#writing nuances

[fantasiummaximum]

I just watched K-Pop Demon Hunters and MAN.

WHAT IS THERE TO SAY THAT HASN’T BEEN SAID?! It’s gorgeous, the music is on LOOP in both my head and on my phone, the character designs are CHEFS KISS, the characters are IMMACULATE, the animation is PERFECTION.

It’s just a really great movie and I’m lowkey OBSESSED WITH IT.

But a thing I noticed a lot of people saying when I was scrolling about Instagram looking at the REELS UPON REELS OF HUNTRIX AND SAJA BOYS…was people saying that both Zoey and Mira were BAD friends and shouldn’t have been forgiven because of what they did to Rumi.

HUH.

Before I RIP THAT ARGUMENT APART! I will just say from what I’ve seen it’s less than five comments, so try not to make it a big deal…I can though as I’m not only gonna talk about how WRONG that is but also about how WELL WRITTEN this movie is.

So basically the reel I saw on instagram was about how both Zoey and Mira raised up their weapons against Rumi and how Zoey only had TWO of her blades instead of her usual six and everyone in the comments were talking about how SAD this scene was and it is and I saw a comment that I will not lie, it grinded my GEARS.

It basically said something along the lines that Mira and Zoey shouldn’t have been forgiven and the only person that really accepted Rumi was Jinu. Even saying something like “No wonder Rumi feared telling them…THIS WOULD HAVE HAPPENED. Which sure, you can say that it’s your opinion.

But my argument is that they were never even GIVEN A CHANCE.

Multiple times in the movie, Rumi had chances to tell them, when they all sat down in the couch scene for example, their makeup was off, they were being vulnerable…it would have been a great time to talk to them, TO TELL THEM.

But Rumi didn’t. I’m not blaming Rumi here, she has a lot of self hatred and she knows that with the SAJA Boys breathing down their necks that it was a bad time to probably drop that bombshell but I would argue there would never be a good time to drop something as heavy as “Hey guys, sorry for lying to you guys but I’m actually THE THINGS WE SWORE WE WOULD PROTECT THE WORLD FROM.” Like that WILL NOT GO OVER WELL IN ANY SITUATION. But she had multiple chances to but didn’t and she had her reasons why but so were the girls as they were under a lot of pressure too. By Celine.

Celine I don’t hate. I don’t like her but she is a good antagonist, not a villain like the Demon King, but she is someone who unintentionally set the girls up to fail.

She obviously held Rumi to the highest standards out of all the girls but Zoey and Mira still were held up by impossible expectations and standards too, to hide any imperfections and all, literally after Rumi fumbled the first Golden Live Performance and they all sit down, they all mention- “hehe silly Celine, but yeah no she is right hide your flaws.” They were held up HIGH, because they were supposed to make the Golden Honmoon, if not their world could be susceptible to demon attacks. They have hard lives too, being in the lime light AND having to sing and dance to perfection to reach the Honmoon WHILE ALSO FIGHTING DEMONS. These girls seem like they’re in their early twenties so DAMN.

What I’m trying to say, in their perspective they had the right to be suspicious and even scared of Rumi after finding out she’s a demon.

Imagine their perspective, Rumi has been pushing them to achieve the Golden Honmoon, then suddenly she gets all chummy with a DEMON (Jinu) and they are worried for her voice and her because she’s acting off, like she’s hiding something then after seeing Bobby getting kidnapped, SIKE ITS DEMONS, then BOOM…Rumi is a demon.

They don’t know what to believe and I won’t lie, watching that scene. I would’ve reacted similarly to Zoey. I wouldn’t want to hurt my friend but Rumi was SCARY. She was scared and vulnerable but her demon voice literally shook the building. Mira has the right to be angry, Zoey has the right to feel scared while Rumi has the right to feel EVERYTHING.

I like how complex the story is, because I see no wrong sides here. Rumi should’ve told them but she was groomed to believe that she was WRONG and the only way to right that wrong was to achieve the Golden Honmoom and Zoey and Mira were probably taught by Celine that all demons are MONSTERS.

Celine is the true cause of all this discourse because she couldn’t accept who Rumi was. She was a hunter but also a demon, she LEGITIMATELY SAID that when they lost Rumi’s mom, she said she would protect what was left her mom’s legacy, not thinking there was a CHILD. That scene breaks my heart as she COULDN’T EVEN TOUCH RUMI’S CHEEK TO COMFORT HER. She couldn’t love all of Rumi. She couldn’t love her flaws, in her eyes Rumi’s flaw was her demon side, but that isn’t a flaw…she was just born that way and that’s okay.

Celine is such a complex character because even though we DON’T KNOW all the details of her and her sisters (I’m assuming the Sunlight Sisters are actual Sisters) we know she probably pushed her sisters away because of her need for PERFECTION. She pushed that onto Rumi, Mira and Zoey…

Because she couldn’t accept Rumi, Rumi couldn’t accept herself and that caused her to keep massive secrets and that caused a rift between HUNTRIX. It’s so complex and complicated and…beautiful.

To see that it’s not cut and dry and black and white. It’s more grey, that’s what I love about this movie. It’s AMAZING and that’s why I love This is What it’s Sounds Like, because it covers all those JUICY WRITING AND YESSSS.

Hopefully this makes sense, I’ll probably rant more about my headcannons about Celine, the Sunlight Sisters and even Rumi’s mom and MOREEEEEE! Because this movie is a GOLD MINE of detail and crafted with such love.

It’s the closest thing to perfect even with all its flaws…see what I did there-

I don’t have a favourite I love them all equally.

[inkskinned]

you know, you know. no gods, no masters, no kings on pedestals. everyone is fallible. death of the author. you know! you are balanced about your intake of media - you allow the wiggle room, the grace, the gratitude, the skepticism. nobody above criticism.

but still. a weird gut-punch feeling, something akin to betrayal. you read the article. surprise! an author you love is actually: a serial fucking predator.

well, shit. what now. no, you knew he was a person (all people are), but now you're wondering - what have i overlooked by accident? what messages have i internalized that are strange and cruel? and also, like, what the fuck?

his actions lay a thick glaze on top of everything. like each place is now ruined, opaque in a new way. but okay, fine, you've done this before. you knew better, right? you've been betrayed by many a cherished childhood author.

still, this stickiness. fuck. can you pick up that book again. will you read it to your children. you've recommended it to others - will you ever do that again? and of course, of course, no parasocial relationships. you were theoretically above this kind of sentiment. but the artist informs the art, right.

so it's not something as clear-cut as feeling he owed you, specifically (a stranger) better behavior - just that you kind of, in a distant and odd way... sort of trusted him to do better. it's not like a real trust or something speakable, just the faint hope that the product (good books) was a thin representation of the soul. now it feels like the product (good? books?) was a mask. in some small or insignificant way, your previous support of this person lent them power. your money and your time and your laughter.

and the thing is - you have this terrible, echoing sensation. how many times will this happen? over and over. you find out that the singer you love is actually a predator. you learn over drinks that your favorite high school english teacher is in jail for what he did to her. you listen to the news idly and suddenly discover that a woman you used to idolize has been abusing her kids for an actual eon.

what can you touch without the static melting off. you can't even really complain about it too much (you were supposed to know better, and besides, you don't want the same re-split "it's not your fault, love what you love" basic advice), but now it's here. somehow, it feels like - you let him into your life.

it's not that things need to be pure or an artist has to be like, endlessly perfect, mindful. demure. it's more just this terrible truth that has been replayed through your veins so often it feels criminally vain. power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. did you want any one person to be worth that power?

it's just that he wrote books where he seemed to understand that. he seemed to know about hierarchies and unfair systems and bigotry and privilege. you thought they were books about what it means to struggle. you thought they were about having power and still using it for good rather than for control. he spooned you a narrative of being a good guy, a kind soul. you fucking bought what that fucking monster sold.

maybe that's why they were fantasies, after all.

[justcuriouspolls]

(i have a feeling this poll will get way more views than some of my other ones so I am once again asking you to fill out https://forms.gle/66bRngwjD2fzWX7p6 if you know anything about the character)

[macaro-mochi]

Come watch dungeon meshi we have a (seemingly) typical white autistic man who doesn't understand social norms, an autistic man of colour who overcompensates for social deficits by being too good at social norms (while still struggling socially), and we even have the "grew up autistic but also Asian so I have a very good understanding of cultural and social norms but I still struggle socially" variety of autistic man.

[dapper-lil-arts]

I'm not the kind of person that's like "Here let me fix the canon" usually but like holy crap gen 5 implied a lot of messed up shit about our hero Twilight Sparkle lmao

[marciaillust]

Asterism book cover

[mendingbone]

“Bad” victims— @ꜰɪʟʟᴇᴅᴡɪᴛʜᴜʀɪɴᴇ ᴘᴏꜱᴛ // ʀɪᴄʜᴀʀᴅ ꜱɪᴋᴇɴ, ꜱɪᴅᴇᴡᴀʟᴋ // ɪɴᴛᴇʀᴠɪᴇᴡ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴛʜᴇ ᴠᴀᴍᴘɪʀᴇ (2022) // ᴍᴇʟᴀɴɪᴇ ʟʏɴꜱᴋɪᴇ ᴏɴ ꜱʜᴀᴜɴᴀ ꜱʜɪᴘᴍᴀɴ // @manywinged ᴘᴏꜱᴛ // ʙʀᴇɴɴᴀɴ ʟᴇᴇ ᴍᴜʟʟɪɢᴀɴ // @ʟᴀᴛᴇɴɪɢʜᴛᴛᴀʟᴋ ᴘᴏꜱᴛ // ꜱᴜᴄᴄᴇꜱꜱɪᴏɴ (2018) // ɢɪʟʟɪᴀɴ ꜰʟʏɴɴ, ɢᴏɴᴇ ɢɪʀʟ // ʟɪᴅɪᴀ ʏᴜᴋɴᴀᴠɪᴛᴄʜ, ᴛʜᴇ ᴄʜʀᴏɴᴏʟᴏɢʏ ᴏꜰ ᴡᴀᴛᴇʀ

[wtftaylr]

I love Companion Benny. I love the idea that he gets huffy-puffy and “just a little” jealous if you switch him out for another companion. He simply cannot cope with the fact that you’d toss him aside like yesterday’s trash for… what, some scribe in rags? A boring-ass first recon guy? A vaquero ghoul? (ok he thinks Raul is kinda cool actually but he won’t openly admit that)?? Benny has STORIES, baby. Interest. Intrigue. You wanna know all the juicy strip gossip? Guess what, you CANT now because you DISMISSED him. How DARE you.

Benny is VERSATILE, baby. His tagged skills are guns, melee, and unarmed. Good luck finding another companion that can do what he can. Yeah Craig “Frowns” Boone can headshot a cazador from a million yards away or whatever, *mumbling* show-off, he would’ve seen that cazador eventually *end mumbling* but Benny can shoot, stab, AND punch. Hey courier, watch this. I’m gonna punch the fuck out of this deathclaw. He does it (you gotta administer a few stimpaks) BUT HE DID IT. And he was only at half health. 400+ health honeybaby, Benny can take a few whacks from those deathclaw freaks. What was that? Showing off? Benny doesn’t have to show off, sugar plum. He’s just that good.

He also won’t complain that his feet are getting tired. Yeah he’ll complain about minor inconveniences and wants you to do something about them regardless if you realistically can or not, but at least he’ll walk miles upon miles in a day and not complain. He also won’t complain about going back to the Lucky 38. (he’ll just complain about not being able to get in there before the Courier showed up.) What, no one else complains about their feet hurting? Uhhhh BOOT-RIDERS. Silly name. But that’s how they rode the Mojave, dig? On their feet. He’s done this before. Experienced.

AND ANOTHER THING. how many companions shout words of encouragement during a fight. Go on. He’s waiting.

You’re doing great, baby! Show these punk losers what you got!!

I bet all the caps in Vegas you’ll miss that while getting shot to shit by the Fiends or whatever. Grumble. Benny hopes you come back in one piece, of course. He’d just rather see to it himself that you remain in one piece. Uhh BECAUSE HE’S JUST THAT GR-

(The courier left with their choice of companion hours ago. Swank is trying to work but Benny won’t stop gabbing his ear off. Dear god Benny just go be the Head of The Chairmen somewhere else. Swank is trying to do actual work here.)

[sleepyvib-es]

This is so devastating.

Looking for new recruits to fight in a war from fourth grade through high school.

[mauvemischief]

I've talked a lot about why Andreil are so special to me, but not until my 3rd read of The Kings Men have I truly been able to pin it down. on page 110 (TKM) Neil comments that "Aaron was staring at Andrew like he'd never seen him before" in referral to Andrew attacking Allison because she hit Aaron. and it just BECAUSE HE FUCKING HASN'T and urghhhh I just get so feral over this because for the ENTIRE SERIES it's just so painfully obviously that Andrew's own family doesn't FUCKING GET HIMMMM they call him crazy and psychotic JUST AS OFTEN AS THE UPPERCLASSMEN, IF NOT MORE. Neil spends the ENITRE FIRST BOOK wondering why the hell Andrew's own family treats him the way they do. I am so passionate about this because I am in fact an Andrew Minyard enthusiast(TM) but THAT IS WHY NEIL IS SO SPECIAL because for the first time EVER someone looks at Andrew and truly SEES HIM LIKE OH MY GOD ASKJFKASJFKDSF I apologize for my insanity but in all seriousness, Andreil is so special because Andrew hid behind his drugs, he hid behind indifference and the sociopathic persona that his peers gave him but Neil called bullshit and stuck around even when he pieced together who Andrew really was. all the while Andrew's own family looked at him like he as a monster. Neil knew there was more to him that who Andrew chose to let the Foxes see, he stood his ground and he asked and he fought for Andrew. he fought for the Foxes and that's why Neil is different. Because no one had ever truly fought for Andrew before. not even his own brother.

[anassemblageofpassions]

The thing abt john winchester is that he is too complex for the majority of the spn fandom and for a good portion of the writers on the show too.

Because at his core john is about love over everything else. When he looks up at his sons (yes, up, the fact that they’re both taller than him>>>>>), there is love seeping achingly from every single pore of his being even as he abuses them, as he destroys their souls beyond belief. He does it all entirely out of love. And he is so, so wrong for it. A part of him knows it. But he wants to keep dean alive, and he wants to keep Sam pure. And he loves them so much. And he damages them so horribly. John Winchester is the foundation upon which they are both built, they only become more of what he made them as the series goes on. Sam stops fighting it, Dean continues to mold into his image no matter how hard he tries to fight it.

Hell puts them both on steroids, but their individual trauma responses that influence this are the foundations that John built into them. No wonder azazel wanted sam to win so badly. John Winchester crafted his sons into alastair and Lucifer’s ideal victims, respectively, and dean was a better (worse) john than John ever was. John held out in hell. Dean acquiesced to his abuser despite all of his efforts to fight him, and he’s never been the same since.

Sam fought like hell, and he fought destiny, but at his core, he did what John always wanted him to by doing what dean wanted him to do, and then he stops fighting at all, loses the fire he showed john in adolescence that john immediately notices when he returns in s14.

And the sad thing is. They filled their roles so well that John is saddened by what they’ve become. He didn’t want dean to break. He didn’t want Sam to be dimmed. He’s sad to see what Sam is like in s14. In the process of recovering his wife, he ensured he would mold his sons into what he wanted them to be, and when he got what he wanted, he was devastated.

John Winchester is so driven by love and grief and he’s so filled to the brim with both that it’s painful to watch him on screen because he destroyed his family because of it. And he wanted this all along but he didn’t realize what he’d have to give up to get it.

[zorangezest]

you got it boss!

[orangelamp42]

andor has not one not two but THREE mean lesbians and that’s what makes it peak television

[akiacia]

cake night highlights

[turnaboutfix]

"This 'kid' I know"

The nod to Maya in AA4! It's! Pretty much the same in Japanese--but with a touch more nuance.

Apollo/Odoroki:

"Bideo disuku no keesu ga uzu takaku tsumiage rareteiru."

"Video disk cases are piled high."

(English Localization: "A swaying, spiraling stack of DVD cases.")

Apollo/Odoroki:

"「Oo Edo Senshi Tonosaman」 「Tonosaman・Hei!」"

"「Great Edo Warrior Tonosaman」 「Tonosaman・The Third!」"

(EL: ""The Steel Samurai", "The Nickel Samurai"…")

Apollo/Odoroki:

"「Koedo Kenshi Himesaman」 「Dendou Dendoushi Samansaman」"

"「Little Edo Swordsman Himesaman*」 「Electric Evangelist Samansaman」"

(EL: ""The Pink Princess", "The Zappy Samurai: Electric Bugaboo"…")

"Himesama" means princess, and adding an "n" makes it sound like a superhero. "Samansaman" does the same thing with "Sama," the most respectful title one can have. See my analysis for the Steel Samurai in Japanese for more on this.

Apollo/Odoroki:

"Kodomo muke no 《hiiroo mono》 de ume tsukusareteiru."

"It's nothing but 《hero stuff》 for children."

(EL: "They're all children's action hero shows…")

"Souiu no ga sukina ko ga ite ne. Dondon okutte kureru nda."

"There's this kid who likes this sort of thing. [She*] keeps sending these to me."

(EL: "This 'kid' I know keeps sending them to me.")

So, the word Phoenix uses to allude to Maya is "子", "Ko", and it has 11 definitions.

I'm not showing them all because they're not all relevant. But it's odd to call her a kid if she's 26 during the time this game takes place, right? Not in this case! "Ko" can mean different things in different contexts, and you can even see above that "Ko" can mean "young woman". It's not uncommon to hear adults addressed this way--as long as they are not older than the speaker, or a man of the same age if the speaker is a man as well. "Ko" also has the nuance of endearment. Endearment is why Phoenix addresses Maya with the "-chan" honorific, even when she's nearly thirty years old.

*And to address the asterisk, Japanese often omits subjects if it's clear from the context. With that quirk of the Japanese language, and the many meanings of "Ko", it helps Phoenix be vague about who he's talking about to Apollo.

Apollo/Odoroki:

"Heee‥‥. Shinrui no okosan desu ka?"

"Eeehh....? Are they the child of a relative?"

(EL: "Huh. Like a niece or nephew?")

"....Maa. Sonna youna mono ka na."

"....Well. I guess it's something like that."

(EL: "…Something like that.")

Apollo/Odoroki:

"Sugoi ryou desukedo‥‥ Kanemochi no ko nan desu ne."

"It's a huge amount... This kid must be rich."

(EL: "Quite the collection. This kid's parents must be really generous with their allowance.")

Apollo/Odoroki:

"(Naruhodou-san, kodomo ni sukareru you ni wa mienaikedo na)"

"(Naruhodou-san doesn't look like the type that children would like.)"

(EL: "(Funny, Mr. Wright doesn't seem the type that kids would like.)")

It's important to point out that Apollo uses the word, "子供", "Kodomo" here, which is the word that only means "child", so he's convinced that Phoenix is talking about a literal child.

Nope, it's our Best Gorl Maya.

[roomwithanopenfire]

okay I'm curious, so no nuance, pick one.

reblog please I want to know what people think