#the main female characters who ended the show in relationships had all of their depth removed because of those relationships

[yourhighness6]

It's funny to me when people insist that "ATLA was really feminist" as if there wasn't really only one feminist message which was the very generic "girls can fight too" spiel that every 2000s show had going on whenever they briefly tried to jump on the feminism bandwagon or whatever

[carlyleandco]

okay my fellow Cdrama fanatics, I’m in need of some recs as someone who is still fairly new to the scene…

Historical Cdramas I’ve enjoyed

Story of Minglan ~ this show is my Roman Empire…like I don’t go more than a couple of days without thinking about it. Love how much depth there was to the characters and their relationships. I got so much satisfaction from watching Minglan run circles around every one else using her intelligence and wits. Every time Gu Tingye popped up in the background as her backup support I lost it! Talk about power couple.

Love Like the Galaxy ~ first historical Cdrama I have watched and apart from Minglan, I think it has ruined the rest for me. This drama has so many layers. Niao Niao is an intelligent, and opportunistic female lead. She is unabashedly herself, and the story is not afraid to depict her as unlikeable at first instance. I deeply appreciated the focus on female relationships and family. And Ling Buyi has ruined all other antiheroes for me lmao

Destined ~ I thought this one would be on par with Minglan at first, but it did lose its way in the latter half. I felt the female lead was relegated to the background, which was frustrating as they built her up to be this shrewd businesswoman and then we never get to see her in action. I did appreciate how wholesome and untoxic Jiu Si was as a romantic lead. I thought her relationship with the SML could have been drawn out more, however.

Romance of Tiger and Rose ~ I don’t think this drama is anywhere on par with the above three, but I still enjoyed it. Definitely a fun and unserious romp. Zhou Lu Si is just so likeable in all her roles.

Xianxia I’ve enjoyed:

Love and Redemption ~ I literally fell down a hole with this drama. I could not stop watching. Even though the female leads starts with that token immaturity Cdramas are known for, it’s explained in-world and she goes through a noticeable growth/stepping into adulthood arc. I also LOVED how powerful she was and how often she got to use her powers. Also the romance? Sifeng?!!? Yeah I was a mess. However, one thing that irritated me was the lack of agency Xuan Ji had toward the end of the show.

Eternal Love ~ it’s a classic for a reason. I loved Bai Qian’s resolve, steadfastness, and maturity. Her relationship with Ye Hau blossomed naturally, and they had different obstacles to face as a couple as opposed to what I have seen so far.

Love Between Fairy and Devil ~ speaks for itself, and I love enemies to lovers.

Extra: points if the female lead is powerful, or is on a journey to realising her power. Whether that’s through her intelligence, empathy, or in the case of xianxia, actual mystical power. Bonus points if she’s a character like Xuan Ji who can go supernova and destroy everyone lol

Historical dramas I have not enjoyed:

The Sword and the Brocade ~ I didn’t even finish this one. My overall impression was, having already finished Minglan prior, eating cardboard after having been to a 5 star Michelin restaurant. Everything was so bland and dull, even down to the cinematography.

Princess Silver ~ I dragged myself to the finish line with this one. The plot just became so utterly ludicrous and relied on the audience being invested in the main leads without actually letting them spend screen time together. I also hated that we had glimpses of the female leads power but that she never got to fully realise this. Just overly contrived and trite.

Xianxia I did not enjoy

Ashes of Love ~ this was the first xianxia I ever watched some years back. Given I was new to the genre, I think I found some of the characteristic features a bit jarring and I stopped watching Cdramas as a result. If I watched it again I may be able to make it through. Ultimately, I just could not stomach how naive the main female character. I understand this is typical, but it was another level of nauseating that I have not found an equal to since.

[fake-married-my-dead-fiance]

My favourite Kdramas (so far)

My favourite Cdramas (so far)

Currently watching: Newtopia, Melo Movie (Kdrama) & Love of the Divine Tree (cdrama)

My to watch list, Venn Diagram of my favourite kdrama things, favourite male and female actors, my parent trauma tracking, my Truck of Doom tracking, and my Text Posts

My Main is about Jane Austen

For tracking purposes. But feel free to suggest me new Kdramas

When the Phone Rings: What a fun insane show! It was bonkers from beginning to end. The acting was great, the OST was awesome, the story was insane. Everything you want in a makjang drama.

Text Posts

Alchemy of Souls: Visually beautiful, wonderful soundtrack, casting is amazing, story is very well thought-out, world-building is on point, loved all of it.

Trope subversions, Love Maps, Plot driven by fear

Moon in the Day: The most angsty enemies to lovers you will ever find in your life. It's completely enthralling. The past scenes with Do-ha are amazing. There are some plot holes and the secondary characters aren't very well developed, but I don't care. It was so good!

Text Posts, On the ending, the emotional journey, Webtoon vs. Drama

Doom at Your Service: The world-building is really well done, as is the symbolism. Doom is so weirdly lovable. Also has a great soundtrack.

Extraordinary You: the story gets a little drawn out in the middle episodes, but the concept is so gripping that I forgive it. The main character is really spunky and fun and the villain is probably the most interesting character in the show.

Lovely Runner: This is one of the cutest dramas I've seen in a while. Top tier cuteness. The story was really fun and I laughed a lot.

Text post, Another, Google Searches

W: Two Worlds: So good! So unpredictable! So Male Lead who was smart and actually acted smart! This is the dark companion of Extraordinary You and I loved every minute.

Happiness: the whole point of zombie horror is that the humans are the real monsters and Happiness delivered on that 100000%. Turns out Park Hyung-sik can also be serious and very good at punching people! Han Hyo-joo was also amazing. The slow burn romance was so cute. Loved it so much. Also, more of a murder mystery than a zombie show.

Zombieland Rules, Webtoon vs. Drama

Sh**ting Stars: the voluntarism in an unnamed African country wasn't great, but the rest of the show was so heartwarming and cute! There were lots of lovable characters, mature relationships, very cute friendships, and hilarious antics.

The Forbidden Marriage: The plot had lots of fun twists and the resolution was satisfying. I wish we got more So Rang hijinks in the later episodes, the hunting episode was my favourite with her running around everywhere like a maniac.

It's Okay to Not be Okay: My only critique is I wish they did more of the animations for fairy tales, but it's so good. The female lead had the most amazing outfits. The story is so good and the way they portrayed the brother's autism.

Revenant: I'm not usually into horror, but this wasn't too scary. It was very well written, the threads in the mystery all came together well. The characters were interesting and the supernatural stuff was cool. Really great acting.

Flower of Evil: Everyone was right again, it was really good. So many twists and turns, such good romance, so many good reveals. Loved it. Loved it enough to forgive the amnesia part.

Kdramas I have liked:

Vincenzo - technically I'm at 19/20 but I don't want to watch the Himbo die so I might just stay here? Overall it was an enjoyable watch but the genre (Revenge comedy) didn't really click with me. There were often no consequences to anything anyone did and eventually it got a bit silly. The end of 19 was kind of a character assassination of Vincenzo.

Light Shop - it was pretty and creepy and well-acted, but I was left wanting more depth.

Family by Choice - this drama always felt so calm and happy, even when something terrible was happening, because Noodle Dad was always there to make everyone feel better. A great comfort watch.

The Judge from Hell - very interesting premise and solid execution, Justitia was believable as a demon and I like that she an Da-on met in the middle. The ending kind of dragged and it had some unexplained plot points (like the defeat of Satan)

Text post

Penthouse War in Life (S1 - 3): This is an over-the-top rich people problems revenge drama and it delivers. The writing was surprisingly good, the acting was great, and the costumes were very fun. Seasons 1 & 2 were very cohesive, S3 jumped the shark right away and everything that followed was nonsense, especially the ending. But hey, what a ride!

Twinkling Watermelon: It's good, it just wasn't for me. I enjoyed the female characters more than the main male characters (especially young Yi-chan, he really annoyed me). Eun-gyeol was too unrealistically perfect at everything. But it had nice character development and I shipped all the couples.

Kingdom: Loved it! But I refuse to put it in my top kdramas since S2 ends on a huge cliff hanger and apparently they aren't making any more. Boo to Netflix. This was more gory than Happiness, but I loved having zombies in a historical setting. (This one doesn't go in my terrible ending category because it's just the last ten minutes that suck, not the last one or two episodes)

Ending fix, why the ending sucks

A Shop for Killers: an interesting action drama. I was surprised by one or two of the reveals but they were well written, I liked the non-linear storytelling and Jian as a character. The backstory about Bale got a bit too dark/gory for me but I should have expected that with this genre.

Haechi: Really strong beginning, lots of action, I enjoyed the court drama and the action bits. The only problem was that once the main character stopped being a scrappy underdog, it was just a lot of him winning which got slightly boring. The ending was very pro-monarchy, but from everything I've been able to read in English, this guy was a good king so good for him I guess? Also, the female lead went from interesting to doing nothing with heart eyes.

The Atypical Family: A very interesting superhero/time travel story with a fun ensemble cast. I didn't love any particular character (except I-Na), but the story was really fascinating and I was never bored.

Doctor Slump: Very cute and relaxing watch. The FL's family was really cute, especially her mom! The focus on mental health was nice, though there was a bit too much of an idea that a relationship can fix your depression/PTSD. But still good!

Text post

Daily Dose of Sunshine: this made me cry multiple times. The visuals for how different disorders feel was fascinating. Good resolutions for the characters. I loved it all despite the unrealistic endings.

Extraordinary Attorney Woo: I'm blown away by their portrayal of autism. They don't shy away from making her ticks and mannerisms off-putting, awkward, and even somewhat annoying, but Young-woo has joy, she has imagination, she loves life. It's so much better than anything with an autistic character that I've seen in Western media. Not 10/10 because I did get a bit uninterested in the later cases when I wanted to know where the love story was going.

Choi Su-yeon

Oh My Ghost: I loved this one! Park Bo-young did an amazing job playing an oppressed shaman and possessed-by-a-ghost. It was very well written: there weren't any ridiculous sideplots and I was never bored. I did think the ending dragged a little bit, but overall I loved it.

The King's Affection: I think it probably could have been cut down to 16 episodes instead of 20, but very good. The female crown price is so scared all the time and I want to hug her, but also badass! It's a very hard line to walk but they do it well. Also, the bodyguard who is also an assassin is so hot and the costumes are great.

My Lovely Liar: very cute and occasionally very scary. Probably one of the most normal relationships I've seen in a Kdrama, no destiny or fate just two people who like each other. The murder mystery was well done, though I'm not sure how I feel about the final reveal.

Hospital Playlist: The epitome of slice of life. I enjoyed all the characters, especially Lee Ik-jun, The Ghost, and Long Winter (Jang Gyeo-ul) and the cute kid! I love the mom and the hospital director hanging out together. The band! I cannot stop listening to their songs!

What's Wrong with Secretary Kim: I liked that for once the big trauma didn't come from the parents, what a twist! I actually loved how ridiculously narcissistic the ML was and I loved the competent and mature FL. They didn't have any ridiculous misunderstandings and they never broke up. And the ML's friend was very funny.

King the Land: The show got better as it went on. The female lead was so competent and sure of herself. The parts about the friends' struggles was heartbreaking a lot of the time. I also loved how positive the female relationships were.

Kdramas with Great Beginnings and Terrible Endings (I don't mean sad, I mean they squandered their potential):

No Gain No Love: this drama barrelled through every sexually conservative expectation for Kdramas. They really defeated a bad guy with glow-in-the-dark dildos. Who would have ever imagined? I loved the leads, but the ending was lacking in that Hae-yeong never achieved her career ambitions. The love story was great though and I've rewatched parts of it already.

Text posts

Because This is My First Life: The ending was terrible and gross, but the female characters were so well written and fleshed out that I can almost forgive it. I related so much to all of them. Also, the best explanation ever for why a woman would choose a marriage without love.

Queen of Tears: I loved the set-up but for me it lost it's way at the end. Too many dramatic moments and the Magic Cancer surgery and Magic Amnesia Month were just too much of a strain on my ability to suspend my disbelief. But the performances were very good, from the leads and the secondary characters, and the premise was good. I enjoyed like 80% of the show.

Text posts

Captivating the King: I'm struggling to rate this one. The ML was amazing, but the FL seemed to just always be wide-eyed scared/worried. The writing was great for the first half, but the ending was ambiguous in a way I didn't enjoy. The intimate scene in Ep 8/9 was awesome, but then we didn't really get more. I wish they had stuck the landing. Smart character became dumb.

Marry My Husband: very fun drama, I especially enjoyed Su-min and Min-hwan, who were some of the most deep villains I've seen portrayed. However, I hated the Yu-ra storyline and I felt like the ML kept the secret of his death for way too long. Also, no happy ending for the secondary couples! I wanted more screen time with them.

Webtoon vs. Drama, Text Post

The Story of Park's Marriage Contract: It was fluffy and fun, I loved Sa-wol the maid, we should have had more of her! I hated the ending though, so much. Just so bad.

Kdramas that are So Bad They Are Somehow Good:

Perfect Marriage Revenge - This show did exactly what it set out to do, be completely over-the-top dramatic. The male lead looks like a Ken doll dressed by an eight year old, the mothers have the most over the top outfits and hairstyles ever, someone eats DNA test results, it's a delight to watch.

Hwarang: really great acting despite a mediocre script, but man so many plot holes and unresolved plots. I never totally decided if the Queen Dowager was actually trying to help her son or just holding on to power and I feel like they should have made that clearer. Also, what was that love triangle??? But I did enjoy myself the whole time.

Dreaming of a Freaking Fairytale: the acting was good enough that except for the first episode, I enjoyed myself the whole time. Also so many good kissing scenes! Fun subversion of the Cinderella trope.

Other Kdramas I've watched:

Cinderella at 2am: It was cute, but I ended up liking the second couple more and I wish they'd had more screen time. I don't think the male lead is a very good actor either.

Perfect Family: the story was engaging enough but it had such a weird ending. Like not dissatisfying, but just strange? Also, my favourite actor was dead basically the whole time, which I knew going in but it still made me sad.

The Red Sleeve: full review here and also here, but basically, I loved the Crown Prince's story, but the female lead fell flat. They never sufficiently explained the FL's emotional journey and they also kept ruining female characters. Justice for the Queen Dowager!

Soundtrack #1: I hate endless, hopeless pining and that's all this was. It had it's cute moments, but I always felt like the male lead was in pain and I didn't enjoy that.

Hospital Playlist 2: Somehow it wasn't as good as the first season, I found myself actually getting bored. But it was nice to see all the couples get together.

Goblin/Guardian the Great and Lonely God: The roommate stuff is hilarious! It did move slowly at times, I wanted the Grim Reaper/Sunny stuff to move faster. I got really annoyed at Kim Shin for not being honest with Eun-tak. Sometimes the product placement annoyed me. But it's very beautiful and I was very invested in everyone. Problem is, I don't think I ever want to watch it again.

Tale of the Nine Tailed + 1938 - It's fun, but the lore/world-building don't make a whole lot of sense. The Serpent is pretty over powered in S1 and really ought to have won. 1938 was better but the female mountain goddess made zero sense as a character. Lee Rang is probably the best part of the whole series, and his little murder fox girl in S1 or mermaid girl in S2.

Castaway Diva: I love the songs and the found family parts, but the story was lacking. Especially the older singer's story made very little sense and didn't come to a satisfying conclusion. And why not show us a little of the main couple being together?

Hotel del Luna - I enjoyed the ghost parts but the dynamic between the main couple was a mess. He is so unconditionally nice and she is such a jerk to him!

Strong Girl Bong-Soon - I loved all the parts with Bong-Soon and Min-hyuk, like he was the cutest, sweetest boy ever, but everything else was kind of annoying. And the kidnapper parts were really creepy! I just wanted Bong-Soon to smash more things. I also hated Guk-doo and I wanted all the women to dump his ass.

Business Proposal - It was cute, but it bothered me that Ha-ri wouldn't just talk to Tae-moo about her concerns about dating him. Ha-ri may be the only female lead ever with a healthy family dynamic, yay for her! The secondary couple was fun.

Death's Game - I enjoyed the genre and actor switches at first, but then it seemed to veer into being about the serial killer CEO and then back to being about suicide and the resolution left me unsatisfied.

Webtoon vs. Drama

My Demon - It was fun, but the world-building wasn't great and the ending was fine. I felt like it tried to be Doom at Your Service but failed (there were many, many references/thefts).

Destined with You - I really liked some parts of it, especially the leads and I actually liked the office romance with Hong-jo's boss (until the last episode), but they left so many things unanswered that I wish were revealed! It's like the writers forgot it was a fantasy drama halfway through and just went in a totally different direction. It makes me angry.

The Uncanny Counter - The concept was good, the actors were good, the chemistry between the actors was amazing, but the story went way off the rails. So Mun just became way too over-powered and the plot needed more balance. I wanted more demon catching and less mayor stuff. I did like the bully being saved and reformed.

100 Days My Prince - I hated the main couple, he was just too distant and she should have figured out who he was like 10 minutes in. It felt like they only got together because he was obsessed with her, I would have preferred the nice face-blind guy. I ended up liking the peasant friend couple and the murderous princess and her assassin boyfriend better.

Started but not finished:

Hometown Cha Cha Cha - I hated it. Dropped at 9/16. Review. Frustration. Moving - I started it, it seems really slow. I think I'm four or five episodes in. The Crowned Clown - First episode was way too dark! Live Up To Your Name - Acupuncture is magic? Moonlight Drawn by Clouds - the first episode seemed bonkers Strong Girl Nam-Soon - could not even force myself to watch it. Total mess The Impossible Heir - Even Lee Jae-wook couldn't save this messy plot. My Sweet Mobster - stopped watching at Ep 10, I couldn't handle the jealousy and I found the FL really boring. River Where the Moon Rises - the pacing is bad (always seems like they are running around) and for some reason I cannot with the ML's super white teeth in the year 500 A.D. Ep 11/20 Our Blooming Youth - it has it's moments, but it started out creepy and most of the time is just silly. I do want to know how the mystery unravels but not enough to care right now 12/20 Fated to Love You (You are My Destiny) - I really liked the first episodes but after the miscarriage, it just seems like unnecessary delay of getting them back together. 14/20

[justforbooks]

Brian Murphy

Actor who became a TV star in the 1970s as George Roper in Man About the House and a spin-off series, George and Mildred

The comedy actor Brian Murphy was the mainstay of several hit television shows in which he was constantly outmanoeuvred by contemptuous and implacable women: Mildred Roper, Kitty McShane and Nora Batty were three of them.

The public image was of a ferret-faced and crafty-eyed loser, his thinning hair in a comb-over. Playing feeble, dim and cunning, Murphy specialised in a kind of low-level reedy grumble that could swiftly escalate into yelping panic. It was, however, somehow always clear that the weakness of his characters was firmly rooted in the strength and intelligence of his interpretation.

Murphy, who has died aged 92, became famous in six series of Man About the House on Thames Television, written by Johnnie Mortimer and Brian Cooke, which ran from 1973 to 1976. Man About the House followed the fortunes of three young people (played by Richard O’Sullivan, Sally Thomsett and Paula Wilcox) sharing a flat, with Murphy and Yootha Joyce playing George and Mildred Roper, who owned the house and lived below them. The socially ambitious Mildred was flirtatious and something of a predator, while the ineffectual and petty-minded George was clearly unable or unwilling to cope with his wife’s sexuality – though he could be seedily lascivious towards the younger female characters.

He and Joyce – who had been close friends since the 1950s, when both had worked for Joan Littlewood’s Theatre Workshop company – were a glorious pairing, and before long became the show’s stars, leading to a spin-off, George and Mildred – also for Thames and written by Mortimer and Cooke – which ran for five series from 1976 to 1979. At its peak the show attracted up to 20 million viewers in the UK, making Joyce and Murphy household names.

When later asked if he felt haunted by the character of George Roper, Murphy was sanguine. “I’ve long since come to terms with it,” he said. “I had sort of made a name in theatre before George and Mildred came along, so the fact that I became well known to a wider audience just allowed me more opportunities in the theatre. They were pleased to have a ‘name’ on the bill.”

George and Mildred ended when Joyce, an alcoholic, died at the age of 53 in 1980, with Murphy at her bedside.

Murphy then took the starring role in two sitcoms, The Incredible Mr Tanner (ITV, 1981), in which he played an escapologist, and L for Lester (BBC Two, 1982), as Lester Small, a driving instructor.

In 1982 there came a personal stage triumph in Alan Plater’s On Your Way, Riley, in which Murphy played the music-hall drag star Arthur Lucan, who appeared on stage and film in the 30s as Old Mother Riley.

As a child Murphy had been taken by his parents to see Lucan and Kitty McShane (“Old Mother Riley and Her Daughter”) at his local variety theatre, and he loved them all his life. So he jumped at the chance and certainly rose to the challenge of playing Lucan in Plater’s play, first presented at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East. He was partnered by Maureen Lipman as Lucan’s wife and stage daughter Kitty. The play was later adapted for television and shown on ITV in 1985, with Murphy and Lipman again in the main roles.

On Your Way, Riley was a real-life, backstage tragi-comedy �� George and Mildred without the easy laughs. Murphy, with tremendous grace and poignancy, sank to the depths of despair as a besotted old trouper in a relationship in which his much younger wife, tempestuous and faithless, flaunted her lovers in front of him. He also recreated Lucan’s slapstick routines with great fidelity. Lipman, too, was magnificent as the woman who despised Lucan as a man while acknowledging that as a performer he was “a genius”.

Murphy was born in Ventnor on the Isle of Wight, to Gerald and Mabel Murphy, who ran a restaurant. His two elder brothers, Ken and Eric, were killed on active service during the second world war. Brian was called up for national service in 1950 and worked as a clerk at RAF Northwood, near London, where he met another aspiring actor, Richard Briers, who also went on to be a television comedy star, in The Good Life.

When he was demobbed, Murphy studied at Rada and in 1955 joined Littlewood’s company in east London, appearing in Oh! What a Lovely War and Sparrers Can’t Sing. “She kept on casting me to play these funny old men,” he said. “I was young and not obviously good-looking, so it fell to my lot to impersonate old codgers.” He also played bit parts on TV in series such as Z Cars and Dixon of Dock Green.

Murphy married Carol Gibson in 1957 and the couple had two sons; as he approached 40, parts became scarcer, and at one point he considered giving up acting to become an insurance salesman. But then Man About the House appeared, and he remained solidly in work for the rest of his career.

In the 90s he was in One Foot in the Grave and had parts in The Bill, Casualty and Mrs Merton and Malcolm. From 2003 to 2010 he played the timid but devious Alvin Smedley in the BBC’s Last of the Summer Wine as a neighbour of the ferocious Nora Batty (Kathy Staff), taking the place of Bill “Compo” Owen, who had died in 1999.

Theatre included the title role in Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, by Christopher Bond at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East (1973); Soppit in When We Are Married, by JB Priestley, at the Whitehall theatre, London (1986) and Jim in Roll on Friday, by Roger Hall, at the Watford Palace theatre (1989).

In 2001 he toured as Al Lewis in Neil Simon’s The Sunshine Boys, with Ron Moody.

Two years later he was in the ITV comedy The Booze Cruise and in 2010 made an appearance in Hustle on BBC One. He continued working into his 80s, including appearances in Holby City and Casualty, and had most recently been filming for a comedy in late 2024.

His marriage to Carol ended in divorce; in 1995 he married the actor Linda Regan. She survives him, as do his sons, Trevor and Kevin, from his first marriage.

🔔 Brian Trevor John Murphy, actor, born 3 September 1932; died 2 February 2025

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

How do you feel about Felix?

Canon hasn't given Felix enough consistency or core elements for me to have feelings about him. Every time he shows up, he's basically a new character, meaning that I have no idea who he's supposed to be which makes it pretty hard to summon any feelings beyond confusion and occasionally annoyance.

I'm not the sort of person who delights in taking a drop of potential and shaping it into a full character in the context of fandom. I save that stuff for my original fiction. While I do a lot of fix it content, my main draw to fandom is still playing with the established characters/lore/world and so on. I want to create stories and takes on these characters that feel genuine to other fans. That's the fun and the writing challenge. I can't really do that with Felix. Canon has given me nothing solid to work with.

Let's quickly contrast him to Nino since I recently discussed how badly canon has handled Nino and how I had to do a lot of redesigning to make Nino work in my stuff. The core of my Nino redesign comes from canon because it's all firmly rooted in the fact that this guy is supposed to be Carapace, The Protector. Add in the fact that he's Adrien's best friend and Alya's boyfriend - two characters with pretty strong core characterizations - and I'm good to go. Those are strong anchors to work with!

If you removed those elements and Nino was just Adrien's best friend, then I'd probably have no idea what to do with Nino because that's a pretty nebulous role. This is Felix's problem. You can go almost anywhere with his character because nothing about him gives him a clear role in the narrative!

Does Felix care about Adrien? No idea! He's done nothing to help Adrien or make his life better, so my guess is no, but Felix is a good guy now so maybe???

Does Felix actually love Kagami? No clue, their romance is based on nothing of substance. As best I can tell, he just decided that all humans save for his mom were worthless and the show is heavily heteronormative, so he obviously wants a girlfriend and Kagami is kind of his only option unless he makes himself a sentigirlfriend. It's a very weird way to write their relationship. If I were writing this, he'd contact Kagami for some greater plan and fall in love as they worked together, but nope! We get deeply confusing insta love that starts with stalking leading to a kidnapping and ending with them together because this show is incapable of showing healthy romance!

Side note, but with how poorly they've handled Marinette and Adrien's crushes, can you imagine theses writers trying to write a setup where the male lead was actively trying to trick the female lead into loving him (which was the set-up when Felix was the lead)? I think that PV Felix would come across even worse than our current heroes do!

Is Felix okay with people using the peacock? I thought that the answer was "no," but he's happy to use the peacock for pretty mundane things, so who knows? I seriously can't tell you what Felix's attitude towards sentimonsters is. I thought that he was a freedom fighter after that moment in Strikeback where he apologized because I thought that he was apologizing to Strikeback, but now I'm thinking that he may have been apologizing to Ladybug because he was about to betray her??? I don't know, my new best guess is that he only wanted the peacock for protection and that he cares about no one outside himself and those he's deemed worthy. Most sentimonsters are just tools to him. He's basically lost all depth in this area because that would mean treating the sentimonster thing seriously and the show isn't going to do that.

Did Felix care if Gabriel destroyed the world? I don't think so. He didn't really help with Gabriel's "defeat". Felix spent the entire season knowing everything, but didn't tell anyone until it would personally benefit him. That benefit had nothing to do with a fear of Gabriel or even a desire to be a hero like one might expect since he's apparently part of the team now. We didn't even get Kagami making Felix want to be a hero who defends the world or even just a hero who helps his cousin. It was Kagami and Felix wanting to be together more openly and nothing else. Who cares about protecting the world or helping friends? We just wanna be able to go on dates and make out a bit, so can you fix that for us, LB? It's not like you've got anything else on your plate right now!

What a deeply selfish and unheroic motivation for both of our supposed heroes. Remind me, what has Kagami done to earn her miraculous? Because - as far as I can tell - she's really not suited to being a hero anymore. Season five made her look like a selfish, gullible fool.

While we're on the topic of how "heroic" Felix is, I'll also point out that, after this big reveal, Felix disappears. He doesn't help with the final fight or anything like that even though he has all the information on what was going on and a god-tier power set that could be used to free the people being controlled by the rings. Not sure if this is supposed to read as him not caring or just the writers pretending that Felix doesn't exist because letting him fight would undermine Marinette's role since Felix's powers are so much stronger than hers.

Is Felix some sort of genius mastermind? The show seems to want me to say, "yes" to this, but they've never actually written him as all that clever. Much like Lila, his plans really only work because the plot makes them work. For example, he didn't get the miraculous due to clever plotting. He got them because of shear dumb luck. Ladybug could have wielded the dog herself and he'd have been screwed. Same goes for her taking the dog back after he was done using it since he was by no means needed after they took down Risk. I still don't understand how Gabriel was able to open her summoned yo-yo or why Felix waited until the train to check if he had the real miraculous. Basically, the writers really had to warp the show's logic to make Felix's win work.

So who is Felix? No idea! The only thing I can say for certain is that he loves his mom and that's really not enough for me to work with if I want to write a Felix that feels true to canon. Almost any take on him feels true to canon at this point because he's a nothing burger. He has all of the substance of unset jello.

I was briefly excited about his character when I thought that his season four role was setting him up for something big in season five, but then he showed up in Emotion and my excitement died. What even was that episode? It's written like a mental breakdown, but it was foreshadowed in Destruction, so was it a mental breakdown or was this seriously the best plan that Felix could come up with after several weeks of plotting?

To put this in perspective, Gabriel came up with and created the Alliance rings faster than Felix came up with and created with Red Moon, a sentimonster that took him all of two seconds to create. I am unimpressed.

[jacksonseymour13]

Angry Part 2 Spoilers but the writers did my goat so dirty!

I hate the way the writers handled Kwon's character in Part 2 compared to Part 1. They did everything right setting him up,building up a proper teen antagonist we knew was going to interact and mesg with our Miyagi-Do mains.

We're thinking after Part 1 "Okay, they got a story brewing for this new Kwon guy. We're saving him for Part 2 and 3 to properly flesh him out and enhance his character's depth." The writers failed to do everything right with Kwon in Part 2, everything. Kwon was billed as the big bad, the big threat for the teens but he's just pushed to the side for the sake of Axel,Keenry drama and more Miyagi glaze. Like wtf were they thinking?

This guy should have been your #1 priority but you completely butcher his execution after that captain war, quite literally feeding him to this random guy that comes out of thin air to squash all of Kwon's potential. I'm not addressing him by his name or anything beyond that because I have no respect at all for his useless character(ESPECIALLY HIS HATRED FOR MIGUEL). They do right with the kicking competition, they do right with having him take out Demetri and Robby. They did right all of that in Part 2 increasing his legitimacy as a threat until they just flat out are done with him. He's fed to karate Frankenstein that was ridiculously unnecessary.

His one-sided beef with Robby doesn't do anything but make Kwon look desperate for a feud. Before Part 2, he was focused and confident now in Part 2 he's arrogant and cocky. Wtf? His goal is to take down Miyagi Do, it's not personal just a competition. i hate how all of his attention is on Robby like he's the only one that matters just for the simple fact he's the male captain. So what? The rivalry with Robby did more for Robby for the sake of deading his tension with Tory and rekindling their relationship.

Kwon and Tory honestly could've hooked up or had a off to the side fling because Tory and Robby were on break. THAT would have built proper tension between both guys instead of having Kwon poke Robby who could give 2 f**ks about him. Now onto my favorite part of the season, the tag match between Miyagi Do and Cobra Kai aka Kwon carrying his team and scoring on the top male and female fighters of the entire show sans him. I personally got Kwon as the best teen fighter but that's just me.

Why did the writers write this scene the way they did and absolutely demolish Kwon's experience,combat training and H2H coordination? Why is he treated as such fodder to Karate Frankenstein and Robby just to build them up in favor of putting him down and burying his character even further. I hate this, they completely punked Kwon and he never recovered from that point on.

"B-But he destroyed Diego" so what? Diego is nobody we know well enough, Sam kept up with him who Kwon scored on easily. It's just not that impressive or enough for me to...well take Kwon seriously. His team got lucky because Tiger Strike(my favorite Dojo in the entire show) got caught using steroids. They got a handout because plot demanded it, if that never happened well you know.

Let's move on the final part of this before yall get to the "I ain't reading allat" phase in your brains. I'll skip over to the nail in the coffin the writers gave us Kwon "glazers" and sealed his fate. The good ol rusty character goes berserk, picks up weapon and uses it attack but it ends up killing them trope. Yeah I would have 2 nickels that a similar dilemma has happened to a favorite. IT'S WEIRD IT'S ONLY HAPPENED TWICE! Kwon Jae Sung, my favorite this season. Had a look,presence,dialogue and voice all to surpass Miguel and Hawk as my #1 top tier favorite this season.

I don't get their logic for for putting all their eggs in a basket that they aren't sure can hold all of them when they have more usage with another basket that could hold plenty. Killing his character off the way they did was so dumb. Having Kreese bring a knife and plotting to kill a character in all 3-4? episodes was dumber. Having said character drop the knife without realizing before it's too late is even dumber but holy shit was it fanatical writing when they have Kwon kick with said weapon in air just to fall on it and die a very dumb death. Idc how shocking it was, suberting ones' expections is never always going to be a good thing. Killing Kwon wasn't needed, that brawl wasn't needed, Kreese being bloodthirsty wasn't needed, Terry Silver wasn't needed, karate frankenstein wasn't needed. So many damn dumb mistakes this season overall but Kwon dying is the biggest offender. I will never understand or forgive the writers for this atrocious writing decision in killing off somebody that generated a buzz, an interest and had massive potential. You kill him at his prime without fleshing out his backstory,his motivations. Was he abused? Why does he love karate? They gave us nothing

Where is the rest of his character?

Where is the PROPER conclusion to his arc?

[summerongrand]

Just wanted to say I appreciate your take on the whole white man/woc imbalanced power plot issue. This is something that I had a big problem with in season 4 and others definitely seemed to pick up on the same when all the storylines were Wesley, Nolan or Tim centric, and Nyla, Angela and Lucy were seemingly left as the 'other'. However I feel like I saw the issue be forgotten in the fandom a little. It seems this show has consistently favoured highlighting the male struggle and treating female storylines as trivial and unworthy, other than that of Bailey, the then newly introduced and now main cast white female character. I thought this would change with Lucy's story now being written consistently in s6 but it's clear that Tim's potentially the more favourable storyline. Now I can't speak from a psychological standpoint on what Tim did to Lucy but from a plot pov it's definitely making the white man vs woc power issue glaringly obvious. He is the one that gets to start or end their relationship. He's the white man with issues that is allowed to feel what he wants and grow his character while the asian woman is left behind despite her own depth and trauma. Let's hope that Lucy is given the same grace of dealing with her issues and growing as Tim, and Lucy gets her power back.

Hi Anon!

Thank you for your kind and thoughtful message. And thanks for patiently waiting for my response. I agree with everything you said. I believe the post you’re referring to is this one and possibly this one too.

It’s clear that the show has favored male storylines, particularly those of Wesley, Nolan, and Tim (and Bailey a non-WOC), while sidelining WOC ones. And even though the focus here is on Lucy and Chenford, I’m equally happy and willing to talk about race through the POVs of Angela/Wopez and Nyla/Jayla too.

I don’t think the actual act of Tim breaking up with Lucy has a racial dynamic to it other than the obvious. Them being of different races is just who they are. But their overall relationship (TO/Rookie, mentor/mentee, sergeant/gofer, friends, couple, etc.) does. And Melissa, bless her heart (affectionate), codes so heavily as Chinese in her mannerisms too and this gets projected onto Lucy. But that’s not talked about very often either. I say all of this to agree with you, Anon, because the “white man vs woc power issue” as you described has existed the whole time.

Let’s look at S5b and S6. A WOC masterminded the career progressions of at least two middle aged white men. One of them derailed her career progression. The other one broke up with her. Both broke her heart in very different ways. We did get some of Lucy’s character development and growth in S6 on the front end of the season. But even within that, her storyline has been about the 5 player trade (made to benefit Tim primarily) and Tim not being comfortable with her in UC. Tim gets demoted but he has a cushion to fall on because Lucy trampolined him into the Metro clouds and now the show’s able to use what Lucy did to benefit Tim again and use that to give him room to fall back on. This is part of the whole ‘using a WOC as a plot device to further a white man’s story’ which I’ve shared about in regards to the breakup (which is different than the act of breaking up) and you've detailed out too. We’ll see what happens to her story in the next few episodes, and I too hope that Lucy is given the same grace and that she does get her power back. But no matter what happens in future episodes, that trope was used so the genie’s already out of the bottle.

You did bring up the fandom, so I am going to talk about it a little more. This next part may be hard to hear, Anon, but … I have received negativity from Chenford fans for talking about Lucy and Melissa O’Neil’s race. This shows me that this topic is so worth talking about because there are people who feel a certain way about seeing race-related discussions about Lucy (they don’t want to be anywhere near it) and I do believe it’s unhealthy for the fandom to have these beliefs about a WOC. Others in the fandom have also encountered negativity and pushback when discussing this topic. Maybe it's even happened to you. People have shared their fandom experiences with me privately, but you’re the first to do it Anonymously which is great because that means you’ve given me the opportunity to respond to you publicly. 

Challenging this negatively held belief within our fandom and embracing Lucy/Mel’s racial and cultural identity is a worthy endeavor so let’s move the dial on that. It starts with talking about these topics in the context of The Rookieverse and keeping an open mind if these topics are unfamiliar to us. I mean, Mel wants more of that too.

Thanks again, Anon!

[out-of-heaven-and-hell]

Ramble to your heart's content: 🔥🔥🔥 :3

- @asea0fmxses

This ended up being a large ass thing so let's just count this rant as three unpopular opinions

Okay okay so in HB it's been a common complaint that the women are not written all that great, or at least are not given as much development as the male leads. Which is true let's be real, how long did we have to wait for episodes focused on Millie and Loona?

I still think it's funny how when Queen Bee finally dropped people were all like "glad we finally got a loona episode ppl can stop complaining the show never focuses on her" which???

Lmao the passive aggressiveness of that statement???

But also yeah we want one of the main cast to actually be important to the plot and treated with some level of depth and then get an honestly pretty mid episode then she's barely focused on every again but she got one episode so OOP WE CANT COMPLAIN NO MORE 10/10 FEMALE WRITING YA'LL

Okay I'm being a little mean for comedic purposes and with Loona in particular there were later issues with the VA, copyright stuff, etc, etc. Stuff they simply couldn't account for so I can be a little forgiving

Less so with Millie and Stella, especially in Stella's case but I've rambles my ass off about that in particular. They're doing Verosika more justice but even then she kinda only pops up when it revolves around Blitz so it's a take it or leave it

The character done DIRTY the most though?

Barbiewire

Literally the sister of Blitz, someone you think would be one of the most important characters given so much of the story focuses on him and his trauma but she's barely even there. She appears in one episode (not accounting for her being in some photos in prev episodes) and then proceeds to vanish

There was no build up to her character or Blitz looking for her, there's been no real follow up, she kinda just exists to make Blitz upset but even then him being broken up she cut off contact with him isn't addressed either, she doesn't get that much development or exploration even though she arguably has a pretty interesting past, and I'm kinda baffled she's still made in the show at all

I mean she doesn't even show up in flashbacks, which is funny because in the original storyboards she WAS in them but she was cut out so this was a deliberate choice

The fact that fandom has largely forgotten about her too speaks volumes which sucks as SHE COULD BE REALLY COOL

They could have done literally a million different things with her, make Blitz looking for her a running plot point throughout the series with there being a lot of mystery over what happened when she left rehab, how Blitz actually cope with the fact the only family member he still loves doesn't want to talk to him anymore, have her show up to help Blitz because maybe she does still care because relationships like this are frustrating

Hell

*MOTIONS TO LOONA*

HAVE HER INTERACT WITH HER LITERAL NIECE???

OR

*MOTIONS TO FIZZAROLLI*

THE SUPPOSED CHILDHOOD FRIEND BOTH SHE AND BLITZ SUPPOSEDLY HAD???

Like bro even if Millie and Stella aren't the best written characters they have narrative weight at least, bro, Barbiewire is the most useless addition to the show and it shows painfully. You could literally write her off as a one off gag from season 1 but even then we've had season 1 characters impact the overall show more THAN THE SISTER OF THE MAIN CHARACTER

It also sucks as I've had a few mutuals who wrote Barbiewire purely based on what very little we've seen in the pilot and they still managed to craft a more narratively important and interesting portrayal than canon. And it's not I think it's a direct result of bad writing, it really does just feel like Viv values every other character more than her which is sad

[limeade-l3sbian]

I think the socialization part shows itself a lot more since most romance manga(and in cases of manhua and manwha, the chinese and korean equivalents) are written by east asian women, whom obviously live in a place even more patriarchal than the west. not to say the things these women learn to accept from “love” makes them less or even unusual, i simply want to reiterate that it’s more pronounced there due to how even more constricted their societies are in regards to the treatment of their women.

anyway. now that the disclaimer is out of the way!

i’ve grown up reading a lot of manga of many different genres but i’ve especially used to have had some intense shoujo phases. shoujo is basically manga created for the demographic of girls and young women. not to say others can’t read it, but it’s simply where they tend to be marketed.

shoujo romance especially shows this issue a lot that i wanna talk about. the male leads will 9 times out of 10 be rich, extremely emotionally stunted(this can show in the form of intense rudeness, complete lack of emotional depth, no expressions, stoic to the extreme, downright abusive) and handsome. Those are the three traits they almost all have. Now obviously I get the want for a handsome or beautiful lead, whether it’s female or male, it is after all just fantasy fulfillment to an extent. The same with wealth. But i think the emotionally stunted side speaks of the women and girls’ who read the mangas socialization a lot. We have these male leads who often make the female leads go through hell, whether it’s due to his own actions or inactions. Sexual assaults have gotten less common in more modern manga, but it was only like ten years ago where sexual assaults in manga by the male lead towards the female MC would be a common place for him to show his desire for her and despite it often being portrayed as bad on the MC’s end, she always did end up forgiving him. The same with however else he treated her.

Made her to all the heavy lifting emotionally of the relationship? He’s forgiven, because suddenly he’s gotten a “tragic” backstory of a lonely, lonely boy being neglected in his massive mansion from childhood. He’s absolutely vile towards women? His mom was probably a horrid woman who either cheated on his poor dad and left or maybe she was simply so overbearing he now feel suffocated and dates new women every week like it’s some kind of game to dangle others feelings at his fingertips. Way into the romantic relationship having started with the MC he’s suddenly revealed to have a arranged fiancée or a very mean spirited but extremely beautiful childhood friend who the main character now how to basically fight off him with a stick while the male lead does not much else in most of these stories besides being useless. if we are lucky we get him talking the fiancée/childhood friend that he actually liked this new girl(MC), but extremely rarely will he actually go out of his way to truly set boundaries. he will passively essentially invite scorn towards his current gf. and these are just SOME of the examples of repeat patterns in behavior in the romantic male leads.

time and time again in shoujo romance male leads will make life much harder for the female main character. she will often be put down to her face for scoring such a rich hottie(even though we are at times 50+ chapters in and feelings on his end still seem finicky), she will have to bear the emotional heavy lifting and basically mother him/be a teacher to him on how to express himself, despite the fact that he usually changes very little. she will forgive any and all transgression he commits, even if it breaks her heart, because he is the main male lead and therefore he can do nothing truly wrong to not end up with her. and in the end of the mangas it’s usually somehow made clear in some way that SHES the lucky one. despite her carrying the relationship on her back. She should be grateful. And women and girls in east asia, and obviously also very much outside of it, eats it up. Yes! Give us a borderline abusive or at least emotionally neglectful man! We can forgive! We can forget! Let us be his doormat!

Not manga but it’s also so obviously in most romance kdramas i’ve seen. It’s such a common trope, these handsome, rich, utter asshole male leads and then these utter angel for a female lead who absolutely tolerates getting walked all over.

And while i’ve not read any of those books, it’s not like it’s not visible in the west. When authors like Coleen Hoover has basically built a career off of emotionally stunted but hot guys treated their gf/wife like utter garbage but it’s okay!!!! so romantic!!!!

women all over the world have such bottom of the barrel standards when it comes to emotional maturity in men. in some mediums it’s certainly more apparent than others, but it’s visible all over.

I do wanna be 100% clear that not all romance manga is obviously as I described. I’m simply talked about popular tropes, and i mean EXTREMELY popular, as in its more common to see at least one of them than it isn’t. That’s all.

!!!

[mirageofadesert]

C-Drama Review: The Story of Pearl Girl

Broadcast: Youku, 2024, 40 Episodes, Genre: Historical

My Rating 7/10

On paper, this drama has everything I look for: a compelling story centered on character development, female relationships, and political intrigue rather than just romance. It starts off with great promise, drawing the viewer in with its strong foundation. However, as the story progresses, it becomes stalled by repetitive obstacles thrown in the protagonist's path, which ultimately saps the momentum from an otherwise intriguing narrative.

Acting: 8/10 World-building: 6/10 Production: 8/10 Storytelling: 6/10 Pacing: 3/10 Re-watch Value: 6/10 

Summary with minor spoilers

Duanwu (played by Zhao Lusi) is raised as a slave on a pearl farm until she escapes this harsh and oppressive environment. Determined to uncover the truth about her family, carve out a place for herself in the world, and seek revenge on those who wronged her, she embarks on a transformative journey. Her path becomes intertwined with the enigmatic Yan Zijing (Liu Yuning), who is pursuing his own vendetta against the families that destroyed his life. Along the way, they encounter new allies and adversaries, including the righteous Zhang Jinran (Tang Xiaotian), the skilled Yue Yunxi (Shang Wanqing), and the ambitious Cui Shijiu (Xie Chloe).

Through numerous twists and turns, Duanwu begins building her own business as a jewelry maker and seller. Slowly, and with the support of her newfound allies, she not only establishes her reputation and business but also closes in on the people who took everything from her.

My review - spoilers ahead!

The first few episodes were absolutely thrilling and deeply moving—they even brought me to tears. The show tackled heavy themes like sexual violence with sensitivity, delivering a female-focused narrative that made me root for the main character with all my heart. The developing friendships and romances were equally compelling, filled with chemistry and emotional depth.

I’ve always loved stories about women overcoming adversity to build their own businesses, as seen in New Life Begins. However, in this case, the story begins to lose its spark in the second half. The intrigue fizzles out as repetitive obstacles are thrown at the protagonist, making the narrative feel stagnant. The show would have greatly benefited from fewer episodes and tighter storytelling in its latter part.

By the time the tragic ending unfolded, my emotional connection to the characters had waned due to the overly drawn-out plot. Finishing the show felt like a chore, as each new conflict added little to the overall progression of the story. While it had incredible potential, the lack of narrative focus in the second half sadly undermined its impact.

[a-sea-with-no-shores]

The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty notes for any other latecomers like me:

I liked the parts of it that I liked very much, including the main relationship. There are a handful of good female characters that rotate in and out. The fight scenes are mostly short and semi-realistic, light on the lightness skills (pun intended) and lacking anything more fanciful than that.

Women in armor, even if it's only a small amount of the time: A+++ (this is in the opening animation; that's not a spoiler).

You should have some tasty food on hand over the course of the series, including at least one bowl of noodles, or you will be Very Sad.

It's set in 1478 CE (the Chinese name is literally 成化���四年, 14th year of Chenghua*). Thus you get what you'd get in a show set in another region in a similar era: nasty attitudes about nations adjoining distant borders, deals made in fancy brothels, etc. etc., and I'm not going to write up all that because I expected it going in. Are there current political aspects involved? Yup. (Like, was that bit about exiling someone to Xinjiang historically accurate? I don't think the Ming actually had control of it well enough for that during this period!) But that all goes over there in the box marked General Historical and Modern Social/Political Problems With Everyone's (Quasi-) Historical Shows Everywhere.

(if you don't want to know ANYTHING more about the show before watching it, don't continue, although I've tried to avoid real spoilers.) *not everything in that article that's stated as fact is accepted as fact, though that should be a given with brief histories of any era whether on Wikipedia or anywhere.

Some things I was NOT expecting:

I was not expecting for Tang Fan to be such a cringey brat. I honestly wasn't sure I could deal with him at first. But underneath the (gestures) everything, as it turns out, he's remarkably strong even in a show full of steel-willed characters. I don't know exactly what caused all the (gestures) everything, but I have some guesses.

Holy shit, so many instances of people ending their own lives! I literally lost count. Generally for "I got caught and there's no way out" reasons but whew. Genre-appropriate but like. A lot. It wasn't triggery to me in the least but if you're bingeing it becomes a little ridiculous. (And there were two instances in which I was mad about it.)

ACAB: One main character is a judge/clerk/DA/public defender, kind of. One is an army veteran/cop/enforcer/investigator, kind of. One is a secret agent/spymaster, kind of. They are all deeply enmeshed in the machinery of power and have different relationships with it, which change over the course of the show. (Though they are all never more than one breath away from being crushed by it.) For the most part the overly idealistic/rigid pair change for the better, though there's a moment of what felt to me like real abuse of power over marginalized people that I think is mostly excused by the narrative as being done in the grip of panic (and love). But it also felt like it was written in a way that indicated there would probably be consequences? If so, they didn't come up. (I'd have to rewatch to really analyze it.)

I meant it about the food.

There are clearly good/evil characters, complex/morally grey/ambiguous characters, and then there's the third main character in this show, who's like ... a third, secret thing. Like, utterly amoral in pursuit of his own ethic? I would not want to live in the same time zone or decade as him.

Unexpectedly, there's a case that involves (sigh) an Autistic EngineerTM. I can't comment on this character or storyline in depth but over several episodes they managed to make the handling of the whole thing both better and worse multiple times. The ending made me mad but I don't know enough about the depiction of autism in Chinese media to say if even this kind of storyline was a positive or negative in that sense.

Actually, for both the above and the handling of Sui Zhou's PTSD, I can't say if the translation made things better or worse. That kind of vocabulary is pretty well beyond me. That said, I don't think "mental illness" is necessarily the best translation every time it showed up in the English subtitles.

Character ages make no goddamn sense. When I try to imagine that Wang Zhi is the age they claim he is, my brain just breaks. (I don't remember how old the real Wang Zhi was during this time period, though since the other two MCs are fictional it doesn't really matter.) I suppose it's a miracle that they let Consort Wan be played by someone who's 3 years older than the actor who played the emperor, even though in real life she was more like 15 years older (I forget exactly).

Gender/crossdressing: One male character wears a woman's clothes/makeup/etc. as a disguise and gets thoroughly laughed at by one other male character (others are surprised or matter-of-fact about it) but it's unclear whether the laughter is deliberate manipulation, mockery, delight, or a more complicated gender thing given who's doing the laughing. There are a couple instances of female or AFAB characters presenting as men as a disguise and/or as their daily life. I think in all of the cases these characters have some degree of agency when there's the inevitable (because it's a drama) revelation. Honestly in one case I was pleasantly surprised because the character continues to present as male. I honestly have no idea what the character's gender turns out to be, which is fine! The subtitles do change their pronouns to feminine but I can't remember from the spoken dialogue if there's any actual change in address.

I've only watched the show once and my memory is not that good so forgive me if I got anything wrong here. None of this is really criticism, just personal observations! I'd like to read the book eventually. (I've already begun to investigate the fanfic. I see that while the show forgot about Tang Fan's side hustle pretty quickly, fic writers certainly didn't lmao)

[ladyhawke]

we should have gotten a show about two factions of the same family lead by two ambitious women fighting for the throne but instead we got a reductive good vs. evil game of thrones prequelTM that still doesn’t know how to write interesting female characters

detailed under the cut if anyone’s interested i just need to vent

aging down alicent and creating a relationship between her and rhaenyra was the show’s best decision, it added depth and emotional charge to the story but what’s the point of creating a wonderful backstory if you never get to the actual story? they refuse to allow the two of them to actually break apart and have something rotten sprout of what once was love and friendship and that compromised the whole show. the fact that they clearly wanted to keep the two of them interacting resulted in two of worst scenes of the show (especially the first one cause god that was unbelievably cringe)

i liked that they made alys rivers a weird witch instead of the obvious hot seductress

i love mysaria possibly being a agent for the smallfolk, it’s one the book’s most important themes “when the lords play their game of thrones it is the common people who lose” and if she understood that and is just using her position the help them would be amazing but i’m not very optimistic about that

helaena being a dreamer was also nice and i liked that they gave her neuroatypical traits but hated the distance they put between her and her dragon, her being neurodivergent should make her even more attached to dreamfyre if anything. i understand her not wanting to fight in a war and kill people but she doesn’t even ride? bullshit

mostly i hate how they refused to let their main female characters be bad, rhaenyra is a perfect saint and not a bit spiteful or rancorous and alicent was just a dumb bitch with no agency and permanent downturned lips. having aegon as king was a misunderstanding and she wasn’t even aware of the green council until it began, they should have allowed her to be ambitious especially because it would fit the young alicent so well!!! the girl who always followed the rules and did everything right didn’t get rewarded in the end while rhaenyra who was always being transgressive never faced the consequences, remember “Where is duty? Where is sacrifice? It’s trampled under your pretty foot again.” it would have been incredible to see her going “well i’m gona do whatever i want now cause apparently that’s how it works” and them drive herself into a tragedy, but at least a tragedy *she* chose, doomed by herself

blood and cheese was terribly written and shot, seriously what the fuck was that?

nettles is the doubt over whether or not targaryens are the only ones who can ride a dragon but since the show made the velaryons of all people black i don’t think she would have had the same effect. i still think they did it to soften the connotation that would come with super pale white people obsessed with blood purity btw

i tried not to give into the “targ stan” argument because i quite dislike the targaryens so i know i’m biased but now seeing that even people who are team black are complaining that the show killed all nuance by making it greens = bad and blacks = good i have to agree

this is truly a show for daenery’s widows (the last episode shamelessly confirms it) they were constantly forcing this rhaenyra and daenerys connection and that really annoyed me (syrax being the mom of dany’s dragons confirmed by a director or producer is so ????)

actually all the connections to game of thrones annoy me deeply THAT FUCKING DAGGER!!!!!! the prophecy thing is so boring and simplistic (and when you consider the travesty that was the long night in the series i really don’t understand why they want to remind the audiences of that) i really dislike all the cheap fan service scenes

it’s still the same issue they had with got, this epic-ness complex, they didn’t have to tie this so directly to daenerys and the long night. all they had to do was tell the story of the dance, with good consistent characters and themes and good writing and of course cool action and dragon scenes but i guess that’s not interesting enough for them

also what’s with the rhythm of this show? season 1 ended on a cliffhanger that went nowhere since we didn’t see angry rhaenyra seeking vengeance at all and now the we spend several minutes of fun and laughter at essos with tyland in a season finale? that once again ends with the promise of conflict? and what conflict is that if alicent just gave away everything?

[bloodpen-to-paper]

Movie Review Blurbs: The Super Mario Bros. Movie

The Highlights

-The brothers were the most endearing part for me, they had a wonderful dynamic that not only made me like them as a duo, but as individuals (from the Mario media I know, there wasn't much focus on their personality so it was nice watching something that gave them more character)

-Jack Black got to sing his silly songs and honestly that's all that matters

-The movie making fun of the egregious Italian accents in the beginning was a good gag, especially considering the two are still Italian in the movie and are given more accurate accents (also I love that they're canonically from Brooklyn lmao)

-Mario was a fucking crack head before the isekai and I enjoy that fact very much

-Yoshi avengers end credit scene

-Surprisingly decent voice acting, they all delivered (especially Charlie Day and Jack Black)

-The penguins, the Dry Bones, SHY GUYS

-Toad is a fucking criminal apparently who helps outsiders break into the castle and goes outside the Mushroom Kingdom to do god knows what

-Off the top of my head, my favorite part of the movie was Luigi running from the Dry Bones and ending up in Luigi's Mansion; great horror scene for a very PG movie

-Whatever the fuck was going on between Kamek and Bowser

-SHY GUYS SHY GUYS SHY GUYS SHY GUYS SHY GUYS-

-Mario and DK's frienenemy relationship was great, especially with how they butt heads but also understand (daddy issues) and respect each other (they're a good ship ngl)

-I liked Cranky Kong as a character, I feel like he was a character made to appeal more to an older crowd now that I think about it

-The implications? Of Bowser's entire fucking ship coming to the human realm? And totaling the city? Magic is real? What's gonna happen there is the U.S. government gonna try and harness the power of the magic realm and capitalize on it like there is so much left unanswered

-simp bowser lmao (many dudebros were mad about this one which automatically makes it the best plotline in my book)

-Mario and Peach weren't shown to have romantic feelings for each other, giving them time to actually get to know each other first

Criticisms

-Ok so let's address the main issue; the pacing. The movie severely lacked transition, bridging and buildup, and it felt less like a movie and more like a bunch of individual scenes thrown together (cause it kinda was). It was frustrating cause the movie was genuinely very engaging, and there was some real lost potential with how rushed it was. It definitely needed to be longer; I think the people working on it were on a time constraint, and it showed

-Pigging-backing off the previous note, a lack of build up to big moments made those moments feel like they came out of nowhere. it also lacked an after math period for those big moments, which makes them feel unsubstantial

-Ok rant time: I saw people having this concern for Peach being a dull #girlboss character that lacked substance, and... yeah, it happened. I think the issue of female characters being sidelined and not given any character depth is being acknowledged, but in a way that still doesn't give them depth. Basically, male creators have realized they've been making female characters useless love interests in the background, so they're fixing this by making said characters hyper-competent, and in the forefront of the fight. However, its had this adverse effect where these hyper-competent characters are now just serving as plot devices to push the narrative rather than being given their own character narrative. They are at the forefront, and fight, but are still lacking in depth and development (what's worse is they still just serve as aides to male leads most of the time, just now in a repackaged way that usually would be held by a side male character). The Mario movie was rushed so none of the characters got much development, but Peach in particular was not given any character development, only plot development (she got isekai'd and is wondering where she's from, but we don't see how this idea effects her emotionally or drives her because... it really doesn't. She's just kinda like "oh hey I'm from another universe... ok cool! Anyway-"). So yeah, that needs work. Male creators need to humanize their female characters like they do the male ones, and actually give them flaws and struggles (Peach literally has a gag about being so perfect she mastered the super hard parkour course they practice on in one go, while we see Mario work on it and improve over time; its lazy ass writing cmon now). Hence why I like consuming media that's actually by female creators, and I encourage all of you to do the same

-Mario and DK were great but again needed more fleshing out, they had this whole bonding moment about their daddy issue but it happened so fast that you couldn't really stew in it much

-Mario/DK's daddy issues were not handled the best, they only got their father's approval when they did something cool and not for actually being themselves; didn't like the messaging there very much

-Though I mentioned Mario x Peach didn't happen, the movie still very intrusively pushes the idea in your face by having side characters comment on it; I imagine this is what homophobes think they're experiencing when queer character exist in media, except this movie didn't even try to be subtle with the push

-Why did Toad just decide to help Mario find Luigi? Why did Peach decide to train Mario so she could take him with her to Donkey Kong Island? Just cause he's a fellow human? And why did she just decide to take Toad along too? Again, pacing

-Rainbow Road being a "secret path" that was literally out in the open and Bowser found it almost immediately lmao (it was also never narratively explained how Bowser found the path if I'm remembering correctly)

-The Luma gag was overdone imo, but the "finally, mercy" part was very funny

-no bowuigi sex scene -∞/10

Final Thoughts

Overall, the movie was very fun, but the time constraint really did bring it down from being a better ranked movie. Its frustrating because the movie had so much to offer, I wanted more from it, and that's why the pacing is something I'm hammering on so much. And for anyone saying "its a kid's movie, who cares?"... sorry I want kid's to have good movies? And not just the kind of drool that comes from Minions-type productions? Movies are art, and art should have the people behind it putting the best into their work that they can, kid's movie or not, so if something is bringing down that art (a time constraint for example) it should be criticized in my opinion. Plus lets face it, a lot of the people going in to see the movie were teens/adults who grew up on Mario.

Despite all this though, I genuinely enjoyed it, and my low expectations for what is an Illumination movie were pleasantly subverted. There was clearly a lot of love put into this film, and I can't wait to see if there will be a sequel. Thanks for reading!

[bellaaldamas]

@the-rodent-of-shalott

I hope you do not mind me responding in a separate post to your comment to my reply to your ask box message. In a place where I live any discussion of non-straight relationship can result in a jail time and a hefty fine and it is not the main theme of our discussion of the Daria canon anyway. So here goes:

Everything you mentioned about the statements from the show creators reinforced what I have been thinking and concluding for over two decades about this show.

Namely: the creators were always writing a misogynistic, ageist, ableist, subliminally racist narrative promoting the "not like other girls" culture. The nostalgic memories of multi-dimensional characterization can never negate the fact that the show was as sexist and bigoted as it could possibly be, even by the MTV standards.

That brings me to the point you mentioned: that the producers do not read our rants on Tumblr or elsewhere and never will. The only effective way to influence problematic media which has been plagued by misogyny from both the dudebros/Alphas and the "progressives"/Nice Guys is to vote with the remote and the wallet. Fact is that the producers and the writers do NOT think as in depth as we, media consumers, do. Thus, if it looks like the writers are opposed to certain characters and storylines for bigoted reasons it is because they, sadly, are. But they'll never admit that and will keep framing their bigotry as "progressive and feminist".

Disney is a good example of that. Ever since Frozen, they stopped advocating for women's agency and right to pursue independence and went on to promote an idea that the society "knows better" what a woman wants and needs. From a franchise that celebrated woman's right to break free from oppression and abuse and gain her own independent experiences the Princess Franchise went on to reinforce one of the most patriarchal and misogynistic ideas that women/girls are "too hormonal and shallow" to understand their own minds. That they need wealthy Disney producers, anti-social sisters and equally anti-social ice-harvesters from the mountains AND Snowmen to tell them/us what they/we really need and want.

That if a woman dares to act on her feelings she just makes an "easy victim" out of herself and if she ends up being used and abused it will be HER fault, not the male abuser's who takes advantage of her.

That's the same repackaged patriarchy we observed in Daria.

That's the reason Disney does not even get WHY their Mulan remake which removed one of the most multi-dimensional and interesting male leads - Shang - ended up being a flop. They do not get why women consider it important to see men and male characters who support woman's defiance of social norms and social pressure as being a part of female protagonist's life.

Modern/mainstream feminism caters only to the overly privileged women who can AFFORD to exclude men entirely from equation. Whereas us, regular women, have no such option. We have to include and interact with men (not necessarily in a romantic way but within the professional, personal, medical and domestic sphere). Back in the day Disney acknowledged that and had it's male characters acknowledge the importance of being women's allies as well.

The only instance when modern Disney came back to acknowledging that was the TLM remake. The latter ended up being successful for all it's flaws and some of the changes to the original animated movie that should have never happened (particularly the Ariel ascending to the surface on Eric's birthday and, thus, linking her major act of defiance against her patriarchal father to another man, Eric; and the kiss amnesia which removed Ariel's romantic agency completely and gave all of it to Eric, a man).

However, despite all the aforementioned issues Disney still preserved the original message and the empowering nature of Ariel's story while attaining the purpose of making the movie diverse and compelling - and that's why it was well received by the TLM fans. Even those who, understandably, do not hold other remakes in high regard (especially the Cinderella 2015 and LA Aladdin which missed the point of the original stories entirely and came across as patronizing and pseudo-"progressive"; the actual well constructed LA Remake of Cinderella is the 1997 version starring Brandy - now, THAT was a true subversion of misogyny and Disney's modern pseudo-feminism).

The TLM remake was the deviation and a temporary break from the pseudo-"progressive" pandering, unfortunately. The impeccable casting (particularly the main couple's unmatched chemistry) mixed with the compelling and well written love story between Ariel and Eric, in both the animated and the LA version, is the reason it stands out.

But Disney executives, having bent to misogynistic anti-princess narratives, will never admit that. They'll keep releasing low quality content like Tangled the series (Tangled: Before Ever After) where the entire basis of the main couple's relationship will be bastardized, the male protagonist will be turned into a one dimensional comedic relief and the third parties/new characters will "know better" what the heroine wants and needs. All of that culminating with pseudo-feminist pandering twists such as Rapunzel growing out her hair AND cutting it off on her own (because the armchair critics complained about the abuse victim needing help and support to break free from the life long exploitation in the original film).

Given everything that has been said and released about the Snow White remake we are in for another misogynistic narrative about how women are only worthy of acknowledgment if they have ability, class or other privileges that help them confront their abusers.

TLM remake never glossed over the issue of Triton's patriarchal oppression - it even went as far as to highlight LA Eric's mother (a woman) had more power than Eric (a man) did due to her Queen title. That's why the real growth needed to be attained by King Triton and the Queen because Ariel and Eric never actually did anything wrong, in either the animated or the live action version. In the animated version the growth is attained by Triton and 1989's version of Grimsby who attempted to suppress Eric's freedom of will (before Ursula/"Vanessa" came around and committed her ultimate act of taking away Eric's agency and then made an eerie and predatory remark about it with her "so long, lover boy", in both movies).

Both versions and situations are important to address. It is a prime example of how a remake and the original can complement each other. And the only example, unfortunately, as far as Disney goes.

It is interesting that you brought up the issue of Sailor Moon because Usagi's relationship with Mamoru is a quintessence of the same pseudo-"feminist" misogyny that media has been promoting since 90-s. It would be a mistake to assume pseudo-feminist culture is the "new" media trend because it has been in goes since the loathsome Whedon's shows that presented themselves as a more "empowering" alternative to the "shallow" stories for teenage girls and housewives about women sacrificing for love and for men.

So, the "feminist" alternative was to have women sacrifice everything, including their interests, hobbies, plans and feelings (and even their friends and family), for the Greater Good TM and the mission imposed on them by others.

Because women are always expected to sacrifice and to understand - that's what's "profound".

But women like Ariel (both the animated and LA) are somehow "shallow and selfish" because they dare to prioritize their own needs and emotions over the goals and priorities their surrounding and their society imposes on them.

The treatment of Usagi on part of SM narrative is heinous and sexist. It is the prime example of the 90-s misogyny where woman's desire to live her life the way she wants to is framed as an example of "shallowness" and "selfishness" that she supposedly needs to "grow out of". Meanwhile, Mamoru, a 21+ year old, picking on teenage girls because he has "valid reasons" and "emotional struggles" to feel the way he does is framed as "understandable" and "justifiable" as long as he makes the "superficial, juvenile and selfish" Usagi more "mature and giving". Even though as far as season 3 Mamoru hasn't come remotely close to Usagi's level of emotional maturity. Or even that of Chibi Usa for that matter.

Never mind the fact that Usagi would die time and again for her friends to survive and be happy. According to the narrative, she should never value happiness and life of her friends over the imposed Greater Mission TM because it is an example of the aforementioned "immaturity" and "selfishness". Woman's "growth" is about to recognize she is a sacrificial lamb in the name of the Greater Good - that's what the "progressive" culture and Whedon say, after all.

And that's the thinking Daria producers were perpetuating as well.

It was a mistake to believe they were somehow more "aware" and more "self critical" than the misogynistic media mentioned above. They were not.

The entire narrative of Daria was about celebrating rather than criticizing the "not like other girls" misogyny which has found it's triumph in the modern media. That is why the issue of Brittany's struggles that you mentioned was never addressed either - because Brittany was framed as "unworthy" of having her experiences recognized. Like Usagi, she was one of "the other girls", as she DARED to prioritize her goals, comfort and feelings over the goals imposed on her by the society.

Daria could have been an excellent story if it was a deconstruction of the "not like other girls" stereotype.

If it had Daria acknowledge that it were not the "other women" who were one dimensional and prejudiced - it was SHE who was that way.

At some points she even showed signs that she could come to that conclusion, especially when she interacted with Trent.

But the writers were always misogynistic and bigoted. And that is why the show's direction was misogynistic and bigoted as well. That's why the writers "never liked Trent" - it was never about him anyway. Trent was just a part of the misogynistic stereotype where Daria struggled with her "not like other girls" misogyny but because the writers supported said misogyny they never allowed her to grow out of it.

All we can do is to show awareness and try to be better than that.

[whitelilyvoyage]

recommendation + review: “how do we relationship”

review + recommendation (spoiler free)

9.8/10 - i cannot recommend it enough

This is my favorite GL of all time. Every character feels so human and even the side characters are all well fleshed out and have traits and circumstances that can be relatable to anyone. The relationship between the two main characters is a bond that is truly one-of-a-kind. The development of their relationship as well as their relationships with others is so well written and feels so natural.

I also feel that this manga handles a variety of difficult topics very well, ranging from sexual orientation, internal and external homophobia, self-esteem, gender, depression, and sex. The focus of this manga is romantic relationships but it also showcases a variety of familial relationships, friendships, sexual relationships, and the relationship that one has with oneself.

All in all, this manga feels very genuine and human in a way that few other manga series have been able to replicate and I highly recommend it.

review with spoilers

As much as I love fluffy romances, I am much more a fan of realistic ones and this manga DELIVERED in that aspect.

The main girls, Miwa and Saeko, breaking up was one of the most heartbreaking arcs I have ever read in any romance, simply because of how invested I had become in this couple as a result of the author showing deeply personal, intimate scenes involving the two. We learned about how they came to terms with their sexual orientations, their relationships with their family and friends, and more importantly, how they viewed themselves. Everything leading up to their breakup was realistic— it made sense for them to break up. In fact, it was for the better. Still, knowing this, it made me so incredibly sad.

That said, like how the sad scenes made me feel miserable, the happy scenes made me feel ecstatic. Miwa finally finding someone who liked her back and wanted to date her made me tear up. Yuria and Saeko cuddling had me kicking my feet and giggling and shit.

Also shout-out to Usshi, loml!! I loved their chapter (ch 14) which I believe implied that they may be either on the nonbinary spectrum or the aroace spectrum (or both!) and I appreciated the extra depth added even though they’re a side character. Shout-out to Rika as well because I love annoying bitch characters! I didn’t expect to like her at first but yeah I appreciate how she’s written, I guess? Oftentimes female characters who are sexually open have some kind of backstory or sad reason or whatever as to why they have a lot of sex and the author subverts this trope in the Rika-centric chapter. Fatherless allegations denied! I think she’s a good example of a flawed but likable character.

also she’s cute

Miwa and Tamaki make me so sad. The sex scene in volume 10(? I think) made me feel so upset. I can sympathize with Tamaki but also pushing Miwa to have sex with her in that situation was NOT the move. The breakup scene made me so sad as well. Part of me wonders if they’ll get back together because of how the volume ended (Tamaki running away from the breakup) but at the same time I don’t think so because the way that Miwa spiraled into self-hatred during that sex scene… Either way I honestly hope they don’t get back together because I don’t think they’re right for each other. Still, I was so happy when they got together so this makes me so sad.

But anyway Yuria and Saeko!! I love them so much, if they ever break up love is not real and romance is truly dead. (Okay tbh I feel like they’ll break up because of the dreams conflict but let me be delulu…)

And can I mention Miwa with longer hair because wowow

she is so fine beautiful wonderful hot

[chocolatte-del-lago]

The LanOpi appreciation post no one asked for

Today we'll do an in depth annalysis on the weirdest illusion i've ever had (And I still have to this day), today we will rock you talk about LANSELOT HAMILTON and the FEMALE OPINION LEADER relationship and yes, I know no one ships it, and i also know i've embarassed myself once about this ship after being too shy to the point of writing it in japanese in hopes of converting more people to this thing (it failed), and I'm also 100% sure i will be stupid AGAIN. Please enjoy this stupid essay (I 'm already taking too much time writing this thing).

Note: I've got no money to buy a switch and the silly unicorn game

DISCLAIMER: I DIDN'T CHECK IF THIS WALL OF TEXT IS WRITTEN CORRECTLY AND IT'S FULL OF SPOILERS, READ AT YOUR OWN RISK !

BEGIN!

One could ever wonder "why would anyone ship this thing" and i would answer "because we are silly".

First, let's talk about the obvious here, the Female Opinion Leader has no name, no history and no importance to the plot at all, since because 1. The game doesn't show anything happening inside the Revolutionary Army 2. Ogre Battle 64 confirmed that the main character is Destin Faroda (the Male Opinon Leader). And right now you're probably thinking "What do we do with this information?" nothing! We are about to headcanon the whole thing! *cheers*

The beggining of this silliness

IT ALL STARTED WHEN IT BEGAN, most people who i've seen that ships them it's mostly because Lanselot was 4 levels ahead of the main character, creating the illusion that he was a strong guy that could easily wipe entire houses with a swing of his sword (they do this again in Tactics Ogre) and because of this he was always used in the frontlines while creating a weird scenario where he would protect the opinion leader from an atomic bomb, and then you ask me "Warren was level 4 too-" an then I will answer: IS WARREN A HOT 36 YEARS OLD MAN WITH TRAUMA???????? he's a mage with two dogs and not a knight with silver armor voiced by DIO BRANDO (Takehito Koyasu... on the saturn version), the whole helmet thing covering his face.... aaaaaah. Now let's go to the other topic....

The INTERACTIONS

EXHBIT ONE!

The first interaction between Lans and Opi (I will call her like this now) happens during Castle of Warren (the training stage), he's the first unit to join you in the game. The weird thing starts right at their first meeting...

this fucking weirdo says that her eyes are beautiful???? ON THEIR FIRST MEETING????? Before you start saying "he says this to Destin too" fuck it, if you ship Lans with Destin just swap the female leader name on the essay and you will get the same thing (LANSELOT HAMILTON BISSEXUAL KING??????)

EXHBIT TWO!!!!!

WE ARE GOING NOW TO THE END OF THE GAME !!11!1111! (WOOOOOOOW I LOVE BEING A THE MARCH OF THE BLACK QUEEN FAN! ONLY 3 INTERACTIONS OF MY FAVORITE CHARACTERS!!!!!!!!!! LET'S GOOOOOOOOO)

We'll now analyse each one of the endings of the game AND see how can we interpret this as PEAK ROMANCE.

(Thanks video game museum for the pics! (Ending for Ogre Battle-World End (Super NES) (vgmuseum.com))

WORLD ENDING

This one is savage, this is where we see how Lans don't like Tristan and gossips with Warren! "If I weren't a royal knight, I would be tempted to stay with Opi" JUST GO LANSELOT, YOU CAN DO THIS! FOLLOW THE RED HEAAAAAAD

EMPRESS ENDING (Emperor if you like gays)

Notice how he doens't give a damn about the Opinion Leader reigning over Xenobia? Bet he loves thinking about her as his queen...

MOON ENDING (AKA THE LANOPI ENDING)

First of all, fuck you ogre battle saga wiki, spreading misinformation about this ending only being acessible with Ashe! What an insult to the LanOpi fandom (we are 3 people)!

Lanselot then pops out of nowhere and asks if the opinion leader left... and Tristan answers that she went away! That's Lans reaction:

(footage was taken in my tablet from my gameplay from 3 years ago because NO ONE DOES THIS VERSION OF THE ENDING)

Second, this ending is so cute oh my god 😢, the way Opi leaves thinking that she isn't important to Xytegenia anymore and Lans going after her right after... he wants to protect her so bad 💔💔💔 Tristan probably already knows about Lans' devotion to the leader and.... and... GO AWAY HANGED MAN! NO! NO! NOOOOOOO

HANGED MAN ENDING (THE ANGST LANOPI ENDING)

They then decides to kill her-

This was my first ending... I remenber that it was an afternoon and my reputation was 0 and my ALI probably 60+...

Look, not to sound like an psychopath, but this is one of the endings that define LanOpi (AND MAKES TRIOPI LOOK WEIRD 🙏). The way it starts with him and Tristan talking with each other... Tristan knew Lanselot was the closest person to the Leader but also his most loyal knight. When faced with the decision of killing her, Lans was in shock, he didn't want to do this, but when Tristan said that if not him, himself would do the job. Lanselot probably promissed that hewould never let anyone kill Opi, he didn't want to break this promisse so he decided to do it himself... The way he reacts after killing her, he's certainly crying about what he just did, asking God to forgive him...

Even worst is that the epilogue implies that Opi was easily forgotten by the people, Tristan probably burnt everything that belonged to her and all that Lans could do was to watch. The fact that she's never mentioned again, probably Lans still has to hide her existence to the world, having to only mention Destin to others, he has to carry the burden of being one of the few people who saw her helping the kingdom, but also being the one who got hid of her for the sake of his selfish king...

I can't guys... I can't do this no more...

(dubbed Saturn version on NicoNico: 【アーウィンド行軍記】伝説のオウガバトル【HANGEDMAN 】 - ニコニコ動画 (nicovideo.jp))

Tower Ending

There's nothing much to say about this ending, Lanselot only appears to tell Tristan that Rauny is fighting Opi's evil troops, he's just a placeholder here...

High Priestess Ending (Anti-LanOpi and... TriRau? Ending that actually.... huuh, i will explain this)

The TriOpi ending, the one where the most shitty character of all time in Ogre Battle marries the second hottest Ogre Battle character (The first place? obviously it's EMPRESS ENDORA!!!!! (Deneb ain't even the top 5)). Before you say that the reason I think it's a 10% LanOpi/TriRau ending because I like cuck porn (no, i hate this genre), it's because for some reason, Rauny (the canon woman who married Tristan) pops up in the wedding and says "Oh wow! We did it..." and for some reason, our token knight Lans appears and says "It's been years i've been here!"

we all know that after this wedding these two went to some tavern to cry because of TriOpi.

CONCLUSION!!!!!!!

i hate myself, no one is reading this shit 😭 but if any of you wants to see more about LanOpi... just check the tag or ask me! hahahahahahhahahahhahahahahahahahhahahhahahahahhahahah