jakeysfics

[jakeysfics]

Politics?? In My Chainsaw Man?

I can’t sleep, so we’re doing a sleep-deprived political reading of chainsaw man part 1, Spoilers inbound.

Alright, the simplest reading of chainsaw mans political messaging is about the meaning of labour and worker abuse.

It's about how Japanese society directly breaks people in the way they are treated and expected to work. The phrasing of "contracts" being made with powerful devils seems pretty deliberate. Especially in the way that the literal bosses of every organization are either literal devils (Makima) Or will do things just as bad. The theme of, "You have to be crazy to work here" is one phrase that's shown and expanded upon with each of the characters. The problem is that “here” means everywhere. You have to be crazy to work, period.

Denji

Denji enters the story missing parts of his body and living in poverty. Eating cigarettes because it’ll get him cash. Unable to ask for a happy life because he’s barely even living one. In a conventional story, Denji would rise to higher ranks to make more money or suddenly come into massive wealth, but that isn’t what happens.

Pochita is seen as an asset, something to use for just his value and nothing more until he meets Denji. 

Something special about Denji nobody really talks about is that he never dreams of labour, he only ever dreams about living a normal life, never the means to which he’ll get it.

He simply does what he can to survive. When Pochita brings Denji back to life he doesn’t tell him to get to work or to put his powers to use. A key difference between the contract Denji and Pochita make is that it’s not an exchange. Nothing is lost the same way other devil hunters make contracts. He leaves all of it up to Denji and simply asks to see his dreams. He only ever wants Denji to keep on dreaming.

So he does.

Until Makima comes in, at least. See, there's also the very subtle subtext about how Makima literally controls the uneducated worker with promises that can never really go anywhere. 

Taking control of his desire and motivations to make him a better worker or, as she phrases it, “dog” (Check out my writeup about Denji and Boobs for a little more about that.)

The System

Most characters who play directly into the system or accept it end up dying pretty horrible deaths that can be blamed on someone above their level. Makima is untouchable because she can move any damage to her onto the average citizen. It’s a method of avoiding responsibility. Governments try and create a tax on shitty practices? The company still does it and just raises prices on people to compensate. Wanna raise the minimum wage? Hope you enjoy an unnecessary price increase on your coffee because some dickhead can always offshore the cost to the average person.

Aki and Power both end up playing into the system and suffer for it. Makima gives the trio a healthy situation and living space and promotes the idea of a family that the system can ultimately take away at any time if you aren't working the way she wants. It almost seems to mimic how the current Japanese obsession with work is almost entirely responsible for the low birth rates because these big companies and governments are the only ones who can give you the chance to start a proper family. They’ll never give that because the culture is so backbent in their favour in the obsession with work.

Also, Denji sings about unions once, which quite literally is the process of workers coming together to use their power to benefit and control their future. 

But what’s the point? What’s the point of Makima’s fascism? The point of Leftist Denji and everything. 

Well, the answer is in cinema.

Makima mentions that in her perfect world, there are no bad movies. Denji rejects this. Denji knows that the world isn’t that cut and dry and that people will find love and value in different ways. Makima is an agent of modernity. The ideology of “everything has a purpose.” In Makima’s perfect world, there are no weak people, there is no suffering, and there are no weak humans, there is no Denji. There are no bad movies. 

Makima is every producer, she’s every studio note and screen test. She’s not on the side of art or humanity, she’s on the side of whatever the system deems correct.

Denji doesn’t give a shit. He isn’t the post-modern hero that needs to understand and question the system. He’s honestly maybe even past that point. I’m 100% certain he doesn’t have an answer to fixing the world, but he knows Makima isn’t it. So Denji breaks free and does what he wants to. He decides to go to school to learn. (Realistically, he is not paying attention in classes, but you learn more than just the curriculum at school)  He decides that his life is gonna have all kinds of movies, and nobody’s gonna decide how he makes his. 

Denji is a high schooler shooting films on his phone, and he’s better for it. 

[jakeysfics]

So... I guess we know what that RWBY anime project they were teasing is now.

I'm of two minds about this. On the one hand, this staff lineup really makes me nervous. Studio Shaft has been a complete mess ever since a bunch of its staff left after Sangatsu, so the production side of things could very easily fall apart here. Also, as much as I love Urobuchi's work, how the hell is the guy best known for tightly-written tragedies gonna spin something out of the sprawling hopepunk epic that is RWBY? I suppose he arguably did something similar with Fate/Zero, but this definitely feels like a mismatched pairing of artist and source material.

But that's not what really makes me nervous. You'll notice that Urobuchi isn't actually writing this thing, he just came up with the concept. No, the script is being done by one Tow Ubukata. And if you aren't familiar with his work, well...

Let's just say I have my concerns.

So that's what's got me worried. On the other hand, though... holy shit, y'all, it's actually happening. We're actually getting a RWBY anime. And it's not just some throwaway side project either! Despite my concerns, Urobuchi and Shaft are some of the biggest names in the business. Rooster Teeth got actual anime legends to work on their weird experimental web series started by basically one guy with a dream. How fucking amazing is that?

I have no idea if this is gonna end up being good. I hope it's good. But if nothing else, it'll at least be one of the most interesting anime projects of the year. Western animation's closest approximation of the anime style is finally gonna get a chance to showcase what it can do in that original form. And I can't wait to see what it's gonna be.

[jakeysfics]

Credit my stuff man

Team RWBY Project

i just wanted to make a list of all the information we have and can speculate on for the project now that we’re nearly a week away from actually knowing what it is:

we can access the RSS feed of the website (https://team-rwby-project.com/news/rss), which gives us the possible title of the project, which is RWBY　氷雪帝国 which translates to “RWBY Ice and Snow Empire”

it’s an anime, as that’s the only other registered subdomain for the site (supported by the Japanese VAs for the main cast being the ones presenting it at AnimeJapan) - there are two others but they’re just test subdomains of the main page and the anime subdomain

the countdown timer on the site is counting down to something at 10:00 AM, Friday 25th (Japan time), almost exactly 1 day before the presentation at AnimeJapan, 09:30-10:05 Saturday 26th (Japan time)

Good Smile are involved in this presentation in some way, as the TRP twitter shared a message from them about ‘delivering the latest information’ about the project. this was coupled with stuff about two other anime that are coming out, so my thoughts were mainly that this probably means there’s merch from Good Smile (figures, nendoroids) to promote the project as there is a plug for their booth at Anime Japan, but the tweet made a point of mentioning Good Smile Company and Good Smile Film, which is their subdivision that produces anime - so with that in mind, they may be producing for the show

in fact, i just did some double checking, the two other anime that were mentioned (Black Rock Shooter DAWN FALL and the Quintessential Quintuplets) are both produced or co-produced by Good Smile Film, so that’s pushed that into a certainty that they’re producing on the Team RWBY Project

speaking of which, Bandai Namco may also be producing for the show (specifically Bandai Namco Arts, as the TRP tweet about it links to that site specifically); they’re the ones hosting the English translated livestream of the presentation on the 26th and there’s also a plug for their booth as well, so there may be bamco merch for the project (or RWBY in general, who knows)

we don’t know anything about the actual contents of the project yet, not even the studio animating it, probably something we’ll find out on the 25th or 26th

sidenote: interesting, not confirmed, thing that i think is quite fun - the artstyle of the key visual we have of Weiss resembles the current artstyle of huke, who was the original artist and character designer for Black Rock Shooter; which would just be a fun full circle moment if he is involved in the art direction of the show, as Monty tweeted about the BRS anime that came out in 2012 about the use of 3D animation in the show https://twitter.com/montyoum/status/192514326127591424

[jakeysfics]

To the souls that followed me after the leaks

Don't follow me lol. I'm not a professional leaker or I don't intend to be. I like Nier and Cinema and fanfiction and posting about that mostly. I'll compile everything we know about the team RWBY project/RWBY Ice and Snow Empire around a week before the proper March announcement. But until then I'm not even gonna touch the site again. Someone else can do that.

[jakeysfics]

I found the actual name of Team RWBY Project by accident.

So a funny thing happened. AGAIN (Spoilers for the title of the RWBY anime. If you don't wanna find out now) So I have a personal Startpage I run locally on my computer, it has a custom RSS feed and weather and whatever. The point is I was trying to find RSS newsfeeds for things I care about. Podcasts, entertainment news. So I get the bright idea of seeing if there's an RSS feed for Team RWBY project, They seem to have some kind of WordPress type feed thing so should be easy enough. I go to the site subdirectory for news that's open and public (team-rwby-project.com/news) And of course, there's no RSS feed button cause the year is 2022. So I get the idea to add something to the end of the URL, I write team-rwby-project.com/news/rss and voila I find the RSS feed text.

As I'm adding it to my site I spot something weird.

It says RWBY and some Japanese text as the title. Looks like it was put there around October last year when the RSS and news feed was made. I wonder what that translates to...

Holy fuck

So yeah, I guess the new RWBY project is literally called RWBY: Ice and Snow Empire until we get an official English translation name (in Romanji it's RWBY hyōsetsu teikoku) I did some more looking but didn't find anything else of too much value. If you google up the ice and snow empire part in Japanese it shows RWBY information first so search engine stuff is aware of it on some level. I still do think based on my prior "leaks" it's an anime. So maybe that's the title? It matches the image on the site and rolls of the tongue pretty well. Either way, I'm excited to find out more about RWBY: I.S.E

[jakeysfics]

I FOUND SOMETHING ELSE ON THE RWBY PROJECT AGAIN. Gimme a second to do another writeup.

[jakeysfics]

_____________________________________________________

Word spread of a blade with the power of immortality, but none who sought it ever returned. One day, I caught wind of soldiers heading to the ruins where it was said to rest, so I went along.

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We slipped through tricks and traps, and finally found a lone guardian at the deepest level. Defeating the guardian would earn you the sword, but losing would mean certain death.

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A sword struck the guardian down, but it soon rose again, for it had gained the power of immortality from the sword. One soldier after another fell, and I finally turned tail and ran for my life.

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Turns out the guardian is a long-dead king who destroyed his own country while searching for the sword, then claimed its power to prevent others from doing the same. I pray he is successful...

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Ancient Overlord - NieR Re[in]carnation

[jakeysfics]

I'd like to show a NieR fan project I've been working on:

This is an idea I had a while ago for a Flipnote Studio 3D animation that I've been thinking about doing. This would be by far my biggest and most ambitious animation project ever, so I thought it'd be best to create a storyboard video for the project first, which is what I wanted to show here.

NieR:Automata is one of my favorite video games of all time, and Pink Floyd's album Wish You Were Here is one of my favorite popular music albums. I just thought this game and this song (Welcome to the Machine) worked really well together, and I would constantly imagine scenes in my head whenever I listened to this song. This may be as far as this project ever gets, but I'm just glad to get this idea into some sort of visual format, even if it's unfinished and really rough in some spots. This is a really daunting project, so I'm hoping a lot of fellow NieR fans or animators will watch and share this, and give constructive feedback to help inspire me. Enjoy.

[jakeysfics]

Wait hold up so is this about the shopping center in Automata? The one built up on top of the aerie and Kaine's house? Is the implication that the mall was supposed to be turned into the amusement park? or is the implication that the amusement park was a mall before.

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As urban sprawl commenced, nature began to disappear from human habitats. Even the forest was not spared, as a nearby city planned to clear it and build a large mall, with five of its floors forming an atrium-style event hall.

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Within the forest was a tall, tall tree with roots longer and thicker than any other. It took ten men an entire day to chop it down. As it fell, red sap gushed and birds circled overhead giving call to pained, ominous caws.

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The mall opened to much fanfare, but birds still circled outside giving their weird cries, and inside there was accident after accident. Despite its splendor, customers stopped coming and it was soon forced to close.

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As the mall fell to ruin, plants reclaimed their home. Though a great tree has begun to grow in the atrium, the humans do not know this--and a new developer is already planning to make the site a theme park.

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Forbidden Scrapsteel Obelisk - NieR Re[in]carnation

[jakeysfics]

I love this one, each line changes the context and meaning of the opening phrase. In the first one, you read "He committed a crime" as the action he took because of his circumstances, very matter of fact. In the second it reads almost like a universal judgement or internal monologue as he feels a pang of guilt for what he did, setting up what we assume is the bad times. In the third, it reads ironically because even though he committed a crime, his siblings died for it. The fourth feels like it doesn't even matter compared to everything else because who the fuck cares, he never deserved this even for a crime. It's a fun little mediation on crime and our perception of it. Also kinda based on the way it calls out violence being used on the poor for no good reason.

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He committed a crime. The famine raged, taxes rose without mercy, and his parents vanished. Soon his siblings grew gaunt with hunger, and for them, he took action.

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He committed a crime. He shared stolen milk and bread with his five young siblings, allowing himself none. Instead he simply watched as they devoured the bounty.

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He committed a crime. When the rich merchants found him, he was not allowed to die for his sin. That honor fell to his siblings, for they alone had consumed the stolen goods.

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He committed a crime. His siblings' ravaged bodies lay in the street. He gazed upon them, rubbed the open sores from his own public whipping, and heaved a voiceless sob.

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Sinful Scream - Drakengard 3

[jakeysfics]

Oh it's about nukes and mutually assured destruction.

Neat

_____________________________________________________

The greatsword was known for the intense pain it inflicted upon its victims. This is what drove the man to carry it despite its weight, for he knew it would make others fear him, and thus could he avoid needless conflict.

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The man's reputation spread through the village despite never having drawn the blade. "Don't make him use that horrid weapon," the villagers whispered. The man smiled at this, for he knew that fear was the best path to peace.

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Soon, the man had craftsmen forge a host of similar weapons. He gave them to all the other villagers in the hope it would force people to solve conflicts with words instead of violence. And his plan worked...for a while.

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Keeping all sides in check is simple when no one uses their power. But once that seal is broken, the end is nigh. Thus did the peaceful village transform itself into a living hell over the space of a single night.

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Type-3 Blade - NieR:Automata

[jakeysfics]

Someone made a video about my post lol, also studio shortlist.

Someone made a youtube video about the leak which is pretty wild. I'm not a leaker or anything like that so I appreciate them going over it either way. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTDFl70DrVA

In other news, I once again accidentally came across information that actually somewhat lends itself towards which studio might be doing the team rwby project anime. I'm still looking through more info but I likely won't make a formal post giving sources because I don't want some overexcited animators to lose their jobs because they might have broken an NDA on twitter.

One piece of useless information is that the Japanese marketing firm Junni most likely made the website.

The only thing I'm gonna say about my discoveries is my shortlist of studios we should maybe keep an eye on: Cloverworks, Pierrot, A-1 pictures, 8-bit or studio bind. This is the information I have the least amount of confidence in but I still think it's worth someone else looking into it.

[jakeysfics]

Follow-up to the Accidental Team RWBY Project Discovery/Leak

So for anyone unaware, I made a few discoveries that kinda heavily prove Team RWBY Project is going to be an anime. I saw some confusion about the stuff I found so I might as well clear up some info.

What the hell is a subdomain

I gave a brief explanation of it in my last post but basically, a subdomain is something you add before your regular URL that takes you to a different part. It isn't a separate domain or a new site. More like your homepage vs a link to a specific tweet. Like how Roosterteeth.com leads to... itself but store.Roosterteeth.com takes you to the merch store.

What if they're just doing it for copyright like Nintendo?

This isn't like Nintendo buying fake pokemon or mario game sites like "pokemongray.com to never use them" you will only find a subdomain if it's supposed to be there and is usually intended for use.

More subdomain information

These were the subdomains I mentioned last time:

I did not find these myself. I am not a hacker. I simply found out that Virustotal automatically does it to all sites it scans.

The test.team-rwby site has a login popup meaning unless you have a username and password you cannot get in. This is where they most likely tested the site before making it public on the normal URL. I actually left out a specific detail. There is a fourth subdomain called test.anime.team-rwby-project.com This is likely where they are holding the anime site and information where people like us can't reach it. I didn't share it because I didn't want anyone to spam it. But just it being there is proof.

How is it proof? What if the subdomain is for something else like recaps about [American] RWBY?

Alright, this'll be a doozie here. So stay with me; and take this long-ass list

I mentioned last time from passive DNS replication the Team RWBY site is connected to other various anime/film sites. I mentioned the slime isekai and healer girl but the list is very long and includes a lot of anime and even live-action film. I included a list of every website that touches the same IP. Specifically, I'd like to look at a recent example.

ten-sura.com is the regular site for the slime isekai franchise. But it has a subdomain called movie.ten-sura.com this site is up and active and is to promote the upcoming film. Just based on that I think it's reasonable to assume the Team RWBY site is intended to be a sort of hub for this General-Weiss/future/whatever AU and the anime project is the first major announcement we're getting from it.

Something you'll notice in the list of Url's is that the ones about anime specify it. Like pripri-anime.jp or burn-the-witch-anime.com

It does not seem like they use the word to describe anything else besides anime. So I personally 100% believe this means we are getting an anime set in this AU or whatever.

Why not an OVA?

OVA's are incredibly expensive and blu-ray sales cannot support them alone. The anime industry is heavily pointed towards film and series production so I'm placing my bets on a 12-24 episode anime to fill the time before/after volume 9.

What about the Bandai Namco connection?

For anyone unaware, my last post mentioned that a sizeable amount of the passive DNS replication sites had something to do with Bandai Namco, in most the connection is really strong, Rifle Is Beautiful, My Name is Yours, One Punch Man S2, Eureka Seven, Burn the Witch, New Black Rock Shooter and many many others all have Bandi Namco Arts or another Bandai Namco company attached. I have gone through many of them and besides 1 or 2 anime nobody cares to translate information for it looks like Bandai is involved in almost every film/anime and are be involved in funding/production for each of the sites. You guys are free to check it as well. Anime News Network has a comprehensive wiki on all things behind the scenes for anime.

Goodsmile?

I remember some tweets mentioning GoodSmile retweeted the RWBY announcement. And while we typically associate them with figures. I also found out they really enjoy funding/producing anime. Now some of the anime mentioned in the list are Black Rock Shooter and One Punch Man. You guys can do with that information what you will.

Which studio will animate it?

IDK lol. Someone could go through and figure out every single studio and what they're currently working on but both companies have worked with what feels like every studio. So someone else can handle that. We're probably gonna find out in March anyways.

Where does that leave us?/Conclusion

Well, hype. In a single sentence it's just:

We are getting a RWBY anime based on some sort of new AU they wanna start and build in Japan, also maybe Bandai Namco Arts and GoodSmile are involved in some way.

I'll try and answer any other questions I get in the comments.

[jakeysfics]

Why didn't anybody tell me my post started blowing up on rwbytwt. Also, I have gained zero followers from this lmao

[jakeysfics]

I accidentally discovered what Team RWBY project is

Yeah so I was looking into some guy claiming the site had malware (Which I still doubt) and ended up finding a list of subdomains for the site.

If you don't know already; a subdomain is something you add before your site that goes to a different part. Something like store.yoursite.com

So I found a small list of subdomains in my search for malware on team-rwby-project.com I didn't find malware but I did find this.

So yeah. I may have spoiled the surprise but it is 100% an anime series.

But that's not all, I decided to look into it further and found some connections to other websites from passive DNS replication. Basically other sites that contact the same main IP. And it ranged from websites about that slime isekai anime to "healer girl" and others. And through each site, I found a many of them had to do with Bandi Namco being involved so it's maybe they'll be the co-producers/funders of the anime? Either way, I'm certain we are getting an RWBY anime based on the subdomain.

Speaking of which I actually did try and view the website but the only thing there is a placeholder text on a white screen saying the URL. But the fact that it doesn't go to a 404 and it actually sends that back is huge. It likely means the site is hidden behind the test subdomain concealed by a username and password. It's most likely going to be revealed during the march anime convention thing.

Another part I found is that the regular team RWBY site was possibly made around October or November of last year.

It's likely been in the works before that point but I'm guessing we're gonna get a PV (trailer) at the anime convention where it'll be formally announced with the RWBY JPN cast.

[jakeysfics]

RWBY Fanfic prompts I had in my head that nobody should ever write.

Pranked my sister??!! (GONE WRONG?): Yang plays a prank on Ruby telling her that in second year it's customary at Beacon to kiss your close friends goodbye on the cheek. Weiss is flustered. Jaune is confused. Penny is just vibing and 100% ok with this.

Heat sink: Penny: I believe I feel something towards Ruby, I am unsure what to do... Jaune: Just tell her how she makes you feel. Penny (unprompted): Ruby when I'm around you, my heat sink becomes 5 Percent less efficient. Ruby: ... Penny: That is all

Bad hair day: Blake finds out that everyone except her dyes their hair as she proceeds to get her mind blown by her friends and mentors with drastically different hair colours. All the while she keeps her own secret... Blake is bald.

Crazy Stupid RWBY: A mid 40's Taiyang is distraught when his second wife files for a divorce. Left to wallow in his sadness in a nearby bar he is helped up by a Sun Wukong who can't help but pity him. Sun helps to teach Tai his mildly problematic dating methods while Sun finds himself actually falling for an unconventional gun-obsessed red-head who his techniques don't work on.

Eye spy: Adam is a "handsome" assassin who's doing what he does by seducing his targets and killing them at their most exposed. In reality, he's horrible at this and the story is just various chapters of him trying to be an "alpha podcast guy" but failing every single time to disastrous results.

Film production AU: Oscar is a young director hot off the press on his first indie film and has been handed a blank check by SDC entertainment to make whatever the hell he wants for his next film. Join him through the process of trying to make a movie with an unusual cast and crew.

Best Boy: Ruby Costuming: Blake Writer: Jaune On-set facial-body FX and makeup: Pyrrha On-set sound and post-production sound design: Ren FX and Ballistics: Nora

Also featuring the (strange) lead actors! Cinder Fall, Yang Xiao Long, Weiss Schnee, and Mercury.

Kinship: Mercury gets a leech as a pet. He relates to it so much that somehow through conversations with the silent leech he goes through a whole redemption arc.

[jakeysfics]

RWBY Fanfic prompts I had in my head that nobody should ever write.

Pranked my sister??!! (GONE WRONG?): Yang plays a prank on Ruby telling her that in second year it's customary at Beacon to kiss your close friends goodbye on the cheek. Weiss is flustered. Jaune is confused. Penny is just vibing and 100% ok with this.

Heat sink: Penny: I believe I feel something towards Ruby, I am unsure what to do... Jaune: Just tell her how she makes you feel. Penny (unprompted): Ruby when I'm around you, my heat sink becomes 5 Percent less efficient. Ruby: ... Penny: That is all

Bad hair day: Blake finds out that everyone except her dyes their hair as she proceeds to get her mind blown by her friends and mentors with drastically different hair colours. All the while she keeps her own secret... Blake is bald.

Crazy Stupid RWBY: A mid 40's Taiyang is distraught when his second wife files for a divorce. Left to wallow in his sadness in a nearby bar he is helped up by a Sun Wukong who can't help but pity him. Sun helps to teach Tai his mildly problematic dating methods while Sun finds himself actually falling for an unconventional gun-obsessed red-head who his techniques don't work on.

Eye spy: Adam is a "handsome" assassin who's doing what he does by seducing his targets and killing them at their most exposed. In reality, he's horrible at this and the story is just various chapters of him trying to be an "alpha podcast guy" but failing every single time to disastrous results.

Film production AU: Oscar is a young director hot off the press on his first indie film and has been handed a blank check by SDC entertainment to make whatever the hell he wants for his next film. Join him through the process of trying to make a movie with an unusual cast and crew.

Best Boy: Ruby Costuming: Blake Writer: Jaune On-set facial-body FX and makeup: Pyrrha On-set sound and post-production sound design: Ren FX and Ballistics: Nora

Also featuring the (strange) lead actors! Cinder Fall, Yang Xiao Long, Weiss Schnee, and Mercury.

Kinship: Mercury gets a leech as a pet. He relates to it so much that somehow through conversations with the silent leech he goes through a whole redemption arc.