#this chapter was a struggle and I'm not a fan of it just because its a shit chapter

[blight-if]

So true. Feeling this right now as I'm taking break right now. Writing an if is like writing a book but the difference is all the struggles, editing and breaks happen behind the scenes so when it releases it's there for people to enjoy whenever. Its just over and done with. While an if is (if you choose to do a dev blog which most do or release it one by one) in front of the scenes. Authors change things and go back to previous chapters all the time but it doesn't matter because they don't have fans paying for them and waiting for their work to come out as they are reading it.

There's more pressure, more stress because everyone is watching you create your story. You take your time writing but you watch your following grow and grow so theres pressure to get something out. Many fans have issues with writers taking years to fully release their story but that's what writers do, its common for a book not to come out years after it was first created. Sometimes stories need time to marinate.

But because we do the whole writing process while there's people reading and or waiting makes it stressful. We want to make people happy but we also have to make ourselves happy. Sometimes you won't be able to do both and that's hard. We don't have the freedom of writing a book to do whatever we want whenever.

I have a plot but when I write I change on the go because sometimes stories write themselves but I can't help but feel uncomfortable because I already have eyes on me; a little voice in me says its unprofessional to not stick my plot 100% because I already have a following. The if space isn't easy and it comes with a lot of unprecedented challenges. Most people start if because they concept is exciting.

Writing your own story with different paths and characters inside your own little world sounds amazing. But then as you go on, you realize it's not all sunshine and rainbows, and all the burnt out, overwhelming feeling, pressure, little reception, little knowledge of coding and unpreparedness to deal with a long term commitment sets in. Unfortunately, sometimes quitting is the only option.

I feel your pain. I just had to go through my following list and unfollow several devs that haven't posted in 3-5 years. It hurts because I was looking forward to all of them. I GET that it's hard to create tho 😭

Hi anon, thank you for your message. <3

I can absolutely relate.

I feel like one of the reasons (only one of several I have in mind) is that especially IFs are, most of the time, long-term projects. Projects that span over years of our lives. And many people get overwhelmed or burnt out because they don't know how to deal with such a massive commitment in a hobby, and the pressure that comes with people following you.

And others, those that quit early, might get in over their heads. Or they quit because they don't get the reception they wish they'd get. Or they struggle with self doubts about their ideas.

There are so many reasons. :(

[pukicho]

I know they came out like a whole month ago but have you played or watched the new chapters of deltarune? 3 and 4 I mean.

I played Act 1 of Deltarune when the demo released five years ago and to be honest, I didn't really like it. It felt juvenile to me, it lacked the balance and mood and confidence that Undertale had in its writing. Even the music felt less confident to my ears. To be even more cynical, it simply felt superfluous, especially because Undertale already existed.

Mind you, I played Undertale the day it came out, so I've been a fan for a long time - I even made some shitty Undertale remixes back in the day - but I guess I thought I had simply outgrown Toby's writing style and humor by the time Deltarune came out, and merely accepted that I was not going to engage with it any further.

Despite a feeling of melancholy, I was still glad to see Toby making games for people to enjoy, but I was out.

Anyways, I decided to play Chapters 2, 3, and 4 a month ago out of boredom, and it turns out, I was WRONG. ABOUT THE WHOLE THING.

I genuinely believe that if he manages to stick the landing for the remaining 3 chapters this will become my single-favorite story ever told in a video game. Perhaps that seems a bit extreme, but it isn't. This game really is a roided-out version of Undertale. Stronger in every way, Improved across the board, and boy, that Toby, he's still got it.

I don't know how he manages to imbue his characters with so much LIFE - they're so tangible and earnestly-written - Susie especially, what a good character. Usually, I struggle to endear myself AT ALL to the characters in a story, even really well-written ones - because I'm a sack of shit - but somehow, here I am caring about Toby's purple dinosaur and goat.

I want to talk about the instanced-dialogue system in Deltarune: It's really fucking impressive. Apart from the dialogue itself being extremely well-realized in chapters 2-3-4, It's staggering how many variations on a given-scene there are based on small, seemingly-innocuous decisions made by the player during a given playthrough. I guarantee you, new bits of dialogue will be discovered years down the line that are only triggered by super specific criteria, because toby is just like that.

Every section of the game feels rife with hidden interaction. It gives the game a very mysterious element that only doubles in mysteriousness as you delve deeper into Deltarune's hidden nooks and crannies. Some secrets in Deltarune are so abstract that I almost feel like we're hitting Yume Nikki-levels of low fidelity RPG-maker weirdness, and I love that.

The music is also good.

Tobert successfully straddles the line between absurdity and sincerity so confidently in Deltarune that things that SHOULD be cringe-inducing simply end up feeling charming and whimsical instead. The story is good, the characters are good, the deeper themes and secret allusions are much more mature and complex than I had expected them to be, and I am very impressed by the writing in general, and the level of quality it reaches. And of course, the gameplay is just Undertale, so it fucking rocks.

That sly fox did it again.

[bottomop81]

hey luv! could u recommend some lengthy landoscar fics, like with 15-20 or more chapters? I'm only really looking for canon compliant ones where they are in f1 and teammates but I don't mind little creative changes in ages or stuff

hellooo~

listen thats a struggle for me because im a big fan huge fics like 150k++++ and i only have been reading landoscar fics for a couple months so i haven't really scour the tag on ao3 for really lengthy ones, so i will give you a few recs but these are like, mandatory reading at this point if you haven't read these you must but also they aren't really that long

mondayverse by @freeuselandonorris this one is perfect, like literally everything i want from a landoscar fic i wish there was 100 like it, i love how oscar views lando, i love lando's characterization, i love everything about it

learned behavior by @passengerprincipessa this one lando is just a little horny pest, and oscar is the most perfect willing participant, also there's angst also there's feelings also there's trauma 👁️👁️

afterburn by @passengerprincipessa this one is a future fic that goes deeper into what it would be like when(!) they win wdc's, this one is THEE angst classic again if you haven't suffered through this what are you doing

lay your open hand by @strawberry-daiquiris now this one... this is going to be my different recomendation, this is omegaverse, omega oscar, i looooove omegaverse, this one is top 10 a/b/o fics i have ever read in yeaaars of reading fic, i absolutely love their dynamic, i love how lando is just a little loser trying so hard to impress oscar, and oscar is just "*extremely turned on voice* he is kinda pathetic isn't he", i think its worth checking it out

again these are not that long but i’m taking your ask as a homework assignment and i’m going to search for long good landoscar fics from now on

[gyodragon]

POST GRIFFITH TORTURE RENASSIANCE!!! i keep staring at your art of griffith's broken stare with the bandages wrapped across his face and his emaciated little corpse beside guts...

I read this ao3 fic about his struggle with recovery in an aftermath where he doesn't go apeshit. *offers it to you gently* https://archiveofourown.org/works/609721

it made me think, as a certified griffith expert, what do you think his recovery may have looked like? could anything possibly have still made him happy after all of that... or at least minorly not-miserable? what kinds of things do you think he'd enjoy in such a state?

would he even try to grow out his hair?

The Renaissance that really constricts our hearts!! I remember when first learning Berserk, it was the transformation Griffith has after the torture that got its hooks into me and compelled me to read the series. The rest is history. Thank you so much btw! I've only drawn him a few times but it feels like more in my heart. Thank you for sending that fic my way! (I'm super into gen fic and that is a good one) *Certified Griffith Expert* AHH! That's sweet! I'd like a badge or something after this long LOL. First off, this ask has given me SUCH AN ITCH to pick 'Iron Hawk' back up (my fan project about Griffith being rescued from the Tower early and the aftermath of that. It's my baby) I'm thinking about maybe using a different, more sustainable format by writing multi-chapter fanfiction with accompanying illustrations. But I assume you mean a scenario about his recovery after the canon full year of torture. Interesting. I actually haven't put a ton of thought into that because, morbidly, I have a hard time imagining any outcome after that amount of trauma where he isn't doomed. So assuming this is a world in which he is able to make some progress in his recovery that allows him to regain some mobility and use of his hands, I could see a return of the bandit era. I could see Judeau with his ingenuity and the help of other Hawks working together to fashion him a kind of wheelchair. A Merlin chair wouldn't fit with the time period but you get the idea! Maybe he eventually uses a cane and back brace. He grows his hair out but it never comes back as thick or as long. He shows his face again but rotates a collection of partial porcelain masks to cover the worst of his scars. If his hands heal enough, he learns sign language, writes with the tip of his finger in people's palms and writes with a large pen or quill. (edit: I've recently been totally swayed by your post about him relearning to speak and whispering to his trusted inner circle. I'm SOLD) I think his band would continue to whittle down until only the most loyal remained. The core members who would inevitably transform back into his friends. He used to protect himself from 'friends' with compartmentalization when they were among the thousands of Hawks under his command. I think that Griffith's life during recovery would be hell but he could find happiness in his inner circle reducing to a small group. Like when he was a kid. I think with the deterioration of his body, it could be possible that his mind goes into overdrive. The frail, mute, mysterious general who is even more of a political/military genius. No more White Hawk. He is just 'Griffith' or 'General' or 'The prisoner'. After enough banditry and roaming, the group reclaims a comfortable position in a land away from political enemies. Griffith gives up on his dream and focuses on fulfilling the promise of his vision to just these few people. He is even able to preform Robin Hood-like feats in the countryside. Outlaw goodness, that sort of thing. He doesn't retire himself though. I have a dark outlook. I think he probably satisfies himself with this twilight campaign, sees his remaining friends in positions of security and wealth and when all is said and done he eventually claims his own life. I think Guts is the last one with him when he is finally finished.

[twoidiotwriters1]

Chapter 10. Lilacs

Summary: Lately, you seek his approval and he finds himself disliking it, it's more fun when you only seek to amuse yourself.  Masterlist Previous Chapter // Next Chapter Words: 2,174 Listen to: 'Too Sweet' -by Hozier A/N: I love parallels my beloved -Danny

This author can't say for certain if an artist is better company than the crown, but there must be at least some level of mutual fondness.

Lady Whistledown, October 1815

Dear Diary,

Knowing I should nourish the friendship does nothing but make my lust grow claws and teeth, and each day spent in his company yet lacking his advances makes my soul wither, much like the flowers I press between your pages. 

To have my thoughts held by your spine is no longer enough. I need Benedict to hold me as well, like I feel so very clearly when I sleep.

"You bought a house?"

"Yes."

"Whatever for?"

Benedict stares at you with amusement. "To live in, of course. Just because you sleep out in the open doesn't mean we all enjoy grass, critter."

"Oh please, what you saw that day was a slip of manners caused by jitters. Why would you buy a house when you could rent one?"

"I can do whatever changes I please," he reasons, "I'm not very good at following rules. Better to have my own place and answer to no one."

You hum, appreciating his desire for freedom where society could not meddle. "I suppose congratulations are in order. Will you be hosting a dinner or will I have to invite myself into your home?"

Benedict reigns in the lewd thoughts your wording brings, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly. "Wouldn't that be too mundane of an activity for a Princess?"

"You forget how much I love the mundane," you retort, shading the lilacs you're working on with utter gentleness.

"No, I do not," he says. "But being an introvert does not make you a fan of dull evenings, does it?"

"An evening with you is far from dull," you appease sweetly.

Benedict chuckles. "You do realize that if I host I wouldn't be able to entertain you? You'd be on your own. I doubt your sister would like to waste her evening in the affair."

"You underestimate the allure of the situation. Besides, you're my friend, not a monkey I bought to amuse me, I can survive without your attention for one evening."

The man tilts his head playfully, feeling ten times taller. "Whatever did I do to be considered alluring?"

"The list would be shorter if I went over the things that annoy me," you brush off. "But if you think I'm not ready to face this frigid society..."

Benedict scoffs out a laugh. "Such harsh words from someone who claims to love London!"

"I love it! I love the architecture and its fashion—but I detest your old-fashioned culture. Why on earth am I not allowed to wear my trousers?" You gesture at your legs. "It's not like men don't know what's under the skirts! And children care more about the sweets I keep in my purse than of my body shape."

Benedict laughs, one hand holding his stomach. "Of course, it is well-known what's beneath your garments, and what we hate the most is to have a more defined view of your figure knowing we can't have it! If we can't have fun, neither can you."

"That's hardly my problem, is it? In Genovia, people who harass strangers get fined, and if they get physical, they pay double and get locked up for the number of times the victim asked them to go away."

"Each equals to a day?"

"A month," you declare with sanctimonious air. "The number of offenders decreased since the law was created."

"Your country is Eden to progressive folk," he concedes. "Such a pitty the heir struggles with talking to large crowds."

You glare at him, tossing a tiny piece of chalk at his head. "I suppose that having all this freedom makes it daunting to take the first step," you eye your drawing, struggling to figure out the proportion. "Organized spaces make my brain go at a proper pace. I thrive in order, so I shall make a grand queen one day."

Benedict stares at your drawing, reaching to correct some things with his chalk, his movements fluid. "So your prudish conduct is only sustained thanks to the lack of steps to follow when it comes to misbehaving?"

"I'm not prudish!" You redden. "And that's not what I was saying, either."

"But if I gave you a list," he says, trying to conceal his amusement, "would you be tempted?"

"Can we go back to the lesson, please?" You ask flustered.

"Now we care about the lessons," he teases you. "I suppose I should stick to it. After all, you were so careful to make it so you didn't have to go around exploring new things."

"Enough!" You snap. "You think I'm cowardly, but I'm more scared of being Queen and failing my people than I am of being caught sneaking out of the castle—so test me if you want, we can bet on it!"

Benedict hesitates, unfamiliar with your temper. "I'm only teasing."

"Let's bet," you press stubbornly.

"That is beneath you," he resists.

"Benedict."

The young man leans back and studies you with mild annoyance, he doesn't think you're a coward, but admitting that out loud would bother him more than letting you believe the opposite. Lately, you seek his approval and he finds himself disliking it, it's more fun when you only seek to amuse yourself. 

Benedict tries to come up with something that you'll say no to, better if it makes you think he's a bit of a cad so you go back to not caring about his opinion. "How about a visit to the Academy of Arts?"

You frown, finding his challenge boring. "That's—"

"At night, just the two of us." He finishes. "Some students stay and experiment with art and... other things. You may find women in trousers—or a gentlemen in skirts, if you arrive at the right hour."

The opportunity you've been craving has been given to you on a silver platter... and you're paralyzed in terror at the prospect. His gaze holds untold memories, he's lived things that would make the catholic guilt of thirty very regretful nuns take possession of your juvenile body.

Marie was right, you don't need to know what kind of lover he is to know your experience isn't enough for what he could do to you. Nevertheless, your longing to feel him squeeze you with his bare hands makes you cave like a house of cards, and before you can think it through, you speak. "I accept."

"You—you do?" He stammers.

"You can wait for me five minutes away from the castle's main entrance," you say as collected as possible. "How late is it late enough? Eleven? Midnight?"

"Eleven, but—"

"When?"

"Your Royal Highness, are you—"

"I say what I mean. Yes. When are we going?"

He swallows thickly, unable to take it back. "Thursday?"

"Thursday—eleven. Bring a carriage." 

You offer to shake his hand. Benedict has never seen anything more enchanting than you right, with your brow furrowed in determination and the devastatingly loose material of your shirt resting on your collarbone, he wants to pull it downward just an inch and find out if your voice goes higher or lower when you're kissed there.

He shakes your hand, squeezing a bit more than he should. "And if you don't show?"

You smile. "I'll show up, Benedict. What if you don't?"

Benedict pulls his hand away, closing it in a fist and rubbing his thumb over the patch of skin where your warmth remains. "I wouldn't miss it for the world."

You sit with the Queen and your sister while watching the Eros and Psyche dancers, tapping your foot impatiently as you sneak glances at the box on the far right, where Benedict is dutifully chaperoning his sisters Eloise and Francesca. 

Marie presses a hand on your knee. "I can feel you moving, you're distracting me."

"Sorry," you mumble. "I'm bored."

"You love plays," she rebukes, eyeing you with irritation. "What has you so..." As she speaks, understanding dawns upon her and she looks around, quickly finding the reason for your impatience. "Oh..."

"I'm fine," you blush.

Marie holds back a grin. "Right. Why didn't you ask your gentleman to join us? You could've spent the hour giggling with each other and mocking the dancers."

"Neither of us would've done that. He's an artist, and I enjoy a well-told story," you argue with apprehension. "Besides... I did ask." You make a face. "He's escorting his sisters."

"Oh no," Marie pouts mockingly. 

"I said I'm fine."

"He's looking at you."

You turn so fast only to discover he's focused on the play. You look back at your sister with a murderous gaze and step on her foot, accidentally tearing a bit of your skirt in the process. "Oh, bollocks..."

"Y/N!" Marie hisses. "Oh, you—"

"Is the play not to your liking?" The Queen turns her attention to you, slightly vexed by the noise you're making. 

"No, heavens no, Your Highness," you blush. "We—We are..."

"We were just talking about it, in fact," Marie turns to the Queen charmingly. "About the story."

"What about it?" The Queen questions with impatient curiosity.

"I just... think Psyche was rather silly," you say clumsily.

"Do you know, Your Highness, my sister thinks love is silly," your sister comments in a conspiratory whisper.

"Marie!" You chastise her. "I don't think love is silly—but in this story in particular I just think she was silly to believe her sisters. Whether he was a monster in disguise or not, wasn't of any relevance, was it? She had her needs met, Eros satisfied her, whatever he was. What was the point of digging deeper?"

"You are a woman dedicated to the arts, are you not, Princess Y/N?" The Queen comments, with a sort of motherly air. "Isn't it the point of it, to dig deeper into what we find pleasant?"

"Indeed, but Eros was quite clear in his instructions—"

"Yes, but she was restless," her sister interrupts her, "precisely because she liked him so. No one who falls in love can sit still and ignorant of their lover."

"Hmph," Your heart quickens with guilt, not liking that your sister seems wiser on the subject. "I'm not sure it's worth risking life as you know it."

The Queen returns her attention to the play and you take the opportunity to glance back at the Bridgerton's box, happy to spot Benedict already looking back. He nods in acknowledgement, and you nod back.

As you take a stroll around the ballroom, an elderly couple stands in your way and you politely stop to greet them.

"Did you enjoy the ballet, Mr Bridgerton?"

"Very much," he says with total sobriety, an expression that feels completely out of place within his features. "So much so I wonder if I may have missed my calling... as a dancer." He pouts mockingly and nods with faux pity. 

The elderly couple laughs at his charming display and his face splits into a crooked grin, and you take a weird amount of pride at the way he succeeds so effortlessly. "I must say, I do not know that the male dancer needed to be in such a state of undress."

"He certainly could have put on a shirt."

Benedict prepares to play along and pretend he's equally as aggravated but you speak up, itching to enlighten the elderly couple. "He's playing Eros—he's a representation of erotism. It is part of his characterization, and using his skin to represent the wings instead of having him manoeuvre with a costume was smart. The way ballet dancers dress is meant to better their performance, when telling a story you cannot mind etiquette if its boldness serves a purpose."

The old lady reconsiders. "I can't say I fully understand what you mean..."

"I do," Benedict says with a special twinkle in his eyes. "And I agree."

The old man huffs out a chuckle. "No wonder you've taken Mr Bridgerton under your wing, Your Royal Highness, you clearly have a deeper knowledge of the arts that needs an equally well-versed mind to discuss it."

They excuse themselves as they see another pair of acquaintances and you look at Benedict with a playful air. "Is it comfortable, under my wing?"

Benedict rolls his eyes, shaking his head a little. "Please."

"What?" Your smile widens. "Is something the matter, my equally well-versed mind?"

He laughs, lowering his face to hide the sound from other guests. "All is well, my bohemian princess."

"I'm far from bohemian," you admit, dropping the teasing. "I couldn't possibly live that way, not with my routines and aspirations."

"And I cannot picture a life without the thrill of disruption," Benedict replies lightheartedly.

You look at each other with equal amounts of fondness and irony. "How come we get along?"

"Have I ever said that?" He narrows his eyes in playful confusion. You elbow him, and Benedict takes it in stride; otherwise, you would've struck a servant's platter.

Next Chapter –>

Taglist.

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[accirax]

Danganronpa: Despair Time Chapter 2 Episode 14 Dissection

I can't think of how to introduce this dissection other than just saying "god damn??". This chapter-- especially its second part-- has been a wild ride, and one that it appears we're nearing the end of. However, we still have one important question left to answer, which I'm sure I'll talk about here. So, let's chat.

SPOILERS for Danganronpa: Despair Time Chapter 2 Episode 14.

Also, I will be discussing Ace and Eden as equally likely blackened candidates in this post. If it will upset you to hear about the prospects of either or both of them being the killer, you might want to sit this one out.

Given what happens later in the episode, it's very interesting that the episode began with (more or less) Ace "admitting" that he has no idea how the murder mechanism worked. A truthful method of disqualification, or a masterful play by Ace to ask Teruko to ask him about the murder method only to pretend that he has no idea what it was? Time will have to tell on that one, because I honestly have no leads.

Similarly, is this Eden being genuinely shaken up and not remembering what transpired in the Gym, or trying to play the helpless innocent card to get out of having to help Teruko explain the murder method that she stole? Spoilers for my thoughts later in this dissection, I guess: they're so evenly matched that it's crazy.

I've always thought that Hu is the prettiest DRDT character, and this episode did nothing but prove me right. Hot damn, ma'am.

The insistence that this questioning is "traumatizing [Nico]" makes me think that Hu could be projecting her own experiences on to them. Perhaps she was once an innocent in a situation for which she kept taking the blame? That would be interesting as another connection between Hu and Nico, of both of them having taken the blame for someone else's follies.

This was a hilarious comeback; never change, Ace. Or, maybe you do need to change slightly, to become a less cowardly and impulsive person. Or maybe I should at least be rooting for you to have the chance to change in the sense that you live long enough to have that work out for you.

Yet another instance of J being the one to say that murder is bad. I wonder if this has to do with her character/backstory in some particular way (although given what we know about her past I have no idea what that would be), or if DRDTdev just needed a judgmental and confrontational person who would snap back at anyone to take over these kinds of lines.

(That's not me dunking on J's character btw she's valid for this)

This was a really clever way for Charles to phrase this to make Hu listen and settle down. I appreciate the out-of-the-box yet logical thinking. (Also I missed hearing Charles' voice :,D)

Woah, I was not expecting to get a Closing Argument comic for the Gym murder, but I am obviously delighted that we have one! Also, OH MY GOD, THE CEILING GRATE. How did none of us even think to consider that as part of the murder mechanism?

However, there are still some aspects of the state of the Gym that haven't yet been accounted for with this version of the murder timeline. I don't really think it's anything that would stop Nico from being Ace's would-be killer at this point, but I'll list them out here in case they are or in case they turn out to be relevant to Arei's murder. I'll also be trying to debunk them, though.

Moved Benches: Some of the benches near the pullup bar were knocked over. These probably fell either in some sort of struggle while knocking out Ace, or when Ace's body fell from the fan.

Moved Weight Rack: The weight rack was moved closer to the bench press and flipped on its back. I guess this really was also knocked over in the same fashion, no matter how unrealistically difficult it should have been to move due to its weight? Or it really was "workout preferences"???

Nico's Missing Cowl: When Teruko and Eden found Nico at the scene of the crime, they weren't wearing their typical dark cape thing. I have no clue why. You could say that Nico was trying to look less instantly recognizable, but it's not as if anyone (other than maybe Teruko) who saw a dark-haired 5'5" individual in a blue shirt instead of a gray cowl would think it was anyone other than Nico. There's also ye olde theory that they might have used it to soak up blood somewhere, but 1) Ace seems to have lost less blood than it may have seemed, and 2) the cowl was still not seen anywhere in the crime scene. I think I remember speculating that after Nico hypothetically used it to soak up blood (or, on second thought, maybe used it to gag Ace with the turpentine), they then stuck it in the fridge to hide it for the time being, at which point MonoTV discarded it and Nico got a new cape from their room. Maybe if it was used to apply the turpentine, Nico also could've put it away to prevent themselves from being affected by the fumes? I guess that's what I'm going with.

Lack of Tape on Pullup Bar: So, this one is obviously relevant to the murder already because Rose not being able to do a pullup is part of what tips off Teruko to the fact that something is off with the tape. However, I have no idea why the tape actually got removed from the bar. I still maintain that I don't think anyone could have stolen the tape off of that bar and repurposed it elsewhere-- most online sources seem to agree that kinesiology tape isn't reusable, and the fact that it was already wrapped around the bar in such a tight spiral would make it difficult to conform to any new specific shapes. My best guess is that Nico might have tried to use the bar instead of the light grate at first, determined that the tape was preventing the wire from sliding properly, and then removed the tape before determining the bar still didn't work. Or, Nico could have tried using the bar before settling on the broom, and thinking that it wouldn't work with tape on it... for some reason? Kinda scratching my head here.

I wonder how long ago it was. It's been four days since the Chapter 2 motive was revealed, although Ace was attacked only two days after the motive. Furthermore, Ace had started bullying Nico to some level already by the end of Chapter 1. I'm sure that Nico must have known what their secret was and probably didn't want it to be shared. My guess would be that they probably started cooking on murder pretty shortly after the new motive was released. That would also work with Charles-via-Whit letting everyone know what the custom weapons were in the first Class Trial.

This was the perfect response for Nico's character. They don't understand why an untruthful "sorry" would actually serve as a courtesy for most people, so they try to say what they feel and get ostracized for it.

Gotta say though, Ace, that was a pretty aggressive reaction from someone who said he "didn't need other people to tell him lies just to keep him happy" ;) (/j)

Damn, way to throw Levi under the bus. I can see why, for someone like Nico, they would want to assert themselves as not the most abnormal person here, though. I just want them to be neurodivergent buddies :(

If that's the case, then I'd have to imagine that we won't be seeing Nico as a killer again down the line. However, they could also just mean "getting caught"/"going in without a solid gameplan," so it's still possible we will. There's also the possibility of them doing something more like a sacrifice kill, although it would take a lot of character work to make something like that feel within Nico's nature.

Sorry to keep screenshotting every little thing Nico says but they keep saying really interesting things. The fact that Nico specifically mentions their father as opposed to "parents" or "family" makes me think that we'll hear more about their father specifically sometime in the future. Or, who knows, maybe their other parent left or died.

Nico: I don't expect you to forgive me. Very few people ever do. So I don't see the point in acting sorry.

This was very interesting as an addendum to the above screenshot. What exactly did Nico "ask for" forgiveness for in the past? Was it just more social blunders, as they described in ch2-e2, or did they get into more trouble closer to this level than we realized? It could also be an indication that Nico has spent time with people who believe that being nonbinary is a crime that Nico needs to feel sorry for. Fascinating stuff, indeed.

Points for Ace being the killer. We know that he went into this trial looking to suspect Nico ("[...] I'm pretty sure I know who the murderer is. It's not David, it's Nico"), so if Ace is the killer, it would make sense if he'd want to make the crime scene resemble Nico's to make his bait more credible.

Hey, it's the aforementioned T A P E T I M E, motherfuckers :D (still /j) Personally, it's quite gratifying to hear that it wasn't just a visual malfunction or a minor detail blown way out of proportion.

You're, uh... getting to this point much faster than I expected, queen. I don't think she's now going to go down the exact same distrustful rabbit hole that she was in before, but there's definitely still potential for her hopes to be crushed by the end of this chapter. Or, maybe she will accept some people as genuine friends, and instead in the future have to confront how she feels when she loses a genuine friend, or not blaming herself for the effects of her luck, or something along those lines. I like that Teruko isn't a static edgy protagonist, though. Like, don't get me wrong, I've always known and appreciated that she has depth, but it's refreshing that she isn't someone who's so stubborn about her own way of thinking that she refuses to admit when she's in the wrong. Teruko really wants friends, guys.

TERUROSE REAL??????

(Also Rose's speech was excellent as well I just didn't have anything in particular to say about it other than "wow" at the moment)

Yahoo, lockdown logic strikes again! Also, a quick

Is Teruko Correct In This Assumption?

Personally, I fully think yes, only Ace or Eden could be the culprit at this point. MonoTV confirmed that it tried to restore the Gym to the best of its ability but couldn't return the tape, which means both that there was no tape in the Gym to be taken and that there was never any spare tape in the Storage Room that MonoTV could have used to replace the roll. I guess you could say that there was an extra roll of tape in the Storage Room that someone else took before the murder took place, but that level of coincidence seems implausible at this point in the Trial.

No, for anyone other than Eden or Ace to have acquired the tape, they must have either stolen it from one of those two or asked for it from one of those two. Asking them seems very unlikely-- for starters, if it was Ace who took the tape, I don't think he'd be giving free hand-outs to anyone. And, if Eden isn't the killer herself, that means all of her fright regarding stumbling upon Ace's body was genuine. I don't think she's naive enough to then hand over what was used in Ace's murder to anyone asking... or at least not without bringing it up now. Beyond that, anyone who would ask either of them for the tape would have to know that the tape was used in the murder attempt, knowledge of which was very limited. This episode went to lengths to establish that Nico was the sole culprit behind the attack on Ace, and while it's still possible it could all be an elaborate lie, the explanation Nico gave felt very in character and important for their characterization moving forwards. So, while Nico would obviously know it was used, if Nico asked either of them for the tape, surely neither Eden nor Ace would trust them. Otherwise, I think Rose is the only one who could have found out it was gone, but even so, given that neither Eden nor Ace have tried to argue that Rose asked them for the tape, I don't think that happened.

You could also say the same of neither Eden nor Ace claiming to have had the tape stolen from them-- but I could see either of them feeling like claiming to have taken the tape at all right now would be a death sentence, so I understand why they wouldn't say it. Still, I don't know if the narrative is there to support the tape having been stolen from them. On the day after the Gym murder (Day 7), Eden isn't seen in the daily life at all. If someone stole the tape from Eden on that day, I would think that DRDTdev would at least want to show us who Eden was spending time with on that day (given that he put in the effort to make the tape sprite disappear from the Gym at the time it did), so that we would have any idea who might have done so. Ace is seen once in the Day 7 daily life, arguing with Hu, Nico, Levi, Veronika, and Arei. However, having just been attacked, I imagine he'd be hyper-aware of anyone getting close to him, and therefore would be more likely to notice if someone was rifling around in his pockets (if he has pockets?).

Really, I think the only possible candidates for who could have stolen tape from Ace or Eden would be Levi (mostly just for Ace) and Arei (from either of them). Levi might have had an opportunity to take the tape from Ace on the night he was attacked, the night of Day 6. Eden said last episode that Levi "kept trying to help him" after Ace was attacked, which could imply that Levi was the one to put bandages around Ace's neck. Furthermore, he does have a criminal past, which could make him better at stealing. Similarly, Arei is confirmed to be a good pickpocket, stealing Min's pen without Min noticing at all. I think she's the only one with the proper buildup to have taken the tape from Ace at that breakfast, and would be the most likely to have spent time with Eden when Eden was off-screen. (Although, it would have to have been before lunch, because Eden says the last time she saw Arei was at lunch.)

However, I don't think many people think that Levi is the killer anymore, and if Arei stole the tape from Eden or Ace only for the killer to then steal the tape from Arei, I would start to wonder why DRDTdev even made the tape such a scarce resource in the first place. Remember that, if the killer was purposefully trying to recreate Nico's idea, they likely knew in advance that they would need the tape to pull off their plan. It was used in enough places that seizing the opportunity to take it off of Arei seems unlikely, as it was too fundamental to the plan's inception. Besides, for the killer to replicate Nico's plan in the first place, the killer likely needs to be Nico, Eden, Ace, or Teruko, who are the ones who could have most easily taken the tape on their own.

I've already seen people accuse this Trial of being bloated, and while I strongly disagree (I only think cases are bloated when they're stalling for time and have nothing of interest to discuss, and we've still had PLENTY of interesting stuff to discuss), if we spent a whole 'nother who-knows-how-many episodes reversing all of the progress we just made to say that either Nico wasn't actually the one to kill Ace or that someone who didn't see the crime scene killed Arei, that bloating problem would only seem worse to those people.

I understand if you don't want to believe that Eden or Ace has to be the culprit for whatever reasons-- whether that be that they're your favorites and you don't want them to die or you really like your theory and don't want it to be false-- but I really think that this episode cemented that either Ace or Eden will be voted for as the blackened for all of the reasons above. Therefore, I shall be proceeding accordingly.

She was WILD for this. Hilarious line of reasoning.

What's Up With the Body Discovery Announcement?

The "reveal" of this line of logic was no surprise to me. As someone who's believed that Eden is the culprit for quite a long time, we've had to figure out ways to get around this thing before, and besides perhaps "not witnessing the murder," someone else seeing the body before the BDA rang is the most obvious way to cheese it.

However, in order for this to be a thing, we have to ask ourselves-- who would have actually seen the body first?

David claims to, but he has an alibi starting at 7:30 AM with Veronika and J. Both because Arei theoretically wasn't dead before then and because we've been operating off of the assumption that a meal takes about 30 minutes to eat, I don't think any of the three of them could have stumbled across Arei in the morning. Nico and Hu both have an alibi, which I'm going to consider solid enough to remove them from possibility-- one of them spotting the body would be helpful to make Eden the killer, and I think the only people who believe that Hu and Nico are lying only believe so under the condition that one of them is the killer. Whit is out, because him seeing the body beforehand doesn't actually accomplish anything, and so is Charles, because we can assume that, if he saw the body, he would be out of commission. I'm also going to strike Rose from seeing the body before breakfast, both because she's very likely to have been asleep and because if she had already seen Arei's body in the Playground, she probably wouldn't have refused to draw a diagram. That would leave only Ace, Levi, and Arturo as non-blackeneds who could have helped facilitate culprit!Eden from not being caught by the BDA.

However, we also have to consider that "before 8 AM" isn't the only time someone could have stumbled across Arei's body. They also could have seen it before Teruko, Eden, and Whit did while everyone was looking for Arei. So, what do we know about what happened during the search for Arei? Not much. Hu says that they should split up, while J says she's going to check Arei's room. Teruko says that most people are probably searching the first floor, an assumption that's supported by Teruko, Eden, and Whit not seeing anyone else while they check the second floor. You might think that would eliminate the possibility of anyone else seeing Arei's body during the search, but Teruko did say most people, not all. There's also what MonoTV said when Teruko and Veronika were investigating the Gym.

MonoTV: It's too high! If you stood in the movie screening room on floor one and started punching through the walls, you'd fall into the playground.

This not-yet-addressed piece of evidence got me thinking about the possibility of someone seeing Arei's body from above, standing in the Motive Screening Room. It still probably couldn't be Teruko, Whit, Charles, Rose, or J, but anyone else would theoretically be back on the table if that were the case. That being said, I can't find any visual differences in how the Motive Screening Room looks between the beginning of Chapter 2, when the search for Arei begins, and when Teruko goes to check the motive secrets (other than a curtain being added over the screen in the third case). So, unless there was already a heretofore unmentioned hole to peek through in the room, I wouldn't count on that being the case. The connection between the Motive Screening Room and the Playground will probably just be relevant to a different chapter.

Therefore, that leaves us once again with Ace, Levi, and Arturo. The main problem with believing that any of them could have seen the body beforehand is why they wouldn't have brought that up at this point in the Trial. Here are my best guesses as to why:

Ace: I have genuinely no clue why Ace wouldn't have brought up that he saw the body in the morning (assuming that he actually did) to defend himself at this point. It's not like it would make anyone more suspicious of you.

Levi: Levi does seem to be a bit dense regarding what is and isn't helpful behavior in a Trial, so the most likely possibility to me is that he just didn't realize that confirming he saw her was helpful. Like, "oh, I didn't realize that me confirming that I saw Arei would help us pin down Eden as the killer. I was just trying to figure out how David and I both saw Arei's body this morning and I didn't see him." "Wh-- David was obviously lying!" "He was?" "I already told you he was lying before..." "Levi... we talked about this..." Bonus points for it not being out of character for Levi to be unfazed by seeing a body, though.

Arturo: In Arturo's case, I think it would have to be that he'd still be worried about people seeing him as suspicious for saying he found Arei's body in the case of accusing Eden specifically. They already have a past history of conflict, and I could see someone brashly accusing Arturo of throwing Eden under the bus just to get revenge on her for the secret thing (even if I don't think he would actually do that). He also made an enemy out of Arei, so I don't think he would be particularly fazed by seeing her corpse either-- similarities to Felicity's cause of death notwithstanding. However, I also find it likely that he trailed after J in going to check Arei's room.

So, what's our conclusion here? Does this mean that Eden is basically fully cleared by triggering the BDA? I wouldn't count her out just yet, but the evidence isn't looking great for her. It's quite possible David only brought up this argument to A) hold out suspension of disbelief that it's not just Ace for a little while longer, B) drop this logic as foreshadowing for a future killer's plan, C) characterize the kind of logic he uses in a Class Trial, or D) bring up this argument in canon so that the people who theorized that the BDA might not clear Eden or Whit wouldn't be like, "wait, but what about...?" However, it's also possible that one of the possibilities I listed above, something I might have missed, or the "see no evil" idea (as FF put it) could keep Eden in contention. That dynamism is part of what makes Ace and Eden feel so evenly matched.

See, this is what I assumed David was getting at after Nico reminded me of his early-morning alibi. But then he just kept talking...

I'm not going to delve into what David was thinking here too much, because I already have an anonymous ask about what I think David's rationale was that this will almost certainly come up in. However, as a short version, I imagine that David is trying to get everyone angry at each other in the hopes that it'll incite another murder that he can get the class to fail? Or to cause enough discord in the group that they just fail this one. That would be why he also rags on Rose for not remembering the tape, and insults Arturo's sister-- he wants no one to trust anyone so that the murder-solving process will be as un-streamlined as possible.

The fact that he targets Teruko so specifically is probably because he (accurately) assesses her as the only real threat there. Charles and Rose can help, sure, but their mental struggles make them easy enough to eliminate if you play your cards right. Teruko's main flaw is her lack of trust, so if David wants to weaken her, it makes sense to go right for that jugular. Furthermore, by stating his plans so plainly and publicly, it might incite other people to fight back against him and say that Teruko should trust them. However, that kind of olive branch might make Teruko even less inclined to get close to them, if what Teruko said to Eden at the end of ch2-e03 can tell us anything. Didn't stop Eden from trying at the end of this last episode, though!

After taking some more time to think about what David was up to this chapter, I might change my mind on those being his goals. But, this post does serve as my initial thoughts of sorts, and that's what I initially think about this scene.

I wholeheartedly agree.

Does Ace Have Nothing To Do With Arei?

What Ace has to say is more or less true-- barring the breakfast in which Arei didn't talk at all (AKA, no conversation), Ace has literally never been in a small group event with Arei. However, although they didn't talk to each other, Ace did overhear the conversation between David and Arei, which does give him a connection to Arei. Quite relevantly, Arei did say this to David during their conversation:

Arei: You said that sharing our secrets would help fight against the motive. But when I think about it, not a single good thing has come out of that. Eden was stupidly naive, as usual, and tried to talk to Arturo, so now I have to protect her.

From this, Ace could probably surmise that Eden had Arturo's secret, she talked to him about it, and that Arei stepped in to save her from Arturo. He was one of the few people who could have known that Eden and Arei grew closer before the murder occurred: another connection Ace had to information about Arei.

However, before you use that evidence to call Ace the killer, let me remind you that he still doesn't have enough information to write the note from just eavesdropping on this conversation alone. As I outlined in this theory (same as the one I just linked above), whoever wrote the note had to specifically know that Arturo's secret was about his sister, which Arei doesn't divulge (quite possibly because she didn't even know) to David. Therefore, although Arei mentioning Arturo and Eden in this conversation is interesting, it doesn't actually make Ace any more likely to be the killer, because he still would have needed to find some way to spy on Eden's secret and/or Arturo and Eden's conversation to write that note. (Unless mentioning the sister specifically was an oversight plot hole, but I never want to use that as my reasoning.)

So, do I get what Arturo is getting at? Yeah, Ace and Arei were never particularly involved, and Eden clearly has a greater connection to the victim. However, there is more to the Ace/Arei bond than it might first appear, and it's possible that could come up in the Trial moving forward.

This distinction-- between "Arei was my friend" and "Arei could have been my friend"-- could be very telling down the line. Eden pauses mid-tear-filled rant to distinguish that Arei is not her friend, not because she's dead, but because they hadn't reached that point yet. Arei is not Eden's friend in death. What can that possibly mean other than that Eden killed Arei?

... BUT THEN HOW THE FUCK CAN EDEN GO AND SAY ALL OF THIS, BE THE KILLER, AND THEREFORE PROVE DAVID RIGHT???

AND THE "BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT FRIENDS DO" REFERENCE??? AT THIS HOUR????? I DON'T EVEN KNOW IF THAT MAKES HER SEEM MORE OR LESS SUSPICIOUS!!!!

OUGH AND THE MIN PARALLELS TOOOOOOO

MIN WAS TERUKO'S FRIEND BUT ALSO A KILLER. DOES THAT MEAN EDEN IS GOING TO BREAK THE CYCLE OR DOES IT MEAN THAT WE'RE STUCK IN A DOOMED STORY IN WHICH TERUKO IS THE PROTAGONIST? IT COULD GO EITHER WAY!!!

Jumping back in time for just a moment...

A Piece of Evidence That Lines Up to Them Only

I thought about making this its own separate post, but decided not to. If you guys want me to make this part it's own separate post so it's easier to find/comment on directly, let me know, and I'll set that up.

But before you can make your decision, I suppose I have to explain what I aim to do here. Basically, Teruko has told us that she's still torn between Eden and Ace (mood), and that, while she'll start off attacking Ace, she's looking for any pieces of evidence that could prove that only one of them could have committed the crime. Problem is, we have no indication of what that specific piece of evidence could be, and, trust me, it could be a lot of them. Thus, what I'm going to do in this "mini" theory is list out every piece of evidence that I can think of, and say whether it points to Eden being the culprit, Ace being the culprit, or it can't point to either of them. Perhaps once we're done, you'll see why I'm so conflicted on which of them it would be.

I'm going to tier these pieces of evidence in terms of least likely to be the missing piece to most likely to be the missing piece, starting with all of the aforementioned unexplained gym evidence. The knocked over benches and weight rack were not part of the replicated crime scene, and I have no idea how Ace or Eden would have wound up with any version of Nico's cowl. The missing tape on the pull-up bar has the greatest likelihood to be relevant, but as we're already suspecting both of them for having the tape, I don't think it'd be a decision maker. Any of those pieces of evidence would be likely to come up in proving that Nico wasn't the one behind Ace's murder, but this theory is operating under the assumption that Nico is the one who tried to kill Ace, and either Ace or Eden killed Arei. If you want the answers for your own theory, do your own homework. (/lh)

Ace or Eden will get a point for any evidence that I think would better be used to accuse them as being the culprit. Therefore, winning points is actually a bad thing if you want to be innocent. For convenience of "scoring," Eden will be purple because of her shirt and Ace will be pink because of his "maroon" hair... and because I needed red and orange for the likelihood ranking.

UNLIKELY FINAL PIECES OF EVIDENCE

Arei's Body Swinging: This evidence has already been used to establish that Arei was killed in the morning, not at night. Either Ace or Eden could have killed Arei at 7:30 AM, so point to neither of them.

Ace Trying to Assign Himself to Guard Duty: This one is obviously a point for Ace if it were the final piece, but it's such a minor happenstance that I doubt Teruko would think to bring it up as the main thing against him. Like, she could bring it up in general, but I don't think it'd be her crowning jewel. Still, it's a piece of evidence we haven't discussed yet, so credit where credit is due.

Arei's Bound Wrists: Bound by the grippy tape that either of them could have stolen. Point to no one.

Broken Playground Lights: The lights in the Playground are broken, likely from the mechanism being hung up through the ceiling rafters. You could argue that this is a point for Ace's strength, but I don't think throwing a ball that high requires so much strength that Eden couldn't do it, especially if you might be able to use the see-saw to launch it somehow. Point to no one.

Dried Up Puddles: This has nothing to do with either of them. Point to no one.

Carousel Wrapped in Tape: Again, either could have had the tape, so point to no one.

Two Pieces of Rope: Either of them could have taken the rope from Storage and cut it; point to no one.

Food/Utensils/Napkins in Trash: Probably David's dinner. Possibly evidence of Eden and Arei having breakfast together, but that's a stretch. Point to no one.

Cups/Tissues/Palette in Trash: Rose says these were hers. Point to no one.

Incense in Trash: I know thebadjoe had (has?) theories about this being used to conceal the scent of Arei's body being hidden in the Relaxation Room a day earlier than anyone thought, but I find that to be too much of a stretch to accost Eden for it here. I think it's just filler. Point to no one.

Grippy Tape in Trash: I should just stop writing out tape evidence. Point to no one.

Broken Jugs: The killer used jugs of water to make Arei heavier, which broke when she fell. They probably had the fish water in them, but we're not talking about the fish themselves at the moment. I'll say point for Ace because the jugs are probably from the Gym, and we've seen Ace in the Gym far more times than we've seen Eden.

Needle and Black Thread: This evidence... might have to do with the ball of clothes, which we'll get to later. However, if this is relevant to the murder, it's probably from the Dress-Up Room, in which we've seen Eden but never Ace. Point to Eden.

Construction of the Note: After a bit of internal debate, I'm going to call this a point for no one. Why? Well, it's because Eden would have reason to help construct the note whether she was the killer or not. If she is the killer, she might have wanted to guide the discussion that followed its reconstruction, to urge to Rose and Whit that she's innocent and that someone must have framed her. It would also give her reason to come into the Trial already having a handwriting sample on her. However, if Eden is innocent, she also easily could have just wanted to help out. Most importantly, Eden already brought up the note being constructed in her initial defense, so I doubt Teruko would reuse it as the nail in someone's coffin.

Splashing Arei With Water: Either of them could have thought of this and accomplished this. Point to no one.

SOMEWHAT LIKELY FINAL PIECES OF EVIDENCE

Body Discovery Announcement: While this may very well play an important part in solving the case, I don't think it'll be the final smash, so to speak. That's mostly because we already talked about it a lot in determining whether Eden could have done it. In the end, I think we'll either have to come up with a way to justify Eden having cheated the BDA-- by Levi or Arturo having seen it or via see no evil-- or we'll accuse Ace without the BDA being a problem. I guess I have to call this a point for Eden because if the BDA were to be the damning evidence, I think it'd have to be for her. However, in my heart, this is totally evidence supporting Ace being the killer.

Arei's Broken Neck: I'm using this as a stand-in for the strength of the killer, in the sense of lifting Arei up and being able to stop the carousel. This is a point for Ace, because he's a professional athlete and Eden is generally the weakest person in the cast.

Scratches on the Ground: This evidence certainly seems to indicate that there was a struggle at the Playground, but is there anything more to it than that? I'm more willing to believe that Ace could have beaten Arei in a fight, but does that point to Eden because there would've been more of a struggle, or Ace because Eden wouldn't have wanted to fight Arei at all? Ace also normally wears heels (while Eden and Arei don't), which is what Hu cites will naturally scratch up the floor. This evidence is vague enough that I don't think it'll be used to point to either of them, but if it did, I think it's more likely to be Ace.

Ball of Starched Clothes: For starters, I'll share (I think it's) thebadjoe's theory that the ball was adhered together using starch from the Relaxation Room that's sprayed on the plants at night, because I saw some people questioning how the clothes could have been stuck together. Anyways, the ball of clothes itself is definitely a point for Eden, because we saw her in the Dress-Up Room specifically looking for Teruko's clothes. Although, Ace certainly saw Teruko and Hu's new fits, so he could have figured it out for himself.

Actual Acquisition of the Tape: I don't think this will be used as the final piece just because I feel like the narrative is pointing towards the damning evidence relating to Arei's actual murder as opposed to Nico's. However, it's relevant to discuss, so I'll list it here. Although Teruko says that Ace and Eden had equal odds at the tape, on the surface, it really makes much more sense if Eden was the one to take it. Star explained it well here, but I'll add my own recap: in the moments when the tape must have been taken, in between when Nico leaves and when MonoTV kicks everyone out, Ace is recovering from unconsciousness, covered in blood, full of rage, and has all eyes on him. Meanwhile, Eden is scared, sure, but she had a clear moment to actually examine the scene of the crime and is also knocked to the ground-- potentially right next to the tape-- with all her wits about her. While it's not impossible to believe that Ace sleight-of-handed the tape, Eden had a much clearer path to taking it. Point to Eden.

MOST LIKELY FINAL PIECES OF EVIDENCE

Arei's Missing Glove: To my memory, Arei's glove hasn't been brought up in the Trial at all, which is definitely strange, because it must be missing for a reason. If DRDTdev is crafting so much detail into the BDA that the swinging of the body is plot-relevant, there's no way he would have just missed giving Arei her glove. The question is, what was this used for? Those who are familiar with my theories should know that I've never been a fan of dress-up theories, so I'm going to discount that possibility. The thing I thought was the most likely was that the killer donned the glove so that their hands wouldn't get super scratched up from grabbing the grippy tape-d carousel bars, before gleamingtempest reminded everyone that both Eden and Ace already wear gloves. Still, looking at them, Eden's gloves are probably made of something more like cotton while Ace's gloves likely have some sort of tougher grip on the inside. So, Eden would probably be more likely to need something else to protect her hands. Also, given that both of Arei's wrists have marks on them, the glove was likely taken off before her wrists were tied. I can't figure out why Ace would have taken off Arei's glove before restraining her or how he would have gotten Arei to take it off otherwise, while for Eden, at least, I can imagine her asking Arei to take off her glove. Therefore, I'm going to call this one a point for Eden, while also throwing out that it might just be missing if Arei didn't bother putting on her glove for the early morning meetup.

Fish on the Playground: You've heard it from me before, Eden has an alibi through the entire time the fish could have been taken. With seemingly no accomplices (other than possibly Arei) in sight, I don't know how Eden would have gotten her hands on those fish. Meanwhile, Ace had a great opportunity. Point for Ace.

Pieced-Together Note: This evidence is very confusing, because I don't see how/why either of them would have implemented it. For Ace, I wrote that entire theory (I'm not going to link it a third time) about how, based on the information in the note and the layout of the first floor, it really seemed like eavesdropping was impossible, and the person who wrote the note had to be Arturo or Eden. Then there's what thefandomenchantress pointed out about Ace's pedantry making it seem like he wouldn't misspell "responsible" in the note, and that he just doesn't give me the vibes of someone who writes in cursive. By all accounts, it really seems like Ace can't have written that note. But then again, why would Eden have written that note? Okay, bad phrasing; she wrote it to get Arei to come to the Playground. But still, why would she sign it? Or if she were to sign it, to make sure that Arei knew it was her, why include so much detail about what Arturo's secret was? More importantly, why wouldn't Eden have just stuffed the ripped up note into her belt, or her pockets, or her room if it would serve to incriminate her? Put it wherever she put that glove! Hell, why not eat the note, if it's a life or death situation? There's the "reverse psychology" argument, but similar to what Teruko said this episode, it would have been much simpler for Eden to have pretended that Arei came to the Playground for some other reason without the killer planting some sort of note meant to frame her. And it's not like I think Eden is really the type to misspell "responsible" either. So, I'm kind of at a loss. It's such a major piece of evidence that I feel it has to come into play again somehow, but I'm not sure how. I think I'm going to call this one a point for Ace because at the very least I understand why he would want to leave this evidence here, even if I don't know how he created it. For Eden, I don't get why she'd leave it lying around, even if in pieces. You can call it revenge for Eden getting the point on the BDA, if you wish.

So, what are the results? If you add up all the points together, you wind up with 6 points for Ace and 6 points for Eden. Funny. If you tier the points, however, with 1 point for unlikely pieces, 2 points for somewhat likely pieces, and 3 points for the most likely pieces, you get 12 points for Ace and 10 points for Eden. Of course, that's using my tierlist of which pieces of evidence are most likely and on top of that, assigning the BDA and the Note the way that they are (if you flip them it's 11-11), but still. If you're invested in my findings, these are the results.

Needless to say, I hope you can understand why I'm having such a hard time determining which one of them will turn out to be the killer. Although, I must add...

If we're suspecting Ace first before we've done our Debate Scrum, that's not a good look for Eden never being suspected again in this Trial.

Concluding Thoughts

What? A conclusion? I've never done one of these on a dissection before?!!

Yeah, well, this time, I have stuff to say that I couldn't really correlate to one image in particular! And also I ran out of images, so this is what you get!!!

I spent that whole "A Piece of Evidence" section talking about the physical evidence that could support Ace or Eden being Arei's killer, but in it, I really didn't get to talk about the narrative implications of either of them being the killer at all. I know that Narrative Defenses are typically Venus' thing, but I have my thoughts on this, too. Namely, that both of them are riddled with narrative problems for being the killer at this point.

(Note: I don't mean "problems" in the sense that DRDTdev has written anything poorly. What I mean is, my own perception of how the characters are conveyed has me currently raising red flags about how either of their stories will pan out as a killer or how the rest of the story will pan out without them. At the time the answer comes, I have full faith that I'll be satisfied with the results.)

Let's start by looking at Eden, the spotlight character of the end of this episode. After that whole heartfelt speech with the CGs and the tears and the brilliant voice acting and the everything, how could Eden possibly be the killer?! I'm the one who was trying to defend the possibility of her still being the culprit after her little rant last week, and while I could probably do that again with this speech, it just felt so... I dunno, sincere. You can really feel Teruko's reluctance to put her faith in Eden, but her choice to do it anyways. Teruko already showed signs of growth this episode by admitting that she can't always solve mysteries by herself, so could that be a sign that she might come around on the group faster than we initially anticipated? If Eden was the killer, it would crush Teruko so hard. Is there any recovering from that? Can we really prove David right?

On the other hand, Ace is, quite possibly, one of the most intertwined members of the cast. He's probably Levi and Nico's #1 correspondent, and he's up there for Hu as well-- assuming they both survive the chapter, I'm sure their animosity towards each other will only grow in Chapter 3. With Ace just having given up on Levi, having just been the target of Nico's battery and Hu's verbal lashes, can the story really work without him in it at this point? Eden hardly has connections with anyone other than Teruko-- Hu's probably next, but Eden probably ranks, like, fourth on her list after Nico, Ace, and David-- which should make her more expendable. Is it really Ace's time already?

However, despite my complaints, I also think that both of them could be really good options as the killer here-- the two options I prefer over anybody else.

Eden is the character who's most connected with Arei. She plays into the chapter themes of being a good person beautifully. She's a good person, a tragic figure, that killed not because she wanted anybody dead, but presumably because she had something back at home that she had to get back to at all costs. Killing her off would break Teruko-- would break everyone. With the reveal of everyone's secrets, next chapter is going to be a living hell, so why not make that hell worse by removing the biggest conflict de-escalator here? It would force other people to step up to bat. It would give everyone a chance to change, what Eden wanted for Arei most of all. Eden's development isn't an arc, per say, but a fall-- a reminder that even the "most good" people can do the unspeakable.

Meanwhile, Ace has perhaps the most obvious reason to kill someone: he literally almost fucking died himself. Ace's execution would be a reminder of the physical reality of the killing game. That actions have consequences. Even if the guy who started all those fights is dead and gone, you can still feel his presence lingering in the arguments between the others. The guy you underestimated most of all-- not for being kind, but for being dumb-- can send you into a multi-hour spiral in which you accuse even the sweetest of participants. Ace's development isn't an arc, per say, but a fall-- a reminder that reveling in your own distrust and anger might lead you to do the unspeakable.

For someone who's spent so long believing that Eden is the culprit of the chapter, it's really amazing how down-to-the-wire DRDTdev has made the end of the case, where either option feels so believable that it's like you can picture the rope in their hands. Whether my theories, old or new, were right or wrong, I am highly looking forward to watching next week's episode and discussing it with you all. See you on Friday-- just try not to freak out too much before then, alright? (/aff)

[catboysooyoung]

Guess who got into yet another KR webnovel where the protagonist, surnamed Kim, has to struggle against the horrors of capitalism...

I've been reading Assistant Manager Kim Hates Idols, following the recommendations of a GSGW reader. I read the premise, thought "Oh this would be hilarious, and right up my alley!" and ended up reading up to chapter 125.

Well, I was right. It is hilarious, everything Kim Iwol says has me doubling over due to how #real it is and how comically extreme he is. It's also checking most of my boxes, most of the characters are decently fleshed out, the novel doesn't shy away from conflicts within and outside the group, and of course, Kim Iwol doesn't get away with everything just because of his Main Character Buff. He suffers from consequences from the system when he changes things from their original course in the past, or when he stubbornly refuses to adhere to it.

What I didn't expect, though, was how much it would emotionally devastate me to see him suffer, because it really felt like the system is Kim Iwol's personal hell.

Even from the very beginning, the system's condition for giving him a second shot at life, was for him to "earn it". He still has to work his ass off to "deserve" this second chance, and honestly it felt more like he was being held hostage to work towards it, as his sister's life & assurance that he wouldn't have to go back to his workplace, were on the line if he didn't. What's more, this second shot at life involved him having to work with the people who had indirectly made his own work life hell in the past, due to his boss's daughter's obsession with them.

And even as he tried his best to make this second chance work for him, it was as if the system was just setting him up to fail.

For one, it's the system's personality. While systems with personalities aren't rare in this genre, it surprised me how... Vitriolic Kim Iwol's system is. Kim Iwol literally likened its manner of speech & behavior to his horrible former boss, Manager Nam, whose scoldings have left him with severe, long-lasting trauma. It is always so antagonistic with him. Every achievement just earns him another task/KPI to succeed, and every mistake or failure is nitpicked to death and punished severely. Any initiative from Kim Iwol that deviates from "the big picture" of the system, is punished severely and personally (as depicted in the recent chapters, where Kim Iwol's every insecurity is made into an "attitude controversy" simply for making SpArk do something they didn't do in his first life). It continuously moves the goalposts, purposely withholds information and verbally abuses him every chance it gets.

And what really gets me is how despite all his complaints and internal declarations of how much he hated how unfairly and cruelly the system treated him, a part of Kim Iwol... Still believes that he deserved it. His self loathing is all consuming. He internalized all the abuse hurled at him from his family and manager Nam, and it followed him even into this life.

When bad things happen to him, when he gets mistreated and abused in this life, he tries to take it on while internally saying that he deserves it. Because it was so normal in his previous life, it also became expected in this life.

When he has good people in his corner, rooting for him, when good things happen to him, he runs around trying to "take responsibility", to compensate for "taking up space" and "intruding" on the group, despite his presence being pivotal to the functionality and harmony of their dynamics.

It's just so heartbreaking to see him beat himself down like this when he's already gone through so much and when everything seems to be working against him. He's perhaps one of the few protagonists I would rather walk the flower path instead of one of thorns and hardship...

I support you, Kim Iwol... I'm your number one fan...

[campbyler]

our chapters average at 27,000 words, the total fic length is already 3x the average novel length, and we lost one of the authors working on this fic. it must be so nice to only have to endure the wait for a chapter to be uploaded so that you can interact with it rather than being the one to actually write it.

im going to be cruel (no pun intended) to be kind: this is such an intense externalisation of blame. you are the ones in control of the fic length; the chapters could handle some heavy editing and it wouldnt make them any less wonderful (such as regarding the descriptions of mike and will's internal thoughts, not the action between the characters themselves). fic is free and its a gift to be able to read works that inspire our hearts and minds while we wait for the show, but then again, when at the stern of a juggernaut work such as this, one that will inevitably have many followers chomping at the bit on tumblr as well as ao3 (as you designed it to have!), you surely must be aware of something that only usually exists in professional marketing spaces involving customers + brand IP: the relationship between consumer and creator, and what they can give each other.

not 'owe each other' - nothing is owed, except perhaps basic human kindness. fans want your work, and its free, so we should be grateful; likewise, you want readers, feedback and clicks, and that should be free, too. but in order for this to work smoothly, there has to be fair give and take. i mean, if you wanted to monetize the fic i'm sure many people would pay to read it, but thats beside the point here.

what fans of this fic simply want is the same honesty and self-awareness from you that they might expect from any artist who has embarked on such am ambitious project. and this doesnt just mean transparency about potential uploading dates (which is already much appreciated by the majority!), or notifications about how hard it is to balance work and life (something most people on the planet struggle with). it means total honesty and hard answers. people like to know where they stand. plenty of writers (both professional and fan alike) abandon works for months, years at a time, and if the work is THAT good, people will always be thrilled to see a return. it's the mucking people about that is what destroys relationships - no matter how good your reasons are.

your fic is wonderful and very, very memorable. you could take a big, undefined hiatus and people would, im sure, return, including me. seeing you admit that you have been prioritizing this fic over your mental health does not inspire confidence either, or even comfort - do i want to read something that has caused the creator such harm?

i think everything about this process would be happier for everyone if you set boundaries that work for you and didn't place blame elsewhere. after all, as you said, it's just a fanfic. it doesnt matter if you don't finish it. it doesnt matter if it takes all the way to s5 for 10.2 to release. everyone would, though, appreciate you taking a stance and being consistent (and therefore fair) to both yourselves and the readers.

please feel free to not post this publicly or do as you wish with it.

hello! thank you for your feedback and for sharing it in a way that is both kind and respectful. you make many valid points that i agree with -- we are in control of the word counts and could stand to edit down more, and we do recognize where being transparent about the reasons behind the chapter delays might not inspire confidence or comfort. i do, however, think that isolating one response/chain of responses to a particular ask is a little unfair, so i'd like to provide additional context.

i do not think that it's fair to say that we haven't been honest, self-aware, or fair, because we have been incredibly transparent throughout the entire run of the fic (over a year) about our writing process. just last month suni said she hadn't been working on 10.2 at all because abby had been visiting her house, and readily took ownership of that fact. there was a 4-month wait between chapters 9.1 and 9.2, and i was very open about the fact that i simply needed a break for at least the first of those months because i didn't want to write it. we have continued to maintain several times that we are not abandoning the fic, even if it takes longer between chapters, and have tried to stay as active as possible on the blog because we know that seeing us interact with asks Does inspire confidence. if you just scroll down and see how we have answered other asks inquiring about the upload, we responded kindly and respectfully.

what you interpreted as externalization of blame in that one (1!) ask response was me trying to provide perspective to someone who clearly lacked it. we understand that people will be frustrated about chapter delays, especially if we keep pushing them back, and this is also something that we have received feedback about before and tried to implement; however, it is also a double-edged sword where if we don't give an estimated upload, people get upset, or we give an estimated upload that we think is completely reasonable for us to achieve and then hurdles get in the way, whether it's writer's block or work or time with friends. i absolutely get the frustration on the receiving end, but something i have learned from being in this fandom for two years is that a pretty big majority of those who are interacting with fanworks are not creating it themselves, hence why my response -- while snippy and annoyed, because i was matching the energy, and will not apologize for that -- was contextualizing the whys behind the chapter delay: the chapters are long, the fic is long, we are down one entire body from where we started. the intention was not to shuck blame off of ourselves, but i get that intentions don't always translate into effect, so it's understandable that it was received differently.

we don't always respond to things perfectly. when we have a million and one asks inquiring about the next upload, one stray one that comes off the wrong way is likely going to set us off, because we are people, and this is not a job. we have set a boundary by disabling anon, and again, i cannot stress enough how much i appreciate that you've come to us with this feedback off-anon and with respect and decency. i get where you are coming from and again, agree with a lot of your points.

the only other thing i want to make clear is that this fic, no matter how much attention its garnered, should not be treated as a creator/consumer relationship that mirrors anything where the exchange of money is involved. not only is it unfair to apply this standard to fanworks, where it is illegal to monetize such content, but the entire purpose of fanworks is to celebrate what you are a fan of together. when you apply expectations on either end -- i am a fan of this work, therefore, people should create timely content for it; i am creating this fanwork, therefore, people should interact with it -- defeats the entire nature of fan-created work as a whole. while we have continued to be vocally grateful for the love and support our fic has been shown, we both maintain that we would continue writing and continue uploading even if we were getting less than half of the amount of interaction that we do. it's nice to have interaction, but not necessary, because we what write and post is done because we love it, and it's shared so that we can look back on it, so our friends can enjoy it, and anyone else who might want to. we are, of course, excited to share that world with anyone who cares -- we created the blog and the promo because we wanted to share it -- but that does not mean that the relationship between us and our readers should have expectations. we are all creating and enjoying this work for free for the sake of love for the characters, as the star trek obsessed housewives of the 60s (and the law) have intended.

i feel like this response is a bit jumbled so i apologize if anything isn't clear or hard to understand. thank you again for your time!

[aihoshiino]

Rie Takahashi Interview (Oshi no Ko Anime Guidebook: First Report)

In the recently released First Report guidebook, a number of key staff members from the Oshi no Ko anime project were interviewed about their work on the show - so you can imagine my excitement when I saw that not only was Takahashi one of those interviewed, but that she had a lot to say about her performance as Ai and how she interpreted her character. I just had to translate it!

I will say up front that I have no intention of translating the other interviews in the book - this one took me long enough as it was and I fully admit it was pure blorbo bias that kept me going the whole time lol. Given that an English release of Glare x Sparkle is already in the works at YenPress, I imagine an English version of First Report might not be far behind so be sure to support it when it comes out. I'm just impatient lol.

As usual, this TL is a combo of my own comprehension, various online dictionaries such as Jisho.org, some MTL and me collapsing, weeping into smarter people's DMs to beg for their help. If you catch any mistakes, please let me know!

Anyway, enough rambling. Check out the interview behind the cut!

Please tell us about your favourite scene and line from episode 1.

Since Ai only appears in the first episode, I really wanted to make every moment count, so each and every one of her lines are special in their own way. It's hard to choose just one, but as a fan of the original work, the line "lies are an exceptional form of love" was one I was especially particular about. Since it's the line that truly encapsulates everything about Ai, I wanted to make sure that one stuck in people's minds.

You've said in the past you were an 'Oshi no Ko' fan even before being involved in the project.

While I was reading the original work, I actually admired Akane-chan the most. Obviously, I loved Ai as well, but being a voice actress myself, I was particularly interested in how a genius actress like Akane-chan prepared for her roles and what performances she'd go on to give. The chapters where she rises above all the online harassment especially left a huge impression on me. Anyone who's worked as a creative or even just in the public eye probably knows what a pulse-pounding experience it can be when you see slanderous comments about yourself - feeling like all of society has turned its back on you and you have nowhere to belong, and not being able to talk to your parents about it. It was depicted with such care and detail that I ached with her as I read it. But then, seeing her rise back up and declare "I don't want to quit like this" gave me a lot of strength. I wanted to become an actress like Akane-chan, who could come back to acting no matter what struggles I went through.

Since I loved Akane-chan so much, when I heard there were auditions for 'Oshi no Ko', I thought "I want to play her!". I even had the thought of 'Since the original work touches so deeply on what it means to be an actor, if they don't get a good actor for this, I might end up hating Oshi no Ko!' (laughs)

As a result, when I was cast as Ai, I knew I had to step up my game. I told myself, "If I'm going to play Ai, I need to give it my everything. Anything less won't do." I gave it my all with that in mind.

Did you audition for the role of Ai?

Yes, I did. But I couldn't get Akane-chan out of my mind, so I gave her a shot at the table audition. When I was preparing, I went over the manga at home and tried voicing each character and scene and there's a part in episode seven where Akane-chan mimicks Ai as she says "I sure am sleepy. We record way too early". When I tried that scene, I went "Hold on, maybe I really am the best fit for Ai?"

I guess my hunch was right because I didn't even make it through the first screening for Akane (laughs). Because of that experience, I'm deeply grateful to (Iwami) Manaka-chan for playing my beloved Akane-chan. I love both her work and her approach as an actress, so I'm thrilled to be working alongside her. I started off as a troublesome hardcore fan thinking "If they don't cast good actors for 'Oshi no Ko,' I might end up hating it!" but now I'm just like "thank you, voice actors!!" (laughs)

Were there any scenes you thought would be particularly difficult to perform based on the script or the original work?

So, I prepared for the role by going over volume 1 of the manga, the scenes where Akane-chan channels Ai and the short story, but there wasn't much more material at the time (laughs). So just preparing for the role was tough.  During recording, I sometimes checked in with (Akasaka) Aka-sensei about Ai. Now the story has progressed and Ai's character has become more defined, I secretly get a little nervous every time I read a new chapter. "I hope my performance in episode 1 wasn't off... I hope...!" (laughs) Obviously, Aka-sensei and the team were present during recordings, so my portrayal was probably fine but a revelation about her could still catch me out (laughs)

What sort of things did you hear from Akasaka-sensei?

There's a scene where Ai talks to her ex on a public payphone. I had to make sure there was the right amount of distance between them, and whether or not Ai still had any attachment to or fondness for him. I'm the sort of fan who enjoys analyzing the original work so I had mixed feelings about getting told the answer (laughs). But because I knew all the ins and outs of her backstory, I could contextualize her behaviour and the things she says and does.

Another scene was when Ai was scouted off the street and talked about her past, mentioning being abused by her mom. She wasn't saying it with the sense of "it hurts, I can't take it, I want to die" but instead she weaponizes it like "look at what I've been through, poor little me, right?". I tried to make my performance a balance of resilience with her vulnerability.

Also, I was directed to keep the monologue before Ai gets stabbed "emotionless", so I ended up giving a much more detached and matter of fact performance than I'd initially planned.

Were you mindful of the differences between Ai in her private life and Ai on stage when performing?

The tricky part of portraying Idol Ai is that if I make her too distinct, she'll stop being Ai. For example, if I play her as an innocent, optimistic idol, she'd be Ruby, not Ai. I focused less on "what to do as Ai" and more on "what not to do". In "Viewpoint B," Ai says, "The "idol" Ai is pretty much the complete opposite of who I really am, but she's the person I'd like to be." so that was the feeling I used as my reference when portraying Idol Ai. Incidentally, in my work as a performer, I purposely try to avoid drawing a line between my public and private self. So for Ai as well, the switches between the real Ai and the idol Ai feel surprisingly seamless to me. It's not that there are two distinct faces, but that Idol Ai exists inside the real Ai so it's more a question of which side of herself she shows at any given moment.

Ai’s fans in the original story only know the Idol Ai. What do you think draws them to her?

Like in the lyrics of YOASOBI's song "Idol," she's nonchalant, carefree, and easygoing. I could've portrayed Idol Ai as more cutesy, bubbly and flirtatious, but I felt that wouldn't have a convincing appeal to characters in the story like Gorou-sensei and the otaku who support her. I wanted to make sure it was believable that idol otakus in this world end up falling for her. I think it's her more laid back vibe, not the hyper energetic or "look at me!" type, that charms people.

So what would you say is the appeal to fans in the real world who know her full backstory?

Firstly, Ai-chan's overwhelming visual appeal. When you think of shocking pink and purple, you think of Ai! (Yokoyari) Mengo-sensei’s art is so powerful, and the glittering animation is also fantastic. I also find Ai's professionalism in her work really appealing. While she has the cuteness of an idol, she's not just cute—she works with an incredible level of dedication and professionalism. I admire and love her for everything, including her behind-the-scenes efforts. It's impressive, she’s really cool! 

I’ve ended up with a lot more respect for the word ‘idol’ as a result. In the past, when my voice acting involved singing, dancing, and participating in unit activities, being described as an "idol voice actress" didn't quite sit right with me. But now, I realize how honorable and responsible that title is. Idols work hard behind the scenes, constantly smiling while singing and dancing, and performing so brilliantly. If there are moments when I'm called by the same title as those incredible idols, I feel I need to make an effort to match their quality, or it would be disrespectful. It really motivates me to do my best.

There’s a line in Ai's monologue where she says "I wanted to love someone, I wanted someone to love." Why do you think Ai wanted to give love rather than receive it?

It could be that she's looking for somewhere to belong, hoping that "if I can love, I might be loved in return". Ai's history of abuse and mistreatment likely made the love she received feel very different from the love most people experience. I think it all stems from Ai thinking of herself as an abnormal person - she might have believed that to be loved, she needed to become someone who could genuinely love others. It’s a bit of a chicken and egg situation with a lot of complex feelings. That’s just how I interpret it, though.

And in the end, she realizes her love for the twins is not a lie.

I think that Ai loved the twins all along, not just in that last moment. But the word “love” was like a curse for her, so she couldn't actually say it. That feeling only intensified after I watched the anime. There's an anime original bit where Ai kisses the twins on the foreheads and says, “I'm off,” when she leaves for work. That's the kind of thing you can only do with love - she was just too scared to actually put it into words. Though she was able to express her love fully in her final moments, it’s still sad it took such an extremely situation for her to be able to say it. If it’d never happened, or if she’d simply put the door chain on, she might never have said it. She might have always struggled to say those words. But it’s thanks to the twins she learned how to love. Even the love she has for her fans, that she derided as a lie, was always true. And when she told Ryosuke-kun, “I want to love you,” I think she was already loving him even then.

In the audio commentary included on the Blu-ray & DVD bonus disc, I was struck by the mention of Ai being so nervous before she says “I love you” to Ruby and Aqua, that she takes a deep breath. What sort of direction were you given for that line?

There wasn’t any direction, actually. During the recording, my focus was entirely on expressing Ai’s breathing after being stabbed, how much blood she was losing, and the urgency of conveying her final words. It was an intense experience. It’s a rare moment as a voice actor to feel like me and the character I'm playing have our hearts beating in sync, but this was one of those times. I think I was genuinely nervous myself as well. I could feel my heart pounding and my chest clenching like when you’re about to make a confession. That feeling still hasn’t left me.

Additionally, in the last monologue of episode 11, where Aqua reflects on Ai's words after she was stabbed, we couldn't use the original recording from the first episode. The recording from the first episode captured a raw and genuine emotion, as Ai was gasping for breath. So we re-recorded it with the intention that the more it resonated warmly within Aqua, the more unforgettable those words would become for him. I wanted to make sure that Ai’s final words would leave a lasting impact, something Aqua would revisit in his mind over and over again. Personally, I approached the recording with a deep sense of love, like passing the baton and saying, “Thank you, everyone, for your hard work in the first season.” There was a lot of warmth during that session, not just towards the twins, but towards the entire cast, staff, and the "Oshi no Ko" project itself.

What were your thoughts upon reading 45510?

I got to the end and I was like “Don’t delete the blog! I want to know more!” (laughs) The entire story felt like a box that really shouldn't be opened. Everything from the meaning behind the password numbers to the fact that Ai left behind a blog wanting to reconcile made it feel like Ai really, truly wanted to love the other girls in B-Komachi even when they were jealous of her.

In the anime, we only get a brief moment of interaction between Ai and the other members - that moment during dance practice, when one of them says, "You look kinda down, Ai-chan" and Ai replies with a smile, "That’s not it. I didn’t get to eat lunch!" So I was careful that Ai’s response didn't feel sour at all. If the sigh she let out before they spoke to her had even a hint of annoyance, it would’ve been a reason the other girls took offense with her. I felt like Ai’s invincibility should’ve been the main factor for their issues with her.

It’s just a brief interaction in the anime, but ‘45510’ really fleshed out that distance between Ai and the B-Komachi members. I based my understanding of these boundaries in her relationships on ‘45510’ and ‘Viewpoint B’ and I also read ‘Oshi no Ko: Spica, the First Star’ to get a fuller picture. The more I read, the more I understood - Kana Arima’s got the right idea!

YOASOBI’s song ‘IDOL’ closes out episode one.

The music itself was impactful, but the music video that was released after the first episode aired was something else altogether. We watched the first episode together with the cast, and then, after seeing the music video, I felt overcome by Ai’s presence all over again - I was left speechless by how powerful the experience was. "Oshi no Ko" really is an immersive experience. I mean, you willingly open YouTube and relive Ai's death yourself. Even after everything was conveyed in the main story, the music video introduced new layers of emotions and concepts. Seeing how YOASOBI's song "Idol," which was about Ai, resonated with so many people really made me realize all over again just how significant Ai's impact was!

And then you yourself sang IDOL at the Strawberry Productions☆Fan Thanksgiving Festival 2023 (FanFest).

For me, "Idol" is a challenging song to sing even at karaoke. So, when they asked me to sing it at the FanFest my initial reaction was, "Oh, that might be too much!" (laughs). It’s not a song that you can easily perform live (laughs). It's a song that only an incredible artist can pull off, so when I thought about singing it live on stage, I was like, "Really? Me?" But when I saw the setlist for the live part of the FanFest, I started feeling like, "Actually, I think I should give it a shot." As a performer, I had some reservations about whether I could deliver the quality it deserved, but the "Oshi no Ko" fan in me couldn't resist. I was like, "Everyone wants to see Ai's voice actress sing 'Idol'" (laughs). After a lot of back-and-forth, I decided to go for it. I understood how Kana Arima felt when she joined the new B-Komachi. The joy of being relied upon by the team and the desire to meet the expectations of the work won out in the end.

Between “Our Sign is B”, “HEART's♡KISS” and “STAR☆T☆RAIN”, which is your favourite B-Komachi song?

That’s a tough one since they’re all A-side quality! (laughs) It was like, "Wow, B-Komachi is seriously awesome!" You can really feel the passion from the music team, like they were determined to bring the world of "Oshi no Ko" to life through these songs. It was also surprising to see how the series expanded from the manga into this whole new realm of music.

Was there anything specific you focused on while recording the project’s songs?

I tried not to change my tone just because it was a song. My focus was on making sure that when people listened, they could immediately recognize it as Ai's voice. At first, it was really hard to come up with a solid idea of what "Ai singing” sounded like. Usually, she's a pretty laid back and carefree, but she can’t exactly sing like that during a live performance. Ai’s a pro when it comes to entertaining the audience and enjoying the moment with them so I was constantly trying to find the right balance between Ai’s characteristic nonchalance and the high energy of a live idol performance. The first recording I did was for "HEART's♡KISS," and honestly, I ended up putting too much force into the opening line, "I'll send you a cheer." Since the song's theme is about sending everyone good vibes, I got too intense with my delivery. I got an ‘OK’ on that take but when I listened back to it, I felt that it wasn’t quite right, so I asked to redo just that part. If people didn’t immediately sense Ai at the very start, I worried that they wouldn't feel her presence throughout the entire song.

If you were to send a message to Ai, what would you say?

There’s so much I’d love to say to her, it’s hard to pick just one thing. Still, I think Ai was really happy in her life because she got to say "I love you" in the end. Even though her life might seem tragic to others, the feeling that stuck with me from playing her was a sense of incredible contentment. So, I’d probably just want to have a casual chat with her and watch over everyone together. Oh, but I’d definitely tell her to keep that door chain locked!

[starwarsmum]

Day 15 of Maribat March is Baby Names! Taking me back to Not a Fan of Surprises

@maribatserver

https://archiveofourown.org/works/60011551/chapters/163781575

Marinette lay with her feet kicked up on Damian's lap, her hand resting on her swollen belly. Damian rubbed one of her feet gently, relishing the little sighs he elicited from her. After a couple more minutes she continued her train of thought. 

“What about…Thomas? After my papa and your grandfather?” She mused, head lolling back. She was seven months pregnant now and seemed to be constantly tired so Damian tried to help her relax whenever he could. 

“It's a wonderful name, my love,” he said, running his hands further up her calves to relieve more tension. “I know you have always been partial to the name Emma, for a girl as well.”

“Hmm, I'm not sure anymore,” she said, lifting her head to look at him. “I always had someone else in mind when I toyed with the idea of Emma, Louis and Hugo.”

“Then perhaps…Amara? I think it is quite a pretty name.”

“Amara…” Marinette murmured, lips curling upwards in a soft smile. “I love it! Okay, so Amara for a girl and Thomas for a boy. And for the surname-”

“Dupain-Cheng,” Damian said without hesitation. She looked over at him, smiling, and he quirked an eyebrow. “Do you have an issue with that?”

“Not at all, mon cœur,” she said, sighing as he moved to her other leg and massaged that too. “I'm just a little surprised that you don't want to continue your father's name, all things considered.”

“Well, I was raised as an Al Ghul before I became a Wayne and it took me a long time to come to terms with what being a Wayne meant. I would like it if our child had the opportunity to live outside of the shadow of my surname for as long as possible. Besides, I have been considering changing my last name to match anyway.” 

“Seriously?” Marinette looked at him again, her eyes wide and full of astonishment. It made him chuckle as he nodded. “Wow, that's a pretty big change, Dami.” 

“As I said, it would hardly be the first time I have changed my surname. And this would be a far happier reason to do so.”

They sat in silence for a while, Damian wanting to give her time to process the news. Honestly, he had considered changing his name as soon as they married but hadn't wanted the media circus that followed their wedding to start blasting his new name everywhere. 

The communicator went off and Marinette groaned, starting to slide her feet to the floor, only to be tugged back gently.

“Marinette, you're not going out there,” Damian chastised gently, slipping out from under her. When she protested he gave her a flat look that he softened with a kiss. “I will return soon, feel free to order yourself something, or message me and I will bring something back when I am done. But please, rest, my love.” 

“Ugh, fine, but only because my back is actually killing me,” she said, pouting slightly. He pressed another kiss to her lips before slipping away to join his family on whatever the latest issue was. 

_ _ _

Marinette woke the next morning to find a message from Damian apologising and saying that he would be staying at the manor overnight. She squinted at it suspiciously and sighed before heaving herself out of bed. She shoved down the anxiety that tried to claw its way out of her belly as she threw on some comfortable clothes and grabbed her car keys. 

Even if she couldn't tell the difference between Damian's usual texts and this one, he had been fastidious in returning home every night ever since she had hit the third trimester. The fact that he hadn't returned was alarming and it was a struggle to keep to the speed limit as she made her way to the manor. The only thing that had prevented her from transforming and making her way there over the rooftops was the fact that Damian's brothers would have called her if it was anything life threatening, regardless of the time. And if Damian learned she had done it when he was okay, he would have fretted over her incessantly.

Still, it was a relief to pull up in front of the large building and she abandoned her car there, not bothering to check if she had successfully locked it before she all but sprinted up the steps. Alfred, as always, seemed to be expecting her and merely pointed up towards Damian's old room. She squeaked a thanks as she blew past him. 

As she approached it, Dick tried to intercept her by asking how she was doing. He stopped trying when she leveled a glare at him that usually stopped Damian in his tracks. She stormed into his old room, not pausing as Jason leapt away from the bed with his hands in the air.

“In my defence, I told them they should've just called you,” he said immediately. “It was Dick's idea to send the text.” 

“Little Wing!”

“What? I told you she would know. She always knows. And I ain't going down with this burning wreckage if I can help it.” 

“What. Happened.” Marinette's voice was taut and Dick visibly recoiled at the anger she was sure he could hear in it. 

“It's not as bad as whatever you're thinking,” he said hurriedly, hands held out in a placating gesture. He swallowed when she growled, and continued. “Really, he just, uh, got a little knife wound but it was deep enough to need stitches. But he kept trying to leave once he was sewn up so we had to- we sedated him to keep him in place. We only sent the text so you wouldn't worry, really.” 

“And how is that marvelous plan working out for you?” She demanded icily. “Never mind, get me a decent chair to sit in so I can be here when he wakes up. Idiots.”

_ _ _

When Damian woke, he felt foggy. There was a dull, stinging sensation in his side and he could hear someone muttering nearby. The last thing he really remembered was arguing with Tim about how he would be getting home- 

Flinching awake fully, he winced as he sat up and realised he was in his bedroom at the manor. Whoever was muttering was out of sight, most likely just outside the room as the door was ajar. Now that he was paying attention he noticed the much more prevalent noise of his wife snoring in the armchair next to the bed.

He frowned and started to stand, planning to move her to the bed instead but she woke then, her eyes moving straight to him. She gave him a disapproving look and leaned forward to make sure he stayed put. But the sound of movement brought the person lurking outside into the room before they could talk. 

“Lil D, you're awake!” Dick looked cheerful but sounded guilty. Damian didn't need the nettled look his wife was giving the older man to hazard a guess as to why he was waking up at the manor rather than home. “How's that stab wound?” 

“Tt, it's fine, Richard,” he said with a scowl. “Am I allowed to return home now?” 

“Dames, we just wanted to make sure-” 

“And in doing so my heavily pregnant wife has been sleeping in an armchair,” Damian cut in, frowning in disappointment. “I'm sure you had your reasons, Richard, but now I would like to return home so that Marinette can rest properly.” 

“I mean, you're both already here-”

“I was not asking for permission,” he said firmly, moving to haul himself out of bed.

“Mon cœur, wait for a moment, please,” Marinette said at last, laying a hand on his arm. “Will you let Alfred check your injury before we leave? I'm not sure how well I would be able to get you care if something went wrong at home.” 

He grumbled but acquiesced quickly. Marinette was a force of nature when she wanted something and he was not ready to argue with her. And it was worth it for the smile she aimed his way.

[felixravinstills]

Some half-baked sotr thoughts after finishing the whole book:

I've seen reactions from both sides of the spectrum. People seem to love or hate the book. I'm pretty eh about the book. I'm trying to give it a fair shake and put aside what I want it to be and what I think it should be and evaluate it on what it is.

I think (especially with Lenore Dove's name but also with the dreams and the Louella and Lou Lou as doubles. Also seeing Lenore Dove even later in life) there's some attempt at invoking gothic literature here, but it kind of feels weak.

The above actually leads into this feeling that I came away with that's just the book is struggling to be its own story separate from the Hunger Games franchise? Like instead of feeling like building off of the rest of the franchise, it feels like they're shackled to each other. It seems afraid to go out of familiar territory

The story gives the impression (to me) of portraying Haymitch as a failed Katniss which I don't really like. It's especially those lines between Haymitch and Plutarch about wanting him for the rebellion. Needing someone like him but luckier and during a better time in Chapter 27. I think I would have less of a problem with this if it wasn't basically spelled out in the text. It makes what should be Haymitch's story feel less his own. Again, going back to what I said about this book struggling to be its own thing and also a part of the franchise. I think my main problems come from that feeling.

It's too self-conscious of being a part of the franchise.

I wish Haymitch could have had more time in D12, because I feel like all those relationships and characters were underdeveloped. Like I feel like I was told that he cared about these people, but there wasn't enough for me to truly get to know them as a reader. Aside from Haymitch's clear attachment, I don't really care too much about them, except for some of the characters we already know!

Actually, I felt the book did a lot of telling me and not showing me at times. Even outside this. With the plot and the having so many people, there wasnt really a lot of time to just watch things play out in detail.

I liked the D12 tributes overall, especially Maysilee and Wyatt!

Capitol incompetence is to be expected, but I was taken off-guard by just how barely hanging together this all seemed.

There are times when Plutarch feels like he's morphing into the author's mouthpiece, but like... I love that they kept this man an ambivalent character who does seem to mean well but also comes from a privileged position that makes you want to punch him.... (lol when he talks to Haymitch about why he doesn't resist authority and then surprise pikachu faces when Haymitch does a small mini resistance by not giving Snow milk... Like sir... I realize that this is not the battle you would have chosen but this is a small resistance). Haymitch calls him out on it, but I love him being like 'no more implicit submission,' then he edits footage for Capitol propaganda and when called out on it claps back with 'I live to fight another day!' sir... how many people don't have the privilege to do that? anyway, love that guy

I didn't mention it earlier today, but no Snow Spouse reveal... Sad for me and my friends :(

Very random, but I think it's really funny that Haymitch's 1st person POV goes out of it's way to explain how Lenore Dove taught him the meaning of dreary in Chapter 10 (and also not knowing what an aphorism was in Chapter 9), but it pulls out convalescent in Chapter 25. It caught me off-guard

Drusilla-Magno divorce marriage amuses me but I don't care about them as individuals too much except for Sickle family member (naming convention could imply connection to Livia based on personal HCs about Capitol names. Livy-Vips friendship HC...) and Magno's the toad licker we clowned on in the Discord chat.

As a Locked Tomb fan, the D2 girls being named Camilla and Nona was cute. It probably means nothing, but in my mind, it is a reference.

That's all the thoughts off the top of my head! I'm going to bed!

[funnypages]

Wheel of Time 3x07 Goldeneyes

This a bit of an odd episode that I think its going to be a bit until I full come down on my rating for this. There is a ton of stuff I like but overall I think the ep is a bit messy with a few moments I'm meh on even if I can get why they did them. Overall it seems show onlies liked the ep, while book readers are a bit more divided

The whole thing about Perin now being Lord Perrin Goldeneyes with the Wolfbanner is all from the books is perfect and love it. They hit on his struggle of not wanting to be a lord with Faile pointing out how important it is to his people.

We finally get Aram and the Tinkers! In the books they are introduced in the Two Rivers way earlier. In fact I think the moment where Aram takes up the sword might be one of the first chapters after Rhuidean. A little thing to keep in mind, ive seen some people say Aram is going to become an Aiel. No he is not, Aiel dont use swords, he is going his own path

I love that they make explicit the connection to the last King of Mantherin, Aemon al Caar al Thorin, and Rand's adoptive father Tam al'Thor and the possibility he is a descendant of his. Some ave also speculated Mat and the Cauthon family might be as well

Let's get back to Tam, who in the books is a major figure in this storyline and his Perrin's second in command. It sounds like he wasn't in this season due to scheduling conflicts with the actor which is a major pain. Maksim’s speech he gives to rally the troops was totally originally going to be Tam's

One of the first changes that I'm not a fan of Loial's death. Loial does not die in the books, but I think, from an adaptation side of things I get why they did it. Loial falls into a similar rut as a lot of "Second Tier mains" as I would call them (also would include Lan and Thom in this) where in the middle of the series they kinda disappear for several books or are technically there in the background for several books but dont do anything. Loial does in the books eventually rally the Ogiers and leads them to battle in the Last Battle, but that's in the last book. On a show you cant really have an actor jut hang around for seasons and nt really do much, especially one that requires so much make up. I just wish they had wrote him out as going back to the Stedding to heal from the Longing instead.

Also not a big fan of Alana getting injured again. Repeating the beat she literally just did. I get needing to write her out of the second half of the battle, but they either should not have had her as badly injured before with the White Cloaks, or alternatively have there be a Black Adjah or mad male channeler in the trolloc army that she had to deal with

I did like them killing of Valda here. In the books he is killed way later but this is a better end point. I also like the small implication that he may have been able to channel (cause he could see the weaves) and that was maybe part of the reason for his instability

Final thing I was not a fan of, the resolution to the fight with Perrin just threatening Fain into retreating. In the books, Faile actually does go away from the fight only to return with an army of villagers from other towns and farms who help turn the fight against the trollocs. Again they probably changed this because they couldn't afford all the extras, and for similar reasons probably didn't do my alternative which was Perrin calling down an army of wolves to fight.

Perrin leaves with the White Cloaks to go on trial at the end. In the books he does not go with them here, but instead goes with them books and books later, I think book 12 or 13? I am fine with this as the whole Perrin/White Cloak trial storyline goes on way too long in the books and would like them finishing it up soon. I will say though I am 50/50 on if this will be resolved next ep. This might be the last time we see Perrin this season

There is a lot I liked about this ep. The whole battle, Aram, Weap for Mantheran, The Perrin/Faille battle scene, Valda's death, and them speeding up the Perrin/White Cloak storyline from the books. It's just a lot of the other things I thought were a bit messy.

[fallloverfic]

Han Yoojin's Black Choker

This post isn't going to be everything, but it's going to hopefully be easier to find/navigate than the handful of posts I'm seeing floating around and that I've responded to: a summary of official art with Han Yoojin wearing the black choker in S-Classes that I Raised, its maybe appearances in the text of the novel, and its maybe relationship with fanart. For the short answer, yes it appears in multiple pieces of official novel art, and maybe at least once in the novel text. But it might also be a fan design that's sort of accepted as official at least in some cases? Explanation beneath the read more.

Yoojin's black choker is most likely Grace, the protection item Myungwoo made from Shalos. Other folks have said it's the translation item he gets from Yoohyun, and I disagree, but I'll get to that.

The novel covers and text

Yoojin is not wearing a choker on either novel cover. The first cover, on the left, has a black line for his collar, not a necklace or choker. It appears often in the manhwa. The black collar is gone in onlyraii's cover on the right (even though onlyraii had drawn Yoojin with the collar in fanart years prior to this, detailed later). The first cover seems to be from when the novel started publishing, and the second cover came out in April 2022. More on the second cover later.

The ebook release also got a cover, but it doesn't have Yoojin on it.

Text-wise the "choker" is possibly from novel chapter 109, where Grace turns into a sparkling choker at one point (which Yoojin notes is more over the top than a bracelet during his struggle to get her to turn into something less ostentatious). Some folks looked at different text in the novel here for how it and particularly Grace look, but just as a warning, there is no official English translation for the novel outside what we get in the manhwa, which is somewhat modified because it's a manhwa adaptation. There are fan translations for parts of the novel, but a lot of folks use machine translation, which can be very dubious.

In other places in the novel she's just described as turning into a necklace, not specifically a choker, though in novel chapter 176, it's described as sitting close around Yoojin's neck (which sounds like a choker). Whatever jewelry she turns into is specifically described as having a blue/silver jewel from which her bird form emerges (as she has in novel chapter 156, which is the chapter one fanwiki lists it appearing in, and in which she is described as turning into a necklace, not specifically a choker). So there's very little textual support for him to be wearing a choker, though he does at least on occasion wear necklaces.

Revised ebook novel volumes

SCTIR the novel was (and still is) originally released chapter by chapter on Naver, Munpia, and Ridibooks (currently Side Story is only available on Naver, but the chapters of the main story are on all three). The main story was eventually collected into 35 volumes and partially revised or at least given additional scenes in places. Each volume contained at least two pieces of art. For volumes 1-14 this was seemingly a character portrait with their bio (e.g., age, height, likes, dislikes), and 1 piece of interior art, with the latter at least being by 비완 (the manhwa artist). Volumes 15+ switched up interior artists, for a total of I think at least 3-4 artists, and those volumes had at least 2 pieces of interior art, with volume 35 having 4. The individual chapters didn't have this, it was added for the ebook release.

The volumes themselves are available on Ridibooks and Naver (they might be somewhere on Munpia, but I couldn't find them).

The first volume of the ebook released in May 2020 (the Ridibooks release lists an earlier date for some reason than the one on Naver, which is November 2020). By this point, fans had already been drawing Yoojin wearing a black choker with a gem (usually blue or silver) on it since at least 2019: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. <This fanart is by onlyraii, the artist who went on to make the new cover for the novel published in April 2022. So at least some of the official artists were involved in the community and knew of popular fan designs (though notably, Yoojin is not wearing the choker on onlyraii's official book cover).

Just want to emphasize: there's a difference between an author drawing/commissioning art and ensuring that it complies with their specifications in the text/their vision and their publisher commissioning art that might not even get approval/comment from the author. I don't know how much geunseo had a say in any of the art for the novel. If there's some interview or something somewhere where they state clearly how many/which pieces of art they approve and the level of control they have over what the art looks like, I haven't seen it. It's not unusual for third party artists to have more freedom to do stuff and draw fan designs/things that aren't accurate in "official" art and for it to get approved (e.g., some of the interior art for the official English translation of "Mo Dao Zu Shi", which actually goes directly against what's on the page; it's kind of unclear how much control MXTX had over this stuff, and heavily implied she had little to none; it's possible that's the same case with geunseo). So whether or not you view this stuff as official is up to you. But it is in the official ebooks, though designs are inconsistent, which implies there was a lack of strong direction in what artists were/weren't allowed to do.

비완 potentially drew Yoojin wearing the choker in volume 13, for the Chuseok art (September 2020, I'm going by the Ridibooks release dates). It's very hard to tell whether that's his shirt collar or a choker. But judging by the color of what's beneath it before robe starts and the skin above the choker, it looks like it's again the collar of a white t-shirt, not a choker.

The next time it was potentially drawn was by a different artist in volume 18 (July 2021). It's hard to tell because he's holding a bouquet that mostly covers his neck, but on the right side of his neck seems to be part of a black choker.

You can kind of see something that looks like a black choker near Peace's front left paw.

The clearest earliest example of him wearing it in official art is in volume 19 (April 2022), where he's clearly visible wearing a black choker with a blue gem on it. I don't see it mentioned as something he's wearing in the text of that chapter, at least from a brief browse. Also again, this is long after fans had been drawing him wearing it, and it became a popular fan design.

He's also definitely wearing it in two pieces (one each) of art for volumes 20-21 (April 2022). Here's the one from volume 21:

In volumes 22 (April 2022) and 25 (August 2022), Yoojin seems to be wearing a cat collar with a similar design in two other pieces of art (one each volume). Not exactly a choker, but he's at least wearing something on his neck. Here's the one from volume 22:

The other art of him with the cat collar in volume 25 is a lot more similar to the other interior art choker designs, with a black ribbon or whatever it is and a blue gem in the center, rather than a blue ribbon.

After that, they switch artists at least once if not twice and none of them drew Yoojin with the choker - or any necklace at all - that I can see. He didn't lose Grace for good in the novel, though he doesn't wear her all the time, but no other artist for the interiors drew him wearing the choker for the last 10 volumes of the revised ebook novel release, if not the last 14. Whether that's a narrative choice or the inclusion of the choker at all is random/whatever the current artist wants/what was geunseo/the publisher's mood, who knows?

The manhwa adaptation

This is how manhwa episode 103 depicts Yoojin trying to get Grace to turn into something wearable after first receiving her (art by 비완), when the alleged "choker" description appears in the novel text:

I'm not seeing a black choker anywhere. The black line near his neck is the collar of his shirt.

As of posting on November 6th, 2024, there is no art in the manhwa of Yoojin wearing the choker, either as Grace or the translation item he got from Yoohyun. The manhwa depicts the translation item differently, and Grace has only appeared as fancy necklaces or a bracelet. If 비완 drew the choker on Yoojin in the Chuseok ebook novel art for 2020, although the manhwa hasn't gotten there yet, they have drawn him wearing the choker before in official artwork, and yet have not drawn him wearing it since in the manhwa, for whatever reason. We'll have to see how the scene is drawn when the manhwa gets to Chuseok.

In the manhwa, Grace is shown turning into a simple bracelet after negotiation in episode 103:

You'll note he often wears shirts with black collars on them.

Grace is drawn, consistently, in multiple episodes, as this bracelet. Not as a necklace. And not as a choker.

This is the translation item that Yoohyun gives Yoojin as it appears in manhwa episode 55:

Which is roughly how it's described in novel chapter 68, absent any specific color description for the metal ornament. Someone else said this is actually what people are drawing when they draw the choker because the design is vague enough to match a choker, which is strange to me, because from what I recall of the novel, Yoojin has this in his pocket/inventory most of the time. He's not wearing it constantly (he also already had it when he got Grace). It's kind of implied if not stated he doesn't like wearing it much and only puts it on out of necessity and takes it off at the first opportunity. He does, however, typically wear Grace (though he does, for various reasons, take her off a decent amount).

The April Fool's 2022 art by ? and the 2022 official novel cover by onlyraii

Someone else pointed out the "sketch" for the official novel art by onlyraii (final art below):

And here it is when it was released seemingly originally on 31 March 2022/1 April 2022 (KST).

In the other post I'm seeing about the "sketch" for this, the unfinished "sketch" listed was actually the April Fool's Day joke for 2022 that seems to parody onlyraii's cover, but with all the guys being bald:

(A lot of manhwa and I think Korean webnovels do April Fool's Day joke posts with fake "new" art done by official artists; 2022's SCTIR manhwa April's Fool's Day joke was magical girl themed, and this was 2024's, which had most of the cast become dinosaurs).

You can also see that while there are similarities, this is very much not what they ended up with, and again, it's dubious this was an actual sketch for the cover: it's not on onlyraii's twitter, though that doesn't mean it wasn't posted elsewhere, and seems more in the style of 비완's art, so it's likely this is the manhwa team doing a jokey post (the manhwa started in November 2021, and 비완 was still doing art for the novel ebook revision at least around 2020, so they'd have been around, and serikachan, the lead storyboard artist, does post about recent novel chapters on twitter, so at least some of them pay attention to the novel). I think it's intentional that all the men are bald as well, to note it's a joke; a lot of the Korean commenters are commenting on their baldness.

A core issue is the similarity and that they were released 11 hours apart (the gag went up around 11 hours before the official cover was released; onlyraii commented on their work for the cover around 40 minutes after the official cover was released). The "sketch" seems to show maybe a planned choker, but if it was an actual sketch in whole or part, it was clearly nixed for the final design. Who made that decision is anyone's guess.

"Sketch" or not, again, onlyraii has drawn Yoojin with a choker many times in their fanart dating back to 2019: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Before the 2022 piece. If onlyraii and/or 비완 wanted to incorporate a fan design into the official art in some way, again, they wouldn't be the first fanartist/community member to do so on official artwork. But at least in this case, that didn't happen in the final design.

In conclusion:

At this point I don't fully know if the design/his regularly wearing a choker comes from the novel or fanon that was later incorporated by fans into canon when they worked on the official art, or if geunseo suggested it or at least okay'd its inclusion on official art, but these things at least are true:

Grace is apparently mentioned as being a choker at least once in the novel text, but it's described as being rather fancy

the fan design/idea of the black choker with a small gem in the middle predates at least the official release of the ebook art with him wearing a choker (if they were released earlier than that on an artist social media post or portfolio or publisher post somewhere, in some form, encouraging fans to use it in fanart prior to the book releases, I have no idea), so at least the stuff pre-2020 was not inspired by the ebook interior art, and potentially nothing before 2022 was inspired by interior art because the clearest art with him wearing it wasn't out until then; it was likely inspired by the potential single/two times Grace is described as a choker in the text, or just generally popular fanon about him wearing a choker (wouldn't be surprising, there's a lot of emphasis on Hyunje grabbing Yoojin's neck all the time and how Yoojin's neck feels when he's not grabbing it)

Yoojin wears a black choker/collar with a gem in the middle of it in at least 3 if not 6 pieces of official ebook interior art, and a blue ribbon collar in at least one piece of official ebook art

after the choker/collar shows up on those 3-7 pieces of interior art, it stopped appearing at all (his neck is visibly bare of any necklace of any kind in multiple art pieces), and he doesn't wear anything on his neck in the artwork for at least 10 volumes; furthermore, despite the manhwa artist potentially drawing him wearing the choker in one of those pieces, they have not drawn him wearing it in the manhwa in the years since that ebook art was released, even after he had both Grace and the translation necklace item, both of which have been suggestions for what the choker is

So does he wear a choker? In the novel text and novel art, maybe, at least sometimes, but not currently in the manhwa. Does it look like it does in fanart? Maybe: it's not really described in the text and the few novel art pieces we have don't quite match each other. The publisher and/or possibly geunseo okay'd at least some official art with it on (though I don't know how much control geunseo has in that decision, and the author of the original work okaying art is different than the publisher okaying art, particularly depending on what degree of control geunseo had over any changes/what could be drawn, or if they were just allowed to say yes or no and that's it).

I'll try to keep this updated if new information/art comes out, so if you're seeing this as a reblog, check the source post to see if there's an update.

[jasper-book-stash]

May 2025 Reading Wrap-Up

I spent most of this month chipping through one book between various problems going on. And then several books through various, worse problems going on.

1/10 - Why Did They Publish This?

None applicable.

2/10 - Trash

None applicable.

3/10 - Meh

None applicable.

4 to 6/10 - Mid-Tier

Joy At Work: Organizing Your Professional Life | Marie Kondo, Scott Sonenshein

So, this book sucked and didn't suck to a far lesser extent than it sucked.

For the most part, in the Marie Kondo portions (except when talking about specific other people) Marie will use a lot of "we/us" and "me/I", while Scott will use a lot of "you" (direct you, not general you) and "he/she" in the narration instead.

Another thing that got me about this book is that it's...privileged, I guess is the word. The example people and the authors are all well-off enough that they can just quit their jobs and work solely because they want to work in whatever field, rather than having to keep an eye out for making sure they can cover all of their bills.

It also has a pretty heavy focus early on about making more money for the company being a motivator for tidying up around your work space, which also puts me off.

Most of this book was the Scott asshole. Ultimately, I think it comes down to this: The ex-Silicon Valley tech bro who's now a professor should not have been involved in the writing of this book. He was grindset-focused rather than paying attention to Marie Kondo's own lessons in the book.

Overall, 4 out of 10. There are some helpful things in here, but it's not worth it overall. Read Marie Kondo's other books on tidying instead.

7 to 8/10 - Good With Caveats

The Dharma Of Star Wars | Matthew Bortolin

So firstly I want to say that this book is actually meant for fans of Star Wars who are interested in a Buddhist analysis of episodes one through six, and that it was published in 2005 (well before most modern Star Wars stuff, obviously). My passing knowledge of Star Wars via the LEGO adaptation of it and pop culture understanding via Tumblr memes and shitposts managed to get me through it, but this was still a hefty little book that I struggled to get through. Regardless, I have come away from it with a better understanding of Buddhism, so...I guess I win anyways. Ultimately I would rank this as a 7 out of 10.

Devout: An Anthology Of Angels | Freydis Moon, Dorian Yosef Weber, Angela Sun, Ian Haramaki, Tyler Battaglia, Daniel Marie James, Morgan Dante, Cas Trudeau, Aurelio Loren, Rae Novotny, Rafael Nicolas, Emily Hoffman, Quinton Li

DISCLAIMER: Watch this video about Freydis Moon, consider it required watching because of all of the brownfacing.

If you like angels in a really horny way and don't mind a lot of heavy themes, this is the anthology for you. Each work has its associated content warnings at the top of the chapter so you can skip ones that don't interest you. It's mostly stories, but there are also poems and a few pieces of art. Overall, I give this an 8 out of 10.

9/10 - Very Very Good

Destroy All Humans. They Can’t Be Regenerated, volume 3 | Katsura Ise, Takuma Yokata

Yes, I'm continuing this series, and yes, I still love it. Honestly I'm living for the drama.

A Sign Of Affection, volume 1 | Suu Morishita

This is a series that I started because I saw it recommended in a BookTube "what I read this month/quarter/year" whatever video and it seemed interesting. Deaf characters aren't something I often see portrayed in manga, and the narrative respected the female main character and didn't shortcut past any of the realistic problems she would have.

10/10 - Unironically Recommend To Everyone

None applicable.

[animentality]

guys.

guys. it finally happened.

blue lock finally brought me back out of the coma it was putting me in during most of the NEL arc.

hallelujah.

this new chapter is actually doing something fucking interesting for a change.

let's talk about it:

noa's betrayal was probably the only genuinely surprising development in the entire arc. I was worried it would get immediately ruined by Isagi surpassing noa in this match.

because Isagi glazers are the most annoying people on earth and they were starting to make me think Kaneshiro is a fucking idiot who'd actually let a 17 year old amateur beat a 30 something year old PROFESSIONAL.

thank god Kaneshiro isn't as stupid as Isagi fans want him to be.

now we're actually getting a proper build up for when Isagi faces off with him later.

Isagi grabbing noa by the fucking arm and challenging him in front of the entire world?

that was actually cool. I say this as the world's third biggest Isagi hater...

I can't deny. I am into that.

actually. you know what, Isagi.

that takes guts, and I actually like how fucking insane you looked when you did it.

beat that white man.

plus it actually gives their eventual face off in the future much higher stakes.

and it's like oh ... I forgot blue lock could be exciting. how intriguing.

but it's not just that either.

Isagi actually admitted he can't beat Rin alone. he can't beat geniuses head to head, just by being smart.

he needs to use other people around him... even if that means asking them for help, and not just manipulating them.

this is an amazing development.

because again. Isagi stans are out here insisting he can be the number one striker just because he wants to be. just because he's "ruthless."

well nope.

he cannot and will not ever be able to do the kinds of things other players do. he can't 1v1 Rin. he can't beat noa on his own.

but that doesn't mean he can't still win.

and man. man, I fucking dig it. Isagi, admitting he has weaknesses?

Isagi, admitting he has to sink further, he has to truly abandon everything, and break himself again?

I remember when that had meaning. Before NEL.

now... at the end, Kaneshiro remembers Isagi is an underdog and he needs to face hard truths and struggle every step of the way because he's not naturally gifted like the rest of these whores.

like shit. maybe I can root for you again. maybe.

and the best part too.

Isagi has to ask Kaiser for help.

he has to swallow his pride. he has to throw away his morality and his soul.

he will team up with his worst enemy to win...

that's fucking... good.

that's actually decent. one good fucking thing this arc, amazing.

I needed to see Isagi humbled, and he was.

I needed him not to be a fucking Gary stu who can do things on his own and can surpass everyone just through the power of yapping.

him having to team up with Kaiser...after Kaiser just broke himself down too...after Kaiser gave up on his hatred for Isagi because it was holding him back...

Oh my God.

blue lock remembered what parallels are? and setup? and actual emotional stakes?

blue lock remembering that Isagi was best when he was actually struggling and not effortlessly beating everyone else through the power of plot?

and the fact that he hates Kaiser... and Kaiser hates him... but they both want to win and defeat these geniuses so badly... they'll do the unthinkable and work together?

going back to its roots, of insisting that sometimes change is humiliating and painful, but you can never evolve, without abandoning all of it?

blue lock...are you

...are you finally back?

have you returned, prodigal son?

am I... am I coming back too...?

...

I don't know but God.

god please.

end this fucking arc.

I know you two can fucking do it.

and I need you to. and maybe it'll even be...good.

ugh.

I'm gonna be sick but...blue lock might be...it might actually be turning itself around...I'm not sure if my heart can handle this.

[majorproblems77]

Sacred Realm updated which means im actually so excited to be making this omg

Hi there Sacred Realm fans! :D

It is I, the one who makes the analysis posts on various comics on the internet. (With permission course) Because I love doing them and they bring me joy.

If you are unaware of what Sacred Realm is, it's a Legend of Zelda AU about a new Link who gets a little medallion that makes him a badass, also it can hold the spirits of heroes from across the realms (Including my fave boy ever okay)

Before I begin, I'll get the important stuff done, This is done with permission from @zelda-the-sacred-realm, and all art from the comics belongs to the comic artist. Please do me a favour and go and check it out because it's a wonderful comic and extremely well-drawn and written.

Now, grab some popcorn, and a drink and please enjoy me rambling about a comic that I enjoy so much. :D

Lets begin!

First, some sass

Damn, possessed Link got a mouth on him. Low key I love him, he looks like he could go for round two like right now. Wouldn't be surprised if he went for the hero of time next.

My eyebrows shot up at this.

Time KNOW's

let me repeat that

TIME KNOWS. HE KNOWS WHATEVER IS IN THE MEDALLION CAUSING THIS.

(More on this later)

He knows he knows he knows he knows he knows

I can hear the mocking voice of Link while he is saying this. Time has experience with this particular entity before.

Okay, so here is when it gets interesting.

Possessed Link or this entity I suppose, referring to Time and in turn Hylians as 'Your Race' Tells me a couple of things.

This thing in the medallion isn't a Hylian spirit. So as much and as fun as a dark link theory is, I dont think it could be.

Time arguing that we're not perfect, again referring to Hylians sounds very much like an "I'm speaking with a god speech"

I present my theory on what is in the medallion.

An extra spirit, a god of some description, from the spirit realm. Out to get revenge on Hylians.

Time has been to the spirit realm, in his games. (I am under the assumption that those still occur in this canon please do correct me if I'm wrong here.)

I'm convinced that this thing in the medallion is a deity of some kind because of the eye colour. I can't get over it.

This style of blue, with no pupils.

We've seen it before.

On Hylia.

From Chapter 2 fate PT2

And here is the first time we see it on Link for comparison, With Sky's alongside him for comparison for what Hylian eyes look like.

From Chapter 2 Fate PT3

The colour isn't exact so it can't be Hylia herself I dont think, but, i believe that there is a spirit trying to escape the sacred realm and is using Link to do it.

Okay, enough of my conspiracy theories moving on!

Link you gotta wake up!

Sky thinks so, I love the coloured speech bubble, what a good idea.

OH BOY I LOVE THESE PANELS

You know those scenes in video games when you're fighting off something that's trying to possess you and you have that ominous-sounding echo that seems to reverberate through your head. But is also muffled at the same time?

(If I find a game example I'll link it)

This. Put that noise you think off over this.

KICK ITS BUTT LINK GET IT, GET BACK IN HERE.

These five panels tell so much when it comes to how much effort Link has to go through to fight off the medallion possession. I wonder if its going to be easier or harder for him to fight it off as he gains spirits in the medallion.

You can really feel his struggle and I just love it. The visual storytelling is incredible in this comic and I will fan girl about it all day because I just love it so much

I'm thinking he says this to gauge just how bad this possession is. time seems like the guy who would, especially as he already seems to know what this is.

I wonder if he really is the hero of realms?

Yes, Time. Yes, he is.

The face he dosent remember any time he's possessed by the medallion is a little worrying.

Makes me think that could be used later.

Like, Link dosent remember fighting this ice comet now. What if he fights an enemy while possessed, breaks the possession then has to relearn how to defeat it because as possessed link he's not gained any information.

Man Link is a cinnamon roll sometimes and I love him dearly okay.

Alrighty, thats me finished with my rambling. Thank you so much for sticking with me through this! And thanks again to @zelda-the-sacred-realm for the permission to do these i really appreciate it.

Please please go and check out the rest of the comic if you haven't it's amazing :D

Thats me finished for this chapter, so I'll be headed out!

Hope you have a wonderful day! :D