#what if griffith was female

[ladygriffith]

Similarities between Belladonna of Sadness (1973) and Berserk

Belladonna of Sadness (哀しみのベラドンナ, Kanashimi no Beradonna) is a 1973 Japanese adultanimatedart film produced by the animation studioMushi Production and distributed by Nippon Herald Films.

Jeanne makes a pact with the a spirit, who soon reveals himself to be the Devil. She submits her body in exchange for more riches and she is granted magical powers. The baron offers to make Jeanne the second-highest noble in the land, but she refuses, saying she wishes to take over the entire world. These events were only foreshadowing her tragic fate.

original reddit post by morbidcorbin

Surely, Miura found this inspiring to write Griffith's story.

[cosmicrhetoric]

the problem with reading berserk and going "ok yeah i think that was actually too much for me. like i went in with clear eyes and thought i could handle it but maybe that was too much. no shame in tapping out" is that i keep remembering parts of it that were genuinely awesome and then getting hit with the memory of like. well. iykyk and then i feel so so so so conflicted about the work as a whole that i immediately get a stomach ache

[talxho]

𝒞𝒾𝓉𝓎 ℴ𝒻 𝓈𝓉𝒶𝓇𝓈 🌌

[rainylana]

“My pussy.”

Eddie Munson x female reader

warnings: language, smut, fingering, rough smut, dom!eddie, use of a vibrator, spanking.

summary: eddie finds your vibrator in the bathroom.

to the anonymous user, thank you for requesting!

You were sitting in front of the tv, crisscross on the floor as the Andy Griffith show played in front of you. You were clad in your socked feet and matching pajamas, putting polaroids in your album. It was a calm night, a sweet, romantic one you and Eddie were spending together, just a relaxing night in.

“Hey, babe!” Eddie called from the bathroom. “Come take a look at this! You’ll never believe what I found!”

You grimaced. “In the bathroom? Gross, Eddie! I’ll wait out here, thanks so much.” You chuckled, shaking your head at him.

The sound of a high pitched whirring flooded your ears, and immediately, heat went to your face. You pounced up. “No, no, no, no, no!” You screeched and screamed, running to the bathroom.

You found Eddie, leaned up against the sink and smirking, looking proud and cocky as ever. His hand propped him up against the sink, the other swung your pink vibrator side to side like he was trying to hypnotize someone.

You screamed. “Eddie!” You quickly leapt for it, but he stood tall and held it above your head.

“I don’t think so!” He tsked. “Didn’t know you had one of these laying around. Am I not satisfying you?” His eyes darkened playfully, making you roll your eyes.

“Oh, please, Eddie, drop it.” You jumped to reach it. “Please, forget you- Jesus, you’re tall!”

He scoffed and handed it to you, buzzing still loud and when you got it, you quickly switched it off, face burning and hands shaking from embarrassment. “Sorry you had to see that.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” He bounced off the sink to follow you into your bedroom. “We could have had some fun!”

“I don’t know.” You shrugged your shoulders. “I guess it’s just private, I suppose.”

Eddie smirked, taking a long stride over to you. He put his hands on your shoulders. “Well, my dear, I think I’ve been missing out. What do you say we add a little something new to the mix?” He kept his eyes on you, slowly walking you backwards to your shared bed.

You wiggled your brows and hummed, matching his lips in a hot kiss. You both fell to the bed in a heap, clothes flinging off to the floor one by one. You squeaked when he gripped your hips and spun you around, putting you face first into the mattress. He grabbed you and lifted your hips up to meet his face. She smirked, spitting in his fingers and rubbing them up your slick cunt. You gasped, reaching out to grab a pillow.

“Uh, uh.” He smacked your ass, making you squeal. “Keep your hands still.”

He pushed into your pussy, standing behind you at the foot of the bed. You moaned pathetically, drooling into the pillow so quickly it barely had even started. That’s the way sex was with Eddie. He knew you so well, knew all the right buttons to push.

You couldn’t help but blush when the sound of your vibrator turned on, and when it pushed at your clit, body bent over and ass up, you sobbed, a tear pushing past your lids. Eddie knew how stimulated you got and how quickly you did so. “Fuck,” You cried. “Oh, let me me feel you, please!”

“No.” He turned up the speed of the toy, smacking your ass with his free hand. “You wanna play with yourself without me? Then you’ll take your punishment and enjoy it.”

He spanked you again and again from cheek to cheek, making you jump out of your place and yelp from the sting of his hand.

“It’s mine.” He sneered. “My pussy.”

“I’m sorry!” You sobbed. “Just fuck me please!”

He slipped the vibrator into your cunt, the pink tip disappearing inside of you. He thrusted it in and out of you quickly, smacking your ass here and there until you were near purple with bruises. You saw stars as you came, panting heavily and shakily.

When you collapsed. He stood there with a dumb, goofy grin on his face. “See? Fun, right?”

[marcelloshdz]

couples quiz

summary: you and marcello are the featured guests on the upcoming episode of the GQ "couples quiz." requested by anonymous. marcello x female!singer reader. this ended up being quite long, but i hope you enjoy! <3

“and there we go! you look stunning.” your makeup artist said to you.

“thanks to you.” you smiled at them. you were on set with GQ, getting ready to film a video with them. they’d invited you and marcello you partake in one of their “couples quiz” videos, and the two of you jumped at the opportunity.

you were led to the set, taking your seat as you waited for marcello to join you. he smiled at you has he walked over to you, pressing a kiss to your cheek before taking his seat across from you.

“you guys ready?” the producer asked, and you both nodded. 

“so ready.” you said with a smile, as some members from the crew handed you your question cards.

they counted down, and began rolling, you and marcello putting on your best faces and beginning the video.

“hey there, i’m y/n l/n,”

“and i’m marcello hernández,”

“and this is the GQ couples quiz.” you said in unison.

“alright, who wants to start?” you asked. 

“ladies first.” marcello said with a smile.

“well then, alright.” you settled the question cards in your hands, reading him the first one. “okay, this is a simple one to get us started. what is my favorite nickname for you?” you asked. 

“you call me cello a lot. or cellito, if you’re feeling flirtier than normal. but you’re also very heavy on the babe or baby. sometimes honey, which i personally love.”

“hmm, good to know.” you laughed before moving on to the next question. “oh, this is a good one. what was the first song i ever played for you?”

“i don’t want to give too much away, because as far as i know, it’s unreleased, yeah?” he asked, and you nodded.

“it is.” 

“but, i can say that you wrote it shortly after we made it official. so, almost four years ago. and, it’s about me.” he said, with a smirk to the camera.

“that is correct. at this point, i’m not sure i wanna release it, and instead just keep it between the two of us.” you said to the camera. you then moved on to the next question. “what is my favorite date we’ve been on?” 

“ooh, i know this one real well, because you tell this story all the time to people we meet.” he laughed, and you blushed. “it was when we were first dating, we were both in LA for work, and had coinciding days off. i took you to griffith park, we had a picnic, and we made friendship bracelets for each other with our initials on them. then, after lunch, we drove up mulholland, parked at one of the overlooks, and laid on the hood of our car while we watched the sunset over the city. it was very romantic. that was the night i asked you to be my girlfriend.” 

“i never told you this, but i’m sure i was already falling in love with you at that point. it was only like, a month or so after we started hanging out and talking, but i was already locked in.” 

“honestly, so was i.” marcello said, echoing your sentiment with a smile.

“next question; what is my favorite sketch of yours?” 

“you always tell me you have multiple favorites, and they change like, every month.” he laughed before answering.

“that is true, but i do have one all time favorite. one that i, without question, would top tier marcello sketches. and we’re not talking update features, because i love all of those. just live sketches.” you explained.

“okay, that helps me a bit. i’m gonna go with either fusion scientist, or the age of discovery.” he said.

“it is fusion scientist, but i’m only gonna give you half a point because you hesitated.”

“aw man.” he laughed. 

“although, i do also love the age of discovery. there’s something about fusion scientist  that just always gets me. i had genuine tears in my eyes the first time i watched it, and am still bitter it was cut for time.”  you clarified.

“that one was really fun to perform. it was so ridiculous and goofy, but i loved it.” he explained. 

“and thats why i love it too.” you said. “alright, next question. oh, this is a good one; what is my favorite gift you’ve given me?” you finished the question, and watched his eyes flit to your hands, landing on your ring finger on your left hand. he reached out to you, and you placed your hand in his, smiling as he pressed a kiss to the ring.

“this right here.” he said as you held your hand out to the camera for a close up. “i got you that ring on our first anniversary. it’s our birthstones in a heart shaped setting.” 

“not only is it my favorite gift you’ve given me, but i think it’s my favorite gift i’ve ever gotten, ever.” you said. you finished out your questions, tallying up marcello’s score. “alright, we are sitting at a nice round 20 points.” you said to the camera. 

“well, good for me.” he said with a laugh. “alright, my turn. first up, what sports did i play growing up?” he asked you.

“soccer was your main sport, and you played it throughout high school and college. but you also played baseball, and dabbled in golf, and sometimes fishing?”

“wow. yes to all of those. um, i don’t think i want to play this game anymore.” he laughed. 

“hey, we’re only one question in. don’t get too discouraged.”

“next question; who has been my favorite host to work with so far on snl?”

“either pedro or benito.” you answered, and he nodded. “those were really big episodes for you, and i know you had a good time getting to write and work on pretty good sketches during those episodes.” 

“those were both really good, and i enjoyed them both a lot. but, if i had to pick, i would pick benito over pedro.”

“oh, tea.” you gasped through a laugh.

“only because of the age of discovery sketch. that sketch being entirely in spanish, and all the love we got on it, it made me really proud. pedro was also part of that episode, so that still counts.” he explained. “what is my favorite food?” he asked.

“anything cuban or dominican. chuletas, tostones, literally anything else. you’re very easy to please.” you answered immediately. “c’mon give me a challenge.”

“yeah i should’ve skipped that one.” he laughed. “next one. oh, here’s a good one. what was i wearing on our first date?”

“you were wearing a dark blue cardigan, over a white t-shirt, with blue jeans, and white sneakers.” you answered. “i had a picture of us from that night as my phone wallpaper for a long time, it’s practically burned into my brain at this point.” you said. “do you remember what i was wearing?” you asked him

“you were wearing a black, like, lacy top, with a white skirt and black platform loafers.” 

“actually,”

“what?!” he said loudly, feigning offense.

“no, i’m just kidding. that was right.” you laughed.

“i was about to be so mad.” he laughed. “alright, next one; where was our first kiss?” he asked.

“our first kiss was on the beach in miami. you were home, visiting family and some friends. you asked if i wanted to come see you, and of course, being as down bad as i already was, i immediately jumped on a plane with zero hesitation. we had just finished lunch, and we were hanging out on the beach near where you grew up. we were sitting there in silence, listening to the waves crash on the shore, when we turned to each other, and we kissed. i remember it being really awkward, and us almost missing?”

“i do remember that as well.” he laughed. “but look at us now, so it must not have been too terrible.”

“it was a first kiss, so you kinda expect it to be awkward. but it was good in the long run.” you said, and marcello nodded, smiling at you. before continuing through the next couple of questions.

“alright, i think this is my last one.”

“and, not to brag, but i am only one point behind you.” you said, raising an eyebrow at him.

“well, then this will count for two points.” he said, clearing his throat. “which one of us made the first move?”

“you did.”

“wow, that was fast.”

“you did! we were at an snl after party, after dua lipa’s episode. which, i was invited to by her, by the way.” you said, matter-of-factly. “we were both at the bar, waiting for our drinks, and made small talk. we hung out for a bit, and by the end of the night, you were already asking for my number. barely two days later, you were asking me to go out.” 

“and you accepted without hesitation.” 

“well, yes, but this isn’t about me.” you teased, and marcello rolled his eyes at you.

“well, that was my last question. our final scores are 21 to 20, y/n only getting extra points because i played multiple sports growing up.” 

“and for that, i thank you.” you laughed.

you filmed the outro for the video, saying good bye and thanking the future audience for watching. there was a loud “CUT!” from behind the camera, and the producers and crew were thanking you and marcello for such a fun episode.

“thanks for having us! this was a lot of fun.” marcello said, and you nodded in agreement. the two of you headed out to your car, making your way to a nearby restaurant for lunch. you got your food, and sat down at a table, replaying the events of the afternoon. 

“we should do more things like that. i know we pride ourselves on having quite a private relationship, but it was a lot of fun.” marcello said to you.

“it was! but i feel like youre just suggesting that so you can redeem yourself and let the people know that you know me better than i know you.” you said to him. 

“no, why would you ever think that?” he asked sarcastically. you just laughed and shook your head. the two of you finished your lunch, enjoying your meal and being with each other. truthfully, marcello knew you better than you knew yourself, and vice versa. and that made you happier than you could ever put into words.

[hotvintagepoll]

Propaganda

Alice Roberts (Pandora's Box)—I dunno if she was a star per se but she did this groundbreaking lesbian role in a very groundbreaking 1920 movie and she won my heart while doing so. And his 1920's butch style is on pointtt

Lillian Gish (The Wind, Broken Blossoms)—Known as "The First Lady of American Cinema," Lillian Gish was an Academy Award nominated actress that actually began her career as a child actor onstage in theater plays. She was a prominent actress during the silent film era and her ethereal beauty made her one of the most popular actresses of the time/ She was a favorite leading lady of famous director D.W. Griffith, starring in several of his films, including the controversial Birth of a Nation. She was known to go to extremes in preparing for roles, such as sustaining permanent nerve damage in her fingers on one hand after filming a scene in Way Down East where she fainted on an ice floe and kept her hand partially submerged in the frigid water. Her screams during the famous closet scene of Broken Blossoms were supposedly so realistic and horrific that tale has it that bystanders outside the studio had to be stopped from rushing in to help. She is listed on AFI's list of the greatest female stars of classic American Cinema and was awarded several honors during her career.

This is round 1 of the tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.

3/3/2024 EDIT: there has been a lot of discussion on this poll that I'm currently examining. Please read the propaganda carefully and weigh your options before voting.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut.]

Lillian Gish propaganda:

"I love her just. So so much."

"Was in (arguably) the first movie ever and yeah it was a crap movie but still. Also watch her in Broken Blossoms, man can she ACT (and if an actress is good at her craft it does in fact make me more horny for her)"

"she's literally everything to me i'm not even kidding. quite LITERALLY called the First Lady of American Cinema, she was a damn pioneer of silent movies and acting. she wrote! she directed! she is exactly what i think a fairy would look like actually. she slayed in The Wind. i mean. look at Her"

[griffgutsiscanon]

what if in order to "defeat" griffith, guts will have to lure him into gay sex, similar to what he did with that female apostle? except this time guts completely forgets his urge to kill.

[voices-in-dark-violets-head]

Queen of Sin

“Please…I need her…” He began, only to be silenced when one of her large paws flattened against his chest.

“You are no better than a dog, Samuel Griffith. Chasing females of your own species to fill that need within you.” She laughed, cruel and heartless. “A need so craven that it will never, ever be sated. You think your brother an addict? Wait until I am through with you.” Those heavy paws pressed against his pale chest and began to grind in an oddly sensual motion that made him gasp under his breath. “In this city, all dogs bow to me, and so shall you.”

When that tongue ran along his lips once again, more forcefully this time, his mouth creaked open despite the scant resistance he was trying to field. His mind was going mad, thoughts scattering like the fraying ends of thread pulled to their limits and ripped apart. The amorous feeling that came over him was unlike any brought on by alcohol or the provocative nature of the women he took to his bed. They had all been so easy, and he had manipulated them to get what he wanted, even though he thought himself better than such repulsive tactics.

Her tongue entered his mouth, a twisting, living thing that spread its vile taste everywhere it could reach while tickling the back of his throat. His arms were moving, but they were no longer his own, controlled by an invisible puppeteer that made him extend one over the bitch’s back and draw her closer to him... - Excerpt from 'Queen of Sin' by the fantastic WolvesAtYourDoor <3

[victimsofyaoipoll]

Semifinals

Sakura Haruno

Her husband is gay and her author doesn't know how to write women. So many people say she's the worst but she. DESERVES. BETTER!!! Save her from this franchise.

My baby girl my bestie my best friend. She committed the crime of um being written by kishimoto who both doesn’t know how to write women and somehow writes men in the gayest way possible specifically naruto and sasuke. Like the thing is naruto and sasuke ARE gay and also she gets so much hate for the crime of kishimoto writing her one dimensionally in love with sasuke. I know her personally she is a butch lesbian to me just trust me she’s in love with Ino and has a lesbian thing going on with Karin okay just trust me. My everything. She needs to divorce the loveless lavender marriage she’s in 

What is there to say, even? The OG Threat to my 90s anime brain, the only woman I've ever hated with such a passion she made me turn away from the color pink. I used to write fics with my friend where she got left behind on purpose so our OCs could join the Naruto and Sasuke team instead. I loathed this bitch until I was 16 and realized the author simply couldnt write women and decided it was time to make peace with Sakura. It is not her fault she's vaguely written and obsessive over Sasuke. She deserves better. Sasuke and Naruto still should be together and Sakura shouldnt be with Sasuke but I no longer believe this because I hate Sakura, it is because I love her. She deserves a spouse who will actually put in the time to treat her like the hero she is.

Casca

She is part of a weird fucked up love triangle with two dudes. All three of them are honestly kind of terrible for each other but she gets shoved aside in favor of the two dudes in most fics and is not allowed to grow past the toxic relationships of her past. Also she’s a cis woman who dresses pretty masculinely (because she’s in a mercenary band) so she gets type casted as the mean lesbian friend, when she’s straight in canon

I've seen more than one Yaoi Shipper say that Casca should have died during this one big canon event as opposed to being assaulted by one of the people in the Yaoi Ship, which of course conveniently would remove her from the narrative and as an obstacle to said Yaoi Ship. Aside from that specifically, though, I think it's particularly cruel to imply that being killed is a better outcome than being a victim of SA, and is an example of the contempt fandom on the whole has for female characters who act traumatized - particularly when both male characters in the ship have similar trauma and its never implied they should have died rather than be assaulted.

She's an incredibly interesting character in her own right with really good dynamics and parallels to Griffith and Guts, and the way those three play off of each other is integral to the story, but most of what I've seen completely ignores her in favor of focusing on only Griffith and Guts

[notme123stuff]

Hi Uhm I’m new to tumblr so idk how this works but could you kindly do a fic with like Griffith x reader where reader is like female Guts and he’s obsessed and infatuated with her so much and he’s possessive and one night they sleep together and he convinces her to sleep with him? Because she was going to leave or something that night

ofc :) WARNINGS: possessiveness, reader and griffith just sleep not like sleep sleep if you get what i mean. yall should be fine it aint that hardcore per say your shoulders ace as you lift your sword to strike, though it isn't too big it is definitely taller than your already muscular body. but you are used to it. you got used to it for him, this event has repeated so much that you don't feel the deja vu anymore. you had killed so many other people for him. Though you do have more leisure time with your choices, after all, you're so good at your job. you were born on the battlefield and were made for it. The sound of steel clashing against steel echoed through the night, the battlefield littered with the remnants of your work. Blood splattered across your face, mixing with the sweat and grime from the relentless combat. Your sword felt like an extension of your arm, a tool you wielded with deadly precision, all for him. You sheathed your blade, surveying the bodies that lay at your feet. The rhythmic pounding of your heart, still calming down from the battle, filled your ears. It was just another night. Another slaughter for his cause. "You're still standing," Griffith's voice rang softly from behind, smooth and laced with an almost imperceptible admiration. He had that way about him—his words like a caress, but with an edge that could cut as deeply as your sword. You didn’t turn to face him. You didn't need to. You could feel his gaze burning into you, the same way it always did. He watched you, always watching. "I’m always standing," you replied gruffly, wiping the blood from your hands on your armor. Your muscles ached, your bones tired, but you were used to it. You’d grown accustomed to the endless cycle of violence, fighting for his ambitions, his dream. But lately, that dream felt like a cage tightening around your chest. For a long time, you didn’t question it. You followed him, fought for him, bled for him—because you had nowhere else to go. But tonight… tonight you felt different. There was a gnawing ache in your chest, one you couldn’t ignore any longer. You’d been thinking about leaving. Finally breaking free. You inhaled deeply, turning to face him. His pale hair glimmered in the moonlight, eyes were like icy pools that seemed to draw you in. Griffith was the embodiment of everything you once thought you wanted, but now… now you weren’t so sure. "I'm leaving after this," you said, your voice steady despite the tension between you. "I've done enough." pt 2 will be released

[mysticstarlightmiracle]

I honestly don't use tumblr but Lily is apperently targeting FMA as her new punching bag which is so funny to me because if, and i'm honestly begging to God, "IF" Lily makes a video about it, the entire anime community will burn her at the stake for what she says. But since Lily wants to shit talk series that she knows people love, let me add a few more because I think it would be really funny if she stumbles onto my post:

I beg you Lily, please make a video on Berserk, I want to see how funny it will be when you are forced to keep taking down your video because the comments don't agree with your opinions on Griffith, Casca and Guts.

How much money do you guys want to bet that if Lily sat through Vinland Saga, she'd miss the point of Thorfinn's character?

Mushoku would probably fry Lily's brain because the theme of Mushoku Tensei is about a shitty person getting a second chance at life and becoming better, but Lily doesn't understand nuance lol.

I'm really curious to know what Lily would think about Frieren, one of the best fantasy anime, that is a shonen that follows one of the most interesting female MCs learning to find the joy in living life.

Since Lily can't stomach any show that has world building or nuance and wants slice of life UwU series. Read A Bride's Story Lily, it's a Seinen written and drawn by Kaoru Mori. It's a manga with amazing female characters, but i bet you won't even get past Talas's Arc without calling her a predatory weirdo.

Ahhh yes, what is currently one of Shonen Jumps hit series, Chainsaw Man. I wonder if Lily is gonna hate Denji and like the predatory woman who abuses him and traumatises him because she wants him to obey her and only her. HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM I wonder

Cyberpunk Edgerunners, the one series I know Lily would turn off the moment the show get's hyper violent because she can't watch anything that isn't a cute coffee shop A.U where the characters are as bland as her writing.

In conclusion: Lily, the person who made a video on Wholesome Media Vs. Dark Media, is to much of a coward to watch anything with nuance, and the person who has a very visible hate boner for successful woman who have actually had a contributing factor to mainstream pop-culture and media, has no right to shit talk one of the greatest series of all time.

[ladygriffith]

female Griffith

[galvanizedfriend]

do you recommend watching The Originals?

Nonnie, you're out with the tough questions 😂

I've been here thinking about this for a few minutes. The answer is... depends? lol I know some people who really like The Originals, so it's hard to say that you should or shouldn't watch it. It really depends on what kind of thing you're looking for and where do you draw a line.

Personally, I have a lot of issues with TO lol And back when it was still airing and I was watching it as the episodes came out, I abandoned it halfway through S3 because I got to a point where the very far and few good parts were no longer making it worth my while. A lot of people think S3 is the best season, I think it's by far the worst one lol So you see how it really depends.

But I do like it that I watched it in end, even though it took me a few years. It gives me authority that I know exactly what I'm talking about when I shit talk it lol also whenever people who can't stand the show have a canon-related question, they come to me because I watched it some 200 times so other people don't have to suffer through it, and I think that's beautiful 😂😂

Here's a simple pros vs cons list *in my opinion*: Pros: it's more Mikaelson screen time, so there's that. That are some plot lines that had potential, although almost none of them are well executed. Seasons 1 and 2 are actually kind of ok. S3 and 4 Klaus hair is 🤌🤌🤌 The WILD CURLS ERA! I'm a simple girl, you give me Klaus in tight Henley shirts with curly curls, I'm in. There are some great family moments scattered throughout the seasons, some really cool scenes that make you think 'wow, this could've been a great show' (right before you get pissed off that it wasn't). Daniel Sharman's Kol is, IMHO, the superior Kol (I don't like Nate Buzz's acting). Jomo really delivers as Klaus regardless the whole bullshittery around him and gets some great chances to just be a little shit, which I love. There are some great Klaroline moments (and not just in S5). And in spite of my overall feelings for TO, one of my favorite all-time TVDverse characters is from there: Vincent Griffith. I love him to bits. I also really like Marcel, even though he becomes a glorified extra after S1, and Jackson. Also, if you're really into werewolves, this is really the show where they get any screen time. I'm not saying it's good, but at least it's there (and no, Klaus never turns into a wolf, it makes no sense).

Cons: Really bad, inconsistent writing. Some seasons have storylines that just die out of nowhere for no reason (*cough*season 3*cough*). The whole premise of the show is insane (there was absolutely no need for Hope when Marcel is right there). The crossovers with TVD are very poorly done and very glaring opportunities go unexplored (like at the end of S1). Rebekah drops out pretty soon into the show. Elijah changes personality at least once every season to the point where, by the end of the show, they just retcon him completely. The finale is RIDICULOUS. Season 4 was written by someone on a wild acid trip, season 5 is really not worth your time AT ALL (except for the Klaroline moments). Female characters are very badly treated (pretty standard in the TVDverse, but anyway). Klamille is a thing, although, as with everything else, it's so badly done it's only marginally there. There are a lot of retcons and rewritings of the show's own mythology, which is annoying. And it's just... Bad. I don't know what to say, it just never lived up to the hype of what a show about the Original family could've been or what TVD had been at its peak. It's never, ever even remotely as good as TVD was around S2-3, not even at its best moments.

Those are my personal opinions, anyway. I'm sure others might feel different, but each to their own. It's really about you considering whether or not that's something you might enjoy or if it will at least be worth your time. Maybe start it and see how you feel? Worst case scenario, at least you get to see more of Klaus prancing around New Orleans.

Also, the first episode of TO is different from the backdoor pilot in TVD. That's more of a Klaus POV one, while the one in TO is more an Elijah POV.

hope my TED Talk helps you! 😂

[deripmaver]

Did Kentaro Miura Confirm Casca "Enjoyed It"?!?!?!

LOL another day another weird google translate from kojion causing a stir in the Berserk fandom. Explicit discussion of rape and feeling physical pleasure during rape to follow, be careful if that's not something you can read!

While at first everyone was furious and demanding a source, and rightly so, someone posted the magazine this interview came from:

I have absolutely no japanese language skills at all, so I have no idea how much this translation matches up with kojion's post. I did a bit more digging and found a second English translation, which I've helpfully flipped horizontal so you don't have to crane your necks like I did LOL:

To be clear, the specific phrasing of Casca experiencing pleasure, and reaching "ecstasy" (I'm assuming that means orgasm) are FROM THE FEMALE ARTICLE WRITER. She is saying that to HER it's clear that Casca is experiencing pleasure and reaching orgasm.

The response from Miura is a lot harder to parse, in my opinion. Per the writer, he responds, "Even without the God Hand, Casca thought she would feel pleasure if the person being raped was Griffith" (kojion, I think this is supposed to say something like "she would feel pleasure if the person she was being raped by was Griffith") or "Even if we didn't mention the God Hand, I thought Casca would feel that way (ie from the previous paragraph, that the rape would feel good) if the other person was Griffith."

I suppose I have two sets of thoughts about this, the first set being that I really don't think this is the smoking gun of "Miura says Casca liked being raped!" that people are interpreting it as. It's very possible that Miura is only referring to physical feelings of pleasure and orgasm during rape and not actually enjoying it in like... a NTR hentai kind of way LOL. The question really is whether Kentaro Miura in 1996 had the nuanced perspective on sexual violence to say that sometimes during rape the victim feels an unwanted pleasure response, but that doesn't negate the traumatic psychological effects of it, and in some ways that unwanted arousal can create its own host of traumatic psychological effects. It's possible imo, but I can't say for sure. Either way, simply having your main character experience orgasm during rape isn't in and of itself a bad thing to do (Diana Gabaldon did it too, in Outlander), it's more about the intention behind it.

What I CAN say for sure is that everything about Casca's character during and after the eclipse is meant to indicate that the rape was mind-breakingly traumatic for her. From how she tells Guts not to watch, to of course how she completely regresses into this infantile state, to her reaction to seeing Griffith on the Hill of Swords being panic and terror, I really don't see any argument within canon for the idea that she "enjoyed" the rape beyond possibly being physically aroused, which I've already discussed.

The second set of thoughts I have are basically: this article is from 1996. It was published twenty seven years ago. In a much more recent article from 2019, Miura had this to say on the topic of sexual assault in Berserk:

Though this again isn't the smoking gun of "Miura regrets the sexual violence in early Berserk" people make it out to be, it's very clear his perspective has grown and changed as he got older. I think, in order to understand Miura's thoughts about Casca's rape at the time of his death, it makes much more sense to look at his words about the corridor of dreams chapters, and the chapters themselves. At some point in between 1996 and 2019 he clearly came to the conclusion that specifically being raped by Griffith was what caused her to shatter mentally, so honestly... Even if you take the least charitable interpretation of the quote from 1996, I think you have to acknowledge that he clearly doesn't feel that way now. Or, didn't. Like, in ~2019, this is how wrote Casca having PTSD:

I also want to include this quote from kojion's account about how Miura reacted after the eclipse:

There are a bunch of other quotes of Miura feeling depressed after the eclipse, I was gonna find more but I forgot kojion has a habit of posting the most explicit eclipse panels uncensored on his twitter and I'm not gonna wade through those for them. Either way, I just don't think there's much to support the idea that the eclipse was supposed to be anything BUT horrible and traumatic.

Anyways, tl;dr, Miura doesn't ever say "Casca enjoyed being raped," that's from the interviewer. He could very well be referring to an unwanted arousal response. And even if he wasn't and did really mean she was kind of into it, though I don't think this is supported by canon, he clearly has grown a lot since this was published twenty seven years ago.

[robinfrinjs]

Formula E Testing Recap

Photo: Malcolm Griffiths

Last Tuesday, Formula E kicked off its 2024/25 season with their pre-season test. The fact that the test even happened is a huge miracle, as initially, the test was meant to start on Monday in Valencia (FE's usual venue for testing).

The floods in Valencia taking the lives of hundreds of people meant the test could not go ahead as planned. Over the weekend Formula E was able to reschedule the test to a circuit in Madrid, Circuito del Jarama

How Formula E made it happen:

Before the first session at Jarama last Tuesday, Formula E held a minute of silence and donated €50,000 to immediate relief efforts.

Test Sessions

All full session reports

Testing went underway Tuesday afternoon without Nissan and Jaguar as both teams had to sit out the first session. They were found to have breached the cost cap in 2023 and this was their punishment alongside a fine.

All sessions passed without any major incidents - so now testing has come to a close it can be said (from a fan's perspective at least) that it was a quiet test.

Trial Race

On Thursday afternoon Formula E started the session with a mock race set to trial Pit Boost (previously called Attack Charge)

Photo: Andrew Ferraro

The race start was delayed as Zane Maloney failed to get off the dummy grid. His team later explained that an electrical fault caused the accident data recorder to flag a ‘crash event’. This meant his battery shut off as a safety precaution in the event of an actual crash.

The race was won by Pascal Wehrlein with his teammate António Félix da Costa finishing in second marking a Porsche 1-2.

The Penske's of Günther and Vergne experienced troubles with Pit Boost while Nissan's Norman Nato also lost 9 seconds in the pit lane.

Despite this the trial was seen as mostly a success and it is now expected to debut during FE's visit to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.

Women's test

Full report

Despite rescheduling the test, Formula E's women's test session still went ahead.

Photo: Simon Galloway

Abbi Pulling topped the test with a 1:30.889, 3.4s off Mitch Evans' fastest time during the test. Considering the preparation and time Evans and all other Formula E drivers had compared to the female drivers, 3.4s off is not too bad.

Overall Results

Mitch Evans topped the overall times with a 1:27.461 set during the closing stages of the week.

Not much can be said about what these times mean. This track is not really representative of Formula E tracks either way. We will know more come the first race in a month, but then again running order in Formula E varies a lot depending on the track.

It does look set to be an exciting season as always and the Gen 3 Evo seems to be a good step forward.

[bthump]

I’m not coming from a place of hate at all, I enjoy your takes on Berserk homoeroticism and appreciate your refreshing ability to make well informed, intellectual analysis so accessible for other fans. It is an important resource to have when dudebros try to make their homophobic bias sound like good arguments. However, when it comes to your analysis of Casca, I find myself disagreeing with almost everything you say. I’m usually only reading your blog quietly because I enjoy the discourse, but I feel like I need to add my two cents. I agree that Cascas writing falls flat to a degree, but I can’t help but think that you’re downplaying her character and arc because you don’t enjoy the parts of Berserk that aren’t about homoerotic tension between Guts and Griffith. Their homoerotic tension is also what is most interesting to me, but it’s not what Berserk is inherently about. We could dismiss Casca by saying ˋMiura can’t write women´, but then again characters like Farnese exist who have an entire complex thematic arc tied to religious extremism, authoritarian character and freeing herself from dogmatism and Berserk as a story is not punishing her or asking for redemption and is instead inherently ridding itself from moralizing judgements of characters. She’s allowed to evolve by herself. As a queer person, I see myself in her. Theres so much queerness and comphet in her story, I’m sad that there’s not many meta posts about her on here. Does Berserk have ideological streaks of conservatism and misunderstands women because Miura has a misogynistic bias? Yeah, unfortunately. But the story and many of the main characters are too complex and ambiguous for me to write them all off based on how some of their arcs are not feminist enough and could need improving. Imagine writing such a complicated and long story with so many characters as just one simple Japanese dude who never leaves his house and who was born in the 70s or whatever. Like, I get separating the story from the author and impact versus intent, but dismissing Casca because of her flaws in writing is dismissing all of Berserk because of some thematic flaws. It sounds like you’re expecting the perfect story for her to be a valid female character and that’s just not possible. I for once made peace with her flaws and am not rejecting her. I think Cascas story works for what it is and I empathize with her as someone who has experienced misogyny and SA. Farny and Schierke working through her trauma magically was a nice metaphor for solidarity between women and it’s rare to see that coming from a male author, I don’t think it’s less valid just because Miura has some gender bias. Casca still experiencing PTSD afterwards is also realistic and shows that Miura is willing to give Casca enough agency to work through that by herself without magic some time in the future of the story. Her story is uncomfortable and her character arc is long and flawed, but that’s what makes it impossible for me to dismiss her. I’m a bit disappointed that so many fans on the tumblr side are willing to basically rid Griffith from all his wrongdoings but then empathize the flaws in Casca and don’t understand that maybe they also have some internalized misogyny that doesn’t make them understand that bias. Especially with the argument that I often see with She Should Have Died. Why? Because she’s uncomfortable? Maybe explore that within yourself. Other than that I am happy to have this queer part of the fandom where we don’t judge each other for liking Griffith and enjoying GriffGuts as a ship. And I hope that you don’t think too harshly of my criticism, for it is only to improve our fandom discourse culture and not to throw stones. Thank you for existing!

Okay look, while I do appreciate the appreciation for my non-casca blog content, I can't look past this coming hand in hand with a lot of pretty insulting, and frankly baseless assumptions about my motives. I'm glad you're not coming from a place of hate, but from the sounds of it you're coming from a place of presumptive judgement, and I want to address that.

I've always been very direct and clear about how I don't think someone's tastes or opinions about a story reflect on them personally. I don't judge someone's character by their fictional interests, I judge it by their words and actions.

If you're going to be interacting with my blog, I'd appreciate being extended the same benefit of the doubt.

You seem to see someone who doesn't enjoy Casca's storyline and make assumptions about why, rather than taking the reasons I provide at face value. I have explained why, very thoroughly, quite often, and quite recently, while constantly referring back to the text and to Miura's comments to justify my conclusions. I literally don't know how I can possibly be more direct about how I am discussing the narrative of a story on its own terms without going full dry academic language lol, come on.

I like to think I'm also very clear about when I'm expressing my subjective opinion (eg i dislike het romance; I'm super into romantic betrayal as a trope, etc) vs when I'm analysing the story based on direct textual evidence (eg casca has no active involvement in the narrative post-eclipse; casca's sexual abuse is eroticized; etc). I certainly try to be. And frankly it is genuinely pretty insulting that you think I'm incapable of judging Casca's story on its own merits or lackthereof, and must be over-emphasizing the flaws of her narrative because I only care about griffguts.

The truth is I genuinely believe that Griffith and Guts' relationship is the thematic core of Berserk, based on the text of the story, and I also genuinely believe Casca's storyline sucks ass in most ways. And it's okay to disagree with one or both of those takes, but yeah I'm gonna take a little bit of offense at the insinuation that I'm too biased by shipping or misogyny or both to analyse the story.

If you love Casca's story despite its flaws, good for you. I'm happy for you. I have no desire to argue with you to make you change your mind. And I don't think it makes you misogynist or ableist or racist, even though I think Casca's storyline contains all of the above to some degree - but if I was going to respond to you in the same vein that you've responded to me, that would be fair game as an assumption. It would also be fair game to assume that you only like Casca and are dismissive of or blind to many of the story's faults because you're projecting or you ship gtsca or you think good feminism is all about stanning certain designated fictional characters regardless of their actual depiction. And I think that is something wrong with fandom culture. I think those are all shitty assumptions to make about someone based on which fictional characters they enjoy reading about most. So like, straight up, you're the only one throwing stones here.

So I want to ask you: why is it that someone discussing offensive fictional tropes makes you assume they are the real misogynist? Why are you equating criticism of writing with criticism of real women, as though media trends and narrative framing don't exist? Why do you think it even matters if I "reject" a fictional character because I don't like how she's written lol?

This strikes me as the same line of thinking that leads to shutting down all criticism of misogyny in media - how dare you say this outfit is unrealistic for a martial artist, some women like to wear high heels! How dare you criticize the average husband/model-esque wife trope, some beautiful women love their average husbands! How dare you criticize comics for fridging the girlfriends of superheroes, women sometimes suffer horrible fates in real life! How dare you criticize the born sexy yesterday trope, some women are naive! etc etc etc.

And this is why it's important to have at least some understanding of narrative framing and greater media trends when discussing media on any level beyond headcanon and projection. Casca isn't real, and as a construct she is not a sensitive or realistic depiction of a traumatized woman, regardless of whether someone identifies with her. She's not a sensitive or realistic depiction of a disabled women either. There are literally "funny" cartoonish background gags involving her shoving random things into her mouth. She gets sexy fanservice while regressed to the mentality of a toddler. She is sexually assaulted by and then shipteased with the protagonist. I could go on all day lol, lbr here. I should not be obligated to brush all that aside and pretend it doesn't irritate me and sometimes offend me in order to valorize a woman who doesn't like, yk, exist.

You and anyone else are free to project on her and relate to her and sympathize with her and love her, and I think that's great and what fandom is all about, but that still doesn't make her writing strong. And I think it's worth discussing how and why her writing fails, the same way it's worth discussing any other flaw of Berserk, like Guts' character flattening with the Eclipse, or Farnese's sudden personality 180, or the awkward pacing, or the prominent scary black man trope, etc, all of which I've also discussed plenty. If you feel like I've disproportionately focused on Casca criticism, then there are 2 reasons for that: 1. I respond to asks 99% of the time, so it's what the people are asking about. 2. Casca's storyline is the most prominent bad and offensive writing in the story, like it's the number one thing that's likely to drive new potential fans away, so of course people are going to want to talk about it.

Also I've written like, a lot of meta and speculation and headcanons etc about Casca beyond criticism of her narrative lol, so if you're sad about the lack of discussion and meta about her it's ironic that you're coming to me with that complaint. Be the change you want to see in the world, start your own Casca centric blog if you want more meta about her to exist, or read more of what already exists. I'd say I'm doing my part as far as I'm concerned lol, but I don't like the way that phrasing implies that anyone has an obligation to focus their interest on any particular fictional character.

I'm glad you enjoy other aspects of my blog, and if you stick around after this admittedly irritable response I hope you continue enjoying them. But if you feel the need to engage with me to defend a fictional character from my criticism again in the future, I'd appreciate it if you engaged with that criticism directly and analytically, rather than speculating about my character and motives.