#what if i draw the most niche fandom art to ever exist

[cirr0stratus]

does the Lord make house calls?

“The radio followed close behind, and he gingerly slid it over his back, wincing when the sharp corner of the cold metal dug into the small of his back.

He didn’t need to bring the radio — hardly ever, almost — but he always did, anyways. Like a comfort that did nothing.”

inspired by the little talks collection by @blood-mocha-latte

[madfantasy]

To fan art and fiction enjoyers:

Please excuse my rage slipping if it happened over having to address this literal mediocrity of a subject in comparison to endless things that actually matters in real life. Because this would be at the scrapping bottom of it, but since the occasion presented itself, here we are:

Do you know there are some, let's say, manners, being in fandoms, and/or in using social media in general? NOOO? 8U

Well, Lets start somewhere!

Like it or not, YOU NEED TO ACTUALLY READ STUFF PEOPLE WRITE. Before you follow, before you comment, before you interact, because if you come across something you don't like, or you started to assume things— that's a you problem and not the fault of the poster.

If you DO NOT enjoy a character, a pair of ship, or a certain head cannon, filter the tag it's used for, Google has free tutorials on how. Most social media have these settings and most decent posters tag their posts correctly. If you keep seeing that pair, you can block the people who create it. You are free to do so ofc but WHY WOULD U come on main and air that out? Personally I find it so bizarre and it could show the type of person you are to other people — a toxic company over fictional substance — and I'd say that is not a flex, more like showing your dirty nappy in public. Those characters you love are not real and so not effected by your high ground stance, but actual humans that share you that love notice and get that impression, and it's a weird one. You SHOULD, of course, set your boundaries, and usually where that is be in your profile, on your bio or a pinned post.

Loving bizarre, villainous, creepy concepts DOES NOT EQUAL morality, nor loving good sunshine and flowers does. It's what a person does in real life what counts, not what they consume in entertainment. In fact, it is not a sign of a good person those who be shaming humans who like different fictional concepts. Or when someone keeps using ai generators knowing full well it's based on constant data theft of all sort of human creators across generations and can not exist without the continuance of this theft. Or those supporting creators that they know did irl crimes. Or those who are Policing what's can and cannot go into fiction as if the fickleness of preference have never let alot of things survive its judgement. And I can go on with the miniature examples. You are forgiven if you did not know before, some people learn through experience, but not anymore when you continue this behaviour. And maybe if you can't differentiate between reality and fiction, and what's more important than what, maybe, just maybe, you shouldn't be consuming fiction.

DO NOT POST WHAT YOU DID NOT CREATE. Do you like it when people keep posting your selfies that you only ment to share for funsies and what not? Isn't worse if you did not post that selfie in the first place or never wanted it to be used like that? It's the SAME FOR ART. This is the artists work just as much as your face is yours. Social media at the baseline is about who ever the poster is, their posts are theirs. So you posting an artist's drawing, with no permission, no credit to them, no nothing, is not allowed and people can report that. Don't be an ignorant thick fig and play the victim when schooled like this precious dear\s .Reposters disconnect so many content from their creators and this is how alot of beautiful things in life die, by simply not knowing they are loved, shoved into the over consumption machine..

And lastly, You don't have anything nice to say to OP? Don't say anything! It's not your misguided duty to educate people on how embarrassingly self centered you are, it's okay to be a basic #&★— I promise. It okay to feel out of place in a niche that doesn't concern you. It's okay to realise other people have different perspectives of the fiction work you enjoy. You can sit down.

And I'd like to add, Mani is a safe space for au and ships even if I don't like em, cuz they are only FICTION and will remain FICTION no matter how much I loved them or hated them.

Good day, dears🍀

[redfish-blu]

An Open Letter to the Danger Days Tumblr Community:

Now that you’ve read that overdramatic title and are wondering who fucked up, I have something to say about the Danger Days Tumblr community: I Love You.

Danger Days was the first fandom I ever posted for on any site. All the way back in middle school (ho-ly shit). And let me tell you what I found out even way back when: this is not an easy fandom to be in.

For one, most people don’t even know it exists. For two, even less know it in the way it’s been cultivated on Tumblr. Almost every single person has such a niche interpretation of every little detail, that it’s impossible to draw a line through any two versions of the story. Which is a fact I personally love, but I also think it scares a lot of people away. You have to work to be in this fandom. Both as a passive and active fan. It requires patience and tolerance for disappointment.

But that’s exactly why I want to encourage everyone who creates and everyone who listens to Keep Doing That. Like I cannot stress this enough, that is what keeps this fandom and IP alive. Danger Days as a universe would be absolutely nothing without fan work (re: the California Comics), especially a decade later. Without fans who care about this story way more than it has warranted us to care, it would be six feet under. And sometimes I really think that’s what it deserves (and maybe the writers think that as well), but for the life of me I just can’t let that happen. I’ve tried to let this fucking thing go, believe me.

And funny enough, that exact feeling is evidenced by the community on this site too. Which has changed faces almost completely from what it was three years ago for better and less better in some cases. And it’s something I still struggle with adjusting to, but I look at the tag daily. I look everyone’s posts and blogs and art and effort. If you have posted even once in the dd tag my eyes have 100% seen it. So even if I still feel a little out of place, like a ghost of fandom’s past, at least I know everybody. And I know people feel the same way: No rest for the wicked.

When I reanimated from my fandom coma I was fully expecting to find that the community had gone extinct. Partially because all the blogs I used to frequent had straight up died in the three years I was gone. But I pulled up to the gates of the Danger Days tag like Rick Grimes outside of Alexandria, fully expecting to be devastated, only to find New People tilling the fucking field. And it didn’t matter that I now had no idea who any of you people were, it was The Most welcoming thing ever.

I’ll be the first to tell you this fandom bares almost no resemblance to the one I left, and I’m not going to lie and say it’s better now, but the foundation didn’t get blown away in the storm. That’s what I find uniquely profound. That everyone here still wants to try. And that makes me really want to try. And I’m sure everyone would agree that there is often little reward for the effort; but that’s precisely my point in saying all this shit. That even despite the not fun aspects, we all still clock in; and there’s a new post, headcanon, drawing, or fic every freaking day. It’s commendable, really.

If you’re lurking, or post sometimes but feel afraid to actually take a leap here because (the fandom is comparatively tiny to the greater MCR fandom) you’ll be way more out there, and the already established figureheads of the fandom will definitely see your stuff: post post post. This is my formal endorsement to Just Post That Shit. And Interact With That Shit. I spent a year gathering the courage to publish the tiniest thing while behind the scenes I literally wrote about 60+ works. You have to respect your own creativity and trust that other people will give it the time of day.

So do not feel crazy or discouraged about your ideas here! Like we literally need them to function, I would not be here if it wasn’t for all the people three years ago who just posted all their thoughts about Danger Days. About everything. Obscure or not. It’s truly a gift that this fandom has attracted people who are willing to work their brains because the original creators let it fall flat. I cannot tell you how much being in this fandom has actually helped me out in my writing and analysis skills.

So yeah. I fucking love this fandom, I love being in it and I love seeing that people are still stoking the flames. I wanted to say all this crap because I knew I’d be able to articulate it for the people who can relate but don’t want to be the first to say it. Which is okay, understandable. As I said earlier this fandom is like yelling your thoughts out into a very echoey room that only has a few people in it. So I’ll shout first and maybe it’ll make other people more comfortable to shout back.

[skinnytuna]

(i'm anon who replied to your long post about audience validation and art)

thank you for your response, it's very interesting. it's actually kinda funny because I used to be a person who never, ever shared anything I did with other people (online or in person). I wouldn't talk about the media I enjoyed or showed the drawings I made. it always felt too intimate - I was only doing it for myself and so having other people's eyes on it wouldn't add anything to my enjoyment apart from shame from not liking or creating the 'perfect' thing. if I imagined what I would do in the future, it was only from the perspective of what I would actually create, rather than the validation it would give me.

and then my world view flipped, I guess as I became increasingly exposed to online validation. I still dont share anything I make but if I (indulgently) daydream about creating something, it is rarely purely the process of creation that I think about. I cant separate the stuff I do and the response I would get like I could as a kid. this is probably partly because of watching numbers rise online. but maybe it could also just be the sad reality of transitioning into adulthood? when you are young the stuff you make is never going to get you shit. but when you are older, you are expected to view the world with a transactional slant: whatever you give, you must get back in return.

idk how into fandoms you are but I love them because they are a way to remove that dependence on transaction (both monetary and inter-personal validation) we have. obviously, fandoms mostly exist in an online world and so some people are going to be more successful at creating than others (and some people might even manage to make a tiny amount of money) but mostly they are pretty equal. most artists (fic writers/fan artists) are only creating for the sake of creation. they like something, want to improve it or want to explore a world and so they create. some fanfic writers will never get past 100 kudos on a single work, but they still write thousands and thousands of more words. this is because, for them, writing is a hobby and a way to have fun. they are literally unable to monetise it, and the possible size of a response is often limited by the tiny size of a niche fandom.

fan fiction is wholly and unapologetically amateur. it can be a great quality, but writers have the freedom to create imperfect things and learn as they go. there are no critics, book sales or best seller lists - you can just make shit and put it out there if you want.

idk if any of that made sense but yeah

it's funny you say that about adulthood because there are so many like. 13 year old rappers now who are solely in it for the money or dont understand why they are doing it and their parents are encouraging them to do it for the money so like. childhood for us was very different to what childhood currently is, right now this year.

but i personally cant remember a time when i wasn't desperate for validation like when i was playing guitar when i was 8 or 10 i still had that "i hope im good enough i want to be good enough without trying" feeling it's just the people i wanted to impress were like, authority figures. i wanted my guitar teacher to think i was cool. i wanted my moms friends to think i was funny. i'm still afraid of doing anything i haven't already learned how to do, writing is the first New thing i've attempted in maybe my entire adulthood.

it's kind of funny, when i was younger i didn't realize how bad i was at writing music and that's the only reason i stuck to it long enough to learn anything. i was like laughably bad at it in high school and no one really went out of there way to grab me by the shoulders and say "hey! you suck at this! stop!" though a bunch of people did tell me it kinda sucked. i mostly just thought they were wrong. they weren't. but now part of me doesn't believe i could ever be any good at something that isn't that. like when i write fiction i know on a cognitive level if it ends up being good it's not because i worked hard or earned it or anything it's just a complete fluke. and i don't even really believe people when they tell me it's good. even though obviously i'm only posting it so people will tell me it's good.

in a way i feel like i'm sort of shifting back to the way i was in high school... every piece of art i make im like "this is the best shit ever" and then i post it and if people tell me it sucks im like "lol. incorrect. your tastes are Unrefined" and then i keep making more whatever crap whatever. which honestly is the best way to live i think. i have some people in my life who really like, respect and admire that i make whatever the fuck i want without ever really considering whether or not i should. which is funny because i have a lot of people in my life who are like, Normal artists, who Think before they make something, and try to make Good Things and i envy them greatly because it really comes through in the work.

though obviously as an evil bastard communist i am a strong believer that "Bad" Art Is Radical and "Good" Art is Bourgeois Idealism and i find myself constantly torn between, the allure of timesinks and iteration and the mystique of hyperprolific stream of consciousness artists and i feel like i'm the worst of both worlds by not being fully one way or the other! but i guess not everyone can be Lil B and not everyone can be Frank Ocean and some of us need to sit in between those two extremes...

look at all this me talking about how i never stop and think about the art while i'm stopping and thinking about the art... i'm an Olympic level liar rn.

i've never read a fanfiction in my life (outside of like.. homestuck smut when i was fifteen. which i guess Technically Counts.) but as the form is widely derided i'm sure it has the most artistic merit of any thing. i think a lot about what a world would be like where money and art are completely unrelated. and all art exists completely separate from how much dollars it can make a corporation. would being popular even matter? would people still seek fame... complicated questions. Way if we pees form butts

[silkflovvers]

I’m finally (momentarily) free and in desperate need of getting back into the art groove so I can work on personal projects I’ve been sitting on for nearly half a year.

So, I am opening up drawing requests for a very limited time (this week). I’ll chip away at them over my lunch breaks and as warm ups and cool downs before and after work. I won’t have time to do very many, so I’ll honestly just be picking the ones that inspire me most.

[EDIT: Okay, I have no idea how out of so few requests I’ve gotten, the majority of them have managed to pick out some of the specific things I said I wasn’t going to list because I didn’t think anyone would choose. So congrats, I guess? You guessed right but for the wrong thing.

I have never seen such niche requests in my life, but I’m not drawing those. If you send something that looks like niche fetish fuel from the depths of DeviantArt, I’m not drawing that. Sorry not sorry. I may be an NSFW artist, but it still feels gross to have these requests in my inbox. The people asking for these don’t even follow me, so they’re clearly just lurking for people offering drawing requests... Watch out fellow artists... there’s some real freaks out there.

I’ll take this time to add on other things I thought I wouldn’t have to, but probably ought to just in case.]

What I will draw:

Characters from pre-existing franchises (example: video games, anime, comics, etc)

Characters from fandoms I am and am not part of

Ships (within reason)

NSFW (within reason, may be posted to poipiku instead of Humblr if it doesn’t meet their guidelines)

Hybrids/Monsters

What I will not draw:

NOTP Ships

OCs

NSFW of underage characters (including non-sexual nudity)

Niche fetish fuel

Disney/Pixar characters

Cats*

TWST characters

Owl House characters

Steven Universe characters

A3 characters

Enstars characters

*To the person who wanted me to draw the cute lady cat from Puss and Boots, I’m sorry to say I have had to draw so many cats for work I’m actually just kind of sick of them, so I’ll have to say no to that request, I’m sorry TT  I’ll accept requests that may have cats as like.. a side thing, but I won’t do the request if cats are the main subject.

Request Guidelines:

Choose 1 to 2 characters and list them by name and what they’re from

Choose a style from below that you want me to draw it in

Any specifics you may have (example: specific outfit, bloody/injured, specific pose, etc.)

Send this information in an ask (can be anonymous or not)

[Image text: Sketch Style - Style 1 or Style 2, Finished Style - Style 3 or Style 4]

Please note that the rendered styles will take longer to complete.

If I choose your ask to draw, I won’t reply to it until I’ve drawn it so I don’t lose your ask. I’ll tag all the drawing requests with “#silkflovvers drawing requests” so they can be found easily.

[EDIT: I’m just going to delete the asks that made me uncomfortable so the people who made the weird requests can remain anonymous. I’m only doing that because I honestly don’t want to deal with it any more. But if you’re the one of the people who sent them, you’re getting blocked, actually. I never want to see the content you’ve requested on my dash, ever.]

[causticsunshine]

i usually talk about this kind of thing on twitter and instagram because there’s less people directly connected to me by way of what i’m talking about vs. on here (or even discord tbh?) so i can get a variation in feedback and opinions, but i don’t want to seem like i’m censoring what i say on here because regardless of platform, my opinion is the same, so i’m going to say as bluntly here as i have everywhere else.

the only thing i ask is that you keep in mind that this is all just my opinion coming from the place of an artist and a writer who’s been in several different fanbases over the years and has had many varied experiences in each, and this particular thing i’ll be talking about is definitely a more targeted Hot Take:

fandom, to a certain extent, is a kind of popularity contest, and it’s harmful to ignore that fact and say that it’s not, that we’re all loved and appreciated equally, especially when it’s very clear in some situations, that that is not the case.

it can be so damaging to your self worth and how you view your work when you constantly feel like nothing you do is good enough for the group you’re involved in, because you’re not in the select group of golden creators that are, by the luck of the draw more than anything else, able to be bountifully supported for the most part, regardless of what they’re posting, and how often they’re posting.

and in my experience, it’s particularly noticeable when it comes to fanbases where there’s a definitive imbalance in creator/content types, i.e. more art than fic, more fic than art, more gif edits than anything else, etc. 

that being said, those who are more involved with or make one medium - or maybe aren’t creative in that kind of way - may have a different kind of aesthetic appeal to a different medium they don’t have a more direct tie to ,which can definitely be a deciding factor when it comes to what hits the mark in group focused in one medium more than another, too; different creatives can be wired differently and personal taste is a factor too!

and i’m not saying it’s always like that, or a matter of quantity over quality, a niche style, whatever; luck can still be a key proponent here.

with all this in mind, the thing that bothers me about this particular situation as well as the fandom mentality with creators is: pretending that the support is spread out evenly between people, especially in fanbases/groups with this specific creator imbalance. you’d think that would make less sense because, well, if there’s less people making something, surely it’d be easier to support them all, right? 

at least in this case, and i mean the case of fandoms similar to that of harringrove, when it comes to there being a kind of imbalance i guess, between different types of creative content (in this case, the art community, to a degree, being smaller than writing), there’s sometimes a deft difference in support amongst creators. 

and i’m bringing this up now because over the past few months, i’ve been talking to different people who’ve told me they feel the way i do when it comes to this issue: what’s the point in me continuing to make my content when no one cares about or likes the stuff i do? 

we all know that, no matter how big or small the group, you’re not going to be into everything being made and put out there, not everyone’s going to be into what you do, and that’s totally fine, but you also usually don’t want people in your peer group feeling that way.

what i’m strictly talking about in this case is that there are a lot creators out here, there, everywhere, some new and some here since day one, trying their hardest to keep making content for this ever growing group of people, and getting little to nothing in return, while some can really post anything and receive mountains of support almost instantly.

popularity is probably always going to be a thing that’ll exist in these communities regardless of size and regardless of the balance between creative types/content, i know that! and those who get the luck of the draw when it comes to their work blowing up, they don’t pick or choose that, that’s really up to the surrounding audience, and it’s never intentional! the thing that bothers me in this particular case is, while it also can’t really be helped as it is just (maybe unfortunately) circumstantial, in a fanbase that’s not particularly that big and that’s a little more dominated by one medium while still hosting growing amount of creators, why are we still seemingly picking and choosing who gets more support instead of exploring all our options?

and remember what i said earlier, that different types of creators might have different niche aesthetics or perspectives towards things they’re not directly involved in compared to those who directly are involved in those things, that quantity over quality is sometimes really the only key factor to growth because social media craves constant posting to maintain any kind of standing, and people are going to kind of stick with what they know and like rather than explore.

sometimes it comes down to luck, too, like what comes across your feed, and it can be kinda hard to just hope you get to see something different or know where to go when you want to explore!

my question still stands, because i don’t really think those things should be totally used as excuses, particularly in this situation, but these are things to take into consideration, because really, as frustrating as it can be from any perspective: the patterns we fall into that may inadvertently affect other people usually aren’t intentional.

(also i’m not going to fully drag my whole ‘bold of you to demand free content from creators when you can’t even reblog their fucking posts or you wanna pick and choose who you give actual support to vs. do it because everyone else is’ convo in here, although it definitely plays a role in this too, when there’s intentional ignorance or blindsiding going on, but i’d like to give everyone the benefit of the doubt for the most part.)

like i said before too, i know not everyone’s work is going to be everyone’s cup of tea! i know you’re probably not even going to like everything a creator you really enjoy, makes! that’s just an unattainable goal and that’s not how we as people work. but strictly following or only supporting popular creators just because their content is more readily accessible or because stylistically they’re more what you’re used to isn’t... i dunno, the best thing to do? the most productive?

(overall, we know a creator that’s smaller doesn’t mean their content is worse and a creator being more well known doesn’t dictate they’ve got better content, and vise versa.)

this was also mentioned to me on discord and i almost forgot to bring it up here/again, but to add on: you shouldn’t shy away from something that’s more out of the realm of what’s popular or what you’re used to, particularly if the account is newer or their aesthetics are a little different than what you tend to favor. spread your wings!

my core point here, at the end of the day, is: regardless of creator type imbalance, the type of content being made, who is and who isn’t getting recognition, whatever the case, we should all start to be more aware of the content that’s out there that we’re not seeing and we shouldn’t let waves of strictly popular content or old patterns dictate all the media we intake and the people we support. 

let’s reblog more creative content - and retweet more of it if you have twitter and do that thing on instagram where you share someone’s post to your story so the OP still gets due credit if you use that and whatever other social media sites do - check tags to find some more hidden gems instead of just reblogging the posts that have hefty handfuls of notes - explore blogs and peoples’ tags if you see something new! - support patreon pages and ko-fi accounts if you can, leave encouraging comments, join discord servers or group chats and meet more people, just -- expand our awareness to everyone that’s trying their best to make content they’re brave and proud enough to put out into the world, whether or not you’re seeing them pop up on your feed every day. 

because as much as we don’t want it to matter, whether we’re hobbyists or doing something as a career or combining business and pleasure (idk i really don’t like that phase but you get it lmao), validation, even just a little bit of it, it really does keep you motivated, makes you feel like all the rewrites and redraws and trashed projects are worth it to keep trying and going.

and to put all this more bluntly, if that’s more up your alley than a long, drawn out and carefully worded persuasive essay: you can’t expect to see or even really have the right to demand more content if you plan on being stingy with picking and choosing who you support.

a last message, too, because this is already far too long: if a creator is actively voicing that they feel no one likes their work and they want to give up on it, or that you should tell them what’s so wrong with their work that no one cares about it, don’t fucking send tell them what it is about their content you don’t like or what you think is wrong?? it’s not concrit, it’s not fucking helpful -- you’re just validating their fears and you’re making things worse, possible evening hinting they should just quit while they’re ahead; either be helpful and supportive or don’t fucking say anything. and if catch anyone pulling this shit i will come to your house and cut your hands off fucking Watch Me

SO: thanks for reading this fucking monster of an essay on why popularity contests in creative media can be unhealthy to all creators as well as hinder your exposure to great things! let’s all be better about supporting each other!

[beetlemancy]

Anon again: Thank you!! I appreciate you taking the time to answer me because I am kind of active in the community but very very new. I did know your opinions but being new I just wanted to know whether those recent posts held any weight. I want to be socially responsible with my media consumption and I was worried there was something I was missing, given I have seen specific call outs for certain cast members (Travis, Laura, Sam, and Liam) recently. Thanks again!!

Anon pt2: you don’t have to post this but for context the call out posts were as follows: Travis actively supports the military, Laura voiced a black character?, Sam did brown face??, and Liam is fake woke/virtual signaling (or something along those lines). Obviously I can find out information about this for myself but I have seen more anti-CR stuff lately which prompted my ask.

As with everything, I suggest you do your own reading on those topics, and any topic that comes up in regards to the media you watch. Below is simply my opinion. Note: this gets long.

Travis does support the military - but not as an institution. He has family in the military. He supports the soldiers. He works with Operation Supply Drop and I’d encourage you to look into OSD specifically. Whether you agree with the idea that we should even have a military or not, you cannot deny that our veterans and soldiers are given the short end of the stick. We cannot just abandon them because helping them might be viewed as giving money to the military. I have so many military vets in my disability groups. The VA is awful because it has no funding (I know good people who work at the VA too, but they just cannot help everyone like they’d want to). Programs like OSD are genuinely helpful to a lot of hurting folk and the people who shit on Travis and CR for promoting and helping them out have clearly never actually sat down and talked to a vet or a soldier before. 

Laura and many many other voice actors have voiced people of color in various shows. Yes, this is a legit problem. However, obviously as with most things, the problem is nuanced. The fault mainly lies with the VO industry as a whole, in that actors actually have very little control over what they do. There was a whole strike about this very topic (though the strike covered other issues in the industry as well). In the case of Laura, for instance, she was never told what her character would look like until after the fact. And that is super common in the industry. One of the things they tried to get in the strike was more transparency so that actors could make the decisions themselves whether to voice characters or not - not just based on race or culture but also based on type of work (stressful screaming vs chill dialogue) and whether the content of the game itself was something they wanted their name attached to. 

Sam’s blackface scandal is extremely old news. That’s not to say it isn’t important to note, and in fact Sam made a point to note it again back in 2018. I know people who can’t watch CR because of it, even after his apology, and that’s fine because its not my place to judge others for how they react to that kind of thing. However I know a lot of people who read his apology and the circumstances surrounding it and decided to forgive. To some people, the fact that he was asked to do so by will.i.am changes the situation. To others, it doesn’t. To some the fact that he apologized and has clearly worked to improve his behavior matters, to others it doesn’t. You have to decide that for yourself. You can read Sam’s letter HERE. 

Now. Regarding Liam. * sigh * I think, and again this is my opinion, that you cannot proclaim someone you do not know as ‘fake woke.’ I think there are parts of this fandom that have it out for Liam because of a whole bunch of gross reasons, many of which I’ve spoken about before. He is sensitive and a man - that makes people uncomfy. He plays a lot of women characters and tends to embody them in both personality and body language - that makes people uncomfy. He fully embraces the bi energy (this is not to say whether he himself is or not) - that makes a lot of people uncomfy (and angry). He loves theatre and loves to explore the human condition, warts and all - that makes people super uncomfy. Now. There are people who thinks he’s homophobic. Do you know why? Its because his bi character ended up with a woman instead of a man. That is biphobia, no matter how they twist it. Bi people being “allowed” to be bi and not ‘pick the right side’ in the LG (not BT, lets be real) community IS revolutionary because its so very hated. 

Another reason they say he’s homophobic is because of the jokes he is often involved in - some gay men in the fandom believe that joking about sex is him ‘making fun’ of gay relationships. As a bi enby, I disagree, and I read many of the jokes he himself makes as the kind of humor I use among my own friends. I think there is a definite disconnect between bi vs LG humor and I’m not entirely sure who would be considered in the ‘right’ on that. However, when LG people in the fandom claim that he cannot talk about gay relationships because he is cishet? They cannot know that. That is an assumption they are making. When LG fans say that he alone is responsible for this issue and not -literally every single member of CR- ? I have to question whether its really the issue and not just that they still hate Liam for deigning to make a bi character bi instead of gay.

Another thing re: Liam. Aside from Marisha, he is the one I see the most hate about. People on Twitter and Tumblr both have legit uttered death threats about him if he doesn’t do exactly what they want his characters to do in the game. Usually this is about shipping. I have seen people claim that they WISH he was ‘like vic mignogna’ so they’d have a reason to hate him more. I’ve seen a certain group of people and one in particular say they have ‘dirt’ on him but refuse to say what the dirt is - and yet continually bring up that it exists, but that they just cannot say. Why would you incessantly bring up information you possess just to say that you cannot divulge such information? 

Legit issues about CR that is attached to Liam is the whitewashing issue. Some say that only Liam is responsible here because he controls all the art. I would say that we actually don’t know that for sure. He is ‘Art Dad’ and clearly has some pull. I do think that CR should address this issue, but I’m not sure they can legally do what the fandom wants them to do, which is “call-out” artists by name and denounce them. Now, this too is more nuanced than the fandom makes out because its often way more about colorism vs whitewashing. Many people do not draw Beau as white, but they do draw her as much lighter skin tones than her original art. Colorism is a real problem, but white allies tend to go about talking about it wrong or making smaller things a bigger deal when POC would really rather talk about something more important to them. It was these same white allies that tore Mica Burton apart on Twitter because she liked and enjoyed a drawing of Reani, her own character, that was a few shades lighter than the drawing she herself had brought in, even after she had said that she appreciated the variety of skin tones due to seeing herself in each of them. On the topic of whitewashing/colorism in the fandom, I personally tend to wait to hear from POC over the masses of white allies.

The CR fandom is very big for a niche thing like DnD. As such, there are many many corners of the fandom that can get really jaded, really dark, and really up their own ass in regards to the discourse. There are legitimate issues in the fandom and with CR as a whole. Nothing is perfect, nothing ever will be perfect, and people should absolutely do what they can to do better and to ask their media to do better. That being said, there are also people who think that if you don’t do something exactly like they want, then you’re Problematic by default. There are also members of this fandom who have an active vendetta against certain cast members and will use any opportunity to co-opt legit issues in order to shore up their false arguments. These people are only using the real issues and it becomes clear pretty quickly that they don’t actually give a shit about the people they say they are trying to speak up for. 

There is also some fandom drama that has occurred ONLY in fandom and has absolutely nothing to do with CR other than the fact that the people involved happen to be CR fans. Certain people in the fandom think that CR should arbitrate this issue and involve themselves, call out the individuals responsible, etc. This is, I believe, a GROSS misconception of what CR’s role is and asking way too much of a source of entertainment. The fact that CR has not involved themselves in this issue has led certain members of this fandom to claim that CR is homophobic. I would caution that most callouts of CR as homophobic are directly linked to this first issue, and also a callback to the Vaxleth drama from campaign one, and is incontrovertibly tied to bi and enby-phobia and a seriously sick misunderstanding of the responsibilities a show has versus the responsibility individuals have as viewers of said show. 

That’s it for now. I could go way more in depth on this problems, but I’m tired of typing. Suffice it to say, its easy to make a list of things Problematic with CR, but once you actually delve into each topic hopefully you’ll realize how complicated and filled with nuance and Different Opinions going on back from the first episode of Campaign One... Listing problems without actually addressing them head-on isn’t a good way to deal with the problems that are true anyway, let alone tell them from the false ones. 

[marta-bee]

On Fanworks as Commodities

I've been thinking lately about commodification and how it applies to fandom.

 At the risk of giving an unhelpful circular explanation, commodification just means treating something like a commodity when it really isn't. And by commodity, I mean the kind of good or service that it's the kind of thing we can "reduce" to market terms. A loaf of bread is a commodity. So is a house or the services of an accountant- you're not losing anything or "debasing" anyone when you suggest these things can be bought and sold.

 But what about surrogacy pregnancy? This is the question Elizabeth Anderson asked in her philosophy paper, "Is Women's Labor a Commodity?" (This is where I first encountered the concept.) She asks what exactly is being sold when we pay a woman to go through a pregnancy and then give up the resulting child to someone else. Anderson said if it's the child that's being sold that seems obviously inappropriate- we rightly consider a human person as the kind of thing you can't just buy and sell- but she also argued even if the woman is just selling the use of her body for a period of time (say, implantation and surrogacy pregnancy of a fetus conceived through in vitro fertilization of the adults who will become the legal parents), there's still something lost. The argument is, pregnancy naturally (at least usually) forms a loving bond between mother and child, which a surrogate woman would wisely try to avoid; otherwise giving up the baby would be that much harder. In effect, it encourages her to alienate herself from the products of her pregnancy. It degrades the commercial surrogate, turns her into an emotionless, contextless factory. And it degrades women who might lovingly serve as surrogates (say, for a sister or friend) because it turns their gift into something indistinguishable from a market transaction.

 That's the argument, anyway. Once I found it convincing but these days, I have my doubts. For instance, I don't see any problem saying commercial surrogacy is a different kind of process than surrogacy offered as a gift to someone you know. Even if the result is the same, they seem like very different beasts. I'm also uncomfortable with this idea that certain kinds of work just can't be ethically paid for. Because this usually comes up with "caring" work, which is most often done by women even these days, it becomes too easy to not help bear the costs of that work. We can expect, say, a nurse to care about her patient even though she's paid a salary; is it so wrong if a child who quits her job to care for a sick parent to also be paid for her sacrifice?

 That's more a criticism of how the concept is applied, though. I think it's applied too quickly, and in ways that turn it into an either/or, where this doesn't need to be the case. I still think the basic idea has a lot going for it. We do give the market too much power to answer questions it really isn't well suited for. Healthcare, for instance; it needs to be paid for, but not in a way that keeps people from accessing it who need it, or even lets those who can pay get to it more quickly. And maybe market pressures can make it more efficient, to a point, but we really shouldn't reduce it to something that can be bought and sold and understand entirely on those terms.

So, what does all this have to do with fandom? Well, I'm of a different fannish generation than a lot of you young whippersnappers- I first got involved in fannish circles with the Lord of the Rings movies back in the original 2000s. This was pre-AO3 and pre-Tumblr, and only a few years after Anne Rice got ff.net to disallow all fanfic based on her novels. We posted our disclaimers about not owning the characters for a reason and professed our poverty because we believed (or feared at least) we could be sued by the canon's authors. I was mostly in the Tolkien fandom, and it was well known that the estate was never going to authorize fanfic, commercial or otherwise. They state as much on their website, though I can't remember how long that Q&A has existed in its current format.

 That gave us a lovely little commercial-free zone. If you couldn't sell your own work commercially, then you could give up all pretenses of success along the normal capitalistic lines and delve into areas that just would never have been very marketable in traditional publishing. Tolkien fandom itself was pretty conservative but I know other fandoms went much further in this regard, exploring genres that just would never be marketable especially before the niche and self-financed publishing the internet opened up for a lot of authors. If the law wouldn't let you do what you wanted to do anyway, why not become utterly ungovernable? So, fanfic became (for me at least) art about art rather than filthy lucre. We were doing what we did because we loved it, and as gifts for our friends, and as a way to be something that wasn't quite allowed in the "normal" culture for whatever reason- even just because we were women daring to make time for our weird little hobbies. It was glorious. And we worked hard enough in other areas of our life that we had the $$$ to indulge in this. We didn't need to be paid, and even if you offered to pay us for our works, we'd likely get a bit insulted and insist that wasn't what this was about at all.

I was told more than once by family that I was good enough to be a "real writer" and didn't I want to do my own thing. So yes, I did get a bit miffed and lean in to my identity of fanfic-writing as hobby not intended as a career.

 And I'll be honest: when I see people advertising for commissions or celebrating fan-authors going "professional" as if this is necessarily a step up from unpaid fannish work, I often have this old framework in the back of my head. And it's not really fair. For one thing, I was in college in the early 2000's and so even when we didn't have a lot of cash, we expected to soon get day jobs where we could afford to live comfortably and still afford our hobbies. The housing market crash and the Great Recession changed all of that, as did work opportunities like Instacart and Uber. For a lot of people even a few years younger than me, everything became a side-hustle and there just wasn't this expectation a hobby could be a hobby. I get that there's a lot of privilege entering into that.

 On top of which, there's all kinds of gender issues: professional artists, predominantly men, have been painting and selling drawings of comic book characters for years. Star Trek and Star Wars affiliated novels, and Sherlock Holmes pastiches (as opposed to fanfic), again written primarily by men, are also very much a thing. Hell, so are Renaissance artists and the patron system that was built off of. And of course, just because you sometimes produce fanworks just to sell and still do the less commercial work just for yourself if you ever want to. There's no real conflict in that. And it's not like producing art to sell is at all wrong. But to me it does feel like that kind of art is different than what I fancy I do, back when I occasionally wrote. :-) And I probably am more aware of this than I should be, because my backdrop is different from a lot of fans younger than myself, and really do try not to let my situation turn into a blind spot.

 Even so, I worry and struggle to find the balance between letting art turn a profit and be reduced to a strictly commercial venture. It's never been anything I've been even remotely drawn to do, and human nature being what it is, I probably do think more highly of the kind of thing I'd choose to do. But I don't want to be unfair, and I don't want to think just because art is paid for and written/drawn to order, it's some sort of assembly-line output with no heart put into it by the writer and artist. Just like an artisan shoemaker might take great pride in his art and work his hardest on each shoe he crafts, even if he must sell it to make ends meet. Somehow, I suspect thinking about this in terms of commodification, the dangers of evaluating artistry using market standards and the ways in which it can still have a value beyond commodity even if it’s bought and sold, might help. But I've not quit worked out what insight that kind of thought would provide, if any.

Do you think there's a special value in fandom or art generally that's not made to be bought and sold? Or am I perhaps making too big a deal over nothing and revealing myself to be an old fuddy-duddy in the process. (It's always a possibility!) I'd be very interested to hear your thoughts if you have any to share.

[wanderingcuttlefish]

Friendly Reminder to Fan Artists and Writers

Create what ever you want. What ever. There are no limits here, no exceptions. Fan content creators exist in the lawless land of imagination and ideas. You want to make something that only you and maybe one other person would ever be interested in seeing? You want to write that au that's been done hundreds of times before? That unspeakably niche cross-over? Do it. Be self-indulgent. Be free. Make whatever you want regardless of what anyone might say. There are no rules and regulations for what you can create, because fandom is for fun.

So do what makes you happy, what you enjoy, what you're interested in. The reasons don't matter really. You owe no one an explanation for why you wanted to make something. And you don't owe them an apology either.

And yes, this does include "problematic" topics, themes, and ships. In fact it includes all of them, because as I said there are no exceptions. Write that non-con dark-fic, draw that violent, gory art. Whether it's for a light hearted, wholesome series or one that's already acquainted with the dark and disturbing. Enjoy whatever kind of ships you want, those with age-gaps or power-imbalances, incestuous ships or ones featuring the most vile of villains. Play them twisted or fluff-filled and happy, what ever way you want to. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with any of it.

Bottom line, just have fun. Enjoy yourself. And never let anyone else try and dictate what you can and can’t create.  ❤️

[silvanoir]

where did I come from, where will I go (long post, sorry)

I came here from DeviantArt, after people were reposting and linking my fanart so I figured I might as well join and post myself... I stayed for the DC comics fandom (and later MCU movie fandom) and read and bought a lot of comics because of it.   “Targeted” advertising (or advertising in general) doesn’t work on me, but what does work is people who genuinely enjoy a thing posting photos of the thing and talking about the thing and making recommendations.  “Shipping” does as well... sometimes fan communities even get me into a ship, sometimes I think characters 1 and 2 have chemistry on my own... either way if something has a positive portrayal of a favorite ship, I am all over it.  I was never here for porn so I don’t care about a porn ban (though I do enjoy the occasional but of tasteful erotica  of fictional characters... I may be ace but I like seeing characters in love and enjoying themselves).   I do care about people abandoning this place.

These big companies don’t get that by killing fan communities, they make me buy LESS stuff.

I don’t draw fanart anymore because I’m focusing on original art, but I will still be on DeviantArt 2019 and beyond (as long as that site lasts). 

I was also on LiveJournal and technically still have an account there... but haven’t logged into in years after people started leaving, the communities I was in shut down, and LJ deleted all my photos.  Still have some friends from there who are on here, shoutout to you!

Around the same time I was in yahoo groups but I backed out of them years ago as well.  I was a moderator in some as well as a mod on an oekaki board (online drawing, not sure if these still exist?) and an owner of a webring back before there was social media and everyone made their own website... being a mod was a giant pain in the butt, let me tell ya, and I’d never do it again.

Was on MediaMiner (fanart site) in the early 2000s but left after getting hacked more than once, no idea if it still exists.  I joined DeviantArt with others when it was clear MM was going to [bleep].

I used to be on various furry sites because I liked drawing/designing talking animal-people characters (drew them as a kid long before I ever had access to the internet, must have been the Disney/ Beatrix Potter/ Looney Tunes influence)  but got tired after years of having to explain to people that no, furry doesn’t mean a pervert in a mascot costume, I am not that, some of us are regular folks who like plain old sci-fi/fantasy settings.  It wore me out.  So... bleh.  Didn’t delete my accounts but they are gathering dust.

I was heavy into anime in my teens and 20s but the most of the anime nowadays doesn’t appeal to me, sooooo... (unless it’s continuations of things I liked long ago, then that gets my interest)

I had 2 separate fanfiction_dot_net accounts, neither of which I remember the log in info to and don’t care because I gave up writing fanfic long long ago,  I’d rather just be a reader.

And before that it was various forums on various websites.  Some I don’t even remember the names of, some are from the late 90s/early 2000s and have long since been deleted from the net because the owners didn’t/couldn’t pay server costs, others I don’t remember my login info, or can’t log into because I used an old e-mail that doesn’t exist anymore.  I like discussions in forums but disliked that it was mostly dudes with dude-style interests in media... being in the mostly female-friendly spaces of LJ and Tumblr is so much nicer (despite any drama) than hearing the umpteenth argument over who would win in a race: Superman or The Flash, who would win in a fight: Superman or Goku.... I have never given a single solitary [bleep] about power levels.  I know Reddit has lively fan forums but... too many dudes.  (I’ve read some interesting threads on niche podcasts but its not enough to get me to join).

If I do join another fan community, it will probably be DreamWidth.

There’s no way in hell I’d ever join Facebook or Twitter or any of the sites they own because of the rampant personal data theft.  I prefer being a semi-anonymous hermit!

I will say that I won’t LOSE anything important, other than connections and general enjoyment and not having any NEW things, if Tumblr goes down, because anything I made I have multiple files of saved on an external harddrive (learned my lesson years ago of not only websites dying on me but also whole computers), I also right-click-saved any art and tutorials from other people that I wanted to keep.  I back-up everything at least once every 3 months.   I’m considering buying a fireproof lockbox to put it in like the one I have my important personal documents in (it pays to be paranoid, kids!)

[teabooksandsweets]

Only the first five tags in your posts are found in tag search. Use the others for sorting on your blog and commenting.

Posts with links in them are not found in normal search, but are found in tag search. Keep that in mind when posting an important link.

Don’t let haters hurt you. Ignore them - no matter if anon or not. Block them, if you can. Forget them.

If you like a piece of art or an message, you would be doing good if you’d reblog it, rather than just liking. Nice comments are great, too!

But never let anyone force you to reblog anything. Ignore chainmail.

You can agree with someone on one thing, and disagree on something else. You don’t have to change any of your opinions to either appeal to or spite another person.

You also don’t have to agree with every single position of every single person who supports/is part of the same cause as you. For example: a feminist doesn’t have share every opinion with another person who identifies/claims to be a feminist. Goes for everything else, too!

You have a right to change your opinions, labels, aesthetics, whatnot. You never have to tell anyone if you don’t want to. You don’t have to settle on anything, at least of the latter. A few opinions won’t hurt.

All people are flawed and mess things up, but some things are just bad. Tumblr sometimes seems to be 50% treating people (real or fictional) as being heavy criminals just for being human, and 50% defending the worst of the worst. Don’t jump on either train and keep levels, situations, and change in mind!

If an ask makes you uncomfortable, either ignore it or explain that you don’t want to answer it. Never share anything on the internet that you don’t want to share! You’re not impolite for doing so.

Tropes are only bad when used out of lazyness. Some things become tropes just because they are very well-loved and cause a particular mood. Also, many sub-verted tropes have been used so often, they’ve become tropes themselves. Just write/draw/create what you like - you are unique, but also shaped by the things you read/watch/consume, and therefore a good deal of people will like what you like - and another good deal will not, but that’s okay, because you can never appeal to everyone.

Don’t let people make fun of you for your interests/hobbies. Don’t make fun of other people for their interests/hobbies.

Don’t reject an thing, like a hobby or an interest, that suddenly attracted your attention and somehow appeals to you, just because it’s not your “type” or you haven’t been interested in things like that before, or previously looked down on it, or expect to have no talent at it. You’re a real person, not a badly written fictional character.

But you also don’t have to forcefully break out of your comfort zone, in order to not be your own clishé. It doesn’t matter, as long as you’re happy and feel good with the things you do and like! Just don’t worry about other people’s opinions.

Try to be kind and friendly, but also remember that when you mess up, when you’re grumpy or angry, that’s just normal feelings caused by stress or your situation, and you’re not a bad person because of it.

Read the books you like, not the books you think you should be reading. If both are the same, that’s a great win, and it often is, but don’t force yourself through things that make you uncomfortable. And don’t care too much about “If you liked X, you’ll just HAVE to like Y!” Perhaps you like X, and M, and B, but just don’t care for Y. That’s okay. And perhaps you’re into X, Y, and Z, and that’s your niche, and thats okay, too!

Give your real age on the internet, or give none. Don’t make things up.

Don’t ever harras children for liking and consuming and participating in the fandom of a children’s entertainment that for some reason appeals very much to adults! This happens very often, and it’s dreadful.

Generally, it’s awesome if you like something, despite not fitting in the intended audience (I do this all the time, and I very much recommend not letting age/gender/class/whatever labels turn you off) never, ever attack the intended audience for liking it, too. I have no idea why this happens so often. It’s a weird thing.

Don’t ever insist on things you make up as fact, and ignore people who do. It’s so exhausting to talk to people who say things like “I don’t believe in this, and my definition of believing is knowing, so this doesn’t exist,” or “this is the most logical thing to me, so it is a fact,” or “I’ve once heard this thing somewhere so you HAVE to agree with me.”

Atheists are not more intelligent than theists. Theists do not have higher morals than atheists. Okay, some atheists are smarter tham some theists. Some theists are more moral than some atheists. And vice versa, because those are individual human beings, millions and billions of them, and not just anonymous, faceless collectives, and everyone is different.

It is possible to stick up to one’s opinion without forcing it on others.

Never steal art. No matter what kind of art. A little edit here on tumblr counts as much as art as a big painting. And writing is art, too. Also, don’t do tracings - unless you have a permission from the artist.

A person’s religion, politics, sexuality, gender, lifestyle, diet, aesthetic, interests, etc. do not always align in the “traditional” combinations. They don’t have to. Sure, some things don’t become each other well, but in all honesty, that goes for the expected combinations, too. Humans don’t always make sense, and sometimes that’s bad, but in most cases it’s just beautiful. Let people be people.

When people recommend something they think would do you good, they don’t think that would “cure” you or solve all your problems or anything like that. They want to help and sometimes (often, actually) do, because some things, you know, are good for you, even though they are not the solution to everything, you know?

[otapleonehalf]

Defining Anime

What is anime? Before we can define something we have to know what it is we’re defining.

The Entomology of Anime

Remember the dad from My Big Fat Greek Wedding and how he insisted that every word comes from Greek?

So no one is actually sure where the word “anime” (written in Japanese as: アニメ) actually came from, but there are two main theories.

The first, is that it’s effectively an abbreviation of the English word “animation”.

animation -> animeishiyon -> anime

This is the currently more popular theory. The second theory, which was more popular in the 80s, is that it’s derived from the French word “animé” meaning animated or lively.

animé -> anime

But it doesn’t matter which theory you like because both the English and the French are derived from the same Latin root “anima” meaning spirit. And the Latin is in turn derived from the Greek “anemos” meaning wind.

anemos -> anima -> animation -> animeishiyon -> anime

anemos -> anima -> animé -> anime

So there you go.

Defining Anime

Anime as it’s used in the Japanese language is simply the word for animation, any and all kinds.

But anime as it’s used in the English language is used to refer to animation that originates from Japan.

Look up “anime” in an English dictionary and we get this:

Dictionary definition an·i·me noun: a style of animation originating in Japan that is characterized by stark colorful graphics depicting vibrant characters in action-filled plots often with fantastic or futuristic themes. – Merriam Webster Dictionary (2017)

The dictionary definition is obviously just meant for someone who has never heard of anime and has no concept of what it could be. It gives a very generalized idea of what anime is, and isn’t useful to those who specialize in the niche interest.

As a result, English speaking anime fandom has been left to their own devices when it comes to defining the word that describes what it is they’re passionate about.

Defining by Nationality

I want to get this one out of the way. Monty Oum, the director of RWBY, puts it nicely in an interview from 2013:

“Some believe just like Scotch needs to be made in Scotland, an American company can’t make anime. I think that’s a narrow way of seeing it. Anime is an art form, and to say only one country can make this art is wrong.“

It’s not as if only Japanese people are allowed to write haiku or play the biwa. There’s no reason anime should be enforced as an art form that’s dependent on the artist’s citizenship status. So let’s move on to a different method.

Defining by Geography

Animation that was entirely made in Japan and then solely released in Japan may have once been a commonality but contemporary anime is a vaster art form that can’t be pinned to a single point on a map, thanks to globalization. After all as western fans, we’re proof that anime has crossed boarders and expanded beyond Japan.

Many anime are not even physically made in Japan anymore. In 2012, Jonathan Clements estimated a third of the labor for Japanese animation was outsourced outside of Japan and speculates that number has only risen since.

Hand animation for in-betweens and other parts of the animating process are outsourced primarily to South Korea, but also other places like China and India, for the sake of cutting costs. A simple solution many take is to simply insist that only the lead creatives of an animated project must reside in Japan in order for that project to be categorized as anime. Yet there are many examples where none of the projects staff reside in Japan, providing widely accepted exceptions to the idea that anime must be created in Japan.

South Korean animation is included in online anime databases such as MyAnimeList, Anime-Planet and Kitsu. Films that are entirely produced and debut in South Korea like Yobi the Five Tailed Fox, The House and Oseam are counted as anime by the aforementioned sites despite having no apparent connection to Japan.

Simply expanding Japan’s aura to neighboring countries doesn’t tidy things up as one of America’s largest anime conventions has yet to realize.

Otakon tries to take the geography route when defining anime, as in anime music video, for its annual event. Here’s an except from Otakon’s AMV Guidelines via its website in 2017:

“’Anime’ footage is loosely determined by the animation studio that produced the art for the show. If it is an Asian studio, then the footage will likely be allowed. If it is not, then your entry could be disqualified.

Sorry, but by this definition, ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ and ‘The Legend of Korra’ are not ‘anime’ and will be disqualified.

We have to draw the line somewhere.”

Otakon defines anime as animation produced by an Asian studio, ergo making Avatar footage disqualified from its AMV competitions.

But whoever came up with this policy clearly didn’t choose the best wording. The studios responsible for the art and animation of Avatar are DR Movie, JM Animation and MOI Animation which are all South Korean studios. South Korea is an Asian country, ergo Avatar actually fits Otakon’s definition of anime perfectly.

It doesn’t make sense to narrow anime down to animation that was made in Japan, debuts in Japan and intended solely for the Japanese market just so it can be tied down to one spot on the planet. This method isn’t useful when there are anime conceived to cater to overseas markets like Afro Samurai, Space Dandy, and The Big O II which were developed with the intention of airing on American TV. Nor does it provide clear guidelines for when Japanese studios collaborate with talent from around the world, like in the cases Oban Star Racers and Mysterious Cities of Gold which are both French co-productions. Is it really worth excluding such titles from the category of anime in the current global era? I think not.

Defining by Art Style

This is a fun one. Anime is anime because it looks like anime, right?

But what does anime look like?

When most people hear the word anime, certain visual qualities spring to mind. Big shiny eyes, crazy colored hair that stands on end, long bodies in elaborate costumes. Shows like Yu-Gi-Oh!, Sailor Moon, Code Geass,  Tenchi Muyo!, and Lucky Star flash in our heads when we think about the art style associated with anime.

But if that’s what anime really looks like, then why would there be an discontent over shows like Avatar or RWBY being called anime?

We’ve already gone over why the country of origin of these shows isn’t the best measure, so what’s wrong with just judging an anime by its looks?

The issue with this approach is that it’s incredibly subjective. There’s no list a visual traits shared among all anime. Anime like Tekkonkinkreet and the Tatami Galaxy hardly resemble the same art style of shows like Sailor Moon.

They might not immediately come to mind when the medium of anime is mentioned but that doesn’t mean they don’t still exist within that medium.

And then there’s anime that imitate western animation and actively defy typical Japanese aesthetics, like FLCL or Panty and Stocking.

In the case of Panty and Stocking, not only is the whole show modeled after a western art style (as opposed to only a few seconds), but the content of the series is effectively a love letter to western media. Under the assumption that anime must have a certain look to it, a show like Panty and Stocking would have it’s anime status revoked.

So even if there is a supposive art style only anime can have, when did that art style come into being?

Classics that originate from the 1960s like Kimba the White Lion and Sazae-san pull heavy inspiration from western animation.

Astro Boy fits in much better with characters like Steamboat Willie and Betty Boop than he does with any of the characters from say, Akira or One Piece. So is it really okay to exclude works as important and influential as Astro Boy from anime because the art style is dated?

Personally, I’m glad not everything in anime shares the same art style. I’m not sure the medium would have the same appeal if every thing looked like this.

(This is from Kamichama Karin by the way.)

The medium of anime clearly encompasses infinite art styles that don’t necessarily share key qualities with each other, rendering art style a useless means of defining anime as a whole.

So what methods of defining anime are even left at this point?

Defining by Intended Audience

This is my personal method of defining anime and it’s the most practical method I’ve encountered, and that is  to define anime by intended audience. If an animated work is intended for a Japanese audience OR an audience of anime fans, then it’s anime.

Here’s a flowchart to help explain it:

Let’s run through some examples with this method:

Sailor Moon

Is it an animated work? Yes -> Was it originally made for a Japanese audience? Yes -> It’s an Anime

RWBY

Is it an animated work? Yes -> Was it originally made for a Japanese audience? No -> Does it resemble Japanese animation? Yes -> Was it made for fans of Japanese animation?

The creators of RWBY have been explicit about how they set out to create something that anime fans would enjoy, so the answer is Yes -> It’s an anime

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Is it an animated work? Yes -> Was it originally made for a Japanese audience? No -> Does it resemble Japanese animation? Yes -> Was it made for fans of Japanese animation?

Well, Avatar aired on Nickelodeon and was geared toward children who watch Nickelodeon, whether those kids knew about or liked anime wasn’t relevant. No -> It’s not an anime

But the creators of Avatar have talked about how they took inspiration from Japanese animation and Asian media and knew that what they made could appeal to anime fans and wanted those fans to be able to enjoy the show as well. Yes -> It’s an anime

So something like Avatar could be argued either way BUT AT LEAST YOU CAN ARGUE IT!

You can back up which ever conclusion you reach with this method using context that surrounds any title. No more debates that are baseless like:

“But Avatar looks like anime!” What does anime really look like? Style is subjective. There are plenty of anime Avatar doesn’t resemble at all.

“But Avatar isn’t from Japan!” Neither is a lot of anime. Anime is medium of art, one that can, has and will continue to expand beyond Japan’s borders.

This method gives one the ability to construct a logical argument on why something should or shouldn’t be considered anime.

That said, there is a hole in my method. That hole is a universal audience. What if an animated work is aimed at everybody?

There’s a few examples that I think fit this case.

Ghibli movies, specifically the more recent ones, are made while the staff is well aware that their work is going to be seen overseas and that their audience is not just confined to Japan. Ghibli films are popular all over the world, and not just with anime fans.

Pokemon is another example of an anime becoming a international phenomenon. It has effectively grown out of the label of anime and is something much bigger that’s meant for global audiences to consume.

So is it possible for something to expand beyond the label of anime and become something more universal? I consider the examples above to still be anime. I don’t think it matters, at least for now, but it is worth thinking about as our world and the media with it becomes more and more global.

So next time you’re debating what is and isn’t anime, try considering who was intended to consume the work. It could make navigating those grey areas of anime a little easier.

[This post was adapted from my panel “But That’s NOT Anime!”. The information in this post was last updated Aug. 2017]

OtapleOneHalf.com // OtapleOneHalf.tumblr.com

[mypoorfaves]

Positivity Post! :D

Okay so this here is a (freaking long) list of blogs and people that I love, both within my community and outside. Although I understand a lot of people in said community want to remain as anonymous as possible so I’m putting all of the more…um…niche blogs…under the cut! Please enjoy my contribution to this spread of positivity brought about by @wiseinnerwhispers!

@12thdoctorwhomst: You are a great friend. To say so is an understatement. You’re actually one of my best friends. Thanks for always being there :)

@berks-dragon-trainer: We don’t talk much but in see you in my notifs a lot. Also wanna say I’m proud of you for working hard and getting into shape! That takes serious dedication and I wish I could do that myself.

@sellsoulstome: Your space aesthetic is…well, aesthetic! Very calming and I love it so much! I’m sorry life sucks sometimes, but your space children always love and support you :)

@katsukipanya: You are one of my favourite blogs that I’ve had the pleasure of discovering! I can’t get over how CUTE of an idea you bakery AU is! It’s so original and I can’t wait until you get super popular because that WILL happen! I can feel it! I eagerly await each new post from you!

@alexadooodle: Your doodles are so freaking amazing and your content is so creative! I’m sorry idiots have to gall to steal your art. I would actually slap them across the face if I could, I stg. I love our talks and wish nothing but the best for you in life. Keep on fighting, I believe in you :)

@iruutciv: Your Victuuri kissing gifs and art are quite possibly one of the most beautiful things to ever bless this fandom! I love fangirling about yoi with you! Also thanks for introducing me to the beauty that is victuuri smut!

@makeroomfornyoom: Thank you for making my icon! I love it! I also love our chats on discord! I still need to get in Final Fantasy so we can fangirl/fanboy about it together!

@joey-wingster: Thanks for sending me asks, and also for posting that fanfic and gifting it to me! And also saying my writing style is cute! Just so much love for you! Thanks so much!

～～～

@feverflushed: My first and best tumblr friend, and also now my pen-pal! Thanks for being the first person to talk to me in this community. You really encouraged me to open up and talk to more people. My blog and life here on tumblr honestly wouldn’t be the same if it weren’t for you. So thank you. I love our convos! Also thanks for always being my first set of eyes for all of my fics!

@whoareurl: Your writing is amazing! You are quite possibly my fave yoi sickfic writer. All of your descriptions are so vivid and perfect! So immersive, like you can really feel what the characters are feeling. I love seeing you on my dash!

@kittensnz / @kotyonoksnz: Your art is freaking amazing! We are blessed as a yoi fandom and especially as a sickblr fandom to have your talent among us. Also you’re just such a great person to talk to! I love seeing your art on my dash. I can’t even put it into words how skilled you are. Like it was either your sick Victor or your Yuuritto comics that originally led me to the sickblr community in the first place. So thank you so much for that. This community is honestly the best thing to have happened to me, and I have you to thank for helping me discover it.

@my-so-called-trash-blog: I love your yoi fics! I used to re-read them constantly while I was still a lurker lol. (I still do re-read them a lot now too!) Just amazing stuff!

@nnatto: Another blog I used to lurk on! I may not be into sneeze, but your yoi fics are still amazing! I am still not over You Know I Can’t Let That Happen. Thanks for always doing a great job on the drabble prompts I and everyone else send in, thanks for helping me out with that one sick Victor fic I wrote for sickdays 3.0, and thanks for many fun chats on discord! Also your tags when you reblog my fics always make me super duper happy! I look forward to running our contagion event together!

@graceless-fever: Oh man your prompt for fevered Yuuri crying when Yurio snaps at him in his usual Yurio way; I’m still so in love with that prompt. The fic that came from that scenario is by far my most popular fic so I have you to thank for helping bring the idea into existence. All of your prompts, and your fics, are all so good!

@dont-look-so-good: We don’t talk too much but I see you a lot on my dash. You’re a cool person! I’m sorry you had to deal with that drama and I hope it’s resolved now!

@illnessandinjury: Your blog is great, you’re such a sweet person and also hella cute! My poor bi heart can hardly handle it!

@ya-nurse: Another blog I don’t talk to much, but you draw SUCH CUTE DOODLES OMG! Also thanks for always congratulating me on my milestones!

@like-me-a-little-whump: Ayee you post such great whump stuff! Keep it up!

@hothedgie: Thanks for talking to me that one time forever ago when I couldn’t sleep. It meant (still does mean) the world to me. That aside, your prompts always wind up creating some of my fave fics so thanks for that!

@taylor-tut: Omg there’s so much to say. I’m not super into Voltron tbh but the influence you have on the Voltron whump community is astounding. You take such good care of your space-sewer-beef-lump-yeet children. You write such great fics and I love how you’re always willing to take birthday fics and always reblog people’s fics to boost them. Also I love the stories you share from work. You’re just an adorable and hella cute ball of sunshine and I’m so glad to be your friend!

@feverhalo: My lovely plant friend! One of my first tumblr friends! We bonded over plants and we screamed about yoi after I brought you over to the Gay Side. I’m still unspeakably flattered that me writing a fic managed to convince you to start watching!! It’s such an unbelievable honour and just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy that my writing has that kind of influence. I’m so glad we’re friends!

@sitruksista: I love your yoi fics and I love our chats on the yoi whump discord! You’re awesome!

@docjamie: Thanks so much for all of the art you always draw! Especially my requests! Also thanks for talking to me that one time I couldn’t sleep. It means a lot. I enjoy our talks a lot! I’m looking forward to doing that collab-thing (whenever we get around to it lol)!

@fluffyllamas22: Yet another amazing friend who helped keep me sane when I couldn’t sleep. And from there we easily became such good friends! You’re such a ball of happiness and just so easy to talk to. Your writing is great and it keeps getting better, whether it’s yoi or voltron, or your oc’s! You just always seem so positive and I constantly see you in the inboxes of people on my dash (and also in my inbox too)! You’re just an absolute joy to consider a friend! Also I love our chats on discord!

@just-another-sickfic-blog: Another one of my first tumblr friends! Such a joy to talk to! Thanks for always beta-ing my stuff, and also for letting my beta some of your fics too! I know we have fallen a bit out of touch lately but I still consider you one of my closest friends on here and I hope you are doing well!

@the-whump-sidelines: Oh man we clicked instantly! Our talk, well talks, just discussing fevers. Absolutely perfect! You post some freaking amazing prompts and I’m so glad to hear you like my fics even if you haven’t seen yoi. If you ever wanna fanfgirl about fevers, my inbox is always open!

@sneezehq: Bunny you are so amazing! I love your posts about your horses and also just your life in general! I love your fics and I love how you are always in my notifs and always say the nicest things about the stuff you reblog! Keep being awesome!

@fevers-and-flus and flus: You have good prompts/fics and i see you in my notifs a lot, so thanks for that!

@bigbadsnez: Okay I don’t have a sneeze kink but your yoi fics are AMAZING! Like holy moly wow I’m in love!

@whumpapedia: Holy crap bless this blog and this incredible resource! For those of you who don’t know, this blog contains a database of all tv shows, video games, anime, music videos, etc that contain whump! It is far from complete, so if you lovely people have unlisted content, please let the mods know so they can add it!

@blessyoy-2u: Your art is amazing and thank you for the prompt that led to Gold is Cold! It’s one of my personal fave fics that I’ve written! Keep being awesome! Also I see you a lot in my notifs so thanks for that!

@snifflesnuff: YOU are amazing! A truly wonderful human being! I see you in my notifs ALL of the time! And you always scream in the tags when you reblog my stuff and it warms my heart in a way that I could not even begin to put into words, so thank you!!

@tsunderekushami: I love our chats and I love your oc’s! We need to talk more! I promise you won’t be bothering me if you message me! I’m just a mix of busy and forgetful lol.

@emeraldthread: I love talking to you! Your fics are great! And you always seem like such a ball of sunshine and positivity! Thanks for always liking and reblogging my stuff!

@siktornikiforov: Your yoi fics are great and I love your prompts and posts!

@sweetwhump: Okay I know you haven’t really set up your whump blog yet BUT SWEETV YOUR PROMPTS IN THE YOI WHUMP DISCORD END ME EACH AND EVERY TIME! AND I AM STILL NOT OVER YOUR FIC YOU ARE NOT ALONE IN THIS! I look forward to interacting with your blog lots more!

@ambulancemcclain: You are freaking amazing! And I love it when you scream in the tags in response to my stuff. You are probably my most loud screamer lol. Thank you for that!

@wiseinnerwhispers: For the freaking amazing ficlet you submitted *fans self and tries not to faint from remembering* Also this amazing trend of positivity you’re spreading!

@toosicktoocare: We don’t talk but I really enjoy your stuff! Your fics in particular are great! Keep being awesome!

～

The following are people I don’t talk to much, but I see you lot in my inbox and/or notifs and it makes me super happy!

@nightswithoutcontrol, @totallyexhausted, @pie-for-everyone, @qbswhumpsideblog, @sniffleprincess, @seventeen-pennies, @babydollbucky, @katyaton, @thesassygrandmaster, @following-follower, @nightwalker6200, @kaycee003, @damenemo, @beloved-whumpage, @whump-dump, @tippysf

[anneapocalypse]

[tone of genuine curiosity, as clarified in an elcor-esque fashion because the internet renders all emotion an uncertain factor] You're welcome to skip this ask if you ain't up for it, but re: the perpetual debate over Problematic Subjects In Media, I've seen you in the past write many a critique on how fandom writes/treats women / BDSM / etc. Does this not fall under the idea that the writer has a responsibility in how they handle / frame certain issues in their writing?

Hi Silt! I’m up for it, but buckle in, because this is gonna get long. :)

Okay so the thing is, this is a broad topic and these days I try to resist treating it as a zero-sum game with “No Critique Allowed” on one side and “Relentlessly Harass People Who Make Bad Content According to Our Arbitrary But Obviously Correct Standard” on the other. 

Let me state clearly for the record: both of those options are terrible. Fortunately, it’s not all or nothing, and those aren’t the only horses in the race.

The way that female characters, characters of color, disabled characters, and other representations of marginalized groups are treated in media remains very much of interest to me. That hasn’t changed. My approach has changed somewhat over the years (as I’d hope it would, if I’m continuing to grow as a person), largely due to understanding that some rhetorical styles are more effective than others when you actually want to reach people or change something.

If I gave the impression that I want to absolve creators of all responsibility, that was never my intent. In fact, I mentioned critique and growth as part of the process in one of my recent posts. I do critique the media I regularly consume, and in fact the more heavily I am immersed in something, the more in-depth my criticism, because we’re best able to examine the things we know best.

What I do feel is that creators need room to grow, and fandom can be a great test bed for exploration, where creators work with elements of established media to explore different ideas and techniques. I’m not saying fandom is only a test bed, or like, a trial run for original work, because I don’t think that; I think fanworks are worthwhile in their own right, written for enjoyment and personal indulgence. But the fact is that many of us do or will create original work, and for many of us, creating fanworks helps us build a skillset we’ll use for original work too. 

That said, the cultural impact of fandom is more limited than that of popular media. I’m not saying it has no impact–and indeed, in a time when we have multiple known works of popular published fiction that are retooled from fanfics, when TV writers are on twitter regularly interacting with their fanbases, it’s probably safe to say fandom has more impact on popular media than it ever has before, but neverthelesss, its impact is still limited. The average piece of fanfiction does not reach an audience on the scale of a piece of popular media, that’s just a fact.

Does that mean we shouldn’t bother looking at patterns in fandom and fanworks? Hell no! Fandom is a microcosm–the patterns we see in fandom do absolutely reflect wider social patterns and in fact for very immersed fans it can make those patterns more apparent. And I think it’s good for us to discuss them, address them, become more aware of how we play into them–especially if we’re creating or planning to create original work.

Because these kind of discussions, when they are actually discussions, do work. I talk about the season 10 climate in the RvB fandom a lot, but even back then, I saw people change their minds about Carolina, not because they were accused of internalized misogyny or told to feel guilty for not liking her (shockingly, shaming people for their taste doesn’t have a high success rate in changing their minds), but because someone presented them with a compelling case for a more nuanced reading of her character. My experiences in past years led to me almost checking my watch to see fans turn on RvB’s newest female character this season, and you know what? It hasn’t happened. Things do change, and I don’t think fandom turnover is the sole reason. I would love to see some shifts in other patterns as well. For example, I would love to see trauma in female characters given as much weight as it is given in male characters. I would love to see more artists willing to draw Tucker with brown eyes. Those will be discussions, and we’ll continue to have them.

What I’ve seen happening in recent years, though, is a turn toward a certain ideal of purity in fanworks. It’s not an ideal of working toward more complex and thoughtful portrayals of characters; rather, it’s an all or nothing attitude that says some characters and ships and topics are Good and worthy to be explored in fanworks, while other characters, ships, and topics are Bad and anyone who touches them or likes them is Bad, and also fair game for targeted harassment.

I keep drawing comparisons between fanworks and original work for a reason–the attitudes that I find most unsupportable in fandom are the same ones I find untenable when it comes to original work, and when you apply them to the latter, their limitations are far more obvious. 

One example: the idea that it’s wrong to find any reasons to sympathize with an antagonist, or to look for an interesting and complex backstory, one that might make sense of (not even to say justify) their actions. That’s all well and good when you’re engaging purely from a fan perspective I guess, but what happens when you want to write a novel? If it’s morally wrong to find complexity and interest in villains, are you morally obligated to make your antagonist as bland and cartoonish as possible, to be sure no one could possibly relate to them? Is that good writing? Is that what we want?

Or take the idea that it’s morally wrong to ship unhealthy ships–and this attitude in fandom goes that shipping certain ships is wrong regardless of how or why, to the point that people will proudly identify themselves as “anti-[ship],” thus building a kind of identity around not shipping a Bad Ship (and giving rise to the umbrella term “antis” to refer to this attitude). Carry this into original work and… you’re not allowed to write unhealthy relationships? You’re not allowed to write any conflict into a relationship between two “good” characters lest it be perceived as “abusive” or “toxic?” 

Then there’s the idea that it’s morally wrong to write fic with dark subject matter, which is what my most recent posts were about. I’m never going to argue these things can’t be done badly but I’m absolutely going to push back against the idea that they can’t be done at all. And I could write paragraphs more about how incredibly reductive I find the whole idea that certain topics are just off-limits for fiction, that art isn’t allowed to be catharsis (especially in a tiny niche setting like fandom, for corn’s sake) but this post is long enough, so I think I’ll put a lid on it here. ;) But frankly, if someone’s going to write dark fiction insensitively, in bad taste, or just plain poorly, there are worse places for it to exist than on AO3 tagged with content warnings, where nobody’s paid a hot cent for it and the way out is just clicking the back button.

[someguyranting1]

Why Do So Many People Love SAO? The Art of Mass Appeal

Hey! It’s okay! You are allowed to like Sword Art Online. I feel like I needed to explain that before somebody gets the wrong idea and thinks this is just me saying, “I don’t understand how somebody likes an anime that I don’t like!”

I just want to put this on the record: You’re not a bad person for liking SAO. You don’t have shit taste, and you’re not stupid. There are plenty of legitimate reasons to like this show, and, for this review, we’re going to be exploring what those reasons are because any show that can reach over a million people has to be doing something right.

No, this isn’t going to boil down to an insulting and reductive conclusion, like, “Thirsty weebs need wish fulfillment,” although I do think that is part of it for some people. This is a serious, analytical look at the series. The mechanics of mass appeal have always fascinated me, and SAO’s lacking qualities in other departments make it easier to isolate those mechanics than it would be looking at something like FMA.

You really can’t understate the impact that SAO has had on popular culture. It takes a lot of brand recognition for an American product to get a shot on network television, let alone a Japanese one. Much as critics like to downplay popularity as a measure of quality, success like that doesn’t just come down to random luck.

That said, luck is a major factor. SAO is often lauded for its great premise, but that’s only half the story. The most obvious factor in SAO’s whirlwind success is that it hit on the right premise, at the right time. When SAO came out in 2012, eSports and Free-to-Play games were becoming huge in the public eye. League of Legends had overtaken WoW as the most-played PC game of the year, and WoW’s death grip on the MMO market had loosened enough so that the landscape of online worlds was becoming more expansive and varied than it had ever been before. It was the perfect time to release any story about hardcore gaming, hardcore MMO gaming in particular, and with the Hunger Games phenomenon just starting to “catch fire” thanks to the first movie’s release, the market was hot for death game stories in particular. Add to that the exploding popularity of the then-new Game of Thrones and Walking Dead, and any series with a similar sense of lethality was bound to do well. Just look at how many articles at the time compare Attack on Titan and SAO to those two shows.

On top of that, anime was about to blow up in a big way in the West. Crunchyroll came to my attention in Fall of 2011, when they acquired the rights to Fate/Zero. I was hooked enough on the series from watching it on their ad-supported site to bite the bullet on a subscription just to get one episode ahead, and I don’t think I’m the only one. From 2011 to 2012, Crunchyroll began offering a serious value proposition by doubling their seasonal anime library, and becoming the go-to place for basically everything coming out of Japan by the Summer of 2012. It might not have been Fate/Zero specifically, but between huge series like HunterxHunter and quality niche stuff like Space Brothers and Kids on the Slope, the streaming service finally had enough content to pull in and sustain a hundred thousand subscribers by September of 2012, and two hundred thousand by March of 2013. Crunchyroll had become the service of choice for the then-niche community. SAO hit right in the middle of the surge in anime’s Western popularity, right at the point when Crunchyroll had enough content to be worth a subscription, but before it became totally unreasonable to watch everything on the service.

As one of the biggest fish in a rapidly-expanding pond, SAO both benefited from and helped spur on the service’s growth. Since it was one of the most popular shows on the service, Crunchyroll naturally put it at the forefront of their marketing push, which only increased its brand caché among anime fans and casuals alike. At this point, SAO was huge in Japan, and within the niche of Western anime fandom. It had proved its market viability enough to become a flagship title for the recently revived and redesigned Toonami block on Cartoon Network in Spring of 2013, and it was both relevant and popular enough to be added to Netflix in 2014, right in time to hype up the second season.

Anime had become a massive wave, washing over popular culture. Like 2013’s Attack on Titan, SAO had the good fortune to start riding that wave while it was still small, and go all the way to the top. The two series’ similar tone, and similar lethality, meant that fans of one were likely the fans of the other, and the cross-pollination only helped them both.

However, if good timing and an enticing premise were all it took for a show to embed itself in the popular culture, we’d be staring down Season 3 of The Unlimited Hyoubu Kyousuke right now. As much as it pains me to admit it, SAO does do some things very right when it comes to its execution that primed it for its whirlwind success. One of the biggest factors in this regard is the look of the show. A1 Pictures has faced a lot of criticisms from anime YouTubers and critics in general for the uniform look of its productions, and indeed, it can get pretty tiring to see the same faces, in nearly identical art styles, over and over again. However, that’s not going to be a problem for the casual anime fan, whose only seen a few dozen series. Their shows might look pretty similar, but they all look polished and professional, assuming they’re given enough time in production. They might not look or feel as nice as something from Ufotable, Kyoto Animation, or Bones, but they can get most of the way there in less time with a smaller budget, and that’s impressive. People like things that feel polished and professional.

If you haven’t seen a million shows like it before, SAO looks really clean and cohesive. It looks like what you expect a good anime to look like. The lineart is sharp and crisp, the characters blend with the environments well (at least, when the characters aren’t moving), and you can freeze on almost any frame and use it as a pretty decent wallpaper, which is all that many casual anime fans look for in a show’s visuals.

A1’s visual style is also very versatile. Its characters look cool, but they’re still very expressive. The girls can be moe cute, the heroes can look badass and youthful, and the adults can look old and hardened, and they all exist within the same world. Despite its “same-face syndrome” problem when put next to other A1 anime, SAO’s main cast has impressively diverse and easily recognizable character designs.

On the subject of design, while I do think that SAO would be a crappy game in real life, I will credit it for looking very visually appealing. The environments are super varied and interesting, from the flower dungeon, to the ice peak where they fight the dragon, to the trippy cave system where they find the Gleam Eyes. As VR spectacles go, this world would be a hell of a draw. The show’s visuals can really pop with vibrant colors, without looking too silly, and those can be muted down for more serious scenes without it looking incongruous with the rest of the show. SAO manages to sell moe, horror, action, and even Looney Tunes-esque cartoon comedy at times, and it all feels like roughly part of the same series.

That highlights one of the show’s other big strengths: plot variety. Because of the longtime scale of its storyline and the way that its setting creates a sort of blank slate for adventure, it can dabble in lots of different plot concepts, and even genres. One episode might be a short tragedy about Kirito watching all of his friends die, while the next is a cute story about saving a little girl’s pet and beating up some cackling Team Rocket villains, and that can be followed with a two-parter murder mystery, and after that, why not, let’s go on a side quest for crafting materials that blossoms into a short unrequited love story.

None of these individual stories have to be particularly great, hell, they don’t even have to make much logical sense because each one is so different from the last that it’s kind of fun to watch just for the surprise of finding out what they’re going to do next. Even if you really hate one storyline, you can rest assured that something new is on the horizon within an episode or two, and there’s a good chance that at least one of the many things the show tries will work for you.

Because Kirito’s character arc is about learning to open up to other people, all of those different plots feel like they’re moving the central plot forward, or at least a little, even if they’re really just filler. That results in a show that feels like it’s moving forward at a good pace. Emphasis on “feels” because if you look at the actual storytelling and logical structure of events, it’s an absolute mess. Just look at the final fight between Kirito and Kayaba Akihiko, it just comes out of nowhere on Floor 75 and it doesn’t work at all. However, if you’re just sitting down for entertainment, how a show feels to watch is paramount, and what sense it makes doesn’t matter so much.

Just to be clear, I’m not saying that it’s dumb to enjoy a show on that level. There’s value in sitting down, turning your brain off, and simply being entertained for the sake of relaxation. Analyzing anime can feel like work. For some, it is work. In SAO, it feels like at least one really important thing happens every single episode, and there’s usually a really cool-feeling action scene every two or three episodes to keep the excitement up. As a result, the show has momentum. Once you start watching, it’s very easy to keep watching without getting bored or confused. The show is consumable, like popcorn or other A1 Pictures shows like Gate.

The show suffers, a lot, when it loses this forward momentum, which I think is a big part of why even fans of the series acknowledge that the Fairy Dance arc kinda sucks. Kirito has a clear goal there, with an obvious solution in trying to rescue Asuna, which means that any diversion from that goal, like going off to fight a random guy in PvP, feels like a true waste of time. Furthermore, Kirito’s character is entirely static during that storyline. He doesn’t grow or change at all. Neither does Asuna, nor anyone aside from Suguha, and even then, only kind of. Therefore, even when the story is moving forward, it feels kind of flat.

Gun Gale fixes this problem in a kind of artificial way of giving Kirito sudden onset PTSD to get over, but it does help the story feel more substantial, and fans reacted positively to that. When it does work, even if it doesn’t actually have any idea where it’s going, SAO’s story moves forward with a bold sense of confidence and purpose.

Speaking of boldness, SAO also excels at setting a strong tone for whatever is happening in its story at any given time, particularly early on. Not necessarily the most appropriate tone, but a tone that is powerful and striking nonetheless. The monsters feel scary and intimidating, the comedy feels fun and lighthearted, the romance feels heartwarming and intimate, and deaths feel tragic and poignant. If you’re not invested in the story and characters, a lot of this can feel cloying and emotionally manipulative, but until something happens to take you out of that (like Yui’s death did for me), watching SAO is an emotional rollercoaster.

A big part of that is Tomohiko Ito’s direction. He is really good at placing the camera and cutting in a way that draws out the maximum possible emotion from any given scene. He needs to work with great source material, like Erased or Gin no Saji to really shine, but even working with Reki Kawahara’s leavings, he does a good job. The use of reflections in windows while Kirito listens to Sachi’s last message to him is legitimately incredible filmmaking.

The emotional impact of the series is further enhanced by the work of Yuki Kajiura, Tomohiko Ito’s most favorite composer, who also crafted the amazing soundtrack of Erased, as well as Tsubasa, Madoka Magica, Fate/Zero, Kara no Kyoukai, and some of the Xenosaga video games. Yuki Kajiura is one the most singularly talented composers working in the anime industry today, and it’s hard to understate just how much of an impact I think she’s had on the perceived quality of SAO. Her compositions for the show give it an air of cinematic quality, but they also feel distinctly, and very appropriately, video game-y. In particular, I’d argue that she is the primary reason that people say SAO has good action scenes. Her compositions make fights that are actually pretty stilted and janky, outside of a few sakuga cuts, feel incredibly bombastic and slick. When SAO’s music kicks up, it gets your pulse pounding, and it’s hard to resist getting caught up in it or even humming along to that memorable hook. Watch these fights without the music, and they kinda suck.

Kajiura’s abilities don’t just improve the action scenes, though. Her work is an integral part of that emotional roller coaster effect, heightening the emotion of each scene and connecting the emotional beats so that the shifts in tone feel less jarring than they might otherwise feel. She makes the scary scenes feel scary, the sad scenes feel much, much sadder, and the romantic scenes feel powerful and moving. That brings us to the big reason that I think people love SAO.

Most of the things I’ve talked about so far aren’t totally unique to SAO, and though they are important factors in getting people interested and keeping them invested in what’s going on, they’re not enough on their own to make people care so much that they’ll tell me to kill myself when I badmouth it. To evoke that kind of emotional response, a show really needs to get its audience to say, “Fuck yeah!”

The thing that makes a lot of people say that, myself included when I first watched SAO, is the fact that Kirito and Asuna get together in Episode 10, after several episodes of buildup where other characters notice they have a thing for each other, and it’s just really cute. That’s just not a thing that happens in anime. Even in shows with a clear OTP relationship, nine times out of ten the romance will be drawn out to its breaking point, and the characters will only hook up right at the end of the story, which isn’t just a lazy way to create an emotional arc, it’s tedious to watch.

The “will they, won’t they” is a story we’ve seen a million times, while the equally interesting story about what happens after, the trials and tribulations of actually dating and being in love, is almost never touched upon. You can justify that in a romance anime where the story is about characters sorting out their feelings and finally getting together (Toradora does that and it’s just about perfect), but even there, after a while you start to crave shows that buck that trend, like Ore Monogatari, My Little Monster, and Golden Time.

Also, with shows that have other things driving the plot, there’s really no excuse. There are few things that could really improve on Fullmetal Alchemist, but Winry and Ed hooking up earlier in the story would probably be one of them. Look at how many people loved Mikasa’s confession to Eren at the end of Attack on Titan Season 2. That was beautiful!

It’s a very pleasant surprise to see two main characters of a show like SAO commit to a monogamous relationship this early in the plot, and I think that most people who love the series do so because, in this respect, it doesn’t waste their time. This plot turn changes a lot of story dynamics, too, since Kirito and Asuna can be explicitly motivated by their love for one another, and that love can be made much deeper than the obvious mutual crushes that drive shows less willing to pull that trigger. For a story so driven by its emotional content, that one change makes SAO feel very different from just about everything else a casual fan is likely to have seen, and from what you would probably expect going into the show.

Now if you’re like me, and you think a lot about story structure and plot logic, that effect of that change doesn’t really last. Reki Kawahara is totally unwilling to abandon his harem anime nonsense, so every arc sees Kirito introduced to a new hot girl who wants to jump his bones. In terms of narrative structure, that really undercuts the importance of his commitment to Asuna.

However, if you’re just watching the show to enjoy a show, then it feels very substantial, to the point that fans get very mad at me when I call this harem anime a harem anime, in the same way that all of the deaths early on make the show feel very lethal and dangerous, so long as you don’t realize that all of the key characters have plot armor. If you do buy into it, the scenes of Kirito and Asuna being a couple and enjoying each other’s company are extremely emotionally satisfying. By the same token, if Yui doesn’t bug you the same way she bugs me, her relationship with Kirito and Asuna is adorable. Hell, Asuna and Kirito’s romance is the only part of the movie that I think really works. To get more cynical for a moment, for the segment of the audience that does use this show as pure escapist wish fulfillment, the fact that Kirito can have an emotionally fulfilling relationship with his wife, while still being chased by hotties all because he’s so dang good at video games that he’s basically invincible, those aspects only improve the show for you.

However, I don’t think that most people who love SAO love it for those reasons. I think they love it because it managed to get them deeply invested in its main characters through one very bold plot turn, and once you care about those characters, seeing Kirito be an unstoppable badass stops being eye-rolling, and starts being cool and fun. I think they love SAO because the world that it creates seems like a very appealing place on the surface to spend time in, and you can imagine yourself being one of the NPCs going off and doing something that’s not vital to Kirito’s plotline, like that guy who’s fishing, for some reason. I think they love SAO because it came at the right time in their lives, right when they were getting into anime. If you’ve seen hundreds of anime, then yeah, parts of it are going to feel played out, but if you’ve seen just a handful, SAO is going to feel fresh, and new, and exciting.

Considering that it’s at the forefront of the anime fandom, even today, I think it will be among many people’s first anime for many years to come, and I think that ties into why so many of us so passionately hate this show as well. Because when we discovered it, it had all of this promise and potential, but at one point or another, be it a poorly-executed death or a very, very poorly-executed rape scene, it let us down profoundly, and we were left unable to enjoy this thing that, at one point, seemed like it could be so great, that was, at one point, so enjoyable for us. That disappointment is a lot more cutting than the overt and unsurprising terribleness of something like The Asterisk War or Akashic Record.

But not everyone was disappointed in it in the same way. While I do think it’s fundamentally poorly made, SAO does some things right that are going to be more important for some people than the things it does wrong are for me.