#i mean overall her design is... not super... appealing...

[freaky-flawless]

I never cared for Iris all that much, but I've grown to like her significantly more after reading the "I Only Have Eye for You" comic, but my goodness I can't get over how hideous her outfit is.

[ambrosiagourmet]

I love Izutsumi. She's got a great design, she's a fun addition to the main party, she adds some new tension, and she's honestly one of the reasons I read dungeon meshi in the first place. I mean, "the most cat to ever girl" is an extremely appealing hook to anyone who loves cats and girls (me, I love cats and girls).

However, while I have always liked Izutsumi, I finished the story kind of feeling like I didn't really get her. I felt like I had a decent grasp on her character an character arc (she's a traumatized teen given space to feel safe and open up, and because of that she realizes that she can't grow without letting go of the coping mechanisms she once needed). But I didn't feel like I really understood her role in the story as a whole.

She follows the group of her own accord, after a coincidental meeting and a misunderstanding of what they can do for her. She's never super invested in saving Falin, at least not compared to the rest of the group. Though they do help her escape Maizuru's shackles, and are clearly good for her in general, she doesn't really have a healing Moment with the group the way that Senshi does with the hippogriff soup.

And yet, she gets an entire chapter, the third-to-last chapter, dedicated to exploring her growth and future. She's the one who frames much of the falling action, who lets us check in with everyone. She's the one who helps talk Laios into accepting his role as king. She may join the story part way through, but she is there for most of it. So Izutsumi! What's your deal!?

Well, I think I've come up with an answer, at least for myself, that I really like. Two of them, even! Though they both really work together to form the overall point - Izutsumi is the character that most helps the story face towards the future. Here's why I think that.

So the first of these "ah-ha" moments was when I realized that Izutsumi really is the best supporting evidence for Laios' point about the good things that wouldn't have happened if Falin hadn't died.

If Falin hadn't been eaten by the dragon, Izutsumi probably would still be a slave. It was because of Shuro and Laios' parties both being in the dungeon to rescue Falin, as well as Marcille's use of ancient magic in the resurrection, that she got the chance to escape. None of that would have been the case if Falin hadn't died. Shuro wouldn't have separated from the group and joined up with his retainers, Marcille wouldn't have revealed her knowledge of ancient magic, and Izutsumi never would have even met any of them. They are only part of her life because of Falin's death.

Though this isn't explicitly pointed out by Laios or Izutsumi in the scene, I do think you can very much feel the presence of it. For one, when Marcille reflects on the journey and how much it made her realize she didn't want to lose everyone, her relationship with Izutsumi is prominent:

It's the main original group at the top and center, but when you read it right to left, it’s Izutsumi and Marcille who might catch your eye first. And it's specifically Marcille and Izutsumi's relationship on display here, not just Izutsumi's presence in the group in general.

Also, after Laios' statement about how none of their adventure would have happened without Falin dying, it is Izutsumi who gets the final word:

Izutsumi is also the one here who is the most forward-facing. Chilchuck is trying to correct Laios, Senshi is focused on the immediate future, and Izutsumi is talking about her new goal.

And I want to talk about that goal in general as well, because it’s also interesting how it comes up. In that moment, everyone is trying to remind Marcille of her less destructive desires - to eat food, to share it with them, and to meet Chilchuck's family. All of which are previously established, existing desires. When prompted by Chilchuck to join in, however, Izutsumi offers something new:

That's interesting, isn't it? It's kind of funny, of course, to see her rambling on about a completely new thing, her own personal motive, in the middle of everyone working together to reach out to Marcille. Izutsumi doesn't even know who Yaad is! But at the same time, it’s kind of meaningful. Amidst the focus on desires that everyone already had, she adds a completely new one to the mix. It’s even the final bridge that lets Laios reach Marcille.

It is, in fact, even an idea that comes back later to help out another lord of the dungeon. The idea of finding new goals and feeling new desires... this is exactly how Kabru reaches out to Mithrun, after the Winged Lion is gone

So yeah, Izutsumi's presence here, both in what she's actively choosing to say as well as what she represents of the consequences of Falin's death, supports the story's ideas of moving forward. Of accepting the past, and finding new reasons to live.

Which is all really good, and that alone works pretty well as an answer to what Izutsumi's role in the story is.

But oh, oh. There's more. Something I realized after having thought of all this, because I still couldn't let go of the feeling that there was still something I was missing.

And as I reviewed the things I loved about Izutsumi - her sometimes unhealthy ways of coping with trauma, her struggles with isolation, her skill with fighting, her selfishness contrasted with the ways she grows to care for and protect the group, her perpetually guarded nature, born from the seeming impossibility of ever fitting in or finding a safe place to just be herself - I realized something.

Izutsumi...

is a foil to Falin.

Where Falin copes with isolation and trauma by being eternally caring and struggling to say no to people, Izutsumi copes by constantly saying no to everything she can. Falin is often considered selfless, but does have selfish desires that she can’t easily express until a moment of crisis. Izutsumi is delightfully selfish, but chooses to stick by her friends when they need her. They are both transformed, against their will, into partly monstrous hybrids, and they both will have to live with that - there is no undoing what has been done to them.

Falin anchors the group in the past. Izutsumi pulls them towards the future. Neither would find freedom without the other - it is Falin's death that leads to Izutsumi joining the party, and likewise, it is Izutsumi who inspires the realization of how they can save Falin.

And Falin is her future, as much as Izutsumi is Falin's. Both learn to be a little more like each other, even though they never meet. Falin gets a little more selfish. Izutsumi gets a little more willing to bend.

In this context, I feel like I have finally started to understand just how important Izutsumi is to the story. She is a proof that they cannot just go back, and she is a clawed, happy-to-scratch-anyone-who-pisses-her-off reminder, at that. In any conversation about what the group wishes would have happened with Falin, she cannot be ignored or brushed aside.

She is a reminder that, even in the midst of a tragedy so big it feels like a shadow you will never escape, you have yet to met all the people you will love. Hell, some of those people might even be catgirls. We should all be so lucky.

[brujc]

Spoilers for S2 promo content

Okay guys so I'm gonna be totally honest here it's just gonna be me being a petty bitch and rambling about my first impression on tbhk S2 (from the POV of someone who got into it not a long while ago and stopped the s1 at ep 5)

I would LOVE to say I'm excited about this second season but honestly I am more worried if anything haha...

So...PURELY ANIMATION WISE the op didn't appeal to me like uhh I feel so bad saying that it's like disrespecting the animators but like I mean I just hate how awkward a lot of shots turned out. I mean tbhk's manga art style is like super awesome and it is surely hard as fuck to animate but I really don't think the "thick lines" (idk how exactly to describe ) anime style will do justice to the manga, especially when we consider the pretty action packed and more serious scenes that are to come! I can feel some really clunky movements coming already

Like in this part of the intro, when Aoi and Kane were running towards the group idk why but it felt so... awkward... also this kinda chibified anatomy really doesn't suit some characters.

Like it makes some design choices very questionnable..

Like look at him... Because of the head-bigger-than-body choice he looks a bit weird? Like to be honest he doesn't look like teru at all, if it weren't for his iconic features like the blond hair I wouldn't have recognized him. Where's his prince-ly look? Or idk I don't care if he ain't jaw dropping but his "sharp" vibe and whole hair silhouette is gone..

(I'm super sad like I cannot express how sad I am)

Same goes for Aoi, I don't like how she doesn't have the Aoi vibe, she just looks like some random character (also is it a curse? I feel like she always have shots where her anatomy is super strange like in the flower shot above. Super big head awkward hand position and all)

Even before her major personality reveal she looked less empty than the anime one??? Idk how to express myself

Again with the anatomy, I just genuinely hate it I don't even know why it's just awkward as hell to me ( I said that multiple times already I'm really sorry). The very detailed shading and colors of the clothes and background with this very kid like anatomy and thick outlines just throws me off, idk the characters don't really blend in with the atmosphere (I mean in closer shots, sure but distance/half body shots usually are there most of the time)

I'm sorry I just can't bring myself to like his anime design...the eyes and just everything are so off..

I have a lot to fear but I'm begging please do him justice this season

Baby face again (I mean the characters are young so I might just be a shitty complainer but I just think they don't look good)

Overall I'm super worried for the meaningful scenes in pp arc, they have like chances to be ruined because of clunky animation but I really don't hope so! I can already picture a super awkward fall off the building scene with Kou or super mega awkward escape of the perfect picture with like the bike not feeling fantasy at all.

Anyway I'm losing focus! Ofc there are some fluid shots in the op but I just have the overall feeling that it won't be super good

Sorry for complaining like this but I'm just sad about the adaptation cuz I think some really cool stuff could've been done with the banger base material that is tbhk, so much potential...

I do hope I will be complaining for nothing and that the anime will in reality be very good tho (begging to be proven wrong)

[cl-0v3r]

Okay this is gonna be super rushed and probably have alot of mistakes but I need this out of my system so it will most likely be like half a shitpost !!!

When i think of Jinx and Mel at a flat level, i assume that they are very different from eachother, there is no personal connection between the two at all, they don't even know eachother and they both have very different roles in the show, not to mention the difference in demeanor and character as well.

But Arcane, a show full of parallels, always knows how to connect each of its characters to one another somehow, I find it amazing that you can find so many similarities despite their vast differences even if it was the most subtle thing ever, its like the tiniest bits of detail SCREAM at you.

One of my favorite (and most obvious) things about Mel and Jinx is the fact that they speak of their past THROUGH THEIR ART, I don't think I really need to go ahead and dissect this to the last atom since it's already very clear what their drawings mean to them and to the story, but they prefer to cope with their trauma by painting/making things that remind them of the past or has a relation to it, there is ALWAYS a piece (or pieces) of art about something that continues to HAUNT them to this day, for Jinx its "doodles" of the hallucinations of Mylo, Claggor & Vi who are almost everywhere she is, as for Mel its the bloody necklace thats hung above her head and over her bed alongside the painting of the immortal bastion to remind her about "home".

Whats even crazier is the fact that their art is also tied to the people who cast them out from their family, Powder before this was always called a Jinx ESPECIALLY by Mylo and she was considered weak and unable to handle things like the others, leading her to change and become somebody new after they left, sound a little familiar? Because Mel was also considered weak, sentimental, too soft to be a Medarda E S P E C I A L L Y by Ambessa at a young age, and what happened after? Gone. Afterwards, they find themselves in a new place where people "look up to them" or they're seen as someone with higher importance.

And I've spoken a bit about the visual similarities in an earlier post, but we gotta appreciate their attitudes towards their "parental" figures, I don't know why but its funny to see how much sass they throw at them, its what inspired this post actually. Maybe its just the satisfaction of seeing my two least favorite characters get the same honest reaction I have by my favorite characters 😭

They're both tired of their shit and its the best thing to ever exist.

Let's not forget how they both got genuinely angry at them as well? Jinx snatching Silcos injection from his hands and being pissed at him for lying to her about everyone being dead, while Mel slapped the goblet out of Ambessas hand, upset that she played with Jayce unrightfully so.

The color and design differences is a beautiful parallel too, Jinx is often surrounded by cold or dark colors like Blue, Green, black with a hint of purple and pink and dressed like her personality, while Mel is more light & Warm-toned with yellow/gold, red, white and a wee bit of black which is all matching to her Elegance. This is just a general parallel between characters of Zaun and Piltover overall, but its always very appealing when you compare them together.

And finally, its them completely letting go of their past selves and starting out new literally by the last episode after struggling with who they are the whole time, Powder was officially gone by the end of the season, and Mel was no longer Medarda. Jinx is just Jinx, Mel is just Mel, and they are both going to do things their own way and that was shown with how Mel took off her ring and painted over the Immortal Bastion with gold , and how Jinx launched her rocket towards the council with her own art on it too.

Its funny to think that thats the only physical connection they could possibly have and that its related to their character arcs, its related to them making a new big decision, it has a strong relation to their art, and a strong relation to them saying goodbye to their family.

Hope this made sense !!!!!!!! I honestly just want them to like idk hug or something and go to loo loo land and paint together or whatever in a different universe and cope with their shared trauma together no fuss no muss. Fanfic writers where did you go y'all are missing out on this super mega awesome cool older&younger sister / mother-daughter duo.

[diaphin93]

I'd love to read you breaking down Dimi/Rhealeth :)

Oh thats interesting, I'd love to do that. I will predominantly use she/her pronouns for Byleth just for ease, though I acknowledge that Rhealeth is a bi-ship for both Byleths.

Starting with Dimileth, its plain and simple, as a feminist and lesbian I just dislike the overall ship-dynamic of it, but I get the broader appeal of it. I mean, its basically a sizable portion of the contemporary published het-romance genre in a nutshell, you have a dangerous and unstable psychologically haunted men who hides a sweeter core and pair him with a kind and loving women who through self-sacrifice, selfless nuturing and tenderness fixes him and cures him of his ills. Its a super basic het dynamic and I personally really dislike it because of the very heteronormative, gendered patriachal dynamics involved in it, especially since the ship ingame strongly contextualizes Byleth as tender and fragile, in opposition to her characterization as a famed mercenary and powerful warrior.

I would argue that the ship is probably more favorable with Byleth as the PoV and Self-Insert character than the other way around, where it kind of can have incel-esque vibes and plays into issues of male entitlement towards a nuturing woman who acts as both a caretaker and a lover to a man. From a queer feminist standpoint, I dislike it either way, but there are individual pieces of fanart I can enjoy more than others, when they lean more into a physically strong and trained Byleth who appears as more of Dimitris equal. I guess I personally also get more behind it with Dimitris Post-Timeskip design in mind, which is one of the few male designs I find genuinly appealing, than with Pre-Timeskip Dimitri who is super bland in terms of personality and design for the most part. When I want to mock it, I call it 50 Shades of Fire Emblem, but I think there is not much more that needs to be said about the ship and my feelings on it.

I'm actually more fond of it when it involves Male Byleth being paired with Dimitri. I'm usually really not invested into m/m ships, being a near exclusive w/w shipper myself, but I think its a good example of how even with genderblind writing, a narrative can't really escape strong contextual and subtextual differences due to changing gendered dynamics, explicitely in a game like 3 Houses, that has at least implicitely alot to say about gender. There is also the difference between vibes in F!Byleth and M!Byleth, M!Byleth coming off as much more serious and reserved in comparison. I think this really helps to recontextualize the scenes between M!Byleth and Dimitri and the potential ship dynamic, there being more of an element of tenderness and nuture that M!Byleth displays despite his more reserved vibes which I prefer, similar to me liking the dynamic between F!Byleth and Edelgard much more, because I think this social Awkwardness and kinda autistic vibes f!Byleth has match well with Edelgards openness and interest in her. For a while I was more in the camp of wishing Claude was also bisexual and viewing Dimitri from a more unfavorable cishet perspective, but I think nowadays, if I could only one of those two romancable by both Byleths, I would go for Dimitri, especially since I think that with the culture of Faerghus in mind, there are some interesting headcanons for queer Dimitri. I recently saw an interpretation of Dimitri as transmasc in the Edelgard server lol and that was one that really captivated me, so Transmasc Dimitri x M!Byleth would be a ship I really would find interesting and I kinda grew on the idea of both Byleths being present and f!Byleth going with Edelgard and m!Byleth going with Dimitri, lol.

When it comes to Rhealeth, I think I have less to say about those two. I really personally don't feel it and I think the ship is just too inheritly problematic for me to enjoy. It is another ship that is canonically Bi, but I personally really dislike both variants of it. I think with the entire context in mind, there is a very uncomfortable vibe between Byleth and Rhea in their supports and it reads strongly as grooming and lovebombing, especially since Rhea doesn't seem exactly interested in Byleth as a person, but more in them in relation to being the child of people she was close to and her being the vessel of Sothis. The former already makes she ship kinda yikes, because there is a clear incestious element in it all that goes far beyond even Fates Step-Sibling kink. For all intents and purposes, Rhea is Byleths grandmother. She created Sitri, raised her and openly expresses that she viewed her as a daughter, while also being close to Jeralt since he was a young man or outright boy. Her ending up marrying their child, who she helped to deliver, is really messed up on a level where its just plain problematic and I don'T see much room in looking past it or viewing this as something romantic.

Then there is the fact that Rheas behavior if you chose Crimson Flower puts into question how sincere she is during all of their supports. Edelgard and Byleth also can end up in opposing sides of the war and fight each other, thats sure, but Edelgard still never expresses outright hatred or malice towards Byleth, she always treats her with respect and adoration, them fighting because they chose different sides in a war. With Rhea its very different, its an immediate snap into outright malice and dehumanization in a way that is very ugly and uncomfortable. At best thats outright toxic and unstable BPD behavior, to immediately dehumanize and devalue every aspect of a person because you feel rejected. I saw people here actually encourage and support this kind of behavior, which is a massive red flag on those people for me. At worst, its basically just Rhea spending the first part of the game purely lovebombing her and when Byleth doesn't conform, she expresses immediate malice.

I think it can be interesting potentially, but not in this romanticized way people on this website would probably advocate for it. Rhea has strong groomer and cultleader vibes, her behavior towards Byleth is a good example of grooming and the same can be extented to everyone else she is in close contact with, who isn't an actual Nabathean. People get enarmored alot with her motherly, benevolent persona, but I always felt like it comes off as more uncomfortable, very superficial, very thin. And in the end, with her behavior in CF also taken into mind because as much as ArchFireemblem and his Tradcath gang want to deny it, its also part of Rheas canonical characterization, She comes off as an unstable womanchild who does play at the motherly figure, emulating t his flat and infantile idealized and flawed vision of Sothis she has constructed in her head, which just does not exist.

In this vein, I think Rhealeth can be interesting in the way Makima/Denji from Chainsaw Man is fascinating and one of the most captivating and gutwrenching toxic relationships in contemporary media, as an analysis of a toxic and abusive relationship in which a powerful and mentally juvenile older woman grooms and manipulaties a socially isolated and impressionable younger woman she has a high level of power over into fulfilling her needs and constructing them into an idealized vision of an entirely different person.

So yeah, thats it. I think ultimately I'm really much more favorable and positive about Dimileth, even Het!Dimileth, than I'm to either version of Rhealeth. With Dimileth, I get the appeal and I can see how it is just a very popular and common fantasy which I personally dislike. With Rhealeth on the other hand, I just really can't see it in any other way but a very abusive and toxic instance of grooming and so far I personally found the kinds of people to whom that ship would appeal so far to be more than uncomfortable, which isn't necessarily my experience with Dimileth.

And hey, on the offchance that somebody reads this and gets Trans!Dimitri as a headcanon out of it, no matter with what kind of ship, just hit me up, I'm happy to read it.

[hotcocoabombb]

So I beat Metroid Fusion for the first time. Weird, since Dread is my favorite game ever and it's basically a direct sequel to Fusion but just hear me for a sec.

When Dread was revealed at E3, I immediately decided to play through the Metroid series. I got through Zero Mission, Samus Returns, and Super Metroid. When I got to Fusion, Dread was a few days away and I decided to just play through Dread and get to Fusion after. 3 fuckin years later and I finally got to Fusion. So, what did I think?

Its good! Really good!

Metroid Fusion is the game Zero Mission was based off, and as such, it controls basically flawlessly. Movement, jumping, shooting, missiles, bombs, morph ball, it all controls how you'd expect from a post Super Metroid game. I do have 2 very small things though. One is, for some reason the space jump didn't feel good to me. It was just weirdly unresponsive to me, which was fixed in Zero Mission. The other thing is that you can't aim while hanging from a ledge, which, again, was fixed in Zero Mission. There's also locked momentum when wall jumping, but personally this wasn't a bother. Dread does it too so I'm used to it. Overall, controls were great, and they have to be because this game is HARD. Like, seriously, Jesus Christ man. Enemies hit really hard in this game. Never anything that feels unfair but even with a lot of energy tanks only a few hits mean you die.

Level design in Fusion is really good IMO. It is fairly railroaded for story reasons but the BSL is still an interesting place to explore, And as the game goes on it opens up a bit more until you basically have free reign to do whatever you want at the end. Personally, as someone who's not super into 100% and would rather see how fast I can get through (without outright speed running cuz I am WAY too stupid to figure out some of those strats lmao) the rigidness of Fusion didn't really bother me. Each sector has a unique theme and none of them blend together at all. I also appreciate how it's a man made area but it doesn't just have metallic hallways for everything. There is genuine variations while still feeling somewhat man made. It gives the BSL a very artificial vibe, which is cool. While it's not my favorite environment for a Metroid, it's not bad at all.

For the reasons I just listed, id consider Fusion a good game, if somewhat of a weak Metroidvania since it doesn't have the greatest exploration. So I'm happy to say that on top of all of that, the story ties it together very well. Full spoilers ahead, but the game is also like 23 years old atp. Samus, on an expedition to SR-388, is attacked by an organism called the X parasite (elon musk is clapping somewhere). The parasite invades her central nervous system and nearly kills her, but a vaccine made from Metroid DNA saves her life, because Metroids were predators of the X. Since Samus is the only one who is immune to the X parasite, she's sent on a mission inside the BSL to "destroy" the parasite. On paper, this is a relatively simple Metroid plot, but what makes it diffrent in story and gameplay is the robot companion Samus has, which she names Adam after her former commanding officer. The robot acts as the one railroading progress, keeping Samus on a tight path. The reason for this is the federation actually has no interest in destroying the parasite. They want to contain it and study it. Samus doesn't learn this until later, so she goes along with the plan for a while. Eventually though, the way forward is only possible through her own agency, and she starts seizing control back slowly but surely, getting around on her own, and doing things she's unauthorized to do in order to find the way forward. The robot, realizing this, locks Samus in a room, telling her the plan. Samus, realizing this is too dangerous, tries to appeal to the robot, and calls it Adam. This causes it to faulter, and the brain of Adam Malkovich, which was uploaded to the galactic federation database takes over. This part is one that I find a little ridiculous. Like, I get what they were going for, but it's strange that the robot would just. Access and become like Adam because of the name drop. Regardless, the brain of Adam finally agrees with Samus, freeing her and giving her the ability to destroy the BSL and SR-388, ending the menace of the X parasite (until Dread but shhhh). Overall, this is a really good story. I have my issues with the way Adam ties into it, and honestly I think a better way to go about it would be Samus breaking out of the place she's trapped herself. That would show she finally has her Agency, which is central to her character and Metroidvania's as a whole, but the way it is, is fine. Overall a really good story. While I don't think Fusion needs it, I would be curious how a Dread style remake would make the story feel while playing. Regardless, Fusion is a really fun game imo, and I will be replaying it at some point.

9/10.

[mabepearls]

sumeru boys redesigns + notes

as you may know, i redesigned the sumeru boys a few weeks ago because, as much as i love them to bits, their designs are well. not that great in some areas. also because i wanted to draw them more often without the roadblock of their designs being so complicated. i've mainly been drawing my cyno and tighnari redesigns, but i did also do alhaitham and kaveh, so i thought that i'd show off these redesigns in one post, along with some notes on why i made certain decisions. hope you enjoy!

(pre-note: just so no one gets confused, i also renamed everyone when i did my redesigns, giving tighnari and alhaitham first names and cyno and kaveh last names.)

tighnari ❀

(renamed abdullah al-tighnari; tighnari was made his surname because that was the case for the real guy he was based on)

i went into this thinking "how can i make this design more appealing to me while still retaining what the original design meant?". since tighnari is one of my favorites in the game overall, i put a lot of pressure on myself to make a decent design.

a lot of tighnari's design inspiration comes from moroccan (specifically amazigh) culture, which i kept in my mind through most of the drawing. this inspiration shows in his bead necklace (i forget the name), his belt, and his earring, which i remade to mirror the shape of moroccan headpieces.

gave him some muscles because there's no way a guy with his job wouldn't have them. also a bottom-heavy fat distribution for self-indulgent purposes.

the design has less layers and lighter/flowier clothes because of tighnari's canon sensitivity to heat. if you're living in the rainforest (a famously humid biome), you probably wouldn't be wearing what canon tighnari does, heat sensitivity or not.

gave him some traits that are popular headcanons, such as the flower thigh tattoo, the sharp teeth, the scars, the claw-like nails (with the middle and ring nails filed down for No Reason), and the lichtenberg figure. also gave him tan skin and wavy hair because i Cannot deal with canon nari looking like that.

sturdy shoes! archery gloves! his vision on his belt! quality of life features that an actual forest ranger would have!

i will admit that the slit pants, the shorts, and the tights were all for self-indulgence reasons, but i think they go together well with the rest of the outfit too.

a braid in his hair for cynari marriage purposes. (i hc that in sumeru, marriages are consummated by braiding each other's hair)

kaveh ❂

(renamed kaveh laghmani; surname is of iranian origin, but i forgot the meaning)

another real quick note: if i change a character's pronouns in their rewrite, i'll be using those pronouns in their notes. here, kaveh goes by he/she pronouns (she just like me fr).

his canon design is actually my favorite of the sumeru boys, so this redesign was more of a simplification while still keeping the original color scheme and such.

from my research, kaveh's mainly inspired by persian/iranian culture. this is what i had in mind with her shirt and her jacket... shawl... thing. idk what to call it.

kept him a skinny twink; imo, her being a twink in canon fits pretty well.

emphasized the bird of paradise motif with the thing on her side looking like feathers. you will see this again with alhaitham.

made him brunet for more cohesion with the color palette, also because i don't like the whole blonde-fading-to-brown situation he has going on in his canon design.

flowers!!! also giving him a pretty headpiece bc this guy is flashy. also also keeping the feather, it's cunty and fun.

i wanted to make kaveh obviously gnc/genderqueer without going into full-on feminine outfit territory. you can tell she's not quite cis but it's not super in your face yk?

made his vision one of his earrings like yae miko because i forgot to give it a proper place in my concept drawings lmao

quality of life feature: actual artist gloves that aren't cut off. seriously, them being fingerless in the canon design completely negates the point of artist gloves.

removed his braids because of the aforementioned marriage headcanon.

alhaitham ⚘

(renamed amir al-haytham; i wanted to give him the most basic name possible, though i fought with myself a lot on whether to write it as al-haitham or al-haytham)

my god i despise his canon design. it's so... not him. my goal with a redesign was just to give him an outfit that made sense for his character because jesus his canon design is an atrocity.

alhaitham is mainly inspired by either saudi arabian or general west asian culture (like what's constant and such). i was mainly inspired by casual saudi arabian menswear when i was designing him.

hot take but i don't like alhaitham being buff in canon. i made him chubby/fat in my redesign mainly for self-indulgent reasons, but also because it makes more sense to me. also gave him facial hair because yes

kept his color scheme mostly the same, along with the eye motif. emphasized the eagle motif slightly with the feather hip piece (see: kaveh's redesign).

gave him a headscarf (not a hijab or anything like that, just a regular headscarf) because he felt like the type, plus i got the design idea for it and went "well i can't not include it now".

wanted to give him the vibes of an npc who was forced to be a main character

no he isn't wearing his vision anywhere, he doesn't carry it around in my rewrite.

quality of life features: more sensible, looser clothes that are easier to live in- really the whole design is meant to be a quality of life improvement first and foremost

cyno ⚡︎

(renamed cyno al-sahrawi; surname meaning is "of the sahara" or more generally, "of the desert")

like kaveh, i'm gonna be using he/they pronouns for cyno here because that's what i put in my rewrite.

in my opinion, cyno's design is relatively solid, but with a few glaring flaws that kinda ruin everything for me. i'll bring them up as these notes go on.

they're very obviously inspired by ancient egyptian culture, specifically anubis. like, it's very blatant. with my redesign, i wanted to keep those inspirations in mind while making the outfit less stereotypical and make more sense.

why does this man, who's said to fight a lot, not wear a shirt? why are you letting the place where most of your vital organs reside breathe freely? also, why does this guy not have scars?

simplified a bunch of patterns, especially below the belt and with his headpiece. also made their helmet(?) a darker, more saturated purple to attract your eyes' attention to it.

gave him eye of horus makeup for a little cultural nod

the black piece in the back was made to look like a tail to further the jackal thing.

curly hair that resembles lightning bolts <3

the shoes were inspired by traditional egyptian footwear, because if this guy is out in the desert all the time, i'm not letting him go without some kind of foot protection.

quality of life features: a bit of armor on his arm (partially for aesthetic purposes), less flowy bits on his helmet and hips to prevent distraction or getting caught on things, the aforementioned shoes

added braids for cynari purposes, because i'm me.

hope you enjoyed reading this! please keep in mind that this is all off the top of my head and doesn't even go into color theory, how the designs mirror each other, and other smaller things like that. i might make a part 2 someday going into those things, but who knows with my memory lmao

reblogs are heavily appreciated!

[no-brand-gays]

FURTHER THOUGHTS!! on love live superstar!!! i have a lot of them!!! none of these are meant to be hate or rants at all, just my honest thoughts after finishing season 3! i wouldn't have gotten there if i wasn't having a great time

-i've been vaguely aware of liella (especially of how much emphasis they're putting on the seiyuu as artists in their own right!!!) for a while but haven't soaked up much knowledge on them so the anime portrayals were really my first exposure. to that end some of them came on kinda heavy-handed and other times i was kinda just along for the ride. like for shiki having so many world-class inventions on hand and also a habit of slipping into english?

-i really liked that throughout the whole anime it felt like they were trying to do new things!! i liked that the girls were open to and excited about adding new members to the group, i REALLY liked that they tried + addressed the fact that this group is, in universe, outstandingly musically talented. kanon's initial edgy internal conflict was a fun and fresh way to start and i also really enjoyed the stretch in s3 where they had two separate groups going, especially with kanon heading the second. i think unfortunately w how many installations LL has gotten (and that i watched a lot of the episodes while doing the dishes) some of the character conflicts didn't hit me very hard but it definitely never felt too samey

-the setting did make me giggle because of how fast they abandoned the music program. both the members themselves and also the anime. i was watching the s3 finale today wondering if they'd dissolved the music track and i just forgot about it so when all the music girls appeared at the graduation i was so surprised. god so funny. can you imagine going into high school ready to be a serious professional musician and then a bunch of girls who aren’t even in the music course take over the local music scene

-i had also gotten it spoiled from twitter that liella was going to win the love live in s3 so i was genuinely surprised they did in s2. i liked the parts about them being the first school to do it twice!! but w sunny passion out of the competition (and no challenges like the rap/stage making/etc) i felt like it fell flat. like where's the challenge

-this is going to sound like too many members but bear with me because there are 11 of them. my favorite was kanon (loved how down to earth she was and found it funny + charming how she clearly saw herself as very average while having the voice of an angel and the kindness to conquer like 6 cold guarded hearts) but my other favorites are kinako (let's go northern japan), sumire (her solo night training scene in the nonfiction ep was the most genuinely emotional moment in the whole anime to me), mei (very charming and relatable arc), and especially margarete. i’m predictable i love a character who’s earnest and passionate but prickly and bad with people and also genuinely just kinda blunt

-this one might be a little controversial but i thought the character designs were a little too quirky to their own detriment. not even entirely just the 2nd/3rd gen members although i truly don’t understand mei’s hairstyle being like that when she was still thinking “i’m too awkward and mean-looking to be an idol”. there are just a lot of little design quirks like ren’s split bangs and super perky ponytail that i thought just add up to too much. i don’t mean to be hypocritical because kotori’s been here since the start but sometimes i was like guys do you not think that if we toned it down a little the designs would be more appealing overall? the candy colored hair really grew on me though!!

-last but not least huge shoutout to the other students at yuigaoka!! so supportive and so obsessed with their school's extremely talented idol group which i found cute and funny. especially big shoutout to the neverending free props and stage designs they provided to liella (the stage designs were super aikatsu this time), but also, one of the strongest feelings i had while watching the anime was that if i was a school idol and my classmates made a car dealership balloon man out of me it would make me so sad i’d hate it so much

[hua-mo-jin-is-a-cutie]

this is the only social media website where I feel like I can talk about this without getting hated by teenagers with no media literacy, but I watched (pirated) Hazbin Hotel. And while I'm still very critical of Viv herself and the decisions she's made about her staff and her public statements and her past actions, some of which are very gross, for what it's worth, I think Hazbin is alright.

There are things I'd do differently sure, but it's like... aggressively average. The music is hit or miss, with mostly catchy tunes accompanied by lyrics that often made me cringe a little by how they already feel like outdated references to current slang. I also really don't enjoy when they have a big musical number come out of nowhere and have other characters acknowledge that they're singing. It really takes away from the musical numbers themselves. it's like musical writing 101 to NOT do that.

I know this is something people tend to criticize, but I'll be honest I like most of the character designs. They have fairly distinct silhouettes and it's kinda what drew me in enough to watch it in the first place. I'm particularly fond of Nifty. I do think some of them are a bit too complex, too busy to be super appealing, and must be hell to animate. I also think there's not really much cohesion in character designs of the world other than color, and even that's a stretch. I wish we'd at least been given some sort of reason in the show that some demons are furries and others aren't.

The animation is pretty nice, though the camera movement tends to make it a bit hard for my eyes to focus when there's a lot going on.

I've seen a lot of people complain about the pacing and while I agree that things are moving too fast, that we need time to get to know these characters and this world and earn these, what are supposed to be, hard hitting moments. I also acknowledge that I like fast pacing. I want it to slow down, but not astronomically, just a smidge.

I'd say the writing is also hit or miss. Sometimes it's got me fairly entertained, but other times it's making me uncomfortable and not on purpose. Again, slang that will quickly become or already is irrelevant is a major issue for me.

Contrary to what I've seen many people saying, I actually thought episode 4 was handled decently enough. Honestly the pacing is really the only thing holding it back for me. It doesn't feel like it's glorifying or romanticizing sexual abuse or domestic violence. It frames Valentino as the abuser he is when it's most important, even when he is a bumbling idiot in other scenes. Scenes of abuse between angel and Val are taken seriously enough. I wasn't a huge fan of the song Poison, but I also don't think it's romanticizing SA. I mean it literally ends with Angel sobbing on the floor so... I dunno how anyone came to that conclusion. There are times when the show jokes about sexual assault which I do think is distasteful and is one of my gripes with the writing overall, however when it comes to the topic of angel and val, it's handled well enough.

I'm interested in seeing where the plot goes with how episode 6 ended even with it's flaws. It's going in an interesting direction so far and I think the music of that episode was pretty good, calling back to the first episode's song with Adam in a clever way.

So overall I'd give Hazbin like a 6/10. It's fine, but it's got flaws. I'd like to see the kinks ironed out in season 2 and have Viv acknowledge some of her mistakes or at least take criticism well for once.

Anyway, stan Nifty, she's best girl.

[this-isnt-how-you-play-the-game]

I LOVE MOTHER 3 and i love the main three villain bads so i figured i might be using this blog mor. why not post a piece from a small while bacck. im probs doing better now but i dont think this sketch is SO Bad. i mainly did this one to practice eyes, a grueling task but it turned out that the interpreter's eyestyle is the one that began to stick to me. ill probably figure out how the hell to draw new fassad in the future... im stil learning...

some design(headcanon(?)) stuff id like to elab on for fassad:

fassad wears the vest n clothes hes known for when blending in with the villager,s, but when he is out doing more nasty work for master king p he uses a more army-fit uniform. i also like to think he has a cape similar to the colonels but capes and jetpacks dont go good together

big nose

i coulda probably made his horns bigger here. or maybe theyre better off a little smaller? big horns adds to the menace ngl

i didnt realize how many people DONT do the pigsnout hat button thing but apparently most?? i started doing it at some point and now it just feels right

chimera fassad no longer needs to appeal to the villagers because as far as they know he is missing, so being a chimera means he gets to go harder with the evil villain look. serpent-like robo eye included.

chimera fassad also has a more scruffy screwed up stache

hes a short fat fuck. that doesnt change much here

has a pretty feminine looking face. hes a magypsy. maybe he also still has magypsy habits? ionia says they need makeup to use psi so maybe fassasshole secretly wears some very hard to see lipstick

^^or maybe its more a thing about how the makeup makes them feel and the horns make him feel beautiful which is why he can use psi??? lore

thick bushy eyebrow(s) that look scary when hes mad just like the funny angry bird

and as a bonus, some headcans for ms interpreter:

has that 60s woman hair

overall mood: nerd

would do the anime glasses flash

the weird lamp thing on her head lights up and dims down depending on how tired she is and she is often a very tired robot

anyway, this art was actually a little while ago so im really just dropping it to dump a bunch of fassad/interpreter headcanons here. mother 3 is my favorite game. fassad is a super underrated villain for carrying the first five chapters and his dorky interpreter's design i always really found endearing. who knows??? maybe ill redraw?...

no one nose

[smokeybrandreviews]

Guten Essen

It’s been a few weeks since Confluence of Nothingness completed and i was able to sweep the new Iron Blood ships. That sh*t taxed my pockets way more than i would have liked but, i must say, just Bismarck Zwei has been worth the effort. She has been everything Ultra Rare ship should be. In terms of raw power, Zwei is a whole ass problem. Sure, stat wise, she’s slightly above average but her skills, when executed properly, are kind of f*cking amazing. Zwei is, admittedly, no Musashi but for a UR KMS, I'm here for all of it. Regensberg is a fun ship, overall, but kind of a pain to use properly. A lot of her appeal is based on how she’s deployed but i kind of don’t care about that type of stuff. I have my Feet which i run and Regensberg is, more or less, eye candy to me. Also, but that Dark Dragon, Brilliant Beach, though! I just really love her design. Now, Otto von Alvensleben, on the other hand, is a gem. This ship is quite the powerhouse and really made the grind to max out my new boats, a total breeze. Otto eats mobs for breakfast and when you’re about that power leveling, this sh*t is a goddamn godsend. Confluence of Nothingness paid off tremendously for me in terms of raw power and i am completely satisfied with the results.

As far as the grind is concerned, i have finished maxing the levels of all of the Nothingness ships, their affection, as well as their skills, save U-556 META. Still debating whether to actually grind her out as i don’t use META ships at all but, you know, KMS main and all so we’ll see. It’s odd having completely maxed out the new boats in such a short time, took me about three days after they dropped from the Banner, one of which is topped out at 125. I’ll let you guess which one that is, or not. It’s Zwei. Of course it’s Zwei. She’s a UR Kraut. Of course i would break her limit first. The problem i have now is the fact i only have enough of those goddamn Cognitive Arrays to Limit Break one of my SR ships. I’m leaning toward Otto for the sheer versatility but i REALLY like Regensberg. I’ll get enough to break the other one during the next Seasonal Cruise but, i mean, right now? The Limit Break grind is the only thing i have left for these two so it kind of doesn’t matter either way but, like, doesn’t it? Decisions, decisions. It’ll probably be Otto but, you know, Musashi is also an option. She’s just sitting over there in my neglected Sakura dock, looking awesome and being the best UR available in the game right now, with a stockpile of Experience that will immediately blast her to level 125 the second i Break her. But that’s kind of the point. The short-lived KMS grind is complete and i have found myself at the same impasse i was at before Azur Lane dropped Confluence of Nothingness: What do i do next?

Marco Polo is basically complete, i just need to grind out that last bit of Experience. I mean, U-556 META is always an option but I'll never use her for anything, especially considering the other Super Rare KMS subs in my Fleet are, technically, better and they’re all topped out at level 125 already. I could construct another PR ship or two, kind of gave up on the other Docks because that sh*t was getting expensive and i don’t care to do it in general. I still want Kronshtadt and Shimakaze, but, like, i don’t particularly care to finish the rest of those docks. And the Ruskies are actually my second favorite Fleet in the entire game! Maybe I'll focus on the Rainbow Ships for now. Not only the Ultra Rare boats but the Decisive ones, too, because, holy sh*t, some of those Decisives are a big time. Azuma dropped way back in Series Two so i imagine a Fate Simulation may be on the way and, even without one, she’s still a problem. Her Series mate, Friedrich, got one a few months back and that sh*t has made her an absolute monster, even if she was one to begin with. I dunno, man, I'll think about it while i enjoy my buffed up Iron Blood dock for a while. So far, we KMS mains aren’t eating like last year but the dish served up this time, was absolutely decadent.

[dating-psychology-101]

Cold Approach Full Rundown

COLD APPROACH 101

Hi guys,

So I'm not here to ask of anything, rather I'm here because I want to share my own insights into cold approach. After reading this post, do what you will with this information.

I've heard some backlashes about cold approach and it goes along the lines like this. "Don't cold approach, you're chasing a woman and giving her validation, let them chase you", "Don't cold approach, they'll see you as a pick-up artist creep", "Don't cold approach, that's beta", etc.

Cold approach itself doesn't make you any of these. Depending on how you go about cold approach, you could be chasing women, you could be a pick-up artist creep, you could be a beta male doing cold approach. But if you do cold approach with the right mindset and the right process, you won't fall victim to any of these statements.

**Required knowledge** (these aren't really required knowledge, but it would be beneficial if you knew exactly these topics on some level in order to understand what I'm talking about)

\-Attraction levels

\-Indicators of interest

\-"It takes women a few minutes to decide weather she likes you or not"

\-Always assume attraction

\-Be a risk taker!

\-Be yourself (Ik a lot of you heard this before, but after I explain it it'll make sense later in the post)

**Before the approach!**

There are things that play into the approach before the actual approach, and it's the following factors

\-Facial looks. This is when you groom your beard, groom your hair, apply facial cream to your face.

\-Body shape. This is your overall body. Do you have fat in your belly, do you have a chubby body, are you fit, or do you have some muscle with some belly fat.

\-Fashion. Does the pants compliment the top you're wearing. Does putting a good piece together give you a certain style. You don't have to dress super flashy for this one, just know the basics of fashions (matching colors, appealing designs, etc)

\-Body language. This is normally an indicator of your behavior and mindset. A lot of people's judgements about one's self-esteem, confidence, and behaviors comes from the body language being displayed. You can fake it here and there, but if that's all you're doing then you need to address what's holding you back.

\-Voice tone. Goes hand in hand with body language. This is key to communication confidence as well as one of the crucial fundamentals to giving you that sexy vibe when done right

\-Mindset. Probably the most important one here. You do need to put yourself out there to help develop a proper mindset. You would have to endure a good amount of rejections before you could build up a solid mindset. Another way to do it is if you're lacking information that you need to help you make your approach, do that first and that too could also help build your mindset enough to get started.

**1.** **Make the approach**

When a woman takes a good look at you, all of those come together to create a baseline attraction in her for you. If she has some attraction for you, that means she's interested in you and want to see what you're like as a dating prospect. If you put yourself together and you find that the girl you're talking to doesn't like you (not every girl will like you), then no amount of game or strategies will change this. I remember a female friend has given me this advice "A girl will only see you for a second to decide if she'll friendzone you or not" at first that wasn't the advice I understood at that time, but this was because I was lacking in other knowledge to fully understand it but now I can say it.

The expression "It takes a girl a few minutes to decide weather she likes you or not" actually talks about the baseline attraction a girl will have for you. So that means a girl will decide in seconds or minutes weather she likes you or not. No game can generate attraction for you, she already has it for you or she doesn't. But just because she has decided weather she likes you or not within the first few minutes doesn't mean you're the one who's going to know right away. The only way you'll know right away if she likes you or not is is she's been repeatedly eyeing you, or she's in your proximity to make it easier for you to talk to her, or she seems very friendly and open towards you. She may even start the conversation herself. In other words, she's chasing you herself.

So you make the approach (direct, indirect, whatever your approach style is do exactly that).

**2. Open her**

A lot of guys here will ask "What do I say to her? How do I get her to talk?" Once again this goes back to the "It takes her a few minutes to decide weather she likes you or not", so use this bit to your advantage. If attraction is generated from her looking at you, you may not know right away if she's really interested in you, but you'll know right away if she's not interested in you, even if she doesn't tell you herself. If she gives vague one word answers, makes excuses, walks away, or just say anything that feels like the conversation is shutting down, trust that feeling and walk away. Some guys will insist that some girls will play hard to get and that you just have to keep pushing it to show her how much of a man you really are, passing her 'shit test'. This is not a shit test. If a woman is showing signs of disinterest early on in the interaction, this is not a chance to prove to her you're high value, she has no interest of finding out. No strategies, no game, no amount of mystery, intrigue, or anything like that will get her to change her mind. It's not on you, it's on her. In a situation like this, there's nothing wrong with your game. Count this as a loss and move onto the next one.

With that said, you don't have to come up with anything fancy when you want to open her. In fact, a simple 'hey' is good enough to catch her attention. Once you catch her attention, just tell her whatever comes to your head to keep the conversation flowing and keep it genuine. This bit will be addressed in the next point.

**Note:** Some women will have an interest level of 5-7 towards you, which means she will seem interested but not by much. With women who are really interested in you, all you need to do is say 'hey' or 'hey I think you're cute' and that's about it. With women who are interested in you but not by much, you'll want to take a different approach. This is where saying the right thing is required to do this. When you ask "what do I say to her? How do I get her to talk?" this is the bit you'll want to pay attention to. You do have to say the right things, but that doesn't mean you have to monitor every single word coming out of your mouth. My tip here is to observe. Observe her and find what you find interesting about her, or if you just are attracted to her you can tell her that, or observe the environment you're in and see if you can comment on it. Figure out how you feel and what not.

A couple of the situations I've been in, if I see something on a girl I find interesting for example her coat or her necklace, I could say "Hey you have a nice coat." or "Hey, that's a very unique necklace. Where did you get it?" or you could comment on the environment as if you're making a conversation i.e "This place is pretty dope?" or a good neutral opener "You come here often?" If she engages you in conversation then you're good. If she's engaging you in a conversation, take this as a good sign.

**3. Conversation/building repartee and rapport**

Now what happens if she does talk to you and it seems like she's interested in talking to you? That means it's a good sign that she could be interest. Keyword COULD. You could be in a situation where a woman is talking ecstatically to you and it seems like she likes talking to you. She could be making consistent eye contact with you, she could be facing her whole body towards you, she could touch you, she could embrace you openly, etc. These are all good indicators of interest, which means there's a high chance she is interested in you, right? NOT ALWAYS. Sometimes she could be a social butterfly, or she could be really interested on something about you, but not really interested in you you. I hope this makes sense. Point is there's a whole host of reasons a woman could be talking to you.

So now you could be asking "So what is the ultimate sign that she likes me? Are there any little things I should look out for that indicate she likes me?, etc". It's tempting to find out any signs that could indicate she is interested in you for real, as opposed to her just being friendly with you. You could try to find more signs and find the littlest things that could say she's 100% interested in you, but you will wear yourself out mentally if you do this. If you see indicators that she likes talking to you, you may not truly know if she likes you or not, ASSUME SHE DOES ANYWAYS. Take the risk and continue the conversation. Don't focus on too much what signs she's showing to show you she's interested or not. She will show them to you on her own accord. Even if you assume her attraction to you, she'll also show you that she's not interested in you as well. Signs won't always show themselves when you want them to, so it's good to be aware of them when you see them, but don't try and look for signs when you're in a conversation with her. As long as she's engaging herself in conversation, you engage yourself in a conversation with her as well.

Now it's time for the actual conversation.

How to start a conversation? The obvious answer is you'll have to talk about a topic. Okay, what topic? What do I talk to her about? The good thing with what I'm about to share here is you don't have to memorize topics or have a list of topics with you. A good tip here is to "make the conversation about her." That means find things about her that you find interesting, that you don't know about (work, school, hobbies, etc), or what she's doing right now at the moment you're meeting her. If you can't find anything about her to talk about, then there are other ways you could do it. You could start a conversation about your environment, you could share with her about a great thing that happened in your day, or you could wait until a conversation topic comes up in your head and you could just say it out to her just to start something (this is why silence is golden sometimes). Point is there are many angles out there that you could start a conversation. Once a conversation is started, follow the thread to the very end. This ensures a good back and forth conversation between you and her.

What are some good things to help spice up a conversation? Repartee and rapport. With repartee, this is where you have some banter going back and forth with her. A lot of emotionally charged interactions are filled with repartee. It's basically making light of something for a good laugh or to have fun in a conversation. Flirting also has the element of repartee in it, but we won't be talking about flirting here. How I would normally do repartee, is I would tease on something she would say or do. This one I can't really explain in my own words, there are other sources that cover on how to tease, you should look into it. Just keep in mind that when you want to tease, sometimes some people do it in a way where they're taking a light jab at someone, but that jab is meant to be taken as a joke by both giver and receiver. I've roasted some of my friends on something light, they would also roast me back and we would have a good laugh. However, sometimes people will mistake teasing for outright insulting, belittling, or a popular pick-up tactic, "negging". These are not teases and if you do some of these things, you'll end up hurting a girl's feelings instead and you'll look like the bad guy. The main idea with teasing is that you want to make LIGHT of something about a woman. Keep it light. With that said I would suggest to look up on good examples on repartee if you don't know how to do that properly. This will help you make light of things without leaving any feelings hurt. If repartee is done right, you could potentially increase her attraction level for you.

The next one is rapport. This is where in the conversation, you can relate to her on certain things, or you don't really share some of the same things as her, but you show you understand her and find it awesome that she does these things (granted you actually think they're interesting, not super interested, just enough to peak your interest). This is where you cultivate a connection with her by finding common ground, you understand her position, she understands yours, and just spending quality time with each other, all good for building rapport. A good thing you could do to build rapport is use the word 'we'. This sub-communicates what you and her would do i.e 'we should go to this food festival, I hear they have great food', 'oh yea we can set up a date and we could go there sometime'. This is good even when you do meet a girl for the first time. Another good word to mix in is 'together'. Basically any word that encourages inclusivity between you and her is good for building rapport. This too can also help build up attraction levels.

If she generally responds positively to your conversations, take that as another positive sign.

**4. Mystery and intrigue**

The best way to get an already interested women even more interested in you is to instill some mystery and intrigue in her about you. If you get her thinking about you more, the more likely she will to like you and it can lead to her investing herself on her part. A fundamental tip to help you do this properly, then we.

**Be yourself!** This is where I get to really address this. Now when I say be yourself, that doesn't mean wear all your facts out like a sheet of paper she's going to read. A lot of people when they read an advice like be yourself, sometimes they'll say "But I get nervous around girls, I don't really say anything sexual, I'm not somebody who goes up to women like that, I'm not a ladies man" but I'll say this. That's not really you being yourself, that's just your fears preventing you from expressing how you are deep inside, that's just you wanting to stay inside your comfort zone. When I say be yourself, I meant the self that has interests they do in their spare time, the self that has opinions on certain things they would like to share, the self also has sexual interest in a woman or man and does not shy away from expressing it. If there is anything that is holding you back from expressing yourself, then you're not being yourself, how are you being yourself if you don't express it?

Now you don't have to do overdramatic gestures like you see in Hollywood movies or wear your heart out on your sleeve, those imo are not realistic and could hurt your chances. What I'm saying is if you think a girl is cute or attractive, at some point in the interaction, just say "hey I think you're attractive" "hey I think you're cute" or "hey I think you're cool, let's keep in touch sometime". If you want to take her out on a date "Let's go out on a date sometime." If you want to seem more casual, you could say "Let's hang out sometime" but a statement like this could also be interpreted as a friendly hangout. If your intention is to take her out on a date, make sure that's clear and that she understands it.

Now, how you should apply being mysterious if being yourself is the fundamental tip here? Think of yourself like an unpeeled onion. You have many layers to who you are that you would like to share with her, but let her peel off that layer on her own. Until she decides to ask questions about yourself, continue making the conversation about her as discussed in the previous point. There are points in the conversation that you offer to share yourself here and there and it becomes natural, sharing one or two facts about you is fine. The point is you don't want to be the one continuing the conversation by sharing one fact about yourself and another right after that, because then you won't give her the chance to ask about you, you won't give her the chance to let her show she has interest in you. Let her ask questions about you. But let's say there's a point in the conversation where she doesn't really ask any questions about you, but if you had ask a specific thing about her she would've asked a question about you eventually. Do this, until she asks you any questions, always make the conversation about her. If you get her thinking about you, her attraction levels will slowly increase as well.

Even if she does ask any questions about you, that's good, make sure you don't overshare more information than necessary.

For example

Girl "What do you do?"

You: "I work as a programmer."

Girl: "That's interesting. What company are you working for?"

You: "I display results on the Google web page" (no this does not mean I work at Google)

Obviously most conversations aren't always point blank responses but you see what I'm getting at here. Just share enough information that satisfies her. Maybe throw in some bait for her to catch onto i.e "I work at a Google office that's closeby" "Closeby? Where?" "Up there, with the mountains that have a nice view" "Wow" "Yeah, you've been to that hill before?" for example. If you work your conversation this way, you can ensure that you're not losing composure while at the same time engage in the conversation naturally. Now sometimes when a woman asks you questions about you it doesn't always mean she's interest. But the more personal her questions she asks you, you could assume she has genuine interest in you.

**5. Close**

This is the final point of the interaction. Either you have to go somewhere or she has to go somewhere (this is valid when a few minutes have passed). Everything seems to be going well.

\-She's engaged in the conversation with you in the moment. She's either interested or she's just being sociable and friendly.

\-You opened her with an interesting topic. She's either interested in you or just happened to be very interested in that particular topic

\-You decided to leave some room for her to ask about you and she's asked some questions about you. She's either interested in you or she's just a curious person and happened to be impressed by your background to the point she wants to keep you around as a professional connection.

Notice how even though she has shown positive signs in talking to you it's sometimes still not an indicator that she's attracted to you for real? Notice how even though the conversation went well she could've had just a friendly and sociable attitude to the conversation? That means even if you have the right signs from her, she could still not be interested. How do you find out for real?

ASK TO KEEP IN TOUCH WITH HER. GET HER CONTACT INFORMATION.

This is the true test weather she's interested in you or not. Now to determine if she has real interest in you is if she's out on a date with you, but we're talking about the context of cold approach. Get her contact information. If she shows heavy resistance and you don't leave with her contact information, then that means she wasn't interested in you. A woman is truly interested in you if she does things that brings you and her closer to each other on an intimate level. Women who aren't interested can sometimes fake IOIs, but they can't fake actions.

Look at indicators as a probability of their interest in you. If she laughs, her interest level is 20%, if she asks questions about you, it goes up to 40%, if she touches you, it goes up to 60%, if she's not leaving the conversation and is talking to you, it goes up to 75%. The more signs she shows the more likely it is that she could be interested in you, but it's not always going to reach 100%. This is why I say a true test of weather she's interested in you or not is to ask to keep in touch, the worst she could do is say no. Before that point, you don't know if she's going to say no, but then again YOU'RE ASSUMING ATTRACTION IN HER AND YOU'RE TAKING A RISK OF BEING REJECTED HERE. The good thing here is that acting on the signs she shows is related to taking calculated risks, so it's not like you're taking blank risks here.

**The Takeaway**

The main takeaways here is that you always make moves. There's a possibility to get shot down, but you know you have tried. You don't have to take time out of your day to make 1000 approaches an hour like the pick-up artists do back then. With this process, you can approach a woman you genuinely find attractive and express interest in her.

**Note:** You're not always going to get the chance to meet all women you find attractive. Let's say you see a woman you find attractive yet she is walking fast like she has a purpose, or a woman in a group of women who are tight knit in a circle, indicating they're not open to meeting people. Let these opportunities go. They're not in the headspace to meet somebody.

**Note:** There's also a game that both men and women play, and that's "Let's see who likes the other more" so they end up playing games that both try to show that they're more high value than the other, or that you are more interested in this person than they are in you. This happens after you get her contact information, not during the approach. There are people like this that will try to turn it into some kind of power struggle. You could also play the game, show her that you're an alpha male that has more high value than her, be less interested in her than she is in you, and if she shows more disinterest, show an even bigger disinterest. You could play that game, but I don't play that game at all. This is why I like this process, especially when you assume attraction and take the risk. If you make your intentions known and she comes up with excuses as to why she can't go on dates with out (stupid excuses), shows signs of being hot and cold, yet ultimately never going out with you, this woman has shown that she's playing games. You don't have to play it with her, just let her know what you're about and tell her to reach out to you if she ever wants the same thing one day. You're in this to get what you want, not to engage in stupid games. If she's not about what you're about, she's out. No questions asked.

**Note:** Confidence is still the number one attractive trait to a lot of women. Women love confidence, and if you show women you are confident, her attraction level for you will increase. This is provided that she finds out attractive at first on some levels. If you're confident without her attraction for you, then she'll respect you as a man, but won't want to sleep with you because she's not attracted to you. Confidence works best with women that already find you attractive.

I hope all of this helps (y)

[zoewilkinson]

Blog Post 5 - A Semiotic Analysis of The Mario Characters

Semiotics is the study of signs and symbols and the way we interpret them. There are many theorists involved with semiotic theories, but I will be looking at Ferdinand de Saussure, the founder of linguistics and semiotics, Charles Sanders Peirce, and Roland Barthes to analyse the way characters are portrayed in the Nintendo game New Super Mario Bros (2006).

Ferdinand de Saussure’s Semiotic Theory

New Super Mario Bros (2006) was my favourite Nintendo DS game growing up, I always felt very connected to the characters and the game’s use of colour throughout each level. Saussure’s theory suggests that language is made from different signs, through the use of a signifier and a signified. The signifier is the physical form of the sign, and the signified is the mental concept of what the sign represents. Applying Saussure’s theory to New Super Mario Bros (2006), we can see how the design choices of each character are actually used to represent their character roles.

Mario wears bold colours, his red cap and his blue overalls making him stand out next to all other characters. The colour red has implications of bravery and power, while the blue overalls make him easily identified as a regular working man that appeals to the players. The key feature that sets him aside from the other characters however is his iconic moustache. The moustache implies maturity or age, creating a symbolic representation that he is experienced and likely more capable at achieving goals.

Princess Peach is used to signify royalty. The symbolism use of her softer pink colour palette implies femininity and kindness, which are traits people would often connect to a princess. Similarly, the symbolism of her crown and large dress are seen as traditional clothing items for a royal family member, the crown especially being used as a symbol of authority. Peach is often a damsel in distress character, so the use of her gentle colour palette also plays into this idea because femininity is often perceived as weaker.

Bowser is the clear villain of the story. His character design uses his size to imply his strength, making him much larger with more muscles than any other character. Additionally, the use of spikes and fire breath are clear signs of danger, alongside the use of dark shades of green and red to create an overall intimidating feeling.

Roland Barthes’ Semiotic Theory

Barthes semiotic theory looks at uncovering hidden meanings using the ideas of a denotation, connotation and myth. The denotation is the literal meaning of the sign, whereas the connotation uses the deeper associations connected to the sign. The myth combines the meanings from both the denotation and the connotation and shows the ideological meanings of the sign.

The denotation of Mario is his physical appearance. His clothing shows his regular job as a plumber, which is consistent through every variation of his character design in the games. The connotation is the heroic symbolism, even though he looks like a regular guy, he’s more than just a plumber.  The myth is shown through a few aspects of the gameplay. Mario’s narrative follows the classic hero’s journey, which is an idea shown in many different games, while also incorporating the use of the damsel in distress through Princess Peach, which reinforces the heroic symbolism along with traditional gender roles.

Charles Sanders Peirce’s Semiotic Theory

Charles Sanders Peirce introduced the idea of symbolism consisting of three key typologies: the symbolic, the iconic, and the indexical. The symbolic shows that the signifier is arbitrary and conventional, and the iconic is an imitation of the signified. The indexical has a direct link to the signifier, almost like a secondary action. In relation to the characters in New Super Mario Bros (2006), Bowser is the symbolic, Mario is the iconic, and Princess Peach is the indexical.

Bowser symbolises danger and evil, making him the antagonist. His appearance is completely symbolic to represent danger, his spiked shell and dragon/dinosaur appearance aren’t connected to reality but are recognised as unsafe and menacing. Bowser himself is used symbolically throughout the game, with his face appearing throughout to show he is the main cause of the obstacles Mario faces.

Mario is the iconic symbol of the story. When you think of the games, you immediately think of Mario and his distinctive appearance. Every aspect of his appearance works together to create the iconic design, while still resembling a regular person. He is immediately identifiable in any environment or scene because of his iconic appearance.

Princess Peach is directly connected to Mario. Since she is represented as the damsel in distress character, she can’t exist without Mario. The fact that she is taken by Bowser in every game is important to continuing the narrative, which in turn makes Bowser the main conflict or obstacle in the game.

Each main character in the New Super Mario Bros(2006) game uses semiotics effectively to create their identities and their role in the game. The use of colour choices and features has the biggest impact on their symbolism and makes them recognisable. Considering semiotic meanings in game characters creates a connection between the characters and the player, creating a clear underlying meaning that can be recognised as iconic.

 

Bibliography

Anderson, J. P., 2022. Why Mario Is an Amazing Character. [Online] Available at: https://medium.com/@JonathanM2C/why-mario-is-an-amazing-character-e6f23a1d81de [Accessed 24 November 2023].

NINTENDO EAD. 2006. New Super Mario Bros. [CARTRIDGE] Nintendo DS. Kyoto: Nintendo

[smokeybrand]

Guten Essen

It’s been a few weeks since Confluence of Nothingness completed and i was able to sweep the new Iron Blood ships. That sh*t taxed my pockets way more than i would have liked but, i must say, just Bismarck Zwei has been worth the effort. She has been everything Ultra Rare ship should be. In terms of raw power, Zwei is a whole ass problem. Sure, stat wise, she’s slightly above average but her skills, when executed properly, are kind of f*cking amazing. Zwei is, admittedly, no Musashi but for a UR KMS, I'm here for all of it. Regensberg is a fun ship, overall, but kind of a pain to use properly. A lot of her appeal is based on how she’s deployed but i kind of don’t care about that type of stuff. I have my Feet which i run and Regensberg is, more or less, eye candy to me. Also, but that Dark Dragon, Brilliant Beach, though! I just really love her design. Now, Otto von Alvensleben, on the other hand, is a gem. This ship is quite the powerhouse and really made the grind to max out my new boats, a total breeze. Otto eats mobs for breakfast and when you’re about that power leveling, this sh*t is a goddamn godsend. Confluence of Nothingness paid off tremendously for me in terms of raw power and i am completely satisfied with the results.

As far as the grind is concerned, i have finished maxing the levels of all of the Nothingness ships, their affection, as well as their skills, save U-556 META. Still debating whether to actually grind her out as i don’t use META ships at all but, you know, KMS main and all so we’ll see. It’s odd having completely maxed out the new boats in such a short time, took me about three days after they dropped from the Banner, one of which is topped out at 125. I’ll let you guess which one that is, or not. It’s Zwei. Of course it’s Zwei. She’s a UR Kraut. Of course i would break her limit first. The problem i have now is the fact i only have enough of those goddamn Cognitive Arrays to Limit Break one of my SR ships. I’m leaning toward Otto for the sheer versatility but i REALLY like Regensberg. I’ll get enough to break the other one during the next Seasonal Cruise but, i mean, right now? The Limit Break grind is the only thing i have left for these two so it kind of doesn’t matter either way but, like, doesn’t it? Decisions, decisions. It’ll probably be Otto but, you know, Musashi is also an option. She’s just sitting over there in my neglected Sakura dock, looking awesome and being the best UR available in the game right now, with a stockpile of Experience that will immediately blast her to level 125 the second i Break her. But that’s kind of the point. The short-lived KMS grind is complete and i have found myself at the same impasse i was at before Azur Lane dropped Confluence of Nothingness: What do i do next?

Marco Polo is basically complete, i just need to grind out that last bit of Experience. I mean, U-556 META is always an option but I'll never use her for anything, especially considering the other Super Rare KMS subs in my Fleet are, technically, better and they’re all topped out at level 125 already. I could construct another PR ship or two, kind of gave up on the other Docks because that sh*t was getting expensive and i don’t care to do it in general. I still want Kronshtadt and Shimakaze, but, like, i don’t particularly care to finish the rest of those docks. And the Ruskies are actually my second favorite Fleet in the entire game! Maybe I'll focus on the Rainbow Ships for now. Not only the Ultra Rare boats but the Decisive ones, too, because, holy sh*t, some of those Decisives are a big time. Azuma dropped way back in Series Two so i imagine a Fate Simulation may be on the way and, even without one, she’s still a problem. Her Series mate, Friedrich, got one a few months back and that sh*t has made her an absolute monster, even if she was one to begin with. I dunno, man, I'll think about it while i enjoy my buffed up Iron Blood dock for a while. So far, we KMS mains aren’t eating like last year but the dish served up this time, was absolutely decadent.

[pwnyta]

LMAO I genuinely dont know why they went with really detailed masks and no tutus. Thats crazy work.

And shes like a QUEEN too so like.. she can be a little special!

I DISAGREE! I mean Drac. Shes got a simple classic design... and shes probably the most popular. Maybe because shes pink... but Frankie also seems SUPER popular and theyre design is weird but ironically solid. Lagoona needs a stronger design... shes a little too try hard and now she doesnt seem to appeal to many people.

Having her skin be able to change in different temps WOULD actually be pretty cool! Maybe pink for cold since most water is cold and they seem to want that as her main color?

Yeah her forehead scales make it look like she shaved back her hair or something and thats like... stubble? So it looks awkward as hell. The scale freckles are cute tho.

Oh... she is actually A LOT cuter in the show tho seeing a full body pic I dont actually like the way the blue legs look. But aight... Maybe I shut the fuck up. How are her dolls so whack tho...

But overall I still like her G1 design better... they definitely coulda did something with her color palette but not this tie-dye rainbow thing. I just dont vibe with it.

I also like her fishbowl pet. It was probably a bad idea to have a character put a fish in a bag tho... it COULD cause some dumb kid (or even dumb adults since no one actually cares about hurting fish) to try it and maybe thats a bad look LMAO

I just noticed there was another girl i didnt recognize... Silvi... thats her ONLY doll. That is THEE most tragic thing. Her ONLY doll is the dogshittest line. JUSTICE FOR SILVI.

I know that they could both have brown and gold hair but I think having two main girls with the same kind of hair would be too much... at least if their hair is brown. You can have like 15000 pink bitches but god forbid more than one hoe got brown hair or brown eyes... its the same shit on Genshin. (Similar shit with Pokemon fans complaining about 'objectmon' but live for elemental dogs.)

Yeah weighing them seems to be it. LMAO bringing a scale into the store would be crazy tho.

(I was gonna shove them all onto one post but I had more to say abt Sweet Screams Twyla than I thought... so... doing the G3's seperate)

Buried Secrets Haunted Dance Twyla:

She cute. This is a VERY budget, non-articulated playline, so while I COULD talk about how basic it is... that would be a moot point, bc the line is MADE to be basic.

Would I love to have seen MORE detail?

Ofc, but still, even lacking, the doll itself is cute, and her outfit isn't hideous, and is at least more cohesive than whatever was going on with the Garden Mysteries line (and THOSE were higher budget / articulated! so...)

The one thing I WILL openly begrudge this doll is how BORING her hair is... I don't mind the bun, but those slicked down, side-parted bangs... SO boring! Maybe a headband or some cute little hair clips could save it, but... looking forward to seeing what restyles do w/ that.

MOVING ON Lagoon:

okay, I kNOW I just said 'this is budget so I wouldn't complain abt the basic-ness of it', but I WILL complain abt them cheap-ing out on her gradient legs... like... c'mon.

Also, while I said Twyla's hair was boring, I still found it cute enough... I don't feel the same abt this. Maybe it's cause she got a low bun??? Idk it's not working for her.

Maybe two twin buns could've been cute??

She's my least favorite of this line.

NEXT Cleo:

Even budget and with no articulation to speak of Cleo still manages to look STUNNING. I like the dark top lip & light bottom lip. And she looks like she got blushing? (I can't tell if the other two do, looking back at them I THINK they might but it's just v light?? On Cleo it's clearly visible, and nice!)

...Idk why EVERYONE in this line seems to have their hair in buns for some reason... Cleo wears it better than Lagoona, at least, but still it's so boring... Also I really wish they hadn't used a brighter blue from her hair color, it causes the even lighter accent blue to get lost... it stands out better in the navy color she usually has. If, since these are budget, the navy would've costed more, so that's why they used the brighter blue, then I wish for her accent color they'd have used gold instead of the light blue.

I also don't like that they went with such a True Blue for her shoes? I think a lighter blue (like her purse, and the accents on the bow on her chest) would've fit better. OR Gold.

AND LASTLY, Clawdeen:

FINALLY someone that ain't got a god damned BUN!

I wish her hair was curly ALL the way (but I am glad to see her getting to have SOME curls), and that it was brown... this would've looked sO much better brown!!! Please... give my girl brown hair...the purple ain't it.

I think her bow earrings are cute, but that she got too much going on w/ her other ear. (Usually she got one in each, don't she?? They just asymmetric/don't match? Why she got like, 3 in one ear here. It's too much. They should've done JUST the bow ones, those're cute...)

Also I don't love the purple lipstick. I would've liked to see something darker, I think?? Maybe black, or an almost-black shade?

(Looking close, she don't seem like SHE got any blushing... so maybe it IS just a Cleo thing???)

Also why are her shoes like a fuchsia color pink??? Why we bringing pink into this??? Should've been Black. Or Gold.

[animehouse-moe]

Welcome To Demon School, Iruma-Kun! Volume 2: Into The Fire

I can't give Kodansha enough praise for (specifically) how they're handling Iruma-kun. I was worried when they announced it as single volumes, but the breakneck release schedule of every 2 months is great. There's a massive backlog of volumes, which means English readers get Iruma at an incredibly fast pace! Either way, it means the second volume's released and there's plenty to talk about with it!

Right away, NIshi's malleable style pulls me right back into Iruma-Kun. I love how fluid and expressive these designs are, how different a character can look from one page to the next. It feels so right with how all over the place Iruma-Kun is.

Similarly, the approach to "action", if you can really call it action, appears early on and works great with the overall style of the manga. Typically speaking, I'm more a fan of storyboarded action (where you see its progression and movement through paneling), but there's a good few exceptions like Iruma-kun, where I do enjoy the more pose based appeal. For it to work though, you need to be really good at expressing entire scenes with a single panel, and I'd say Nishi pulls it off quite well.

Now, you'd think when you're reading content you've already watched (at least once), and from almost 4 years ago now, that some of the comedy might wear thin. Nope. In fact, it's almost the opposite, as plenty of these moments end up feeling nostalgic, like Iruma's appearance by carriage (graciously announced by Opera). It's a bit challenging to explain, but with the unique life only found in the manga, and the differences due to restrictions and approach, the humor doesn't feel worn or thin in any spots.

Of course, it's not all comedy, this is still an impactful shounen for younger audiences, so they throw in pieces like this here and there. I really enjoy how wildly characters are able to swing between their more demonic side, and the more human one. Also, I'm a sucker for negative space with emotional realizations like this. Iruma's worried about being outed as a human, but his friends are worried about why he's feeling down. It's really endearing, and I like that they're able to so easily alleviate Iruma's worries. Anyways, the purpose of the negative space here is to show what Iruma's focused/centered on in this moment, that being Azz-Kun and Clara. But yeah, Iruma-Kun vol. 2 is still, unsurprisingly, checking every possible box it can.

I know I already said that the humor was well received in this volume, but it just works so well with Nishi's approach to movement. The posing and character design and the perceived delay between the two actions is just perfect. It's such great humor.

It takes quite a while, but there's also things in the manga that are inferior to the anime. Truthfully though, what can you do? The manga does nothing wrong with it's wonderful art, but the absence of color really hinders it in comparison. And that's mostly where the anime succeeds. Where there's set limitations, such as not having access to color or movement and the like, the anime picks up on what the manga wants, and brings out the best in it.

Also, it's in this volume that we get our first look at Ameri! I'm a massive fan of her character in the anime, so I was super excited to get a glance at her in the manga, and I wasn't disappointed. Her character design in the manga is super interesting, and actually leaves me somewhat disappointed with the anime's interpretation. Here, Ameri's design has something more.... well almost sultry to it, and it all comes from the eyes. I was super surprised to see how different it makes Ameri feel, but I'm completely for it.

Of course, our cute and Shoujo-obsessed Ameri still exists and is absolutely adorable, but first, this page. Nishi's posing and sense of movement through single panels is just something else, and I love how creative they get with perspective and field of view to really bring out the most in these panels.

Anyways, cute Ameri! I can never get enough of her like this.

I just love how responsive Nishi's character designs and art style are, I can't get enough. How the shading and line art change based on mood or appeal for example with this panel of Ameri. Her hair is usually shaded much darker, and her eyes much sharper, but here they're both the inverse of that to draw the cuteness out of her design. I just love it, I love how fluid Iruma-Kun is as a manga so, so much. (regular shaded Ameri below to show the difference as well)

And just to end it off, Azz-Kun and Clara sneaking around following Iruma.

I'm not exactly the target demographic for a shounen manga that focuses on friendship, doing well in school, respecting adults, and so on and so forth, but I hold it very dear nonetheless. Maybe because it's something that makes me feel younger than I am while reading it, maybe because it's just simply well done on all fronts, maybe something else entirely. But whatever it is, I'm so incredibly happy to be able to have and own each and every volume of this story now that it's been licensed.