#that i wrote it all out of my system

[hxhhasmysoul]

This is a postscript to my exchange with frost-felon. You can read that here but it's a long and unpleasant read. It sometimes takes me while to truly understand why I feel the need to engage such people. Like it's always something to do with my principles and I mentioned that in my last reply in that exchange. But it's sometimes more than one thing at the same time. I wrote that, I slept on it and this bit still clogged my thoughts.

"You then told me that you understood where I was coming from, but thought it necessary to talk down to me about how you thought my approach wouldn't achieve my goals. That was completely unnecessary."

Why didn't I touch this in my other post? Like I felt there was something here. I reread my post from yesterday to see if I perhaps didn't forget to paste this somewhere but it didn't fit anywhere. And then I noticed how gross my wording got at times. And it clicked. Why do they even have an analytical framework to begin with?

My main conclusion after analysing some of their texts is that they are trying to create a distorted image of what those texts are. Namely they are trying to give them a veneer of academic writing to imbue them with extra authority. When they are just presenting their casual opinions, some better some worse argued and evidenced by the text of the JJK manga. 

I will not say that fandom wank or fandom meta has never reached rigour of academic discourse, I mean we’re all wilding out here, some of us are surely like that. But generally the wank level is not that. 

And that's fine btw, fandom is a hobby, not a job. Academia is a job. (Unless you’re an academic researching fandom.) As long as we’re all honest about what we’re doing. 

Why do I have this rather uncharitable opinion of this person?

In their posts they constantly refer to some deep analyses they are working on, to researching things, to in-depth work with the text they are performing and planning.  They expect citations. They use footnotes. They use words like “scope”. But most importantly they have a framework which they love to explain and refer to.

An analytical framework is very academia coded, you don’t really do that casually. 

So far so good, right, maybe they are actually doing something academic.

Nah. 

They spiralled the moment their framework was questioned, and in academia the first thing you need to be able to do is defend your framework.

In my first reply I challenged it in a very weak way, too. One that is very easy to throw back at the challenger. Not my best work.

“As per what you consider manga canon, it's your choice to treat an unfinished work like that. A choice that I personally, as an author of yet unfinished and serialised works, find kinda cruel. But I understand where it comes from, even if I don’t think an approach like that achieves your goal of analysing Gege, or any other author, as a storyteller.”

I spoke very casually, clearly showed that my criticism has an emotional component and I gave no true explanation to either of the claims I made, namely:

1. That the framework is kinda cruel.

2. That it’s ineffective for their stated goals.

The most effective way to challenge claim one is to ask why. The statement has no grounds provided, so making its author clarify it actually forces them to defend it, they have to do the work. And once it’s less general and has arguments behind it, you can attack the arguments. Which is much easier than contending with an adjective.

The second one can also be dealt with the same way. But in the case of a framework it’s not the best course of action.

The best one is to present your reasoning for your framework. 

The point of the framework, in simplistic and reductive terms, is to have the best suited tool to achieve your analytical goal and to be able to define the scope of your inquiry. And also to be aware of the limitations of your approach. 

That's why I suspect that in this person's case, the academic trappings are just that, theatre.

They reacted to me challenging their framework with: “that’s so rude of you, you hurt my feelings”. When a framework challenge should always be met with: “Bestie, don't even try, I have this rock solid reasoning behind it.”

As far along as they seem to be in their primary reading of the text, they should have the justification of their framework nailed down, they should be able copy paste it or link it with the addition of the gif of the dick Gojou drew.

Instead, apart from clutching their pearls, they explain their framework through their analysis goals, namely:

“I'm sorry, but I do not take anime material into account when describing how Gege writes these characters, since I can't cleanly divide what Gege had full control over (if anything)³, and given that the anime itself could be considered something of a do-over for the manga, for better and for worse. I'm down to discuss the anime, but for these posts going over my thoughts on Gege as a storyteller, I'm more interested in looking at how the manga chapters were handled.” “Yes, I am choosing to analyze JJK's effectiveness as a story by what is in the story. ”

Which is putting the horse before the cart. “How” does not prove the effectiveness of the method. It needs to be “how” and “why” together - in what way doing the analysis like this allows you to reach your goal.  

So let’s try to string something together based on my recent exchange with them. Maybe like this: 

Definition of the text first:

I define the text as the unfinished and ongoing manga Jujutsu Kaisen by Gege Akutami as translated by (translator or translators) and available here (link). I chose this translation as the primary version of the text for my analysis after thorough research into the translational landscape surrounding the manga. My methodology was as follows: I put “jjk manga” into the search engine and clicked the first few links to find the website that worked best. This methodology was slightly revised close to the end of the manga, when I chose to consult other translations (link), (link) to see how they handled 2 specific chapters. 

(I have no clue which translation they are using, or how they found it, obviously. They weren’t kind enough to bring it up.)

I’m using the literary theory definition of text / literary criticism (full definition maybe with source) to analyse the text because I think that a text placed within these constraints is the version of the text that the author had full control over.  I define “full control” as what the author could do under time and contractual pressure, with very hard to establish editorial input from Shounen Jump (both in terms of volume and quality), and with the constant mental pressure of presenting unfinished work to a modern audience that will turn to social media to voice all of their opinions and is not above death threats, while not knowing how long the story would end up to be or whether it’d even get the chance to reach any conclusion as it could’ve been cancelled at any time before it had gained some popularity.  I think that excluding all editorial input by the author into the work, including but not limited to (...), post the initial publication of each chapter in the Japanese version of Shounen Jump and cognisant of the conditions under which they were created, really reflects Gege Akutami’s full skill as a storyteller. It also further bolsters my conviction that I’m working with a text that the author has full control over, especially that the author is incapable of, and likely never will be capable of leveraging the knowledge of a full finished story to edit it without the scrutiny of the public or presenting it to the public after going through the full process of finishing it and editing it after that. 

Yeah, I know, I can’t imitate academic language to save my life. But I think I got the “how” and “why” bits right.

Wait I forgot about the limitations:

I don’t see any limitations to this method. 

Okay, I had my fun. But the sad truth is that this is the image of their  framework that can be gleaned from my exchange with them. 

This leads me to believe that they don’t know what an analytical framework is for. This and the fact that they never used terms like “literary criticism” or “literary theory” in the exchange with me when that’s where their methods come from. Or that they use “story” instead of “text”. Or that they weren’t expecting challenges to their framework, just to their opinions. That they interpreted a criticism of their framework as a personal attack. 

But if you’re dealing with something that has a weak framework it’s the first thing you challenge. It’s fair game in academic discourse. (It’s also pretty good when discussing political issues, for example forcing someone to explain how their ideology would achieve their declared goals, etc.)

That’s why putting on academic airs is a bad idea if you don’t have the solid foundations for it. I would never try it. I have no patience for the rigour that it would require of me. I actually tried to properly write the pseudo academic bits here and I just gave up because it’s really hard to do. Also in reality the methodology would be far more detailed, a few pages long at least.

In the context of fandom putting on such airs feels deceptive. Fandom is full of all sorts of people, including people who haven’t had the opportunity to or chose not to experience academia. Or whose educational journey didn’t put them anywhere near academic text analysis. Using the trappings of academia may mislead them to give the author of the text too much credence.

I don’t like people who do that. 

That being said I don’t think frost-felon should stop what they are doing. I find projects like theirs beautiful in theory. 

But I think they should either lose the academic veneer or embrace it in earnest. 

Whichever way they will go, one of the two I proposed or continue as they are, I think they should really ask themself what purpose does their method serve because I think there’s no way to defend its usefulness for their stated goals.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

A fierce duel commences!

[ganondoodle]

(Original art) Xaror, any pronouns, species (?), age (?)

short summary about them; they act as both an antagonist and an ally since they are only really interested in what they want or whats fun to them, they are immortal and call themselves 'death itself' since they have a special connection to souls (being the only one able to communicate with them) and the ability to seperate souls from their bodies in such a way that nothing can harm the soul afterwards their main goal is to .. bother and disturb the 'celestials'*, which they hate, as much as they can, breaking into their palace, freeing prisoners, destroying research, destroying the place, and most importantly, making as many souls unusable to them as possible-

they dont want to destroy the celestials though, they cant fight them anyway and this game of doing 'good' only with the goal of annoying them is their most treasured activity, so Xaror doesnt intend to stop them from killing or hurting anyone, only from harvesting what they are actually after (though Xaror doesnt actually care as little as they think they do about people, and has a soft spot for demons)

most of their appearance is later into the story; Zaphira (the empress) had been in coma and the medical facility she was treated in was destroyed by Shargon (orange eyed demon who acts as her bodyguard for the first part) in an attempt to save her from her estranged relatives taking over her country after they heard of her decline in health, she is believed dead but washes up on the shore of the mountain Xaror resides at years later (it has a reason, too much to write here) and they slowly nurse her back to health, the reason they give for it is that they found their first encounter very fun, thats all (is it?)

(more lore under the cut bc this is already so long .. im trying to keep it short q-q ......... this is stuff i have been working on since i was a kid so uh, some things might be cheesy but i cant change them anymore ..)

just to get some basics out of the way; theres three worlds, the celestials palace, human world and demon world, each are their own planet connected via different gateways

*celestials (possibly not final name, loosely based on angels) are the last remaining "survivors" of their planets demise, when their world died the most powerful among them cannibalized the weaker to sustain themselves until there were only less than 10 left, who each turned into different beings from it and dont resemble their own people much anymore, they built a palace from what was left on their world that protects them from space as its atmosphere collapsed shortly after- however they still needed something to live off; they discover the human world and are delighted to find rather short lived people with powerful souls, the best kind of sustenance for them (now), they aim to herd them like cattle, but a problem arose when it turned out another world has long been in contact with the human world; demons

demons are semi immortal creatures that act as protectors for their world, protection they extended, more or less secretely, to the human world ensuring them a long and secure life- the celestials need them to die at their whim though (demons are few in numbers, hard to kill and rarely have offspring, not an ideal target); as they worked out a plan on how to get rid of demons one of the celestials, Xanthriel (time) grew somewhat fond of people as they spent alot of time in the human world to observe and research them; in the end turning on their own completely, but losing the fight against Uriel (knowledge)

Xanthriel was supposed to be executed for their betrayal, but it doesnt work, instead they are splintered into many parts after a lot of struggle, most body, memory and most strength is one part (ending up as motionless forever bleeding corpse kept locked up in the palace), the rest is some time later gathered together and reforms as a seperate, weak mockery of them, they embody Xanthriels emotion- Xaror, without memory, strangely cut to pieces (hence all the missing limbs and broken halo) but driven by an unstoppable desire to disturb the celestials (they live seperate long enough to each become their own person, at some point Xaror discovers Xanthriels body after all and they merge back together, though as they are now two, Xanthriel only takes over once directly after merging, stays silent for a long time and lets Xaror be themselves, only later revealing that they are there at all .. hiding perhaps- i rarely have specific ideas for voices, but Xanthriels is like, like coarse rocks being violently rubbed against each other, less voice more noise)

(also, the celestials use Xanthriels blood from the day of their execution to create a plague that nearly wipes out all demons, only the youngest of them survived, effectively robbing them of everything, culture, history, knowledge etc- as demons rarely have children, like a complete restart of their society, they disappeared from the human world, and over time being largely forgotten as actually existing- the celestials wanted them all gone however, so they kept kidnapping them to try and find somethign that would work similarly against the young ones too (and then in general, bc the only usable blood of Xanthriel was from the day of their fall, and that has long since been used up) one of the young ones was Shargon, he was the only one still alive from his group

(also, the celestials use Xanthriels blood from the day of their execution to create a plague that nearly wipes out all demons, only the youngest of them survived, effectively robbing them of everything, culture, history, knowledge etc- as demons rarely have children, like a complete restart of their society, they disappeared from the human world, and over time being largely forgotten as actually existing- the celestials wanted them all gone however, so they kept kidnapping them to try and find somethign that would work similarly against the young ones too (and then in general, bc the only usable blood of Xanthriel was from the day of their fall, and that has long since been used up) one of the young ones was Shargon, he was the only one still alive from his group (he wasnt the strongest or special, he was jsut the last in the row and always got the lowest dosage) when Xaror found them in yet another break in into the palace and got him back to the demon world .. where he was promptly blamed for the others that were taken and treated like a pretender/fake/spy bc what he got put through changed his eye color (something that demons cannot change in any form) to one that does not exist among 'real' demons (orange ... notice the inner color of Xarors broken halo? :) ), some even suggesting killing him, but none of them were brave enough to do it (they were all kids still) .. except Eadrya (the big blue-ish one, largely regarded as the strongest demon alive) but Shargon managed to escape, and since then lived largely in isolation- this is part of why he is so hated, and why he starts to spend so much time in the human world after rediscovering the pathway there)

[vaguely-concerned]

if everything with varric weren't enough to make rye go the level of ape shit at solas that he does (and goodness don't get me wrong it was more than enough!), forcing him to sit alone with himself in the fade and wonder if he really just saw lucanis die right in front of him with no way to know for sure added kill bill sirens in his head so loud the voice of the Maker Himself could not be heard over them if He personally peeped through the blanket of the dark to cry 'hold, hold'

(That no compunctious visitings of nature shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between the effect and it. indeed. maybe you should have thought a bit harder before making me quite so much in your own image. bitch)

[little-pup-pip]

hi! can i please get a moodboard themed around an ox? gender neutral leaning slightly masc (but gender neutral in a pinch) and yes please to the paci and unstudded please! my petre name is clover if that helps with figuring things out :)) please lmk if i’ve missed anything and have a great day!!

Sure!!

[wisteriagoesvroom]

gonna go far

🍊 an oscarmark fic ❗so, the mentor/mentee dynamic... in this essay i will– 🖋️ 1.7k words, rated T/M 🔗 read on ao3

preview

Mark pulls the door shut. The light is always bright in here, harsher. Oscar’s teammate seems to like the dimmer, but Oscar barely adjusts anything. The driver in question sits on the floor, with his back against the rectangular sofa. Elbows on his knees, hands wrapped around his third place trophy, copper against the orange of the race suit still tied at his waist. Oscar’s face is downturned, obscured by a team cap. Mark cannot see his eyes.

[the-way-astray]

i am not ready to get pissed off today but can we not ruin people’s positive fandom experiences. can we not. if someone makes a post saying “i love sophie foster!!!!” can we not go to that post and immediately comment “well i don’t like her”. if someone shares a headcanon and it clashes with yours can we not go to that post and reply “well that headcanon is WRONG because HERE’S WHAT CANON SAYS”. if someone talks about a ship can we not go on that post and start ripping it to shreds. can we not. you are aware that just scrolling past without engaging is an option, right? you know you can tamp down the urge to express your negative opinion where inappropriate, right? make your own damn post!!!! can we not ruin positivity posts for the people that like/made them. can we please not. please.

[hyperfixmee]

a short story of becoming a med student

Mom: are you sure about this?

Baby Me: money doesn't matter bc I'm gonna heal people.

Adult Me, facing a 1/2 million dollar U.S. student loan debt: *Alexa playing Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen in the background.* MAMAAAAA ~OOoooOOOHHH, didn't mean to make you cryyyyyy 😭

[kakusu-shipping]

Wait I almost completely forgot I had a dream the other night that I got an Anon Hate message that claimed to be Koro-Sensei saying he would never love me due to the Proshipping thing and I just remember replying with a 20 bullet point list of How to Spot a Fake Koro-Sensei, as reviewed by Koro-Sensei.

Was a little sad to wake up and find the ask wasn't real.

[minamaybe]

comeback!!

hey everyone! <3 i‘m not sure if anyone remembers me but i used to be quite active here a few months ago - then life got in the way (i graduated and subsequently fell into a deep hole of despair and confusion lol) and i couldn’t keep up with this blog and this community. i‘ve really missed it tho and would like to come back to y’all again, and to re-awaken my love for writing that got lost somewhere between stress and heat exhaustion. i‘m really really excited to see what you‘ve all been up to <3

[seventh-district]

7am, eating cold leftover teriyaki stir-fry for breakfast and crying over blorbos

[thickenmyblood]

I'm in love with HIUH!! Your brain is amazing for coming up with this!

When you edit your drafts, do you keep what you cut out? Because I would happily read 100k+ words of whatever you come up with :)

hello!!

sometimes i do keep things that i cut out because I know I'll need them for future chapters or future projects, but most of the time I delete them forever. i know it doesn't look like it because the fic is massive but I have trimmed it so much over the years you wouldn't believe what the og draft looked like. trust me, you wouldn't love those 100k words of scraps!!

[ssongsboo]

─────────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───────────

─────────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───────────

⟢ 오직 너 하나면 돼 .ᐟ

you never thought you’d end up like this with junseok- pressed against the wall of his studio, his face inches from yours, eyes alight with something almost tender. every encounter with him had been a whirlwind of sharp words, teasing grins, and a fire in his gaze that dared you to push him a little further.

yet here you were, trapped between him and the wall, his gaze softened and unreadable, hinting at frustration and something else entirely. “why do you always have to get on my nerves?” he murmurs. his hand lifts, fingers grazing your jawline in a way that feels both daring and uncertain, as if he’s testing a boundary you never realized was there. you smirk, though you feel your heartbeat quicken, every inch of you aware of the closeness. “maybe because you let me,” you reply, your voice carrying a slight edge, masking the thrill his touch ignites. a heartbeat passes, and then another. you can almost feel his resolve crack as his lips capture yours in a kiss that’s anything but gentle.

it’s messy, a clash of pent-up frustration and undeniable attraction, each movement filled with the intensity of everything left unsaid. his hands find their way to your waist, pulling you closer as if he’s afraid to let you slip away, his grip firm yet careful. in the haze of the moment, the line between rivalry and something deeper blurs. the usual quick-witted comments, the playful taunts- all dissolve, replaced by an unexpected vulnerability. for the first time, you’re seeing junseok not just as your annoying coworker, but as something more, something softer hidden beneath his usual tough exterior. as the kiss deepens, you let yourself get lost in the warmth of his touch, in the quiet revelation between the two of you. finally, you pull back just enough to look into his eyes, searching for some sign of what comes next. “what do we do now?” you ask, the words slipping out before you can stop them. he hesitates, a flicker of uncertainty in his gaze. but then his mouth curves into that familiar, slightly lopsided grin, the one that always drives you a little crazy. leaning in, he rests his forehead against yours, his hands still gently tracing your curves. “i don’t know,” he admits, voice softer than you’ve ever heard it. “but i don’t care. we can figure that out along the way” his thumb brushes your cheek, eyes locked onto yours. “as long as i have you right now.” for the first time, there’s no need for the usual banter or defenses. you feel the weight of his words settle between you, the once-playful tension giving way to something softer, uncharted but undeniably real. he pulls you closer, his hands slipping down to your waist as his lips find yours again, deeper this time, as though he's savoring every second. the quiet hum of the studio fades away, leaving just the sound of your breaths mingling, the press of his body against yours, and the warmth radiating between you. his hands wander, sliding up your back and settling just under the hem of your shirt, fingers grazing your skin in a way that sends a thrill up your spine. he pulls back just enough to look at you, his eyes darkened with a hunger you hadn't seen before, a smirk teasing at the corner of his lips. "you know," he teases, his voice rougher now, "for someone who gets on my nerves... you sure do have a way of making me forget why." you smirk, fingers drifting over his collar, tugging him just a little closer. "guess i’ll have to keep you distracted then." with a low chuckle, he leans in, his lips brushing along your jaw, slowly trailing down your neck. the gentle graze of his teeth against your skin leaves you breathless, your hands clutching his shoulders as he presses you back against the wall. there’s a new intensity in the way he holds you, something raw and unrestrained, like every playful taunt and glance between you two has led up to this very moment.

"think you can handle that?" he whispers, his voice laced with challenge and heat, his gaze piercing and unwavering as he searches your face, waiting for an answer. you smile, leaning up to capture his lips once more, deeper, slower, pouring all the unspoken tension between you into the touch. you feel his body tense, his hands tightening around you, as though he's holding on for dear life. he breaks the kiss with a ragged breath, his forehead pressing against yours, and you can feel his heart racing just as fast as yours. his hands drift down your arms, fingertips lingering as if memorizing every curve, every inch. there’s a look in his eyes now, raw and unguarded, something deeper than just attraction. "maybe we should take this somewhere a little more... comfortable," he blurts out, his thumb tracing gentle circles on your wrist as he studies you, the suggestion hanging in the air between you. you feel your cheeks warm, a thrill sparking through you at the thought. "lead the way." with a playful grin, he takes your hand, pulling you toward the door, and as you both slip out of the studio and into the quiet night, you know you're crossing a line you'll never come back from. but as he glances back at you, his eyes filled with promise and intensity, you realize that maybe that's exactly what you've been wanting all along.. it’s a promise and a dare, one you're both more than ready to keep exploring. as you’re walking down the street with him you realize just how much he’s come to mean to you, the way he challenges you, keeps you on your toes, and pulls you into a world that’s more exhilarating- and comforting- than you ever expected. “i guess it’s not as complicated as we thought,” you whisper, half to yourself, your fingers intertwine with his, squeezing his hand in excitement for what the future holds for the two of you. junseok lets out a low chuckle, shaking his head. “says the one who started all the teasing,” he says, his grin returning, but there’s something warm in his gaze now. you roll your eyes but smile “oh, don’t act like you didn’t love every second of it.” his laughter echoes in the dark of the night, warm and unguarded, and for a moment, you’re both just standing there, laughing, feeling the weight of unspoken things finally lifted. he pulls you into a loose hug, his arms wrapping around you, his breath warm against your ear. it feels natural, like you’ve been here a thousand times before. and maybe, in a way, you have- just never like this, never without the masks. it feels like you’re exactly where you’re meant to be.

[sysig]

Handplates and haircut and more Handplates after that (Patreon)

[dbphantom]

Hate having adhd went to go work on my fallout modpack, got distracted while going to disable the steam overlay, ended up in the points shop, went to go edit my profile, decided to change my pfp, found a buried folder I forgot existed, found some old Veneer art I forgot existed, spent 45 minutes looking at all the old photos, STILL HAVE NOT TOGGLED ONE SIMPLE OPTION THAT SHOULD'VE TAKEN 30 SECONDS AT MOST

[alltheoutsinfreeeee]

is there any magical girl anime still out there that doesn't have any fanservice? Shows like Precure, Cardcaptor Sakura or Madoka?

And if there isn't, are there at least any shows where the fanservice isn't with elementary school girls?