#thats the only conclusion im gonna draw from this

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

[desert-flowerz]

KAY SO !!! this is in response to a comment from @blackheart-6 on this post !!

and i wanna start by saying i agree with one point you made here — there is no way kris could have created a dark fountain between the time of noelle and berdly being in the library and kris and susiw entering it. thats simply not possible.

but i don't agree the fountain was necessarily created once noelle and berdly were already in the computer lab, and there's a lot i could say on this (and probably will at a later date), but for the sake of simplicity and not letting this become a 3k word essay, im gonna stick to the points presebted and debunking them.

so, to start, my biggest argument against this is the fact we really have no proof that people have to exit dark worlds still in the same place they were in the light world begore entering it.

in chapter one, for example — kris and susie enter through the closet, but return into the unused classroom/supply room. sure, this could be because castle town and card kingdom have two seperate dark fountains, theyre different worlds, but even rhen — kris and susie didnt necessarily return by the rooms entrance as you might expect. the lights are off at first, and we hear movement and stumbling before its turned on. we have no way to be conclusive on where they were in the room, nor if they were sitting or standing upon return.n

susie even goes on to ask if any of what happened within the dark worlds was was real, even questioning if it was a dream — a conclusion that wouldn't make full sense to draw if theyd been standing the whole time (which i'll semi-elaborate on in a moment).

moving forward though, in chapter two, we can conclusuveky say kris and susie Aren't by the door when the dark fountain closes, they're stood by the desk. wouldnt it make sense, if your position in the lightworld depended on whether or not you were already in there upon creation of a fountain, that they'd be by the door where they entered?

but of course, thats all highly speculative !! SO lets look directly at berdly n noelle, now ive established the lack of certainty between positions in the light and dark world in relation to each other.

in particular, i wanna look at the books first, since I've already discussed the positioning of characters. and for this, well, its a lot more concrete, id say — its already established that objects in the light world are directly connected to the dark world. kris' pencil changing based on what sword you equip them with, one of the computers blue-screening after the defeat of spamton NEO, kris keeping noelles watch, and so on so forth. that, and most items brought in by a lightner change within the dark world, either into a n equippable item or a consumable.

we know the books dont become equippable items, as we would have been able to see such with noelle in our party, assuming she didnt lose it beforehand — but we can't confirm that in any shape or form (and its most definitely a stretch but im tryna cover all possibilities here). we can say with decent certainty however that it didn't become a consumeable item — the only item we see do this is the chalk becoming light candy, which gets explained by the fact, well, susie eats chalk. it is but a haha funny the chalk.is firever edible. but i sure hope nobodys seriously considers eating a whole book becayse that cannot be food grade?? jokes aside, my point is — the books most certainly don't have to be as they were when noelle and berdly entered the dark world. either noelle lost it, which would explain it's movement, or it was unaffected by the dark world, which would only highlight the fact that not everything has to line up 100% every time.

because, from a storytelling standpoint — the books don't matter. noelle and berdly could have been sat at a computer and the same point would have gotten across, the same uncertainty as to whether they were already in the room or not would remain. the books, them being open, is not narratively important.

and so, i wanna scoot back to the point i was making with kris and susie before, abd focus a bit on the key aspect i think gets overlooked a lot when discussing this kinda thing — the storytelling aspect. even ignoring what i said about positioning not being a concrete or entirely consistent factor — from a standpoint that's very clearly trying to set that noelle and berdly aren't sure this is real, with how noelle believes even while actively in the dsrk world that its a dream, does it make more sense to have the two of them sat at a desk like they fell asleep? i feel that it does. its so much more believable thst none of it was real if they return as if they were just waking up from a dream. that is the necessary outcome for thst scenario to make sense. deltarune is a story and character driven game — for direction the game is taking with this, they need to believe none of it was real, at least to a degree. i dont think these scene is any kind if clue, really — its a conclusion to the adventures, and a final way to soludify where the story intends for berdly and particularly noelle to be in the short term.

but those are just my thoughts !! maybe i convinced ya, maybe i didn't,,, prolly not, but EITHER WAY i had fun diggin into this :D first three deltarune screenshots were found on the deltarune text project by @afewbitsandpieces, with the two inventory images being found and edited together by my sibling (who,, ion think has tumblr so i can't tag </3)

[koiukiy-o]

hi! just wanted to pop in and day some things about the chapter. before that, about the oc situation, it made pretty angry on behalf of you. cause what?? you are not even first nor the last person using that name during fiction and not. personalities are always different as well because if someone with a different writing style writes it, it is naturally someone else (yeah, look at all those ooc fictional characters!!) not good with comfort words, but i am sure you know your and your oc worth. i love him!!

and about the chapter. in writing this as i read (maybe mistakes ahead..?) ugh. as always. perfect<3

i think anaxa is pretty underrated in the fandom. i love that there are people who chose to write him, but more than that, i LOVE how you portray him. we don't know much about him yet, but his character here seems accurate!!

and your writing style fits him and this plot. it is pleasant to read. like VERY pleasant.

i dont feel smart for this, but anything for him<3

bro im jumping irl i say smart things idm what they mean but HE TALKS WITH ME. my anxiety would be over the top BUT!!

god i love ilias..

THE WORLBUILDING<3 oh my shaylaaa. i really love this relationship you write. also. between every. single. character.

sooo many cameos hello omg u write them so good.

omg i came (hehe.) to him????? my pulse is HIGH.

"YOU TELL ME" UGH THIS MAN??? HE IS LOOKING STRAIGHT INTO MY EYES AAAAA

you are sooo cool, writing everything for a reason<3

aww you did a lil explanation:< thats soo cute of u

ok conclusion. this is art<3

o. m. g.

honestly, dont even worry abt the oc thing !? its so thumbs down emoji, but its not that big of a deal at all, out of sight out of mind? heh, thank you for your kind words <3

live commentary goes hardddd omg okay im so sat !!

— i think hes just super new and people dont know a lot about him !! thats also the only reason i write him so mysteriously D: idw get anything wrong or jump to conclusions about his character, so i just write him as a classroom aura farmer and no. 1 ilias clowner <3 but thank you so much !!

— thank you !! i dont know what my writing style is but im glad it makes sense <3

— honestly fire,, i kind of wrote them both to have an untouchable dynamic because i feel like there is no other way anaxa would take personal interest in a student (his STUDENT!!) unless theyre able to keep up with him.

— as for the words theyre both saying, i kind of wrote it to be like that on alhaitham scene (at around 1:40) in the sumeru quest, (i dont know if you play genshin impact)... though it sounded like gibberish, it's literally just newtons first law of motion 😭 "positional propensity of an entity in natural motion-" babe. relax. an object at rest stays at rest, an object in motion stays in motion unless acted upon by a force. that is ALL. so yeah, that scene kind of inspired me to make anaxa and reader sound like smartasses, even though theyre just talking about normal and basic concepts 😭

— cameos were definitely a part of the world building !! though there is SO MUCH MORE to be written, we're just gonna take it slow and see where it goes :D

— hehehe the explanation was definitely for the people who are also as invested in the theory yapping as anaxa and mc are !! im going to be drawing so many parallels from the assignment and push it into their lives, im glad you like it! thank you thank you thank youuu hehehe, for taking the time to type out and send this whole thing !! i really appreciate it,, :3

[cabbagepatchreports]

Carlotta Story Quest: Reading notes

These are the notes I took as I was playing through the story quest so that I could better formulate my thoughts for my book report later!

My book report if you want to read it: here

Spoilers ahead so tread carefully!

Carlotta is from the “lesser branch of the family”. Capollo is the rightful heir and should manage dealings with the Black Shores, not her

Benett - family thief who stole from the vault- vault keeper - was killed by TDs outside the city

The old man was the one in Carlotta’s trailer

I love that the old man has moles (?)

LMAO CARLOTTA SLAPPING US ON THE SHOULDER

Carlotta and Rover have really good chemistry 

Is Capollo possibly the “shark” Carlotta is talking about?

THE EXPRESSIONS. CARLOTTAS FACE CHANGE WHEN ROVER ASKS FOR INFORMALITY

SAGE AND ACORN HAVE DIFFERENT FACE SHAPES THATS SO GOOD

People are allowed to leave the Montelli family - ex Duncan

I understand why the bar scene was like that but it was a little boring after getting the drink

Some order members have some classism as well as just hating sinners and atheists “mere commoners”

Carlotta always has the most poetic banger lines wtf

Scarlet Velvet’s facial animations are a bit choppy? What happened there?

Her animations for body are good. Its just her face?

Capollo is totally the twist villain - only he, Carlotta and the grandfather have highest clearance in the Montelli family

I love how much Rover is talking in this quest

I LOVE THE COMPUTER SCREEN BITS

The show dont tell in this is so good bro

Oh he totally wasnt captured omg

They really like to try and use family against Carlotta despite being family.

I like that we get to see her truly angry

The way her face changes with her emotions is really satisfying

I love the splitting up and getting to play different characters

LMAO OSMANTHUS WINE (Zhongli noises intensify)

Black cards need to be longer i cant read them fast enough

Francesco’s design is so good man

“The old give way to the new” as children run past

The order made Capollo kill Benett omg

Op nvm Capollo was gonna kill him regardless rip

What is the stormy night they keep referencing?

I like that there wasnt a dramatic reveal that Capollo was behind everything. There were hints dropped since you meet him alone, so when he admits it in the call with Carlotta it isnt shocking at all. Some of it was more heavy handed with Scarlet Velvet admitting it basically straight out, but I like that they let us come to our own conclusions before the reveal

Omg Capollo’s agent is mvp for recording everything damn

Woah the artwork

Some of these stage direction esque dialogues feel a little unnecessary. We can see the two guys notice Carlotta or how she was watching them from the doorway

I do like the sonoro sphere idea for character quests. We get to see some backstory we may not have learned outside their character profiles that wouldnt be possible unless we have stories eventually that Rover is not included in

Some may not like that it tells you the password in the quest objectives but i like it because i was not gonna go and count all the trees in the hall

Carlotta was adopted 11 years ago

Sexism in my gacha game? “And a girl at that”

WOAH CARLOTTAS MIRROR SELF IS SO PRETTY

GIVE US THE SKIN KURO PLEASE

THE MIRROR PIECES AS HAIR SHINY SPOTS IS GENIUS WTF

This whole scene with the mirror self is so good

Her little smirk

Ok the black screen wouldve been a good moment for a still drawing like the one at the end of Lorelei fight. Some of these black scenes make sense, that one was a good moment for artwork 

Interesting that the order allows gang wars to happen. I wonder how the commoners/non mafia in Ragunna feel about that

I would love for us to meet some characters not wrapped up in the Montellis. Im guessing that its a case of the families running the city well but they’re still gangs and not necessarily safe for your regular folk. Specifically I would love for us to get a resonator who is unaligned with the Montellis

Oh shoot this is a thing of them not listening to her and getting slaughtered

Ok I like that Duncan is jaded with the Montellis though. And hes not really wrong for it

Carlotta falling to her knees, Francesco revealing his mob boss persona, so good

Oh so Capollo does actually have a reason to give up the family’s ambitions. Carlotta became the weapon and he sold them out both for the reason of protecting the family from another tragedy

New hc: Carlotta has very thick hair so she has an undercut to thin it out

Lmao Rover was so scary

The spotlights part is so good

Interesting that she was called a monster for being a Resonator basically. 

Adopted because she was hungry and can turn anything into a crystal weapon with her resonance ability

And for being immune to indoctrination according to Francesco

Making Capollo kind of understandable for trying to go for safety instead of risk is a nice way to do the twist villain trope

NEW COUNTRY NAME DROPPED: SEPTIMONT

the disabling surveillance part would be a good place to use the eyes thing again, especially since Capollo is like right there

OMG USING THE MIRROR TO INFILTRATE WAS SO GOOD OMG

Ok they did the art this time they totally couldve done it that other time

Woah and the art is beautiful 

So many people must have accidentally skipped it it took so long to zoom out wtf

“Fall for me will you.” BRO KURO YOU KNOW WHAT YOURE DOING WTF

I dont really ship this but I can appreciate that they’re putting more chemistry into these relationships 

“When it rains, its easier to wash away bloodstains, Thats why acts of revenge usually happen on such days”

Carlottas arc in this is really good

LMAO HER POUT

ROVERS EXPRESSIONS LMAO

I love that we get to tease her at the end

Ha GAY

WAH THE CATSEYE SHE GIVES US IS GORGEOUS WTF

[correctproseka]

re: my last ask;

like WHEN are we gonna tackle and solve kanades whole martyr/savior complex? or the trauma of basically being an orphan because lets be honest, her dad isnt doing great and idk if he'll ever recover its been years already. what about the years of damage enas poor relationship with her father caused her? and i dont just mean in her art and self confidence (tho the game still hasnt concretely shown her growing from that yet either) the years of harm being so heavily guarded and isolated caused mizuki? or her actually trying to learn to trust and rely on others? stand up for herself instead of running? learning to live as herself with more real genuine confidence?

in the time we could have explored all those things we've spent months showing the build up of mafuyus shit family life, the explosion, resolution and now it seems the game is trying to do reconciliation (once again i am running off of wiki summaries, though im mostly caught up on the en server) all without touching on the things ive listed before and its not bad, i love mafuyu and i love his story, how its portrayed and how well written it is but i just want more for the others

mizuki disappeared for a long while and we only get one event where (according to the conclusion im drawing from the wiki summary) only one person cares enough to reach out and try to talk to her and now we're moving on? back to saving mafuyu? thats incomplete, wheres mizukis comfort event? when do the others show deeper (or at least ena level) care for her? when do we focus on kanade? ena?

from what i overhear even wxs does better with this balance so it cant be because the sekai came from only mafuyu so then what is it? why does it feel like the others are being ignored?

gods i wish en server would catch up with jp server already i need answers

-rambler anon

Ok first, again, i need to make it clear that Kanade and Mafuyu did care about Mizuki. Mafuyu was planning on chasing after Mizuki if she was the first to see the girl in Ena5 (thank god it wasnt, that would probably be scary as fuck lmao), I guess the summaries didn't say that part. Like i said, i wish there was an event in between to show exactly how much Mizuki is important for the other two as well. In the end, Ena found her and kanamafu are relieved.

And you can expect Kanade's issues to be the dead last to be mentioned, she is trying to hide those and doesn't accept help at the moment.

Also, in both Mizuki and Ena's event that focused on Mafuyu, they were also important event for their own characters. Ena's I Nandesu was literally so important to her character, and Mizuki's kitty had some nods to herself in the writing. They were helping Mafuyu, but not all focused on her. (Samsa the same, but Kanamafu are more closely linked).

The others will still have their own events with those issues, it will just happen as ID smile happened, randomly within the bigger arc, bc its mostly closed for Ena and Mizuki.

And the rest i already answered before, i think you're right but i also think the game will fix it all up, because i have hope with what they're doing with niigo, so far, Ena and Mafuyu's story are so satisfactory to me.

[jameslongforjimshortforgabriel]

so i got these matching necklaces a few weeks ago for this guy who i thought i liked (im pretty sure it was just platonic love) for valentine's day, but now i genuinely have a crush on this other girl (like BAD im down BAAADD) but its kinda e-dating situation rn (she likes me back btw teehee). so i thought i should give the necklaces to her (lets call her beans) rather than to the other guy (lets call him rice) but then i was like no thats kinda rude like i initialy got those for rice like even if beans never finds out ill always know those were initially for rice like it doesnt seem right. so i was like ok i can give them to rice then, as a friendship thing. but he just asked me whats my favorite pastry which leads me to think hes gonna get me something for valentines (i got him something very nice for christmas and so did he to me. also in one of the drawings he gave me it had a quote from hannibal about love. which makes me specualte that he likes me) so if i give him the necklace hes gonna think i like him back. and if it comes to that conclusion im gonna have to tell him i dont like him and hes gonna hate me and were not gonna be friends anymore and i DONT WANT THAT bc hes literally my best friend. also theres the possibility that he doesnt want me and if i give him the necklace hes gonna think i like him. but also what if he does give me something for valentines and i dont give him shit like that'd be so cruel. and theres also the possibility that i dont even see beans for valentines because we havent even made plans or anything BECAUSE I HAVENT ASKED HER TO BE MY VALENTINE yet and its all very confusing so what should i do

and the thing is i DID have a tiny big crush on rice for a little while so i acted like so (thats why i gave him the christmas present) so itd be very mean to do all that just to end up not liking him. but the thing is i already did all that theres no going back i can only change what i do NOW. (btw rice is kinda super younger than me (2 years (so not that much but still)) but he skipped a grade so hes mentally older i guess?? so i dont wanna act like a predator too btw) and also beans' birthday is literally 6 days after valentines what the fuck what am i gonna get her HOW am i even gonna give her anything

[fagcrisis]

poppy war thoughts, aka this book was so bad it made me want to get a goodreads account just so i can shit on it in an official capacity

so what initially sold me on this book, is that despite my friend ellis absolutely hating rf kuang's babel, ive only ever seen raving reviews for it anywhere else, and a brief description of its magic system reminded me of gergő és az álomfogók. i love that mainstream fantasy is finally starting to rely on drawing from cultures other than the sort of western mainstream and i was actually super excited to get into it. well it sucked (this contains spoilers obviously)

its 11 am this is not gonna be very structured but let me start off by listing some things i did enjoy. first of all its low hanging fruit and im better than this so im only gonna shit on tpw for being so directly about the sino chinese war that the only actual interesting bits of exposition in the book was what was just a description of actual events a Little bit. listen lotr is about ww2. its fine its all fine. anyway, i had fun with the bits of worldbuilding that were yk, actually worldbuilding. the magic system was really interesting and just super not explored enough, the book handled drug addiction about as sensitively as the dare program, but nevertheless it was a cool concept. shamans who have to get high as hell do do anything and then putting those guys in a combat setting is crazy. really fun concept. speaking of shamans i loved jiang. his archetype is impossible to fuck up and he was loveable and fun till the very end. uhh what else. the fight descriptions were good its something kuangs is decent at, as someone whos watched just truly an inordinate amount of wuxia as a child i rly can appreciate a stupid convoluted fight scene. oh i found it hysterical that the west was just one country that was really fun.

NOW ONTO THE SHIT I HATED

rin is incredibly unlikeable i know its not the point of every book ok but tpw isnt good enough to have a protagonist who is just impossible to relate to this isnt 1984 okay this is contemporary ya. i GET that she sucks and thats the point but im supposed to emphatize with her and throughout the book she just seemed stupid and easy to manipulate and not very interesting. shes an incredibly shallow character which is i guess what happens when you base your ya teenage girl protagonist on CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY MAO ZEDONG. HELLO. anyway. all her personal relationships are very much carried by the strenght of the characters close to her, and because most characters in this book are not very interesting that makes for a shitty fucking protagonist.

most of the conflict in this book is extremely artificially generated until maybe the second half of part 3. everyone in rins life is unnessecarily mean to her because shes just so smart and good at things. the part where they accused her of cheating on the exams and she owned them like crazy came to define much of the book. some kind of mean cunt whose purpose in life is to cause misery is an asshole to rin bc shes so smart and strong and talented, and she owns them with a witty remark. she punches nezha on the first day of school for fucks sake.

speaking of the school, the majority of the book is spent at sinegard academy and it is an extremely predictable and dull affair. i long for the wizard of earthsea. kuang is not a very good writer on a technical level and everything that she tries to imply she ends up spelling out (usually by having a character say it out loud) only a couple pages later. you can get through 2/3rds of this book by just reading every other page and correctly guessing what has happened and what will happen. in possibly the funniest paragraph of part 2, rin thinks about how everybody thinks altan is the coolest guy and yet he has no friends and at this point shes been experiencing quite severe racism from all of her peers and then instead of leaving you to figure out the quite obvious conclusion kuang literally has her say "oh his skin is dark and mine is too. i wonder if he knows what racism is like" just, truly hysterical.

her feud with nezha is unbearable, i knew immediately that he would become a romantic interest because a ya protagonist cannot hate a boy for perfectly good reasons. it always has to be bc shes horny. anyways thankfully when she starts studying with jiang, jiang is there and the terrible dullness of it all is lifted somewhat

as i mentioned before, the actual historical elements in the book elevate it greatly and the third part is almost enjoyable in some sections. however, unfortunately, this is also the part of the book where rin and altans darkling situation begins. i have a sinking feeling altan may not have died, which sucks because i hated this bit. they have virtually no relationship to eachother except altan yelling at rin occasionally. now again there were bits and pieces of their relationship that i didnt quite hate, but honestly i still dont entirely buy the rin is a seerly thing emotionally because she is so detached from it. the revelation only seemed to shock her a little bit and then she was busy with being at war and her boss hating her, when she actually gains the power of the phoenix at the very end its her own hatred and egoism fueling her rather than any connection to her people. overall this again comes back to her being quite weak as a character, and the worldbuilding suffers as a result of that

in any case, ill mull over continuing the series. the ending was actually quite strong i love a genocide as a result of being a stupid fucking 19 year old (dont quote me on this please), so maybe the next one is better maybe ms kuang learned to write inbetween these 2.

[smute]

trigger warning im gonna say taylor swift now but i hope thats okay since the hype seems to have died down a little bit. so what i find interesting is that a lot of people suddenly seem to have issues with the concept of fictionality when reading a pop album. this isnt unique to taylor swift haters claiming that she's "faking" certain things or "lying" about her own experiences, people seem to have similar expectations when it comes to other (*cough* young, female *cough*) artists. im not defending swifties drawing the wildest conclusions from random lines, im just saying its interesting that there seems to be this demand for raw authenticity that is used to justify intense scrutiny and bad faith interpretations, but only in certain cases. like heres a crazy idea: a lot of ts haters need to learn how to say "this doesnt speak to me personally," or "i dont like this" rather than trying to construct a reality in which the work of a certain popular artist is actually incredibly shallow and meaningless

[ooglywooglies]

i have to make a separate post because the tags were getting too long

but yes all my vampire characters are thin, i even struggle to justify to myself xanthes huge bazoongas because in the lore nyesaya cant justify having a lot of fat on their body because of how infrequently they eat. i had to do a bunch of lizard and deer blood math to come up with a somewhat reasonable metabolism to keep them from having to kill too often.

there are not many vampires running around in universe because theyre fairly weak and its 100% legal to kill them basically at any time for any reason by exploiting a revenge law that exists in order to justify another law that allows vampires to kill and eat 1 human every month or so (im stuck between 1 and 3 months because 3 is really stretching that metabolism problem thin but 1 still feels way too frequent for what a law would allow) they can only do it past 10 pm and when they kill someone they have to report it so it can go on a publicly available list so their loved ones can know who did it. you dont have to verify a relationship to a person on this list to kill a vampire, you just have to be able to name someone on the list when you do, probably, i havent really thought of a consequence for not doing that, there probably arent even any consequences.

(wow alex do you have much of a bias here - LOOK IM TRYING TO MAKE IT BALANCED, OF COURSE HUMANS WOULD SYSTEMICALLY OPPRESS VAMPIRES - i always get nervous people are gonna be like hey this feels similar to real life oppression are you trying to say vampires in your universe are analogous to human minorities in real life? and i mean, i get why youd say that, real life human minorities are oppressed because the majority thinks of them as a threat, vampires are oppressed because THEY ARE a threat. i dont think that means im SAYING human minorities are a threat. i just kind of wanted to draw the logical conclusion of what would happen if a sentient creature like this lived in a world like ours. human minorities still exist in my universe and are still oppressed, theyre probably even compared to vampires IN UNIVERSE. and its like, yeah i have sympathy for the vampires a few of them are main characters, i talk about their oppression more than the real life human minority group characters because idk, im a real life human minority myself and i sort of find my own oppression tiresome and uninteresting at this point. at least in the context of my fantasy story. maybe its comforting to me to explore this through the lens of a fictional alien species, my point is please dont take this in bad faith please i promise i think about the implications and i promise thats not where im going with this im just autistic about biology and politics and magical realism.)

anyway in order to not HAVE to eat super often ive been working on developing ways to slow down their metabolism. its not completely perfect and ive had to throw in some "fine whatever its magic" to cover the cracks but i initially based their metabolism on komodo dragons since theyre a similar size. thats where the lizard and deer blood math comes in, deer i think have a similar amount of blood to humans it was like 10 pints or something. this was so long ago ive lost all my sources, and so if a komodo dragon is good off of like an entire deer for like a month, thats where i got that estimate from. so they have some reptile-like traits like, they dont regulate their own body heat, for the most part. they sleep a LOT like 20 hours a day most of the time, they get tired really really easily, and they brumate in the winter

im not sure if brumate is the right word, thats the reptile word for hibernate but theyre not reptiles, theyre not mammals either

they were sort of just sprung into existence by a human hating food chain based goddess so you cant really classify them taxonomically. its one of those situations that sort of frustrates me because yeah magic does exist in this universe and you cant explain everything in a grounded way

sidebar the magic is very magic and not logic but one thing i like about it is its basically an invisible gas (its also a form of life but thats not really important) so the way its "wielded" is you can basically just form a connection between yourself and anyone else via the invisible magic gas thats constantly touching everyone. telepathy is something that happens a lot in universe especially with vampires because its how they conduct their religion and its like certain beings can just beam sounds and images directly into your brain, especially while you sleep via the connection of these magic particles

preddy cool

[kayotic-catgirl]

tmagp 16 liveblog in a post lets go!!

today is best day ever. i get two cats AND new tmagp episode !!!!!

WAS THAT A FUCKING HELLO JON

ohhh alice is traumatized now oh nooo baby honey are you okay

AW CELIA HOLDING ALICE IS CUTE. DRAWING THAT LATER MAYBE. the horrors tho </3 WAIT SINCE WHAT MISS DYER (theory at the moment: her parents)

"i believe you" "no you don't" OH MY HEART HURTS SO MUCH. alice sam and celia dynamic makea me cry

HELLO CHESTER I LOVE YOU hearing the jarchivsit voice say "hashtag goth girl" is objectively hilarious to me

.......INK5OUL!?!?!!?!!!?????!???!?! I KNEW WE WEREN'T DONE WITH THEIR ASS THEY'RE SPEAKING HOLY SHIT THEY HAVE A VOCI wait no that was madam e speaking. NOW INK5OUL IS SPEAKING

oh my godall this slang usage hit me over the head like a meta pipe. WHAT DO YOU MEAN "TOTALLY VEGAN". ARE THWRE SUCH THINGS AS NON VEGAN TATTOOS,?? (if this is an actual tattoo term let me know!) oh god madam e please stop speaking (affectionate). OH, SO ONLYFANS IS CANON IN THE UNIVERSE OF TMAGP NOW. OKAY. IM SURE THIS INFORMATION WONT HAVE ANY CONSEQUENCES WITHIN OUR FANDOM

damn ink5oul really speedran that shit..girlboss (gender neutral)

MADAM E PLEASE SHUT UP. I CANT HANDLE YOUR INFLUENCER SPEAK. LOVE YOU THO. OH MY GOD INK5OUL INSINUATING THAT MADAM E IS A POSER IM SOBBING . the SOUND EFFECTS WHAT. DO NOT INSERT A "BRUH" INTO YOUR PODCASt ....true goth culture is digging graves? i thought it was mostly music and politics based but sure what do i know

im sorry but if i were madam e and thr hot person who tattooed me askee me to dig a grave to prove my gothness and said "don't make me break your heart" i'd listen. not because i need to prove how goth i am (because im not really a goth), but rather because im a horrible bisexual. not saying i want ink5oul but i understand

CIRSED TATTO BULLAHIT ERM WHAT THE SIGMA?????

oh madam e is going THROUGH IT. sorry girl </3 oh thabk god the cats are okay though

OHNONOOHNOOHHHHNO OH FUCK

fuck that was fucked up. that episode was so godamn interesting and the fact that the metaphorical hurt turned into literal hurt is so good for my brain. EATS THE CASEMENT.

poor alice, she's. not well. :((

if i had a dollar for everytime i was standing while listening to a magnus podcast and actually sat down in response to one of the characters telling another to do so, i'd have two whole dollars. wonder what that means.

lena gwen toxic doomed yuri (can't believe thats my only takeaway from that scene)

GWENDOLYN JUST GIVE UP PLEASE. STOP TRYING TO STAY WITH THR HORROES. YOU'RE GONNA GET YOURSELF MORE TRAUMATIZED AND MAYBE KILLEd

in conclusion: WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK/pos. THIS EPISODE WAS SO COOL AND THINGS ARE GETTING WORSE AND OHHHHH IM GONNA DIE

[stardrunkfox]

A rant post because im angry and this is my safe space for my brain, exploding full of word spaghetti.

TW: rape, incest, family drama, abuse, sexual abuse, ect.

My dad told my eldest sister she had to leave when she was practicing witchcraft in our house, he is adamant he didint kick her out but thats bullshit. He didnt give her a choice no matter how he tries to convince himself otherwise.

But that isnt what im here to rant about. That sister is fine, she has 2 amazing kids and I love her so much.

What im angry about is my current situation with my other older sister (second oldest sister). Im gonna put it short, she raped and molested me when I was little. My dad is aware of this. I started therapy several months ago and it had to be reported to CPS along with an entire other shopping list from hell of what that sister has done to me throughout my life.. did my dad kick her out? Nope. Did he shame me pretty much for getting the cops involved? Yup. Was the first and only thing he was worried about, about how this whole situation might make him look to other people? Yep. Did I have to console his 70+ year old ass like a little boy that the big bad scary cops wernt gonna come arrest him, all the while struggling to manage my own anger, grief, physical and emotional pain (i have chronic pain from internal damage due to objects being forced inside me when i was a little girl), and shame from having to retell all the stories over and over again to strange women sitting in my living room? You bet your ass I did.

Even better, i made terms that I would be moved out by the end of this month, just so my sick, pathetic grown ass sister can continue to live here cause she wont get off her 20+ year old ass to live somewhere else or work a job. And she maintains that the fact she raped me wasnt her fault. That the way she was raised by my family was what led to her doing what she did, and she should scream and cry and be consoled cause she has it so hard..

So the conclusion ive come to is my dad draws the line at his oldest daughter practicing withcraft, but her other daughter raping her little sister is just fine.. whos fucking sick, wattpad-ass lookin hellish story am I living in?

[onewomancitadel]

i genuinely think that that last ask you got showcases PERFECTLY how fandom has gotten too close to the creators of their shows. im not saying its necessarily a bad thing, but like the assumption that whats good for the Story thats being told MUST be what is "good" for the fandom (ie what the fandom wants to see) is so...yeah there are definitely creators who knew that what would be a good ending for their story would be what fans wanted most and purposely spited their fans (sobbing in s/pn fan rn lmao) but like... ultimately a story being told is always at the whims of the storyteller, not the audience.

anyway neo fan 🤝 cinder fan: people want my fave dead for hurting their ship even though narratively it makes no sense and would provide no catharsis/genuine development of the story for them to be violently murdered/redemption via death'd.

love u seraphina i finally got a day off again tomorrow so im gonna read more skimming eye and try to get into my drawing headspace bc i wanna draw cinder cradling jaune for you <3

Yes, the anon ask in question. I just want to clarify for other people reading your ask and my response here, I don't believe that anon intended it in the sense that they agree with the conclusion that fandom catharsis is predicated upon the fandom getting exactly what they want. Obviously what we discussed there and now here is that popular notion. I also think, given that it's a popular notion, people are not at fault for believing it, so I hold no ill will (even if the anon asker in question did mean it in the way they agree with it, or the ask was a gotcha of some sort). It's still worthwhile to talk about.

I should note that it can be really hard to tell the agenda of an anonymous asker, for good or ill. I know myself, having sent anons, there have sometimes been misunderstandings. I usually try to assume the better, though sometimes that is a task and a half and I want a fucking medal for it. On the upside, when you get a really good anon and I get to write something interesting (even if it's someone ticking me off), the experience can overall be very positive. So if someone has an issue with me and sends an anon ask, I'm still usually happy to answer it.

I draw the line at people not reading what I say and wasting my time or me not having personal interest in responding to something. It's otherwise a lot of fun. I love being a full-time diva.

Back to the question at hand: the intimate relationship between fan, work, and author is a bit weird to me overall. It gets weirder when the work acts as personal pleaser or personal insult. I mean, storytellers have outright come and said they've changed story direction based on Redditors figuring out the story, or because they don't want to give an obvious ending, or they don't want to give fans what they want purely on the basis of not wanting to give fans what they want... it is totally bizarre.

Then in the reverse, we get the sense of ownership - rather, entitlement - fans have over the way a story should be told, and that the authors should be directly addressing them. I don't think ownership over a story is necessarily bad... copyright has completely transformed the way we think of our relationship to stories... it's entitlement and personal insult that's more the issue. I love R/WBY. I love the way I interpret R/WBY. I like writing about it. My emotional response to belongs to me. No matter what happens, what I invested was meaningful. But that doesn't mean I control the creators. In fact, I think that in itself is the death of art... isn't art a doorway to other minds and worlds?

To speak frankly, I don't necessarily know what Cinder's redemption in canon is going to be characterised like - I can only draw that from other redemptions and make attempts at guessing the overall tonal feeling.

I have some idea of one storybeat we might hit (confrontation between Jaune and Cinder over the Relic of Choice). That's the last Relic and will be when some of the cast returns to Vale, well after Vacuo. I don't know what subsequent development is going to look like. Volume 8 was essentially the Cinder Volume when Ruby had the Ruby Volume of Volume 6. I expect that means things will be lighter in Volume 9, unless Volume 9 involves Jaune development in respect to Cinder. At the rate the story goes, I think we may not get more Cinder interiority for some time. Then again, I'm basing this off of the V4/V5 -> end of V7/V8 development pattern.

I'm not exactly busting to see Volume 9 in this respect - I want to see how they characterise katabasis for sure, and I really like the show lol - but I know we're still a long way off from when we get a definite answer for her redemption, and I don't know what it's going to look like in the meantime.

I hope to be surprised in a positive way. I was seriously shocked they went as far as they did with her (in a good way) in V8. I never would have expected they'd go so far as to make direct cinematic parallel with the Byronic hero painting of Byronic hero paintings with her.

anyway neo fan 🤝 cinder fan: people want my fave dead for hurting their ship even though narratively it makes no sense and would provide no catharsis/genuine development of the story for them to be violently murdered/redemption via death'd.

I laughed aloud, truly. Even if you're arguing from the point of catharsis, I don't think the case is that it is cathartic (in either the tragic or satisfying sense), and then to further that I don't think fans who avidly want her dead would, er, feel satisfied. To do so, we'd need to rewrite the story rather early on.

I didn't get into it in that post or other posts, but I have sort of gestured at the idea that Cinder is more personally offensive as a villain because she killed Pyrrha and not the other characters she has killed, despite the Pyrrha kill arguably being more 'just'. That's interesting! I obviously think Pyrrha is meant to be the symbolic representation of Cinder's misdeeds up to that point (and overall is in the entire story), that's why Jaune's tied to her. So it's doing its job.

It's just that Ironwood is more excusable for point-blank executing an unarmed councillor than the natural result of combat between Huntresses (and the final fight of the Vytal Festival, really). Or like, it was totally out of character or something. That's what I mean about what you're willing to extend towards the character and your perspective. Even seeing that act through Winter and Harriet's eyes doesn't convey the proper perspective conflict to people who are willing to overlook everything Ironwood does altogether. Wasp nest! Wasp nest! I kicked it!

The interesting thing about Cinder's redemption arc is the context it takes place in. Ironwood's corruption arc, chiefly, but we've also got the loaded tragic context of Pyrrha. It's not that I think 'revenge bad' is the ultimate takeaway. The ultimate takeaway is much more complicated than that, and if you validate Cinder's perspective - as I have said over and over - then she was right. She was right to kill Pyrrha. It really is kill or be killed.

The ultimate takeaway involves a much more complex upheaval of the relationship of the characters... and the ideals of the Huntsmen and Huntresses... and everything. That's why it's interesting. Part of the issue with the 'Cinder should die' statement is that the loaded thematic gun in the Maiden power which Cinder carries is waiting to be fired, and when you overhaul/redeem through her, you overhaul/redeem the story by extension. Things mean things!

It's not just coming from a place of, 'Me like Cinder me no want Cinder die', it's coming from a place of serious narrative consideration. Lol

So the more interesting question is how do you answer Pyrrha's tragedy in an interesting way? R/WBY is not a tragedy overall. Pyrrha's sacrifice in the story and the symbolic things her death represents (the death of innocence, the death of childhood) are very interesting. That these are pertinent themes in Cinder's own story is suspicious.

Pyrrha's death means something, Cinder's life could mean something. Come on!!! Life, death, and rebirth!!

Is it 'fair' that Pyrrha doesn't get that? I've seen this opinion expressed. It's not really about fairness because Pyrrha isn't real. It's a story trying to say something. From death comes rebirth, it's why Pyrrha's Fall Maiden candidacy is linked to Cinder. It's not tragedy all the way down forever. The character who believes that and perpetuates that perspective bringing down tragedy on other characters needs to be proven wrong.

love u seraphina i finally got a day off again tomorrow so im gonna read more skimming eye and try to get into my drawing headspace bc i wanna draw cinder cradling jaune for you <3

Love to you as well! I hope you have a lovely day off and my fic is a nice accompaniment to that! That's so kind of you as well, I hope you have fun drawing. I know the scene you're talking about; that's very choice. (o:

Hope you have a good evening and take care! Thanks for your ask. (:

[scourgefrontiers]

i said this on my twitter but im gonna do the same here!

to summarize, today i came to the conclusion (after discussion w my fiance) that while ive Said that i was drawing for myself and only myself, i really..havent been. ive still been doing it for validation from others, and thats really been detrimental to my mental health :( i thought i was doing it but i guess subconsciously i wasnt lol

so! im keeping commissions closed for a while longer, probably indefinitely (unless i really need them). im aiming to get on disability to cover rent so i dont need to struggle with comms every month and i can focus on making myself happy with art instead

until then im going to be drawing what makes me happy for myself and only myself u_u thank u for understanding and supporting me all this time!

[hypnotised-hazard]

Could I just say something here considering the rise movie is coming up and shit I wanted to share my predictions since it's just a week away. So yk how everyones going on about this being similar to mutant apocalypse from 2012 and considering a lot of 2012 references and hell even va cameos in rise I find it fair to draw from that conclusion

BUT being the zany little 2003 tmnt fan I am I have found a few things that REALLY SPEAK TO ME and some 2003 fans may know exactly what im going to touch on. Which is the season 3 episode "Same As It Never Was"

Before we unpack I would like to say spoilers for 2003 tmnt and I 110% agree you should REALLY CHECK OUT THIS SERIES it's highly underrated okay ON WITH IT!

First off im going to be pointing out the obvious the apocalypse like future [because imagine if I had a nickel for everytime thats happened in tmnt.] There's a sorta form of opposite into how the future is told but they are both alternate timelines were everything is taken away by a krang/umtron antagonist of the present dimensions time which...

Both take the role of a very familiar guy we all know and love.

And weight is on one person who wants to defeat it and therefore has to come up with a plan to stop them or else everything they know will be destroyed that person probably knowing they could lose something in the process.

And while I'm on it I wanna address some speculation I have about that whole machine Leo's coming out of in that shot. He looks heavily traumatised by what he's seen in that pod of some sort with the whole plot line about the apocalypse future I wouldn't count it out of the question that he's seen the future Casey's from or something similar to that and he could've seen that he's lost almost everyone and probably due to him being the leader this weight has been put on him even more because everyones looking towards him for advice and more amplified by casey being his student he doesn't know. So if they lose he truly believe its his fault. it's absolutely similar to Donnies experience in 2003, were the whole world goes down the drain just because he went missing so theres this giant burden on Don were he tries to fix everything hes supposedly done in this alt universe only for his plan to kill his brothers in the process going back to his dimensions brothers traumatised.

So that's lovely two traumatised turtles who definitely aren't scarred for life.

There's also some smaller similarities I've found between the two like

-A future were at least one or more of the turtles are dead [rise please have the balls to kill raph and don on screen like 2003 /j]

-uh oh looks like someones lost an arm

-present Casey dying [or at least its most likely that rise Cassandra has died as Casey was named after them and we didn't see her anywhere in the trailer and probably if your grandson is basically going back in time to save you and your family you'd probably be there lmao.]

-April's a commander and alive [listen rise future April isn't seen in the trailers but I presume shes alive because she's greeted by Casey meaning Casey knows her and Casey also looks like they see April first rather than the turtles because he's probably looking for his next instruction. Even though its a bit of a stretch why shes not in the trailer is probably because she's kinda doing the same as 2003 april in same as it never was which is running camps or forms of rebellion camps and probably is why shes stated as a commander.]

Okay again some of these are speculation but GOD DAMN a lot of these can definitely be classified as similarities and damn as a 2003 fan I can see where they're going with this and even though same as it never was is literally the greatest tmnt episode of all time HOLY FUCK it's a mental RIDE and going into this movie is definitely kinda like how i felt going into same as it never was for the first time everything seeming perfectly fine THEN BAM HIT THE FAN this movies truly gonna be awesome I can feel I'm not ready

[ah-yes-paris]

beatles harmonies that cured my depression.

It is important that i discuss this. Well, not really important I just really wanted to share. This is in no particular order either it's just the ones that come to the top of my head lol. Feel free to reblog and share your own 😎

1. The "Woahoooah AHHHHH" from When I Get Home.

Not even words can describe the battery power that starts coursing through my veins when I hear this harmony. I cant even,....LIKE HELLO??? i have never heard such a blessing... Such a well-fitting triplet of voices singing a vowel thats made me feel like i can run 10 miles straight. They aren't real. The Beatles, of course. To this day I don't understand how this harmony exists in this universe. My ears melt everytime. One of my favorites, in case you couldn't tell.

2. The obvious.. "yeah yeah yeah YEAHH" from She Loves You :)

LET ME TELL YOU. oh my god let me tell yo u .. Way back when, when I was a new fan... Good lord. I was literally ascending. ASCENDING. i felt every inch of my body start to lift off the ground. Im sure im not the only one who's experienced this. I remember thinking 'how the wiggle wubble do 3 men sound so GOOD TOGETHER' IT DOES NOT ADD UP PEOPLE THE BEATLES HAVE TO BE SOME SORT OF ROBOTIC BOY BAND GROWN IN A LAB THIS ISNT POSSIBLE how do we live on the same dimensional plane that this harmony lives on..

3. "The magical mystery tour, is coming to take you away, Coming to take you away!" from Magical Mystery Tour.

...

guys. Guys you dont understand. This one line, adds, YEARS. LITERAL YEARS TO MY LIFE SPAN. At this point I am fully immortal. The "coming to take you awayyy" makes my heart POUND. i love this song so much... And this line especially... It makes me go insane. Basically the beatles are manic melody genuises that have successfully spread one of the biggest diseases in musical history. Personally, I think this line was a clear example of why.

4. "Last night I said these words to my girl", "Please pleaase me, oh yeah, like i please you...", "...With you! Oh yeah, why do you make me blue" from Please Please Me.

do i even have to say anything. Well, i dont but i will for the sake of the post. There is so much. So much. About this song that I. I cant even,,. I would choose this song over SO MANY BEATLES SONGS DUDE. not that its cause i think its better than all the others but it just holds such a special place in my heart. Its the only song thats Ever made me feel some intense wave of nostalgia for a decade i wasnt even born in. Its one of the songs that continue to make me question the beatles existance. How could something like this ever come to reality. My brain has never been so pleased in its life.

5. "Carve your number on my wall and maybe you will get a call from me" from If I Needed Someone.

The way that this song was added into my Liked playlist SO QUICKLY...... God. I love george. Hes my favorite after all. Rubber Soul as a whole makes me feel warm inside but this song and this one line just hits so much more intensely for some reason... Their voices just flow insanely well and I just DONT UNDERSTAND HOW. its like an angel choir making its way through the clouds as you see the gate to heaven start to appear. Wonderful song and mind-blowing harmony... The beat is so good too and i just explode.

6. The "ahhhhh Ahhhhh AHhhhh *inhale* AHHHhhhh AHHHHH *inhale* AHHHHHH" from Day Tripper.

HOLY JESUS CHIRST THIS SONG HAS SO MUCH TO UNPACK... There are undeniably A BUNCH of other flawless harmonies in this song but my god the beatles knew what they were doing. Thats all I'm going to say really.... But once again. Power. In my veins. A few listens to this song and you'll find yourself having the strength of 1,000 men.

7. "Oh, now", "All I want is you" from Dig a Pony.

FIRST LYRIC... ITS LITERALLY 2 WORDS AND YET IT CONTINUES TO BLOW MY MIND. Something about the "Oh" ...... Its like an arrow passing through my heart I dont even know guys. Im not lying when I say it makes me feel like im floating. It makes me feel like i can quite literally grow wings and fling myself towards the sun. Dont even get me started on "All I want is you".......it literally triples the effect. It makes me go ballistic. The song is just mindless lyrics but the harmonieeesss.....

8. "Ah girlll.... *inhaeahelrlsseeesh* Girrll...." from Girl.

no words. Like. No words. I cant even. I seriously dont need to explain this one. Im just going to drop the isolated vocals version because if you havent listened to it you are MISSING OUT... you thought the originally recorded song was the greatest cause of your heart palpitations? Well you thought WRONG.

THIS IS.

9. "I love youwoowooowoowoooo...", "ask me WHYY..", "I can't believe.. Its happened to MEeee", "i cant concieve *doo doo doo do doo* of anymore *dun dun dun* MISERY" from Ask Me Why.

GOD OK LISTEN im just gonna say this now i absolutely adore and favor the please please me album so much i dont care what anyone says ok im such a sucker for their early sappy love songs ITS SO MANY GOOD HARMONIES ESPECIALLY FROM THIS ONE. MY GOD i listen to this and i feel like im with a lover late at night and we're like at one or the others house keeping each other warm and being all romantic and happy. Specifically the part that goes "ask me whyy I say i love you.. (OOOOHHHOOOO) and im always thinking of youuhoohohoo..." LIKE COME ON PLEAEE IT MAKES ME FEEL SO WARM INSIDE AND I SMILE IN AN INSTANT GOD I LOVE THIS SONG SO MUCH. Whenever i think im sad i go "no im not because Please Please Me." And its like all the sudden everything im sad about just poof disappears!

10. "If theres anything that you want.. IF THERES ANYTHING I CAN DOOOO" from From Me To You.

I am so in love with this song you guys i have no idea I LOVE IT SO MUCH. IT HAS THIS LITTLE SWING TO IT SPECIFICALLY BETWEEN THESE 2 LINES THAT MY BRAIN SEEKS FOR NEARLY EVERY DAY. the amount of blessing i get from this song is more than i can comprehend its literally insane i cant even. How does someone do this how did the beatles make music guys I am seriously so dumbfounded like they just sat there and wrote banger after banger like WHAT. this song makes me believe that life isnt as horrible as it seems and if im lucky enough i can just sing and dance to this song for all of eternity. There are also so many other good harmonies in this one as well...

---

In conclusion the beatles have had a chokehold on me for 3 years but I mean their stupid groundbreaking songs keep drawing me back in so.... This has also made me come to the conclusion that the Beatles simply arent real because I still dont believe a band can not only write consistent hits, but also harmonize in a way that causes me to spin around while doing backflips.

Thank you for your time.

[argumentl]

The Freedom of Expression Ep 39 - Finland's female Prime Minister wears a suit with no bra. Indecent? Sexist?

K: Hi, this is Dir en grey's Kaoru with this week's episode of The Freedom of Expression. Joe san, Tasai san, welcome. Well...

J: Hahaha

K: This suits you (*pointing to Tokyo Sports hoodie that Joe is wearing*)

J: Oh thank you. Im starting to quite like it.

T: Im glad.

J: There is also a Tokyo Sports logo here on the end of the sleeve, so even if you are wearing a jacket, you can show it.

T: Thank you, haha.

J: So, (*To Tasai*) Im waiting for a job.

T: Thank you, lets do something.

K: Haha

J: Lets do something.

K: Ok, Joe, today's news please.

J: Yes, ok. 'Finland's female Prime Minister wears a suit with no bra. Indecent? Sexist?' 34 year old Northern European Prime Minister, Sanna Marin, appeared in a magazine wearing a jacket which exposed slight clevage, causing an unexpected stir. While parts of social media labelled this 'indecent', and 'inappropriate', other voices have been raised claiming this backlash is sexist, because a male politician appearing even half-naked in a magazine would not face the same criticism. Elected at the end of last year, Prime Minister Marin is notable as her country's youngest ever Prime Minister. She was interviewed by the fashion magazine, sold this month in Finland, and was  portrayed as a role model, wearing a black suit. It appeared as if she was wearing the jacket with no bra, and her clevage was slightly visible below an elaborately designed necklace. Parts of social media responded that, 'It looks cheap', 'I've lost trust in her', 'She's trying to stand out'.

Well, if you search for this you will be able to find the image. Firstly, when I had a look, I didn't think it was all that indecent.

K: Yeah.

J: Kaoru, how do you feel about this?

K: Well, I feel like there is always gonna be someone who complains.

J: Yeah, so those who are defending PM Marin say that, for example, with that photo of Putin going fishing topless, or that photo which was posted of him jogging in floral patterned shorts in winter...People are asking why it is ok to show naked photos of male leaders, but indecent for a female leader to show a tiny bit of clevage? This had led to some claims of sexism. I think this is a difficult problem. (*To Tasai*)What does the expert on clevages have to say about this?

K: Are you an expert?

T: Haha, it has been said about me. Well, recently at Tokyo Sports, we've had a lot of articles concerning sex. Like, things that really make you think 'it this sexist against men? Or is this sexist against women?' I've been thinking a lot about what it means to be a man or a woman. Its like women will point out sexism if they see it, but as a man, even if I think the same inside, I will question myself.*1

J: I see, men are bad at expressing feelings?

T: Yeah, so i've been thinking a lot about what it all means.

J: I see.

Kami: Um..

J: Oh, Kami's here.

Kami: Do you think people with small boobs are jealous of her clevage?

J: Oh, that?

Kami: As for me, I don't even mind if there is no clevage.

J: I see.

Kami: I probably even prefer small boobs.

J: You like small boobs?

Kami: I think they are better. But this photo, however you look at it, its a nice photo, isn't it?

J: Yes, its a good photo, right?

Kami: So maybe the people complaining about her clevage are just jealous because they have no clevage. I feel like that might be it.

T: Well, we don't know whether the people complaining were men or women though.

J: Yeh, we don't know that. We can't say.

K: It could be either.

Kami: So, Kami, are you saying 'Don't worry about the size of your clevage!'? Like, 'Its ok, don't worry about it!'

Kami: Yeah. Its whats on the inside that counts.

J: Thats it.

K: Yeah.

Kami: Either is ok.

K: But this is a fashion magazine, right?

J: Yeah. So PM Marin isn't wearing this type of thing for public affairs, its for this magazine. And I don't think this was only her idea. With a fashion magazine, there will be the director and the stylist etc, so she will have been shot in this way in oder to properly show off the fashion. So, even if you attack this, it is what it is. What do these complainers think is indecent about it?

K: Well, no matter what you do, you will always get opinions from both sides.

J: Well, of course, yes.

Kami: Its these small-boobed people who are attacking her.

K: He's particular about this, haha.

Kami: Its the truth. No mistake.

J: Attacking her like, 'Don't brag about your boobs!'?

Kami: Yes, thats it. They don't like the bragging. No mistake!

J: No mistake?

Kami: No mistake.

J: Haha, well if Kami has no doubts, maybe thats it.

T:Well, there may be some women who don't like hearing that*2

J: Like, Kami is doing sexual harassment?

T: Well, he is just saying his honest opinion as a man. But a man wouldn't say this looks cheap, would he? Or that they'd loose trust in her, or that she's trying to stand out? What do you think?

K: Even if she is trying to stand out, whats wrong with that?

J: Yeah, if people pay attention to this and see her a politician, it might draw more interest into politics, or spread awareness of her policies, so in that way, its a kind of promotion.

K: So its not really anyone's business to say 'It looks cheap' and stuff.

J: Yeah. But it doesn't look cheap, does it? From what I can see.

T: No, it looks nice.

Kami: Oh, I've just realised something.

J: What is it, Kami?

Kami: There may actually be a mistake about when I said 'there's no mistake' before.

J: Ah, tell us what it is.

Kami: She's a politician, right? She is being criticized as a politician, so it might be the small-boobed of the Opposition Party criticizing her. 

K, T, J: Hahaha

J: No way! Really?

Kami: Yeah. The small-boobed of the Opposition.

J: I see.

T: Thats interesting.

J: So its like criticism of the administration?

Kami: Yes.

J: Political affairs, right? But I think PM Marin will be quite happy with this

T: Yeah, I bet she didn't expect it to turn into such a talking point.

J: But 'the small-boobed Opposition'...?

K: Haha, its a new phrase.

J: A first for humanity! Small-boobed Opposition!

T: I wanna search for it on my computer later.

J: I bet you won't get any results.

T: Haha.

J: Its only just been said...'Small-boobed Opposition'.

T: Incredible, right?

J: Haha. But conversely, what if it were a Japanese female politician appearing like this?

T: How would that go?

J: Yeah, how would it? Are there any Japanese politicians we'd like to appear in fashion magazines..

K: Its not really like we want them to appear, the editors want to feature them.

T: There isn't really anyone I'd like them to pick up on specifically.

J: Yeah. Well, the conclusion here is that PM Marin looks great.

K: Yeah, I think thats it.

J: No mistake.

K: It reminds me of when former Hanshin player Shinjo (Tsuyoshi) san returned from Nippon Ham, he was all over the magazines.

T: Oh yeah.

K: Its great, isn't it?

J: Yes, it is.

K: Ok, well...let's finish here.

J: Before Kami says anything else.

K: Thank you very much. Please subscribe.

*1,2 Slightly unsure about these bits.