#they're actually a surprisingly cute and wholesome and romantic couple-

[silverselfshippingchaos]

this guy i'm unfortunately attracted to is pretty popular with the ladies too... I hate to inflate his ego any more than it already is, but... he got me.

[rinadragomir]

You asked for my opinion, here we gooooo

Charles x Alastair: burn it burn it burn it, canonically an adult creeping on an underage kid, Charles is trash, the Carstairs siblings fucking showed him, I hope that Thomas beats him up in CoT

Thomas x Alastair: death from cute 🥹, I’m currently on a reread and their talk in the sanctuary almost killed me… again. I just hope that they can figure things out in CoT, they’re my wholesome/unproblematic OTP

Cordelia x James: honestly kinda torn, I want to love them wholeheartedly and every time Jaime calls her Daisy I feel like I do, but it’s just so angsty and I think with Matthew being my absolute favourite I just can’t handle the situation, I am praying that Cassie finds a satisfying ending for them🙏

Cordelia x Matthew: actually I am surprisingly fond of the ship, they’re amazing friends at the very least, just with how well she can read him and how much he trusts her, but on my reread I’ve noticed Cordelia gushing over Matthew quite a bit, and idk how they could ever work out but I wouldn’t be mad

James x Matthew: look, I really really really loved Will and Jem, but something about these two gets me, they’re my favourite Parabatai, and I even ship them, though obviously they could never be canon. But they have so many tender moments that break my heart every time🥹😫❤️ no matter how, I just want them both and their relationship to be okay after CoT but something is telling me I won’t get that

Ariadne x Anna: I have a crush on Anna, so personally I very much feel for Ariadne. Their scenes are always a delight to come across, despite the angst. Anna just needs to jump over her own shadow, but apart from that they’re giving power couple energy ⚔️

Lucie x Jesse: our unproblematic straight relationship😇 as far as raising your boyfriend from the dead can be unproblematic🤫 I‘m rooting for them but I’m not as invested as some other ships.

Cordelia x Lucie: I am freakin‘ mad that we won’t get their ceremony within the TLH series😤 they’re so sweet and exude Giel power when fighting together, but are underwritten at times in my opinion. I just need them to trust each other fully again😩 As for romantic shipping, any AU with them would slap, but I don’t feel it in the books.

Kit x Grace: they had like 2 scenes together but I am so invested in this ship! They both deserve someone who genuinely understands them. Kit could give Grace something to have purpose and confidence, and she could be the Marie to his Pierre🥹❤️ obviously she needs to be forgiven first, and she might not be ready for a relationship right now, but I feel like they would build trust slowly, and Kit would take forever to court her 😆

Matthew x Claude: okay so, unpopular opinion but I have a weird fascination with Kellington and he’d have me wrapped around his finger if I ever were to enter the Hell Ruelle. Pretty sure he’s an ass, but since we don’t know his age I wouldn’t straight up say he’s as terrible as Charles. though obviously to Matthew he’s dead and fucking should be. (still curious what happened between them exactly) And I hope to GOD that he won’t bite Math. Couldn’t forgive that 🙅🏻‍♀️😡

Grace x James: omg, not just terrible but actually magical sexual assault. he might’ve genuinely cared for Grace before he wore the bracelet but what happened after was just🤢 I like Grace as a character with a redemption arc but whatever is Grace/James needs to be burnt with heavenly fire. (in another timeline they’re really cute childhood friends.)

Pretty sure I covered the most important relationships, and I hope you don’t regret asking😇😂

Ohhhhh I LOVE IT YES YES SHARING THOUGHTS TIME💅🏻🌟💞✨

1) I don't think anyone ships them at all. The only thing I'm curious about is that chot snippet where Christopher believes Alastair came to the Fairchild house to meet Charles 😒like.... THEY'RE NOT TOGETHER AGAIN RIGHT?!

2) YesYES Alastair just needs some time. It's one of those rare times when I'm 100% they're an endgame.

3) I can't take healthy criticism at this point. I ship them since 2014 so🥺

3) as not a fan of Matthew I'm trying to be an neutral as possible BE PROUD OF ME! so they definitely have a chemistry, but they just like "cool to hang out, but not good for each other in the long term". For now they're just unhealthy distractions for each other. For Cordelia - Matthew is a possibility to run away of herself and her problems. And for Matthew - Cordelia is an illusion of a healthy happy life.

4)Ohhh James and Matthew. I remember that before COI someone (quit famous on here, but I forgot who😭) was 100% SURE Matthew's in love with James. And they made like 134551 essays why it's true. So you're not weird. They definitely have a strong bond and I REALLY HOPE that CC won't make Cordelia an obstacle to their friendship. The only thing I love about Matthew in COI is how much he genuinely cares about James. It's obvious even when they're mad at each other 😭✋

5)Yes, and since I ship these two for 4 years GAY hehehehehe I can tolerate all this shit Anna keeps doing to Ariadne, CAUSE I BELIEVE Cassie will make them....you know...TALK and deal with all their bullshit

6)my baby ghostwriter, the only thing that keeps me going 🥺😭✋just let them hold hands and attack each other with nose kisses CC please

7)Like....they don't actually develop any bond or sth. Like okay they were writing each other for years but it was all about "now I'm gonna tell you about my summer", then they interacted a few times and it was all about "oh hi glad u came, now let's hang out with boys", aaaaaand.... that's it🙃🙃🙃 even if Cassie will let them perform a parabatai ceremony in Chot, it's gonna feel empty. It's not me not wanting them to become parabatai, it's about me ASKING FOR AT LEAST 2 OR 3 PROPER DIALOGUES BETWEEN THEM😤😤😤

8)Oh oh YesYES you're absolutely right. Even if they get together, they're gonna do it very slowly and in the end of chot. I also shiped them since 2014, but now we have almost no hope and I just have a feeling CC added those scenes just for people like me who were kinda waiting, and they're gonna be just friends.

9) Ohhhhhh I see I see👀👀👀NO no biting pls☝🏻

10)NOOOOO no NOW it's not a ship at all. But I'll tell you sth: as an old fan I remember some hints from CC that Grace and James were supposed to be a real thing without any magic involved. If you find some old posts or YouTube videos (from 2014 to 2019) you'll see that actually lots of people were invested in this pairing. And somewhere in 2015, even though I shipped Jordelia, I was really curious about their dynamic. And then CC decided to change the majority of the plot, which is okay cause so much time has passed, but I'm still upset about it. I believe the original Grace/James was far more interesting.

Thank you for your thoughts, it was so entertaining ✨💞💓🌟

[perryhedge]

Thoughts on Senpai ga Uzai Kouhai no Hanashi

I think this is about what I expected, but I quite liked this one! Cute, easy to watch, fun characters. Not really laugh out loud funny or anything but there are a few good bits carried by the lead's strong voice acting. Most importantly, this show looks much better than it needs to, consistently, and has some real nice bits of animation like in the OP and occasional flashes every other episode or so. I was a bit surprised at just how wholesome this was.

To be honest, I didn't really care about the senpai, nor was I really rooting for their relationship to progress -- I'm not even necessarily convinced they'd make a good couple, let alone that the senpai has any feelings for his kouhai other than a desire to look after her, though his obliviousness and simplicity really gets stretched the further you go. As for the secondary couple, they're alright I guess, I never really minded when they were on screen but I was never dying for the story to return to them either. I guess that's how I felt about this whole show pretty much. Characters, seasons, and scenes come and go. None of it was necessarily something I got super attached to, but everything was pleasant enough that I happily clicked play on the next episode right after. There's some nice side stories too that are properly done, like the backstory between Futaba and Natsumi which was a highlight for me. Just an effortlessly competent production all around that does what it needs to do to hit the beats it needs to hit, without really having any major stumbles or unforced errors. Which is surprisingly rare!

And while most shows would probably make the joke of the lead pair's strange size difference a lot weirder and just be way hornier in general, this show actually felt surprisingly pretty tame, despite the fact that I know Doga Kobo productions will not necessarily shy away from that stuff. I was surprised at their restraint! And to go along with that, no one was mean to each other at all, aside from some light teasing. It's completely inoffensive and without bite, and that made it pretty easy to watch. It's just cute and genuinely pretty innocent, and I'm not sure I want to read any of the manga and break that impression. To be real, I pretty much don't think the main pair should get together, and the show gives that side enough plausibility. I do think the "dramatic" scenes got old, because on at least 3 separate occasions they play the scenario where a helpless female character is harassed by often literally faceless guys, and then their romantic interest (or in the backstory, Natsumi) show up to beat em up. Got kinda tired of that, but it's not a big deal. This show wasn't about drama for the most part, and thank god for that. It was about going on field trips with your coworkers who are basically your classmates but shh they're all adults.

Underrated aspect of this show was the music, which was delightful and overall very tastefully done. There's some whimsical orchestral tracks here almost like you'd hear on an Azumanga Daioh or Yuyushiki OST, and quite a few off kilter jazz-ish tracks too. Actually, with all the Christmas theming I almost got a Charlie Brown vibe at times. I think it's the music and especially the smart use of it (knowing when to kick off, escalate, fade in a track) that makes otherwise ordinary scenes even more pleasant. Like I said, everything in this show is very vanilla, so there are times when I think this is definitely needed to add that emotional weight to scenes that are on paper very understated.

Btw shoutout to the endcards, each made by a different popular porn artist on Twitter as far as I can tell, I liked them except for the one by the Made in Abyss mangaka lol.

On the whole, one of the most watchable anime I've seen in a while. Filled with comfy slice of life moments and made me remember why I like this stuff in the first place. It actually reminds me a lot of the Office, but the middle seasons, after the show had lost its edge but before all the navel gazing identity crisis stuff hit. Just, those middle seasons where everyone's just kinda hanging out. And yeah, there are a lot of moments I definitely won't remember by next month, like the entire character of the magical Russian girl, but the overall impression will remain like a pleasant aftertaste. So in conclusion, this show is really one of the most pretty good anime of all time, and I mean that in the best possible way.