#yes this is all the basic ships I am aware I am very basic sue me if you must

[shipsarebeautiful]

Random thought/new headcanon: Once a week the starmony dorms have a day where people swap which dorm room they stay in for the night so that people can be with their respective partners.

Here’s what the dorms look like normally

And here’s a visual I made on what I imagine they would look like on “swap day”

The lines are colour-coordinated by hair to show who’s going where, but if you think it’s unreadable I don’t blame you so here’s a summary.

Relationships with their own room:

• Shu/Mika

• Ritsu/Mao

• Izumi/Leo

• Kuro/Keito

• Natsume/Tsumugi

• Hiyori/Jun

• Rinne/Niki

• Chiaki/Kanata

• Shinobu/Yuta

• Hiiro/Aira/Kohaku

• Koga/Adonis/Souma

Relationships that have to share:

• Hajime/Tomoya + Mayoi/Tatsumi

• Rei/Kaoru + Ibara/Nagisa

• Tsukasa/Tori + Midori/Yuzuru

• Hokuto/Subaru + Wataru/Eichi with Mama and Sora

• Hinata/Tetora with HiMERU and Arashi

Leftovers:

Nazuna, Makoto and Mitsuru

To clarify, I don’t think Yushino or Kohiiai actually need or want their own room, they basically just get one for the sake of simplicity, so we’ll imagine those 5 are in a unique position of being a “reserve room” where they’ll give it up for another couple if asked in advance. Also please don’t question how Keito ever agreed to let this happen, just go with it.

[xz1005fanblog]

2021-02-27 Some things I want to say

WARNING LONG POST

Context first, translation of his post above will follow:

Disclaimer: I have no interest in other artists other than Xiao Zhan, and I am merely explaining the situation of the fandom in China that led us to the fiasco in March 2020. I do not care for bjyx, I ship WangXian but I do not ship real people as a basic principle.

My opinion as an international fan of Xiao Zhan and as an AO3 user (yes, I am not Chinese nor do I live in China, I just happen to be able to read Chinese) is that C-entertainment industry is TOXIC and celebrities are not free targets for you to cyberbully. They are human just like you and me. 

Everyone needs to learn a bit more about compassion. 

I am sure all of you read about the cyberbullying Xiao Zhan went through last year. There were multiple factors that started all of this, most of which XZ doesn’t talk about in this letter because of how sensitive the topic is in China. I’ve never explained entirely what happened because I personally thought that this is not something overseas fans should worry too much about. Especially since most of you don’t have a wb or db account, there’s nothing you can do about it anyway. But since Xiao Zhan himself decided to post a letter to respond to this subject, I’ll put in my 2 cents just that so everyone is on the same page.

Basically, after The Untamed aired in China, the show fandom split into 3 groups. XZ fans, WYB fans, and CP fans (or bjyx, whatever you wish to call it, those who love shipping these two real people together - not just the characters in the drama). Of course there are still people who would watch the show without becoming a fan of the actors.

At the beginning, most people thought they were good friends with each other, with all the short BTS clips from The Untamed. However, fans slowly discovered that it wasn’t the case. Some unofficial BTS clips emerged where WYB said XZ was shooting multiple dramas at the same time = 轧戏 (which is very frowned upon and a disrespectful thing to say to an actor), whereas in reality, XZ only asked for a couple of days days off during the shooting for The Untamed because his scenes in Joy of Life had to be redone and he was bound by contract. On the contrary, WYB had to ask for most weekends off because he was participating in Produce 101 at the time. Other clips shows them fighting about somethings WYB said about WWX, which made XZ mad. So this broke a lot of CP fans’ image of their relationship, and they either stopped shipping/became XZ or WYB fans only. This angered WYB’s fans, of course, which made them blame XZ for the entire fiasco.  

Other incidents continued to happen after the show which increased the friction between these 3 fan groups. XZ fans and WYB fans would fight about various voting charts, and fight with CP fans because they don’t like seeing the two actors together. In the meantime, CP fans continuously feminize and weaken XZ in order to ship the 2 actors together (it’s rather an unhealthy trend in China, I’ve been in multiple other western fandoms before - not real person shipping - but we rarely glorify weakening/feminizing the bottom of a ship, because of the underlying prejudice against real homosexuals, who are not synonymous to transgenders).

Some incidents added oil to the fire afterwards. It’ll take me too long to explain everything, so I’ll just put here the main ones to explain why there’s so much bad blood between these 3 groups of fans.

On XZ’s birthday, some CP fans found XZ’s parents’ apartment building and yelled BJYX is real. This angered a lot of XZ fans, because of how disrespectful it was towards the old couple and the clear breach of privacy. WYB fans and some CP fans were also angry that XZ didn’t reply immediately to the birthday wish on wb that WYB sent at midnight (??? XZ was busy shooting a drama, can you blame him for not being on wb at midnight? Give the guy a break.)

In November 2019, WYB filed a lawsuit against some of XZ’s fans (instead against of his own haters!) for dissing him (although I’ve never seen any proof, and a few of those fans remain active on wb now, one of whom has even defended WYB's portrayal of LWJ before...). This angered a lot of XZ fans and CP fans who didn’t understand how he could have done this to his “friend”, and further proved that their relationship wasn’t that fantastic to begin with. WYB fans felt justified in hating XZ and all XZ fans as a result, and openly bullied XZ fans on the grounds of the Nanking CQL Concert. 

In January, The Untamed was named to Beijing Journal Drama award. CP fans and WYB fans were unhappy that XZ was named to the Best Male Lead category and WYB was named to the Best Male 2nd Lead. They attacked the award committee wb by spam commenting all their wb posts and the entire drama was pulled from the nomination afterward. XZ fans were especially angry that they started all this only for the nomination to be pulled out - because the only possibility was one Male Lead per drama, and anyone would agree that if chosen between WWX and LWJ, the character with the most scenes and importance in the story is WWX. 

Yadda yadda yadda, fast forward to February 2020, it started with a fanfiction written by a CP fan that depicted XZ as a prostitute transgender woman and WYB as a highschool kid (UNDERAGE) = AKA very sensitive material in China. It was posted on AO3, but the author posted the link of said fic on wb and a lot of CP fans broadcasted it around, so much that XZ fans became aware of it. Due to how sensitive the material is and how badly it would taint XZ’s image for his future roles, some XZ fans started reporting the wb post that contained the link (NOT AO3) and the author’s wb page. This is common practice in fandom on wb, usually done to get the wb posts taken down. This caused panic in the CP fans crowd because they thought XZ fans were reporting AO3 and that they were gonna lose the website (which is impossible, because AO3′s servers are in Sweden and not subject to Chinese laws anyway). 

Because of how sensitive AO3 was in China and how haters tried to pull in antigovernmental into their crowds, the subject quickly became too dangerous for XZ fans to get involved in. Official fan groups in China unanimously decided to ask all fans to stop participating in the online debate and stay within the fan group circle only. 

Someone on AO3 made a commentary about this incident that you can find here. She dug up a lot of info on the companies feeding money to the trolls online, but as I am an overseas fan and cannot really verify her info, I will not comment on those statements. 

Sometime in the middle of this fiasco, someone started spreading the notion that XZ fans hated fanfiction and were trying to report anything that goes against their image of their idol... And subsequently people who were not CP fans or XZ fans became aware of this problem when they couldn’t access AO3 suddenly because too much curious fans where trying to access it and they crashed the servers. However later on, people could access the website without any problems. I am not personally in China right now so I can’t verify these claims of the website being walled or not for real, but I know from various reliable sources that on March 1st it was only an overload of the server, and people could still access afterwards. 

With this however, haters (which include previous CP fans, WYB fans, and other idol’s fans) attacked XZ for not telling his fans to stop reporting, for not saying anything. They attacked XZ’s endorsements and spammed hate speech on the products he was promoting. They would rate 1 star in all his dramas and songs on db, and then buy accounts to further rate 1 stars (yes that thing exists in China, everything can be bought in China, don’t ask me why.) The reason why I believe that all this wasn’t coincidental, is that barely the day after the fiasco started, someone posted on db the exact list of all his sponsorships, detailing exactly who to call to protest, what words to spam in the comment sections of various official brands’ wb accounts. This entire thing was too well planned to be just a normal fandom fight. 

Whether it was other actors’ fans who organized this to cut down competition, we will probably never know for sure. The following year was laden with fake rumors, hate speech blasting from multiple directions. They attacked his personality, saying that his polite manners are just for show (when the reality is that he has always been a gentleman even when he wasn’t popular). They attacked XZ for faking donations to Wuhan, forcing him to show his donation certificate to prove himself. One of his friends couldn’t stand the cyberbullying anymore and revealed publicly that his grandfather recently passed away (the date on this drawing is 2020.03.03, he couldn’t post this last year). 

His friend defending him from the cyberbullies, saying that he had plenty of reasons to stay silent. That his grandfather passed away recently and his family has been planning his funeral. 

(Sources also said that his mother was hospitalized a few days afterwards. And that haters went to his mother’s hospital to harass her and her nurses)

Haters saying that XZ is using his grandfather’s death to excuse himself (??? is he not allowed to grieve like a normal person???)

Haters wishing that XZ becomes depressed from the cyberbullying and kills himself, wishing that he was dead, wishing that his fans were dead too. Photoshopping his picture into a funeral portrait to curse him

Haters admitting they are cyberbullying XZ, but rejoicing in the fact that they are so many so XZ can’t sue all of them. They have also reported his upcoming dramas for various reasons just so they cannot be aired. 

The airplane incident I’ve already talked about here.

A picture antis made to diss on XZ fans: AO3 can be still accessed even if it’s walled, Lofter can be still access even if it’s taken down from the app store. Your gege’s picture are still accessible even if he died. 

I’ve only posted here the tamest screenshots, there are far worst ones that I won’t be posting because the amount of vitriol give me nausea just looking at them. 

In all this fiasco, antis gave him the tag of “idol who didn’t manage his fans well”. But Xiao Zhan never thought fans needed to be trained, he thought of them like normal people, and their love, something to be treasured and not used. But some people in China still blamed his fans for starting all this mess, and partly him and his studio for not being able to stop it. 

Below is the translation for XZ’s letter, posted on the wb post above

Some Things I Want To Say

Today, I have something to say to everyone. I’ve thought of a lot of ways to do this, but in the end, I chose the simplest way to tell everyone about all my feelings and thoughts in the past year. These opinions, maybe they won’t be able to represent anything, nor won’t they be able to change anything, but I still wish to say this today. 

On this day last year, the incident happened very quickly, as if a bomb exploded on my face - endless phone calls, never ending message notifications, everyone’s opinions and questions came in like a tsunami. I wanted to say something back then, but I didn’t know what exactly. I was apprehensive of making a statement, afraid that one wrong word, or one wrong sentence would be taken the wrong way and end up adding oil to the fire. This is why at that time, I chose not to say anything. 

I never thought that the online fighting would grow bigger and bigger like an avalanche, getting larger crowds involved, and gradually leaving one person’s control. Even though afterwards I made repeated statements to make amends, it could not develop as I wished it to anymore. 

This life filled with broken protests and tumultuous noise continued to this day. And I felt I was going through a very dark and never ending tunnel. Unrest, ruminations, turmoil... I have also asked myself what did I do wrong exactly, why did everything after that day became as if it were an uncontrollable vessel. 

I spent a lot of time to digest, and then spent a lot of time to understand, understand everyone’s words and actions. Slowly, I started to understand what everyone was criticizing about me personally. The moment that I chose not to say anything, I lost that window of opportunity to reason with everyone. So I was wrong, from the very beginning. 

At that time, I wasn’t yet able to clearly understand the entire incident, to understand everyone’s feelings, nor did I know what kind of responsibility I had to carry as a public figure. Thus, I missed that opportunity to communicate with everyone, and wasn’t able to withstand the responsibility of letting these antagonizing feelings grow. Now, I can clearly recognize that throughout this year, this criticism that everyone had against me of “Idol Who Lost Its Voice”, was correct. During this year I reflected upon this repeatedly, as a public figure, I have to not only improve myself within the boundaries of my profession, but also have to carry the social responsibility that comes with my influence. To influence those who like me, who follow me, towards the right worldviews within my capacity. Even though my studio and I have already expressed some opinions through wb and interviews, but scars that this incident that brought such antagonistic emotions between different circles are still difficult to heal. 

No matter how late, my own problem has to be corrected. I would like to express my first comment: Xiao Zhan, would like to apologize for “losing voice” towards those who have been affected by this incident. This is my first responsibility towards the public, face the problem and admit my faults. 

Also, I would like to use this opportunity to speak with my fans. This is my second responsibility. In one of my interviews last year, I have said, I do not really agree with “managing” my fans (some celebs in China have hired people to manage fan groups in order for them to behave in certain ways for their purposes. Antis tried to spread the false rumor that XZ also had those people and that they directed their fans to start this mess), because everyone is an individual. No matter my studio nor myself, we do not have the authority to “manage” them like some would manage workers in a company. Afterwards, I reflected many times, maybe I cannot use the word “manage” to define my relationship with my fans, but I do have the responsibility to “correctly influence, and actively advocate”. So today, I would like to tell my fans, everyone has the right to like or hate something, and it should be respected and allowed within their own space. Of course this right should be reasonable, should not hurt anyone else, and remain within the boundaries of the correct values and norms. I hope my fans and friends can understand that no matter which profession, no matter what age, one’s own preferences or actions should not cross the line for one’s professional ethics or disrespect basic principles. 

(Here he is referring to reports of teachers using his name in class or asking children to say his name to cheer for him. This is a problem that occurred also with other celebrities in China, and for which he has already expressed himself previously.)

No matter online or in real life, everyone should be responsible for their own words. I also hope that we are not represented tags like “xx’s fans”, that we do not set this as the basis of where we stand on a topic nor do we let this determine what’s right or wrong. Everyone have their own hobbies and interest, respect everyone’s choice and freedom of speech. No matter whether they like me or hate me is their own right. Passion, this should be a source of strength to everyone, I do not wish for it to consume or hurt anyone. Perhaps I cannot change this kind of environment, but at least for you and me, today is a new start point. 

At last, I would like to talk a bit about myself. Ever since I came into this field, until today, I have always been defined by some tags. But the reason why I originally stepped into this circle was my passion for performance and music. And this is why, I will keep working on becoming a better actor and singer. The sudden criticism of “having lost voice” made me realize that, other than what I have always focused on professionally, I have to also be able to carry the responsibility of a public figure and an idol. I was born in a normal family in Chong Qing, and have lived a normal life, like many other people, for more than twenty years. Today I will also use this opportunity to apologize for the words I have said before as a normal person (I’ve already talked about it here), for the people I have inadvertently hurt. As I work hard on studying to become a better person, I will try to become a better “public figure”, so that these two Xiao Zhan can blend in together, for a better self. 

This past year, no matter big or small, I have to be responsible for the incidents that happened because of me. I can demand this for myself, but I have no right to force it on other people, so I can only hope that those who really like me can really listen to me: please be a bit more reasonable for things outside of personal preferences. Live a healthy life, put more time and energy onto one’s real life, and less on the senseless fighting behind fake IDs and unreliable online world. Only to become a better self. 

(Here he’s referring to an online fight that an anti called 晨小晨 started. I’ve already explained a bit here.  #微博管理员回应晨小晨事件# )

Sorry for any grammar errors, this post was really long to make and I didn’t proofread. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to translate the entire thing for overseas fans since you don’t understand the entire context, and because I wanted my wb records collection tag to be complete, I felt I had to... and I got carried away trying to explain everything. Tried to summarize it as much as I could.

As a fan of Xiao Zhan and also an AO3 user, I would still like to apologize for how this bullshi*t ended up disrupting respectful and peaceful users of AO3. The Untamed tag did not contain hate fics before all of this happened, it is unfortunate that a place where there used to be only love, ended up being tainted by antis and haters.

To the anonymous person who asked me a few months ago if I supported bjyx, this is my answer: You have the right to like whatever you want within your own corner, as long as it doesn’t bother anyone else and isn’t against basic principles. I ship WangXian as characters from a novel, but I have never liked RPS as a principle. 

[subtlereferencetomyinterests]

I Like You, Say It Back.

Ao3,   MasterPost

Wow, Same ship twice in a row? Fuckin sue me, it’s underrated. Plus it’s short so it doesn’t count. 

Relationships: Dukexiety/Intruxiety

Warnings: Crying, perceived one-sided relationship (it isn’t!! he was Mistaken), Mentions of some Remus-y thoughts/ideas/habits, hurt/comfort, Remus angst, brief miscommunication, cursing. Short and Sweet, for the most part :3. One kissy ^x^

Word Count: 1,585

Remus stilled in shock, his hands tensed up against his partner’s back. 

“What did you just say?”

Virgil shifted back from their close embrace, eyes wide and nervous. Remus was too busy losing his mind to be concerned about his boyfriend’s mounting distress, unfortunately. What had Virgil said? He must've misheard, surely.

“That I love you? You- uh, you don't have to say it back, if it's, like, too soon, or whatever,” Virgil rambled, confirming that yep, nope, Remus hadn't misheard anything.

Too soon! Now, that was the furthest thing from the issue. They'd been dating for two months, after all. Though Remus didn't typically prescribe to social standards, that was probably more than enough time to use the L-word. In fact, there were plenty of times where the Creative facet himself had to actively prevent himself from blurting it out (be it by swallowing cement or suturing his mouth shut, and various other means). 

Remus’ brand of affection did not mesh well with someone as easily spooked as his partner. But God, he tried to get it under control, because Virgil was worth it. Virgil was worth patience and gentleness and holding his breath, waiting and waiting. He’d even waited until he was 100% sure his and Virgil's fractured friendship was fully mended to attempt to ask the trait out, despite having been in love with him since they were young. Very few things scared Remus- really scared him, to the point of breaking his pledge of constant bluntness and honesty- but losing the people he cared about easily made that short list. 

But Virgil had agreed to go out with him. 'Yeah, sure,' he'd muttered, face a little pinker and back a little straighter than normal, 'Sounds fun, I guess.' 

To anyone else, it would've sounded noncommittal, lackluster, but to Remus- fuck, it was the best thing in the world. Virgil was really going to give him a chance! 

Remus never expected it to last long. One date, maybe. When said date had actually gone really well (Vee had even let him kiss him!), he'd amended that they might have a week in them. Lo and behold, ten weeks later, and Virgil had yet to dump him.

The end, Remus had assumed, was going to come soon. He was okay with that- don't get him wrong! He adored his boyfriend, reveled in their time together, but he'd already gotten so much further than ever thought he would. It only made sense that Anxiety would eventually get frustrated and fed up with humoring him. Remus had made peace with that, long since appeased with whatever he’d already gotten out of this.

At least, he had thought he was at peace. Now there was this fucking curveball. 

“You love me? Like, actually?”

The nervousness dropped from Virgil’s face, replaced by bemusement. Remus got a close view of it from his seat on the other’s lap. His favorite place to be, typically, but at that moment the proximity bordered on overwhelming. Not like he was going to move, though.

“Ye- yeah? Is that a surprise to you?”

Remus barked out a laugh, throwing his head back to distract from the slight stinging he felt at the corners of his eyes. A surprise? That was one hell of an understatement! Virgil was so cavalier about it, too, like it wasn’t the strangest thing Remus had ever heard. Like it didn’t make his heart leap up into his throat, and not even in the cool, literal way. 

“You love me! Two months of-” he made a sharp gesture between them, “-this and you’ve come to the conclusion that you love me,” it wasn't quite believable in Remus’ mind. His face was splitting in a grin, but he shook as he grasped at Virgil’s shoulders, tears steadily clouding his vision. It felt like his insides were exploding, and not at all in a bad way. Like someone had pumped his chest full of Build-A-Bear stuffing and bright-colored candy, his skin splitting at the seams to try and hold it all. Which was unequivocally fun and amazing, of course.

Virgil, for one, seemed floored by that reaction.

“Okay, I'll be honest, I had no idea how you were gonna react- I never do, really, but- you're laughing?”

Remus leaned his head back down, more cackles escaping him. The look on Virgil’s face was a mask of shock, from what he could make out through his haze. Oh, he was crying in earnest now, for sure. Big, gloopy streams of salt-water pouring down from his ruby-red eyes.

“I never, ever thought that you would say it,” he made a noise between a snort and a sob, “And you did!”

Suddenly, Remus was jostled from his boyfriend’s lap. Virgil had his back pressed against the arm of the couch, one leg stuck out to maintain distance between them. Remus went silent instantly, the only noises left from him being soft hiccups from his ugly crying. 

“What the hell is this- us- then? Why are we together if you think this isn't- fuck, wait, you’re crying now? What is happening?!” 

Remus gawked, watching his boyfriend coil up with anger across from him. He scrambled for what to say, and for once found it to be a struggle. He scooted forward, fully aware that he was probably cornering Virgil but too frantic to be concerned about it. 

“No- no, I wasn't laughing at you, Vee, I didn’t mean it to look like I was!”

Virgil was wary. Remus didn't blame him; he knew his little Jack-O-Lantern wasn’t very good at reading people. 

“What’s funny, then?”

“It isn't,” he struggled, “I was- surprised? I just never thought you’d be saying- saying that,” Remus cringed internally at his wording, because wow this was not coming across right. Frustrated, he tangled a hand in his hair, wishing he could just pluck out his eyes to stop the crying. That probably would only freak Virgil out more, though. 

Or perhaps not, given that he didn’t seem like he could get much more distressed. There was an uncomfortably quiet moment where he seemed to be carefully analyzing what Remus meant- which made it all the more relieving when it did click for him. Remus was sure he couldn’t explain any better in the state he was in.

“You-” Virgil’s expression turned to dismay, “Oh, fuck, did you mean… you thought that I just… didn't?” 

Opening his mouth to speak, Remus found all he could manage was a small nod.

Without further warning, Virgil jolted across the small distance between them and crushed Remus in a hug. The Duke reeled, his hands just barely ghosting over the other's arms. He must have been off his game, letting so much sentimentality get to him. He was the most unshakeable being in the whole MindPalace!

“It- it just didn't make sense, ya know? When you agreed to go out with me. I was basically 100% sure you'd be grossed out, or just ignore me- I only really asked because I couldn't not. You know how I am with filters! And you were so- so you,” his ramble started softly, growing steadily louder and more pitchy.

Virgil didn't respond more than tightening his grip around Remus, resting his chin on Remus’ head. The side carried on anyway.

“I knew we were friends, I knew you cared about me- I'm not the sharpest scalpel in the patient, but I don't hate myself nearly enough to tell myself that you still hated me- so I figured you were just humoring me. Obviously, I'm like ‘hell yeah, let's see how long it takes for him to get sick of this’,” it wasn't funny, but Remus laughed again anyway, “Which I guess will take a little longer than I thought, huh?”

Virgil pulled his head back, fixing Remus with an intense gaze. The eye shadow beneath his eyes had sunken and darkened, creeping down his face in inky spiderlegs of ‘makeup’.

“You’re such a fucking idiot,” he hissed, “You’re the most annoying person I've ever met, and I’m never getting sick of you,” he slid one of his hands down to where Remus was barely resting his own on Virgil's waist, twining their fingers together. “And if you think for even a second otherwise, then you're also the dumbest person I've ever met.”

A fresh wave of tears ran down Remus’ cheeks, the saline taste creeping into his mouth. He squeezed Virgil's hand once, then twice, just to bring himself to some semblance of stability. Eventually, though, he caved into what his mind was really screaming to do, shifting forwards to kiss his boyfriend. It was messy, salty, and broken up by bouts of Remus' relieved giggling. Regardless, neither side let the other go for minutes on end, until both were breathless and light-headed.

“Hey, Scarecrow?” Remus’ breathing was shaky in the way it only gets after settling down from a good cry, not to mention shallow from the kissing. Virgil's two-tone eyes met his, a smirk pulling at his lips.

“Mhmm?”

Virgil was wrapped around him with all his limbs, surprisingly clingy. The presence was warm, something he hadn’t expected when they first got close. Virgil was always cozy like a fire, one that you’d be happy to burn to death in. Remus nuzzled into the anxious trait’s shoulder, tired and excited all at the same time. 

“I almost forgot to say,” he traced his claws, gently, up Virgil’s arm, “That I love you, too.”

Taglist: @shrimp-crockpot @glitter-skeleton-uwu

[sparkys-ec-corner]

Can you lease enlighten me as to why you ship Amomiche and why you love Amostia so much? Since Amostia is given very little screen time if you will and barely characterized at all it's difficult for me to see why you ship them so much and why you love Amostia so much. Or is it partially because your a hardcore Len x Miku shipper? You can ship whatever you want ofc I just am curious as to what led you to ship it and stuff. Plus I'm more of a Gumi x Gammon shipper (#NemesisxNyozeForLIFE!!!) who barely ships Miku or Len or Rin with anybody and when I do ship them it's more often Miku x Rin (I'm trash for girlxgirl ok) sooo. And yes that goes for in Evillious as well I barely ship any of the Mikus with anybody (minus Michaela x Clarith) and same goes for any of the Lens. So oof

dw!! i understand your points and im aware of how unusual it is for me to love a character like amostia and ship something so unexpected like amomiche (i already apologize since this is long,,, oops,,,)

i would be lying if i said that the fact im a diehard lenmiku shipper didnt affect my decision in bringing amomiche into existence, but it's mostly due to this specific extensive au that serves as amostia's characterization arc and the hcs involving both amostia and michelle.

as for why i love amostia, it's because i thought he was a character with a lot of potential that was shoved to the side as a simple plot device + i was incredibly salty over why amostia is the only irregular who doesnt appear in motheavenly novel at all. since ma was given some characterization that culminated in her "i'm going to destroy the universe to confirm my existence" goal at the end of the novel, i wondered, "what about the Punishment boy? doesnt he get a chance to appear since he's an irregular too? where is he?"

heck, even irregular in scap short story gets a personality, however extremely barebones and single-minded it is, and he's called a boy without an ego since he died right after being born. despite this, he still had the desire of meet his mother.

around 2018, i began writing what would be amostia's backstory because i thought he deserved one. he deserved a personality. he deserved to be cared about. i was ready from the start to be that one weirdo who likes an obscure character no one cares about (i never finished that fic, btw. my hcs changed overtime and my prose back then was kinda ew, so i deleted it)

i never intended to love him as much as i do now. i just wanted to give him a personality and a backstory, but the more i thought about what might had happened to him in lunaca labora and during his time as Punishment the weapon and what would be his personality, the more i wished him to be seen as a person rather than "the weapon nemesis used to blow up the world".

i joined an ec discord server for no other reason but to find other fans, and rather hesitantly shared my hcs of him and fanart in the channels. as i said before, i knew it was weird for me to be attached to a character no one cared about, but i nevertheless persisted on.

before i knew, i was changing everybody's perception of amostia, turning him from a simple plot device into an actual character to the eyes of the fandom.

to be honest, i still do not believe how much everything has changed all thanks to me, only because i cared enough to share what i thought of him. i didnt... expect my hcs to be received so warmly. i made him starkly different from your typical ec len — he's angry, explosive and rude; nothing like the dimwitted and enthusiastically chaotic hansel, much less like the loyal and stoic allen — but maybe the fact he was so different was why people liked him so much. he's like a bright red dot on a canvas of soft colors. im really happy that people liked and accepted my hcs, even after Outlaw & Lychgate was published.

as for amomiche, here's where the extensive au comes in — before Outlaw & Lychgate was published, i had a thought that amostia wandered around the dead world before being found by meta and pretty much adopted by her. this characterization arc of his is meant to be a "coming to age" type of story, exploring his past and making him learn how to be a better person — an actual person with dreams and purpose instead of a weapon merely to be used by others.

initially, i intended michelle to be amostia's friend since they both have a link through nemesis. they would kinda bond through that since michelle wanted to know a bit about nemesis despite amostia himself not knowing much, after amostia finding michelle lost in a snowy night and bringing her back home.

one time, i received a m/a ask in amostia askblog about "len" and "miku" being a couple for some asks. since michelle was the closest "miku" to amostia, i obviously were to bring her in. tbh i was already slightly struggling with keeping them as friends since i found them to be really sweet together and my dumb lenmiku ass bothering tf outta me, and that m/a broke me definitely. i gave in. (although i took a time to answer the m/a itself, admittedly. by the time i answered it, i was already doodling some amomiche stuff)

again, i was ready to be seen as weird, to be the only person in the entire fandom to ship them together. i never hid the fact it is a crackship. i knew i would possibly be cast out as lenmiku trash for it. regardless, i kept doodling them and talking about them simply because i liked them (hell, they stay as friends for a long time in the au before romantic feelings blossom. sue me for liking friends-to-lovers trope with a self-improvement undertone)

and then, my surprise when it was accepted by the fandom despite its status as crackship. gosh, even people who arent into evillious had doodled amomiche!! someone who was into ec actually thought it was canon!! and was saddened to discover that it wasnt because they thought it was really sweet!! and they didnt even ship lenmiku normally!! i swear this still makes me die inside, seriously 😂

so you can say it's a combination of everything that eventually brought amomiche into existence, including my own love for amostia. i dont blame anyone for being confused with it since amostia as a character is so underdeveloped in canon and amomiche is a crackship. it's okay, really. im just vibing here. im not here looking for validation for them nor am i hoping for official crumbs.

all of this is self-indulgent, simply because i want amostia to be more popular, even if slightly. amostia will never become as popular as hansel or allen, im aware, but as long as someone appreciates him as a person, then i think my job is done here. all i want is people to appreciate him. if someone comes to like amomiche too, then it also makes me extremely happy! if someone likes amostia but not amomiche, that's fine too! i don't mind different hcs. if one respects my own, then i respect theirs.

so. yeah. it might not make sense to some people, but that's basically it. i am but a humble artist doodling stuff for a character who she wants to give the happiness and the characterization he didnt get in canon. if someone likes them, then im happy!! 💖

[aliceslantern]

Heartlines, a Kingdom Hearts fanfic, chapter 1

Twelve years ago, Xemnas betrayed the royal court of Radiant Garden to his father, Xehanort. Prince Ienzo flees to another city and begins university in the aftermath, hoping the anonymity will protect him from eager eyes with ill intent. The darkness spilling across the country, as well as an individual from his past, cut short Ienzo's new beginning and bring new conflicts to light. Strained between the desires of his magic and his heart, Ienzo's choice will change him forever.

Modern Fantasy AU, Soulmates, Zemyx. Updates Fridays until it's done.

Read it on FF.net/on AO3

---

“Ienzo, get away from the window. At least until you get that goo out of your hair. You look frightful.”

Ienzo scowled. “Yes, yes. Sue me for wanting to see sunshine for the first time in weeks.” He checked his timer; ten more minutes. “You’re certain this will work?”

“It did on my slides. Though admittedly that is meaningless nowadays.” He sighed, and kept cramming his books into boxes. “Have you at the very least packed?”

Ienzo gestured to the two suitcases at the door. “What else is there to do?”

“...Quite. Well.” Even ruffled a hand through his hair. “I suppose that is that, yes? Though I admit I’m looking forward to the fresh air.”

“...To think there’d be a time I’d wish I could frolic through the hills.” He rolled his eyes. His right was aching again, and without the curtain of his hair it felt very naked.

“Will you be… alright, tonight?” Even asked. He pursed his lips.

“Alright enough.”

“...Thankfully Aqua’s given us a good head start.” He sighed. “I’m hoping… after all this we’ll finally shake them. The papers should be foolproof. No traces.”

“I suppose it could be worse.”

Even rested a hand on Ienzo’s shoulder. “You deserve a taste of normalcy, at least.”

Ienzo said nothing. He was apprehensive about “normalcy”. What if a taste just made him want the unattainable? No point living above his current means. “...Quite. Well. I should try and wash this out.”

The basement apartment was small, and for the past month or so it felt like they’d been living on top of one another. It was what they’d been able to find, given the… circumstances, but honestly Ienzo was ready to leave it behind for good. He needed breathing room, away from these walls which were always damp and smelled perpetually like mildew and fried onion, away from the strange pink mold which grew on the tiles of the bathroom no matter how diligently either of them scrubbed.

The water never got quite hot, and as he scrubbed at his scalp and eyebrows it just became cooler and cooler, until finally the water ran clear. He towel-dried his hair, shivering a little, and turned towards the mirror.

“...Shit.” Ienzo sighed heavily. His hair was still, without a doubt, the strange violet-silver he’d been born with, the most visible sign of his magic abilities, his aura. It wasn’t even tinted in the slightest.

“...That does not sound good,” Even said, from the other room. (Another thing about this apartment; its paper thin walls.)

Ienzo opened the door and gave him a droll stare. Even pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Oh, child. Save frying open your hair follicles, I don’t think there’s anything else to be done. We’ve already tortured your scalp enough.”

Ienzo scowled at his reflection. “Do you truly think people will be looking for these signs where we’re going?”

Even considered. He held up strands of Ienzo’s tired, damp hair. “Perhaps not,” he said. “Many college students do torrid things to their hair.”

Ienzo considered his face one last time. He was glad to have his eye covered again. “I suppose that is true.”

They continued gathering their meager possessions in almost silence. Ienzo took one last look at the glorified walk-in closet he’d called a bedroom. He remembered other days, better days, when he’d had windows, bookshelves, days when he’d sit with Father in that rocking chair listening to those stories--

Ienzo took a quick breath. No good dwelling on any of this. In the kitchenette, he could see the sun setting… it was growing dark. The ache in his eye was worse now. He blinked, hard.

“Ienzo?”

“Right. Yes. Coming.”

---

The stars in the night sky were unusually bright. He could barely see through the pain in his eye, blind as it was. The illusion didn’t have to last long. A few hours and they’d be away from all this nonsense. He stuffed his hair under the beanie, hurriedly penciled on some eyebrows--at least makeup worked. If he were braver he’d just shave himself bald.

Even wrinkled his nose. “You look like a ne'er do well. Come on, then.”

Aqua, one of the resistance coordinators, would arrange for the pitiful remains of their things to be shipped. A black car waited for them outside, with taxi plates. Anyone would think they were going on vacation.

Even lowered his voice. “I’m told the driver knows. No need to waste your energy just yet.”

Ienzo supposed he should’ve felt anxious; but it was hard to feel anything other than the growing pain. Why? “Good.”

They loaded their bags and got in the car. It smelled like cologne, a rich, woody scent that was not at all obnoxious.

“The train station,” Even said. “Please.”

The driver didn’t say anything. Ienzo couldn’t even see their face; all he could tell was that the person was large, muscular, built. But… he fielded out with his magic timidly. Why was this person… familiar? And why was this familiarity not off-putting?

“As if Ansem would truly allow you the risk of long-haul public transport,” the deep voice said, and Ienzo’s heart leapt into his throat--

Even gasped a little. “Aeleus,” he said. “It is you… after all this time--”

“It is… good to see the two of you,” he continued. “Ienzo… you’re quite the young man now, aren’t you? I barely recognized you.”

Ienzo couldn’t quite swallow the emotion welling within him. “I’m twenty now,” he said. “But… where have you been, for--”

“I’ll explain everything,” Aeleus said. “Let’s keep things quiet, at least until we’re out of town.”

Ienzo leaned back in his seat. Aeleus . He hadn’t even known the man was still alive, let alone expected to see him ever again. He smiled despite himself.

“So Ansem is…” Even began timidly. “He’s still--”

“Yes. He sends his… regards.”

Even took a quick breath. Though it felt childish to do so, Ienzo reached across to give the man’s hand a quick squeeze. “The two of you arranged all this.”

“Forgive me for not sending word sooner.”

Even settled more comfortably. “And here I thought we’d be given over to a complete stranger.”

“For Ienzo? Never.”

---

They were all silent for a time, as the night grew darker. Ienzo wanted to ask Aeleus a thousand questions--where the man had been, what he’d been doing, how he was, how the others were. Moreover… what he thought of Ienzo now, how he looked. Being grown was the least of the changes. He hadn’t fully let himself miss any of them now--better to grieve, instead.

The city gave way to hesitant countryside, opening up into wide, empty fields. Ienzo breathed a sigh of relief, even as the pain in his eye crescendoed.

“Child,” Even began. “Are you alright?”

“My… eye is hurting,” he admitted. “I thought it would stop.”

“...What do you sense?”

Ienzo took a breath. He cast his magic out around them. He was aware he was basically setting a beacon for those that may be listening; but they were far enough out of the city that prying eyes were unlikely. “I sense nothing ,” he admitted. “Out of the ordinary, anyway.” Creatures at the side of the road, their energies, an ambient current of magic from the earth itself.

“That is… strange,” Even said. “Unless--”

“It’s a new moon,” Aeleus said. “Doesn’t that affect it?”

“Not like this,” Ienzo said. “Not usually. Usually only when there’s--” The pain spiked, and he cried out.

“Ienzo,” Even gasped. “Oh--”

Aeleus pulled over.

“Stupid,” Ienzo hissed. “They were using a jammer.”

“What?”

“Who?” Aeleus asked.

“The being that’s been following us.”

Sure enough, at the other side of the road they could see it, flickering, white, a large and graceful wolf. “How could he, during a new moon?” Even asked.

“It’s why I was thrown off. I thought it was merely interference." Ienzo swallowed the fear.

“What are we waiting for?” Even asked. “Aeleus, go.”

“If we go he’ll make chase, and find out everything,” the man said. He undid his seatbelt and pulled something from under the passenger seat. “Let me speak to the bastard.”

“No,” Ienzo said.

Aeleus took careful steps across the road, the headlights and the wolf the only thing illuminating the encounter. The wolf shifted, its light fading, into a man, one Ienzo had hoped to never see again.

“It doesn’t make any sense,” Even said. “His power never works while--”

Ienzo reached out with his own, following Aeleus’s energy to hear the conversation. I’m sorry, friend, he thought. I know this is rude.

“Long live the king,” the voice said smoothly.

“What is it you want, Saïx?” Aeleus asked.

“I know she’s there.”

Ienzo could feel Even’s nails digging into his wrist.

“Whatever mutation gave you this ability is sorely mistaken,” Aeleus said. “These are merely refugees. I am allowed to transport them. I have the proper paperwork.”

“Then why does your car reek of royal magic?”

He shrugged. “You tell me. I just carry out the orders.”

“Aeleus, I know magic was never a specialty of yours, but I know you’re not an idiot.” Saïx turned and took a few steps towards the car. Ienzo winced. “You’re certainly hiding something . Else the spell would not have taken effect.”

“You’re free to talk to them. I’m sure you’ll find nothing amiss.”

Ienzo took a deep breath. He wished Aeleus had given him more warning. Shaping an illusion when he was in this much pain was bound to be a challenge. He chose random faces for himself and Even, random voices, though he was also acutely aware this man could smell when he was using magic--

He’d just have to be quick. Ienzo pulled the dagger out of his boot and slid it into the pocket of his hoodie. Saïx took long, languid steps towards them. He knocked on the window. Ienzo rolled it down, so slowly, bracing, already pulling for the spell--

“Don’t,” Even hissed.

“He already knows,” Ienzo said.

“Isn’t it a bit late, for a drive?” Saïx asked. “Enough with the smoke and mirrors, Princess.”

Ienzo screamed and forced the spell out as hard as he could, knocking Saïx some ten yards up the street. He leapt out of the car and readied another spell, but he was already on his feet, again a glowing wolf, one running at him almost faster than he could perceive. Ienzo took a deep breath, knotting his hands, shaping the magic into blades, but they all just glanced off of the wolf’s fur like they were nothing.

What had they done to him?

The wolf smashed through his magic shield and pinned him to the cold asphalt, its teeth inches from his throat--Ienzo tried to kick up a leg, to lob a spell into its ribcage, but the next thing he knew Aeleus was yanking it back by the throat with the handle of his tomahawk. Ienzo grasped at his dagger and lunged for the creature’s face--he was barely able to get in more than a superficial slash or two before it vanished into nothing, a light bouncing along the horizon in the opposite direction. The pain in his eye faded.

“Why the hell did you do that?” Even yelled.

“He already knew,” Ienzo said. “He smelled me.” He turned to Aeleus. “Are you alright?”

He sighed. “Got in a few good scratches, but nothing major.” He dabbed at his bleeding forearm. Ienzo reached for it and whispered a spell; the wound closed instantly. “I was more worried about you.”

“You’re lucky neither of you got killed,” Even hissed, grasping Ienzo’s shoulders and appraising him. “I don’t know what that lunatic did to invoke lycanthropic magic without a moon--” He exhaled. “It seems like all of our precautions were for nothing.”

“He still doesn’t know where we were headed,” Aeleus said. “Just that we’re alive, and we’re going somewhere. As long as we approach this with caution… we may be fine.”

“I hope for Ienzo’s sake you’re right.”

Aeleus sighed. “It looks like we might have to go with Plan B.”

“I’d hoped that wouldn’t be the case, but…” Even smoothed back his hair. “Yes. You are right.”

“Best to go sooner than later,” Aeleus said. “Off we go, little one.” He looked at him more closely. “I never got to see you… after…”

Ienzo dropped his eyes. There was less pleasure in this now. “It took months, with magic,” he said softly.

Aeleus gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze. “It suits you. No.” Ienzo realized in the scuffle his hat had fallen off, leaving his hair free and, thanks to the magic use, slightly luminous. “It is who you always were, isn’t it?”

Ienzo nodded, blinking back the tears.

There was a moment where they all tried to gather themselves. “Yes, yes,” Even said. “Enough with the drama. We haven’t got all night.”

They got back in the car and drove off.

[tymptir]

curious nonnie is curious ¬ hey hey, I have a question. would you rather ship/write Rhaegar with Elia or with Lyanna? 

good question that I don’t even actively have to think about too much: I would much rather ship/write Rhaegar with Elia. no doubt. zero doubt. let me take this opportunity to remind all you lovely folks that I absolutely do not agree with whatever D&D concocted for the show and I do not buy the whole romance plot between Rhaegar and Lyanna and no, the two never got married. not even close. I also do not, by default, write Rhaegar as Jon’s father. if Lyanna died in childbirth (which still isn’t confirmed in the books but heavily hinted at) then the child died, too, until GRRM tells us something different. I know there are 5000 theories about what happened with Rhaegar and Lyanna and I have only ever found one that I can see has happened so that’s the one I’m going with:

Rhaegar loved Elia with all his heart. love of his life, wonderful wife, beautiful children he was smitten with, too. for a very long time his primary agenda was to keep his family safe from Aerys (hence him moving them to Dragonstone, away from his father) and Aerys hatred for his grandchildren is also one of Rhaegar’s primary motivating factors to eventually conspire against his father (yes, yes he did plan on doing that you can take that plot from my cold dead hands this is the hill I’m dying on). now         Lyanna. I’m aware the fandom is pretty much split 50/50 into two camps on this. camp one says Rhaegar fell madly in love with Lyanna and she with him and they married in secret and all that watered-down bullshit D&D tried to feed us and pretended that was somewhat near good storytelling and Robert was merely an abusive asshole trying to disrupt a happy relationship. camp two claims Rhaegar was the worst person ever for kidnapping and repeatedly raping a 14 year old girl because he was -shakesmagiceightball- uhm, mad. or something. Targaryen. whatever. you know how they are. I call bs on both.

everyone who knew Rhaegar remembers him as utterly good. the best king, a real king, valiant, noble, gallant, honorable etc etc. the only two people in Westeros who ever talked shit about him were, drumroll: Robert Baratheon and Eddard Stark. for obvious reasons. the idea that Rhaegar kidnapped and raped Lyanna was send into the world by Robert without any proof whatsoever. we don’t know what really happened yet. I hope we might one day, but we don’t. now I’ve read a fun theory somewhere on Reddit that said that the Children of the Forest had a hand in all of this and basically, literally bewitched both Rhaegar and Lyanna in order to keep “the song of ice (Lyanna) and fire (Rhaegar)” alive. both have always been prone to visions and dreams coming true and they were both enchanted to believe that it was the fate of the world for them to be united. Rhaegar, on top of that, is a strong believer in prophecy, so yeah, subsconsciously he probably still did cling to the idea of the dragon needing three heads and Elia’s inability to bear him a third child also drove him towards Lyanna. which is a massive dick move on his part, no doubt about that. I’m not saying he’s flawlessly good, but I refuse to believe he’s as horrible as half the fandom wants him to be. so in conclusion: on this blog they were both bewitched and thus disappeared together. no ill-will, all consensual, but no love either. tbh I’d like to think that once Rhaeagar snapped out of that enchantment (because ofc I have him survive the battle at the Trident because I can, sue me) it felt like The Hangover. no recollection of what happened, really, but fuck it was bad. and to find out what happened to his wife and children broke Rhaegar entirely.

but what about the winter rose crown, I hear you whisper. easy. when Aerys sent Rhaegar to find the Knight of the Laughing Tree, Rhaegar did. and he found out that the Knight was no other than Lyanna Stark. he was so amused and impressed by that, that he promised her to keep her secret and when he recognised her again at the tourney, he placed the crown on her lap to honour her skills as a fighter, more so than her beauty. unfortunately he couldn’t tell anybody because, as I said, he promised to keep her secret. tadaaa. that’s all.

so, tl;dr. I only actively ship Rhaegar and Elia. I will write with Lyannas after a whole ton of plotting, and I will never write their relationship as rape-y or abusive, nor as romanic and one-true-love-y because I don’t believe that’s what happened. they were both victims of an enchantment of the Children of the Forest. this is the only plotline I will play. I am not willing to bend into any other AU direction, sorry not sorry.

[sineala]

Hi, first of all, I admire you so much!!! Second... Can you find some similarities between Stony and Spirk? Between ReedSue and Stony? I think there are many among them, but I can never order my head enough to answer this.

Aww, thanks. And, wow, it’s Star Trek night in my askbox tonight, I guess. I’m gonna have to pass on the Reed/Sue part because literally the only FF run I have read is the current one (someday I’m gonna read Hickman’s FF, yes, I swear) but I can definitely talk about Steve/Tony and Kirk/Spock because oh boy my OTPs. (Disclaimer: Am pretty much talking only in reference to 616 and prime-universe Trek, respectively.)

So obviously the main points of similarities here would be Steve and Jim, and then Tony and Spock. And not just the hair color thing.

Steve and Jim basically fit the role of The Captain in an almost archetypal way -- the character who is good at being in charge and knowing what the right thing to do is. Seriously, a lot of Steve’s Captain America speeches and a lot of Jim’s TOS speeches about the Federation’s values and ideals could basically be swapped and they’d still sound great coming out of the other person’s mouth. And, yeah, they are both really good at being in command, and in inspiring their fellow Avengers and/or Starfleet officers. Which is not to say that the people around them can’t also be great at leading people, but if you had to pick one character in each group of people to be in charge, it’d be them. They’re both charismatic, I think, in that inspirational sort of way, and even if you put them in a situation no one has ever been in before they’ll come up with a solution. Which is basically their job description, so, hey, that’s good.

You might think of a character like that as essentially law-abiding, but you would be wrong. :D They are both deeply ethical people and that means that they’re willing to tell their governments and/or superior officers to go fuck themselves if they think they’re being asked to do something that is wrong, or to obey a law that they feel is unjust. With Steve you’ve got Nomad, The Captain, Civil War, et cetera. Over on the Star Trek side you have, uh, every Prime Directive violation ever, and also the entire plot of Star Trek III.

Tony and Spock are a little harder to pair up, because when you think of Spock the first thing that’s probably going to come to mind is his Vulcan heritage, and meanwhile Tony will be over here feeling All The Feelings whether he wants to or not. Tony would be a terrible, terrible Vulcan. (Then again, by Vulcan standards, Spock is also in many respects a pretty terrible Vulcan: he rejects the Vulcan Science Academy to join Starfleet, he doesn’t end up marrying his arranged betrothed mate (granted, she didn’t want him, but he still ended up not doing it, which I gather is unusual), and he bailed on Kolinahr at the last possible moment to go back to Starfleet. Also, as we are seeing in Discovery currently, he clearly has... many personal problems.) So I would argue that Spock actually has a lot of very deep and strong feelings -- it’s just that for cultural and species reasons that’s a little harder to see than with a human. Tony, meanwhile, is very aware of his feelings and also naked and crying in alleyways. And then, depending on the time period, possibly drinking. It’s not like he deals well with his feelings.

Certainly both Tony and Spock fit the mold of a character motivated by their love of science and general joy in the workings of the universe. And I think they’re both happy to be in second-in-command support roles, giving advice to, uh, their favorite captains. This isn’t to say that Tony can’t be the Avengers team leader because he often has been and he does great at it, but, I mean, when you think of the 616 Avengers, prototypically you probably think of Steve as team chair and Tony as the guy there building the gear and providing a bunch of backup and teamwork and second opinions, and I feel like Tony is very happy to be there. Similarly, Spock clearly, clearly wants to be on the Enterprise, oh man, there is no discussion necessary there.

And if we can set aside the part where Marvel keeps thinking it’s great to make Steve and Tony try to kill each other every few years, I think it’s obvious that both Steve and Tony and Kirk and Spock... well, they love each other. They’ve known each other for years and they’ve grown to become the best of friends and comrades and clearly they love each other. It’s hard for me to explain, but I’m drawn to both pairings in the same way, because I feel like they have the same dynamic, where to me it’s basically irrelevant whether you think they’re romantically involved because it’s clear that they’re the most important people in each other’s lives. And I think you can see this most clearly in the parts of canon when they don’t have each other. I mean, come on, if you read “The Confession” or if you watch the glass scene in Star Trek II -- that’s love, right there. You know it. And Tony then spends... well, years... being extremely grief-stricken and depressed and missing Steve, and Jim gives up literally everything he has and everything he ever wanted (his ship, his Starfleet career) on the chance that Spock could still be alive on Genesis and that he could find him and bring him back. (And if Tony could have done that for Steve, he would have, and if I were Marvel I would have put him in the Cap Reborn arc.) So to me both pairings feel very similar because of that... intensity, and the epic nature of their feelings. It’s hard for me to put into words.

I don’t know if that’s what you were looking for in an answer, anon, but this is just what comes to mind for me.

[yellow-saber-blog]

The Star Wars Fan Wars or why some fans hated The Last Jedi.

If you are into StarWars or into films in general you are probably aware that the SW fandom is currently divided into two groups - those who hated the TLJ and those who loved it. Or so it would seem....I am pretty sure there are many people, like me, who stand in between: people who acknowledge the film’s flaws but who still find things they enjoy in it. But one thing is certain - those who stand at the extreme lines are very vocal about their opinions and are often pretty rude towards each other.

I am writing this post here on Tumblr because I want to address a particular issue that is bothering me a lot and that is: how people who liked the TLJ are  labeling those who didn’t like the film as “butthurt fanboys” and discredit their opinions and feelings as being simply “broken expectations”. 

I want to defend those angry “fanboys/girls” a bit, because it seems that some fans miss the point of why others hated TLJ. Lots of the complains people have, even though often expressed with anger and harsh words, are legit. 

Now, before we go further, I want to address another issue that people neglect - personal oppinion vs facts. 

Now imagine you are going to buy a shirt in the store with your friend. You both like clothes from the StarWars brand. They now have a new collection of shirts. You absolutely love that new blue shirt but your friend doesn’t like it at all. This shows your different taste and leads to your opposite opinions on something that is subjective. No one can convince the other that their opinion is right or wrong because that is the nature of subjective opinions and personal taste. 

The same is with movies - someone will enjoy a film that another will hate and both are free to express their joy or frustration as much as they want without trying to discredit the other. 

Now there is another aspect to things - the facts. As much as you like that new shirt’s design if you look at it closely, you might notice that it’s not sewed properly or that there are some other defects on it. You can still like it or buy it but you cannot deny the fact that there are defects on that shirt and that is not made as good as it could have been done. 

The same thing can be said about the TLJ - that film is not stitched up together as good as it might have been. You can still enjoy it immensely but you will be lying to yourself if you insist that this is a good movie because it isn’t. The script, the pacing and the inconsistent tone of the movie are some of it’s bigger problems. When audiences go to see a StarWars film made with billions of dollars from some of the best in Hollywood, they naturally expect to see a decent, competent movie. You can’t blame people for complaining when they are given something far less professional than promised.  

I think we can all acknowledge that TLJ has weak points in terms of storytelling, consistency and basic logic. That being said, we should also all acknowledge that visually this film is magnificent and one of the best looking StarWars films. Those aspects we can consider facts about the film. You will be insulting a lot of classic movies if you insist these things aren’t true.You can still love or hate the movie all you want but you should at least acknowledge those basic truths about it. So objectively this film deserve probably around 6/10. Definitely not the best of StarWars. But it can still be your favourite SW film, nonetheless. 

Now lets get to the point - why some fans hate this movie? The main reasons are simple and I will list them in no particular order: 

- Silly side story -  the dump and illogical things that happen with the Resistance and all the subplots revolving around Poe, Finn and Rose. The movie just doesn’t know what to do with them. The plan about going to Canto Bight gets stupider the more you think about it. General Holdo’s motivations and character in general are simply weird for a Resistance leader. Everything there feels like a filler episode of a TV show. Is that all they could come up with? You might at least understand why such a silly plot makes some people angry or irritates them. StarWars never had any super complex plot points - but no matter how simple those stories might have been, they were at least bound by a basic logic and overall narrative purpose. ( and they were much more fun to watch) 

- The First Order start to feel like a joke. Snoke is killed without explaining anything about him at all, Hux is more like a comic relief and not like a serious bad guy. The whole First Order feels underwhelming. The Dark Side has always been very cool and a bit frightening. Now is more like a bunch of idiots with cool looking ships. 

- The bad treatment of the original characters - Luke is misused and his character is completely changed without proper explanation or motivation. I won’t even go into details about Luke because it will take me ages. Leia, in turn,  is given close to nothing to do and her “force flying” appears to be more laughable than impressive. Yes, there are some good scenes with Luke and Mark Hamill is amazing in the part but the negative things are just overshadowing the good ones. 

To those reasons you can add other complains that people still have about Rey being a Mary Sue, about Snoke being useless, about Kylo Ren’s still unclear motivations and so on. 

But let me condense it all in it’s basic essence - Disney/Ryan/Kathleen Kennedy and whoever else was involved - they all tried to be original in the wrong places and changed things they shouldn’t have changed AND at the same time they were unoriginal and silly in story points they should have changed or be creative with. Let me elaborate: 

Luke won’t train Rey the way you think. Luke is not the hero you might expect to see. He is actually responsible for the fall of Kylo Ren and he did things against his character because you won’t expect that. And when Luke finally decides to do something he just Force project himself to have a “surprise” at the end. And dies. Basically Luke is written to be nothing you expect him to be, so you will be surprised. But the truth is: no one wants to be surprised by Luke or see him as a broken old man, no one wants to see their beloved characters killed off in such ways as Han and Luke.  Give the audience the Luke they love and know. Surprise the fans with new characters and plots points without ruining the things fans already love. That is what will make people happy, why is it so hard to understand? 

The "This is not going to go the way you think” theme goes on -  Rey parents will be nobodies because you won’t expect that. Snoke will die, because you won’t expect that, Holdo has a secret plan all along because you won’t expect that. These choices are not about being original or creative, they are just doing the opposite because they want people to get something “they don’t expect”. 

JJ and the marketing team created all that mystery around Rey and Snoke, it’s not just the fans’ imagination going wild. Still  they didn’t deliver anything intriguing about those “mystery boxes”.  I am personally ok with Rey’s parents being nobodies - I actually expected that to be the case. But you can’t blame people for wanting to know more about Snoke. When the first Star Wars films  were out it was enough to say “this is the Emperor” and he is the bad guy. Now we have 6 movies and even more canon books and tv series. You have all that existing history there. The context of the story is different.  It’s normal for people to want to know where those new powerful characters are placed in the history of the story. If you give them no answers about Snoke, you make the character pointless to the fans. So he is just a tool for Kylo to rise to power? But it’s Star Wars - people want to have something more to the story than just unexplained and undeveloped characters. 

Still with the new characters, people are more perceptive to changes therefore one can do something really bold with them and change them upside down and get away with it.  But the characters we grew up with - they need to be consistent with what we know about them. There is the balance between things you can twist/change and things you should respect and honer. 

Now despite all the “ this is not what you expect” ideas, the creators of the film have the same story points as the Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi - we have a space chase, a white planet battle with walkers, an exotic world where we meet someone who will betray our characters, Rey will face Snoke as Luke faced the Emperor and so on. Those story similarities are the things they could have made completely different and be as creative as they want with those. Yet, they chose the similar plot points and visual elements to echo the OT but changed the characters from the OT. Why??? That is a very dump decision if you know anything about StarWars fans or if you know anything about people expectations and behaviour in general. Disney are not trying to win Oscars with this, they are trying to please the audience. But something in their research tables and marketing graphics went totally wrong. 

There are at least 100 ways to write that same story both pushing forward the new characters and honouring the OT characters. They killed Han in an idiotic way, Luke is now gone in a poetic but useless manner. All those misplaced creative choices make the new films out of balance. They talk about balance so much in the story but they cannot achieve it. The balance between new and old, between the old generation and the new, between creativity and honouring the established lore. This imbalance it the real problem of the new trilogy. And this is a REAL PROBLEM no matter if it personally bothers you or not. If it doesn’t - good for you. But don’t disregard the opinions of those who are bothered by the unbalanced new trilogy and don’t call their complains “whining” or “lack of vision”. 

You can enjoy the characters and the movie despite those problems but to deny that those ARE problems is a bit naive and short-sighted. 

At this point it seems that Disney have no real idea of what they are doing with this franchise. At times it’s apparent that they are more concern with marketing and money rather than making a good film product. But is that really true? I am sure no one at Disney wanted to make a bad movie on purpose. But it turned out to be a rather messy one. One can make huge mistakes with the best of intentions. 

They are nuances to things - nothing is black and white. Neither “playing safe” nor its opposite “disregard the film legacy” are good choices. 

I just want to conclude this post by saying that people who grew up with StarWars don’t take this universe lightly. Life might suck big time but when you go to your StarWars corner of the galaxy, things should be better there. When someone hurts a character you love from your childhood you have the right to be angry, you have the right to complain, you have the right to demand a better treatment of that character. 

We should all demand to be given better movies, better treatment in general as audience. I am sure there are many new, original and great stories that are not given green light so we can have more Marvel, more DC, more Star Wars. Therefore Star Wars movies should be made worthy of their title, of their popularity and of the resources poured into them. The hardest thing in all aspects of life is to get the balance right.   

I really hope that Lucasfilm are making something better for the final movie, something that will bring fans back together. 

I personally consider everything from TFA until now to be alternative universe and this is how I am fine with it. But still I would prefer to see a movie with a more intelligent script and not a filler subplots. 

How many times per day we say to each other the same thing - do not disregard people’s feelings and opinions just because they differ from yours, don’t attack or insult those people because what they say makes you feel uncomfortable. 

We all love the same thing lets be more civilised about it. 

[nicaffeinated]

An in-depth but unorganized review of Star Wars Ep.VIII: The Last Jedi

I don’t really do movie reviews, but for Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, I’m willing to do it (and because most of the people I know haven’t seen it yet, I need to let things out!) So, if you haven’t seen the movie yet and are planning to watch it soon, please don’t read this. Do yourself a favor, and don’t spoil yourself.

To set things going, I just want you to know that I love Star Wars. As a kid, I grew up being only aware of the Star Wars franchise. I knew about lightsabers, Darth Vader, Jedi, Sith, and I even knew about the Millennium Falcon considering I haven’t watched any of the movies before! This just says how big the Star Wars influence is. But what set things in stone for me was actually watching the original trilogy marathon on TV out of boredom. This was uncanny of me, as at that age I was more obsessed with fairies and princesses in ball gowns. Then I got to know our beloved heroes, Luke, Han and Leia and I went out a fan, and here I am now. 

I watched the movie on the second day of release, which is the 14th of December here in the Philippines. In fact, at first, I was the only girl to enter the cinema during the first screening of that day. There were like 7 guys already inside and I just knew they’ve been waiting to watch this movie for two years as I have. 

So to get on with the movie review, I generally liked it, but all in all I don’t know what to feel about it. I guess writing about it will help me in weighing everything down.

On-Screen

I feel that instead of answering questions, the movie just raised a shit ton of them. Don’t get me wrong, I liked it in its cinematic sense. I was in awe of how Rian Johnson visualized everything. It is very unlike how JJ Abrams based VII on the previous movies, Johnson really brings new things to the plate. He is very creative and you can really see that in the film. There was a part with Rey seeing multiple reflections of herself during her time in Ahch To, Luke didn’t want her to do that and in the end she just ends up crying. I do understand that it was important to paint Rey in a more vulnerable light compared to her Mary Sue-ness in EpVII, but I just thought it was unnecessary to have the multiple Reys on screen no matter how cool it looked. 

The hyperspeed kamikazee of Amilyn Holdo played by Laura Dern was breath taking. The cinema just completely fell silent and it was so cool I had chills down both my arms. Can I just acknowledge Disney for adding these amazing women to the cast. This was a brilliant move Disney, and also the casting directors.  And, by the way, the “connection” scenes between Rey and Kylo Ren were well executed, in my opinion.

And I really liked how humorous the movie turned out, I was surprised I genuinely laughed which didn’t happen in the Prequels (We get it Anakin, you don’t like sand.) Oscar Isaac/Poe Dameron and Domhnall Gleeson/General Armitage Hux were great and funny whenever they were on-screen. They worked the same way as Chewie, the Porgs and those nuns/caretakers in Ahch To.  I guess it’s safe to say, they kept boredom at bay. 

WAIT, WHAT?

Moving on to the confusing parts, I just don’t get why they didn’t kill Leia off in her swooping in like Peter Pan scene, considering what has happened in real life. They are really making it hard for them to do IX with Carrie gone but it supposedly being her movie (Ep VII was Han’s, and VIII was Luke’s). I guess we’ll just see how that goes and hopefully make Carrie Fisher lovingly raise her middle finger like a salute at us from her pool of moonlight.

I don’t get why they killed off potentially amazing characters. Phasma for one and why the hell did Snoke die that easily? For a powerful, ancient character, he was just like a rag doll that was a throw away. The movie lost the opportunity of expanding their plot by killing off Snoke. I guess Kylo is his own villain now, assuming that he still has light in him after being rejected by Rey like that. 

To top it all off: Rose Tico and Finn? Really? I didn’t even see them lock eyes for more than a minute. (Stormpilot and Reylo for the win) 

Goodbye, Luke

I really appreciate how Luke died. I’m sad that he’s dead, but in his words “No one is ever truly gone” which popped up in a conversation with Leia regarding Ben/Kylo, but can be applied to Han, himself and even our dear Princess Carrie Fisher.  Force projecting himself into the Resistance base in Crait to face Kylo in what I see as his best Kylo-Tantrum ever was awesome. 

On as side note, Adam Driver was amazing in VII and he’s even better (and shirtless, but that’s not the point) here in VIII. I can’t wait to see him star in more movies. He killed it this time.

Moving back, if you were looking properly, you would really see that something was off with Luke. He has his lightsaber, completely unscratched (which was the one Kylo and Rey broke in half back in Snoke’s ship) and he didn’t leave any footprints when he walked out of the base. I mean there was a reason they gave screen time to the Resistance man’s red footprint on the planet’s salt surface. Anyway, Jedi master as he was, Luke died out of what I believe is exhaustion in Ahch To, looking at what seemed as two suns setting, which was a great homage to his time in Tatooine. I won’t lie, I had actual tears in my eyes during this time. But what I thought when I saw this was, IS AHCH TO IN THE SAME SYSTEM AS TATOOINE? I know it’s irrelevant now, but I just want to know considering I don’t see any maps with Ahch To on it. And just so you know, I really am bothered by it.

Anyway, I understand why Luke had to die. In the future movies, we just can’t keep coming back to the Skywalker bloodline. The Jedi and most importantly the Skywalkers are not the sole wielders of the force as there are a lot of force sensitive beings and the force is in everyone and everything. What they are saying here is anyone can be special and I really like that. And I really like how the force kind of chooses people who don’t have anyone or anything else but have ambition and longing to make a difference. 

Other than that, I have high hopes that we’ll be seeing Luke again pretty soon. It will be a welcome sight just like how puppet Yoda popped in here in VIII. It was pretty funny and nostalgic.

Suddenly weaker?

The Force likes to keep things in balance. That’s why in the height of Kylo’s power, the force sent Rey to be his equal at the time, which explains her being able to do all those amazing stuff in VII. But here in VIII, we don’t see Kylo Ren and Rey do a lot of cool tricks, basically because I think the force is making sure that when Luke has to do what he has to do, he has enough power to tap into the force for that force projection, despite it ultimately feeding off of his life in the end. Well, that’s what I think the reason is. 

A New Hope

If you jumped out of your seat when that orphaned kid seemingly summoned that broom to his hand back in Canto Bight (You know, that boring casino world in the middle of the movie where they got Benicio del Toro’s code-breaker character “DJ” (which stands for “Don’t Join”, apparently) to hack into Snoke’s flagship, Supremacy. Yes, THAT.) You are not alone. I literally squeaked when I saw that, and then I was completely in awe when he raised that broom forming the silhouette of a Jedi wielding a lightsaber as he stares out into the cosmos. I will never forget that scene. Never. 

For me, it just symbolizes everything that the Force and Star Wars stands for, which is POTENTIAL. Just about anybody, even if you’re a nobody at that, YOU have the potential to change the universe and the worlds beyond. 

And because Rey is not a Jedi yet, but Luke hinted that he’s not going to be the last Jedi, seems to say that she has the potential to be one and Luke definitely has faith in her. Maybe once she gets to build another lightsaber from Luke/Anakin’s kyber crystal inside the broken shaft of the lightsaber that she and Kylo Ren broke in that tug of war. 

Oh and did you also get why Yoda burnt that old tree just to set Luke free from all his doubts? You know, when Yoda talked about how there is nothing in those books that Rey does not already have. It’s because Rey took the ancient Jedi texts. She stored it in a compartment inside the Millennium Falcon and we got to see it via Finn near the end. Good job, Rey! This is just more proof that hope is never really gone.

RATING

4 out of five stars!!

Reading everything that I have written, I do like the movie. I find it creatively amazing, despite having plot holes (I believe there’s a lot more than what I have listed above). I’d like to think that the creators have provided themselves with an almost clean slate to work on IX and also having the chance to input more stories into the Star Wars franchise. I mean, who knows, maybe some of the legends may become canon soon. 

We’ll see. 

[fijimurmaider]

Thoughts & Spoilers for Alien: Covenant.

I went Thursday night to see the film and I’m going to explain more. I won’t be using a read more for this post, so if you don’t want things spoiled, scroll past the .gif. 

Okay I was HYPE HYPE HYPE to see this film. I’m going to make it clear right now, I have only seen Alien, Aliens and Prometheus. So if anything I say is answered (from what I hear, no lol) in Alien3, Resurrection or AVP movies, please excuse my ignorance. 

No I don’t intend to ever view those films, by the way.

So I fucking adore Alien (1979) and would put it in the top 10 greatest horror/sci-fi movies of all time (because if you don’t, you’re probably a prick or have seen a lot more than me.) I found Aliens (1986) to be pretty fun and a meaningful sequel. I just don’t enjoy the high action scenes very much. As for Prometheus (2012,) yes, it’s flawed but I love it as well. I actually, on a personal level and not a “I pretend to know film!” level, prefer Prometheus over Aliens. Sue me. I love the aesthetic Ridley Scott creates in his Alien films. Yes, I am saying this as someone who knows that H.R. Giger helped create a lot of the set and make a lot of monster designs, etc. I’m well aware. But the interior of the Nostromo is lovely and well lit. 

I mean, is it not gorgeous? 

and here’s one of the set of Prometheus

It looks good. It’s like my outer space wet dream. 

the thing is, I don’t remember a lot of Covenant looking this beautiful. No, don’t get me wrong, plenty of the movie looks great, it’s just not as visually appealing as I find the other two films mentioned and that’s just my own personal thing. It doesn’t detract from the movie if you don’t care and it really shouldn’t be a part of the movie’s downfall, anyway.. and I’m not going to let it be. Because I realize I’m picky. And yeah, there are parts like in Daniel’s room, where it just looks gorgeous, but there’s not a lot of high contrast. Moving on from my picky ass ideals.

DO YOU REMEMBER THE DEACON? 

This was the result of David 8′s uh... meddling with black oil, having Holloway transmit it to Shaw, having Shaw give birth to the trilobite infant, the trilobite maturing and impregnating an Engineer and POP! There’s the Deacon in a totally fucked up and confusing evolutionary twist. 

I totally remember thinking that surely, with it emerging at the end of the movie there’d be more Deacons running around.

Well guess what? There’s fucking not.

I’m just going to blubber the spoils now.  David 8 unleashes all those canisters of black oil on the engineers little shanty town.  David pretends like Shaw died in the crash buhhh... we later find out he kills her and uses her to pop out aliens.  Elizabeth Shaw? Nah bruh, she fucking died. We built up the next great Alien hero and then murdered her because of some wank ass reasoning. Thx.  David is living on a planet with what we’re calling the Neomorphs. 

So my best assumption is that since the black oil can produce the Deacon (through a load of shit,) that maybe the Engineers dna combined somehow made the neomorphs. Or maybe they weren’t created, they just existed? I don’t fucking know anymore and at this point, I’m trying to stop pondering it. 

So basically, are the engineers good? Are they bad? Well the answer is: WE WILL NEVER FUCKING KNOW. You have to assume that David found something on that ship while he and Shaw were traveling to make him hate the Engineers. Or it could simply be that he was all the creators dead. So he wants to kill humans, and if Engineer created man than he must go as well.  But? They really don’t make it obvious? And the movie really scraps everything behind Prometheus for a few shitty fans who complained about that film. 

I also have to assume that the Engineers weren’t just living in one little city on that planet, right? I mean.. I have issues believing they could be that advanced and have THAT small a city. Yes, I realize many Engineers went to other planets like LV223 to uh, build their weapon or do...whatever it was that was never clarified?? I also realize that 10 years after the events of Covenant and 20 after Prometheus, a space jockey/engineer is found on LV426. 

At this point, I’m spit balling and trying to conclude Prometheus in my head because Scott and fans just totally wanted to shit can what I thought was a decent idea.

In a perfect world, Shaw is still alive. How? I don’t fucking know but she is. In my world, the actually don’t go all biological warfare on the Engineers... but whatever else happens I don’t know BECAUSE I’M NOT A FUCKING WRITER AND I DON’T KNOW WHAT SCOTT INTENDED BEFORE EVERYONE FLIPPED AND CALLED PROMETHEUS SHIT??? 

So instead of my whining... let’s just review the pros and cons. 

PROS: 

Daniels, Tennessee and Walter are the only “Team Covenant” characters you need to know or care about and you have no trouble relating to or loving them.

Michael Fassbender reprising his role as David and playing alongside himself as Walter is the stuff of magic.

New aliens / ways to get infected / give birth. Like Prometheus but uh... less convoluted process.

CONS: 

There isn’t a lot of suspense / tension. The kills don’t skimp on gore but are fully expected and you can see every bad moment coming from a mile away.

Ridley Scott completely shit cans Prometheus, explains away the parts of that story he can’t just ignore and attempts to give fans a “proper” Alien film. 

Elizabeth Shaw is NOT crazed, robotic space Satan fodder.

I’d also like to add the “Alien” in the film is called a “Protomorph.” I do believe this is because it’s not quite the stealthy and (puts douche bag hat on for even using the term..) BAD ASS killer of the original 1979 film. It also seems to... uh... scuttle around on all fours rather than be bipedal... and loves cracking shit with it’s head.

*ETA* The end reveal is actually pretty good. And I love that Space Satan isn’t going to let us have another hopeful ending. 

All in all, it deserves a 7/10. It’s a good movie if you don’t have an attachment to Prometheus... 

From what I hear, if you enjoyed any of the films aside from Alien or Aliens, you’ll probably enjoy this one. 

On the Alien meter, I’d rank it 4th place. I haven’t seen 3, 4 or AVP movies, but I’m almost certain it’s better than those but none of these films will ever live up to Alien 1979. 

TLDR: 

[kaedekayano]

hi it's me gakushuu anon here off anon to defend my identity as gakushuu lover #1 wanna scream more? i'm always listening literally bombard me with anything about my son i am waiting also i love your soul you're the pillar of the karushuu community

Wow, I am so flattered thank you so much omg

I’m writing meta (which I have not done in way too long) because I love my son and I love thinking about him and how much I want him to be happy. So here’s an analysis of his relationship with various people. Except it’s really incoherent because it’s late and I wasn’t trying very hard to be articulate, whoops. Have 1.3k of meta.

The Five Virtuosos

Ria @haise-potato and I were discussing them over Skype recently and I’m bringing back this post (http://karushuus.tumblr.com/post/148925252800/on-the-five-virtuosos-and-their-friendship-with), one of the first posts I’ve ever written, because oh boy do the Five Virtuosos fuck me up! People don’t really talk about them or what their relationship w/ Asano is because they are so minor 

But look, okay, they’re just a bunch of teenagers who are irresistibly drawn to Gakushuu because Gakushuu is canonically super charismatic and brilliant and everyone thinks he’s amazing, and they’re no exception, except they in all likelihood (see linked post for evidence) are damn well aware of the insecurities and weaknesses that lie beneath the surface

But God, they’re loyal to him and they love him and they know that they’re not his equals, that he’s too brilliant for everyone, but they care so much about him regardless even if they’re aware they can never really understand him because they aren’t on his level, and they believe in him despite those insecurities, which I think is really valuable, you know?

Dammit Gakushuu appreciate your fucking friends more. The group dynamic isn’t quite healthy but it could be if Gakushuu would just stop and communicate with them and I just — I just love them a lot because the group dynamic is so fascinating, they’re set up to be villains at first but they’re just middle schoolers who don’t quite know how to communicate with each other and that’s so human and understandable.

Also my wish is for all of them to have established character tags on AO3. Gakushuu and Ren already have one but what about the rest, hm

Gakuhou Asano

Heya just a little rant here but I really, really hate depictions of his relationship with his dad as black-and-white. No, Gakuhou wasn’t a good dad, stop portraying him as otherwise just because he started getting a little nicer toward the end of the story and he wasn’t an asshole twelve years ago. But he also wasn’t the devil. When I see fics where he constantly hits or sexually abuses his son I’m like the fuck, where did you get that from. Also wasn’t a pedophile!

Anyway! Fandom rants aside. Something I’m really big on when it comes to abusive relationships is that always, there’s a power imbalance. Yes, the show initially paints it so it seems like they’re competitors, and yeah, they are. Gakushuu is always trying to snatch away his dad’s power and get the better of him. But they weren’t equals, and Gakuhou was really the one in a position of power and authority, and he abused that.

It’s unclear how much of Gakushuu’s personality and ideals are because of his dad, but when Gakushuu tries to deviate from his dad’s principles, Gakuhou does not react well — hypnotizing the Virtuosos + all of Class A, and hitting his son in front of the class when it doesn’t work out for Gakuhou — plus when Gakushuu doesn’t do as well on finals, pole toppling festival, culture festival, etc. and thus isn’t the perfect son anymore, Gakuhou gives him a lot of shit for it. Presumably, a lot of the way Gakushuu is at his introduction — obsessive, manipulative, self-absorbed perfectionist with a notable superiority complex — is because of Gakuhou’s teaching.

Something I don’t see much in fics often: Gakushuu was around three years old when Ikeda died (resulting in Gakuhou’s personality change). While the two probably had an excellent relationship prior to that, it’s unlikely Gakushuu remembers anything from when he was three years old. The Gakushuu we see in-story has only ever known the Gakuhou who emphasizes strength to his students over kindness or compassion. Which is sad and crushing in all kinds of ways, honestly.

Something I really really want to emphasize: Gakuhou and Gakushuu both become noticeably better, kinder, less self-interested people by the end of the story. And that’s great. That’s amazing and impressive. But that doesn’t mean they’re suddenly both saints, especially Gakuhou. Please know that Gakushuu is a 15-year-old boy, aka a teenager, and being a teenager means you have a lot of emotions and you change a lot and you have to figure a lot of stuff out — so honestly, he probably underwent some radical changes, especially morality-wise. But he doesn’t need to forgive his father.

Riiight this is a subject that I cry a lot about but you never need to forgive someone who abused you, and the Asanos had an abusive relationship. Gakuhou was like that for twelve years, impacting the person Gakushuu became to an incredible extent. We don’t know how Gakushuu’s relationship with his dad changed post-canon, but “smooth sailing, everything is perfect now” is highly unlikely to be the answer.

(He did go to study at MIT, far far away from Japan, and so probably sees his dad less. And honestly, knowing that’s canon, I breathe a lot easier for it. Poor kid needs to get some freedom away from his dad.)

Karma Akabane

Yeah, okay, so my ship bias is showing through. Sue me. Anyway, I’m gonna be realistic — they don’t have a lot of interaction, and it’s all rivalry, but it’s not terribly in-depth in terms of mushy romantic stuff so I’m gonna skip shippy things and talk about what these two actually mean for each other. As foils, parallels, etc. they’re really interesting in the narrative choices made.

Gakushuu and Karma look really alike, by the way, as several people have mentioned. I literally thought when I first saw Gakushuu that he was Karma’s cousin or something. Of course, this is deliberate because foils — not gonna go in-depth on this, just thought it’d be nice to mention.

There is a whole lot of parallelism and juxtaposition with these two. Check out some of the gifsets from the anime, y’all. I’m fond of these: (one) (two)

Karma and Gakushuu aren’t polar opposites, not at all. What I’d describe them as is being similar in all the wrong ways, and the same for their differences. This kind of rivalry exists in real-life, just usually not in a shippy way. There’s always a whole lot of clashing because both of you are incredibly smart but you always want to do different things with that.

Class 3-E as a whole, not Karma specifically, is the first time Gakushuu really and truly tastes defeat, and he improves for it. It’s honestly great for his character development. Karma specifically, however, I think teaches Gakushuu a lot of things and forces him to improve. Karma basically seizes Gakushuu’s throne by three points, and sure, he’s all modest about it to the class, but to Gakushuu Asano’s face, doubtful. And good.

They both start out as these ominous, intimidating, arrogant types but reveal themselves to be so utterly fallible and flawed and okay I’d need a lot more time and a whole separate post for this but it’s really cool, okay. Karma’s arc is about forcing him to work harder because stop thinking you’re invincible, and Gakushuu’s is about him working too hard but he doesn’t need to be invincible. His dad constantly pushes him to be invincible, to be perfect, to never ever lose, and it just messes him up.

Just look at the gifsets. They explain it so much better than I ever could.

tl:dr; I love Gakushuu Asano my son he is so wonderfully complex and amazing and he’s obviously not a very good person but he’s getting there and I am so proud of him.