#will this even be relevant later...

[perilegs]

koshka? i know its like a girlcat but do we get a catboy please im begging

[saintarmand]

the power of this scene cannot be captured in gif form. sound ON

[gummi-ships]

Kingdom Hearts 3

[napping-sapphic]

Breaking news!! Tomorrow’s forecast indicates that it would be a GREAT day for us to hold hands 👉👈

[ruthlesslistener]

hi.

i know its been over a year but believe it or not im still writing this fic

[awakeskydoesntdraw]

Posting in this blog after an eternity because I feel like I'm going insane here and my friends are asleep so I need to dump my brainstorm SOMEWHERE (SPOILERS FOR ARLECCHINO'S BACKSTORY/SHORT ANIMATION!!)

The TLDR is basically I think that the whole story with Arlecchino and Clervie is foreshadowing for Lyney and Lynette's future

I think the parallels between Lyney and Arle don't need to be too explained for the most part. Pyro Visions, Arle wants him to be the next "king" while he doesn't seem to be too into that idea just like her younger self didn't want it, both are associated with Rainbow Roses (they both use them as ascension materials)

Plus, I'd argue they look kinda similar here. I'm not sure exactly what is that makes the resemblance, maybe a bit of the hair, bowtie and shorts and you could say it's something she has with the others too (her kid design resembles Freminet, current one Lynette) but I thought it was good to mention anyways

Meanwhile, Lynette and Clervie are the two closest companions to their respective pair

Lynette's has Lumidouce Bells as an ascension material. Clervie is very clearly represented with the same flower (if her necklace wasn't enough, there's this)

Plus, a bit of a smaller connection, but they both have clear sweet tooths

(Lyney saying "we talked about this" implies this is a frequent event. The animation showing Clervie with cake twice while it only had 7 minutes to tell the whole story has a similar effect)

So, if Lyney is a parallel to Arle while Lynette is a parallel to Clervie, where does this leave us?

Well... Not exactly in a good spot-

To be fair, I don't think Genshin would actually kill a playable character (or at least, so I hope), but it's very possible Lynette gets really hurt, either directly by Lyney or by being close to him

Arlecchino swore to be nothing like her mother, but in the end, the way she's acting towards Lyney by wanting to make him the next king may be very similar to it

Once upon a story quest, Lyney said similar words to a woman who claimed he'd end up all alone. I can only pray that the writers will have mercy at my soul and that they wouldn't go that low with a playable character

If I were to make a mildly self indulgent guess, as the Freminet main I am, I'd say that he may be the key that's going to make things turn out different for the twins. His presence is the biggest difference between the twins vs Arle and Clervie, who seemed to have no one else that was even mildly close to them. From the 4.6 trailer we know that he's the one that has been hiding stuff and we do see him blocking out Arle's attack, so I don't think it's a stretch to say he'll have a really important role in this whole thing

So yeah! If you read all my rambling, thanks I guess, hope you enjoyed it. In the end, all I can hope is that the Fontaine siblings all turn out fine for the sake of my own mental wellness because God knows these 3 stay all day spinning in my head as if it was a microwave

Also, for the record: No, I don't have a clue about what the hell is going on with Freminet apparently finding "Clervie" (ghost?? Illusion??) and hiding her from Arle. Until this short my best shot was that she was some sort of mermaid creature, but that idea is out the window so it could be anything really

[kyouka-supremacy]

Today marks the two years anniversary of that time I dreamed about sskk doing groceries together where Atsushi was standing outside of the store waiting for Akutagawa to pay and gradually started having a serious breakdown because Akutagawa wasn't coming out and he thought he had been left alone and that Akutagawa had abandoned him only for Akutagawa to come out all dishevelled and out of breath telling Atsushi “sorry, I met Dazai-san and Chuuya-san and Dazai-san did something and I had to stop Chuuya-san from killing Dazai-san” to a very relieved Atsushi

[solradguy]

I’ve been curious about this for a while, but is there a reason that Asuka’s name is the way it is?

Because in Japanese it’s written 飛鳥＝Ｒ＝クロイツ.

I know 2/3rds of it is Christian R(osen)kreuz but why is his first name kanji? Is there any reason for this? Is it a reference? Even if it is a reference, he is not Japanese so wouldn’t it be アスカ＝Ｒ＝クロイツ ?

Is there some Asuka lore I don’t know about? Is it just an aesthetic choice/to make his name as wacky as possible? (I mean, a kanji, romaji, kana combo for a name isn’t something you don’t see every day).

This has been on my mind for weeks.

I don't have citations for any of this so take it all with a grain of salt because I'm largely speculating.

飛鳥 means "flying bird" and Asuka's got a lot of bird/flying imagery in GG, especially in Strive. It could be that Daisuke just liked the motifs, but his design decisions are generally much deeper than that. Asuka has a LOT of themes baked into his character for things like Japan post-WW2/atomic bomb, the effects of horrors of decisions made during wars on the people who make them, and "sacrifice for a greater good." This last one is evident in the decision he had to make in redirecting Justice's laser towards Japan, killing millions but saving the rest of the world from whatever destruction the Universal Will was going to bring.

Asuka being an American with a Japanese first name and German last name fits into that too, with those three countries all interacting closely in horrible ways during WW2. Again, him having to redirect Justice's laser mirrors America's actions with the atomic bomb. "They dropped the bombs to prevent further deaths during the war" is a common (grim) reasoning given for it.

It's possible the bird motifs suggest a freedom and want for a life unburdened by heavy decisions that Asuka is never going to have. The more abstract bird motifs, like his weird eyepatch thingy, could also tie in with angel symbology and the Rosenkreutz/Rosicrucian Order stuff, which then loop back to his connection with magic and Backyard esoterica.

On a lighter note, Daisuke was almost definitely inspired by Go Nagai's Devilman, despite me not having a citation for that lol. 飛鳥 is the same kanji Ryo Asuka from Devilman uses, and GG Asuka's relationship to Sol is almost 1:1 to Ryo's and Akira Fudo's in Devilman. Sol's Dragon Install designs borrow some inspirations from the Devilman's too, most notably in the weird head-wing thingies.

Asuka R. Kreutz is a character that has a ton of very deliberate and carefully chosen elements to his character. I have zero doubts that, when we do find out why Daisuke named him the way he did, it's going to open the floodgates for intense analysis.

[paxny]

I put off getting into Star Trek for years because I knew I would be unhealthily obsessed with it and I don’t have the time for that much content.

Welp.

I watched One. Movie. and *instant brainrot* I guess I’m making time now!!

[idiotsonlyevent]

the first episode/chapter of dandadan has sexual assault scenes, and while nothing past that point is as intense as that first scene, sexual assault does NOT go away. on top of that, there is non-sexual nudity of teenagers, there are jokes about okarun's balls throughout the whole manga, there broadly seem to be themes/discussion of violating bodily autonomy - if those things make you uncomfortable, i suggest either bracing yourself or checking something else out

[chiropteracupola]

"The land was lost; the world was lost as well... the world is upside down ... and there is no remedy in this kingdom." — Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala, trans. David Frye

[⚬⚬⚬⚬⚬𐂂, requested by anonymous]

[bananonbinary]

Homestuck really was that good. It's an absolutely transformative experience that changed the way I perceive and interact with both media and the medium of a story. For whatever issues exist in Homestuck, Hussie's grasp on character voice really is unmatched, and I can only hope that my writing can carry an ounce of his creativity.

big samesies. there's a lot of things that i feel a little frustrated about, mostly i think because it was written over such a long time and what hussie wanted from the story changed more than once over that time (homestuck is a little bit unusual like that i think, in that it is not at all meant to be read episodically like most webcomics, making early installment weirdness and late idea introductions a lot more pronounced)

but no matter how frustrated i get by certain parts it always completely fades away when i remember how much joy the thing brings me as a whole. the characters, the themes, the exploration of the medium, it's all so so so good.

[moonpaw]

Fighting DEMONS rn trying not to get invested in one piece to figure out wtf you're posting about!!!!

come here cyber.... we have this thang

‎

[lunalikestowriteanddraw]

*first listen*

Kremy, as a frog: who do you think is my true love?

Me, knowing that Kremy and Gideon get married in episode 15: idk, probably Gideon

*second listen*

Kremy, as a frog: who do you think is my true love?

Me, knowing EVERYTHING that happens later, unable to fight back a smile: Gideon :)

[recurring-polynya]

Good morning, happy Thursday, who wants to read a fun idea I had about giants in Soul Society?

So! I was reading this @littleeyesofpallas post about wuxing symbolism and was particularly struck by this passage in a section about the gate guardians:

There is no central guard but conspicuously Kirinji's name comes from Qilin, but apparently according to official height he's actually not nearly as tall as Kubo's drawings always made him seem. Not that he was on the same scale as the gate guardians even then...

No, I said to myself, of course not. He's powerful enough to control his size, because I was thinking of the part where Grand Fisher claims Isshin is too small to defeat him and Isshin responds with a lecture on soul reaper lore:

Now, bodies are not swords, but maybe the same mechanic applies! It certainly applies to Hollows. Earlier in this same scene, Kon mistakes Grand Fisher for a Menos Grande, and Grand Fisher is insulted by the comparison, but it's the same thing. Menos are huge and scary, but when they become Arrancar, they shrink down and become scarier. [Aside: I think this is why the Yammy-is-secretly-Espada-0 reveal doesn't quite manage to hit. It goes against the lore Kubo has been laying down for ages]

On a meta level, this is just a shounen storytelling tactic where X is an indicator of strength, but then later on, it's like "Reverse Uno! Not-X is the real indicator of strength!!" That's exactly how this zanpakutou-size thing is used when it's first introduced.

Exhibit A: Renji, a court jester, being impressed by the size of Ichigo's sword:

Exhibit B: A handful of issues later, Urahara, an intellectual (lol), sets us straight:

Genre convention or not, I think it lends itself some interesting world-building. Among low-powered people, size is impressive, but as you scale the ranks of power, it's kind of pathetic. Weirdly large people are like the petty bourgeoisie of Soul Society power dynamics.

But that's actually the perfect niche for a gatekeeper! In general, your typical Joe Shinigami is going to be able to take on just about any rando from the Rukongai, but maybe not a particularly strong ryouka. Ganju was able to take on Yumichika, after all. A single shinigami wouldn't be able to take on a planned rebellion, like in the Bount arc, and they've got to, like, sleep and stuff. The Gotei could, in theory, have an entire gatehouse and a gate patrol, etc, but that they are perpetually short-staffed as-is. Instead, how about one medium-powerful gatekeeper whose size makes them well-suited for fighting groups of people (or siege weapons), and who is going to be intimidating overall?

Furthermore, it's implied that Jidanbou isn't actually a shinigami. He wears a shihakushou, but his axes don't seem to be a zanpakutou (he doesn't release them and is distressed when they are destroyed). His neighbors offer this comment on him:

It's not quite right, though: after all, many shinigami are from Rukongai, including Gin, who is the reason Jidanbou is being healed at the very moment this panel takes place. I think what this guy means is that Jidanbou is of Rukongai, which is to say not of the Seireitei.

So what is he, then? Here's my big idea: I think that the gigantism in Soul Society might actually be a reiatsu-developmental disability! It's always been my impression that growth, especially for powerful people, happens in fits and spurts, rather than linearly, and that furthermore, big changes in growth tend to coincide with developments in reiryouku. Somewhere, either in childhood or adolescence, someone's spiritual pressure grows more quickly than their control over it, which results in their body growing uncontrollably. They become very powerful "physically", but their strength is all in their mass/reishi, which takes most of their spiritual pressure to control. This may end up limiting the upper end of power they are able to achieve and some cases means they get cut off entirely from the other forms of power used by shinigami (connecting to a zanpakutou, kidou). I think this might be especially common in children from the Rukongai, who lack access to education and training. I can also imagine it leading itself to cautionary tales in the outer Rukon that if you feed your hungry children too much, you'll end up with a giant on your hands.

This offers one explanation to why Jidanbou is a giant and his brother Jiroubou is large, but not remotely on the same scale (the Souls Data Book lists his height at 7'7" vs Jidanbou's 32'5"). There are a handful of other shinigami of larger-than-human height, which could be a milder form of this, or it could mean that some sort of special training or medical intervention helped keep their growth manageable. I think you can squeeze in a lot of interesting character insights into this headcanon, from Hachi (8'5"), who perhaps worked exceptionally hard in an effort to control his power and ended becoming incredibly skilled at kidou as a result (interesting that he, too, is not actually a shinigami). Or Oomaeda (6'11"), who gets by a lot on his family's wealth and clout, but is definitely on the weaker end of the lieutenant power scale. In his case, his large size kind of speaks to his entire "thinks he's classy, but is really just gaudy"/can't-even-tell-how-outclassed-he-is-by-his-peers deal.

Then, as a counterpoint, you've got Hitsugaya: immensely powerful from a young age, and one of the hallmarks of his character is how in-control of himself he is, down to having developed an actual visible power bar for his bankai. Whether this is some effect of his personality, or whether it's an intervention on Hyourinmaru's part, his growth has been choked off as a side effect. He's the direct opposite of Jidanbou, who additionally seems somewhat childlike in personality (crying over his axes, for example, or his attachment to his extremely dubious "rules of the city"). To me, it's very sweet that their friendship might have roots in opposite expressions of the same reiatsu-growth-fuckup.

Much in the way that the Shiba use some sort of magic that's distinctly different from shinigami-kidou, I guess I really like thinking about other ways power might manifest itself in Soul Society outside of the shinigami-industrial-complex. And also the way the Seireitei may or may not try to control those powers."Guard this gate!" they say. "We won't actually let you live in the city or give you city wages, but you can have a cool outfit and, uh...do it for the exposure?"

[aleeyenn]

if anyone is interested i’ve been updating my fireafy playlist recently … take a listen!!! or a glance… all the songs have been hand picked by me for a bit over a year now :]