#that is an incredible over simplification of their lives lmao

[berryblu-arts]

th-them... <3<3<3!!!

(naomi is not licking her!!! shes sticking her tounge out, i was just too lazy to fix it; she´s not a gross germ gremlin; just a brat lmao)

[milf-harrington]

this might be a bit long because my heart is full of love

one thing about my sister is that she's never been a big reader, even with a majority of our family being massive book nerds.

it was like- one of our things as siblings is that she liked sports and makeup and i liked books and did well in school; even when we got older she's always been outdoorsy and i've always been indoorsy.

(this is a very general simplification, we're actually hella similar to the point we dress the same some days without meaning to lmao)

and i just remember growing up she'd always make these comments/complaints about not being smart like me and mum, or claiming to be a bad/slow reader, or that she wished she liked books as much as us. when she finished tomorrow when the war began, she was so proud and excited that i couldn't help but pick up the series after her because it had to have been good if she managed to finish it - which wasn't meant to be insulting, that's literally just how things were

there's an incident that gets brought up a lot, it's one of our common funny sibling stories, from when she still lived at home - she would've been maybe 16, so i would've been 12 - and we were arguing like we always did and i called her vain and she just...stopped. because she didn't know what that word meant, and while my first instinct was to explain that i was calling her shallow and full of herself, my mums response was to sigh and say "don't use big words when speaking to your sister, remember?"

and my sister always tells that story through laughter because when you know us it is funny but at the same time...she's always considered herself the stupid one.

she never finished high school, she struggles to understand the fancy words or phrases i use without thinking, she's not big on reading, she can't keep a desk job etc.

but another thing about my sister is that her mind is incredible, and she is so emotionally and socially intelligent, and she's wise. she has so much fucking wisdom, and she just hands it out without thinking, just dropping these little nuggets of advice that have literally changed my life like she's telling me what jacket would match my outfit better.

i can't wrap my head around harvests or grain types or machinery, but she happily infodumps about all that stuff with the same ease she talks about work gossip and whatever happened at the last party she went to; and she just. remembers things that probably would've fallen out of my head immediately.

but she thinks she's an idiot, reckons she's the dumb one in the family, and most of that comes from the reading thing.

it's one of those insecurities that i don't think she even acknowledges as an insecurity.

and when her son was born, and we realised he loved books, she made so many self-deprecating jokes about how he was going to be just like the rest of us, and she was going to be the only one in our family who didn't read.

and then, a few weeks ago, she told me she wanted to find a book she'd heard about on tiktok because it sounded interesting; and then she came back from the shopping later that afternoon with two books.

and she finished them both in a handful of days.

so she bought more, by the same author. and i have watched over the past week as her little book collection has grown and spread out, and i've watched as she's eaten through a hundred or so pages in one sitting.

"It turns out I just really don't like nonfiction," she'd told me. "But I really like this author, I like the way she writes."

("None of us like nonfiction! It's boring!" Is what me and mum said.)

I love my sister, i could give less of a shit if she's an idiot or whether or not she likes to read. We hang out all the time regardless, we share our interests with each other and we talk about music and what's going on with our friends and how we're dealing with our childhood trauma. we sit in silence or we talk shit or we play uno or i tell her about my writing or she complains about bills.

she's my sister, yknow? who gives a fuck what her interests are as long as she enjoys them.

but man i cannot describe the level of pure delight i have felt watching her find this piece of herself that she's always wished for, yknow? the first time she started telling me about her latest book she just fucking lit up and she was so animated and excited and i was just sitting there, floored, because she was so happy.

and i haven't been able to stop myself sometimes, from actually telling her how nice it is to see her so excited about books, to see her understand why mum and i are the way that we are - but i'm always worried it comes across the wrong way.

what im excited about is the fact that she finally understands something she's always wanted to understand, that she gets to talk to me about books the way she's always wanted to.

my sister not being much of a reader (despite her attempts and wishes) has been a fact of life for as long as i can remember, but she just crept into my room to excitedly tell me the plot twist in Layla by Colleen Hoover, a book that's only taken her 2 days to read, and i just love her so much it makes me feel stupid.

[mistergrass]

Do you think there are differences in how the 2019 anime portrays Kyo's and Yuki's relationship as compared to the 2001 anime?

Oh man oh man oh man, I love this ask. Because YEAH tbh I do think there’s a bit of a difference in how their relationship is portrayed! THANKS FOR LETTIN’ ME TALK ABOUT IT BECAUSE APPARENTLY I HAVE A LOT TO SAY.

I’m gonna start up top though and say I think there are definite pros and cons to both anime adaptations, but I am a fan of both! So this is NOT gonna be me saying one is better than the other by any means! It will simply be a side-to-side look at how the animes have portrayed The Boys. And I think both can definitely be enjoyed and loved without having to compete with each other!

ANYWAY.

I ofc will get to the obvious which is the difference between the endings, but I think we gotta work our way up to that first! Honestly, I really think the differences of their relationships in 2001 vs 2019 comes down to the structure and intent of each production.

2001 was made to be a self-sufficient tale and was definitely a simplification of the source material. In part this is because the manga hadn’t finished yet and hadn’t really gotten that far, and on the flip side I’m sure there’s that other part where the production team wasn’t too,,, caring with Sensei’s wishes for what she wanted the anime to be.

SIDE NOTE: I will say this, as someone who does genuinely enjoy 2001 — I think Takaya made something really remarkable that even in a very simplified form, it still has the ability to be enjoyable and touching and charming!

So 2001 decides that it needs to create a narrative that doesn’t leave behind any real loose ends. It doesn’t go into the mechanisms of the curse, it doesn’t introduce characters and relationships from later in the manga, and it cuts away certain foreshadowing moments that at the time had no pay-off and hadn’t been explained yet. So when you take those moments away, what you’re really left with—ESPECIALLY with just the first few chapters of the manga—is kind of a found-family story.

2001 is a lot slower in its pace and takes its time (for better or for worse) with each chapter. Because of that, there’s a lot of time to fill, and that time always ends up getting fed back into the main trio or into moments within Shigure’s house. The production team of 01 WAS smart in realizing that the main trio’s dynamic really has a wonderful appeal and really staying in that zone when they needed to pad time. And so most filler really just went back to creating extra moments in between them all. Between that and the slower pace, we just get a lot of extra moments with them – some perfectly passive, and some more direct:

They just interact more. Even if they’re kind of throw away moments. Because 01 chose its focus to be on this household and very little outside of that universe.  

2001 ALSO DID SOMETHING KIND OF INTERESTING. The ONE, ONE critique I’ve been somewhat public about in terms of the 2019 anime has been its lack of close ups. Which really gives us a very good look and a very needed insight on how a character is feeling/reacting to a moment.

01 had this very interesting habit of not only going nuts with their close ups (mainly, I’m gonna guess, because backgrounds were NOT A FORTE LMAO), but actually putting a lot of close-ups of Yuki and Kyo side by side. Here are a few examples:

What this does is not only give us insight into what they’re feeling, but also tells us that what they’re feeling is ultimately the same emotion. This happens MULTIPLE times throughout the anime—for both serious and comedic effect. And what it does is plant and nourish that seed that they really aren’t so different from each other. A lot of how they react to their family and the world around them is very similar (which is also something true in the manga, it’s just very interesting how 01 chose to illustrate that via screen).

We unwittingly get this feeling that they’re closer than even they realize. Something that gets illustrated even without close-ups, but in blocking, voice over, and posture at times too — they just… share a lot of shots together:

(I have more but I’m realizing I need to chill out LOL)

The slow pace also meant that certain scenes from the manga really got to shine through lIKE THIS LITTLE MOMENT THAT I SO WISH HAD BEEN IN 2019:

ALSO I DON’T THINK THIS WAS IN THE MANGA BUT FUCKING HEY WHAT THE FUCK I MEAN COME ON SKDJFHSKDF:

LIKE COME ON JUST LET ME HAVE THIS ONE THING IN LIFE I JUST SKDFJHSKDF

ANYWAY

I know this probably looks like I’m all in for the 01 version of their relationship bUT let’s go more into some 2019 stuff.

Yuki and Kyo’s dynamic in the manga is incredible and it’s obviously something I’ve really spent a lot of time…. Thinking about…. What’s amazing about the 2019 anime is that its goal is to stay as true to the manga as possible and to tell the story in its ENTIRETY.

That means getting the real real honest details about Yuki and Kyo’s relationship that were sorely missed in the 01 anime. At its core, Fruits Basket is the DEFINITION of a slow burn. Not just with its romantic relationships, but with all its different dynamics. Where Yuki and Kyo start at the beginning of the story is so far from where they end. And they almost act as these living breathing measuring sticks for each other that monitor and illustrate where they’re at each point in their personal journeys. IT’S SO GOOD.

If 2019’s goal is to cover the manga, then this is something that will inevitably be included. We can see that in some of its foreshadowing — we’re going to get things like an explanation on the hat which is a huge part in Yuki’s perspective of Kyo.

We’re going to get a much much deeper look at Kyo using Yuki as an outlet for his hatred and anger and self-loathing.

THIS HASN’T BEEN FORESHADOWED BUT WE’RE MOST LIKELY GONNA GET YUKI BEATIN THE SHIT OUTTA KYO, TOO.

So in a way it seems almost unfair to compare the two right now?

Mainly because the anime has promised to animate the entirety of the manga, but HAS done some rearranging of the order of the earlier chapters. The manga is so RICH and has so much information, that there are less moments of being able to just sit with the characters, because there is so much information that needs to be shown. Every moment in 2019 feels like it’s doing its best to be meaningful with its time and to tell as much as it can as closely as it can to the manga. But because of that their relationship isn’t as “””””close”””””??? (If that’s even the right word to use) as it was in 01.

For instance, we’ve gotten things like Uo’s backstory and Hana’s backstory earlier on, certain chapters have been fit into half an episode instead of a full one, and we spend much more time with the zodiacs themselves when they’re introduced rather than the main trio REACTING to new zodiacs. Basically, we’ve not spent as much “alone time” with the trio or Yuki & Kyo because there are other things to focus on. The found-family isn’t the default aspect of the anime as it was in 01, because they’re trying to tell a complete story. And the beginning chapters that 01 exclusively covered were never meant to be the whole story — it was just meant to be, basically, a really long set up to a much deeper narrative (and correct me if I’m wrong, but I think even Takaya says that the story really kickstarts after the true form, too).

SO because of that in season one, Yuki & Kyo do seem a little more far apart. They seem kind of as if they don’t know how to be around each other, and that Tohru is the one and only buffer to which they can tolerate each other at all. Even filler moments with them that we see are centered completely around Tohru, rather than them just — idk, cleaning the house, or doing mundane domestic things.

It’s like, they’re only allowed in this “demilitarized zone” of each other’s lives, and that zone is Tohru. (Which, AGAIN is not a bad thing — it’s very much a set-up to a slow burn, and with a lot more time to tell the story, there’s no need to rush their dynamic right away even if I do miss some of the moments LOL).

BUT because of that — say if Yuki were to go after Kyo in 2019 like he did in the end of 01, it would make NO goddamn sense. That dynamic between them hasn’t been built yet. AND IT’S A DYNAMIC THAT DOES EVENTUALLY EXIST. When Kyo runs away after Tohru’s confession, Yuki’s first reaction is to run after Kyo:

And his confrontation of Kyo at the end is a basically well-earned, paid off, richer version of how he goes after Kyo at the end of 01:

BUT that being said, in the 01 anime — tbh? I buy it. It goes against the manga, but it stays true to its own version of logic and narrative. And the idea of all three of them trying to preserve this family and home that they’ve built between  them is something that’s earned because that’s basically been the only focus. But ultimately, because they’ve foregone so much of the manga’s foreshadowing and set-ups, their relationship in 01 cannot go any deeper than it does.

In 2019 and the manga, Yuki doesn’t go after Kyo because their relationship still needs to be sorted out. They still have SO MUCH to learn about themselves and each other. Their issues with one another directly stem to deeply rooted problems that they eventually have to face head-on throughout the ENTIRETY of the manga. And that is what is being SET UP in 2019.

My tl;dr analogy is this: 01 can be seen like a really good fan fiction that was impatient to see the canon dynamics develop and decided to make its own version while it waited for the story to continue. While 2019 is an adaptation that is setting up for a real slow-burn of developing relationships — and the 1st season is barely scratching the surface of that.

[motorcyclegirlfriends]

Also, people view Chyler as like a LGBT champion(and I do find her amazing, don't misunderstand), but her and Melissa are really close. She's said in an interview her kids call her aunt Melissa. So like, if people really champion Chyler that much, shouldn't people trust her judgment of Melissa a bit more. Like she's actually speaks to her and knows her personally.

But if you confront these fans with that, they’d likely come up with a reason that Chyler actually hates Melissa now. 

Off the top of my head, they’d say something like… 

“Chyler didn’t defend Melissa on social media, so she must be angry with her. These tweets that happened after SDCC-

-were created by the Supergirl publicist. You can tell by how they copied the two girls dancing together from her past tweets about their sisterhood, before she realized what Melissa is really like. The emoji of the girls doesn’t even make sense here lmao the Supergirl publicist is so bad at their job omfg”

or alternatively, closer to what I’ve actually seen regarding this-

“Chlyer probably doesn’t even know about the SDCC event. Or she only heard it from their side. She would probably agree with us if she knew what really happened, but she might never know how Melissa really is.”

There’s been a general tendency to frame the actors of Supergirl who are on good terms within this fandom against the actors who are not, at all logical costs.

And so as soon as the fandom has issue with an actor, even if they all previously were perceived as having an amicable or close relationship with the other members of the cast, the fandom will suddenly act like the “good” cast members hate this cast member. 

For instance,

David

When the musical recap first dropped, people were making posts that put thoughts into David Harewood’s head, proposing that he was embarrassed by Melissa and Jeremy.

The infamous letter to Melissa’s publicist even said “[…] save for Katie Mcgrath and David Harewood who appeared uncomfortable […]”

And that’s what most fans on that side of the debate seemed to believe.

But then David tweeted-

Which just speaks to how flawed many fans’ interpretations of the meaning behind the cast’s actions are.

So now he’s on the other side of the line, and the fans have moved from acting like he’s super close with Katie and Odette and they’re all against Mel and Jeremy, to acting like the ‘good guys’ actually hate him too.

Mechad

Mehcad’s fallout is weirder, because it felt like some fans initially didn’t want him on the ‘good side,’ though I do remember seeing post that were pro- Katie, David, and Mechad vs the rest of the cast before they turned around.

I’d been kind of avoiding people who were overreacting to the event by the time the anger spread to Mehcad, but looking back at Mehcad’s tag, people thought he said “Zitta” ( “shut up,” in Italian) in response to Katie saying that art can be interpreted in many different ways (referring to supercorp). And then I think? I remember seeing more criticisms, based on that belief, of Mehcad speaking Italian? Don’t take my word for it.

But he really rather clearly was saying “take that.” (Watch this. Op thought Mehcad said “Take that” then “zitta zitta”, but in the second instance he was actually saying “take tha take tha” quickly. Look away from the video when it says “Zitta zitta” and listen for the “t” sound in the beginning of the phrase.)

Because this is such a big leap to me, I do wonder if those who believed it wanted to be angry with Mehcad. And the originator of this idea didn’t appear to speak italian, so it’s not as naturally occurring a mishearing, which makes me wonder if they were looking for it to be negative.

Then Mehcad responded to someone’s comment on instagram (I’m not sure if he’s said anything else about it) and people had a somewhat less ridiculous reason to “cancel” him.

Note: “I’m a member of the HRC so I can’t be homophobic” is an incredibly misleading simplification of what happened

A piece of the comment he responded to, relevant sections to his response bolded:

“You don’t get to decide if we the queer fans you supposedly support can or cannot be sad over this because even tho you supported the community at some point it doesn’t come as genuine right now when we see things like that horrible interview in which only katie mcgrath was demonstrating to be a real ally in defending the fans views, that’s how you treat your fans who have supported you through this years and helped this show get bigger! […] 

So next time try to educate yourself before speaking […]”

His response:

“don’t post to my page again if you’re going to be rude. I don’t supposedly support anyone. I’m a member of the HRC. I’ve consistently supported all human rights. Race and preference included. You don’t know me. Do your research.”

Essentially, he was responding to accusations that he is ingenue in his support of lgbt+ rights and accusations that he is uneducated about lgbt+ issues.

Kind of, ‘I don’t supposedly support queer ppl, I actively support them.’

He wasn’t saying “I am a member of the HRC so that gives me a free pass,” he was responding directly to an accusation that he isn’t a real ally.

Side note: My own issue with “only katie mcgrath was demonstrating to be a real ally in defending the fans views” - 

Not only did Katie initially laugh at the musical recap (before remembering the wlw fans that she, more than anyone in the cast, has had contact with. These fans have followed her and interacted with her since her “breakout” so she’s likely the most sensitive to their possible reactions), but Mehcad also supported Katie’s affirmation that fans can read what they want from the show with his “take that”, and also showed a visible reluctance to support Jeremy when he said that he debunked Supercorp.

Which makes the anti-Mehcad upsurge kinda sad because he seemed to be on Supercorp’s side, in a way.

Side note, similar to the Mehcad situation:

“Melissa said ‘I can’t be homophobic because I was on Glee’” is again, incredibly misleading.

There is of course some question of the validity of the note, but assuming that it’s real, this is the actual quote from Melissa’s publicist (not Melissa herself. Honestly I guarantee that she hasn’t even read the letter):

“You’ve indicted people who are genuine ambassadors of acceptance, compassion and equality and have proven as much, not on only Glee but on SUPERGIRL and in their own personal lives.”

Her publicist said this kind of within the context of ‘advice’, saying things such as, “However, as an activist, it’s very important that you take a step back before inflicting public scorn.”

My read was that it wasn’t an argument against Melissa being homophobic, but an argument for the writer to think about what she’s doing. To consider that she’s punishing people who want to help and have tried to help, for things they didn’t do.

(Of course, someone who wrote a letter “on behalf of LGBT women” would feel "disrespected and patronized" by advice and criticisms from someone with professional experience in public relations)

(I also wonder if the publicist kinda knew that Glee wasn’t enough, considering her phrasing of “not on only Glee.” But I wouldn’t be surprised if she didn’t realize that Glee isn’t exactly highly regarded in lgbt+ spaces. It’s not a discourse straight people are usually familiar with.)

But putting the words “I can’t be homophobic because I was on Glee” into Melissa’s mouth is ridiculous and a move made only to further tarnish her image on this website.

Melissa

Before any of this, a lot of Supercorp fans wanted to put Melissa in the “demon” category. 

Any news that was ambiguous in meaning was read in the worst possible light until there was a backlash in the form of a more positive interpretation (usually from Supercorp shippers who like Kara), and they’d back off for a bit.

Now I’m not sure if this was in response to Melissa beginning to date Chris Wood, or because of an urge to prop up Katie Mcgrath as the one who deserves more attention than the lead. Maybe both. (Maybe neither, I’m open to alternate interpretations.)

Chris

Chris had a falling out, but they never put him on the good side. He was neutral/in waiting for the bad side because of who he plays.

But they couldn’t “strike,” so to speak, because Chris Wood himself hadn’t actually done anything. There was likely some degree of anti-Chris posts, but there were also regular reminders from the some bloggers that, “Chris Wood is not Mon-El, don’t send him hate.”

Then, I think it was his first (?) video interview about Supergirl in which he very clearly liked Mon-El and Karamel, and that was enough reason for him to be considered evil incarnated.

And so the “Chris Wood is not Mon-El” posts died down in response to the idea that ‘he endorses Mon-El’s behavior.’

(My read of Wood is that he knows that Mon-El isn’t like… Doing the Right Things, but sympathizes with him and thinks he is getting better. Over sympathizes. He thinks it’s interesting or compelling or whatever, like a lot of people do. As a society we have way too much sympathy and interest for man-children and their ‘accidental misogyny’ turned ‘okay person’. But it’s not an uncommon reaction to this kind of character, across the board. 

At this stage in the recognition of this trope’s problems, it’s the kind of issue we should work on, not one that we should completely renounce people for enjoying.

I mean, I’m not exactly the biggest fan of the guy and have some degree of issue with other things, but Mon-El’s actions are still not Chris’ actions. I’ll criticize him for things he actually does, thanks.)

But when Melissa started dating Chris, it became impossible for people to say things like “Save Melissa from having to act along side Chris” or “She looks so pained in her scenes with him, compared to with Katie” because we all knew that she definitely likes the guy. 

And sort of accusing Chris of abusing Melissa and forcing her to stay in the relationship, they had to accept that she enjoys his company. (That would be a step too far. But I do wonder if it might have escalated to that point in the future.)

So she couldn’t 100% be on the good side, because she didn’t hate the people on the bad side. But she also couldn’t be on the bad side, because then Katie would have to hate her. And then there goes Supercorp.

…But then Odette came on the scene, just as Melissa participated in saying that Kara and Lena are only friends.

And with the announcement that Lena and Reign are somehow connected, fans who were frustrated with not being able to condemn Melissa are given free ‘reign’.

This is why people are shipping reigncorp, because they have new blood who couldn’t possibly have done anything to upset fans yet, and they can easily divide the cast into people they hate and people the love.

But the only person who is truly safe is Katie Mcgrath, not only because she has a lot more experience with wlw fans and knows what not to say and because she doesn’t have any social media to say the wrong thing on, but because she is their favorite. 

And so no matter what happens, she is always going to be on the good side.

So the argument that Chyler loves Melissa and is a good judge of character will not work.

But if tomorrow, Melissa Benoist said she loves Katie Mcgrath, and Katie Mcgrath said Melissa is a really good person, the fans might suddenly shift Melissa to the good side. 

Because they see the world in black and white, but their fave is more their moral compass than anything else.