#they're basically a ghibli couple

[cursedvida]

If the story had made Noa as an adult ape, with a established mate, and with children, the story would be more or less the same. His relationship with Mae would have been more like father and daughter where she reminded him of his children and give him a reason to protect her. It would probably be less shippy if you know what I mean (because people still ship what they wanna ship).

But no. It is clearly emphasized that he is very young and naive and he had no reason to be worrying for this similarly young girl who has given him enough reasons not to trust her but still helps her anyway because she left a quite impression on him. It doesn't help that Noa's actor is young and good-looking and their scenes together are full of chemistry 😭

It would have been zero shippy to be honest. Yes, I thought so too. They both must be, if not the same age, at least at a similar stage in life, with the difference that Noa has never left his village and doesn't know the horrors of the world, while Mae literally comes from hell, so her attitude is very different. But they are two young protagonists discovering what's happening around them, while being on opposite sides. Expecting people not to ship them seems very naive to me.

Through Mae, an entire unknown world opens up to Noa, and for the first time, he becomes aware that he has lived his entire life completely isolated from the problems occurring outside his environment. And through Noa, Mae starts to see the apes as more than just monsters whose sole objective is to destroy humans, and she realizes they have much more in common than she was probably taught. And that's a bond that unites them, no matter how much it might bother some people.

[snobgoblin]

I have just been extremely chatty lately so anyway yapping to a character prompt part 3

1. How do they celebrate their birthday?

he usually just treats himself by shopping at red street. he would invite people but he doesn't really have friends

2. Who is the most important person in their life?

himself if I'm honest but whatever partner he may get definitely becomes the most important person to him

3. What to they wear when they're just at home hanging out?

it swings wildly between "he wears the most expensive outfit he owns just for funsies" and "he wears basically nothing because of texture issues"

4. What is their house like?

you've seen the shop! it's that. with a cozy upstairs with lots of pillows. very Howl's Moving Castle esque decor going on in there too

5. Any pets?

eventually Faunus, yeah! he tries very unsuccessfully to lure pigeons and stuff to him with pumpkin bread. he's definitely an animal lover and tries to pet anything

6. What will always make them smile?

things that bring him comfort. warm bread, little trinkets, and eventually, his friends

7. What will always make them cry?

if you ever make him feel like you don't like him he will get mad and then cry about it later

8. What's their favorite movie (presuming they life in a world with movies, if not, what would be their favorite movie)?

I watch the same 5 movies on loop so I'm not sure 😭 I'll say he's a ghibli kind of guy

9. Favorite book?

erm I don't read so idk but he loves reading up on mythology and magic and things like that

10. Do they get along with their parents?

despite feeling hurt by Mercurio they're definitely close. that's the reason WHY he's so mad at his dad for leaving- he loves being around him. his relationship with his mom is negative but nearly nonexistent, they hardly see each other

11. If you could put them into a different fictional universe, where would they go?

in my universe GET OVER HERE (I have fallen in love with him)

12. Favorite holiday?

he freaking loves the Winter Solstice bro, like he hates the cold but he loves the closeness that comes with it and the over the top decorations

13. Tattoos?

nope!

14. What was their first kiss like?

awkward 😭 but passionate. buddy tried his best but he is painfully socially awkward

15. Have they ever lost somebody they loved?

yes, his aunt Capra. it destroyed him

16. They find a genie and are granted three wishes, what do they wish for, and why?

1) he wishes for someone to be obsessed with him. he is extremely lonely and feels so much love that has nowhere to go, and his heart is so empty he needs something to fill it. 2) he would probably want his aunt back and 3) he wishes to be rich for personal reasons but also so his dad will quit his job and stay home with him (that's not how that works 😭 he loves what he does)

17. They're stranded on an island and can only have 4 items and one companion, who and what do they bring?

he brings Asra and doesn't have to worry about the other 4 items because Asra will portal through the water and get them to safety. er cheeky answer erm Asra brings a wand, a cup, a sword, and a pentacle

18. What's a quote (not from their universe), that you associate them with?

I had to google "quotes" to get this 💀 I think this one's fitting "be so good they can't ignore you" -Steve Martin

19. Any romantic interests?

too many

20. What kind of accent do they have?

it's hard to say because they would all be speaking a language I do not speak. (of course the devs say they're all fantasy languages but we can assume they would at least be similar to real life areas and languages) he would sound like a native Italian speaker for sure, where Nadia, Julian, and Lucio, might not

21. What is their most prized possession?

he has a couple... his rings are probably up there. he never takes them off

22. Have they ever stolen anything?

only a body!

[canmom]

Animation Night 183: The Imaginary

Studio Ponoc! They're like Ghibli but not! We met them a while back on Animation Night 151, wherein I described them like so:

In the mid 2000s, the period that Ghibli could enjoy an exceptional state of employing lot of full-time salaried staff (instead of per project freelancers) was coming to an end. In 2014 it seemed they were on the verge of shutting down altogether. Yoshiaki Nishimura, lead producer of many of Ghibli’s films in the 2000s era (Howl - When Marnie Was There), left the studio in 2015, bringing in a bunch of ex-Ghibli animators under a new studio called Ponoc.

We watched their wonderful short film collection Modest Heroes - notable for the absolutely incredible animation tour de force Invisible in which Akihiko Yamashita shows us a salaryman who becomes so disconnected from society that he becomes invisible and insubstantial...

Ponoc has since become a kind of companion studio to Ghibli, maintaining close relationships with its parent. Their films definitely inherit a lot of both the style and the incredible animation skill accumulated there.

This latest film is directed by Yoshiyuki Momose, whose Ghibli career dates alllll the way back to Grave of the Fireflies - he was basically Isao Takahata's right hand man, the guy who did the drawings to translate Takahata's vision into film. As well as working on just about all of Takahata's films and many of Miyazaki's, he personally directed three uniquely styled music videos for Capsule, discussed in this article by Animation Obessive. (for some reason the embeds broke)

They are totally differen than anything you're used to seeing from Ghibli, and it will be fascinating to see if Momose can carry on that spirit! Momose is also known for directing the animated segments of the Ni no Kuni games.

So what's The Imaginary about? Adapting a book from 2014, it's about a world where the imaginations of children - their tulpas if you prefer! - come into a kind of independent existence, but face the existential dread of one day being forgotten. Rudger, the creation of a girl Amanda, runs from his fate and finds his way into a lost village of forgotten imaginations. After that... who knows?

Here's a trailer!

I don't have a ton of time so I gotta leave it at that for now, but I'll give a fuller context after the film.

This film made the main Annecy competition, but you don't gotta go all the way to France to see it with me (though if you do go to France in a couple weeks, say hi, I don't have anyone to meet this time lmao). No, you can see it right now on twitch.tv/canmom! Hope to see ya there! Get in quick, because this is a combo with the sakugabooru watch party and we'll be starting preettttty soon!!

[tilbageidanmark]

Movies I watched this week (#177):

2 Stanley Donen musicals with Jane Powell:

🍿 I've been worn-out with so many mediocre movies recently, so I decided to open the week with the charming Royal wedding (1951). The nonsensical romantic plot about the bachelor-siblings each falling in love in England, wasn't first rate, and Jane Powell was no Ginger Rogers. But with 2 famous dance numbers, 'The hatrack duet', and 'The rotating room' (Gif Above) and a couple of others, it got me to a good start. Like all musicals from that era, I'm always taken by how subtle is the editing of all these dances, they feel like they're composed of single continuing takes.

With a surprising role to Winston Churchill's actual daughter, Sarah, as the dancing paramour.

🍿 Seven brides for seven brothers on the other hand was impossible to enjoy. A myth-building fantasy of out-dated gender and sexual politics that would never work today. 7 "incel" backwoodsmen, all virgins - and gingers - kidnap 7 wholesome woman, to make them fall in love with them, sung to a happy tune about the literal 'Rape of the Sabine women'. And it all goes down from there. It also feature sub-par musical score, and second-rate dancing numbers, with full-on uninspiring cast. 'Stockholm Syndrome: The movie', and Harrison Butker's Feel-good Guilty Pleasure. 1/10.

🍿

2 more with the original “Joker”, Conrad Veidt:

🍿 The cabinet of Dr. Caligari, a dark, distorted and transgressive story from 1920, the original German Expressionistic horror film. Somnambulism, serial murderer, oppressive authoritarianism and fearful insanity. Played in a distinct visual style, with a suspicious Schopenhauer-looking Dr. Caligari, theatrical rather than a cinematic feel, and a subconscious dread that the little village world we thought we knew, maybe is an insane asylum in disguise. The id of the Weimar Republic, in the years between the end of the first World War, and the Beer Hall Putsch. WOW! 9/10.

🍿 In Michael Powell's childish The thief of Bagdad, Veidt played the evil villain Jaffar in brown-face. Like 'One thousand and one nights' it's a mixed collection of theatrical adventures from the 'mysterious orients', Persia, India, Egypt and Mesopotamia. So basically how England saw the exotic "colonies" at the peak of its empire. It tells of flying horses, magic carpets, giant spiders and a genie in a bottle. Cheesy and kitschy. 3/10.

🍿

After waiting for many months for Alex Garland's semi-controversial Civil war, it finally dropped. But the most radical aspect of the movie is Its Name, the fact that it dared look at the future and call it what it is without sugarcoating it. As a political thriller, the discussion it may foster outside the plot is more interesting than the story of these journalists as they chase after a scoop. I still want to see a movie about the upcoming Civil War of 2027, but this one kind-of-missed the mark. There were two memorable scenes in it, the brutal confrontation of (uncredited!) Jesse Plemons, and the bold execution of the President of the US, as he's begging for his life on the floor. 7/10.

🍿

Miyazaki's re-watches X 4:

🍿 First time re-Watch ♻️: Hayao Miyazaki's romanticized homage to Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Porco Rosso. Sea pirates of the Adriatic Sea in 1930's Italy, led by a Errol Flynn hero in the 'Red Barron' mold, but who'd been mysteriously transformed into a pig. Miyazaki's fascination with early century European fantasies, as well as his dreams of flying and many steampunk airships. Straight adventure in a Tintin style animation, with familiar Joe Hisaishi score. 9/10.

🍿 When 'The boy and the heron' finally hits here, I may go back and watch all of Ghibli Studio movies once more. Until then, checking out Miyazaki's many shorts, some of which he made for display at their museum. Mei and the Kittenbus (2002) is a cute riff on 'My neighbor Totoro'. (This copy is of poor quality).

🍿 On Your Mark (1995) is a beautiful fairy tale in 'Blade Runner' style about 2 young policemen who are saving a winged girl. A sci'-fi music video. 7/10.

🍿 Yuki's Sun, an early short from 1972, about another strong-willed girl, an orphan who perseveres.

🍿

Otto Preminger's deferential political drama Advise & Consent from 1962, about a senate hearing to confirm Henry Fonda as a secretary of State which develops into a play about conformity of the institutions. Two boogeymen haunt the world of Washington DC, the spectre of communism, and the shame of homosexuality. Cynical and inspired. Also, Charles Laughton's last role. 7/10.

🍿

Life belongs to us (1936) is an unusual documentary: A pure propaganda film commissioned by The French Communist Party in 1936. It was supervised by Jean Renoir, and directed by Jacques Becker and a collective of other filmmakers. Solidarity with the proletariat, and against the exploiting capitalists of the ruling class, as well as fascism, and unabashedly pro-Soviet and pro-Stalin. Historically interesting.

🍿

French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson was among these co-directing the Communist film above. He also did for the documentary Reunion (1946). It's about the logistical and human aspects of transporting millions of displaced people and POW's after the end of World War 2. Includes footage from Dachau.

🍿

Another Reunion (2024) - this is a new 'whodunit' murder mystery, with 7 youngish characters stuck in a an isolated mansion when one of them is shot to death. They were going for the delightful 'Game Night' vibes (and even had one of the actors in both films). It didn't get great reviews, but I enjoyed it. 7/10.

"So what you are trying to say... is... that the killer is one of us" timestamps at 35:00, exactly 1 hour before the end of the movie.

🍿

I've never been a huge Julia Roberts fan, but in Erin Brockovich she slayed it. With her tits out, short skirts and bimbo heels, her struggling single mother who takes no shit from anybody, spunky, relentless and resolute, she's irresistible and mesmerizing. A terrific feminist role, with Soderbergh's famous yellow filter, and the real Erin Brokovich as the waitress in the beginning. I love everything about it, the rhythm, edit, score and humor. "Scott" the guy at the water board office with his funky pants, mousy Tracey Walter, the 'Happy ending' when the David's win over Goliath for a change.

Also, I haven't been to Hinkley, but spent too much time in Adelanto, another Armpit of a desert hell-hole close by, so the locations were all very familiar. And so good - 10/10. Another of my frequent comfort re-watches ♻️.

🍿

3 earlier works by Steven Spielberg:

🍿 "You ain't getting shit out of me!..."

Spielberg's only comedy 1941, a juvenile orgy of noisy destruction. A nonsensical excuse for exaggerated big budget mayhem, with too much going on but without a single joke which lands. It does have Toshiro Mifune though, and a constipated Slim Pickens. I only re-watched it, because the girl who played the first shark attack victim in 'Jaws', repeated the same role here, and because she just died last week. Otherwise 2/10. ♻️.

🍿 Firelight, Spielberg's very first feature film, made in 1964 when he was 17. Only 3 minutes were ever released of the two hours plus science-fiction. He later used a similar UFO story in 'Close encounters of the third kind'.

🍿 Amblin' (1968), his first completed film shot on 35 mm, about 2 hippy hitchhikers, a boy and a girl, who meet at the desert. This was the film that led to Spielberg being signed for a long term contract with Universal, the youngest person ever.

🍿 Also, Martin Scorsese's first film, What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This? made in 1963 while still a student. A light New-Wave tale about a writer obsessed with a painting. It was the first collaboration with the then 23-year-old Thelma Schoonmaker, who helped him shape it into a slick story.

🍿

First watch: I've never seen any chapters of the franchise, but after that laudatory New Yorker article about George Miller, I decided to check out his original 1979 Mad Max. Dystopian societal collapse? Near future ecocide? Sign me up. It's a senseless car-culture nightmare world with strutting, beserk gangs of psychopathic Droogs. But it has nice, empty roads driving nowhere, and baby-face Mel Gibson looking innocent and not-yet formed, exacting his revenge.

🍟🍟

“Pretty good bullshit right there.”

Morgan Spurlock's last docudrama Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!, an excellent follow-up to his original success. An ironic experiment about the American pastime of consuming fast food, over-eating junk and getting fat. A clever story, showing how the fast food industry had re-branded itself as 'healthier' in recent decades, but stayed as poisonous and corrupt as always. Meanwhile, in a real life installation, he became a chicken farmer himself, and opened a real fried chicken sandwich restaurant in Toledo, OH, to prove his point that marketed 'Health' is fake hype. 8/10.

Interestingly, at the same time as this film in 2017, in the midst of the #MeToo movement, he outed himself, admitted to be a sexual harasser, and self-ended his career.

RIP, Morgan Spurlock!

🍟 🍟

I didn't watch Craig Ferguson's late night show when it was running, but I like his shtick, and his 2017 stand up Craig Ferguson: Tickle Fight is very funny. I found it on the giant Wikipedia list of Netflix Original Stand Up Specials. 9/10.

🍿

The Life of the Jews in Palestine is a fascinating 1-hour documentary from 1913, silent of course, and created by a Jewish Ukrainian-Russian filmmaker to be shown at the 11th Zionist Congress in Vienna that year.

With crystal-clear cinematography, it's a travelogue into an unknown land, full of agriculture, before the introduction of cars, and showing certain harmony before the fuck-ups began. 8/10.

🍿

Spacey Unmasked, a disgusting BBC exposé about fallen hero, great actor and despicable sexual predator Kevin Spacey. A Harvey Weinstein of the gay type. So his father was a literal Nazi who raped his brother... And yes, creepy Frank Underwood was a Force of Nature....

🍿

4 Way-off left field animated shorts:

🍿 Veter (“Wind”), one of the few wild Armenian films from the Soviet era that I've seen (apart from 'The Color of Pomegranates'). Bizarre permutations at a nuclear test site. An absurdist, post-Chernobyl take on WarGames. Without a dialogue, but with a sudden burst of "We are the world" sung by dinosaurs, with inflated sex dolls and deranged video games. Must be seen to be believed! 8/10.

I wonder what kind of hallucinogenic drugs were available over there around 1988?

🍿 Watching TV, a National Film Board of Canada satire from 1994, about violence on television. 7/10. I’m so glad I never watched TV.

🍿 Tomorrow's Leaves, a beautiful, symbolic poem about nature and sports. My second by the Japanese Studio Ponoc. They were illustrators who had left Ghibli, and it shows.

🍿 The Tale of the Silly Little Mouse, a standard Russian cartoon from 1940. It's about a baby mouse who can't fall asleep. With music by Shostakovich. 1/10.

🍿  

(My complete movie list is here).

[meisspam]

!! rating mha characters based on how likely they are to enjoy a date with/keep dating izuku:

!! keep in mind this is ignoring sexuality headcanons.

izuku midoriya: the man himself. probably goes to cafès early in the morning alone. goes for a run at lunch to burn off nerves. you all know him.

yuga aoyama: would want it to be really romantic. would make izu blush like hell. probably order the cheesiest dish from a fancy restraunt for them both. pays for both of them. OVERALL: 8/10 gentleman but too much for izu to take in

mina ashido: takes him out for milkshakes. flirts with him through jokes or physical affection. would make izu smile. they might go for one or two after wards. OVERALL: 6/10 very fun but not romanc-ey

tsuyu asui: very lovely girl, I think she would be polite. shows izu all her favourite spots to relax in the city. doesn't get any food. OVERALL: 4/10 only asked him out to see if he's worth it

tenya iida: they'd go somewhere clichè, like a park day with ice cream. already besties so they'd do a lot of obvious flirting. might kiss at the end. OVERALL: 8/10 they love each other, platonic or romantic

ochako uraraka: you just know they'd both be squirming and blushing the whole entire time. would be a movie date. they hold hands <3. compliments thrown every which way. OVERALL: 9/10 basically made for each other

mashirao ojiro: I'm not sure how this would go! he'd probably take izu shopping?? very nice boy. OVERALL: 6/10 I don't see it, but cute

denki kaminari: he's a total flirt. would be all "hey bb. how was your day. oh mine? ur making it better by the second." and izu, unused to affection, would absolutely melt. other than that, they probably gush about science or some autistic shit then get all kissy. OVERALL: 8/10 mightn't last, long term but they will enjoy themselves

ejirou kirishima: he will listen to all the stuff izu has to say. I think they'd be enthusiastic when talking about stuff. both have self esteem issues, so they'd help each other with that. probably awkward as hell on the date, tho. not used to romance lol. OVERALL: 9/10 good for each kther

kouji kouda: talks and listens. I do like them, I don't know how a date would go though. they might go out for dinner and then snuggle up and enjoy each other's company OVERALL: 6/10 I love them but not a typical 'love at first date' couple

rikidou satou: I don't know, really. I think he's nice, might give a little gift as a sign of appreciation. wouldn't advance beyond a date, and I think izu would feel like he's not giving enough tit he relationship OVERALL: 4/10 can't see it going well sorry

mezou shoji: they go to watch a horror movie and then laugh at the scary parts or something. share a bag of popcorn and then bump hands. does the yawn thing. OVERALL: 7/10 cute

kyouka jirou: autism vs autism, ultimate showdown. I think she'd take izu to a festival and izu would freak it. she'd help him calm down and then they'd watch ghibli movies on CD OVERALL: 7/10 meow meow

hanta sero: he's chill might be a bit intimidating to izu tho. compliments every five minutes. 'hey how are you going' they'd go to a cafe I think, get coffee and laugh over stupid shit OVERALL: 8/10 a nice day out

fumikage tokoyami: he's a nice guy. they'd go to the beach and admire the sunset I think. would have fun sitting close to each other and taking in the view. very calm, very romantic. OVERALL: 9/10 I love it

shouto todoroki: I'm not sure. they might stay in and get take out while watching netflix? would fall asleep on the couch together and be soft. very soft. OVERALL: 8/10 calm together, sososo cute tbh

tooru hagakure: she'd be throwing compliments out and telling izu he's cute. and izu would be blabbering and jfjsjfjdj. I rarely see them talked about but they're cool, OVERALL: 8/10 high school lovers? maybe?

katsuki bakugo: he's homophobic would not date a man. but anyway they kiss a lot and go on a bunch of different dates, like stargazing, beach day out, riding bikes around the neighborhood, staying in and cuddling, did I mention they love each other? they'll totally stay at each others sides to be there at a moments notice. at heart cannot be separated. like two Suns, destined to revolve around each other until collapding into a supernova, basically ignoring anything out of gravitatjonal orbit range. everyone knows they love each other. fmmtnsjfie they kiss a lot, did I sa that? cuddles and . ugh. OVERALL: 10/10 soulmates sorry im a bkdk stan

minoru mineta: flirty as hell. admiring izus muscles, obviously. izu is blushing like hell, and they probably do the sharing spaghetti thing. bragging about his fathers money. 'but let's talk about you bb' type guy OVERALL: 7/10 sweet but...yk

momo yaoyorozu: izu is intimidated as hell, maybe. he would talk about his spin/s and momo would j be like 'yeah...sure thing....' shes no good socially bcuz of reasons and izu can't read her that well. OVERALL: 6/10 hard to maintain, don't work well together

itsuka kendo: they go for ice cream and izu is amazed by her coolness or whatever. she talks and is just kind as hell. very cute OVERALL: 7/10 I like them, im not sure how izu would like her tho.

monoma neito: he's so cute ANYWAY they totally nerd out together. go watch a documentary or sports game and do stuff. would take each other on many dates after the first. big ego might make an impact. they kiss. OVERALL: 9/10 nicer than you'd think at first

shinsou hitoshi: both nervous wrecks. go to someplace quiet but busy, like a late night cafe or a walk thru the city. just talk to each other, a lot. have the same sense of humour, I think. once they get over the awkwardness it'll be nice. OVERALL: 8/10 personally I see them as more brothers but I can TOTALLY see why it's popular

mirio toogata: compliments all the time. major show off. I think they'd relate to each other quite a bit. calm once they get over themselves. probably don't kiss. OVERALL: 5/10 I don't know....

that's all

thanks :3

[pegasusdrawnchariots]

OK this used to be my day job!! & I have answers for some of the complaints I've seen in the tags (the See More got vvv long. beware)

1) Why do subtitles paraphrase/cut down what someone said? Why not just quote them verbatim?

basically: minimum durations + size limitations (esp in older formats) + characters displayed per second. LEGALLY captions have to be visible for 1 second minimum each. caption blocks (each individual caption u see on screen usually in 2-line chunks) have character limits. AND. AND. the amount of characters shown on screen within a certain timeframe cannot exceed the CPM limit bc it would be too fast/too much to read. SO to make captions that fit the tech limits & that are short enough to read between changes & that are visible long enough to read...we have to paraphrase. This Is A Last Resort. captions SHOULD be verbatim. but if someone is speaking too fast to fit these limitations we have to paraphrase. the logic is it's better to have OK captions than none (or severely delayed ones/unreadably long ones)

2) Why do captions say (SPEAKS FOREIGN LANGUAGE)? Why not just put the language or, better yet, caption the foreign speech?

we would absolutely love to!! nothing makes me happier than being able to accurately caption grabs in foreign languages!! however (sadly) the captioner is kind of their only resource. if u as a captioner don't know what was said, or cannot with 200% confidence explicitly declare what language is being spoken, u have to put that (FOREIGN LANGUAGE) tag. we hate it too :( recently it was changed to (SPEAKS LANGUAGE UNKNOWN TO CAPTIONER) bc we got this complaint a lot but now people just get mad that we don't know every language ever. if we are given a script & the script contains any of this info, it WILL be captioned accurately. but if they just give us video/audio & we have to play it by ear... well, we aren't allowed to go around guessing, bc if we caption the wrong language, people will obviously get offended that their language was lumped in with another vaguely similar one. & also tech limitations are another (recurring) issue. if the language is more or less in the Latin alphabet, we can caption it (ONLY if we're confident in what's being said). but if it uses any other character set, then older tech may not support it. TV captions famously have this limit. streaming captions probably not

3) I'm watching foreign films. I don't know the language well enough to forgo subtitles but I know enough to tell that they're wrong.

hello. we are the same, u & I. 90% of u with this complaint will have come from Netflix. here's the deal: as of a couple of years ago, Netflix changed their foreign film captions. they used to be relatively faithful translations of the original language. NOW however.........they are just captions of the English dub. yep :| if u turn on the English audio track, u will see that suddenly the captions are perfect.

(the only reason I noticed this was that I was on a Studio Ghibli binge. part way through, I noticed that some of my fave quotes were no longer appearing. some characterisation had also changed (!!), e.g. girls saying "sorry" instead of "thank you". none of this was the dialogue I had come to love over years. however, it did sound awfully familiar to the US dubs I had experimented with once or twice... I turned on the English audio & sure enough, they now matched :] yayyy...)

the obvious solution here is to have the option of 2 subtitle files: one for the English dub & one translating the original language. idk why they wouldn't do this. those files surely would still exist...?

anyway. I hope this answers some of yr bigger concerns! the state of it sucks & will only get worse as AI-generated captions (& translations... shudder) replace human captioners. stay safe out there 🫡

one profession that does need better gatekeeping is people who write or translate subtitles. brother that is not what was said.

[marbleheavy]

here are some of my Nico headcanons that nobody asked for!!

He collects things. Not just Mythomagic stuff like he did as a kid, but cool shells, and rocks, and weird glass figurines that everyone else thinks are terrifying, and books. He’s got them in jars or lined up on shelves and he just has so many things (Because for so long he had so few things that actually belonged to him that didn’t have to serve a very clear purpose, so now he just wants to keep whatever he’d like)

He reads SO much as an adult. A lot of it is nonfiction because he’s trying to catch up on what happened in the world while he was pulled out of it, but a lot of fiction too (not really fantasy though, that’s too close to home) and a lot of poetry. He can recite poems from memory and will just randomly quote them sometimes and it should be pretentious but it isn’t and his friends think it’s amazing (cue dramatically saying "till love and fame to nothingness do sink" anytime he's told he has to wait) (Also, he will rant about why Ted Hughes sucks at any point in time)

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again!! He is a Dungeon Master! He’s got a binder for all the notes for his current campaign and a notebook for ideas and special highlighters and pens that he only uses for D&D. Also, dice are definitely one of the things he collects and he keeps them in those clear, plastic bead containers with dividers and they’re sorted by number of faces and also ~vibes~ (for example, do a backflip D20 and life or death D20)

leather jacket Nico di Angelo? seen, respected, and appreciated. CARDIGAN Nico di Angelo? underrated! He has a couple oversized cardigans with buttons and big pockets that he adores. The first one he ever had he definitely stole from Will but now, whenever he comes across another similar one, he buys it. The pockets are filled with rocks and worn, mass-market paperbacks and pens. (Basically, I’m leaning hard into English Major Nico with his annotated books and glasses and cardigans) (Also, cardigan Nico and flannel Will but sometimes they swap)

He definitely cuts his own hair in the bathroom and he's gotten very good at it. He's had a range of haircuts, from long hair to a mullet to the shaved sides and fluffy top, but he always ends up back with a shaggy mop that Hazel likes to put little braids in (or sometimes pull the very back of it into two little pigtails) and with bangs that always end up in his eyes.

Sorry to reiterate the same point that's been made forever, but his wardrobe is pretty dark-toned. Obviously black, but he does like a good jewel tone, perhaps a maroon or an emerald. Anything really bright was either a gift or belongs to Will someone else. Also, gendered clothing means nothing to him. He wears what he wants to wear and he thinks it's cool as hell when he's wearing a skirt while sparring and it flares out dramatically as he twirls.

He's kind of picked up modern slang but he also uses a lot of slang from pretty much every decade he missed. It's also a 50/50 chance he's using it incorrectly. (examples include: 1) Leo says something that is definitely supposed to be funny and Nico stares at him, utterly emotionless, and says "Gag me with a spoon" in an alarmingly monotone voice, and 2) Anytime he says something snarky to Jason or Percy he starts it with "hey bestie..." and honestly, they're both just touched Nico called them "bestie" at all)

He adores Studio Ghibli movies and can be found humming the Ponyo theme song anytime he goes swimming (Will standing on the shore, looking around for Nico and he eventually spots him in the water. He wades out to Nico, all sunglasses that shouldn't look so cool and golden hair and chest, and just greets him with "Hey there, Neeks, how's my fishie in the sea?" and Nico can't decide if he wants to drown himself or kiss Will on his stupid mouth)

Speaking of movies, shortly after the Giant War, all of his friends (the Seven, Reyna, Will, probably Lou Ellen and Cecil, too) showed up at his cabin with blankets and snacks. They each brought their favorite movie or movies they think he needs to see to catch him up on the modern age. At first, he acts disgruntled that they're all there but he very quickly settles into the blanket fort Annabeth constructs and is quietly very grateful and excited that they cared enough to do this for him. They're all holed up in his cabin for a full day until they've finished every movie. (Percy brought Finding Nemo, Annabeth brought Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Piper brought Scott Pilgrim vs The World, Jason brought Captain America: The First Avenger (and Nico definitely says "that's gay" when Steve and Bucky say there "Until the end of the line" shit and everybody absolutely loses their minds), Hazel also is behind on movies but she brought either a very scary movie or Moana, Frank brought A New Hope (though he considered Brother Bear), Will brought Spirited Away, Cecil brought Back to the Future, and Lou Ellen brought The Princess Bride)

He can play the piano! He gets a piano for the Hades cabin and on nights where he can't sleep and the nightmares are really bad, he plays piano.

He will cry if he hears I Will by Mitski or Wasteland, Baby by Hozier, for different reasons but also kind of not (he wants to be loved)

Also, Nico and Dionysus being buddies! Nico jokingly says he'll host a bacchanal if Dionysus excuses him from certain camp activities and that's how Nico and friends end up wearing togas around a campfire, all very hesitantly holding cups of wine they aren't actually going to drink. It is definitely not a bacchanal, it's just a bad toga party (barely) but Dionysus accepts it and decides Nico is a Good One.

(Yes I did very badly make this stupid meme that somebody has definitely made a variation of before)

This is definitely not a complete list of headcanons but it's what I've got so far!

[taechnological]

I see we're talking about dreams with BTS in them 👀

I've had quite a few luckily, so I'm going to quickfire the ones I remember

I had this one dream I don't quite fully remember. It was very cool and I think I was exploring like a huge school??? Except there were robots and other stuff and in the attic there was a witch granny who looked like she was from studio ghibli and was adorable but terrifying. Anyway halfway through bts are there for some reason? A couple other people are there too including my family AND this creep who appears out of nowhere. I say creep because this dude kept staring at me weirdly and following me around (keep in mind I'm a minor so double creep 😬) For some reason Yoongi notices and is just glaring at the dude the entire time. When it's time to go, we all pile into cars. I couldn't go in the same car as my family because it was full do I get into another car, creep immediately comes in the same car. Yoongi sees and shoves himself into the car, sitting next to me. That's where the dream ends, with yoongi glaring at the creep. We love a protective guy 😩✊

I had another dream in an In The Soop setting where Yoongi was my older brother? He was wearing a blue hoodie but that's all I remember 😭

The first dream I ever had of them was a little... weird? All of BTS except RM were dressed in the black cloaks they were for Fake Love performances and they just... walked past. Namjoon looked me in the eyes and straight up insulted me. He was my bias at the time so I was of course so devastated I woke up. This whole thing happened in my living room.

Had a dream where I was in dubai for whatever reason. BTS came and sat down next to my family, we all sat in a circle and started talking. Halfway through the dream I realised wait.... this isn't real. That used to happen often, i would realise I was in a dream and strt sulking. Anyway I sulked, hobi noticed something was wrong and asked in perfect urdu, "kya huwa?" ("What happened?") And I blushed so hard i woke up

Had a dream I was their manager, except they split into two diffwrent groups??? Jimin spoke perfect urdu with me and invented a whole new muhavra (I forgot how to say it in English... idiom? Phrase? Idk) it was very poetic and i swore I wrote it down when i woke up but I can't find it :(

Final one... it was straight out of a fanfic istg. I was the eighth member, they all hated me. Kicked me out and replaced me with another girl. Years later I'm the no1 soloist in the world and they're all regRET

I think I have more dreams but these are the ones that I can remember 💀 (m also choosing to NOT tell a few. Like the one where jungkook was in a hospital and nearly d/ed... that wasn't fun)

so basically your dream headcanon is protective! yoongi that is so fitting 😂 AND WOW DJSJSJ jimin created a whole muhawra???? (yes it is idiom in english haha) damn i wish u remembered it too hajhsjdjsj the last dream sounds like i'm reading a wattpad ff written by a 12 year old i'm rolling djjsjskskks

[ajaxdishsoap]

ohhhh. bestie. im flooding you with polycule asks. are these too many? possibly. but oh well, i wanna hear u talk about them <33 HAVE FUN >:)

for reiji and ranmaru: quiet dusk, rainy morning, peaceful cuddling

for syo/masato/ren: friendship bracelets, peaceful cuddling, popcorn, idiomas

for lisa/tomoe/masuki: sleeping on live, meow, swinging under clouds

for rui and toko: creativity, ambition, swinging under clouds

for any of your choice, all or all if you rlly want: muffled summary, rainbow

OH MY GOD THIS WAS HELLA FUN BUT IT TOOK ME NEARLY AN HOUR AND A HALF FROM HAVING TO STOP AND THINK- EVERYTHING IS GONNA BE UNDER THE CUT

reiji and ranmaru

quiet dusk: what time does everyone go to bed?

okay so uh. i stay awake until like. four in the morning because i'm a feral gremlin that doesn't know what sleep is, reiji and ranmaru both normally clock out around midnight to two am, sometimes earlier. i normally end up waking them up when i finally go to bed-

rainy morning: what's the order that everyone wakes up, from earliest to latest?

reiji typically consistently wakes up around eight, ranmaru wakes up anywhere in the four hour period between five and nine depending on how exhausted he is, i am not waking before noon unless someone's yelling at me or physically moving me

◆

peaceful cuddling: who's the big spoon, middle spoon, and little spoon?

we don't spoon, we pile, and ranmaru always ends up in the middle because he radiates warmth like a space heater and reiji and i are always cold

syo, masato, and ren

friendship bracelets: how well do you all typically get along? has it always been like this, or did your f/os have to adjust to each other's presence?

okay this is a fun one, they're all used to each others' presence since they're all in the same idol group and all get along fairly well (there's the occasional ren teasing syo about his height but y'know that's expected, ren's massive and syo is shorter than me), but syo and masato both have to adjust to the shift in ren's personality when he's around me and not swarmed by people because he becomes sweeter and genuine when he lets the mask drop

peaceful cuddling: who's the big spoon, middle spoon, and little spoon? if there's more than three people in your polycule, how have you all compromised who gets to be what?

another instance of "no spooning, only pile", ren and masato are at the bottom of the pile because they're both significantly taller than syo and i

popcorn: it's movie night! what do you all watch? is there more time spent on deciding a movie compared to watching said movie? what genre is the movie, and have any of you seen it before? who falls asleep before the movie's over?

we've definitely worked out a rotating system of who picks the movie to avoid fights over it since we all tend toward wildly different genres, so it depends on who's turn it is to pick the movie. the main four options are action/adventure (syo), romance (ren), historical dramas (masato), or fantasy adventure but studio ghibli style (me). most of the time the chooser goes for something they've seen before that has elements of the others' favoured genres so no one gets stuck bored out of their mind. and masato almost always falls asleep before the movie's over, he goes to bed the earliest out of all four of us

◆

idiomas: who knows more than one language? do they know two, or possibly three or four? if so, what are they? who wants to learn another language but forgets about it a week later? which multilingual person tries to teach the others their languages? how well does that go?

okay before i continue, just know this has no basis in canon (that i'm aware of at least)

ren, masato, and syo all three learned english at some point, but ren loves being able to communicate with people all over the place so he's definitely learned a couple more, probably spanish and french. they all worked together to teach me japanese, and ren has definitely tried to teach the rest of us basic pleasantries in french and spanish. keyword being tried. syo and i have a not great attention span for learning languages and as intelligent as masato is languages are not his calling

lisa, tomoe, and masuki

sleeping on live: it's a discord call and somebody's fallen asleep. what does everyone else do? do you let them sleep, or would someone startle them awake (either on accident or on purpose)

lisa would definitely fall asleep on call and we were gonna let her sleep but uh. masuki and tomoe are both fairly loud and would play off each others energy a lot, so they'd probably end up waking her on accident, and then apologise profusely

meow: give us all the details on potential pets. would it be fluffy, or would it have rough skin? what does it eat? let's get more creative - can it talk? what tricks can it do? does the pet come from a canon?

lisa and i both love cats, while masuki and tomoe are both dog lovers (we all love both types, these are just preferences [and preferences based on vibes not canon]), so i can definitely a dog and a cat getting adopted and raised together while they're both young to avoid any fighting. specifically i'm thinking a welsh corgi and a turkish angora because they're both very friendly animals that like to be around people a lot. the cat is, well, a cat, and doesn't really do many tricks, and the dog just knows basic commands (sit, come, stay, lie down, heel, etc.). also neither of them comes from canon

◆

swinging under clouds: where's your favourite places to go on dates? are there many places you can all compromise on, or is there really only one special place you can all agree on?

masuki and tomoe both love ramen (canon) as much as i do and i feel like lisa would too, so ramen places are pretty common date spots, as well as festivals and live houses, but the general favourite is bakeries

rui and toko

creativity: what are some headcanons you have for your f/os?

I WILL TRY TO KEEP THIS BRIEF-

rui - trans girl, ace, demiromantic, autistic with a special interest in violin and it killed her to stop pursuing a career with it because it wasn't the most viable path

toko - cis girl but she doesn't care what pronouns you use for her, bi with a fem preference, adhd

ambition: what's everyone's hobbies? are there any hobbies your f/os might think nobody knows they have, but everyone does know? are there any hobbies they don't know you have?

starting out basic we have my hobbies of guitar, singing, and songwriting, as well as general writing. rui of course writes music and uses whatever spare time she has for art, and toko does guitar and has her clothing line (can that even be called a hobby???). none of us really make a conscious effort to keep any of our hobbies secret

◆

swinging under clouds: where's your favourite places to go on dates? are there many places you can all compromise on, or is there really only one special place you can all agree on?

we can only really all agree on going to the theatre, sometimes rui and i can talk toko into coming to see an orchestra live and sometimes toko and i can talk rui into coming to an amusement park, but given how different they are it's fairly hit or miss with anything other than the movie theatre

these last couple i'm just gonna do for reiji and ranmaru since they've been bouncing around my head all day-

muffled summary: explain your polycule badly

local bisexual man throws 'no romance' rule out the window for cat and golden retriever

rainbow: everyone's favourite colour(s)!

mine have been green and black for pretty much my whole life, ranmaru's are red and purple, and reiji's is that weird mint green colour

[nighttimepixels]

Heyhey Night! I have a buncha questions after seeing all your animations and they're just so cool so! I hope this is ok!! Can u animate normally too, or only pixel? Not that that's bad, just wondering! What's ur preferred kinda animation? Do u prefer lipflaps or lipsyncs? What's the hardest part of the animation process?? What's ur favorite?? Any part u don't like? What's a thing people don't see that u put a lotta time into? Do u have a fave animation u've done? Thank u btw for all ur art!!

Oh stars, okay, yeah- I’m happy to answer all these!! I’ll break them up so it’s easier to read X) And awww geez thank you so much for your support, sweet anon! It really makes my day when people say they like anything I’ve made, and stars knows it’s all the more true with the sweet sweet time sink that is animation   (´•̥̥̥\\ヮ\\•̥̥̥` )

I’ll also put this under a cut since it gets a bit long :)

Can u animate normally too, or only pixel?

This one cracks me up a little, don’t worry about it XD I totally can! In fact I enjoy it a lot - and... gods, animation software is a nightmare and a half, to be honest. That’s the biggest hurdle.

I do just straight up love pixel art and the aesthetic I can achieve with it, but I do at times miss ‘normal’ (non pixel?) animation, heh. Especially sound-syncing! I do all my pixel art in Asesprite which imo is the best pixel art program, not to mention made by an actual pixel artist - buuuut it doesn’t have a sound file option. Which makes sense! Er, frankly, most pixel artists wouldn’t... use it to animate like I do? More for games, or for looping gifs? So I can’t complain much, it makes a lot of sense that it’s a low dev priority.

Now, when it comes to other animation programs... I’ve tried a lot. Unfortunately, the ones that are preferable for the feel I like are either way out of budget (stares at TVPaint in the distance) or... well, have too high a learning curve for my single-person workflow, really. (OpenToonz, sigh...) And a lot of the free programs are good for getting a start in animation, but once you get to a certain point you really feel the limitations (whether it’s workflow, sound import, exports, trying to make something more finished than a rough...).

Then... there’s animation programs I just don’t like, and a lot of those are angled towards bone-style animations (nothing wrong with those, they just don’t fit my style? and are too much time investment for a single artist to output more quickly...), or are, well, freakin’ Adobe Animate.

I... gods, I do not like Animate (formerly Flash). And I made a whole 2 minute+ animation in it a couple years ago! (It’s very rough and bad and doesn’t make sense, pfff, not gonna link it XD) It’s... clunky, and vector oriented, and freaking lines don’t go where I want them too, and it tries to predict too much?? It’s hard to put to words, gah. For me, my animation style would be much more... raster oriented. Flow, hand drawn inbetweens, yaddayadda. Animate’s great for... plenty of things, but not for that kind of animation. There are far better animators than I who make it work with freakin’ aplomb though! So really, it’s just my taste, haha.

.... Er, that got long! I’ll cut off more rambling about animation software and tl;dr boil it down to “I love animating period, but turnaround is something I have to keep in mind as a freelancer, as well as budget, and my current focus is pixel animations for a number of reasons.” X)

What's ur preferred kinda animation?

I’m not exactly sure what this one means! Between pixel and non-pixel? Er, they both have their pros and cons, so I couldn’t say! But if I have to break down my current animations into categories, I’d say I have cutscenes, loop environments, and the broad game-like animations...

The first would be something like this animation feat. teasing Edge, the second would be something like this one with skesgo’s Starlan and Cinnamon, and the third is... everything else! From headsprite loops to ‘small’ characters running and so on.

Honestly, they’re all a lot of fun for different reasons! Cutscenes are generally the most challenging, but they give me the chance to push my limits and try and pull off something cool, whether I’m having to conserve frames (to keep the cost of a commission down) or whether I’m going more all out (which is a pricey commission, or a fun personal project, lol).

Loop environments are their own challenge - it may not look like it, but I put a lot of thought into how to make them look as natural as possible! From timing of talking characters, to where to place a blink, to exactly how many frames it’ll take to ‘soften’ a motion (so people aren’t just snapping between major poses) and so on - it takes... a lot of time to animate even simple scenes well, so I do a lot of mental math on how I can keep things affordable when someone approaches me for a commission. And frankly, I totally undercharge;; but I do my best!

Game-like animations are just fun. They range, they’re silly, to intense (I’ve animated fight animations before for game concepts), to indulgent, and beyond! Headsprites are always a delight, especially if I get to push the expression X) and I love tiny things (I mean... I am a pixel artist...) so getting to make lil tiny babs even just walking can be fun - and also, a lot more time consuming than you might thing, esp if you wanna make it smooth, like this lil Frisk I did last month or so:

Do u prefer lipflaps or lipsyncs?

oTL

B... both??

Okay, lipsyncing basically is very time consuming. AND, I freakin’ love it. I love puzzles, and when it boils down to it, that’s what super fun & expressive lip syncing is (some Ghibli animations are the heckin’ best for this)...

and, I’m a pixel artist, without sound-syncing capabilities in her main art program oTL Yeah, I can export frames and line them up and check but... gods, it’s so time consuming. I’ve tried it out of desperation - but for even five seconds of sound (sayyyyy a lil Vine...) that’s hours upon hours of transferring back and forth just to check.

So even though I love lipsyncs, they’re too time-consuming (and ergo, if I’m being commissioned, often too expensive) to do often! Someday I’d like to get back to doing them more often, but for now, practically I stick to/’prefer’, in the loosest terms, to do lipflaps. For the layman, this is that ‘two frame’ (maybe three) open-closed style of animating mouths- however, I’m working on ways to keep that style, but make it more expressive! It depends on the project - and in commissions, I’ll pretty much always prioritize giving the client a little more body animation than mouth animation, unless it’d really fit what they’ve requested.

What's the hardest part of the animation process??

.... damn, this is a tough one! Sometimes I’d say it’s the initial concept work - but it depends on what I have to work with. Sometimes that parts a breeze - and honestly freeing, bc I can take the time to try and push what I’ll do with it!

Roughing is one of my favorite parts, tbh. It can be tricky, sure, but getting to go from keyframes to in-betweens & smears to adding the flairs of secondary motion (think hair swishing, or coats flaring, etc) is so exciting and satisfying.

From there it’s all refining, and tweaking...

Hm. Honestly, the hardest is probably the initial cleanup and lining. It’s cool to see it come together, but it feels so much slower, and it can drag - and then you find bits that actually don’t translate well from the rough stage, so you have to go back and rework, and oof it can just drag in this phase, heh. Plus, I’m always tempted to add more frames, but it’s not always realistic - I’m a perfectionist, to say the least, so I’m constantly having to leash myself back so I don’t turn a project into a half-a-year undertaking, pff.

What's ur favorite??

Probably gave myself away talking about the roughing stage X) It’s just loose and fun and free! But seeing it all come together is also damn satisfying too, so that’s not to say I don’t like the refining portions either...

Outside of that, I also really like the beginning of the color stage! .... Before having to translate shadows/highlights to each and every frame *shudders*. That gets tedious, but it’s so critical! Anyways, though, I heckin’ love colors. I always have a rough palette in mind at the start of the process, but I go ham and play with it as a little break and a true test when I get to actual slap together a full frame with full color, highlights/shadows included! It’s exciting, like a preview of the finished product, basically :D

Any part u don't like?

Heh, by the time I get to shadows/highlights, I tend to be getting impatient, I suppose. It’s not that I don’t like it - I definitely highly value it, and if it was the only thing I was working on in an animation that’d be different, but as a one-woman team I’m just raring to be done at that point; it’s very nearly the last thing I do, after all, so it’s a struggle to focus. X)

I suppose one that always gets me is more complicated backgrounds. It’s a work in progress, as I’m getting better and finding the fun in them for sure! But I’m still not where I want to be in translating ‘background concept’ to ‘finished background’ - it feels more stiff than my animations, I guess. So it’s a frustrating part... but hey, it’s part of it! And learning to embrace the challenge is a big help.

... I just always have to make sure I have a big cup of coffee and a good jam playlist going when I sit down to do ‘em, in the meantime.(=▿= ||||)

What's a thing people don't see that u put a lotta time into?

Definitely the coloring. This goes for both backgrounds and the animated characters themselves. It’s... never as simple as it looks? It’s time consuming, and while some parts of frames can be copy-pasted, I also put subtle work into the animations that mean that some pixels are off so it ends up being marginally faster to just recolor, but then there’s shadows, and working in pixels means that if I miss one then there’s a flickering pixel mid-animation, and sometimes there’s an unconnected line and then you bucket fill the whole damn thing, and gods know I’ve got colored lines so I have to be exacting with keeping the same ratios highlighted vs darker in shifting frames...

*deep breath*

... Yeah, basically the coloring is super time consuming. And balancing bg coloring with animated elements in the image itself is a whole extra challenge on top of that. For 99% of my animations, I can damn near guarantee I’ve spent at least twice as much time coloring it as I have animating it.

Do u have a fave animation u've done?

*looks at my goblin hoard of animations in horror like I’ve been asked to choose a favorite child*

... Stars above, I can’t choose! I love them all, and at this point a good portion of them are commissions- it wouldn’t feel right to choose!

*...carefully covers the hoard’s metaphorical ears*

... also, that said, I can admit a soft spot for any of them that involve humor. I tend to get to do extremely expressive faces and action there, even if I have to ration the frames, so it turns out really fun X)

And though rough and I’ve definitely done stuff I’m more proud of, I still crack up at this one I did a while back of the nonsense ‘ass’ joke between Red & Stretch... their faces were too much fun XD I’ve gotten waybetter since then though, Big Oof, I see so many things I can fix; might go back and redo it someday.

Honestly, though, I just freakin’ love animating! They all have their ups and downs andI always put a lot of love into them and find a way to have fun with it and try to push any emotion/theme (when applicable). I like to think it shows, but idk, that’s something I have to leave up to you guys X)