#this is formatted like shit because it's on paper lol

[multishipperbish]

some redacted dialogue from my fic that i'm not gonna use (i dislike how i wrote jack here) but still really wanted to illustrate

tw for implied/referenced self-harm? general mental instability. there's a knife and someone wants to get cut by it is what i mean. but no open wounds are shown. no violence actually happens. comic under cut in case it triggers anyone. stay safe !

[3liza]

Do you write? Where can I read something you wrote? :)

I'm really bad at updating my CV so I'm forgetting a lot of stuff but I wrote for most of the main "gaming news and journalism" websites during the 2000s and also worked on Unhallowed Metropolis the TTRPG in a bunch of roles, including a chapter in the soucebook. one of the more recent ones was Headcase which was an anthology by Oxford Press, which was an honor, i think it was about queer mental health? also my book Problem Glyphs has an essay in it, that's sold by Strix (publisher). I had some stuff in Thick As Thieves in Seattle that I was proud of but fuck that paper it was run by a psychopath. uhhhh I unfortunately started a short fiction series with Warren Ellis way before all the reports about him came out, called Deep Map Pilots, I think some of that is on this blog and searchable. Cafe Racer Anthology about Dune called Dune, I'm not sure if it's searchable or purchasable. I was in Lightspeed Magazine's special issue (or maybe it was another anthology) called Queers Destroy Science Fiction. Short story in Conclave Journal's 2010 or 2011 issue.

i'm a shit promoter of my writing honestly it's not really something I have been actively pursuing recently because it pays peanuts and I just haven't felt like writing as much as pursuing other stuff. i really only publish when someone asks me specifically or contacts my business manager lol. I've been thinking about trying to find a publisher for a poetry chapbook I've already completed and formatted but the poetry market is...well it's exactly what you would expect. borderline impossible to publish, much less sell, unless you have some sort of brand name going in, which I do not, at least in a way that would help sell poetry.

i started a short story I really liked based on the Clarksworld published list of "most common words used in titles of stories submitted to Clarksworld Magazine" more as a joke than anything but I've been thinking about cleaning it up and submitting it. it was kind of an exercise in "how do I take these extremely worn out title words and do something I think is fresh with them" and sort of as a little joke to submit to them. i think it's probably something they would maybe consider printing if the issue was right for it, I'm not sure though.

[cdroloisms]

read your post about how the atmosphere in dreblr feels a little tense nowadays. honestly when i first joined this fandom i was excited to share takes/meta but i dont do it much anymore cause of how intense ppl get when they disagree… wasnt prepared for that level of intensity

i have to say that my experience with this fandom and your experience with this fandom are ... probably pretty different 😅 (not that i know for sure, of course, so sorry abt any inherent assumptions to when you joined the fandom, i've just been here for damn near forever) and that that'll color my perspective on this, so. fair warning in advance.

to be honest, disagreement in dreblr is not a new thing. when dreblr was created there were two main "camps" of c!dream apologism that disagreed on pretty much everything to do with c!dream after novermber 16th and would write essays debunking each other's takes pretty goddamn often. here's an old post by red responding to a lot of opinions on both sides of the line which i think illustrates this well -- note the difference established between "c!dream apologists" and "c!dream enthusiasts," perhaps better known now as the "trauma interpretation" and "strategist interpretation" of c!dream back before the confirmation of staged finale during the prison break, which shows how different people's opinions of c!dream ranged at dreblr's very conception. and this disagreement ran pretty damn deep, too, lmao--some of it was reserved to debating each other in semiprivate discord servers, but plenty of it was made of vagueing each other's takes or directly debating them on each other's blogs.

i think that a source of friction, to be honest, is that dreblr started as a much more analysis- and meta-focused community than it is now. the entire dsmp fandom was very analysis-heavy in 2021-2022, and dreblr definitely reflected that culture; since the dsmp ended, the amount of active discussion about it in a meta sense has also waned, and as such dreblr and many other areas of dsmp fandom have been more focused on other kinds of fanwork. this isn't a bad thing, of course! but it has led to a shift in etiquette, and while i think meta etiquette and fanwork etiquette are very. very different things, obviously the amount of fanwork and the amount of meta that's around in dreblr spaces influences how people interact with all parts of dreblr etc etc that's just how people and communities work

but back to my point. disagreement has always been a part of this fandom, especially in meta spaces (which used to be pretty much all of dreblr, but has kind of become more of a small part of it in more recent times) and intensity with those disagreements also is kind of ... on par for the course? i mean, personally, i think disagreements ran more intense in dreblr in 2021 on average--it's not like dreblr has been as sharply divided with different "versions" of c!dream apologism since--and when it comes to the general fandom, well, any look at the inbox of anyone posting c!dream positive analysis and the formation of dreblr as a whole speak for themselves. also IFUADA and the whole attempt to like, lmanburg us out of our own house. which was hilarious btw that shit was awesome

like, at the end of the day, meta is made to be a place where people are gonna disagree. and a lot of people in meta spaces find it fun to disagree, even; there are more than a few people who will devil's advocate an argument they don't even agree with just for the sake of disagreement and debate. fandom analysis is just ... like, fandom academia lite, and it's also far less beholden to the rules of professionalism in real academia (not that real academia is free of conflict, obviously. including extremely petty conflict, as anyone who has read enough passive-aggressive as shit academic papers will tell you). this isn't to say that things don't go too far, because again, the history of this fandom proves it LOL. but while we all want people to feel comfortable in meta spaces, we also want meta spaces to be a place for people to be passionate about their opinions and to disagree about them fervently and to debate to their heart's content, bc that's kind of the point of fandom meta, yk?

in my post, i mentioned that i think more open disagreement will be good for dreblr, and i do stand by this point; i think that there's no real point in trying to stamp out disagreement in a space meant to be a free place for people to disagree and express their disagreements, not that that's what you're saying or anything just as a general thought. i also think that more disagreement will help with there feeling like there's less of a "correct" way to think about c!dream and the server, which i think raises the barrier of entry for people who want to post meta but don't want to be eviscerated bc they said something "wrong." of course, i can't force anyone to post meta nor do i want to--hell, i want to post more meta but am limited in time, and i know we all live busy lives 😭 (which is part of why this ask is being answered so late, sorry!) -- my point is i dont think, idk, one person being passionate abt a take or disagreement or whatever is necessarily the problem as far as upping the tension in dreblr as much as like. there's a lot of general discomfort and a lack of willingness to rock the boat in a place which should be a safe waters for everyone to take shots at any ship (er, ship to follow up with the rock-the-boat metaphor, but the secondary meaning does apply here as well) they want. we're shooting with water guns, not real bullets, and there's no fun in a splash fight if everyone's too scared of getting someone else wet, i guess.

that being said, anon, i understand that not everyone wants to participate in the free-for-all take pvp that is inherent to meta spaces...to which i say that, honestly, there's no requirement to participate in analysis spaces specifically to just, share your thoughts on the server. i think that in general, if anyone posts their thoughts on the dsmp and adds a disclaimer to the top like "not really analysis, just miscellaneous thoughts that i would prefer not to be vagued/argued against," i really just don't think that most people are gonna go out of their way to argue with that? you have every right to just yap while opting out of the possibility of being vagued or debated with, but you might have to make it clear beforehand bc vagueposting and debating is just the culture that exists in meta/analysis spaces, especially dsmp meta/analysis spaces that have been a part of dreblr since dreblr was made. and if there's anything else that can be done to make everyone feel more comfortable, i think that's worth discussing!

[hestzhyen]

WSJ 2024 Musings

Please pardon the self-indulgence, kind void. It's the end of the year and I give almost everything that the magazine runs a chance, so I wanna reflect on the 2024 Weekly Shounen Jump "experience". Behold the kind of hobby data I track in spreadsheets (yes I'm a lonely person, please no bully).

Format

Title (start month/year, # of chapters) - thoughts & impressions. Each category sorted from oldest title -> newest

Axed (U19 or Close Enough)

Martial Master Asumi (06/23, 32 chapters) - I liked this and I genuinely don't understand why it didn't succeed. Nito and Nao were a great duo, the sport was lovingly depicted, and the story was unfolding at a great clip while being easy to follow despite me not knowing a damn thing about MMA. Nito was kind of annoying with how hesitant he was, but he was getting a lot better right before the series was cancelled. Chalking this up to Japan's shit taste I guess.

MamaYuyu (09/23, 29 chapters) - REEEEE I LOVED THIS except for the uninspired magic system and harem elements (Minerva best girl by the way). Also had a distinct lack of Mama Yuyu despite her being in the title. The horror aspects of this were amazing though and I hope the author does a spooky series. He really has a talent for depicting the unnerving.

Two on Ice (09/23, 28 chapters) - sports series have to be super gay or super good in premise to get me to read them and this didn't qualify on either point. Not sure what I missed but guess it wasn't much.

Green Green Greens (11/23, 26 chapters) - same as above and lol golf, good luck in a magazine mostly aimed at a school-age demographic (not even the Kuroko no Basuke guy could make it work).

Shadow Eliminators (12/23, 19 chapters) - a really rough start and bad pacing combined with a generic premise killed this from the get-go, I think. It's unfortunate because the author was really cooking by putting a guy in the heroine role (listen, I have my priorities and I won't apologise for them). MC-kun's story was actually interesting too and I would have liked to see it play out longer. At least he and the heroine guy went to the cultural festival together at the end, which is easily construed as romantic when it's just two people. Oh and the ninja girl who talked through a paper bag hand puppet was super cute.

Dear Anemone (02/24, 17 chapters) - fuck you, I liked it. I love dark body horror and this was really interesting despite some jumbled storytelling once the secondary characters were introduced. Probably would have seen more success in a different magazine... or I'm just coping hard. MC-kun was also totally in love with the Best Friend Guy that he admired so much and no one can convince me otherwise.

Kyokuto Necromance (04/24, 18 chapters) - I feel bad for this author. I liked Aliens Area too, and it breaks my heart that he sounded so defeated in his final author's comments when this got cancelled. I hope he tries again because he has good ideas and characters- they just need more time to get off the ground than WSJ typically allows.

Psych House (05/24, 17 chapters) - it was cute and I read it to the end, but it was deservedly cut short for being boring as hell most of the time. I hated the little scientist girl with every fibre of my being too which didn't help since she was a recurring character. I think there were only one or two chapters I actually enjoyed and I kept reading mostly because Nemuru (bucket kid) was a really well-done portrayal of autism. Just read the chapters where MC-chan's friends stalk her and Bucket-kun around town and the one where they go out shopping for pajamas for Bucket-kun. They're the best and only really worthwhile parts of this series (not even MC-chan's drama with her mom was compelling despite the very solid premise).

Yokai Buster Murakami (06/24, 21 chapters) - knew this wasn't for me right away, and seems like a lot of Japanese readers agreed. The jokes in the first three chapters weren't particularly funny or unique so I dropped it pretty fast. Everyone who thought it was "safe" because it was in the last slot as a comedy series probably shouldn't make bets or predictions in 2025.

Finished Series

Boku no Hero Academia (07/14, 430 chapters) - I think this is the last manga of it's kind in WSJ. The end of this series means an end to the mindset of extending a popular series until it runs out of steam (One Piece is a completely different beast in it's own league). All the big hit series in recent times like JJK and KnY were allowed to tell faster, shorter stories and Kagurabachi -the next mega-hit in waiting- is poised to challenge it's predecessor's speed run statistics. But I don't think BnHA overstayed it's welcome despite dropping it a few times due to lack of interest over the years. I have issues with the execution on main themes, how certain powers were handled, and the ending felt too rushed but it really wasn't a bad series at the end of the day. It deserved the popularity and I'll be interested if the author starts up something new. Shout out to Deku and Ochako for not being a horrible couple too- they had some genuine chemistry between them, which is unusual for a WSJ series.

Jujutsu Kaisen (03/18, 271 chapters) - I'm freeeeeee. Only slightly jesting. I feel bad for the author since he was in poor health by the end and clearly just wanted to end it, but I don't miss waiting to see how a fight turned out. JJK did that thing I dislike where characters biff and bam around a battlefield for eons without significant character development, so I read it in bursts instead of weekly until the last arc. The explanations of powers was clunky, some significant plot points weren't sufficiently followed up on for my tastes (mostly around Yuuji and his "brothers")... it was a bit of a mess of a manga but the ideas the author was trying to express were very good. I love how Yuuji got through to Megumi in the end, and what Megumi wished for, how Gojo saw himself, the blatant SatoSugu stuff, the idiot twins dynamic between Yuuji and Nobara- there was a lot of excellence in this series that got hampered by the sub-par battles. I hope Gege can rest and come back if he's still interested in doing so.

Cipher Academy (11/22, 58 chapters) - this ran a little too long to say it was "axed" but it was definitely cut shorter than the author intended. I like Nisioisin for more than his Monogatari Series stuff and I was hoping this would would stay longer, but alas. Iroha was great and I loved the unsexualized, un-haremized(?) female cast that surrounded him. I was too stupid to follow most of the codes and puzzles but that didn't stop me from checking in every week to see what went down. I also have the deepest respect for the various people who translated this series every week because it was absolute hell for them to do it even with some extra time afforded. Doing a good Nisioisin series translation without a book's worth of TL notes is already a feat, never mind trying to translate one involving tons of Japanese-language specific cryptograms and puzzles.

Limbo Series

Mission: Yozakura Family (08/19, 256+ chapters) - I'll admit I've never read this. All I know is that the jokes of it being so middling that it gets forgotten in every type of list are true because I also almost forgot to put it here. Apparently it's ending soon, so I hope the fans of it get a satisfying conclusion.

Undead Unluck (01/20, 236+ chapters) - I read this for a bit, dropped it, and don't remember why so I guess it wasn't worth following after all. Not to say it's bad, just not my speed I guess. Another series that's ending soon so I hope it goes out on a high note for the people who like it.

Kill Blue (04/23, 83+ chapters) - I tried to like this one, I really did. But I think the author would do better to stick to gay sports series that aren't golf. The premise was iffy for me but I was willing to roll with it until everything got bogged down in the haunted house arc and I dropped it out of boredom. The only notable thing this series has done done is daughterzone the middle school girl to the mid-40's(?) MC, which shouldn't be a relief but, y'know. It's not selling too hot so we'll see how long the author can coast off of the mega success of his Magical Gay Basketball series and the general lack of strong competition for spots in WSJ right now.

Nue's Exorcist (05/23, 80+ chapters) - never read this because I'm not into ecchi harem battle manga, but hope it's satisfying the people who do like it. Also not doing stellar in sales but it's not in a lot of danger either.

New Additions Still Running

Super Psychic Policeman Chojo (02/24, 44+ chapters) - I was a fan of Samon the Summoner so I gave this a chance, but it's too skewed towards referential comedy for my tastes. I do love this author's scumbag MCs though. It's not doing great or terrible in sales (for a comedy series) so far, so it's anyone's guess how long it'll last. It won't be overtaking Roboco any time soon though. Hope the Kochikame collab next issue gives it a boost to close the gap a little just because I like the author.

Astro Royale (04/24, 35+ chapters) - I was intrigued and willingly following along with this until chapter 8, at which point I dropped it like a shit-covered brick. The really unfunny transphobic "jokes" about a femme bad guy and dated gender role BS for the sister that was introduced have blacklisted this author for me forever. I don't care how much I liked the rest of the supporting cast, I don't care if the author writes a series that sells a billion copies with a single volume- I'm never going to give him a chance again unless he makes an effort to improve on how he treats women and trans people in his works (as if he'd care, I know). It's another series that isn't doing great in sales but probably isn't going to be axed imminently because it's still selling better than other stuff.

Ultimate Exorcist Kiyoshi (06/24, 26+ chapters) - please read this, it's got so much heart and soul! It's definitely not a perfect series -the action's nothing to write home about and the story isn't original- but the characters are top-tier and this author knows how to play with reader expectations. It feels like an earnest love letter to the essence of shounen manga that's just about found it's footing with the most recent chapters. Kiyoshi's in the same boat as Astro in terms of sales- not great, but it's being given room to see if it grows or treads water. I hope it grows because this is a joy to read almost every week.

Hima-Ten! (07/24, 24+ chapters) - the best way I can describe this after dropping it at chapter 2 is "ToraDora for people who don't want to read ToraDora in [current year]". Unfortunately I don't want to see ecchi of high school girls, so the panty shot in the second chapter made it clear this series isn't for me. It goes in the bin of "hope it does well for the target audience" titles. It's seeing some modest success, but it's got a long way to go if it wants to reach the same tier as Nisekoi and BokuBen (We Never Learn).

Ichi the Witch (09/24, 16+ chapters) - I trust the Iruma author with my life, and the artist also being a woman helped me believe that this wouldn't be a male power fantasy series despite the premise. So far it's delivered with phenomenal art and characters and a story that's just interesting enough to keep it in my mind. I do appreciate the author and artist's intentional additions of diversity through Desscaras (best girl no contest) and what could be some trans femme and/or gender non-conforming folks in a position of power. Will be looking to see how volume 1 sales fare when it comes out early next year. WSJ wants this to be a hit with the billing it gets already, though, so I hope it meets expectations!

Shinobi Undercover (09/24, 15+ chapters) - I'm honestly not sure how to feel about this series. The MC is fun to follow, and I like the main girl well enough, but it feels like this series isn't sure how to strike a balance between action and romcom plot beats. I think if it doesn't hit it's stride soon it could be in trouble. Happy to be wrong even if I end up dropping it though!

Hakutaku (09/24, 14+ chapters) - this is dead in the water and it kind of deserves to be. It's cute but there's not much else to say about it since it glosses over the interesting bits of game development and goes for emotional and cool moments that it doesn't build up enough to earn. I think the author has a passion for indie game dev but it's just not coming across that well with all the yapfests and skimming the technical bits. Then again, I'm a tech person that gets annoyed when my hobby/career/interest is simplified for non-tech people in ways I don't like, so... maybe I'm just elitist? Either way, I don't see this making it out of the U19 club with how poorly it's been doing in surveys and rankings. RIP hope the author isn't discouraged and I'll see this one out to the end.

Syd Craft: Love is a Mystery (11/24, 6+ chapters) - Bit too early to say how this one's faring, but it seems like a competent romcom. It's not a genre I like most of the time so I won't be reading further than chapter 4 but surely the BokuBen author will have another banger with this. Surely. I do like the MC at least. But it doesn't seem like it will satisfy anyone who wants actual mysteries to solve- it's a series that's firmly planted in the romcom territory while using Sherlock Holmes aesthetics for comedy.

Safe Series

One Piece (07/97, 1134+ chapters) - what is there to say about a legend? It's the face of the magazine and feels like it will be around forever despite Oda saying he wants to end it at some point. I don't have it in me to catch up with it but I respect the hell out of this series for it's popularity and longevity.

Me and Roboco (07/20, 215+ chapters) - I feel like too many jokes are lost in translation to fully appreciate this as someone who really only understands English, sadly. But it has an impressive run for a comedy series and shows no signs of slowing down any time soon. If your series gets a Roboco parody, you know you've made it.

Sakamoto Days (11/20, 195+ chapters) - the action never fails to disappoint! Even if the story gets boring at points, there's always some killer art to look forward to. I'm also really digging the current arc so it's good vibes all around for this series right now. Just wish the author could decide on how far he wants to stretch realism when it comes to people's assassin techniques. It's got an anime airing in the 2025 Winter season so I hope that brings in new fans (and has good direction and animation, which is vital to sell those stunning action scenes).

The Elusive Samurai (01/21, 185+ chapters) - I'll admit it, this is a series that I'm not worldly enough to appreciate. Historical fiction is a tough sell to me to begin with and being bombarded with completely unfamiliar names, locations, and events every chapter left me feeling pretty lost. I stuck with it for a while just because I liked AssClass and Neuro so much but I had to admit defeat around chapter 60 or so. Maybe the anime would be easier to digest?

Witch Watch (02/21, 184+ chapters) - dropped it early on since it's a romcom, but it seems cute and is doing well so I hope it stays successful for it's fans. Anime soon!

Blue Box (04/21) - I liked the one-shot and the author deserves all the success from the little I've read of this. Again, not my genre, but glad to see it doing well. Hope the anime is a hit too!

Akane-banashi (02/22, 140+ chapters) - easily would be #1 for me if not for a certain edgy sword manga. The art, the story, the characters- everything comes together perfectly to weave a compelling narrative that is absolutely an odd fit for WSJ, but enriches the magazine for being present. Everyone needs to read this series! It's crazy how consistently amazing it is! You don't have to know a thing about rakugou to get invested and fall in love. The current arc in particular has been 10/10 chapters for months now and I can't recommend it enough!

*Ruri Dragon (06/22, 26+ chapters) - another "not my thing" series- I tried it before it went on hiatus and it's alright, apparently very good for people who like Slice of Life and cozy coming-of-age stories. Glad the author's feeling better and is able to keep going.

Kagurabachi (09/23, 63+ chapters) - ...do I need to say anything? I don't write hundreds of thousands of words for any series but this one. It took over my brain and I've been completely enthralled for months now- it quite literally occupies almost every waking thought. Much like Akane-banashi, all the core elements come together in an incredibly satisfying way that makes it a must-read for fans of the genre it belongs to. The action is stellar, the characters are phenomenal, the story is blisteringly fast but still being competently told for the most part, and the way sensitive topics are handled should be held up as a model for other authors to follow. If you only read one manga in WSJ, you're missing out. But make it Kagurabachi.

*Digital Exclusive (not printed in the physical magazine)

Hiatus x Hiatus

Hunter x Hunter (03/98, 410+ chapters) - I love this series, I really do. Togashi's the only author who can get me to read his novel when I signed up for a manga. I always look forward to it's return and I hope the author's health holds up long enough for him to end it in a way he's happy with. Re-reading the current arc in full when it's finished will be a fun few week's worth of political gamesmanship!

Overall Thoughts

The magazine's in an interesting period of transition right now. Many of the new series launched this year aren't generating a lot of buzz, big and middling series have ended or are ending soon, and the near-future age demographics in Japan pose some serious questions about what WSJ will do to adapt and keep selling.

The magazine is nowhere close to being in dire straits, to be clear. WSJ is more of a publication for all ages that has a lot of appeal to 12-17 year old boys at it's core. But that demographic is shrinking while the aging population grows. I think this is why the magazine is experimenting with more mature series like Kagurabachi and Chainsaw Man from a few years back- they know they can't keep the same raw sales numbers up if they rely on the core demographic as much as they used to.

The dearth of mainstay mega-hits compared to years past is also why some series like Kiyoshi and Astro are being given more grace than if they had ran a few years earlier. Neither series is doing great in terms of volume sales, but they're not obviously unpopular enough to be easy axes for something with more potential. They have breathing room for as long as there needs to be more action/battle manga in the lineup and nothing more promising comes along. They're safer than ever with Undead Unluck and Yokozora ending soon too.

If we're talking mega-hits in the making -JJK and BnHA replacements- then the only clear option right now is Kagurabachi. This isn't to put my favourite series up on a pedestal! It's just that, historically, the WSJ series that get the most attention and recognition are action series. When people think of WSJ "pillars" they think of the battle series even if a romcom is outselling everything but One Piece (happened this month with Blue Box coming in #2 for volume sales of WSJ titles).

I think Ichi the Witch can find success but it's the only one out of everything that's been released this year that I have any significant faith in, to be honest. I want Kiyoshi to do well and keep going, but it's not exactly "hit" material right now and the volume sales reflect that. Everything else is too early to say or already not doing so hot for WSJ standards.

I think this could be an opportunity for experimentation. WSJ has had a pretty consistent lineup of an ecchi series, a romcom, some comedy, a drama/mystery here and there, and a lot of action. Adding pure Slice of Life series like Ruri Dragon and Psych House shows a desire to branch out in my opinion. The success of a pure drama series with a female protagonist in Akane-banashi is also encouraging. I would definitely like to see more genres! Maybe even a proper horror series...?! I'll be looking at the new 2025 serials with a keen eye for any new trends. Maybe in a few years we'll have the "pillars" be something other than only action manga!

Alrighty, that's a wrap. Thank you if you read this and I hope 2025 is good to you. May we all find a new manga series to fall in love with! And may it survive the axe!

[dirtreally]

top 5 manga spread page (or double page)

5. the dungeonmeshi thing

honestly i like the tankoubon version of this way less but whatever this shit is still cool

4. sorry for double dipping on ggwp

actually gonna triple dip because it's followed by this shit like 3 chapters later

3. This shit from bokura wa mahou shounen. honourable mention also to yuri espoir which does the same thing but to a lesser degree (but i kinda like the yuri espoir one a lot more since the bokura wa mahou shounen one is like at least 30% a joke lol (bokura wa mahou shounen still extremely god tier manga tho))

2. this shit from girls last tour

actually since ive brought up girls last tour can i just say something. i dont like shimeji simulation and how it ended. shimeji simulation makes a lot of formalist improvements from glt with the panelling style (its still impressive how much tkmiz was able to wring out of the 4koma format even in the earlyish chapters) but the ending of shimeji feels insanely insular compared to glt. glt ends with yuu and chii (and the reader) having to witness and recognise the whole world and becomes even better with the tankoubon release adding that crazy ass bonus chapter that is ALL two page spreads that could have just as easily ended up here. shimeji on the other hand feels insanely insular in comparison. with shimeji i dont know how im supposed to experience anything but dread from the idea of everyone getting infinite utopian power and then immediately using that to hole themselves up in their own personal worlds. the shit with the art teacher and that other girl was really ebic tho

i cant fucking find it cuz i swear to god i had the epub file somewhere but i apparently just don't but arawi keiichi's CITY has this insane fucking chapter that's like. 12 consecutive two page spreads and every single one of them is the same shot of a town fair or festival or something and it's just this extremely long sequence of the whole CITY(!!!!!) moving forward in time and you can see like twenty characters acting independently of each other. i'm kind of a speedreader so i really appreciate shit like this that just forces you to slow down due to the sheer impact of the whole thing PLUSSSS it really gave me the feeling of reading one of those richard scarry kids books where he just draws a big ass factory where you can see a log slowly get turned into a stack of paper but like BIGGER and more CITY. certified Extremely Fun Manga Experience nobody fucking does it like arawii

[bratuntitled]

now playing: wicked smart

this track: 2. roll credits!

content warnings: light nomin! actual cw for classist bullshit, yn threatening violence lmfao, discussion of ayn rand ryan's notes: was too sick to go to classes today so you guys are being blessed w a double update <3 look out for the SUUUPER long (and probably cringe asf) written portion under the tweets lol... ignore timestamps as always, formatting is actually ass for this post i am So sorry!! but hopefully its enjoyable nonetheless :)

yn's friends always said that yn could spot a jerk from a mile away. it was a talent that they'd honed for years in the city's public school system, where getting bullied for living in the city's run-down areas was commonplace for both yn and jeno. yn was pretty good at brushing off nasty comments, and often openly acknowledged the fact that they've lived their whole life as little more than a gutter rat. when it came to jeno, however, it was different. kind, reliable jeno, who picked yn up each night to carpool to work while they worked at the same shitty bar. jeno, whose eyes crinkled into half-moons at yn's antics ever since they first met in kindergarten; whose shoulders - made strong by a couple years working in construction prior to becoming a bouncer - always slumped when his social efforts were shot down by some high-and-mighty prick.

that was why yn watched the conversation between jeno and the pretty guy he'd been making goo-goo eyes at with a slight smile tugging at their lips. it was also why yn's mood shifted into bone-deep annoyance once they heard some snide, nasally voice cut through the warm murmur of jeno and his new friend's conversation.

"hold this, and don't drink it," yn mutters, shoving their half-finished gin and tonic into hendery's hands. yn ignores yangyang's laugh as they push through the press of bodies gathered around the bar, choosing instead to focus in on whatever's going down between jeno, pretty guy, and the snob who's interrupting their moment.

"you don't exactly strike me as the literary type, uh..." the interlocutor trails off, waiting for jeno to supply his name.

"my name's jeno," jeno replies, his tone clipped. "and i'm not sure what that's supposed to mean, dude."

"chris..." the pretty guy sighs, clearly familiar with this man's antics, but this chris fellow continues anyways.

"no, i didn't think you would, jeno," chris replies, the words dripping with barely-concealed disdain. "that's a shame. i was hoping we could have a productive discussion on ayn rand's literary influences, especially since this is, y'know, a bar for college students."

yn can feel their facial expression pinch with irritation, but they're too thoroughly pissed off to care about what impression they're giving off. not when there's some asshole trying to make their best friend look like an idiot.

"rand, huh?" yn cuts in, setting a hand firmly on jeno's shoulder. "the moron who wrote atlas shrugged?" seeing chris nod, albeit warily at this newcomer to the conversation, yn continues.

"alright. she liked the moral core of works by of dostoyevsky, schiller, and hugo and tried to replicate it in her own writing. but, because she went around ripping the style of anyone she thought would make the best 'gotcha' towards the soviet union, her body of work consists entirely of shit that's more fit for use as toilet paper than it is as the focus of any sort of rigorous academic discussion."

chris fumbles over his words for a moment. "that's - ayn rand wrote some of the most intellectually challenging fiction of her time!" he protests, only to be cut off once again.

"... and now you're ripping john david lewis to defend her! like author, like fanboy, i guess," yn interrupts, pausing for a moment before leaning in slightly. "now, do you have anything original to contribute here, or are you gonna keep plagiarizing the idiots that came before you to try to make my friend look dumb? 'cause if it's the latter, y'know, i wouldn't mind taking this conversation outside."

chris blanches at the idea of a fight, and yn looks on with undisguised satisfaction once he finally fucks off. jeno's shoulders sag with relief as he watches chris' retreating form.

"thanks," jeno says, turning to look between yn and the cute guy. "jaemin, this is yn. yn, jaemin." jaemin looks like he's about to greet yn when a wobbly hendery drapes his arm around yn's shoulders, with yangyang giggling right behind him. he hiccups, sets the now-empty glass down on the bar counter, and leans his weight against yn.

"my buddy's wicked smart!" hendery chimes in, his words a bit slurred from drinking. "now, big brain, where's the bathroom? i gotta go piss."

yn shoots jaemin and jeno an apologetic look before focusing on scolding hendery for finishing their drink. yangyang, looking like he's having the time of his life, drags hendery towards the men's room, with yn still supporting him as he walks. they're too caught up with being the responsible adult to notice mark staring at them with open admiration as they walk by.

bonus!!!

jeno got jaemin's number right after that <3

the night's not quite over yet though....

anyways here are the drink orders!! hendery and yangyang got green tea shots (managed to order 4 rounds before the bartender got annoyed. rip bozos), yn got a gin and tonic obvi, jaemin and hyuck split a cheeky marg, jisung got a vodka redbull, mark got a beer.

jeno did not drink because he's a good designated driver; mark and co. all drank because they all live basically within walking distance of this bar :)

taglist (reply/ask to join!!): @iluv7tn

[velnna]

This might sound like an odd question but I’m planning on making my own comic at some point and I was wondering if you had any advice? Specifically in making the plot, deciding what each character does and maybe panel/page composition and how to make harmonious colour palettes?

Also one more question but when you were at the beginning of developing Stray Souls did you post little lore/plot snippets and character doodles/info or did you mainly wait until the comic was out?

(Sorry I know this is a lot but I was just wondering sort of what your process is because everything seems so seamless and well-put-together :> )

Ehh first of all the seamless and put-togetherness is an illusion 🫠

A lot of my work is built organically (fancy way of saying I just sorta wing it) and very dependent on what makes me excited at each given point. Generally, I come up with an idea for a character or a plot point and from there start branching out.

Say, I create character A. A needs a story so I create some beats for them, a beginning-middle-end type thing. While thinking of this, characters B, C, etc pop up as placeholders/devices for A's story, and the world gets shaped around it as well. Then suddenly something in the world gets decided that in turn changes A's story a little, and so on. Then I go into B, C, etc and do the same thing (build a story, let it bleed into the world and let the world bleed into it).

There's pros and cons to this sort of thing of course. Most of the time I over-develop characters or world bits that are completely unnecessary and clutter the narrative (especially when it's something like a comic, where things need to be explained visually and economically), and because of this sort of chaotic process I also tend to get entangled in my own concepts and lose track of my main threads. I don't dislike it entirely so it's just a matter of figuring out what works best for your own goals and processes.

Some general advice for comics that I've learned from trial and error: try stripping your story down to its bare bones and see what you absolutely need VS what's there for flavour or added context. Only add flavour once you're sure you can tackle the minimum, both in writing and artwise. Keep your character designs simple if you value your hands lol. It's fun to design complicated details but you WILL get tired of drawing them after a while. Sometimes it's ok to tell and not show 🤷‍♂️ if you're a one-man team sometimes you just gotta bite the bullet. Bear in mind that long stories will take YEARS to complete in comic format. Not an end all be all, but you do need to think about that. Also just go for it once you've got a structure you feel good about. I personally don't like over planning and don't even script things, so I don't think you need to have everything on paper before getting some chapters rolling. Most of what I've learned about comics has been making them, not thinking about making them. Oh, and readers tend to be more lenient than we give them credit for - if you're passionate enough about your world or characters, chances are at least some people will be interested regardless of whether you think art or writing are up to par

As for the other question, I spoiled the shit out of stray souls before launching it and still kinda do it for fun LMAO. Nothing too serious ofc but I've always loved giving people an insight into characters and world outside of the comic since the comic itself is a little peek into the whole thing. It also kinda serves to keep people interested imo

And I just can't keep my mouth shut about my stories lol

[centrally-unplanned]

Something I struggle a bit with a sort of disconnect with the current leaders of "professional-quality anime discourse". We live in the sakuga era, where groups like Sakugabooru & Full Frontal Moe are doing really stellar work on peering behind the curtain at the realities of anime productions. They aim to give you the "animators look" at how it all happens, what people are thinking, what studio conditions are, the works. They command the heights from a respect standpoint in my opinion right now, and sort of "drive" analytical discourse.

But they aren't really what I find interesting. I love and need a ton of their work, but in the end the sakuga era is the animator's era; it centers anime-as-art, the people who create, their techniques, etc. That isn't actually my thing! I care about cultural history & casual history, "otaku studies", and consumers of media always outnumber producers of media a hundred to one. They of course exist symbiotically with each other, but the creators side is only ever going to be a part of that. And its not the load-bearing part of questions around why this or that media product succeeded, what it meant to audiences, how it reflects people's relationship with individual media & wider identity norms, etc.

And ironically I think the "peak" of this discourse in western spaces is coinciding with its decline in relevance in Japanese spaces. This is a whole other topic but in earlier eras the telos of technological progress, its intensity and directionality, created a parallel momentum in cultural identity - "new, better anime" seemed always around the corner and people responded to that via identity formation around the momentum. But now, even though technical improvements occur, from an audience perspective the telos is gone. Audiences would actually get a bit wrapped up in things like the digital revolution back then - now its more like trivia, it doesn't shape as much.

There is of course people out there who touch on the cultural & historical topics, I'm no island or anything. But its very diffuse, and other sections of the discourse space are struggling. Great YouTubers exist but imo overall this is not a great time for AniTube, the intensification & legibility of financial success has not inspired that kind of work. Obviously the blogosphere is bleeding heavily. Academic works have gems in there but media studies as a discipline is shackled with awful theoretical concepts and compositional norms, its like pulling teeth with their output every time. And also are generally interested in western fandoms as befitting western academics (and while I do use Japanese academic papers sometimes, the legibility barrier is...its tough).

Beyond just "feeling alone" its an issue because right now I am quite demotivated on this area; I feel in-between ideas, with any potential project seeming dim in its payoff. The default source of inspiration normally is the works of others! Every time I get politics-burned at some point someone else puts out a really good analysis, or even just a good question. Proposing good questions is underrated, its the fuel that powers research. Not to mention "shit keeps happening", you know? Fukuyama may hold an iron grip on the ruleset still but within his bounds the game keeps on playing, which results in flurries of activity that are inspiring. I really lack that for media discourse stuff right now. I can't remember the last time I read a work that I loved. Liked, yes, sure. But you don't get out of ruts with a like.

80% of this is explained by "I am going through a depression episode" lol don't worry I'm not an idiot. But hey, what is Tumblr for if not to rant...

[dappledpaintbrush]

If it becomes more than a dream, what do you think a Super Paper Mario movie would be like?

Please write down everything you have to say, it doesn't matter if it's a 100 page essay I would like to read it.

When I finally get not only yapping permission, but also yapping endorsement

I think about the SPM movie a LOT. Not because I think it’s going to happen but because I’m insane. I also think it works better as a show, but I always must migrate to thinking of it as a movie lol. I talk a lot I’m gonna divide my thoughts into sections (Again, I’m turning off reblogs because reblogging an ask gets rid of the read-more, I’m sorry!! It’s for the best LMAO)

Rating:

I would LOVE if they addressed it like the FNAF movie. I remember people talking about how “oh it’s gonna be for kids because it’s a kid’s franchise and they’re gonna make more money if they made it for kids” but they made it PG-13 and. Everything was fine. They made a shit ton of money and everything was fine. Point is, I think SPM would work best as a PG-13 movie. And yeah it sounds like that one clip of SpongeBob and Patrick screaming in terror on a baby rollercoaster, but SPM does have elements that would be Difficult to put in a movie format and still make it rated PG. With the game, it can be passed off as cartoon mischief and thus be E for everyone, sure, but in a movie? I don’t see it. And let me clarify- I know they could make the hypothetical SPM movie be rated PG and still have its original plot, but I believe that is only if they cut down on a lot of things and make it very goofy and overall remove the heart of the story. But do I think it would be fucking PEAK as a PG-13 movie? Hell yeah. They could have a lot more leg-room to truly pay homage to the game, which is known as one of Mario’s darker stories for a good reason.

But do I believe they would make it PG-13? No. Definitely PG. Again, I know this is a Mario game and it’s not some super evil sick twisted story oh my god cover your eyes little timmy blah blah blah, but STILL. Pulling off some of its core scenes on the big screen where there’s SO much more detail in the animation and the voice acting etc etc etc would be hard to accomplish without making said scenes less impactful or even shallow. And if you still think I’m being dramatic, the mario movie is rated PG. The Mario movie. And all Mario did was get punched and got a bruise on his eye. I’m sure if there was a storyboard scene of him, Luigi, Bowser, and Peach getting set on fire and going to the afterlife, it would have been SCRAPPED. OR, it would have absolutely no emotion other than “erm… THAT just happened!” Take your pick.

All in all, if it were to happen, the SPM movie will lose some things. Nintendo would NEVER allow Mario to be in an PG-13 movie. It’s unfortunate :(

Speaking of the Afterlife:

Nintendo will have to cut out the Underwhere, Overthere, Grambi, and maybe even Luvbi and Bonechill. OR, completely revamp that whole thing to make it as religiously ambiguous as possible. No fucking doubt about it. At ALL. I can already see the change.org petition run by a Christian mother screaming at Nintendo for blaspheming God and making a joke out of heaven and hell “which are very real and you’re teaching kids it’s some silly fake thing in a fake Mario movie BUT NO PEOPLE HAS TO KNOW THEY WILL BURN FOREVER IF THEY DONT OBEY!!!” (Note: just in case it wasn’t obvious, I am mocking the Christian mother in the quotation marks). I’m surprised Nintendo even got away with it in the first place, ESPECIALLY regarding Luvbi and Bonechill. I put “maybe” regarding those two because it’s likely 2 and 2 won’t be put together about who inspired their characters, but at the same time. It probably will. Yeah it definitely will

Bonechill is directly inspired by Satan, and Luvbi makes indirect references to Jesus. Regarding Bonechill, to quote from his Wiki:

“Tippi's tattle says that Bonechill may have once been a Nimbi, which is supported by the fact that he has feathered wings on his back. This fits into the overall motif of The Underwhere and The Overthere, which draw heavily from both Ancient Greek mythology and the Christian religion. In particular, the concept of a fallen angel (Nimbi) is inspired by the Biblical story of Lucifer, who became the devil after betraying God. Furthermore, in Dante's Inferno (of the epic Italian poem, the Divine Comedy), Lucifer (now known as Satan) is depicted as a giant, six-winged beast imprisoned in ice in the deepest circle of Hell. This is all paralleled by how Bonechill has six wings, was imprisoned deep below the Underwhere, and is a self-styled "master of the cold dark" who uses ice breath to attack and is "something of an evil celebrity in certain circles of the Underwhere". Similarly, his being released during an apocalyptic event (the emergence of The Void) may be derived from the Book of Revelation, where Satan escapes from hell and he and his army are battled and defeated in heaven.”

Do you see that shit. Do you think Nintendo would risk doing this in a movie, let alone ever again in any game?The backlash would be INSANE. And they could easily call Luvbi a blasphemous mockery of Jesus because she sacrificed herself to save the world, AND CAME BACK LATER😭😭😭😭😭

Anyways, yeah. In the SPM movie, that whole chapter of the game is what’s going to be changed the most. It likely will be solely based off Greek mythology with no Christian themes involved. Or even LESS than that if they’re too scared. God I wish they weren’t. That chapter is one of my favorites in the whole game (mostly bc it’s crazy to me how Nintendo didn’t chicken out of making it), and it sucks so bad to know it’ll likely be almost nonexistent if the SPM movie were to happen.

Run-Time:

This game is. Long.

In my perfect world, I like to think of it as one big grand movie and it’s the longest animated movie ever made and it’s animated by Dreamworks in the style of Puss in Boots: The Last Wish and it has 5/5 stars and critics are crying and screaming of joy and everybody who clowned on this game has personally showed up to my door to apologize for their wrongdoing and beg for my forgiveness. But unfortunately we can’t have everything we want

I don’t think they will cut out any of the dimensions, I just think that most side plots will be rushed through like a montage :/ It’s why I think it will work best as a series. Every episode could be dedicated to a Dimensional Door. But that also means it’ll likely have less of a budget which sucks

Blumiere and Dimentio:

Something will have to change.

First of all, Blumiere. I don’t exactly know HOW, but they will have to change about his story. The game itself has already gotten criticized for “romanticizing a toxic relationship” between Blumiere and Timpani, and that criticism will be MAGNIFIED with a blockbuster film. Again, I don’t know how the will do it, but they’ll have to adjust that plot to please the masses more than likely. It fucking sucks. But this is modern Nintendo. They are going to go the safest route possible.

That’s not the only thing regarding Blumiere that will have change. Yk how the game also gets criticized for giving Blumiere a happy ending but not Dimentio despite the fact that, regardless of their motivations, they both tried to kill everyone? That criticism will also be magnified with the release of a movie. They’ll have to modify the story to make Blumiere’s actions significantly less evil than Dimentio’s, which could be accomplished through making it so that Blumiere is mind-controlled by the Dark Prognosticus. OR, they’ll have to give Dimentio a happy ending too, whether that be he survives and changes his ways (BOOOOO🍅🍅🍅), or he also gets the “he’s alive somewhere” treatment like Blumiere and Timpani did. However, in order to accomplish that successfully with an audience of five years olds, they’ll have to directly talk about Dimentio’s own tragic backstory with as much weight as they do Blumiere’s. And l. Don’t see that happening. It would be absolutely CRAZY if it did and I would probably pass out in the theatre if we got to see the Pixl Creator, but yeah, it’s unlikely.

Mr. L:

Some good news! I see them making Mr. L recognizable

They probably won’t.

BUT THEY LIKELY WILL

In the first movie, Mario and Luigi’s bond was shown in ways they have rarely done before. Their love and care for one another is clearly shown, not just “that’s my brother Luigi wahoo!” or something. I mean come on, think of the hug scene. And you mean to tell me in the 2nd or 3rd or idk movie, Mario can’t recognize him with a blindfold on? Be serious

In a game, yeah haha funny gag, but in a movie, it’ll be met with more annoyance than anything and it’ll be really disingenuous, and it already does get that criticism in the game where it’s arguably “more acceptable.”

Conclusion:

There’s a lot more that can be discussed, but this is all I’ve put a significant lot of thought into about what I think the SPM movie would be like if I thought about it realistically. Basically, if it’s gonna truly be an SPM movie, Nintendo’s gonna have to grow a backbone. But even then, I still think it would be a great movie, especially in the eyes of those who haven’t played the game and thus don’t have the same “ARGHH BUT YOU FORGOT FLIP-FOLK NUMBER FORTY TWO” mentality that I have LMAO. And even THEN, I still think it would be a great movie. Nintendo will just have to be reaaaally careful to adapt to the limitations (that they put on themselves 💀) and still make it a movie about Super Paper Mario.

[somanyfuckedupiftruebooks]

TMAGP1

oh man this music is fucking wild!! was that a big deep laugh? :D this is the happiest i have felt in months

it's literally like 'dun dun DUN' this is awesome

Audio sounds like it's coming from inside da computer. That's fun.

NO SUCH THING AS BONES (i knew big milk wasn't to be trusted)

fuck me everyone is so british. I forgot that listening to this podcast means being subjected to a thousand different accents that all sound like they come from Narnia.

Ugggh six in the morning goodbye party? This workplace is already worse than the Institute.

Colin's already fucking desperate to escape <3 there's always one. Good luck buddy.

There's too many voices to keep track of! I'm already getting Alice and Gwen confused.

They're going to the pub?? Didn't they just say it was six in the morning? Aren't they at work?

YOOO I WAS RIGHT WE ARE IN DA COMPUTER. Haha it turn itself on like a tape recorder. 💅 girlboss behaviour.

Oh I wonder why they can't do their paperwork online?? Probably not because of spooky reasons.

Wow a personal computer! High tech. Freddie lives inside. :D

Woah wait wtf?? Freddie is spyware??

Yeah Sam what about GDPR? Shut up and read this private email that an ancient computer program no one understands somehow found and stole for us.

Um?? Do they have a big alphabetised folder of Fucked Shit The Entities Do???

So many numbers are happening so quickly. Good luck transcribers/wiki editors.

Oh hang on 'All night every night', they work nights!! That's why the party was first thing in the morning and they all went to the pub afterward!! I'm so good at listening to podcasts.

MARTI N VOICE MATRIN VIOCE WMATIN VOICE!!! HE LIVE IN DA COMPUTER!!

Started about a year ago 👀

Haha gotta listen while he reads the email. This is normal :)

LOL they just ignore it and get coffee. Big mood, that's exactly what I would do if I was at work and my computer was fucking around.

NORRIS CHESTER AND AUGUSTUS

That's not their names :)

Also the stupidest fucking names ever. Alice rules.

Martin voice 🥰🥺😭🥰🥺😭🥰😭🥺 Martin my beloved. I hope he's okay inside da computer. Wonder if Colin smashing it with a hammer would crack him outta there??

Oh no my love for Martin made me forget that the horrors are back.

Hmm his voice is getting less computer and more Martin? Good thing??

Ugh why do we always have to start with Stranger statements? I hate the Stranger. Also Sam was wrong this is definitely dolls comma human skin not dolls comma watching.

Girl there is something in your garden gtfo of there.

Hurray we survived our first horror!! H definitely didn't.

Gwen is right this isn't zombies. Also three pages of subclassification for zombies? The archives couldn't even figure out how to put their dates in the right order.

Love how few fucks Alice gives. This job doesn't matter!! Welcome to the team!!

Ooooh Gwen's is trouble...

Oh shit she's gunning for the boss's job! Second girlboss moment of the episode!

Lol get pranked Sam. Alice set you the fuck up.

Sounds like a webcam is watching them?

Colin is my favourite character so far.

Sounds like Lena's deliberately hiring people who do a shit job (and Gwen's mad about it). Wonder what Lena's up to.

Tragic backstory time already? (Nope, false alarm)

Who needs sleep when you can have creepy monotomous data entry?

JON VOICE JON VOIEC JON CVOICE !!! 🥰🥺😭🥺🥰😭🥰😭😭 (i missed him)

Magnus Institute ruins you say???

'Anyone know what the deal is with the Magnus Institute?' Nope, never heard of it.

Oh I'm loving the new format of statements. Really scratches that 'found footage' itch.

For some unknown reason, I've been feeling really paranoid ever since escaping this evil eye building (that reminds me of an old asylum) full of strange shit that I couldn't take photos of.

CLEARLY WHAT USED TO BE A MASSIVE LIBRARY OR ARCHIVE IN THE BASEMENT

All the paper is gone? Graham Folger has been here.

Oh the removed image and then hearing the comments about it is so good!! Jonny's done it again lol. This is why I love found footage as a horror device.

Hmmm sounds like we're at the pub now. And we got that dial up noise? What are we listening from right now?

YO SAM AND ALICE EXES

It's good to establish right from the beginning that one of our protagonists is a noodle-armed weakling. The fandom would have done that work on our own I'm sure, but having canon backup is always gratifying.

Uh oh Colin's losing his mind.

Ominous music time!!!

THE MAGNUS PROTOCOL IS A PODCAST MOTHERFUCKERS.

[caliburn-the-sword]

winter chapters 25-33

figured out how to include and vaguely format photos which i'm including for my favourite passages. tumblr butchered the photos tho so rip it's blurry lol

OMGGGG I COMPLETELY FORGOT ABOUT THE WHOLE HUNTSMAN PLOT FSKDJFHSDFH THIS IS THE EXACT KIND OF DRAMA AND ANGST I LOVE

jacin's low key a gentleman for just wordlessly giving cress the cot and taking the floor instead in his OWN home

HELP THE THOUGHT OF THE RAMPION CREW BEING THE "SEVEN DWARFS" FSFHSDKFJSDHFS (i haven't reread the original fairy tale for a time so forgive me if that's actually just a disneywashed thing)

omg cress is stepping up into her role and being the hero she always wished she was <3 i love her development so much. zero to hero type beat

love to see jacin overcoming being a selfish bitch and promising to protect cress <3 positive development for him too

FINALLY CHAPTER 27 SCARLET I MISSED HER AND HER POV everything scarlet does is literally so slayed. yes girl!! break that bitch's nose!!!

HELP WHY DID I NEVER REGISTER WITH GENETIC ENGINEERING THAT WOLF WOULD ACTUALLY. BE RELATED TO A LITERAL FLESH AND BLOOD WOLF. this is in fact wilder than anything the ouat family tree was ever capable of (and i would know, because i studied that damn thing like the bible)

marissa meyer DON'T DO THIS TO ME. i will always go apeshit over a character being nicknamed "sunshine" ESPECIALLY when he's the furthest thing from a ray of sunshine ever LMAO

love how winter seems to think that the menagerie in front of scarlet's cage is the most romantic spot for jacin to admit his feelings for her. a bit silly goofy

ngl it's literally HEARTBREAKING that winter could think, even for a moment, that jacin would actually follow levana's orders and kill her (note: it was in fact a LOT of moments which makes it more painful)

NO NOT RYU. OMG I NEVER WOULD HAVE THOUGHT RYU WAS THE DEER

damn cress is like a guardian angel <3 she's always been the rampion's guardian angel

"the docks. With the mushrooms" ik that this is just winter's delulu ramblings and trust me i have been painstakingly restraining myself from going "omg alice in wonderland reference" because there's nothing more obnoxious than picking a mentally ill character and defining them by alice in wonderland but in this case,,,,

"Down, down, down we go" look i KNOW i'm reaching here because ANYONE can repeat the word down three times but direct word for word lewis caroll's alice in wonderland "Down, down, down. Would the fall never come to an end?"

jacin clay is so incredibly fucked. the paper trail leading back to him helping the princess in her escape is such a mountable pile of evidence (note: he is in fact not fucked and the queen fell for it)

OMG THE MAN IS WOLF YAYAYAY SCARLET AND WOLF ARE REUNITING I'M SO HAPPY I'M GONNA THROW UP

living for the "Devoured her." metaphor/pun. like yes. that's so little red riding hood fksdfsdkf

wolflet are cancelled for being instalove (jk it says STARTED TO for a reason)

WHAT DID I SAY CRESS???? LITERALLY THE PEAK OF ALL ROMANCE (i used to be hesitant to ship scarlet and winter because of how their relationship started but honestly with the confirmation THAT scene was when she started falling for wolf. i think scarlet is just INTO all that life or death shit. a bit of a masochist in my opinion)

"Are we running a boardinghouse for misplaced royalty around here, or what?" thorne that is SO real LMAO. someone reunite them all with kai asap

speaking of kai he literally CAN'T go ONE damn book without being SEPARATED from everyone. someone stop this before my heart explodes and breaks into a million tiny little pieces

girls girl scarlet makes a comeback

CINDER AND WINTER REUNITED CINDER AND WINTER REUNITED. am going apeshit. what a great note to end tonight's read on (note: was 11pm when i finished chapter 3)

@eddisfargo @francforever @winterrhayle @winterpinetrees @shellyseashell @luna-maximoff-22

[auromelt]

what do you think amazaki’s relationship would be like after the events of the movie (both platonically/romantically) and do you have headcanons? i’d love to hear them

sooooo excited to answer this!! i’m doing this on mobile so the formatting will probably be shit but my laptop is being serviced at the moment so well… and i’m really happy you differentiated platonic and romantic szam because i have different thoughts for both sides! i’m also gonna be using their first names because they feel like family to me today. anyways this post is long so…

generally i think they’re not getting any less toxic with each other lol. in the movie, kohei gave me the vibe of someone who’s been betrayed and used for his money by people he cared about or maybe considered his friends in the years he spent without ryo, which resulted in him becoming mistrustful of people and sealing himself away from creating bonds (which is preposterous to people like fujio because hello? this whole series is about forming bonds. get it together kohei!). so while kohei is doing his whole isolation from humanity bit, ryo enters as someone he used to know and used to know him. but that him is dead now, right? kohei isn’t the same as he was when they were 8 and ryo was his friend who shared promises and sodas with him. that kohei is sooooo dead. except he’s not. and ryo’s devotion and mental illness managed to wake that side of him back up from its slumber. this sets the scene for ryo being something like an exception to kohei, because ryo genuinely cares about him beyond his name and the depths of his pockets, he’s a person from a simpler time in kohei’s life, and despite everything kohei has said, he still harbours affection for that boy. and now ryo is crying like a baby on the floor in front of everyone they somewhat know after losing the goddamn fight and getting stabbed, and kohei isn’t even really angry. (did ryo ever get his hand stitched up btw? go to the hospital bruh)

now i have two ways this next part can go. let’s start with the idea that they actually do end up staying with each other and then my second idea that they don’t

onto present day, let’s talk about what i think about their relationship post movie, after crying on the floor like a baby, ryo makes up with kohei and they somewhat restore their friendship. but like i said earlier, ryo is an exception to his wah wah i hate people and friends are a waste of time schtick. plus he beat up or bribed almost everyone in the cast so nobody would even want to be his friend anyway? so basically ryo is his only friend and because of ryo’s nature, kohei is also his only friend, not because ryo can’t make other friends, i envision him as being quite popular actually with his strength and his awkward babygirlness that has charmed the masses, anyways its not because theres a shortage of people who want to be friends with ryo but rather there’s a shortage of people who ryo wants to be friends with (he’s got a list and it’s just kohei’s name on a sheet of paper). anyways, as i was saying ryo is literally all kohei has at this point, and stupid saboten but nobody wants to be friends w him, so hes probably really insecure and possessive over ryo. ryo could leave him at any moment (he wouldn’t. they’re for lifers in ryo’s head) and kohei can’t have that happening, not when ryo is basically the only person on earth who loves him and who he cares about at all. that’s his tether to his humanity. he needs ryo with him no matter what. and because ryo is mentally ill and has attachment issues, he indulges and fuels kohei’s possessiveness and allows it to grow and grow until their worlds literally just center each other.

like i’m sorry but i can’t see their relationship ever being healthy. this is batshit insane amagai kohei and devoted guard dog suzaki ryo we’re talking about.

in my second scenario, they split. kohei is actually kinda pissed about what ryo did in the final arc and drops his ass. he learns absolutely nothing in the fight. of course, this is kinda disputed by the final scene where he calls ryo his friend and they’re still clearly together. though in my head, as a suzaki ryo worshipper, i think it might actually be possible for him to break the chain and get out of his terrible situation. as much as i like my szam, they’re awful for each other and it’s far more detrimental to ryo than it is for kohei, they have an awful power imbalance and kohei didn’t treat ryo well. of course, kohei is mid without ryo’s aid, in a fight against a badly injured tsukasa he almost died real bad, so i doubt he’d let the only person who still ate from his hand after oya n the others cornered them in the gym go. ryo would probably be punished for losing and ryo, being ryo, would take it quietly and suffer for the rest of his life.

isn’t that depressing.

ANYWAYS with all that out of the way, let’s dive into my headcanons. i’ll start with the romantic ones because i love my doomed yaoi like that and then write a list of stuff that can be either romantic or platonic because i believe you can’t actually have a romantic relationship without a platonic one.

romantic szam (some 🔞)

kohei is a proud lover. everytime he speaks to someone about ryo he refers to him as my boyfriend, my lover, etc. ryo is wayyyy more reserved than that and barely talks to people, so you’ll have to glean how much he likes kohei from his body language

kohei is jealous as fuck their relationship is like the “you’re the most jealous man i know” “you know other men?” post (y’all watch cherry magic) his stomach starts hurting when ryo so much as looks at another person. ryo could beat a guy up and he’d be like “you should’ve touched him less while punching him.”

kohei says i love you first and ryo cries. ryo is too awkward to say it even though he’s basically been in love with kohei for a whole decade now. talk about slow burn. kohei gets embarrassed when ryo cries and leaves the room awkwardly.

power bottom kohei. what can i say. what can i say. what can i say. (ryo definitely cries during the first 5 times too)

ryo is dense as hell. kohei could be hinting at wanting to go somewhere on a date or do something together and ryo wouldn’t get it unless kohei is literally shouting it into his face. and secretly ryo likes the way kohei’s face gets all blushy and embarrassed when he’s yelling at him.

there is something wrong with them and nobody ever understands how they work or are together at all and kohei hates the doubt and judgement but ryo’s kinda just like eh… idgaf.

i mentioned earlier that i see kohei as pretty insecure, man. if he could leash ryo and keep him with him forever and ever he absolutely would. but unfortunately ryo has this thing called “a life” and he has to “live it” so they can’t always be togther. kohei is well aware that he’s treated ryo like crap and that ryo could very easily just find someone else and leave (no he couldn’t that boy stockholmed himself) and nooooo way. he spends all his time apart from ryo thinking about how ryo could be meting someone better than him rn. of course, ryo doesn’t want or care about anyone else.

okayyy when they start dating, oya definitely hears about it from jamuo and tsukasa’s kinda grossed out by it but at the same time it makes sense.

kohei’s family obviously disapproves of whatever they got going on but that’s a problem for future kohei

platonic szam (could be romantic)

they’re on first name basis, and outside his family, ryo is the only one who is allowed to call him kohei (and meeee :3)

i like to imagine kohei keeps an extra set of everything at his house for ryo’s usage. a towel, a toothbrush, a pillow, etc. only ryo can use these things, and only ryo stays over anyway. the amagai house is probably creepy as shit.

anything ryo wants, if it’s in kohei’s power, ryo will get. kohei doesn’t know how to be normal about showering his only friend with gifts and doing things for him. of course, ryo is a very simple guy and doesn’t actually ever ask for anything.

ryo likes tacky cheap items like ugly t-shirts and $1 socks and kohei obviously only wears branded shit bc he’s. well he’s kohei. but when they walk past a store selling those irritating matching friendship/couple shirts he drags ryo in and buys a set for them and then spends the whole trip back complaining about how itchy the material is and that he “can’t believe you convinced me to buy this ugly ass shit”

kohei tries really hard to make up for the shit he put ryo through even though ryo is absolutely nonchalant about it like “kocchan it doesn’t matter?” but kohei is like NO. I WILL MAKE IT UP TO YOU. and then he doesn’t and the cycle repeats

anyways thanks for reading if anyone even made it this far 🤠 resident amazaki shipper OUT.

[nerves-nebula]

Honestly being taught media literacy just depends on the teacher you have. I had a teacher in the 6th grade who loved to get us talking about stuff and thinking about it. She would have us think critically about all the characters and their motivations, and wether we thought one of them was wrong and why. Next grade I had an english teacher who didn't give a shit and just had us read something and never speak a word about it, it was just something you had to do to pass the class

Oh I know, I’m sure a good teacher could really get the ball rolling there. The thing is almost all my English teachers across 3 schools had the same habit of caring more about proving the validity and beauty of their own interpretations, which I get! But like!!! It was really annoying!! Some were better at it than others, letting kids talk more & stuff. But the worst of them made class a slog.

The main one who didn’t do the forced interpretation thing so much was this really sweet old lady who was very nice and got us snacks but also we spent a lot of time watching movies lol.

But in her class I basically figured out that I was against the death penalty cuz of independent research time I did for a paper, and that’s how I figured out that I didn’t trust the government and the death penalty doesn’t really help victims and all that stuff.

But that’s the exception to my experiences with English teachers (had like, at least 6 of them? Maybe more? And 2 of them were actually kinda helpful to my memory, but one of those classes was a poetry class that was elective so idk)

Also that might’ve been cuz she didn’t really care what we did as long as we we’re participating? So I had time to look into a subject I’d already been studying/thinking about (the death penalty)

It’s also possible that her not caring let me get more comfortable in her class faster than other classes- which could have really affected my performance because I was basically a feral child before I was thrown into high school and that is only kind of an exaggeration. (I didn’t speak to anyone outside my immediate family for years before high school. it was not a pretty sight)

So like, at the end of the day maybe the teacher who had us watch 3 different versions of Romeo and Juliet in class was the best one????

No but fr, generally I do agree it depends on teacher, but I disagree with the idea that the format of English class itself teaches you those things in meaningful ways. Idk how syllabus are decided on but I don’t really think the assignments are super great at things like teaching you to spot misinformation & stuff.

[microcarbo]

ohh 1, 7 and if u want 11 for the Durge creator asks? I'd love to hear more about your Durge!!

Aaaaaaa thank you a lot it makes me so happy to know you want to hear more! Answering this ask game What or who inspired your Durges design the most? A particular idea or vibe or perhaps another hottie or baddie? Character design comes a lot more easy to me if i think about characters in terms of their lived spaces so my first steps when i'm making up a guy are almost always a) doing a bit of research about the general setting (this blog has a ton of useful posts about D&D lore, i spent a lot of time reading them and the wiki!) and b) using the information i gather to imagine their room/workplace/usual haunts. I knew about durge's child of bhaal's bit already because i happened to see a very cool fanart of the temple before i started playing, so from there on it was a matter of asking myself: what would this dude i got a very general idea of put in a room to make it "theirs", what would fit their vibe? I liked the idea of them keeping a lot of scattered paper, scrolls and books around and from there i made up their interest in history and magic. The temple is home to a murder cult, it has corpses lying around and blood running all over the floors so i went on by wondering how they would react to the smell and found out that i liked the idea of a killer being squeamish about it, someone who would hang censer burners to the walls and obsessively scrub out every bit of gore after a kill, maybe even keep a little collection of perfume vials. There also are a lot of candles down there and they were my main inspiration for their clothing lmao head to toe flowy, wax-white robes. Once i managed to get all these little bits down, i developed further from there while playing and adjusted the details on the go (: Is their personal story represented in their overall design? Do they carry any mental scars or physical alterations from the shit that happened to them? Yes! Their pre-tadpole design features very long robes and a veil and if i'm drawing something related to that phase of their life i never represent them without it (i've read that bhaalists are known to wear it to cover their faces, though i've taken the liberty of making it white instead of black/purple). Even their slayer form retains some scraps of it over its eyes and body. They lose it post forced lobotomy and during the events of act I and II they only retain the robes, which they discard completely after the duel in act III to adopt civilian clothes. Rejecting Bhaal also changes their class from the canon storm sorcerer to wizard, because i like the idea of their magical talents being directly related to their demigod status. I feel like this last bit is particularly relevant to their development because it puts them in the position of only needing to rely on knowledge they have gathered by their own volition (something they start pursuing and studying post nautiloid incident but can't quite indulge before that), and because they actively have to keep nurturing it if they want to keep making progresses and sustain themselves on it. What's your go to medium for their portrayal? Google Docs, a niche notes app, perhaps one specific for writing, Procreate, Clip Studio, MediBang? Hit me with those recs. Do you sometimes mix em up? It truly just is my head and a questionably legal version of PS i got back in 2021.....i can't even say that i have a moodboard or something because while i like researching lore through texts i absolutely loathe gathering references lol I DEARLY WISH i hadn't completely stopped writing for pleasure after high school and that i had put more effort into learning english because sometimes i feel like wanting to portrait something that would work way better in a written format than how it would with illustrations...i want to make it up for it eventually but it's a slow process, so for now art it is hehe

[reigningm4x]

i could not care less if people don't like max because like he defends himself on the track with his performances lmao i don't even need to say anything to defend him but it will never make not laugh how tumblr hypocrites are all "we must cancel people for being ableist!!!" then there's 50 different posts with hundreds of notes each about how max not jumping and squeaking with joy every single time he wins makes him weird and abnormal and nondeserving of things. like yes hello i am autistic and that is our more chill neutral personality 99.9% of the time even when something great does happen, i still think i am just as deserving of good things as others (NOT saying max is neurodivergent in any way because idk and i'm not qualified for that, i just relate to his personality a lot so it is awful to routinely see people use things that could be linked to/associated with neurodivergency as a way to condone their hatred of him. like if people don't want to like him, just don't like him. it's a sport you don't have to write a 10-page double spaced APA format paper about why you don't like any of these dudes, but it's also not appropriate to wish actual horrid things like injury or death on any of them. idk why f1 fans can't just like be civil)

all of this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! they say he's all these bad things yet in the same breath turn around and be bad towards him lol. i think people get very annoying about defending him against every dumb thing big or small but some of the shit people say on here like WHAT is wrong with you!!!! if English football fans can behavior in a more civil manner then something ain't right here

[snickerdoodlles]

buckle up butter cup, i have QUESTIONS: 1, 2, 3 (👀), 11, 12, 15, 17 (👀), 22, 24, 32, 38, 40

I'll take your essay in MLA format plz <3

ah shit, i forgot my citations 😭

1. What font do you write in? Do you actually care or is that just the default setting?

my current default is Libre Franklin! i actually cycle through fonts a lot? i like the editing trick of changing your font to help catch errors and clunky writing, and sometimes i'll switch the font of my doc if i'm feeling particularly stuck while i'm writing. idk how many people know this, but you can change the default font/formatting/color of google docs, and i do it constantly 😂

2. If you had to give up your keyboard and write your stories exclusively by hand, could you do it? If you already write everything by hand, a) are you a wizard and b) pen or pencil?

I write by hand a lot actually! I went through 2.5 notebooks alone last year iirc. I always write in pen -- writing by hand helps me gets ideas out of my head faster, and part of that is that i can't undo/backspace what i write. i just gotta move on. and since i'll have to rewrite it anyways when i type it up, writing by hand really helps me get that first rough draft mess out. it also helps me discard the really crap ideas from that first draft -- sometimes the typed doc that it distills into is completely different than what's on paper, and we're all grateful for it.

3. What is your writing ritual and why is it cursed?

WRITING IN FRIENDS DMS!!!! nothing gets my ideas flowing better than a friend to bounce them around with, and nothing helps me solidify and distill ideas like needing to explain them to someone. i am so bad about sending friends multiple screens worth of written scenes in their DMs (i am very fortunate to have friends who let me do this). this ritual is cursed because my preferred DM platform is tumblr, and i actually rarely remember to save these writings to something more permanent like a doc (pour one out for the many, many, MANY writings lost in DMs <3)

11. Do you believe in the old advice to “kill your darlings?” Are you a ruthless darling assassin? What happens to the darlings you murder? Do you have a darling graveyard? Do you grieve?

*stares at writing notebook* *stares at lost DM fics* kill your darlings

real answer lol: if there's something i really like, i can usually find a way to bring it back into a WIP. i'm really good at that sort of adaptive thinking, but part of why i'm good at that is because i am a ruthless darling killer. all of my editing is very much focused on how all the pieces of a story work in harmony to each other and if something doesn't fit within that, that's not the story for it. but sometimes the reason why a thing doesn't work in the story is because its in the wrong place and since I have no issue removing things that don't work, it's a lot easier to find a better place for it if you're not fixated on keeping it in a specific spot. and for any darling that never makes its way back to its home story, it goes into my mental compost heap to possibly seed into something new for a future story.

12. If a genie offered you three writing wishes, what would they be? Btw if you wish for more wishes the genie turns all your current WIPs into Lorem Ipsum, I don’t make the rules

fool proof way to write in the shower, perfect recall when im trying to remember a story idea i laid out in DMs, the perfect cure to my adhd executive dysfunction.

15. Do you write in the margins of your books? Dog-ear your pages? Read in the bath? Why or why not? Do you judge people who do these things? Can we still be friends?

i'm an avid annotator but only for like...general knowledge? all of my textbooks, reference book, and journal articles/papers are littered with annotations and other marginalia (this is partially why i have so many colored ink ballpoint pens actually 😂). there was a hot minute where i tried to do this for general story/poetry books, but...ehh???? i never quite got into that because usually i just lose myself in the story and my external thoughts come out better in friend DMs or post tags ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

as for the others-- dog ear, no, i don't like the look of bent pages. plus i have a loooot of bookmarks i'm still not using because they're one of those Cheap Art Merch things lol. i absolutely read in the bath (if i take a bath, because ya girl gets BORED), but usually im grabbing one of my travel edition books jic something happens to it, anything electronic i hold over the edge so it won't fall in.

17. Talk to me about the minutiae of your current WIP. Tell me about the lore, the history, the detail, the things that won’t make it in the text.

will respond in a separate post so i can be extra annoying!! lmk if there's a specific WIP you're hoping to hear about XD

22. How organized are you with your writing? Describe to me your organization method, if it exists. What tools do you use? Notebooks? Binders? Apps? The Cloud?

hrmmhmMm define organized?

zero organization to notebooks. those are for Throwing Up Ideas, organization would give me writer's block or anxiety. similar for anything that winds up in my phone notes -- even if i could organize them better, i probably wouldn't? they're kinda like a part 2 to the writing notebook for me jotting down ideas, esp stuff that i don't think will become proper stories. proper stories are on google drive because i don't have a better option. fics there are separated by fandom. series and multi-chapter fics get their own folders, individual stories stay out in the general folder. i also have a folder for posted/finished one-shots and a compost folder for discarded story ideas to help keep the clutter down

24. How much prep work do you put into your stories? What does that look like for you? Do you enjoy this part or do you just want to get on with it?

...how much does friend DM yelling count? i love plotting out stories in friend DMs, it's one of my favorite things to do, but i don't like. force myself to stick with anything either. i don't like rigorous story outlines, i prefer a more organic and flexible approach to writing stories. the best i can manage for a story outline is a general bullet list of story points i hope to hit. i like research a lot (wikipedia rabbit holes my beloved <3), but i don't usually worry about going too in-depth for it. it's really good fuel for story ideas and the brainstorming process, but like. i write fic. i care a lot about being sensitive and careful with other people's cultures and histories, but otherwise i don't fret the details and minute because my goal here is to share silly stories.

32. What is a line from a poem/novel/fanfic etc that you return to from time and time again? How did you find it? What does it mean to you?

uuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

this is really hard for me because i never read stories as individual lines. that said, i was thinking earlier of that poem (poem line?) "a hand has five fingers. five fingers and five thousand wants." because talk about kim-core, but i don't remember what its from and google isn't helping.

that said, hope y'all are ready for me to reblog this and this 583478 times when we finally hit proper hogswatch season <333

38. What is something about your writing process YOU think is Really Weird? If you are comfortable, please share. If you’re not comfortable, what do you think cats say about us?

..........i had an answer in mind when i first saw this question, but i just forgot everything now that i'm here (am i even a writer?? surely not.)

maybe this will come back to me later.

40. Please share a poem with me, I need it.

you get "the more loving one" by wh auden because i am ALWAYS thinking of this poem. #predictable

[[ writer asks ]]