#the censor bars really makes a point doesn't it

[hunnam]

[nikkotinamide]

my observations and take on some nuances not conveyed in translation

my drawn out summary part 2!

*Disclaimer: I'm not critiquing existing translations, I think the translators have done a phenomenal job! Just wanted to add my 2 cents worth.

Part 1

Language Use in Kiseki

Ep 4 Cont

More tears. This scene hurts so bad. Ai Di actually says "Blind or what? Having followed him for so long, it's not as though unaware of whom he likes..." It's difficult to translate these lines because there are no first person pronouns used. On one hand, it's Ai Di scolding himself for holding on to his unrequited feelings for Chen Yi (seen in the translation above). On the other hand, he is also scolding Chen Yi for the same thing with regards to CDY.

Ep 5

Time for some comedy to soothe the angst. Our boy really went to school punning and naming himself Edison (and I think the intent was with Thomas Edison in mind lmao).

Ep 8

There's so much we don't know about Ai Di. Here Chen Yi actually asks if Ai Di wants to return to school. Coupled with how Ai Di deflected and told him to stop joking around, and how he told Zong Yi he doesn't need to attend school because he's a genius, it suggests that Ai Di has some regrets about not having the normal life peers his age lead.

Ep 9 💔

This was the most heartbreaking scene imo. Here Ai Di says "你再怎么喜欢他，你再怎么努力，他看的永远不会是你。" - "No matter how much you like him, no matter how hard you try, the one he looks at will forever not be you." While it's clear it's directed at Chen Yi, to a degree it's also Ai Di directing it at himself.

He goes on to say "会看着你的他妈只有我。" 他妈 is a vulgarity (essentially meant to insult someone's mother) which the subtitles and translation have censored, and this line translates into "The only fucking person who will look at you is me."

Let's make it angstier. Ai Di says "只有我，从小看到大。我蠢，我猪。", which has been translated into "Only I, for all my life...I'm such a stupid fool". The translation is fine but it doesn't reflect just how vulnerable Ai Di was in this moment, as though he heart was breaking right alongside Chen Yi’s. My translation would be "Only I, since I was young till now when I am old, have been looking at you. I'm naive. I'm foolish."

This is the line that has made me tear every single rewatch. Ai Di isn't stupid but he is aware that he is being foolish, chasing so desperately all his life after someone who doesn't see him as anything more than a brother .

Ai Di regrets and he says "这件事我帮你扛，抵昨天晚上的事情行吧。我说行就行。" which has been translated into "I'll take the blame for you to make up for what I did to you last night. It's a deal." I felt it was more of a resigned question Ai Di poses, "I'll carry the blame for you, to make up for yesterday night's affair, alright? If I say that's fine, then it's fine."

I was surprised to see this! Here, because Ai Di will not follow willingly, Chen Yi picks him up, and he purposely steps over the pot of burning coal on Ai Di's behalf. I'm not too sure if it's a Chinese thing or religion thing, but in my home country, some Chinese (esp the older folks) say that upon returning home after incarceration, one has to step over burning coal to wash away the bad luck. Very neat that they included this custom!

The same thing Ai Di tells Zong Yi not to say "再见" - see you again; they wouldn’t want to see prison again (which has been translated into goodbye).

This is why people think ChenAi switch, also courtesy of Hsu Kai who pointed this line out. Ai Di says "做回来就不欠啦" which translates into "Do it back and I'll no longer owe you". (more context in comments)

Ep 10

Matt Lee's character who was Ai Di's friend at the bar before jail mentions that Ai Di even dyed his hair blonde upon going overseas to further his education. Meaning, Ai Di's friends were told that he was schooling overseas when he was actually in prison 😢

Ai Di tells Chen Yi "应该多培养一些人在你旁边了，被开枪的时候，才有人帮你垫背" which translates into "You should cultivate relationships so more people will be by your side, so that when the gun is fired, there will be someone to take the bullet for you". Ai Di's done it once, he doesn't want to do it again. And Chen Yi smiles weakly after Ai Di says this because Ai Di just confirmed that he went to jail in Chen Yi's stead.

Ep 11

Like Xiao Jie says, Chen Yi really sucks at wooing someone, so much so that even Xiao Jie is better. On receiving the signature, Ai Di asks if Chen Yi thinks he is BTS (bangtan) and that he can sell his autograph 😂

Ep 12

Chen Yi says "我是在你离开之后，我才发现自己真正喜欢的是你" which has been translated into "It's true I realised you are the one with whom I'm in love while you were gone." I would prefer if it had been "It was only after you left that I realised the one whom I actually love is you". Keyword 真正 - really/actually.

Ai Di uses more heart-rending words. Instead of "Don't make me your rebound just because you can't get the one you love", it would be better translated as "Don't randomly use anybody as a substitute just because you couldn't have the person you love."

Cake scene translations

The most heartbreaking line of this scene. 再 - again. Ai Di actually says "Never again will I step aside for anyone." Implicitly, he was previously going to give up on Chen Yi for CDY.

ok this was a longass post but I wanted to keep most of the angst here

[rainintheevening]

Peter writes home from the battlefield every chance he can.

Lucy's letters are full of barely rhyming, rambling poetry, talk of stars and trees and any plants or animals he's seen. He puts in all the words that will never describe any of this, but still there is a great sky above him, and a big heart in his chest, and he hopes she will understand. She could if anyone can.

To Edmund he sends the muddy, bloody, wobbly-writing letters, the ones with rambling memories of Narnian battles and strategy, though he takes care to phrase it as 'playing in the woods', not wanting the censors to get leery. There are also many theological musings, and usually the continuation of whatever Bible verse Ed has sent in his letter. I wish you were here, and yet I am glad you are not, is a sentiment oft repeated.

Susan and Mother usually get the same letter, little stories of kindness shown or soft things appreciated. He asks them for more socks for Jackie, an extra bar of chocolate for Hamish, tells them how he's gotten his whole unit to memorize the Jabberwocky poem, and they make each other smile with it.

Dad is usually named with Susan and Mother, but sometimes he gets an extra scribble, usually a single scripture reference, or the name of a local boy now dead, and a few things Peter asks him to go tell the family.

Eustace gets the occasional missive folded in with the rest, usually sketches of aeroplanes, with which Eustace is fascinated, though they aren't very good sketches. If there's a sketch for Eustace, there is usually also a sketch for Jill, something Narnian, a sword or a forest or a castle.

Professor Kirke only gets occasional letters, usually short and to the point, but written in particularly formal language, as of a king writing to a dear advisor.

They all write to Peter.

Professor Kirke sends exerpts of whatever philosophy or theology or history books he just happens to be reading at the time he remembers to write. Sometimes it seems very random to Peter, but he loves it.

Eustace's letters are infrequent, but burst with colourful descriptions of his school life that make Peter laugh.

Dad usually just scribbles scripture references at the bottom of Mother's letters. Susan signs those too. Mother's letters are full of ordinary home life, rich with the warmth of hearthlight and fresh baking and good books and comfortable chairs and a much loved old quilt. She says what everyone is doing much more clearly, tells how the garden is coming in.

Mother and Susan are also very good at writing to the boys who don't have anyone to write to them. (Peter has a picture of his family, and everyone in Peter's unit thinks Susan is the prettiest girl in Europe, that she should be a queen, but they all watch what they say around Peter, they know how he feels about his sister's honour. But it really does bring up morale.)

Edmund doesn't usually say a lot, but he's regular, always engaging with whatever musings Peter put in his previous letter, making some of his own references to Narnia, usually to things Oreius taught them, and always concluding with a Bible verse. Half the time Ed absently addresses the missive To High King Peter, my brother... He never actually says I'll find you when I join up, I promise, it's just sort of there, between the lines.

Lucy's letters are like blue sky and fresh air and a fierce hug. Sometimes Peter can almost smell Narnia on the paper. They're not long, but she says I love you all the time, and talks of the weather and the flowers, and the girls at school who are struggling, and how she's trying to help them, and there's always a bit of poetry or a hymn that she's written, but it's actually good, compared to Peter's stuff. Courage, dearest brother, she always says. Remember the Lion, she always finishes.

Peter gets so many letters he has to start sending them back to his family for safe keeping.

[femdomdiaries]

Random Gojo Headcanons

If yall want me to put any of these into a separate post to better fit your blog theme let me know. It’s just random thoughts rn.

Tw: NSFW below cut. MDNI. One of these mentions breeding qnd pregnancy kink, the other mentions that gojo is a service switch.

SFW Headcanons (Realistic)

He's canonically addicted to sweets so do not underestimate what he would do for a Klondike bar.

On a museum date he would giggle and point everytime he sees a naked statue.

Doesn’t sleep often but when he does he often has nightmares about his past. Never when you’re around.

Doesn't drink but is fluent in drunk and can often be found being a bad influence to intoxicated people at parties.

Hope you don't get embarrassed easily because he has no shame and there will be loads of PDA.

Doesn’t wear headphones for the same reason he doesn’t get drunk.

He would steal your clothes, then when you catch him wearing your stuff, he'd deny that they're yours. You can't really fight him about it because he honestly wears it better anyway.

If you’re shorter than him (he’s 6’3 so likely), he rests his chin on your head when he hugs you from behind.

Chronically late so you have to tell him things in advance.

He always wins competitive games so now he tends to stick to creativity oriented ones like Minecraft. From an artistic perspective he tends to suck at those.

Obscure/Crack Headcanons

He licks the icing off the oreos and puts them back in the package.

Snags bites of your food but complains if you eat his food.

To make up for stealing your clothes he'd order you a "smoking hot outfit" he saw online. But when it arrives it’s barbie doll sized.

Don’t worry, he also got you these really nice shoes. But when the shoes come in they're also barbie doll sized. He puts them on his fingers and walks them up your face.

When he grabs ass or gropes you anywhere he says honk honk or beep beep or something like that.

Still has the original flappy bird on his phone. He holds the high score. Could have gotten higher but he lost interest after a couple thousand.

He made a portrait of you out of macaroni art. You keep it at your job. Your coworkers often say how they wish their children were still in the cute art making stage.

His phone wallpaper is a picture of you naked with hot face emojis censoring your private bits.

His lock screen is you with the potato filter.

Keeps a plant because plants are often unpredictable so even he wouldn't get that right by default.

Had an Undertale phase. You know how Sans is lazy and puts forth no effort because he knows it’ll all just be reset by the player anyway? Gojo canonically doesn’t get involved in major conflicts or try to solve everything because he knows that when he dies it’ll all just revert back to the usual. Twinnem.

Actively played pokemon go when it came out and was definitely on team instinct. Probably trespassed in weird places tryna catch rare pokemon and was single handedly carrying team instinct in his region. (Arguments could be made for team Mystic)

NSFW headcanons (realistic)

Bros the type to beg for sex in public then giggle loudly when you're trying not to get caught in the public bathroom

Since he's kinda just the best at everything, he's been worshipped his whole life, so praise would just go over his head. But degrading him? Using power play to humiliate him or make him seem inadequate in some way? Works wonders.

He would send you really explicit texts and get you all hot and bothered only for it to turn out that he was talking about tres leches cake.

Playfully mocks you for not being able to keep up with his stamina.

While he may have infinite cursed energy, he has a limit to his physical stamina and does eventually get tired after going too many rounds.

Believes that the future rides on the youth, so heavy on the breeding kink and pregnancy kink. Wants kids so if you'll allow it best believe this man is not pulling out.

Obscure/Crack NSFW Headcanons

As a service switch he's more than willing to make up for outperforming you by servicing you on demand. It doesn't matter where or when you're horny, he's all yours.

He gets even more turned on when you push him past his limits to use him like a toy.

Says he wants to bring "a special friend" to bed but it's just a stray cat he found. (If you're allergic, it's a life sized cat plush.)

Answers the phone during sex and doesn't care how loud you are, will talk as if nothing else is going on

"Oh, I have to take this. Oi, Nanami. Yes, this is a good time. Hmm? Oh, nobody's hurt, that's just (Y/n). Say hi (Y/n)."

You'd think his favorite sex toy would be some type of gawk gawk 3000 but no, it's a fleshlight that glows in the dark.

Would love to be a rope bunny but he’s just too strong and always breaks the restraints when he gets excited.

He’ll still want to be tied up if only for aesthetics. Maybe you’ll find curse imbued cuffs on the dark web or something.

[bidokja]

I was joking a while back that the actor they have playing KDJ for the orv movie was too handsome for him and a friend who's read orv was like "KDJ is actually secretly attractive!!" And I just felt my soul leave my body right then

SIGHS...

Okay. Buckle in. I'm gonna finally actually address and explain and theorize about this whole...thing.

I'm not gonna cite any exact chapters cause it's like 11:30 and I've got an 8 hour drive in the morning but I'll at least make an approximate reference to where certain things are mentioned. Also, this post is just my personal interpretation for a good bit of it, but it's an interpretation I feel very solid about, so do with that what you will. Moving on to the meat of things:

There is one (1) instance in the web novel that I know of which describes specific features of Kim Dokja (especially ones other people notice). This takes place when members of KimCom are trying to make Kim Dokja presentable to give his speech at the Industrial Complex (after it's been plopped down on Earth). This is when they start really paying attention and focusing on Kim Dokja's appearance since they're putting makeup on him; I still don't think they can interpret his whole face, but they can accurately pick out and retain more features than usual. If I remember correctly they reference him having long eyelashes, smooth skin, and soft hair. These features can be viewed as (stereotypically) attractive.

Certain parts of the fandom have taken this scene and run with it at a very surface level, without realizing (or without acknowledging at the very least) that this scene is not about how Kim Dokja looks. This is, in part, due to not realizing or acknowledging why Kim Dokja's face is "censored" in the first place, and what that censoring actually means. I think it's also possible that some people are assuming the censorship works like a physical phenomena rather than an altered perception.

I'll address that last point first. The censorship of Kim Dokja's features is not something as simple as a physical phenomena. It's not a bar or scribble or mosaic over his face. If that were true it'd be very obvious to anyone looking at him that his face is hidden. But his face is not hidden to people. They can look at him and see a face. If they concentrate on his eyes, they can see where he's looking. They know when he's frowning or grinning. They see a face loud and clear. But what face are they seeing? Because it's not really his, whatever they're seeing.

No one quite agrees on what he really looks like. And if they try and think about what he looks like, they can't recall. Or if they do, it's vague, or different each time. We notice these little details throughout the series. Basically, Kim Dokja's face is cognitively obscured. Something - likely the Fourth Wall, though I can't recall if this is ever stated outright - is interfering with everyone's ability to perceive him properly. This culminated in him feeling off to others; and since they don't even realize this is happening, they surmise that he is "ugly."

Moving on to the other point about what the censorship means: To be blunt, the censorship of his face is an allegory for his disconnect from the "story" (aka: real life, and the real people at his side). The lifting - however slight - of this censorship represents him becoming more and more a part of the "story" (aka: less disconnected from the life he is living and the people at his side). The censorship's existence and lifting can represent other things - like dissociation or depersonalization or, if you want to get really meta, the fact that he is all of our faces at once - but that's how I'd sum up the main premise of it. (The Fourth Wall is a larger part of the dissociation allegory, but that's for another post).

So you see, them noticing his individual features isn't about the features. It's not about the features! It doesn't matter at all which features got listed. Because they could describe any features whatsoever and it would not change the entire point of the scene. Because the point isn't what he looks like. The point is that they can truly and clearly see these features. For the first time. They are seeing parts of him for the first time. Re-read that sentence multiple times, literally and metaphorically. What does it mean to see someone as they are?

This is an extremely significant turning point dressed up as a dress-up scene.

---

P.S. / Additionally, I'm of the opinion that Kim Dokja is not handsome, and he is not ugly. He is not pretty, and he is not ghastly. Not attractive, nor unattractive. Kim Dokja isn't any of these things. More importantly, Kim Dokja can't be any of these things. The entire point of Kim Dokja is that you cannot pick him out of a crowd; he is the crowd. He's a reader. He's the reader. Why does he need to be handsome? Why must he be pretty? Why is him being attractive necessary or relevant? He doesn't, he doesn't, it's not. He is someone deeply deeply loved and irreplaceable to those around him, and someone who cannot even begin to recognize or accept that unless it's through a love letter masquerading as a story he can read. He is the crowd, a reader, the reader. He's you, he's me. He's every single one of us.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for effectively banning my roommate from bringing over a certain friend just because I find him annoying?

So I (20F) met my friend, S (20NB) in highschool and they fairly recently started living with me and my family. We sometimes have little watch parties with our friends where we all dress up, eat food, and watch movies all pertaining to a certain theme. S wanted to do a John Wick watch party and invited A (19M)

I met A when we were both in the drama club and we got along at first but I eventually just started to find him really annoying. When S and I were both in AP art, A would constantly skip his classes to hang out in the art room without any consideration for the fact that we had to focus on our projects. He never took our art seriously and destroyed my friend's sculpture that was part of her portfolio. Ik it's petty to still hold a grudge over this, but it really thoroughly pissed me off. (This isn't the only thing he did to piss me off but it's one of the most prominent in my memory)

Anyways, fast forward, S is having their watch party. A doesn't drive and he was trying to figure out a way there and asked if I could drive him. Since he lives 30 minutes away, that's 2 hours of driving to pick up and drop off someone I don't even like. I said I'd do it for $100, mostly as a joke to make it clear I didn't want to and he texted S "Is she r*tarded?" (He didn't censor)

That was kinda the last straw and I wasn't willing to do anything to help him after that point. He took an Uber over and then at the end of the night, he failed to realize that Ubers would cost more, and didn't want to pay the extra fee, so the two options were that he could stay until the price went down or I could drive him. I made it clear to S that I didn't want him to stay, but I also said that it was ultimately my parents' choice since this was their house. They said yes and he stayed until the next morning.

Later, S asked why I didn't like A and I dished everything out, including how mad it made me that he called me the r-word. I really didn't hold back with my rant.

S was very understanding and admitted that they hated hosting the watch party and so A wouldn't come over again. I tried to insist that I'm not gonna bar them from seeing their friend, but they just insisted that they would invite A over again. It wasn't my goal to ban A from the house, but I also know that my ranting and making it clear how much I dislike him that I effectively told S not to bring him over again.

What are these acronyms?

[blimbo-buddy]

Consider this

Analog Horror Warrior Cats but nothing changes. It's just everything played straight and everything happening.

Scourge killing Tigerstar in a The Walten Files or Harmony and Horror style implication and not outright shown. Just the aftermath.

the implied pain of gaining nine lives.

The seizures of healers.

The horrible deaths of Gorsepaw and Swiftpaw.

Snowkit's death or Snowfur's.

I worked on a little bit of Swiftpaw's death but Analog Horror found footage style before I freakin' deleted all of it in sheer embarrassment and regret it because I know I could've made it work somehow but oh well lol

If you asked me this when Mandela Catalogue first came out and really sent the Analog Horror genre skyrocketing into popularity I would have instantly wanted this. Unfortunately I think that the entire scene of Analogue series has.. dulled down a lot.

I still get some good jumps but something about it doesn't feel genuine anymore. And with so many series getting Analogue Horror series made about them, the entire thing feels unoriginal at this point.

I do think you have an interesting idea though with simply just the aftermath of everything, like with a huge censor bar over it

I'm just bummed out I'm not so excited over analog horror series anymore, or even just vhs animations like what we got with those vhs warrior cats animations. I think though that in the warrior cats fandom, horror isn't really utilized in the way that it could be used. What many think is horror is just blood or gore but I'd actually like to see some genuinely scary stuff, not just covered in blood and ripping the warriors characters apart into bloody pulps, y'know. I think the fact that these are cats is what can hold them back from being portrayed in a scary manner but I think if we all just pull a Smile.jpg and make the cats unrecognizable from a cat then it could maybe work

[enby-denby]

Seeing as there are three days left of my little TADC poll, and knowing full well that a majority of the votes have already been cast and the winner has all but been chosen, I'd like to give a deeper summary of each to both hype up those who've voted already for their choices and to give people seeing it for the first time a more informed choice. I meant to do this sooner, but I was doing the Dead Colonizers feast with my family for the past two days. Anyway, here are your fics:

Chess Gang Flashback: This fic would begin in the development crew at C&A noticing that their first playtester wasn't exiting the game on schedule and sending in a (way too) elite team of administrators to rescue said employee. As admins, they default to a form reminiscent of the Admin icons on their work laptops: chess pieces, to be precise. Kinger tries to lead the way, even when he no longer remembers the plan, Queenie will make power moves until she realizes how powerless she really is, and Bishop tries to do good by his Lord only to be corrupted by the divinity of the digital world. And the others? The rook, the knight, and the lost pawn? They may not outlast the others, but their actions will have lasting impacts.

Hotel Staff AU: Exactly what it says on the tin, really, t1he circus is instead a hotel that everyone works at. Pomni is a Valet, Caine is her manager that is friendly and supportive (when he makes himself availible, that is), Ragatha is a Front Desk Auditor that helps her a lot with paperwork, Jax is a porter that never does more than his job description and screws around with his coworkers, Gangle is a bellhop who puts on a happy face for guests only to duck into the bell closet to cry about getting stiffed on tips, Zooble is a bartender at the hotel bar who doesn't talk much and leaves as soon as their shift ends but sometimes brings Pomni water or soft drinks, and Kinger is the property manager for this (and several other) hotels whose gone a little crazy from being run ragged. The main six work the same night shift schedule, dealing with all sorts of weird guests, requests and personal stresses (including some not so digital, not so doomed yuri).

Pomni is a System and Ragatha is queer: I envisioned these as not one fic but two intertwined stories; both would share a single canon and events from one would effect the other, but could be read in either order. One half of this series is Pomni's traumatic first day resulting in her splitting into a system. Below is an illustration of the colorful cast of characters this story would feature, all within the colorful character they all live in, inside-out style:

The other half focuses on Ragatha, her sewing skills, and the wonderful and horrible "personal project" that she keeps grafting to herself to cope with circus life/past traumas around her femininity. I am trying to talk around tumblers censors, so just know this: it's one part spicy fantasies, one part skin-crawling descriptions of the reality of what this sort of fabric-surgery would entail. The inflection point of these two narratives is that Pomni and Ragatha would confide their coping skills with one another and bond in the process.

One Shot where Pomni Meets Bishop: this one will make more sense after the Chess Gang Flashback, but it doesn't neatly fit into that narrative. Instead, this story finds Pomni lost in another distant courner of the circus, a land claimed by an exiled zealot. The former wants answers about the circus, the latter wants another convert to his ideology... or otherwise manipulate her to play the role he thinks is needed to be played. All told it would be a clash of chaos and order, of logic and belief, and is going to be full of emotional (perhaps even literal) bombshells.

Toy Story AU: this I came up with on a complete whim when making the poll, but I have developed the idea some what. I'm honestly torn between making Caine a human (controls the games, comes and goes as he pleases, unaware of the suffering he is inflicting on his toys, etc) and a toy in the position of Woody (lays out the rules of being a toy, his design, bringing Pomni back when she strays) but I know I want Pomni to be confused and resentful of her existence as a plaything. Her idea of an exit is the toys leaving the bedroom and forming a society out in the woods, but the other toys are skeptical of her plans. One cool thing about this story is I can call out the darker aspects of Toy Story's premise, like the fact that freezing up seems to be an involuntary reflex on the toy's part.

New person joins the circus: this would be the introduction of another oc, this one a living stuffed animal named Totes. Initially believing the circus to be a big silly drug trip, they seemingly shrug off the weirdness of the circus and embrace their half weasel, half tote-bag existence with ease... until they sober up, and Pomni finds herself having to navigate a role similar to the one Ragatha had for her when she first arrived. This is definitely one of the narratives that leans into the circus being a grim and endless cycle, and thus this fic represents an inflection point of Pomni reflecting on this shared, miserable experience.

Zooble Theseus' Ships Themself: another "throw it in" idea, but a wonderful thought experiment to explore that I imagine they have done at some point. This fic would explore the nature of a being that can swap out every part of themselves, except for an intangible piece of sapience that is not transferred to any one piece. This is proven when the reformed Zooble tries to make a second self with the swapped-out pieces, and fails.

Descendants Style story: Somebody has to do this, and in a sense many fans on Tumblr have laid the groundwork with their fan kid designs. This would take place after a sort of "balance patch" to the game that would allow the humans in the circus enough autonomy to have children in some capacity or another, and rather than going on many small adventures Caine sends a group of said descendants on a grander adventure as a sort of coming of age ritual. There will be goofy enemies, fun dynamics between the circus kids, deep existential questions on the humanity of said children, and what their future might hold being trapped in the same world as their parents.

Pomni becomes the "New Old Guard": this is the natural conclusion of the "Circus as an inescapable cycle" line of stories, with no concessions made with whimsical twists or pretense of escape. And we rip that bandaid off harshly with the first chapter detailing the abstraction of Ragatha coinciding with yet another new arrival, the combination of which triggers some horrendous PTSD and survivor's guilt. If she can make it even a quarter of the time Kinger had made it-- or even through the next week-- it will be a miracle.

Good/Steak Dinner ending: if the above was a True Bad ending, then this is the opposite. A few years after escaping the circus, the main six have gotten physical and mental therapy, as well as justice. But not much money, just enough to cover their bills and a single very nice meal for their troubles. The story of their escape and the aftermath of their stay is told as playful reminiscing over drinks and appetizers, their lasting anguishes carved out of porterhouse and ribeye entrees; as the night winds down and the humans start to return to their old lives, the second oldest member of the circus and the last victim of that digital hell get their just desserts.

So, there's the loglines for each. And as necessary I will make more art as I develop each idea/feel like I need to. But as you can see, there's a reason I am so indecisive about these ideas that I am putting these fics to committee. I think up/mentally expland upon these fics faster than I can write them, and the data I am getting from Tumblr is giving those brainstorms a direction to consistantly burrow in. Get out the vote, my fellow TADC Tumblerites!

[frostyreturns]

Frosty Ruins "The Blackening"

At what point does the obsession with identity politics and 'representation but only for specific groups' thing become another era of exploitation films? Are we there already? It's one thing to prioritize movies with black people in them…it's one thing to create a movie for black audiences…but where it gets into blacksploitation territory is when the only thing you are trying to achieve is to make a black movie for blacks and your barometer for a job accomplished is that the people are black. When you call your movie the blackening it already communicates that this is going to be yet another movie that thinks being black is a genre of movie and a personality trait. I'm starting to wonder if they make movies like this bad on purpose because they have some kind of tax scam going…like they write off the losses…they generate buzz from how bad it is and can blame all of this on "racism". Dump a bunch of dirty money into the film...the film bombs so the studio claims the losses. And with AI they don't even need to put that much work into writing these awful movies. Ai shits out a script put a bunch of desperate nobodies you dont have to pay much in it...it makes way too much sense.

My other issue with the film beyond this is it's a horror parody movie…they are like 25 years too late to that party. We've moved beyond parody the writers and creators of today are not capable of understanding the concepts they aim to criticize enough to create parody. We also don't have a shared cultural experience anymore enough to be able to parody anything. It was different back when we all watched the same shows/movies and they were memorable and worth seeing. What's to parody now? Everything sucks…everything is its own parody. It's so rare that the people I know have watched the same things as me anymore. Meaning the references and parody will be lost on me…or it will be horribly outdated and stale. This is an ill advised movie right from the start. Imagine scary movie but horribly racist and not anywhere near as good and you see how low the bar is. And of course its going to be stale the central premise is horror movies where the black person dies first…the tagline is we can't all die first…so it's addressing a trope that's been done to death. The old stale references and tropes are also more ammo in my argument that its ai driven...rather than drawing from current experiences of the world...which a text generator doesn't have it instead pulls from all the stuff that exists already. You get a black reimagining of scary movie with references to blade and jumanji.

Whether I'm right or not it's yet another movie that has me questioning if any human beings actually made it. Which means either I'm right or it's gotten so bad that writers don't pass the turing test anymore. The dialogue is awful, the jokes are barely jokes…it really does sound like somebody put "scary movie but for blacks, and combine it with jumanji" into some chatgpt thing and this is what it turned out. Lines don't seem to follow from the line before it. Like the guy will say "You're asking too much." and she replies "I'll touch your penis later" it lacks the flow or rythm of human speech and lacks the cadence, timing or delivery of a joke. Plot blends with sentence the same way backgrounds blur together in ai produced art. It has the basic shape, you recognize it…but its off. You see what they were going for…but the shape of it is hazy.

It has hilarious jokes like "this looks like blades house…I want to talk to Wesley" get it thats a movie with a black person as the lead…it's a reference…but black.

It's also amazing how things that would normally be seen as horribly racist against black people are allowed because of the context. When the office has blackface in it as a joke…where the entire point of the joke is that it is offensive…its not allowed and must be censored and apologized for. However in a self appointed woke movie they can have slurs and blackface in a board game called the blackening. And of course if they have license to make fun of themselves…sort of…then of course they also have license to be horribly racist to the only group it's acceptable for every other race to be racist to. Every joke that wasn't about white people or race was some other obvious low hanging fruit joke.

Now I looked up the reviews for this movie because I saw a lot of people claiming to like it and could not believe it…and I call shenanigans. I think the reason this movie isn't getting ratioed like it should is for two reasons…#1 fake bot reviews inflating the numbers…anytime you see a lot of 1 star and a lot of 5 star reviews and not much in between it reeks of bots. The one star reviews were all clearly people explaining why the movie sucked…while the 5 star reviews were all generic…many were in spanish for some reason…they had weird grammatical errors and lots of 5 star reviews that say things like "I will want to watch movie." And the other thing saving it from being rated like it deserves is a little bit of the black panther effect where people who didn't see it sing its praises because its a black movie…and people see it as a kind of anti-white activism to defend the movie. I see a lot of comments defending it but most of them are accusing everyone who didn't like it of being white and racist. They may as well have called this one racebait the movie.

Ultimately I would say its "bottoms" for black people instead of for gays. Unfunny pointless movie that exists only for identity politics reasons. It's not as bad as bottoms which I still maintain is far and away the worst movie ever made. The movies and genres it pulls from appeal to the lowest common denominator so I can see some stupid people with gutter palates still enjoying it. It's an hour and a half of black people standing around going look at us we are black. Avoid at all costs.

Not sure what number or star rating to give it…I know

Tax scam/10 money laundering scheme/100 woke/woke

happy last day of black history month everyone.

[gunsatthaphan]

Ok I examined the chart today and came to a conclusion:

there is a 4 in the line connecting our 3 main besties and at first I thought it was refering to their school year but now I believe it refers to the number of friends

the line connects Mew Boston Ray and the cencored character(pretty sure it is Lookjun) is blue and it doesn't have any arrows probably because it is only firednship and not romance, and this line ends up to Yo/Jenny connecting all of them to her, I melieve the 5 of them are all connected and have a friendship that links them

maybe they if she is a bar owner they might all go to her place and maybe Lookjuns character works for her and that is why she is connected the closest to Jenny

anyway this is my teory and I could be very wrong!

If Lookjun character is bi I hope she hooks up with Ray👀 tho I hope she is lesbian cuz I want MLM×WLW bffs vibes with her and the boys

In regards to Lookjun's character: Someone said (I think it was P'Jojo himself) that there were 4 friends in the group (as opposed to only 3 in the trailer) and he also replied to a tweet that said the main trio should have a lesbian friend with a "they do" (or something similar) so I think she might be that fourth friend in the group and a lesbian. This would also make sense based on the bts pic we got today, which was of Book, Neo, Khaotung and Lookjun in their characters' university clothes at a table together. They really looked like a proper friend group imo. 🙂

---------------------------------------------------------------

the blue lines all say เพื่อนสนิทปี4 (เพื่อนสนิท = close friends, ปี4 = year 4 (senior year) so the number 4 does refer to the school year. the line between Yo and the censored character says รุ่นพี่ที่จบไปแล้ว which I would interpret as seniors who graduated. So I'm taking it that they all know each other from school/university lol.

However you still have a point because I did not notice that the line of the censored character doesn't have an arrow lmao so you're probably right about Lookjun's character being part of the friendship-line along with the others. So her, Yo, Ray, Mew and Boston being the main friend group makes the most sense I think. And like anon 2 said, Jojo implied that the boy squad will feature a wlw friend so let's hope that's her lol.

xxx

[kathystheoriesandmore]

Wrapping this all up! Until next time maybe-

New analysis for a new episode. And, with it, a closer examination of all the facts we know and how they might fit. I recommend looking at my other post, if you want to be caught up on my theory from the last episode, and of course... ------Warning like always, spoilers and talk of disturbing stuff and long post!---- Now let's get on with it! :)

There isn't much that can be said about what the complete story is at this point, mostly because we theorists still need to piece the evidence together and figure out what's going on, but I decided to attempt to answer a question that seemed to be confusing a few people. So my next few posts will just be to clear up the confusion I have seen and put my thoughts on it. 

As I stated in my last theory post, my hypotheses were founded on small snippets from before the episodes aired with Ranboo discussing his initial plan. Causing me to assume that everything was on tape and not live. (Which I was correct on, and I'm loving this win because it makes me feel so smart XD)

With this in mind, we can also argue that most censors or things that are "Slime", and people that act like NPCs are "Generation Loss" or something like that. Also that this organization conducts "Social Experiments" on their subjects, and it's not just a TV show for them.

(To be honest, I'm not sure how it connects to what happened. Maybe by testing human choices when asked who lives or dies? or what they see are moral in their eyes? That I will not be able to answer for a while, but I'm open to hearing your thoughts! ^w^ )

----------------------------------------------------------------------------- What I can answer is the "Savior, Taken, Villain" riddle from Genloss' merch store's video game.

When it was initially released, it appeared to be a trailer game for the first episode. With Red Stranger/Savior representing Hetch, Blue Friend/Taken representing Sneeg, and Green Friend/Villan representing Charlie. But it became confusing when we noticed they showed up more than once, implying that it was not just for the first episode. That, and the game had weird components like going into a screen, pressing a red button to end it, and a glitched-out setting for clicking something behind the trash, which the stranger showed us. It didn't make any sense. That is until the third episode. With episode three, we knew that this game had foreshadowed what was to come. A man playing a tape, getting pulled in, finding his friends in the game, and a stranger who created the glitching. With us, the audience, feeling like we were helping and in control, only to discover that we weren't and making it worse. Ending with Ranboo clicking the button and causing his demise. Nonetheless, the titles in Binary no longer apply to the people after episode one. Charlie isn't a villain in episodes two or three, and Sneeg doesn't really show in episode three except dead on the floor for a few seconds.

So where do they fit in now? Well, would you believe me if I said they're not stating their titles, but rather the titles they give Ranboo?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Let's begin with Sneeg because he's the most obvious. Ranboo, the hero, is seen as taken by Sneeg. Sneeg is still also a Taken, but to him, the titles are shared. In Sneeg's eyes, Ranboo is someone taken just like him and is suffering just as much as he is. He regards him as an equal. You can even see it with Sneeg going up to the bars when trying to escape, telling Ranboo he will be right back like he was making a promise to save Ranboo. Then to Hetch or Screen man. Hetch seemed to see Ranboo as a savior. Someone to fix all the messes. I am aware that Hetch betrays Ranboo at the end of episode three, but given my other theory that everyone is a clone, is it possible that the Hetch leading us and the Hetch at the end are not the same. I mean, it seemed odd that Hetch had him walk to the heart to shut it down, only to later inform him he could have just clicked a button to end it all. But that's a theory for another time. For this moment, we need to keep in mind that Hetch frequently stated that Ranboo would save everyone.

Then there is Charlie seeing Ranboo as the villain. This one was a little tough to notice with Episode 3, but it made sense later on. In the first episode, they battled to the death, then Ranboo practically ripped him apart to acquire a key in episode two, then in the third episode, he watched as Ranboo put himself in danger and murdered someone he knew was human from prior death in the episode, then he died. Watching as Ranboo did nothing to prevent him from being devoured by a wire monster. Charlie must believe him as the villain.

That's all for now :) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ BTW, I'm thinking of writing a post later this week to attempt to explain what the true story was, but not right now since I'm still gathering evidence, re-watching videos, and discovering secrets. So please stick around if you are interested in that! But other than that, I hope you all have a wonderful day/night!

[sketchesandnonesense]

God I hate seeing pr o s h i p posts so much. Bc like. All the ones that get popular have the nuance of an unbaked potato.

Like.

if someone writes a story where bad stuff happens like pedophilia n shit, and it's v obviously not romanticized

im uncomfortable, but whatever. Not my thing, I'm gonna move right along.

If it's romanticized and "shipped", then im stealing shit from your house.

Ships are meant to be "i ENJOY seeing this happen and these characters together"

n if you try n say otherwise you don't know fandom shit or you're twisting words because it's what's nifty. Ships are something you enjoy seeing to the extent you're giving it a lil name or some shit so you can find MORE. that is the point. that's how it's always been. I've been in fandom for far too fuckin' long n never seen it used otherwise.

And it's fucking creepy if it's a ship w/ a minor and an adult. Drawing romanticized ship art n writing fic where it's totally normal and okay and there's none of the moral and ethical issues is gross.

That kinda shit is what led me to being groomed twice n almost taken advantage of. Because my teenage ass would see that shit and think "oh well it's fine if they understand eachother soooo well and they REALLY love eachother"

like.

Yeah yeah dont censor yourself for kids or whatever but also like.

if VNs in the yandere boyfriend genre can put disclaimers that they contain shit typical of the genre you can put a disclaimer on your trash ship shit lmao

I'm not gonna send anyone hate over it bc fuckin'. I just do not care enough. But I am gonna avoid you and send only the most rancid vibes your way. I will feel nothing if I hear you fell down a manhole.

this kinda shit just fuckin pisses me off so bad lmao.

One of those things that makes me actually violently mad because so many pr sh people are like. SO fuckin high horse-y like "haha im so cool and unique bc im PrObLeMaTiC lmao get triggered snowflakes <3 ur a stupid idiot if ur uncomfortable fiction doesn't affect reality sweaty <3 even if u mention how ur life was actively harmed by this kind of thing idc <3 me jacking off to underage characters is more important than anything else <3"

like

"lookit me im so ACCEPTING and MORALLY SUPERIOR than these PURITANS"

when like.

the "puritans" are just "hey can you not be weird about underage characters n shipping them w/ adults?"

like. do your kink shit. Do your questionable relationship dynamics between grown adults. explore darker subjects. just don't romanticize adults fucking minors.

the bar is in hell but some people love to play fuckin limbo

[jet2themoon]

My Thoughts on Indie Animation

Get ready because this is a long-ass post (read: essay).

This is something that's been bugging me for the longest time, and that's how indie animations (mostly series on YouTube) have such high quality, sometimes surpassing the animation from actual professional studios. That's not a problem in of itself, but I feel like there are several effects that can arise from that. Allow me to explain.

Quick Disclaimers - This isn't knocking indie teams. They're all doing amazing work. Also, I'm just one person with opinions, so take what I say with a grain of salt. I'm laying this out here so I don't need to put "in my opinion" in front of every sentence.

Time constraints - One reason a show with a bigger budget and a larger workforce might have "worse" animation (stiffer motion, less lighting/shading, etc) is because they're often working with deadlines. Meanwhile, indie studios usually set their own schedules and can be more flexible with deadlines. On one hand, this means series can get the time and attention they deserve. On the other hand, the audience can be left hanging for long periods of time.

This really is a YMMV issue and doesn't just apply to indie animation (I'm waiting for updates from several abridged series). It just depends on whether you prefer a show with higher quality that releases one episode every year or a show with slightly lower quality that releases monthly. Also, some teams do manage to release high quality episodes on a frequent basis, but I'll get to that (see: The High Bar).

What I find annoying is when deadlines are constantly getting pushed back or are straight up ignored, although everyone under the sun is guilty of doing this (myself included).

Restrictions - One big pro of indie animation is that there aren't any censors or restrictions imposed by major studios/corporate executives, which means creators are free to make their dream show how they like without having to compromise for the sake of appealing to the widest demographic possible or meeting a bottom line. The indie animation community does a good job of blowing past the cash-grabbing shovelware in favor of propping up passion projects with something to say.

If I did have to mention one con, it's that sometimes restrictions can push a person creatively and those same executive curveballs can shape a show for the better. However, for all the good that comes from studio meddling, it's vastly overshadowed by the bad, from the censorship of the LGBTQ+ community (which indie animation has gone lengths to correct) to turning what might have been a decent project into an absolute mess (*ahem* Suicide Squad, 2016) to outright cutting down/canceling amazing series (we've all got our lists and Inside Job is at the top of mine). Plus, I've noticed indie teams often make an effort to include diversity (race, gender, sexuality, history), but without the added baggage of a major corporation constantly peering over their shoulder, tallying up how many brownie points they've earned so far.

Plus, the biggest restriction a lot of indie shows already have to work with is resource availability (budget, staff, skill, time), which leads me to my next point...

The High Bar - I think the expectations people have of indie animation keeps getting higher and higher, and that's not necessarily a good thing. With huge projects constantly pushing what can be done with a small team and a couple of dreams, it's becoming harder for people who just don't have the time, the artistic skills, the manpower, etc to keep up.

For me at least, some of the initial charm of indie animation comes from janky anatomy, weird audio quality, awkward movements and all those rough edges you can only get from one guy in a closet with an old Wacom and a cheap mic. I'm not saying indie animation has to start downgrading. Not by a long shot. Please funnel that smooth animation right into my equally smooth brain 😁.

What I mean to say is that as the bar gets raised, more people struggle to keep up and end up falling behind, kind of negating what I see as the point of indie animation: to give people with less skills and resources a chance to prove themselves and build up a community.

(Also, in my personal experience, I've ended up discouraging myself from starting projects I'm passionate about due to the anxiety of getting compared to an indie series with fluid animation and shading that wasn't done exclusively with the airbrush tool on a multiply layer. I only bring this up because I'm pretty certain I'm not the only one.)

One Small Personal Gripe - Okay, this is very much a "me" issue, but the constant smooth animation and the fact that motion almost always seems to be happening at all times really grates on me. Characters don't have to always be moving. They can just be static for a few seconds, y'know?

If you've read to the end of this post, holy moly you've got endurance. Thanks for bearing with me. Cheers!

[standardquip]

Black Lagoon Live Reacts

A compilation of discord messages as I watched the entirety of Black Lagoon over the course of ~1 week. CW: racism(?), spend a lot of time talking about nazis and swastikas, also mentions of child trafficking and sexual violence

Bonus: learn a little bit about my time in the US Navy

wow black lagoon's OP's lyrics are… something

Somehow, Revy is not at all how I pictured her being based on AMVs

…. is this SBMA they did mention subic bay…. 🤔

ok I'm just going with my headcanon of this being the philippines it feels right

Also it's kinda weird this is a place I have been to this anime would hit a lot harder had I seen it closer to the time I got out of the navy

weird word choice I mean I'd probably like it a lot more back then

ep1 of black lagoon is over The ED is curious 👀 I will continue more eps later

[someone asked for clarification about what I meant about the "when I got out of the navy" thing]

It was super exciting to see shows that took place in places I've been I have a feeling that outlaw bar is based on SBMA in the philippines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subic_Bay_Metropolitan_Authority (I guess technically the location is subic bay freeport zone, but we just called it "the sbma" )

We stopped there every deployment to stock up on supplies and it was so dirty that eventually I just stopped getting off the ship because it wasn't worth it

I also really was into any anime that had anything to do with Kyushu, which is where the home port was (Sasebo specifically) I was stationed on an LHD (amphibious assault ship) and our base was shared with JSDF ships We didn't interact with them much, but I went to their cafeteria once

Anyway, it was just cool to be like "Hey I recognize XYZ" in anime Same as anyone noticing their local areas, I assume

It just got extra cool points because "my places" were more "exotic" in relation to my american peers, I guess

Nowadays I have so few emotions it's like "Oh, cool…. anyway" Also it's now 10+ years ago. So it feels kind of dumb to keep holding on to those memories. Especially when it was barely 3 years of my life

ep3 of black lagoon cambodia Another place I've been :heh: just wear the shirt, Rock, you fool

ep4 is about nazis

I wonder if this was intentional.

I just got back from my neighbors They talked for an hour 😩 I am back to ep4 of black lagoon

Idk how many eps I will watch today It seems like a good show but it is again, episodic ok these are clearly nazis They call themselves nazis they heil hitler but their armbands have some symbol other than the swastika

… why bother?

this story continues to ep5 So guess I'll watch that one too ok they specifically mention hitler but they don't actually do the hand motion

they use the iron eagle

eh…. If you want to censor the most offensive parts, then why not use something that is based on nazis instead of actually nazis but with weird symbols? or maybe this is a real symbol I'm unfamiliar with?

oh They just did the hitler salute for real now they're singing some nazi marching song idk if it's real or not but why go through all of this and still not show the swastika?

oop there it is

Revy is supposed to be chinese? wtf doesn't look that at all At least Rock looks japanese-ish starting ep6 ok this is not as episodic as I thought

ep6 is the "die nazi scum" episode

ep7 some lady is editing porn videos lol

yeah you fucking go, Rock! Love this character shift

[someone says: "Black lagoon is weird. Surprisingly philosophical given that it's advertised as dumb action"]

That's surprisingly accurate.

ep 8 of black lagoon Making good time here we've entered the child trafficking episode

[someone mentions having to drop "The Great Pretender" due to a child trafficking arc]

eh it's just one kid and it's not sexual I wonder if the great pretender is worth watching (for me) though

wow revy cleans up good

oh this isn't revy? :skeptical:

ep9 of black lagoon has been started

ep12 I love how multi-cultural this show is This ep is pretty racist though 😂

lmao boob sweat man I'm flying through these eps I guess that means I like the series I was going to start ep 13 but actually 12 was a good stopping point so guess I'll go to bed instead Bed being mindlessly scrolling through reddit til sleep comes, that is

I'm watching black lagoon ep 13 now grey haired twin kids who might be incestuous? Oh hey Thailand yet another place I've been

ep14 they shot the dogs 😔 we've reached the sexual child trafficking plot

One of the random side characters sounds like bender from futurama and that's a bit weird

ep15 wow 2 grown women who are bounty hunters / mercs and super strong split up and one of them flips out about how she can't walk to her car alone lmao what

alright so Black Lagoon actually mostly takes place in Thailand near the border of Cambodia and not SBMA at all. So of course I immediately assumed Pattaya just because that's where I've been lmao and basic google searching says I'm not far off. Black Lagoon takes place in a fictional city named Roanapur and it has a big buddha statue. Reddit claims the main theories of the location this is based on is Chanthaburi or Trat. One reddit user says that buddha statue is probably Hua Laem Pagoda, which is about 2 hours from Pattaya :wheeze: Man I really wish I watched this anime closer to my Navy time What would Navy me say about this show? this ep really is… a lot a bit too real with the horrors of child trauma :(

Oh the ED changed instead of Revy leaving her boots behind It's a girl in a nightgown oh it's the twins how sad :( ep16 time to counterfeit USD "What is it witht his city? Everyone looks so damn shady" haha Oh, sweet summer child. That's just Southeast asia lmao "Mister elvis"

oh hey the blonde nun with the sunglasses is voiced by the owl witch VA in owl house

LOTTON THE WIZARD :wheeze: (and of course he's got gray hair) ep17 the nun's name is eda how coincidental with owl house 😂

"That room's worked the last 4 times out of 7!" Ah ha A perfect 4/7 score heh

this show has a ton of strong ladies and no obvious fan service Except this episode This side character has had so many random panty shots ep 18 the localization in this is great 😂

lmao lotton the wizard is just as stupid as the name implies Love how that joke paid off WHAT A TWIST bullet proof jacket stupid american damaging the engine of the boat he's on in the middle of the goddamn ocean

ep20 lmao, of course its Roppongi

ok I think I'm done with black lagoon for the night idk if I want to go to bed yet but I'm kinda over black lagoon for now

I really don't feel like watching anything right now but I realized tomorrow is my last day of freedom before my parents come back for a month so I kind of have to finish the show now or else I most likely won't finish it at all so here we go with ep 21 of black lagoon oh this is scarred lady's flashback/backstory ep

ep22 dumb girl who's never seen danger is convinced she's strong enough to lead a band of yakuza unsurprisingly, she gets captured and starts to realize how out of her depth she is when they argue about how they're gonna rape her

Hell yeah Revy shows idiot man how much of a weak bitch he is YuGiOh's Tristan uses katana to slice bitch ass's gun IN HALF More news at 11

schoolgirl calling Rock OUT she decides to stay in the dark world and stick with the yakuza boss thing I wonder if she'll show up later ep23 scarred lady has been trying to take over japan It seems to be working looks like schoolgirl is going to stay in the picture for the next few episodes at least

really don't know what to think about Rock's whole identity crisis thing part of me wants to say he's a fool but the other part wants to say "he's 14 and this is deep" we're on ep 24 now out of 29

…. I've decided rock is an idiot

ok rock is an idiot but at least he's not completely delusional like Yukio/schoolgirl damn she killed herself the ED changed to rock music lol

I have 4 eps of black lagoon left but I am absolutely not feeling it There's just no urge to finish, no specific thing I am waiting to learn about or see happen Unless I force myself to finish today, I am 99% sure I will never pick it up again

finally starting ep25 of black lagoon Let's see if I finish this today

they should make some kind of gun maid anime they really honed in on a niche here

ep 27 grey haired wizard dude is back and he is absolutely stupid and I love him

oh no she's gonna kill the boy 😭 roberta's story is the most captivating of this series ep28 oh he got saved… lmao the wolf sounds for her LOL just kick grey haired guy right in the balls like nothing and continue on

ep29! the last one wow a revy flashback That was… something this play is falling apart I distinctly remember the major taking the gun back from the kid in the previous episode

I don't know what's going to happen here but I assume it's going to be a horrifying blood bath of all parties ewwwwww her finger

…. alright I might be too dumb to get the ending so I am just left disappointed and confused buuut I finished it So there's that, I guess

[anonymityisfunwriter]

Two Sides of The Same Coin - Chapter 11: "So it Goes..."

"You make everyone disappear and cut me into pieces. Gold cage, hostage to my feelings..."

Pairing: Sunshine!Reader x Grumpy!Bucky Barnes

That’s how the two of you end up at a bar, a beer in front of Bucky and a mixed drink in front of you, it’s a nice enough bar that Bucky doesn’t have to worry about creeps staring at you all night, but dive-y enough that it’s enough for the bartender that Bucky vouches for your age. 

"You alright?" he asks after a moment. 

"Yeah, I think so."

"Good."

"Thank you, by the way. For being there. And not looking at me like a kicked puppy."

"That's what friends are for," he offers, giving you a small smile. What you don't see is Bucky's thoughts running rampant, now questioning if friendship is all that exists between the two of you. Then it's silent, and while he's okay with that, he doesn't want you to ruminate on the events of today, not while you're still this emotionally raw.

“So what do you want to do?” he awkwardly asks, desperately trying to remember how to make small talk with a woman. 

"What do you mean?”

He shrugs, fighting the urge to cringe at himself. This was never him, he'd never had a problem talking to people before. Even though he made a conscious choice to close himself off, to be the quiet, brooding type, he was satisfied in knowing that he could talk to people if he wanted to- he just never did. Until now, and somehow the words of the smooth talking man from the 40's were all lost on him. “Like what do you want to do with your life? Your future, all that affirmational bullshit?”

“Well, Nick wants me to join the Avengers officially. And Sam-”

“I didn’t ask what Fury and Sam wanted for you,” Bucky interrupts. “I asked you what you wanted for yourself.”

You take another large drink from you beverage as you think about his question. “I don’t think I understand the question.”

“You may want to take it easy there," he says, nudging his head to the two already empty glasses in front of you. You brush it off because you feel fine, good even. "And I don’t know. I guess… like some people want the whole white picket fence thing?” he rambles, doing his best not to think of Steve's suggestive comments. There's no reason he wants to know about your hopes for the future- no reason at all. You're friends, Bucky silently reconciles, friends talk about their aspirations and if maybe someday you'd want a husband and kids. This is just friendship. 

“Why would I care about a fence? Is that something that people worry about?”

He chuckles. “No, you’re missing my point. What do you want?”

Your eyebrows furrow, but your smile remains on your face as you ponder the question. “Yeah, I don’t think I like this question.”

“You don’t ever think about your future beyond the Avengers? You don’t want a husband or kids someday?” he adds, unable to censor his wandering thoughts.

“Oh,” you audibly wonder. “I’ve never thought about it, but I think so. Someday. It’d be nice to have a place to call home. Someone to share that with. I guess I’m trying to figure everything out right now.”

“Now we’re getting somewhere!” he laughs, feeling relief that the conversation is becoming effortless again.

“Well, what about you? Do you care what kind of fence you have?”

“Okay, remind me to explain that to you again," he chuckles, smirking at your flushed face in the dim bar light. "But I guess so. Never thought I’d have that, but it’d be nice. I guess that’s one more thing we have in common, I’m really just trying to figure it all out.”

After taking a large gulp of the beverage in front of you, you hum in approval, “Sam said we’re two sides of the same coin, you know?”

He huffs out a laugh. “I know. I don’t really see it.”

“Why not?”

“I’m just - I’m not a person you want to share a coin with. I can promise you that.”

“I don’t believe that,” you object, playfully pushing his arm. “I think you’re better than you give yourself credit for.”

“There’s a lot about me you don’t know,” he argues.

“There’s a lot about me you don’t know.”

His eyes flicker up to meet your gaze. And suddenly you feel a lot closer than you were when you two arrived. “I’m starting to get that. You surprise me every single day.”

“In a good way or a bad way?” you quietly ask, returning Bucky's intense eye contact.

“In a surprising way,” he mutters, feeling his phone vibrate over and over. He sighs, having to tear his eyes off of you as he pulls his phone out of his pocket. “Hold on, Sam’s blowing up my phone.”

“I almost forgot about that,” you mumble, feeling the guilt start to prick at your subconscious again. Bucky lightly rests his hand on yours as he sees the guilt forming on your face. You look down and smile at the feeling of his warm palm resting on the top of your hand. 

-

“Sam! You found us!” you cheer upon seeing a frantic Sam walking into the bar. “James, look who found us.”

Bucky laughs. “Yeah, Sam finally found us.”

“Well don't you two look awfully cozy,” Sam remarks, equal parts relieved that you're okay and annoyed at the never-ending events of the day.

“I told you that Bucky was the better choice to watch me today,” you drunkenly laugh.

“She wanted to spend the day with me?”

“Has everyone lost their minds in this Compound?” Sam asks, rubbing his temples in exasperation. “First, Steve and Tony. Then you get her drunk. What next?”

“Hey!” Bucky playfully defends, not in the slightest bit drunk, but definitely feeling a little lighter than normal. “Tony told us that she’s 25. That’s well over the drinking age. And what I did wasn’t nearly as bad as what Steve did.” 

“Mhm, and what do you have to say for yourself?” Sam pointedly asks you.

“James’ pretty,” you coo, lightly poking at Bucky's cheek.

Bucky heartily laughs, moving your hand away from his face. “I’m not pretty, I’m a guy. Guys can’t be pretty.”

Your smile drops. “Why not?”

Sam urges with a smirk on his face. “Go on, have fun explaining societal norms and gender roles in society. I want to see how long it takes you to explain why men can’t be pretty.”

“You know what?" he says, clearing his throat. "How about we take her home? I think she had a little too much.”

“Really?” Sam sarcastically remarks.

-

“You can put her on the couch if you want,” Sam sighs, unlocking the door to your apartment.

“Shouldn’t I put her in her own bed?”

“I think you’ve learned enough about her for one day,” Sam cryptically says.

“What else am I going to learn, that she has unicorns and rainbows on her walls?” Bucky sarcastically remarks, though now his little snide remarks lack the certainty, the conviction that he once clung to. 

“You know what?” Sam retorts. “Go ahead and put her to bed. I’m going to find some aspirin for her.”

“Fine,” Bucky mutters, carrying your sound asleep self up the stairs and to your room. 

He opens your door, faltering when he sees exactly what Sam was referring to. Your room was not the flowery, bright room he expected, not by a long shot. The walls were painted a bright yellow, but that was the only personal touch in the entire room.

And he was even more shocked to see the absence of an actual bed. Just like him once upon a time- unable to sleep on a bed after not having one for so long. In its place was a thick foam mattress topper, one in which he was certain that you could still feel the hardwood flooring through. 

“Thank you for making me feel better,” you sleepily smile, gently stroking Bucky’s face as he places you on the pseudo-bed. 

“Any time,” he whispers, shuddering as your fingers trace his cheekbone and jawline. “Now get some sleep.”

“Told you,” Sam nonchalantly remarks, seeing the strange look of realization on Bucky’s face as he exits your bedroom. “Two sides of the same coin.”

“She doesn’t have a bed?” Bucky sighs, pretending like he didn't hear Sam.

Sam shrugs. “She can’t sleep on one. It took forever to get her to sleep on that.” 

Bucky nods, unsure of what to say. He himself was still unable to sleep on anything except the flimsiest of mattresses, and it had taken him a lot of time and therapy to get to that point. It just didn't make sense to him- if Sam was right, if you'd gone through hell and back like he had, there was no logical reason of your positive outlook and endless optimism. 

"Do I want to know what happened to her arm?” Sam asks interrupting Bucky's run-off thoughts.  

“The training-” Bucky starts.

Sam immediately cuts him, “Stop, right there. I don’t need any more reasons to want to kill Tony and Steve right now.”

“You can add Clint to that list too,” Bucky grumbles, still pissed about Clint's tirade from earlier. He understood what it was to be fiercely loyal and protective, and despite Bucky's own rationale in trying to put himself in Clint shoes, his own need to protect you superseded it all.

“Why?” Sam sighs. “What’d Clint do?”

“Tried to rally the team against her. Said she tried to kill Wanda.”

“And now I need a drink,” Sam sighs, walking to the kitchen to pour himself the first thing he finds.

“Sam,” Bucky interjects, following Sam into the kitchen. “She said some pretty messed up things...like she deserved getting hurt.”

“Yeah,” Sam bitterly chuckles. “Surprising isn’t it? The personification of Sunshine thinking she deserves punishment like that. It used to be worse. Like when we first got paired together, she’d do something ‘bad’ and she’d lock herself in her room for days. No food, no water, nothing. It didn’t take me long to figure out that she was punishing herself. But have you ever tried to force a person with powers like that out of her room? I’ve tried to get her out of that, but old habits and all that…”

But Sam leaves out the worst of it, loathing the memory of your first days with him. You were harder on yourself than any rule or boundary that Sam could ever set. It was only a few weeks into you staying with Sam that you’d accidentally set something on fire. You panicked, panicked so badly that Sam had to put out the fire. While he was getting everything cleaned up, he found you in front of the stove- holding your hand over the open flame. It was easier to break the physical punishment habit, but the psychological torment, the guilt- that was much more difficult for your mind to let go. 

“She tried to kill herself.”

Sam exhales deeply, taking a large swig of his drink before even attempting to respond to Bucky's inquisition. “You learned a lot about her today.”

“Yeah, guess I did. She told me about a caretaker?” he says, though it sounds more like a question than an actual statement.

“This stays between us, you got it? She likes you, she trusts you, and I don’t need you messing that up because you learned things that are hard to hear.”

“Okay,” Bucky quietly agrees.

“Yes," he solemnly admits. "She did try to kill herself. She blames herself for a lot of what happened to her. She thinks-”

“She thinks she’s an abomination,” Bucky finishes.

“Exactly. It's one thing being told there's some evil somewhere deep down inside of you. It's another to have the one constant in your life killed right in front of you and then to be blamed for it? Honestly I’m surprised she even talked about it.”

Once again, this was one of those things that Sam learned from your file, but you refused to talk about. You’d given your entire story to SHIELD when they first found you, but since then you always managed to redirect the conversation away from your caretaker - it didn't really matter what anyone said to you or no matter how hard everyone tried to convince you otherwise.

You'd never stopped blaming yourself for what happened to her. 

Next Chapter

"Two Sides Of The Same Coin" Chapter List AnonymityIsFun Masterlist

[sneezemonster15]

I thought the post was pretty comprehensive. Well okay. I will bite.

I am a little embarrassed to talk about this panel but really what teenage girl sits like this with her father and acts coy like she is at some bar with her boyfriend? Look where the father's hand is, how casual it is, like it's not the first time that this is happening. He is drinking, so he is under the influence of alcohol and his wife is cheating on him. He comes off as a reprobate. The way he talks to his daughter (and about his wife) doesn't make it look like he has much respect for women.

Maybe it's different in the west, but this is very unusual in the east. Asian cultures do not allow this. In my country, once the girl turns seven or eight, she is not supposed to share a bed even with her brother or any other boy/man, it's considered inappropriate. Japanese society is no different in that sense, in fact, Japanese society has more rules and customs than most other cultures. The Japanese etiquette is pretty strict. Lots of things that might be considered casual and inoffensive in the west are deemed quite offensive and inappropriate in Japanese culture, and even a lot of other Asian cultures.

Secondly, perception. For any successful professional who works in the field of audio visual media, the understanding of perception is mandatory. I highly doubt Gege thought - "You know what, I am tired of showing the run of the mill father daughter dynamic, so this time I will add a bit of pizzazz and make it like an opening to a family strokes video."

Storytelling is about show not tell. If the author cannot show something explicitly for some reason, or if it's a controversial or stigmatised issue, he will find a way to show it and will provide subtext, he will manipulate the reader's eye and mind, to convey his point/intent. You just gotta have your eyes open. Naruto is a very good example of this. American syndication has rules against showing controversial themes (such as incest, homosexuality,etc), so their mainstream media made for kids cannot feature such themes explicitly. But there are many ways of passing stuff under the table, to avoid being censored. A lot of creators do this type of stuff, Gege won't be the first. If the writer is talented, he will find a way to do it. If he knows how perception works. Any good creator worth his salt does.

If you know how typography works, you can tell how important perception is. But yeah, you need to have a keen eye to notice it.

Also, problematic themes such as incest, pedophilia (such as Hisoka from hxh or Orochimaru from Naruto) might not feature in western mainstream media for kids but it's not so uncommon or unusual in Japanese media, even shounen. Yeah, it baffles me too. But well, it's better to accept it than be in denial.

Okay now to the scene with Ozawa.

So Ozawa asks for Nobara's help. Nobara passes it on to Fushiguro who knows Itadori better. He certainly does. But her action of passing the buck makes Ozawa think maybe she doesn't want to get involved because she likes Itadori herself. It's a pretty understandable reaction. But Nobara denies this with so much force. She is Itadori's friend and classmate, but she is not an emotional fool, or at least she tries not to be. She will not shed tears for any man. But as Ozawa puts this idea in her head, Nobara realizes something that she was probably denying before. It has happened to all of us at some point or the other. You know, you have a close friend, you do everything together, you have each other's back. Sometimes it develops into something more without your conscious knowledge. But the idea of it being 'romantic' doesn't occur to you. Until someone remarks on it. Or something else that triggers a realization. That's what happened here.

It's actually very sweet, typical of high school romance. Hehe. Her heart skips a beat. What does this indicate? When does your heart miss a beat? Look at the context. Gege is not even being cryptic about it. This is pretty clear unto itself that Nobara has feelings for Itadori that she hadn't consciously thought about until Ozawa asked, but the germination has happened. However, denial doesn't go right away, there is still some resistance. She is a 16 year old, self sufficient and confident girl after all, whose character doesn't revolve around a man, we can give her the benefit of doubt hehehe.

She is also kinda clueless, she thinks if it's arrhythmia, haha. What this tells us is that something like this has never happened to her before. Well she lived in a village before this and she hated the village people so this isn't so surprising. But now she knows that what she feels is something unusual. She 'realizes how she truly feels'. It's really not that cryptic. Gege has made 'connecting the dots' pretty easy here.

The idea of Yuuji getting a girlfriend really annoys her. Hehe. Why though? She has no malice towards Ozawa and yet she is a bit jealous. She knows Yuuji likes tall girls, there's a reason Ozawa was made to be tall.

Honestly, I am glad that Gege didn't make it toxic by showing Nobara being unkind to Ozawa, Ozawa is also shown as a mature and considerate girl. Gege is good at writing female characters, the ones that don't conform to gender roles, someone whose character doesn't revolve around men. It's a welcome relief honestly, knowing how shounen tropes work, especially when it comes to female characters. On average, his ladies are as badass and mature as his men.

Not that Kubo gets it. 😒

Anyway. So Nobara acts on it and she decides that she wants a boyfriend before Itadori gets a girlfriend, maybe to save face? Maybe to not feel stupid or embarrassed? It's completely understandable. Like I said, she is a teenager, she doesn't have a mature response to something like this, and it is fine. We get it. What I found sweet was that there was no malice in her. She actually helps Ozawa anyway.

Also, why do you think Gege chose to talk about all this? Why is there all this talk about girlfriend and romantic preferences? So if gege wanted to give us some information about the characters' feelings, would he just make the character say it? No. What he WOULD DO, is he will orchestrate a situation, bring in the relevant characters and an additional/new character if necessary, and with the already established character dynamics and character traits, he will give this information to the audience, so it will look organic and seamless. That's the mark of a good writer. Look at the choices the writer is making. Ozawa was written for this chapter and this chapter only. She is not a sorcerer, she is not related to any other character in the manga, she has no relevance in the upcoming chapters. So why did Gege write her here? Because a character was required in order to give certain information about Nobara's feelings for Itadori, and Itadori's own sexuality, and Megumi's response to it. Since it's pretty much implied that Megumi and Itadori are more than friends.

Any good writer doesn't do anything without a reason. Every panel counts. Always ask questions, why did he do it this way? Why did he make a certain choice? There's ALWAYS a reason. If you really pay attention, you will get it. But honestly, Gege has already killed Nobara in the manga, where I am at, so I don't know where it will go from here. Nobara's arc is unfinished but it's not like Gege is so concerned with that. However, with Gege, you really can't tell.

Lastly. Mai and Maki. I didn't say their relationship or the development of their dynamic was romantic or romance coded, I said the kiss was romantic. It was not a sisterly kiss. How many Japanese shows/films do you know where sisters kiss each other on the lips? Like I said, perception is key to understanding media. Not everything has to be said out loud, this is a visual medium. With the right context, everything can be understood. Gege said this about Mai.

Her first love might be MAKI?? Really Gege? Now why would you say something like that? It is weird.

What information do you get from this panel? That Mai had a crush. What's Gege telling us? That Mai had a romantic interest in someone. And in his description of Mai, he says her first love might be MAKI? Does that make sense? Humans are complex creatures. Depending on their circumstances, humans are capable of feeling things that might not be approved by society, but the heart wants what the heart wants. Feelings aren't rational.

Mai felt betrayed by Maki because Maki abandoned her. She once promised her she will not leave her alone in the cruel and inhuman Ze'nin household, but then she did.

Maki was everything for Mai. Her sister, brother, mother, father, friend, confidante. They only had each other. Maki protected her and took care of her. There was absolutely no one else Mai could rely on. Maki was her whole world. Mai didn't have an ambition, she didn't want to be a sorcerer. She just wanted to be happy, even if she had to live as a Ze'nin servant, but as long as she was with Maki, she was happy. That's all she wanted. Why is it so surprising to think she might have loved Maki romantically? When you feel that strongly for someone, is it really possible to draw lines? Human beings are humans first, the conditional aspects of human relationships come after that. Some relationships are so intense and multifaceted, they aren't definable. They don't fit into a clean cut category. Which is fine.

Mai meeting Takada and finding it so exciting, is omake, not canon, but even Mappa followed suit. Hehe. They get it.

However Gege did say in an interview that when Mai talks to women, it appears like they are dating. What could he mean?? It's really not that cryptic.

Good writers, and Gege is one, know how to write their characters. How to establish them, their role in the story, their character traits which are generally drawn out with the help of a second character (s) who needs to be different from them in their core character aspects, so as to bring out the contrast and conflict even better. He calls it dissonance between characters. See how he explains their characters and their dynamic.

You can see this dissonance between other characters such as Geto and Gojo, Itadori and Megumi, Maki and Yuuta, Gojo and Nanami, Jogo and Mahito, etc etc.

And lastly, now that I have talked about the relevance of the author's intent and the specific mindful choices he makes, don't you think Gege could have shown the transfer of cursed energy by doing literally ANYTHING ELSE.

Why a kiss?

Two things :

1) That one needs to kiss is NOT established or hinted at in the manga before, like at all. So it's not like it is a rule that Gege had to abide by; that two characters HAD to kiss for the transfer to happen. He was under no such limitations. He could have literally shown the transfer ANY OTHER WAY. So why choose a kiss to do it? It means that it says something extra, no? Because like I said, sisterly bonds are hardly ever shown with a kiss like this. Not in Japanese media at least. I have seen it in that American film, My sister's keeper, but the contexts are completely different.

Perception is key to understanding media. The more developed one's understanding is, the better the perception is. And understanding can be developed. Writers have to have a very keen sense of perception in order to be a good one.

2) Look at the timing and the circumstances. Mai is sacrificing her life. It's the last thing she will do in her life for the person that means the most to her, more than even herself. This is important, this is significant. If you loved someone, and if you were about to give up your life for them, wouldn't you want to let them know before you died? Like Hinata does in Pein arc (even if her case is twisted). Or when Sasuke does it in the Land of waves arc. Why is it so difficult to believe? Fiction writing is about suspension of disbelief, and to make it possible, the author has to make it believable, no? And what happens here is entirely believable. We already know how Mai feels about her own predicament and Maki.

Plus it's not like there aren't other examples of incest in this manga. So I don't see why people are having such a hard time believing it. Hehe.

I know when fans don't like something or approve of something, or when something makes them uncomfortable, they choose to deny it. Despite all the glaring evidence. I get it. But I think it's much better to accept it. It enhances the way one consumes media, it makes them understand it more and hence enjoy it more, to its optimum level.

when you talk about incest, you mean between mai and maki? it’s funny, because while gege dis portray them sharing a kiss, the way it was made, i didn’t feel like it was romantic… more like it was supposed to represent trough closeness that maki and mai are two parts of the same person, since they’re twins and all. but yeah it definitely can seem disturbing at first lol 😅

It's more than that. Not only Mai is shown to be having a crush, which she doesn't tell Maki about, but also at Todo's request, she goes to see Takada, that pop icon, and she is thrilled. Her reaction to Takada does not look platonic at all. Also the kiss itself doesn't seem platonic. I think Gege meant it to be romantic or at least sus. With Takada, Gege made a point to show Mai being attracted to a woman and not a man. She is also shown to voluntarily talk about her romantic interest, which means she certainly has one. And she kisses Maki on the lips at such a tragic moment when Mai sacrifices her life for Maki's sake, which I simply cannot deny, is quite unconventional and not used to depict sisterly feelings. I think it's romantic. And hence incestuous.

There are other instances with incestuous themes.

And this too. Imo.

Plus, Mai won't be the only person in the manga who is 'not straight'. Megumi is pointedly shown to prefer 'person' over a girl. This is not even that cryptic, it's Gege telling us he likes men, and not women. Itadori is pointedly shown as confused about his preferences. Like yes, he likes tall girls with big heads or whatever, but he picked Ozawa of all the girls in his class when his friends asked him to pick. He was quite nonchalant about it, even though he knew the context of the questions, but he still did not objectify a woman like a straight boy would probably have done, when he easily could have. He has a poster of a girl, but no girlfriend, instead he is very close to Megumi. Megumi is the first name on his lips no matter who else is there, when he is concerned. When Todo asks him the question about what kind of women he likes, he is baffled and he doesn't really think about his answer the way Megumi does, he just gives the same answer he had been giving his school friends, but he still picks Ozawa, a short girl. Who is then pointedly shown to have grown tall. But Itadori is still not romantically interested in her. Itadori is also pointedly shown to be indecisive. Gege has described Itadori as indecisive. There is so much conversation around the height of Itadori's prospective mate, and some emphasis is also put on Megumi's tall and lean build and big head lol, and all this is deliberate. Plus, Itadori and Megumi show accountability towards each other, Gege shows them taking stock of their feelings for each other and acting accordingly. Of course it's not black and white, but I am sure Gege is telling us something here. He is being cryptic, like Kishi was. That whole episode started with Itadori talking about the worm man movie, and its theme is 'love'. This is foreshadowing. And then the episode shows Ozawa liking Itadori but not able to do anything about it until just then. Nobara is shown to have feelings for Itadori. And Megumi is shown as the person closest to Itadori, like c'mon, they were together for a mere two weeks and they were already making meatballs together. They spend time with each other outside missions, their rooms are right next to each other, they know how the other person thinks and acts, what they like and dislike. That whole episode shows how close Itadori and Megumi are, and it's not the only instance. Gege is certainly showing us more than he is telling. Once I finish the manga, at least the current chapters, maybe I can write about it in more detail.

But well, jjk world is not as old fashioned/traditional as Naruto world. The characters aren't so prejudiced or narrow minded as they are in Naruto. Well except for people inside the clan system, jjk folks are more open to express themselves, less bound by convention. They are all practically crazy, they have got to be, and they own it. It's more healthy than what Naruto's characters do. And there are people like Gojo to guide them, a good leader (unlike Kakashi) who fights the corruption and obsolete convention of their world, who will fight for his students, who will empathize and try to understand them without judging them harshly, and won't deprive them of the simple pleasures of youth.

I can't surely say that Gojo and Geto are also of the same inclination, but I guess it's a little ambiguous the more I look into it. Since Gege is a fan of non linear storytelling, one can certainly expect to see more in that direction and I am still reading the manga. Well, what I can say is that there's more reason to think SatoSugu are romantic than not. So I will wait.

I think Gege knows what Naruto the story is about. He knows. It's like he is trying to break specific shounen conventions with his manga...