There you go, being all tsugurific again.” Moca smiled and patted Tsugumi’s back. She paused for a moment, then switched to rubbing it. “I’ll be your support~”

Tsugumi did the remaining calculations, added a note for clarification (what terrible handwriting, she’d have to ask them to take more care), only slightly confused by Moca’s fingers occasionally running over the back strap of her bra, and filed away form after form in the shelf to her right. Moca did or said weird things regularly, so Tsugumi didn’t think much of it. Tsugumi stretched her arms one final time, a ritual to signal a finished job, and turned to Moca. “All done! Thank you so much, Moca!”

“No problem! What did I do again?”

Tsugumi smiled. Goofball. “You always have my back! ...Sometimes literally. We still have some time until we have to get to the studio, do you wanna go somewhere?”

Moca tapped Tsugumi’s now empty seat. “Let’s rest a little after all this hard work.”

“Sure!” Tsugumi sat back down and took a sip of water from the bottle she carried around in her bag. “Want some?”

Moca nodded and took an honestly probably rude number of sips before returning the bottle. It felt silly for Tsugumi not to drink a little more after that, so she went with the flow.

“Gotta stay hydrated!” Tsugumi stuck the bottle in her bag and nodded at Moca, whose eyes kind of…. fixated on hers. Moca seemed to catch herself and ruffled Tsugumi’s hair. “Wh-what’s wrong, Moca?” Unusually quiet, Moca… wait, was she blushing? “Did you want more water?”

“No, I was just thinking that…” Moca scratched her head and shrugged. “You know….” Nervous Moca? Even rarer than hugging Moca. “We still have some time and you’re… we’re….” Moca rubbed her forehead. Her mouth did some weird gymnastics like she couldn’t decide on an expression to make. “I know a great way to relax.”

“Y-yeah?” Was it something complicated that made Moca sound so uncertain? Was Moca, the confident Moca, not confident in what she was suggesting? She seemed frustrated with herself. In that case, Tsugumi knew what to do. She turned all the way to face Moca. “I’m all ears!”

Moca gazed in Tsugumi’s eyes and, totally blushing for real, grabbed the keys from her desk and locked the door. “It’d be embarrassing if someone suddenly walked in, so.” Leaving the keys in the lock, she got back to her seat and added, “if you don’t want to, we’ll just go for a walk outside or whatever.”

Yeah, but… “Wh-what is it? This… secret relaxation technique?” If Moca was offering a massage, it really would be embarrassing to be seen by someone else. Particularly if Moca asked Tsugumi to take off her shirt. A massage, though… She’d never expected Moca to be the type. As far as surprises went, Tsugumi had no complaints at all. But Moca probably had a weak grip with how calm she always was? Or maybe not! Who could tell, maybe she also took it seriously like how she took the guitar seriously. Tsugumi hoped for that one. Devil-may-care Moca looking all focused on something had an undeniable appeal.

Moca took hold of Tsugumi’s left hand, and looked up at her. The glint in her eyes, like they were doing something forbidden, made Tsugumi shiver, but not in a bad way. “Tsugu, we’ll keep this a secret between us, okay?”

“O-okay…” Tsugumi swallowed. Massage, please! Please? It had to be something special for Moca to get so… quiet? Well, not quiet so much as she seemed to study Tsugumi’s reaction very closely and always waited for her to reply. Kinda like in some of her favorite shoujo manga where everyone wasn’t so violent (?) about kissing.

…Hang on.

Moca’s gaze met Tsugumi’s. Her hand moved to Tsugumi’s shoulder and steadied her, which Tsugumi appreciated with how the atmosphere in the room, and Moca’s usually cool eyes turning a warm shade of orange in the sunset, flustered her. Moca’s face came closer, millimeter by millimeter. She glanced down at Tsugumi’s mouth. “Tsugu…” Tsugumi could feel the breath on her lips. “Is it…” Moca made eye contact again. “Is it okay…?” The hand on Tsugumi’s shoulder slid upward, along Tsugumi’s neck, and stopped at her jaw.

“M-Moca…” Tsugumi blinked rapidly. Where had this come from? Was Moca in love with her? Since when? She hadn’t noticed anything. Which, to be fair, is what she would have expected from Moca. Not expecting it. Immensely flattering, though. She felt her face flush. “Y-you mean… you…?”

Moca forced a shy (??) grin. “I did ditch my best friend to be with you.” She lowered her gaze. “I don’t want to… to ruin… you know, like I said, if you don’t want to we can just forget this ever happened and….”

Tsugumi gripped Moca’s hand tighter and with her other hand cupped Moca’s cheek, mirroring hers. She tried to flash Moca a confident smile, because Tsugumi instinctively needed to support her friends when they were wavering. Half a second later she allowed herself to realize what she also needed, or at least wanted so much it felt like needing, was for Moca to keep going.

“Tsugu…” So close now, Tsugumi could all but feel Moca’s lips as she spoke. “Close your eyes?” Tsugumi did. She waited, her heart pounding, lips tightening. A faint tickle, then Moca’s lips were truly, undoubtedly on hers. The feeling of someone’s, of Moca’s hot lips. The strong grip – so she had a strong grip! – on Tsugumi’s hand. Moca’s thumb gently stroking Tsugumi’s cheek. Again, unexpected.

Tsugumi inhaled sharply, more surprise than anything, and Moca immediately backed off. Tsugumi’s eyes shot open to gauge Moca’s reaction as she covered her mouth. Moca also waited for a response. “W-was it bad?” Moca asked.

The tingling echoed in Tsugumi’s lips. So different from anything else she’d ever felt, yet weirdly similar to the feeling of soda sparkling on her lips? But what it was definitely not was bad. She took Moca’s hand. “Moca, you know, I, I really love your confidence.” Tsugumi smiled. “And I’m not sure how it felt… so… well….”

A familiar grin returned to Moca’s face. As fascinating as nervous (?) Moca was, Tsugumi definitely preferred Moca like this. “Looks like your cute Moca has to get tsugurific for once.”

Her cute Moca. A soft twinge in Tsugumi’s chest. “What does that even mean?”

“This.” Moca kissed her, briefly and all smiles. When their eyes met again the smiles slowly faded. Tsugumi shut her eyes. Moca’s lips returned, but this time they stayed like this for a moment. They parted slightly and closed, and a little breath escaped Tsugumi. Her chest felt tight, but comfortingly. “Good?”

“Y-yeah… It’s like… It’s good…”

“Mmh, of course you can’t think straight when you’re kissing me.”

“I, I love when –” Moca continued, a bit more forcefully. Her hand on Tsugumi’s nape, Moca pulled her closer. Her fingers crawled up the back of Tsugumi’s head, tickling her all the way. As their lips relaxed and they experimented with what felt best (everything??), Tsugumi couldn’t help but sigh, almost moan, with contentment. Moca had found the right amount of forcefulness where Tsugumi both felt safe but also so incredibly excited like she was about to burst. She giggled at the thought that she was cookie dough in Moca’s hands. Then Moca, just barely, licked her lips.

Tsugumi grabbed onto Moca. She returned the lick, because she couldn’t bear the thought of Moca stopping out of concern. And Moca did not stop. While Tsugumi held onto Moca’s arms and shoulders and enjoyed the hint of muscle she could feel through the uniform, Moca seemed to be testing what she could get away with – everything. One hand on Tsugumi’s thigh and the other gently nudging her mouth open, Moca sucked on and licked Tsugumi’s lips, carefully at first and slowly getting rougher, almost painful but in the way that made Tsugumi crave more. Like a massage, funnily enough.

Tsugumi lowered her head, kind of leaning on Moca’s collarbone, and caught her breath. She couldn’t form any coherent thoughts. Just a fuzzy white in her mind.

Moca had left a trail of spit on her chin and while Tsugumi would have loved to lick it off rather than waste it, her tongue couldn’t reach and her thumb had to do. Was kissing always this… messy? Or were they just bad at it? Next to Tsugumi’s ear, Moca tried to calm her breath as well. Focusing on Moca, however, did not help Tsugumi come down from her high at all.

Tsugumi pushed Moca against the back of her seat, moved over to straddle her and sat down on Moca’s lap. “Can we do more?” As Moca gazed up at her, maybe a little surprised, Tsugumi wiped away a pearl of sweat from Moca’s forehead. The gaze quickly became too much for Tsugumi, though, and she embraced Moca tightly to get her face out of Moca’s field of vision. She nuzzled up Moca’s neck. The smell of fresh bread, with a bit of peach mixed in.

“Tsugu… look at me?” Tsugumi didn’t dare, so when she didn’t look Moca’s hand unceremoniously landed on Tsugumi’s boob. Tsugumi gasped. “Tsugu, I’m a coward,” Moca half-whispered. “I always brush everything off with a joke, and when I can’t do that I run away. I’ve been trying to get better about it, because you’re there. You always push us to be our best selves and I love that about you. So much. But the other reason I joke around is… it’s because I want your smile. It makes me forget to breathe, did you know that? And not just your smile. …Also,” Tsugumi could hear the grin in Moca’s voice now, “that time when we got locked in at school… I thought you were real cool taking charge like that. Nothing seems all that bad when you’re with me.”

“M-Moca, I…. Thank you, I, I had no idea…. But… I don’t know if now is the best time, when… your hand….”

Chuckling, Moca squeezed Tsugumi’s chest lightly. Tsugumi almost squealed. “Well, you’re not looking at me right now. I told you I’m a coward.” Good point, but the logical consequence? If Tsugumi wanted Moca to be her best self, then… Tsugumi gathered all her mischievous energy and kissed Moca’s neck. Moca’s quick breathing sounded muffled like she was covering her mouth unsuccessfully. Tsugumi kissed harder, her teeth grazing Moca’s skin. “Tsugu, that’s…!”

“Good?” Tsugumi straightened her back and stared into Moca’s big and now surprisingly dark eyes. “I thought you were really cool too, back then. Helping us all stay together. And always, really. I know that even when you joke around I can rely on you.”

“Tsugu, you’re….” Moca rubbed the spot Tsugumi had kissed and snorted. Did she want to take the lead again? Something about it was adorable. That kiss clearly had an effect on her, but she wanted to take care of Tsugumi. Or protect her pride? Also cute.

Moca smiled up at her and pulled Tsugumi down so her butt rested firmly on Moca’s thighs, like to make the space between them both disappear. She adjusted a strand of Tsugumi’s hair, kissed two of her fingers and pressed them on Tsugumi’s lips. In return Tsugumi planted a quiet kiss on Moca’s forehead.

Tsugumi felt she had to break the silence. She wanted to be honest with her feelings so Moca could be, too. “M-Moca, when you touched me it was… it was hot. I, I mean, my body felt so hot! And wh-when we were kissing too…. I, I really like it.”

“Did I awaken Tsugu the kissing demon~?” Moca grinned. She paused for a long moment. “Tsugu, it was… amazing when you kissed me too…. I want to kiss you more.”

Tsugumi barely stopped herself from calling Moca a good girl. This time Tsugumi had the height advantage, so she covered Moca’s eyes with one hand and kissed her. Moca’s arms wrapped around her so tight Tsugumi almost couldn’t breathe. Tsugumi carefully went from licking Moca’s lips on the outside to licking them from inside, where Moca reciprocated equally as gently. With her fingers Tsugumi played with Moca’s earlobe, so painfully red, while Moca’s hands wandered. Tsugumi licked the spit off Moca’s lower lip and Moca did the same to her before they, with a smile, continued getting them wet again. Moca’s hand found its way to Tsugumi’s chest once more, where it not even squeezed but just held Tsugumi’s boob with a firm grip. Her other hand slid down Tsugumi’s waist, under her skirt, which made Tsugumi gasp in surprise, and landed on as much of Tsugumi’s bare butt as it could find or make accessible. There as well Moca merely held her, as if to secure her body. The sensations Moca’s touches caused all over her body took over her mind.

It was becoming so much, too much probably, even if it all was good. Tears formed in Tsugumi’s eyes, just from everything going on. They had to stop or Moca would notice the tears and think she’d hurt Tsugumi. As unsubtly as possible, because Tsugumi couldn’t move subtly right now, Tsugumi laid her head on Moca’s shoulder. Seeing the little red mark she’d left on Moca’s neck, she gave it a lick. Moca let go of Tsugumi’s boob and instead held her head in place, which Tsugumi understood as an invitation to kiss Moca more, so of course she did. Panting, Moca squirmed under her until something warm and strangely hard pushed up against Tsugumi’s panties. Moca’s… W-wait!!  

Tsugumi jumped back out of reflex, so uncontrolled she only half made it back to her seat and almost hit her back against the desk. “U-umm, Moca, I, I think that’s… a little too fast and… and we’re just… umm…!!”

Moca covered her crotch. Her crestfallen frown stung Tsugumi’s heart. “N-no, no, Tsugu, that’s… I didn’t mean…” Moca swore under her breath. And she never outright swore in front of Tsugumi.

“O-oh… O-of course! Y-yeah! It’s a natural reaction!”

“Y-yeah…!”

As Tsugumi climbed onto her seat, she noticed something else. She rubbed her thighs together. Yeah, no doubt, a wet stain on her panties. She adjusted them, again not subtly. “U-um… m-me too….”

“We must be naturals… haha….”

Tsugumi couldn’t laugh. They were best friends, and just today they had found out about each other’s feelings and kissed so much and… Sure, a moment ago Tsugumi had been shocked, but… what if… What if she hadn’t stopped? She almost wished she hadn’t. And it wasn’t too late yet. Tsugumi didn’t even know what… how… exactly this was supposed to go, but right now what she wanted, desired even, was to take off Moca’s skirt and… touch Moca and….

This wasn’t okay. She couldn’t, not on the same day. Not even the same week! Or month! That wasn’t how you were supposed to do that. At school, no less! The student council office! Where everyone worked so hard for the sake of the school! And they almost…!

This time the tears formed quicker.

“Tsugu?!” Moca, with her mouth hanging open like she didn’t know what to say, looked so hurt it made the drops heavier.

“M-Moca… I, I’m sorry, I… W-we’re not even going out o-officially, but I… I want to… keep going…. I’m so….”

“Tsugu. We’re not going further than this today, okay? Promise. Pinkie swear. But I also… I want to do it. With you. That’s not strange. Or bad. Not even a little. Like, of course we’d want to do that. Even if we’re not gonna.” She sounded so certain again. Moca embraced Tsugumi and planted the softest kiss of the day on her cheek. “It’s fine. Even if we did it now, it would be fine. We’d need protection, yeah, and doing it at school is kind of punk, but you’re not bad for wanting it. And I’m incredibly flattered, just so you know.”

“Th-thanks… Moca… I really… You’re really important to me.”

“Same here, Tsugu.” Her head on Moca’s shoulder, Tsugumi found her calm again. For a moment they both disappeared into the hug. Tsugumi wished they had more time. She sighed. Tsugumi really did love Moca. “Oh.” Moca pulled back. “How late is it…?”

“OH NO!!!” Tsugumi checked her phone. They should have left eight minutes ago. They were gonna be so late! But if they hurried… maybe…but they’d had to leave right away.

“Ah, text from Tomochin. ‘Got held up at work, practice half an hour later.’” Tsugumi had the same message on her phone. They both breathed so much relief. But it said they’d received it five minutes ago and neither of them had noticed…. “Work’s a pain for them too, huh. Guess we still have some time.” Moca grinned with mischief. “Tsugu~ have you had enough of Moca’s lips for today~?”

“U-um, no, but… I’m not sure I could face the others… well, even now.”

“Good point. Especially if we hold hands on the way.” The silliest smile crept up on Tsugumi’s face. “Tsugu, we are going out now, got it?”

“Y-yeah!!”

“And technically, we’ve known each other for like ten years, so we weren’t moving that fast.”

Tsugumi giggled. “That’s true.”

“Wait, I don’t think we should count when you were still trying to feed me mud cakes.”

Good times. “Sorry… So from elementary school on?”

“Nah, that’s still kinda weird. We were so young back then. Let’s say from when you got hot.”

“H-hot…? When was that…”

“That’s a secret.”

“Moca, you bully….”

“That’s okay, she may be a bully, but Moca treats her girlfriend right.”

Despite everything they’d done today, Tsugumi’s head felt like it was on fire, from this. Moca’s girlfriend. “Th-thank you, m-me too….”

Moca kissed Tsugumi’s cheek. “I’m a lucky girl.”

Tsugumi’s sneakily grabbed Moca’s hand. “A-and now that we have more time… could you hold me really tight again? J-just holding!”

“Correction, I’m the luckiest girl.”

“And that one time I really messed up at practice and I told everyone it was because you were making faces… A-Actually, you were looking at me for a second and I saw your profile in this light and I… I thought you were… kinda… hot….” Tsugumi squeezed Moca’s hand as they walked across the street.

“It’s fine, we all know I’m a knockout, Tsugu~”

“Thanks for playing along….”

“Well, I don’t know if they bought it.”

“E-eh? …But that reminds me… should we keep it a secret from the others?”

“No,” Moca said like there was not question at all.

“Oh.”

“It’d be a pain to hide and we couldn’t flirt in front of everyone. Also, we got that childhood friend bonus with them.”

“That’s true. But I’m not sure about flirting….”

Tsugumi and Moca almost literally bumped into Ran in front of the studio. She looked them up and down with surprising curiosity.

“I’m guessing it went well?”

“A-ah, y-yes?” Tsugumi uttered. Moca simply nodded smugly. Was Ran in on this? Had they planned this together or was it just that obvious? Not that Tsugumi would ask. She had the feeling this could turn out embarrassing for at least one third of the girls here.

Ran’s eyes had a gentle light to them. “Good. I’m happy for you, Tsugu.”

“Thanks!”

“Hey, what about me!” Moca pouted dramatically.

Ran smirked at her. “Fair, you did end up with the nicer girl.”

“Ran, I can’t believe you’d betray me like this.”

“Just so you know, if you ever get in a fight I’ll take Tsugu’s side, 100%.”

Moca scoffed. “I was having such a good day, Ran~”

Ran smiled at Tsugumi. “Moca’s kind of a dumbass –”

“Rude?”

“– but she’s a good friend. Take care of her, will you?”

“Of course!” Kind of a strange thing to say considering the three of them were best friends, but it probably counted as Ran’s blessing.

“Oh, and did Moca tell you how many nights she kept me up to talk about how she’s got the hots for you.”

Tsugumi almost dropped her bag. “E-eh??”

“Ran, dissing me in front of my girlfriend? That’s so low!”

“I’m not dissing you, it’s kinda cute, even if I’d rather slept.”

The three of them paused to let the big word sink in. Girlfriend.

Moca and Tsugumi were totally girlfriends now.

[miyoron]

Miyo’s Anime of Note 2018 Rainbow Edition

2018 was some kind of a year wasn't it? It was long and a pain in the ass but there was some anime out this year I really enjoyed. I'm here to write down a bunch of shows I enjoyed in no particular order. I might put them in the order I watched them in, or I might not. I guess we'll see huh?

Also, I think there's WAY more this year than usual which means I either like things easily, there were a lot of good shows, all of the above or some other reason. Hope I don't get too long winded on you! Also I'm using whatever names I feel like for naming things off, translated, still Japanese...whaaatever~

Pop Team Epic

Pop Team Epic was everything I wanted it to be and more. I've been a fan of Bkub's work since the early days so to see these two shitty girls finally show up on the anime screen week to week was a pleasure and a delight. The decision to make two separate half episodes with different voice actors for Popuko and Pipimi was a wonderful decision that let us experience things like Aoi Yuki as Popuko and Norio Wakamoto as Pipimi. It also shot the wonderful team of ACBU into the spotlight. Their Bobunemimimmi segments were so disgustingly perfect and fit the tone of the show perfectly. It also gave us one of the best moments in anime this year:

Needless to say, I really hope they are doing a season 2 like it's been rumored. I'm on board for SO much more.

Yuru Camp

This was a show I actually watched twice this year and have subsequently watched multiple episodes just on my own. It is one of my favorite things this year and maybe it's just because of how unassuming it is. There's honestly nothing deep to the show. Cute girls dress in warm winter clothing and go camping. However, the way everything is paced with nice warm colors and chill ass music nestles its way into your heart and fills you with a nice cozy feeling. It's like a blanket, the anime. Just wrap yourself up in the wonderful friend times and maybe you'll learn a thing or two about camping and friendship along the way.

Mitsuboshi Colors

Are adults letting you down? Sure, they're not up to the challenge pretty much all the time. But that's why you should just stay out of the way and let Colors come in to save the day! This trio of girls are ready to save their town and to let shitty cops know what's up. Seriously, it's a cute show with a cute group of friends getting into big adventures, even if those adventures are often due to their own misconceptions. It's a good show with kids who act like kids and are always either talking about poop or are sucking at video games. It's a nice show and has some good performances, as well as the best sunglasses of 2018 in my book.

Karakai no Jouzu Takagi-san

A series about a boy and a girl who are totally crushing on each other, even if one likes to keep it deeply hidden and the other would never admit it really. Oh, also she owns him every chance she can get with teasing. It's like a reverse Tonari no Seki-kun if Seki was not in his own world and was actively trying to make Rumi blush or stumble over herself. This premise may sound mean but it's honestly all in good fun and there's something really cute about the pair's friendship with each other. The way the manga apparently goes makes me really want to check it out sometime too.

Oh also there's a great side trio of friends with and I love how dumb of a baby one of them is.

Hinamatsuri

What happens when a yakuza becomes the dad of a psychic girl who crashed in an egg in his apartment and broke all his vases? This series! Hinamatsuri was a show that got me really hard this year at a couple points where I know I had to either fight back tears or take a few minutes to sit their with a quivering lip and watery eyes. It's an incredibly funny show from  the premise alone but when you have the put upon character of Nitta having to take care of the force of nature that is Hina it just escalates it. On top of that though, there's a good heart to it as well. Anzu is a wonderful character and I love her story and her many grandpas. Also Hitomi's story actively hit me hard to where I felt bad for a fictional child to please just be a child for a little while. It was powerful stuff and I loved it.

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online

I hate Sword Art Online. I've only watched the first series with the original and faerie times, but I hated it so much. That being said, hearing that the new one was actually good made me seek it out and...thank God it is. Llenn/Karen is just a much more compelling character than the power fantasy that is Kirito. The story of a woman who does not like herself in the real world, but finds a new home and life in virtual reality is a nice little story. On top of that, ditching the stupid "if you die in the game, you die in real life" really helped the show out in my eyes. This show is not about stop some huge over arcing villainous plot to fuck over the whole world or whatever. GGO is about trying to save someone from hurting themselves and honestly, that's a lot more relatable. A recap episode in this day in age IS silly though for what it's worth.

Let's take a short break shall we? For a little section I'm gonna call, Fuck, You Let me Down Man.

Amanchu Advance

I put Amanchu on my list two years ago of Anime of Note because I really enjoyed the tale of friendship it told. Amanchu Advance continues that story and shows Teko slowly becoming more of her own person thanks to that friendship. She wants to become a stronger person, a better version of herself and it's through her friends she's able to do this. The series is still very good at showing these moments but the last few episodes of the show are bogged down in a weird supernatural plot with a ghost boy that I wish they would have just tossed down the shrine steps. The twist at the end with it was not worth sidetracking the story for three episodes in a 12 episode story and soured my experience as a whole. I've been told the author likes doing these sorts of things and I didn't mind the lucid dreaming episodes, but this bit just did not land for me and it's a big bummer.

Here's Another Side Category Called Old Anime I Watched And Enjoyed. Yes, that's the full title.

G Gundam

I don't know why it took me so long to watch this series, but I am glad I did. Maybe I just needed friends to be there to watch it with, who knows. Either way, I'm thankful I got to join Domon on his journey searching for the man in the photograph and to experience the Undefeated of the East in his most powerful form. G Gundam is a goofy setting with a bunch of weird but fun characters and their even weirder mobile suits. I don't know how much I can really say on it since I'm sure most people have probably checked it out years ago on Toonami. It's still fun and good and it has a Gundam who is a boxer and a football man at the same time. Gundam Fight, Readdddddy....GO!

Back to my normal list, though I have grouped the next couple shows in a block I am calling the "I wish these had a full 24 episodes even though I understand why they didn't but please make more I'd love it, ok thanks" block.

A Place Further Than The Universe

This show had...a lot of moments where I was sitting there and just processing all that was going on. A group of girls become friends and join a civilian expedition to Antarctica, one of whom is going there to basically go where her mother had spoken of years ago and never came back. It's a show that I felt compelled to keep watching even though I knew I should have stopped for the night, telling myself "I can watch one more episode..." . It just gripped me and sank its penguin fangs into me. Shut up, I know what I said. Seriously though, the cast of secondary characters are just as fun as the main ones and I enjoyed every minute of it. It definitely destroyed me in one of the more heavy moments near the end though so keep a box of tissues handy ok?

Wotakoi

Love is hard for otaku. It's in the show's translated title and everything. Let me tell you, I'm very happy seeing so many anime featuring adults in the work place these days. Wotakoi is a show I felt a very personal connection to, especially its humor levels. Not going to lie,  I am a Kabakura through and through when it comes to my anime watching and purchasing habits. It's a cute love story with a couple of characters getting together out of convenience before realizing maybe there's something more than that to it. The interactions are great and it's very relatable if you've ever had a friends' game night or anime watching session. It's a show that just feels like it knows just how to speak to you if you've been a fan of anime for a long time.

Hisone to Masotan

Hey, you into dragon vore? Then have I got the show for you buddy. All joking aside, Hisomaso is a show with one of the more fun protagonists I've run into in a while. Hisone's blunt and to the point to the detriment of anything that comes out of her mouth most of the time, but there's something about her honesty that's very endearing. The show's pilots are a great cast and their dragon friends are just as charismatic even if they spend a lot of the time cosplaying as aircraft. This show has a nice story about trying to find just where you fit in within the world and sometimes that's hard. Sometimes the best thing to do is dive into the gullet of a big scaly F-15 and ride the free skies to your heart's content. I love you Masotan.

Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight

This show I think more than any others in this block I wanted more of, even though I know why I don't have more of it. From episode one, I got Utena vibes with the music, the auditions, Hell, even the prefight wardrobe transformations. Stage girls do battle with all of their shine to prove who is truly the top star. That's the basic premise and the cast of characters really helps to flesh it out with their own motivations of what makes them keep going to be the very best they can be. I loved all of the imagery in the auditions and the music and the big doofy giraffe just watching from the stands and enjoying the whole thing. Revue Starlight is a stylish show with some amazing animation and choreography that puts most of the things I watched this year to shame and I need more things like it.

STOP IT'S PRECURE TIME

Go Princess Precure

This is me and Cheapsteak's "old Precure" of the year and it's wonderful. It's a story about dreams and fighting for them. The Princess Precures are maybe not the most relatable of characters as they attend a very prim and proper high class school. One is a business conglomerate's daughter, one's a super model, one's a Princess from another plane entirely. But there is something wonderful how they all work together as friends and work to save everyone's dreams, I don't know there's something very good and wonderful about that. I love that even when it comes to one of the villains, a character in the show goes out of her way to help him with his self esteem (and make up). I don't know, I've got a few episodes left but I just love it. Haruka is my favorite Pink Precure I've met so far and she is gonna be tough to beat.

Hugtto Precure

Very similar to Go Princess is Hugtto, with its message of hope for the future because you can't just stay in the present. There's a great cast of characters and they all work so hard to cheer each others' dreams on, all while taking care of a baby and a hamster from the future. I think this show also has the best mid-seasons Cures I've met so far and just...everything with how supportive and good everyone is to each other has me smiling the whole time. Also in the episodes leading up to the anniversary movie this year, we got some of the best big moments I've seen in a show in a while. A lot of the episodes have some amazing animation work as well and just...I like this show a lot especially what it did to show Hana's pre-show back story as well. Pink Cures are really good huh?

Back to business!

Asobi Asobase

Along with PTE, this was one of the weirder comedies that I watched this year. It's often crass or just outright weird, but that's one of its strong points I think. The show's opening is a giant fakeout from what seems like your ordinary "cute girls doing club things" chill show because you're soon hit with some of the weirdest faces and shrieks that I've run into in a while. The characters are a troublesome group of weirdoes who try to do activities like a normal club but fail horribly at it, often due to one or more of them sabotaging it with their own dumbness. It really says something that the sweetest and most relatable characters are the witch girls who practice curses all day. They're really the best though but so are all of the fucking weirdoes in this show. Also there's ass lasers so if you're into that...

Cells at Work

Learn about the human body while dangerous viruses and germs get fucking iced like they walked into the wrong anime. Follow a red blood cell make her way through the blood stream and lose her way every single time. Thrill at the amazingly adorable platelet crew as they get to work each day. Cells at Work is a weird science shounen show with some great character designs and interactions. The way the cells just are working hard and doing their jobs as best they can is great and you want to root for them so hard. Those Killer T and White blood cells and Macrophages just love killing SO much. It's a fun show that teaches you about biology and anatomy in a somewhat rudimentary but enjoyable manner.

Plus I will stress again, the platelet design is beyond cute.

Skullface Book Seller Honda-san

Honda-san is a cute little series you could watch in an afternoon due to its episode count and length, but it's one I could see myself watching multiple times easily. It's a fun window into the window of book store retail and the Japanese publishing industry. The characters have fun designs, mostly normal bodies with some kind of weird mask/helmet on but they're very relatable. Honda-san does his best to help out the customers, even when their requests tear at his very sanity some times. But that's retail huh? It's fun though, go check out this good skeleton!

Bloom Into You

I think this was the show that intrigued me the most this year because I was just hooked on the relationship between Yuu and Touko and seeing how it advanced. Yuu is a girl who wants to be able to fall in love like everyone else her age seems to be able to and when she finally meets a girl who she thinks feels similarly...that darn senpai falls in love with her. It's a very relatable tale even if you haven't been in a lot of relationships. Seeing Yuu realize her own feelings slowly grow towards Touko and the issues that come up because of was something that had me wanting to find out more each week. It also was the show that took me the longest to come to my final thoughts on too due to its ending but ultimately, I'm glad I watched it.

Zombieland Saga

Honestly, I'm glad to start and end this list with certifiable bangers. The concept of zombies becoming idols sounds like it could just go so wrong but it doesn't. It's so good and fun and goofy. The characters are all really fun and goofy but still have depth to them, even zombie brained legend Yamada Tae. I love this show and every character in it and if there were Franchouchou concerts done like a Hatsune Miku tour, I'd go so hard. Zombieland Saga is a good and powerful show and it even has a good ending with a sequel hook. Watch these girls and cheer them on, that is an order.

I normally do a "Shows I'll Watch Next Year" section but I realize I never end up doing it so I'm just going to add one of my current ones I know I'll continue watching.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Golden Wind

Come on, you knew this was going to be on here right? I'm curious where this gangster plot line is going and can't wait to continue next year.

So that's my list, I hope you enjoyed it. For a special treat to go into 2019, I leave you with the best moment in anime 2018. Peace!

Ah well I got copyright striked so here’s a mirror

https://streamable.com/87z73

[jinjojess]

Jess Watches Akanesasu Shoujo Episode 12

I have saved this episode for a week so I could enjoy my Christmas by rolling in yuri trash. Too bad it decided that it suddenly wanted to fucking real talk.

I still don’t see what was so threatening about the angel wings in and of themselves

hey Yuu, I know you just poured your heart out at me, but here, have my walkman as a consolation prize

in all seriousness, the wordless exchange here is a nice example of “show don’t tell”

Mia is the only one who ever seems willing to actually try and DO something about whatever’s going down--everyone else just wants to stand like a meter away and gape

awww, Yuu trusts Asuka and is subtly telling her she expects her to return

and now she’s explicitly telling the others

Chloe, why does your hair look so off-model this episode?

another good “show don’t tell” detail is this pan of the footsteps, where envoy Asuka walks in a straight line while Asuka prime is all over the place

trying the Ransom of Red Chief strategy, I see

this thing about money from one fragment being taken to another and becoming essentially counterfeit is giving me flashbacks to Michimune’s election

please, envoy Asuka, don’t act like you don’t want chikuwa. it’s a universal constant, like Mia rejecting aspects of femininity, or Yuu being a big gay

so I’m not a twin, but I’m pretty sure that I’ve never started liking a food because my sister did

see, I told you. Kyou-chan just gets erased from existence in most iterations of the universe

awww, babby Asuka and babby Yuu had matching keychains!

okay so this anecdote is reminding me of the time my sister and I were playing in the long jump pit at the local high school while my parents walked around the track, and we dug so deep we hit dirt, then decided it would be a good idea to bury our Simba figures there. naturally, when it was time to leave, we couldn’t find them, and our dad had to dig up the entire sandpit to find them for us. it was an awkward car ride home

creators decided to get real avant garde this episode, yeah?

sure, nothing says emotional strength like bottling up your emotions and refusing to address them

okay, now THIS is interesting character development

this discussion of how grief is essentially a selfish emotion, and that despite everything we always have our own self-interest at heart, of how we find ways to torture and punish ourselves to assuage the guilt we feel for being so selfish, and how that too is ultimately self-serving... it’s good shit

Yuu, your parents are kind of shitty? like they’re dragging you into a taxi and leaving your friend, whom they presumably know, out in the fucking rain as a young elementary-aged kid?

that said, the refusing to cope as a coping mechanism is a very realistic reaction to deep personal loss

this show is so stupid sometimes but it’s starting to ramp up the actual meat of its thesis and you know what? it’s pretty poignant

Asuka’s two true great loves: Yuu, and her more serious self

angel wings for everyone!

I really hope the implication is that Kyou-chan is only so wise and insightful because he’s the mouthpiece through which Asuka tells herself things she’s learned--if he really was just that #deep then that’s kind of over the top

so like the whole “dead person lives on through you” thing is certainly a cliche, but it’s also true. so while I appreciate the sentiment and I think it’s appropriate, I would have preferred a different way of conveying it

packing up the stuff in Kyou-chan’s room is a more symbolic and powerful expression than the speech, I think

oh, you wanna go to the same university as Yuu, eh? you wanna share rooms, eh? you’re doing it for Yuu’s sake because she believes in your potential, eh??

Yuu’s cute either way, but man I hate how pop culture is all “ew, lose the glasses!” for girls because GIRLS IN GLASSES ARE CUTE, DAMMIT

pffft, you forgot Mayuki’s name

also she thinks you’re all fucking insane stalkers, good job

hey, Asuka, you aren’t bad at English

damn, Mayuki, you thirsty for Annie, ain’cha

HAHAHAHAHAHHA you just fist bumped Takkun like it was some emotional gesture

congrats on becoming a main character, Mayuki

Seriasuka, are you seriously so fucking dumb you can’t make it harder to tell that you stole miso?

I do like that it’s left ambiguous though

oh hey, you finally got your equalizer, Asuka

So...is this it for the season, or what? This episode certainly has an air of finality about it, but there’s a lot of unanswered questions still. 

Some I can deal with being unanswered and still having a satisfactory ending--Yuu’s ditched her glasses, looking more like sexy!Yuu, which hints that she’s working herself up to living as her true self and confessing properly to Asuka (or moving on to be with someone else); not seeing Asuka transform is fine, since we’ve had Seriasuka here to do that the entire series so far; we don’t need to find Kyou-chan because he was within us all along; Seriasuka’s fate is fine by me as ambiguous.

Things that were never addressed that I’d like to know about: the biggie is the eventuality that the Twilight King will try to come back for their fragment, or will continue to wreck havoc in other fragments. The main thing was wanting to defeat the Twilight King so as to restore the fragments that were consumed by Twilight, and I can’t think that Asuka out here living her best life is going to be cool with leaving that as is. Wanting to take care of the clutter in other fragments in episode 10 was the right idea, but for the wrong reasons, whereas now we’re positioned to do the right thing for the right reasons--i.e., not out of a sense of guilt and having to take the place of someone because you feel complicit in their death, but because it’s want YOU want to do. 

(Yes, there’s indication that Seriasuka is back because of the miso theft, but that could just mean that Seriasuka wasn’t actually consumed and was just incapacitated. Besides, if all is right in her world, why would she need to steal miso? Why wouldn’t she choose some other, less intrusive method of leaving a mark on the fragment for Asuka prime to find if that’s all she’s there for?) 

Even if the Twilight itself is actually leaderless and more just a force of nature, like...entropy marches on, self-actualization or not. Does Twilight only feed on fragments where the inhabitants are especially vulnerable? Because that seems like a difficult thing to fend off.

Plus we still don’t get much of anything resembling closure from sexy!Yuu, who’s been in the show since like episode 2. Where’d she come from? Where’d she go? What happened to her Asuka, Cotton-Eyed Joe? I mean I don’t necessarily need all of those questions answered, but it’d be nice to at least like...see how she fits into the ending.

It’s a shame, because this anime gets much, much better as it goes on. It starts off pretty generic and silly, but it ends up tackling some pretty heavy issues that normally aren’t really discussed in Japan, especially when it comes to girls. There’s all these forms of love on display: self-love; familial love; romantic love; platonic love between close friends; even love for one’s community. The way the story shines is because it doesn’t elevate any one of these to be more important than the others, and that’s so damn refreshing!

Based on what I’ve seen Akanesasu Shoujo doesn’t have great reviews so far, which I can understand from the front end of the series. If you stick it out and let the fanservice and formula fall away though, the series does a couple of very interesting, very subversive things. Not a classic, to be sure, but I’d recommend it if your tastes align with mine.

[amandayuebing]

My Life is Very Shoujo Manga, Chapter 2: Mal, you cheeky little liar...

I’m writing right now from UNSW’s judo dojo, just across the hall from the kendo competition going on right now, as I wait for the competition to wrap up so I can go out on a date with my boyfriend. I’m excited! 

There’s been a bit of a gap between my last post and writing/publishing this one because I need to admit to you guys, I’ve been having my dreaded perfectionism paralysis… And I’ve been procrastinating by watching “Jane the Virgin” on Netflix-- omg it’s such a great show!! If you haven’t watched it yet, you should give it a go.

And ironically, “Jane the Virgin” is also about a writer who sometimes gets perfectionism paralysis (except my story doesn’t involve an accidental artificial insemination or a rich, hot, baby-daddy (yet 😉 oh ho ho...), and I’m writing this story mostly for fun, and not as an aspiring writer.

I just want you guys to be able to see my story the way I see it— how crazy, but amazing it’s been! How so many times I’ve questioned in my life, “is this really happening?! It sounds straight out of the plot of something ridiculously fiction...” Like a… that’s right! Shoujo manga.

But, yes. What better background to write about the memories of when I first started kendo then to be directly opposite a kendo competition? I can literally smell the kendo in the air right now. (Thank god the judo dojo has its windows open, on this hot, stinking day...)

Let’s jump in!

Once my first kendo class finished, I knew it wouldn’t be a week later until I’d see our favourite kendo club president, Tony, again. I was looking forward to that day, but at the same time dreading it because of how terrible I was that first class. Plus I was starting to have doubts. Doubts like:

1) This is silly… How can you be so interested in somebody when you don’t even know them yet…? Like what do you actually like about him?

2) Do you guys even have anything in common…? Like, you’re one of the least athletically gifted people you know. No, you ARE the least athletically gifted person you know. How many frisbees did you take to the head during P.E. class? How did you even get into law school with all those frisbees to the head?!

3) What if he has a girlfriend…? Surely a cutie like him cannot be single… 

(These are summarised. But when I go into moments of doubt, they just spiral everywhere!)

My main concern was if we were each other’s type… But who was I kidding? I was concerned about everything LOL. I am an obsessive over-thinker!

But man, what better way to crush your doubts about your crush than for your best friend to force you stand righhtt in front of your crush, the university kendo club president (and dojo steward) while he’s leading the whole class for warm-up, and let him and the entire class watch you embarrass yourself. Again. (Mal last lesson: “I won’t do anything bad…” Uh huh, Mal 😒... really?)

I was probably even worse this class because that warm-up? I didn’t get it at all... Tony stood in front of us stretched leaning to the right, and I wasn’t sure whether I was meant to lean to his right or mine. I chose a side. Apparently the wrong side. 

Tony cracked up.

For a second, I was mortified. It was so embarrassing! But then I couldn’t help it. I cracked up! Which made him crack up. 

“Oh my god... I am going to get my ass KICKED, or get KICKED OUT of this class for sure!” I cringed. 

Luckily that didn’t happen.

But I did try my best during that class. And also did my best not to be a distraction to Tony or the rest of the class who wanted to learn... I mean, I really wanted to learn too! I had a freaking stalker! I needed to look like a bad-ass!! 

Oh, that’s right! I haven’t told you guys about my stalker!

So before Tony and I met, I had a stalker who had been following me around for about a year... He was still stalking me at the time I joined kendo. So, when Mal and the girls at the kendo stand tried to convince me to learn how to be a bad-ass and defend myself by hitting people with a big-ass stick?! Hell yeah, it sounded like a sign!

My stalker was a guy who lived in the same on-campus building as I did. Let’s call him... Russell. Russell was significantly older than me (at least 10 years older?), followed me by popping up at unwanted times (he somehow managed to pop up so frequently, and in such unexpected places), and would not leave me alone, even though I expressed I was uncomfortable around him.

He would approach me at very inappropriate times e.g. When I was walking home with groceries alone as the sun was just starting to set (this is actually what happened the first time we met); when I was alone on elevators; in an alleyway, as I was late-night Christmas shopping with just my female cousin, and basically any time... And his intention was definitely to have a threatening and sinister presence around me, as he would not go away when asked. 

Obviously, after that, I would try to limit the amount of time I was alone. But the difficulty was the fact he would only appear when I was alone or in the company of just another female. Never when I was with a male, or in a group of friends. So some of my closest friends doubted he even existed, or that he was as sinister as I felt he was. 

“I’ve never seen someone around that fits that description…”, “There are heaps of people who look like that. How do you know it’s the same guy or you’re just freaking out about every time someone talks to you that looks like  that?”, “Maybe it’s a coincidence he turns up at those times?” “Take it as a compliment…”

But what isn’t sinister about a man staring intensely, directly at me, as an elevator door was closing because I refused to get in with him. Or him stepping out of that empty elevator to stand, wordlessly, facing me, within a couple inches. Staring down at me as I waited in the lobby for the next elevator, while there was ample room for him to stand elsewhere. And him moving closer when I took steps away from him, uncomfortably.

Then, when two elevators arrive, one slightly after the other, and I saw him definitely walk towards the one that arrived first, and I ran to take the one that he wasn’t riding so I could hurry and close the door, then have him lunge towards the elevator I was on and wait until he’s last to press his floor button, despite being the closest to the buttons... Him pressing a floor above everyone else’s (even though you know he lives on a lower floor because he told you the first time you met). 

Remembering all this is honestly giving me chills...

Around this time, just as I was starting kendo, the stalker situation was getting worse. Just three days after I joined, I was studying in one of the common areas of my university housing apartment, while Dad slept on a couch nearby, I ran into my stalker, again. It was honestly so unpleasant. I had just walked out of the bathroom when I saw him walk out of the elevator. 

When he saw me, his head turned slowly and smirked, and followed me back to my desk where I had been studying. 

He started the conversation with a creepy, “heyyyy,” and honestly I don’t remember what else he talked to me about because I just told him angrily, “leave me alone,” repeatedly, and my dad sat up sleepily. I heard Russell murmur an “oh..” before dashing off to the elevators and disappeared.

But back to kendo. (Okay, I am going to be honest and tell you guys early on: if you guys are here to read about awesome and exciting recounts of kendo matches, this isn’t it.)

When the class ended, Mal wanted to stay back a little and get to know the people a little more… (Reminder: “I won’t do anything too bad... Promise” -- Mal, the previous class.)

We talked to a bunch of people, but I got to particularly talk to a girl named Marianne. She was really nice, but something about her gave me this bad vibe...

She introduced me to a couple named Ivan and June, and introduced them as “another” couple in the kendo club. But what was odd was she didn’t explain who the first couple was... Then she introduced Tony as her “punching bag”, and asked him, “isn’t she cute?” (referring to me). And I mean, obviouslyyy he answered “yes, she is” 😉😉 (internal me: *flower pose* 😌🌸). I thought I saw just a flash of jealousy cross her face, but she smiled at Tony sweetly.

I thought Marianne was nice and there were things I liked about her personality, like how bold and self-assured she seemed, and how she genuinely seemed friendly. 

Everything we’d been talking about up until that moment Tony joined in seemed so genuine and I— I knew I had a habit of overthinking, but at the same time, when you get a feeling about something, there’s usually a reason for it, right?

At this moment I felt clues for my 3 doubts being answered:

1) What do I like about him? After two lessons, I could still see the positive things I saw him the first time we interacted. How he’s serious about what he does, but doesn’t take himself too seriously. How he’s kind, patient, sweet, charming..... Yeah, yeah, you guys don’t really want me to go on.

2) Am I his type? Yes, yes, I think! Chance to celebrate anyway.

3) Does he have a girlfriend...? Well......... Although Marianne didn’t outright claim him, it felt like she kinda was. But there was no harm in getting to know him (and her), and I would back off if I needed to... The thought of that made me a little sad, because although we’d just met, I was starting to really like him.

With so much going on, I had so much to think about, and as I was walking home sometime after 10pm, Tyler messaged me with “hey AManda” but I ignored him. What is with this guy and his bad timing?!

(I haven’t explained who Tyler is yet, but you guys will find out soon.)

[apprenticemages]

Bloom into You was… just wow this week, the strongest episode this week and arguably of the season so far.  Tsurune finally premiers, and doesn’t wow me at all.  All this and more after the jump!

The shows that I am watching are in bold, shows my wife and I are watching together are in bold italics, and strikethrough marks dropped shows.

A Certain Magical Index III Eps 1-3

Index is back, along with all it’s pseudo-religious pseudo-magical gobbledygook and massively overpowered MC.  I mean seriously, people complain about Kirito but not about a guy who can stop any attack (magical or technological) simply by using his right hand?  WTF is up with that?

That being said, yah, I’m glad it’s back and I’m enjoying it in all it’s utterly ridiculous over-the-top glory.

The most interesting development so far is in Ep 3…  Touma’s memory loss has been a Chekov’s gun on the mantelpiece since the middle of the 1st season, and they finally pulled the trigger.  Now it’s out in the open…  and Misaka (Railgun) is pissed.  To be honest though, I don’t remember enough of the story to tell/know whether she’s pissed at him or for him.

Anima Yell! Ep 3

Basically your bog standard “now that we’re a club, what do we do” episode..  Except, they’re not a club (yet) so they don’t really get any support from the school other than an assigned practice space.  Also standard, a member (Kohane) studying hard with the help of her clubmates to improve the club’s chances.  Yeah, though standard it does show how determined she is when it comes to cheer.

The latter part of the episode was interesting.  Asked to cheer for someone in a situation where cheering isn’t really applicable, they still sit and hear her out and offer advice and support.

Also, HUGE shout outs and props for taking the situation seriously and not laughing, jeering, or shaming.

Bloom Into You / Yagate Kimi ni Naru Ep 3

That was…  one h_ll of an episode.

Touku continues to court Yuu, but she’s not being a stalker or being creepy or forceful.  She’s just being her.  She’s simply there as a friend without forcing her attentions.  On her part, Yuu still doesn’t ‘get’ this love stuff..  But without even realizing it herself, she’s starting to accept Touku, as a close friend if nothing else.

And that all culminates in the scene above.  I’ve seen kissing scenes aplenty, and more than a few (implied if nothing else) sex scenes, and every variant you can imagine…  But I don’t think I’ve ever seen a scene as poignantly, beautifully,  intimate as the ones in the screenie…  Tooku takes the ultimate, irrevocable, step of opening her true self to Yuu and she accepts it unconditionally.

Bunny Girl Senpai Ep 4 Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai / Seishun Buta Yarou wa Bunny Girl-senpai no Yume wo Minai

Sakata gets some great lines, doesn’t he?

It seems the anime is going to follow the structure of the light novels, one volume on one girl and then move onto the next.  Not a bad structure overall, and I’m glad it takes the form of a continuing story rather than resetting reality each volume.  Though resetting reality could make for an interesting meta-tale given the stories already revolve around resetting reality.  One interesting consequence of this is now that Sakata is involved in solving Tomoe’s problem, he’s also faced with working things out with Mai.  She’s a strong willed cuss and unlikely to make that an easy task.

Iroduku Sekai no Ashita kara / IRODUKU : The World in Colors Ep 3

There was a lot of comment this week about Hitomi using a Pocky (sorry, “Popocky”) while she was trying to get the coffee cup to levitate.  I think some of that is because we’re used to Harry Potter and various kinds of RPG’s, where a wand is intrinsically magical.  Here it seems to be used more as an aid to concentration, which makes sense to me as her Great-Grandmother emphasized focusing.  That also seems to be consistent with the water walking scene…  As long as she believed she could do it, everything was fine.  But when she was distracted… splash!

There was also some commentary about the Photography Club’s competence and approach to recruiting members….  All I’ll say at the moment is that looking at it as a photographer and someone who sometimes teaches photography it’s not as simple an issue as it appears.  There’s more than meets the untrained eye and I’m still ruminating on how to express that.

Release the Spyce Ep 3

The first part, Momo’s confidence and skill issues, went past pretty fast…  we’ve all seen that before.  The second part, where we finally get a good look at the villain group was much better…  Interesting that they hire/rely on mercenaries rather than having their own troops.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before.  Loved the action scene with Momo and Fu battling Byakoo…  Classic!

The mystery here, who is the traitor?  For some reason I can’t see any of the senpais being a traitor…  So it’s either one of the other apprentices or (my pick) the curry shop girl.

Run with the Wind / Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru Ep 4

So Kakeru hates his past self…  Not just the events with the running club, but gambling and the consequences of that too.  And it wasn’t just one instance either, he was sleeping rough even before he no longer had money for food – and chose gambling over food.

That being said, it’s still not entirely clear to me exactly what his past trauma was or what role the former friend will play.

I laughed my _ss off at The Prince’s monologue and it’s untimely ending.  🙂  We still don’t know what Haiji sees in him, but his character is finally emerging.

Sword Art Online: Alicization Ep 3

Basically, the third ep was a recap of the first two eps…  Which is annoying because the second ep was largely a recap of the first.  Dammit SAO, even though I’m a confirmed fanboy, even my patience is wearing thin.

Fortunately, the final moments of the ep promise that we’ll see some action soon.  On the flip side, it’s a depressingly familiar SAO scenario – there’s a damsel in distress and Kirito has to come to her rescue.   Want to know the reasons Asuna is Best Girl?  She’s never been a cardboard cutout in need of rescue.  She couldn’t escape Sugou’s trap on her own – but she damn well tried.  She faced down the monster lungfish thing.  Kirito and her mother have both tried to steer her onto a path, and she’s told ’em both to go pound sand.  And when Kirito was dying because of Kuradeel’s treachery, she took it on herself to be the one doing the rescuing.

Ahem, ok, enough of that.

Though SAO is not a harem anime (no matter what the clueless critics say), this habit is why the charge of being one is so often leveled against it.

The Girl in Twilight / Akanesasu Shoujo Ep 4

A western themed world?  Now they’re just being silly.  And how long will it take them to figure out that things aren’t happening by chance?

I think I can predict how the rest of the show will go…  Each girl in turn will have her personal issues worked out and gain the ability to become an Equalizer.  In the final ep, they’ll confront the Big Bad.  It’s all been done before.  Trying to find how many eps Twilight is supposed to have I came across something I’d forgotten – the anime is a promo for a mobile game.  Yeah, that just increases the feeling that they aren’t going to color outside the lines and explains a lot about the show so far.

Kudos though for not making the game play elements too obvious, that’s actually pretty rare.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime / Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken

I don’t have anything useful to say about Slime this week…  But I couldn’t help but admire this joke.

Tsurune / Tsurune: Kazemai Koukou Kyuudou-bu Ep 1

So far, pretty much a standard setup for a sports/club anime.  Of course, being Kyoani, it’s a lushly produced and well-directed standard sports anime!

But being Kyoani can’t save it from being compared to Run with the Wind and Tsurune comes off the field in a losing position.  They threw a ton of characters at us, and none really have any distinguishing characteristics or personalities…  They’re pretty much all archetypes.  I have to work at it to remember them as distinct individuals.  The MC is one we’ve all seen a million times before.  At the end of the episode, I didn’t really feel any tension because of the sense of “BTDT, I have a feeling I know what happens next”.

Tsurune is really going to have to up it’s game in the next couple of episodes to break out of the pack, and I don’t get a feeling it’s going to even try.  It might have rated better in a slower season (such as Spring or Summer of this year) or a season where it wasn’t going head to head with a closely related but better executed show.

=========

I think part of what’s making it easier to write of late isn’t just the shorter form…  As I was working on this week’s entry, I realized I was simply assuming the reader had watched the episode.  Not having to describe what happened unless it’s really relevant and needed saves an awful lot of energy.  Since I think of what I do as more commentary than review, yeah, I’m gonna just roll with that.

Too bad Karandi has already trademarked the concept of the “100 word review”….  (I kid, I kid…)

So how did your week go?  What do think about my thoughts?  Drop a comment and let’s chat!

Fall 2018 – Week 3 Bloom into You was... just wow this week, the strongest episode this week and arguably of the season so far. 

[coffeemakernamedhank]

four and a half hours

really, when you get right down to it, that’s all a 12 episode season of anime is: four and a half hours. 

this kind of thinking is probably why i end up waiting all season and then doing a big bunch of binge-watching right before the next one. which might defeat the purpose of watching anime seasonally, but WHATEVER. 

fall, the final season of 2017, is here and my seasonal backlog is cleared of shows that aren’t continuing anytime soon, and i’m glad about it, goddamnit.

right, so, after abandoning the bullshit shounen from last time, i was mad enough to get down to business on the shit i’ve been ignoring that was ending? first was Hatorijime no Hero. pretty standard BL stuff, really. it didn’t particularly move me, and wasn’t visually exciting, but hey. there was drama, feelings, kisses and more feelings, and everyone was gay. 

Tsurezure Children was like.. every high school romance comedy, condensed down to the goofiest/cutest parts, in a shortform anime. everyone looked cute, and it didn’t have enough runtime to kill the gags or tropes! fun, but probably more fun if you’ve suffered through lots of shoujo.

enough with the mushy shit, let’s enjoy SPORTS. specifically, competitive diving. sure, Dive!! seemed like it would be a Free! clone, but with dives instead of races. but i am here to tell you that it was also a boring clone full of characters that just didn’t have enough room to breathe and get interesting. sometimes it looked nice, but mostly there was just. awkward torso anatomy and Wanting To Do Your Best Dive. lacked the aggressive eye contact and MY FRIENDS elements of most high school sports animes, but also diving is a pretty solitary sport, so i guess that makes sense. 

c’mon Konbini Kareshi, prove that straightforward high school romance shows can still be good! spoiler alert: it did not. literally cannot remember any of the names of the characters, or how it ended. or why the convenience store needed to be involved. there were two dudes working in it, and they had these kinda cute little scenes, but never got.. any characterization at all? okay cool thanks.

i had previously watched most of Sakura Quest, so finishing it off didn’t take long? i liked the characters, i was rooting for everyone, and i generally enjoyed myself. like, wow. i mean, it didn’t change my life, but. what a nice time with a small-scale story. thanks P.A. Works, i love a show about cute adult girls doing things. 

can’t seem to stick to a genre, so it was time for Keppeki Danshi Aoyama-kun, which was.. exactly what it said on the box. it was a comedy about a clean-freak kid playing soccer. i.. really.. i mean. that’s all it was. it accomplished what it set out to do, which wasn’t much, but fuck. it’s been a long season, so. good job.

follow your okay comedy with more okay comedy, because why not watch Aho Girl. repeated gags, but shortform, goofy and sometimes it hit that absurdist going-too-far joke place that i enjoy? B A N A N A. the dog was hands-down the best character.

i aaaabsolutely dropped 18if. i really thought i could put up with it for what promised to be interesting visuals, but man. no. the surrealism probably appeals to someone, but i hope that someone also enjoys heavy-handed lessons with characters that exist only as vehicles for those lessons because HOO WOW.

there were elements in Gamers! that i liked when i watched a few episodes early in the season, so i had hope! unfortunately, it devolved into kids refusing to talk about their feelings, with games as a sort of distant window dressing. happily, the small jokes and side comments were still there, so it was at least silly suffering. 

only just remembered to mark/score it, but i polished off New Game!!, the second season of everyone’s favorite Tiny Lesbians Make Video Games show. honestly, i’ve seen it talked about as a cute-girls-doing-cute-things show, and it totally is that? but also there was lots of hand-holding and FEELINGS and i wish there were folks to talk to about it. makes me salty, really, considering the attention that High School Boys Making Aggressive Eye Contact And Talking About Friendship shows tend to get. anyway, not as good as the first season because of some annoying RIVAL!!!!! shit, but still. Yagamin continues her reign as Best Girl. 

the award for The Most Anime Anime in recent memory goes to Re:Creators. playing spot-the-reference is always fun, and honestly, i was interested and invested in all the characters. i may have seen the ending coming, but it wasn’t diminished. a really good time, and there’s probably some kind of commentary about the nature of transformative work in there, along with how the weight of an audience factors into storytelling. very very plot-in-dialogue heavy, though. like “when will you breathe” heavy. 

and TODAY, imaginary reader. today. today i watched Made In Abyss. i’ll be totally plain: definitely summer’s anime of the season. leaving aside sequels and second seasons, it’s a real strong possibility that it’s my anime of the year. i mean, we still have fall and i have a lot of excitement for it, but damn. this show was good. it was like. where did those hours go. it ended and i just. oh no. i want to know what happens next, but also i’m not sure that i want to read ahead in the manga. it took FULL advantage of the medium and just. i wasn’t bored. i didn’t want to look away. i kept on wanting to pay close attention to every bit of information, to try to figure things out, and the show just KEPT REWARDING MY ATTENTION. i went into it with some hesitation, because i’d seen some very vague “oh shit episode 10″ comments? but by the time i got there, i wasn’t surprised at all. the show had a very consistent tone, told the story without explaining everything, and kept you wanting to know more. while being visually stunning and creative and fun. like. wow. please watch Made In Abyss. 

of course, now it’s time for me to get back to my to-watch list while collecting a fresh seasonal backlog, and feeling the beginnings of dread for this year’s crunchyroll awards. somehow, my fellow weebs will fuck it up again, i’m sure. 

and hey, imaginary reader. if there’s something you think i’ve missed in my to-watch list, send me an ask or something. i love to plan to get around to shit. and a personal rec helps with the staring into the list and having Big Indecision and all. 

seriously though, watch Made In Abyss.

[syrupwit]

Dear Yuletide Writer Letter 2017

Dear Yuletide Writer,

Thank you very much for writing for me! This is my first-ever year signing up for Yuletide, and -- while I’m not up on all the etiquette and may make mistakes -- I am quite excited. I’m sure I will love whatever you write.  

Although some of the sections below are longer than others, please note that I don’t have a preference between requested fandoms and would be super happy to receive work for any of them. I just write a lot sometimes. (But usually not when I need to, of course.)

-

General Likes: Many things. In convenient list format...

Gen, femslash, slash, and het

Genres: humor, horror, slice-of-life, ghost stories, romantic comedy, casefic, action/adventure, angst, crack treated seriously

Atmospheric stuff where nothing really happens but you sure get an image or a mood

Intense relationships between women, whether they’re romantic or not

Surreality and silliness

Appetizing descriptions of food

Loyalty kink, especially where a more powerful or physically stronger character is loyal to a weaker character

Characters standing up for each other

Characters who are socially disliked, awkward, or shunned but secretly really good at something

Cats

General DNW: Permanent major character death; graphic depictions of violence, torture, or gore; rape/noncon; onscreen child abuse; onscreen harm to animals. I’m also generally not a fan of stories that focus heavily on characters’ experiences with social issues or identity. 

-

Fandom: Amnesia: The Dark Descent

Characters: Justine Florbelle, Daniel of Mayfair

Likes/Prompts: Amnesia became my favorite new canon this year. I’m currently on my third playthrough of The Dark Descent and have completed the Justine DLC too many times to count -- though I still haven’t managed to save the last guy, darn it. Things about these canons that I adore include the morally conflicted protagonists, atmosphere of imminent doom and lingering anxiety, Lovecraft-influenced but not strictly Lovecraftian horror themes, mechanics that balance the player character’s essential helplessness with rewards for ingenuity, and the fact that you can throw stuff. And stack stuff! I LOVE throwing and stacking stuff. I... haven’t played a lot of first-person video games.

While I am interested in stories that include both Daniel and Justine, I’d be happy with a story that only focuses on one of them.

Justine fascinates me -- the contrast between her cruelty and caprice on the one hand, and her physical (and, to an extent, social/legal and emotional) vulnerability on the other. She’s also really creepy and into some weird shit. I’m not usually interested in sociopathic villains, but something about her character just hits my buttons. 

For solo Justine scenarios, I’d enjoy anything about her escapades in polite society (the ball! the irony! Justine loves irony), interactions with Clarice (how much does she suspect?), or initial meetings with the prisoners. Also, how is her poetry received among her peers? Delving more into the history and development of the Cabinet of Perturbation would be cool too.

Daniel is likewise a fascinating character. During my second playthrough, I was impressed with the slow reveal of his descent into metaphorical and literal darkness. Fear makes people scary, or something. I was also pretty into his relationship with Alexander, all the layers of manipulation and betrayal mixed with genuine connection. (For the record, I totally ship them.)

For solo Daniel scenarios, I’d like to see more about his early days at Brennenburg, interactions with the outside world post-game, and a reunion with his sister Hazel. If you want to pair him with Alexander either romantically or platonically, that’s great. Agrippa, too. I’m honestly interested in Daniel interacting with any character, if you have an idea. 

For the combination of Daniel and Justine, I’m interested in either gen or het, set around the time of either game. I feel like they’d make a great pair, for certain values of great. The Unopened Letter found in the water dungeon in Justine also seems to hint at the possibility of a meeting between Daniel and Justine. 

As an adult, Justine is experienced at manipulating people, would easily ferret out Daniel’s fears and how to play on them, and could be intrigued by his experiences with the supernatural. Perhaps, in an AU where Monsieur Florbelle answers Daniel’s letter, a child Justine would see a kindred soul in one who’s also been in contact with the artifacts. In a universe where the letter stays unopened until Justine’s day of subterranean exercise, maybe adult Justine invites Daniel to visit with the intention of adding him to her Cabinet, or tries to court him as a momentary amusement and finds it more challenging that she expected.  

For his part, Daniel has already spent a lot of time escaping dungeons and being manipulated by Alexander -- adult Justine’s flavor of betrayal would not be that shocking. There’s also his relationship with his sister Hazel and guilt over the girl he murdered, which could soften him towards a young or orphaned Justine. If it’s after the events of The Dark Descent, what choices did Daniel make? Did he favor taking revenge on Alexander over helping Agrippa? Is he guilty, guilt-free, still racked with nightmares, sound of mind? If Weyer rewarded him for saving Agrippa, has he spent time in the other world? The age difference could even be handwaved if Weyer sort of miscalculated when he was sending Daniel back to our world by 19 years. 

Fandom-Specific DNW: Please, no romance between Daniel/Justine when she is underage.

Notes: While it is my understanding that some regard the relationship between Justine and her father to have been one where she attempted to seduce him, I do not agree with that interpretation and would prefer not to receive stories that subscribe to it. It seems much more likely to me that her father abused or at least behaved inappropriately towards her.

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Fandom: Pocket Mirror (Video Game)

Characters: Lisette (Pocket Mirror)

Likes/Prompts: What distinguished this game to me, made it stick in my mind, and kept me playing was the atmosphere. Fleta’s bright and well-ordered domain with hints of lurid nastiness underneath, Harpae’s drafty wooden corridors with their creaking floors and distant lights, Lisette’s total abandonment of any reasonable organization whatsoever: I love it. Which brings me to...

Lisette! Poor Lisette. She gets blamed for everything, doesn’t she? She’s mean and destructive because no one else will let themselves be, and hates herself for it. (Or...? I’m also interested in alternate character interpretations, if you have different ideas.) I would like to see her have a nice time.

I’m not super attached to any of the canon endings, so if you want to go an AU route, please feel free. That includes canon divergence AUs as well as AUs where they’re all sort of... I don’t know, neighbors in the real world? Except one of them lives in a mirror maze populated by her evil shadow selves, and maybe they’re all witches.

Femslash, gen, or unusually clingy/possessive/intense friendship with romantic undertones are all of interest to me for this canon. I’m particularly interested by Goldia/Lisette, Fleta/Goldia, and Harpae/Lisette.

Prompts:

Lisette receives a new dress. Who made it?

Lisette expects to be alone on Christmas, but is proven wrong.

Harpae has had enough of Lisette’s tormenting Fleta.

Goldia is in trouble in the real world and only Lisette can save her.

The girls pay visits to each others’ domains.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica AU

DNW: No explicit sexual content for this fandom, please.

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Fandom: Shoujo Kakumei Utena | Revolutionary Girl Utena

Characters: Kiryuu Nanami, Arisugawa Juri, Shinohara Wakaba, Himemiya Anthy

Likes/Prompts: I’ve been told that RGU is considered “the Evangelion of shoujo anime,” and I feel like that’s... accurate? Anyway, I love it to bits -- stock footage, surfing elephants, and all. I also love the movie and have a bunch of theories about its relation to the series, which I will spare you at this time.

For this exchange, I’ve requested fic about Nanami, Juri, Wakaba, and Anthy. I’d be happy to read about these characters all together, on their own, or in any combination. Gen, femslash, het, and slash are all welcome, as are stories set before, during, or after the series.

While there’s much to be said about the grand sweeping themes in Revolutionary Girl Utena, what won the series my heart is how goddamn weird it is. The Nanami filler episodes, for example, were among my favorite parts of the show. I’m interested in exploring more of that weirdness.

Possibly in this spirit, I’ve come up with a long and eclectic mix of prompts. These are just here in hopes they might give you an idea, if you’d like one.

Prompts:

Nanami goes to space to try to replace one of the stars with herself.

“A Christmas Carol,” starring Nanami.

Touga’s kitten survived... and now it’s back for revenge! Nanami is being blackmailed by a cat.

Nanami spends the night in a strange house, trying to convince herself it isn’t haunted. Anthy orchestrates small events to make her think that it is.

Anthy and Nanami are rivals at magic school.

Juri becomes a world-champion bowler.

Among the incoming freshman class, rumors spread that Juri is a vampire. In attempting to dispel them, she encounters some obstacles.

Juri and Wakaba have a super-torrid romance as adults.

Wakaba dreams of life as a Jeep.

Wakaba has an identity crisis and joins many different student clubs.

Wakaba and Anthy share a rare moment of understanding over their mutual difficulties with cooking.

Anthy embarks on a side career as a barista.

Anthy arranges for Utena to fight a dragon.

Between dueling cycles, Anthy is permitted one day off from being the Rose Bride. How does she choose to spend it? 

Fandom-Specific DNW:  No onscreen incest, please.