#to the point he (not mom!) is kind of universally reviled

[citrus-cactus]

Re: Digi-dadfight, I could argue that Kouji and Kouichi’s parents made the initial decision to not tell the boys about each other as a team… but it would appear that they have independently made the choice, every day of the boys’ lives, not to revisit that initial decision (Kouji’s dad was shown to have at least one opportunity where he could have at least considered reopening the dialogue with all adults involved, although the narrative is by nature not structured in a way to show whether he took steps to actually do that, or what the results might have been). Originally, it was a singular HUGE choice, but also became a series of smaller choices that we (the audience) get only the tiniest, surface-level, single-POV glimpse of, despite it having a MAJOR effect on the series.

Similarly, it could be argued that Mr. Minamoto (and, by extension, Ms. Kimura) are better at honoring their spouse’s(/ex-spouse’s) wishes and upholding societal norms than they are are at being the parents of twin boys, even if the decision was (at one point) mutually agreed upon as being in the best interest for all involved. Did they ever check in with each other? Did they ever ask how their other son was doing? Did they regret severing contact, remaining silent, and not being part of both boys’ lives, or did it get easier (after a while) to wall those emotions off, look ahead, and focus on the family each of them had in front of them? Were they ever planning on telling the boys? Arrange for a meeting? Did they ever consider what they would do if the boys learned the truth anyway? Again, we don’t know (and it’s doubtful we ever will, in any official capacity), but I think it’s safe to say, in hindsight, and knowing what we do about Kouji and Kouichi, that mistakes were most likely made, both together and independently.

Also, I am regretting not including Yuujin’s “dad” in the poll, just for the lols.

[freezegirl]

Hi! Deadpool here, call me Wade. What's it like at the increeeeedibly secular Sky U? My step-daughter (she doesn't know she's my step-daughter) is entertaining the totally style-crampin' Xavier's for her mutant future which-- okay, I get it, best school for well off white folk, but come on.

If any minor character can have a brand new life at this university, it's gotta be the bomb-dot-com, right?

new money, revelled, reviled / @disneybucks

"sky high as well as sky u was founded by theodore stronghold and his wife ann-marie but nowadays, principal penthesilea powers runs the show - you may or may not know her as powerhouse. turns into a comet. turns into a lot of other astronomical objects, too. each with their own innate power set. hence, powerhouse. she's kind of like our wonder woman." and easily khione's favorite person.

"my parents actually wanted to send me to xavier's, believe it or not. i had to sell them on sky high and sky u. don't ask me how i did it. to this day, i still don't know. i'm glad i managed, though."

actually, she does. she did it by appearing on her mom's reality tv show: the famous lives of superhero wives, now streaming on netflix and paramount plus and hulu and a plethora of other streaming services (that do not delete their ip off of said platforms)!

he's actually her favorite and everyone is always so surprised when she reveals that. he's right up there, right next to cloak and dagger because she loves a good duo with contrasting powers, as well as rogue because, well, she knows what it's like when you hurt people when you touch them. and storm because she's storm. khione doesn't trust anyone who doesn't like storm. it's just on principle, you know?

"i would ask how it's possible that she's unaware about being your stepdaughter when she's your stepdaughter, but i'll finish the sales pitch first before we dive into that: so, our p.e. teacher is named tommy boomowski, alias sonic boom. everyone just calls him boomer, though, 'cause that's what he is. his voice is loud but other than that, he's pretty harmless. a bit of a himbo, really. um, we've got professor jeannie elast - stretches herself too thin all the time." is that a power pun? yes. "rumor has it she's got a crush on boomer but she hasn't given us a yes or a no so i'd have to get back to you on that."

maybe she should have drawn him a flow-chart. "then there's mister medulla, he's basically our xavier. except he does mad science. i don't think mister xavier does mad science. mad science is really fun, actually. it's just the lessons on telepathy that trip me up all the time." that is to say, khione's good at making sure her environment doesn't get turned into a winter wonderland but keeping out telepaths? (even when it's an exercise in class?) that's something else entirely, and what it is is headache inducing.

her friends will probably not believe her when she tells them this. which reminds her that she's gotta ask for a selfie before this conversation's over. (not an autograph, those can be faked. though, these days, there's a whole bunch of things people can fake. selfies included.)

"there's this one youtuber i follow - not a figure skater, for once, just one of those uplift-y people - and she was like: we're all major characters of our own life or something like that and i know that's a cheese-fest and a half but i also don't think she's wrong about that. not really." which is the warmest, gentlest and the most pointed way of saying: hey, don't be like that, calling someone a minor character is not the compliment you think it is. that's a lot, coming from this hydro-cryokinetic.

"in the interest of being totally honest because i think that your stepdaughter who doesn't know she's your stepdaughter needs to know the ins and outs before she commits - not every student will be cool." case in point: gwen grayson. "just last week, i turned one of my classmates into an icicle on the school lawn. again. he was being inappropriate. also, they're still working on updating the mental health part of the curriculum so you're screwed if you get, say, kidnapped by barron battle---" ethan bank. "---or katie baxter." khione herself. "so she's gotta have a good support system in place."

then, the coldest girl in maxville gives the merc with the mouth a warm smile and says, sincerely: "i think she's got that covered, though."

[she-who-fights-and-writes]

She-who-fights-and-writes Top 5 Book Recs 2019!!

Here are my top five books/book series that I think EVERYONE should read or at least try to read in their lifetime!! No matter their standing on this list, I love every single one of these books with my whole heart!!!!!

5. Pet Sematary by Stephen King (Genre: Horror)

Back cover:

When Dr. Louis Creed takes a new job and moves his family to the idyllic rural town of Ludlow, Maine, this new beginning seems too good to be true. Despite Ludlow’s tranquility, an undercurrent of danger exists here. Those trucks on the road outside the Creed’s beautiful old home travel by just a little too quickly, for one thing…as is evidenced by the makeshift graveyard in the nearby woods where generations of children have buried their beloved pets. Then there are the warnings to Louis both real and from the depths of his nightmares that he should not venture beyond the borders of this little graveyard where another burial ground lures with seductive promises and ungodly temptations. A blood-chilling truth is hidden there—one more terrifying than death itself, and hideously more powerful. As Louis is about to discover for himself sometimes, dead is better…

I didn’t sleep for two days after finishing this book. I had to read it in the morning, never at night, and couldn’t put it down whenever I picked it up. However, this book is really a testament to Stephen King’s reputation as the dominator of the horror/suspense genre of fiction.

Beautifully descriptive and creepy, it gives a shocking new perspective of the consequences of playing God. With a very much flawed and very much human main character, along with a gripping story that raises the hairs on the back of your neck, Pet Semetary is the perfect book to read when you’re feeling a flare for the supernatural. 

4. The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer (Genre: Sci-Fi)

Back cover of Cinder:

CINDER, a gifted mechanic in New Beijing, is also a cyborg. She's reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister's sudden illness. But when her life becomes entwined with the handsome Prince Kai's, she finds herself at the centre of a violent struggle between the desires of an evil queen - and a dangerous temptation. Cinder is caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal. Now she must uncover secrets about her mysterious past in order to protect Earth's future. This is not the fairytale you remember. But it's one you won't forget.

These books broke me out of a serious book hangover (caused by the #1 series on this list) and made me realize “Wait, there are other books in this world that can be enjoyed besides this series.”

Funny and captivating, this book puts an interesting twist on classic fairytales. Instead of being the kind of twist where everything is unnecessarily gory and dark, this puts a futuristic spin on the classic stories that we all know and love.

The characters are amazing and very diverse, and although the stories are similar to the Grimm’s fairy tales, they’re a whole new ballpark plot-wise that keeps you on the edge of your seat!

3. In Order to Live by Yeonmi Park (Genre: Memoir)

Back cover:

“I am most grateful for two things: that I was born in North Korea, and that I escaped from North Korea.”

Still in her early twenties, Yeonmi Park has lived through experiences that few people of any age will ever know--and from which most would never recover. At age thirteen, together with her mother, she made a harrowing escape from brutal conditions in North Korea. Two years later, they reached South Korea and freedom. But the devestating journey in between cost Park her childhood and nearly her life. As she writes, “I convinced myself that a lot of what I had experienced never happened. I taught myself to forget the rest.”

In In Order to Live, Park sines light not just into the darkest corners of life in North Korea, describing the deprivation and deception she endured and that millions of North Korean people continue to endure to this day, but also onto her own most painful and difficult memories. She tells with bravery and dignity for the first time the story of how she and her mother were betrayed and sold into sexual slavery in China and forced to suffer terrible psychological and physical hardship.

Park confronts her past with a startling resilience. In spite of everything, she has never stopped being proud of where she is from, and never stopped striving for a better life. Today she is a human rights activist working determinedly to bring attention to the oppression taking place in her home country. Park’s testimony is rare, edifying, and terribly important, and the story she tells in In Order to Live is heartbreaking and unimaginable but never without hope.

This book changed my life. 

Riveting, beautiful, and at heartbreaking, it really made me appreciate what I have in life and made me more aware of things that are currently happening in the world as we speak.

I think that no one should be able to talk about North Korea and about how it’s not a big deal that we help the people there until they read this book.

Truly an amazing and unbelievable story.

2. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (Genre: Fantasy)

Back cover:

Achilles, "the best of all the Greeks," son of the cruel sea goddess Thetis and the legendary king Peleus, is strong, swift, and beautiful— irresistible to all who meet him. Patroclus is an awkward young prince, exiled from his homeland after an act of shocking violence. Brought together by chance, they forge an inseparable bond, despite risking the gods' wrath.

They are trained by the centaur Chiron in the arts of war and medicine, but when word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, all the heroes of Greece are called upon to lay siege to Troy in her name. Seduced by the promise of a glorious destiny, Achilles joins their cause, and torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus follows. Little do they know that the cruel Fates will test them both as never before and demand a terrible sacrifice.

A phenomenally written and emotional re-telling of the classic Greek epic the Iliad that delves into the romantic relationship between Achilles and Patroclus.

Madeline Miller truly has an undeniable god-given talent for writing; her descriptions and storytelling makes for a book that you CANNOT put down once you’ve picked it up.

I read this book in a day and had a serious, serious book hangover afterward; I literally could NOT stop thinking about it for days. It just sticks with you, you know?

Me and my mom both wept over this book; it is truly a triumph and a masterpiece.

1. The Grishaverse by Leigh Bardugo (Genre: Fantasy)

Back cover of Shadow and Bone, first book in The Grisha Trilogy:

Soldier. Summoner. Saint. Orphaned and expendable, Alina Starkov is a soldier who knows she may not survive her first trek across the Shadow Fold―a swath of unnatural darkness crawling with monsters. But when her regiment is attacked, Alina unleashes dormant magic not even she knew she possessed.

Now Alina will enter a lavish world of royalty and intrigue as she trains with the Grisha, her country’s magical military elite―and falls under the spell of their notorious leader, the Darkling. He believes Alina can summon a force capable of destroying the Shadow Fold and reuniting their war-ravaged country, but only if she can master her untamed gift.

As the threat to the kingdom mounts and Alina unlocks the secrets of her past, she will make a dangerous discovery that could threaten all she loves and the very future of a nation.

Welcome to Ravka . . . a world of science and superstition where nothing is what it seems.

Back cover of Six of Crows, first book in the Six of Crows Duology:

Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price―and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can't pull it off alone. . . .

A convict with a thirst for revenge. A sharpshooter who can't walk away from a wager. A runaway with a privileged past. A spy known as the Wraith. A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums. A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes.

Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist. Kaz's crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction―if they don't kill each other first.

The Grishaverse is a group of series that are all set within the same universe where magic runs wild and the world-building-- from the culture of each country to the unique landscapes--is so phenomenal that you almost wish you could jump right into the book like Blue’s Clues and live there forever.

Leigh Bardugo is my favorite author of all time.

Her writing is beyond any other tier that I have every had the pleasure to read, to the point where I couldn’t read any other books for a good year after finishing the Six of Crows Duology because it set my standards so high for YA fantasy.

There are many books within the Grishaverse-- including the Grisha Trilogy, the Six of Crows Duology, the King of Scars series, and the Language of Thorns storybook--but you don’t have to have read one series to understand the other.

Personally, I like the Six of Crows Duology better than the Grisha Trilogy; it was written afterward and the writing and storytelling is far more evolved and sophisticated.

But even so, Leigh Bardugo really is an incredible storyteller, so if you can get your hands on any of these books, please do!

[livefromtheloam]

Tenchi Muyo! Galaxy Police Transporter

So I finally watched Tenchi Muyo: GXP. This is super long and full of fifteen-year-old spoilers, so I’ll stick a jump right about here.

tl;dr: Absolutely adored the series (with a couple of gripes), but hate what it heralded for the Tenchi Muyo franchise.

To start off, I want to say that I loved watching GXP. Had it come out earlier (and obviously had it not starred Seina), I would dare to call it the ultimate Tenchi series.  It combines the canon and overarching galactic epic of the OVA, the episodic format and character development of Universe, and the unbridled humor of Tokyo, then kicks every one of those things into high gear. It also fixes a lot of the problems that the three series were notorious for, namely: the OVA’s tendency to throw important details under the rug in order to put together cool set pieces, Universe’s low animation quality and over-reliance on filler, and Tokyo’s over the top irreverence (I’m normally a huge fan of irreverence, but man did Tokyo take the entire franchise off the rails).

It feels weird to call GXP a Tenchi Muyo! series, considering it’s as much of a spinoff as anything can get, but it does share most of the themes that all TM properties share. It’s got the harem, space adventure, comedy, drama, excellent character development (except for its main character somehow), and a cabbit. Granted, not all characters we’re supposed to care about are given any kind of dimension (looking at you, Miss Balta), but it’s so weird to start to care about secondary characters that were, once again, thrown under the rug in the later OVA’s, like Airi, Mikami, Seto, and even a few of the tertiary characters. Except for Tennyo. So sad.

Oh hey these ladies are actually great characters! (Not pictured: Tennyo.)

My favorite part was how relentlessly funny it could be. The show had no problem engaging in little gags here and there, but once Seiryo gets a more prominent role in the story things get downright hilarious.

I will never stop laughing at this.

I also appreciated how the opening and end theme sequences added new things as the series went on, such as replacing band-aids with Fukus, highlighing or blocking out certain characters, and adding others when they join the story. While I don’t usually like the harem genre (I prefer the first two OVA’s and Universe for their use of a love triangle rather than an out and out orgy), I always try to put my hangups on hold when it comes to Tenchi. Additionally, I just pretended that Seina was at least eighteen by the time the series ended just to get over the creep factor of a person who would be considered a child entering into a relationship with several adult women. Graduating from space college has got to take at least three years, right?

Speaking of, as much as Seina was yet another mediocre yet earnest everyboy protagonist, I couldn’t help but enjoy his antics. Maybe it was his almost Brooklyn accent (I watched the dub, so sue me), maybe his misfortune, maybe his complete and utter acceptance of pain and injury, but it was hard not to root for him. Plus, I love how his bad luck superpower can be used to explain why so many women are attracted to him despite being actively bad for anyone to be around (and way too young - seriously what is up with that?)!

“I guess they must be thirsty.” Ya don’t say.

And then we get to the last few episodes.

This was the point where GXP got over the top irritating for me. At some point, Seina’s bad luck turns to good, but with no noticeable difference either way. He’s given an incredible amount of gifts - A living ship made by Professor Washu! A royal tree to merge that ship with! A primordial battle mech powered by the sibling to the original Juraian tree to merge himself with featuring built in Easter egg action and kung fu grip! Light Hawk Wings! - and bad luck or good, these things serve to push Seina to godlike status. And that’s ok because it’s just a TV show. However, when he wins the duel against Seiryo due to, what else, a fluke of luck (why did either of them agree to a rule whereby someone can lose via embarrassment?), it finally reaches beyond frustrating just how much the showrunners pamper their protagonist.

The first of many promotions, given to him about a week after enrolling in the academy.

Seina himself does precious little on his own. He does his best, but grows very little as a person. Just what are his motivations, aside from a vague sense that he wants to be in the GP? We never see him try to do anything he can’t reasonably do because he wins every single time through either bad luck or good luck or someone looking out for him. He never comes to understand Kiriko’s concerns or Amane’s insecurities, nor does he try to get to know Ryoko or Neju better. He’s gotten everything - power, money, women - without doing anything to earn it.

Finally, the series ends with his wedding. To four women. And sure, it’s a political marriage in a culture that allows powerful nobility to have multiple spouses. And sure it ostensibly serves to ensure the longevity of the dream team that’s been ushering in an age of prosperity for businesses all over the galaxy, fine good whatever. But the show can’t even bring itself to respect these women who, for the most part, have proven themselves to be badasses who’ve earned every bit of respect they never got.

Does this look like the face of mercy?

Kiriko was a tactical prodigy who rose through the ranks of the GP through her willpower, wits, and ability to jump fearlessly into any situation regardless of danger, not to mention a distant blood tie to the royal family of Jurai. Amane was a wealthy heiress who threw away a promising career because it was too easy and challenged herself to make her way through the GP ladder. Ryoko Balta, despite being a bit bland, was a badass space pirate whose intuition, navigational skills, and battle prowess kept her ship floating long after most of the rest of the Daluma fleet had been captured. Neju was considered one of the most powerful head priestesses of all time (told not shown, sadly), and was revered (and reviled) throughout the galaxy for her two millennia of stern justice.

And they get lumped all together during their own wedding, all so that Seina can get a huge flashy show.

Seriously, they all walk out at the same time with identical smiles on their faces, as if they weren’t fiercely independent women like one episode prior.

And sadly, this is the final piece of the puzzle I needed to understand where the Tenchi Muyo! franchise has been going over the past fifteen years.

After GXP was somewhat of a flop, Kajishima took it back and has been writing a series of novels based on it. This precluded any need for a team to talk him back from the skeevier elements of what he thinks TM should be, including the harems and incest, and gave him full control over the direction of the OVA continuity. While I’ve never understood why the doujinshi are considered canon by fans, it’s hard to argue with the creator of a series when he says the officially published novels are what the real story is. I haven’t read through the whole set (I figure I’ll do that once my Japanese reading skills get a bit better), but from what I’ve seen so far the novels eschew the comedy and lightheartedness for exposition and expansion of the lore. Which wouldn’t be so bad if it were going somewhere, I dunno, fan-accessible?

As much as I dislike what the future holds for Tenchi, I’d love to see them all on Maury. (Thanks to AstroNerdBoy for the scan.)

Instead, we get a Tenchi Muyo! OVA that seems to serve the purpose of connecting Tenchi’s world to Seina’s rather than the other way around. Characters who fans loved and built a following for are pushed to the wayside for characters who appeared in Seina’s story, and the overarching epic is leading somewhere few fans ever wanted to go - namely Seina’s harem of twenty wives, a number of whom are mother and grandmother figures.

This is literally a grid of potential partners for Seina. He has backup harems. One of them involving Kiriko’s mom. Fantastic. (Thank you Tenchi Muyo Wiki.)

If I’ve mentioned characters a number of times in this piece, it’s because that’s the unshakable foundation that the entire Tenchi Muyo franchise was built on. There are at least five different continuities, and throughout them all the characters remain the same at their cores. Tenchi is plain but earnest. Ryoko is hotheaded and passionate. Ayeka tries to be proper but fails in the face of Ryoko’s teasing. Sasami is sweet, kind, and hard-working. Mihoshi is ditzy yet well-meaning. Washu is the greatest scientific genius in the universe! As of the ending of GXP, however, characterization seems to mean very little to the author. Kiriko, Amane, Ryoko, and Neju give up their individuality because... Seina. The women of the Masaki home take a backseat to Noike because... they’re no longer important to the story being told. Proud Emperor Azusa, who was embarrassed at the hands of Tenchi Masaki, grandson of that worthless Yosho, is suddenly devoid of any personality let alone desire for vengeance because... Seto is also on screen and she was an important character in GXP.

I will say that I’ve come to enjoy the third and fourth OVA’s, simply because now I’ve been properly introduced to more of the characters. The final episode of OVA 4 does a great job of tying up many of the loose threads that have been floating around since GXP’s inception and bringing all the OVA continuity series into a cohesive whole. It’s nice, but once again, makes me worried that a series that used to be about lovable characters having space adventures and shenanigans at home with tender moments thrown liberally into the mix is turning into a creepy ecchi series with no regard for characterization unless it gives Tenchi or Seina another wife.

They spend so much time this episode of Tenchi Muyo! talking about Seina that it’s ridiculous. They then proceed to tease the mother of his childhood friends about her obvious hots for him. (Thanks to EcchiOujisama for the subs!)

My theory is that it’s because Seina is the one thing that Kajishima has had all to himself for over a decade. Seina is his favorite child, who will receive gifts of women and good luck, regardless of how much the fans still love Tenchi and company. As much as he can profit off of doujinshi and art (and I’ll admit that I hope to own one of his sketches one day), he still has to share Tenchi with other people. This doesn’t prevent him from throwing Tenchi a bone in his fan comics, but the more he can tie the entire continuity into Seina’s story, the better. I wonder if the same thing is going to happen to Kenshi now too.

I liked Seina and rooted for him, but by the end it was obvious that he’d never become anything but a fantasy fulfillment device. Please correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems to me he has no reason to grow or change, and is emblematic of what many people disliked about the franchise after 2002.

I accepted a while back that the OVA series and maybe even the franchise was no longer “for me.” The old episodes, movies, novels, and manga still exist, of course, and I can and do enjoy them immensely. I’ll also be watching GXP for years to come and plan to read the novels when I’m able to. I think I just wanted to get my thoughts out about a series that I watched and enjoyed, and how it changed a franchise that went down a different path a long, long time ago.

Adieu, Tenchi Muyo!

Also, why did all the members of Tenchi’s household get new voice actors for this show? That was weird. 

[pocket-anon]

With "A Fairytale Beginning" (my absolute favorite fic right now, by the way), what was your reasoning behind making Walsh a good guy (so far)? So often we see him portrayed as a cheater, liar, someone who's taking advantage of Emma, etc., so I'm curious as to why you wanted Emma in a seemingly stable relationship when Killian first arrives.

Thank you so much for your question, Anon!  And thank you even more for letting me knowhow much you’re enjoying this fic!  Thatmakes me so incredibly happy.  

Alright, so Walsh as a good guy – seemingly unprecedented inthe world of fic, I know.  LOL.  Heck, I wrote Walsh as a scumbag in Scar Tissue. So why the change?  I did itfor a few reasons.  For one, in order toecho the Enchanted storyline, Emmaneeded to be in what she thought was a solid relationship – something thatcould both illustrate her jaded/misguided attitude about love and somethingthat would pale in comparison to the love she ultimately finds with Killian (I hopethat’s not a spoiler; it’s a CS fic, afterall!).  In Enchanted,Robert has Nancy.  I chose Walshmainly because my mind immediately went back to the situation in “New York CitySerenade” as it was before we found out Walsh was really a monkey-in-disguise –Emma as a single mom in what she thought was a stable relationship when a crazyman claiming to be a pirate suddenly falls into her lap.  It just seemed to parallel with my story sowell that I never even questioned my impulse to use Walsh as the other man,despite the fact that it went against convention to write him as a good guy.  So I wrote him (or rather, I’m writing him)as the normal guy we initially thought he was on the show.  I did not anticipate how much this wouldthrow people, LOL.  Everyone seems to bewaiting for him to suddenly expose himself as a big bad, but I promise you,that’s not my intent.  Just as it was forRobert and Giselle in Enchanted, Emmaneeds to choose Killian over Walsh because Killian is THE ONE for her, not because Walsh is a badguy.  I characterize my Walsh in this ficas a good guy, just not the right guy.  Putanother way, it’s not that Emma doesn’t like Walsh – it’s that she loves Killian.  

Someone pointed out to me that I could have used Grahaminstead, and I kind of smacked myself in the forehead, because that would haveworked well, but, as I said, the “New York City Serenade” parallel was (and is)so strong in my mind that I’m okay with my decision to use Walsh the way Ihave.  Not to mention the fact thatseveral people have admitted that they’ve started to feel a little sympathy formy Walsh, and I take the fact that I’ve been able to do that with one of themost universally-reviled characters in the OUAT universe as a true compliment.

Sorry for the long-winded answer, but you’ve read my stuff,so you know how verbose I can be. LOL.  Thanks again for yourquestion!  Send me another anytime!  :)