sumayyou

[sumayyou]

whats wrong honey youve barely touched your eggplants😇😇

[sumayyou]

idek what to say. they would be nice friends?? also have to reread third tsurune book because still confused af with what was going on in there with minato seeing stuff(absolutely not an excuse to reread the whole thing. nope)

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kaehiyo had sooooo much potential. there's so much i wish we got to explore, like kaede's deep bitterness towards ikuya because of his proximity to hiyori, or how kaede's reappearance challenges hiyori's newfound confidence. and how, like so many of free!'s relationships, beneath it all is a twisted kind of yearning to be close. i find kaede so interesting and i find hiyori so interesting and im so sad we didn't see more of these stupidly villainous boyfriends!

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[sumayyou]

To all HIYOIKU fans, I’m proposing a fic idea!!

We all know how hiyori is overly protective of ikuya, he’d do anything for him, even die for him, literally, and that’s what happens, let’s say he pushes him off the way of a moving truck and gets into the accident instead, ikuya loves hiyori but never as much as Hiyori loves him, he always admired haru and had his eyes on haru, but after waking up in a hospital bed and hiyori no were to be found, it sunk in how much he loved hiyori, and somehow just like in Tokyo revengers ( lol ) something triggers a time leap and ikuya decides to change everything from the childhood of hiyori playing in the sand alone!

Bonus points if we add an enraged Kaede after realizing ikuya was the “ reason “ for hiyori’s death, and the three of them grow up to be friends playing in the sand and swimming, both kaede and ikuya fighting over hiyori.

[sumayyou]

It drives me nuts that Jeweler Richard would do bonkers on tumblr but never will, because it requires reading. The blorbos of all time are locked behind a wall of text and thirteen books.

It doesn’t help that the Jeweler Richard pipeline is to watch the anime->read the manga->the manga updates too slow, read the source novels->realize the anime version kindve sucks actually. You really can’t recommend the series easily because of this

[sumayyou]

Here are more of my unasked for opinions on the characters’ “totally not gay” relationships, PART THREE!

(Disclaimer: everything moving forward is simply based on headcanons. The characters are not canonically queer so these words are not fact.)

Ikuya

Ikuya was in love with Haru. It was young, puppy love. It wasn’t intense or obsessive. It was filled with admiration; of wanting to be like Haru.

In “High Speed!” when Ikuya is seen copying Haru’s stretches and arm strokes? That’s just a young boy wanting to emulate his crush!

The moment in Season 3, Episode 2, when Ikuya and Haru promise to race each other in the future before Ikuya makes a wish on a shooting star? That’s young love!

At the end of “Timeless Medley- The Promise” when we learn that Ikuya swims the Individual Medley? That’s younger Ikuya deciding he never wanted to depend on a teammate because what if they leave him again!

During Season 3 when the others realized Ikuya had the exact same freestyle stroke as Haru? That’s Ikuya finally matching his inspiration!

Of course seeing Haru again as young adults was going to shake Ikuya. Of course he was going to internalize and torment himself with thoughts about Haru.

He was seeing his first love for the first time after 5 years of being apart.

I don’t think Haru loved Ikuya the way Ikuya loved him.

BUT!

I do think Haru cared deeply for Ikuya and never wanted to hurt him.

Haru racing Ikuya in the Individual Medley was not just his way of fulfilling their childhood promise; it was his way of acknowledging Ikuya’s feelings.

Swimming with Haru again finally healed Ikuya’s younger self’s broken heart.

[sumayyou]

more masaki🤭

[sumayyou]

1st time watching Digimon Adventure timeline, and it got to an ep where it introduced this guy:

He's pretty average looking at best!! (honestly I find a lot of digimon designs quite💀💀, but that's just me)

Anyways, what struck me was that his VOICE WAS SO FLIPPIN SMOOTH?? (jp dub) I felt like an absolute weirdo going: okay but why this digimon sound kinda??😳😳

THEN IT HIT ME!!!!!:

I did NOT mistake that voice from anywhere!!! (well actually I'm pretty bad at placing seiyuu's, its just if I've watched smth at a similar time it clicks lolz)

Well I sure felt better about myself then welp, cz Ishida's voice is very pwetty!! :>🫶

[sumayyou]

Okay so I'm going to make a very niche comparison here, but Tanuma chibi from the new Natsyuu collab cafe:

got me thinking: hey, he reminds me of someone??🤔🤔

Cue: Nakamura Kai from Shiroi Suna!!✨️

If Tanuma is my son that 1% of ppl know exist, then Kai is my son that 0.0(0?)1% of ppl know he exists!😃😃👍💔 (heck forget Kai, I think I'm going to be the only one keeping the ShiroiSuna tag alive tbh atp💀💀)

BUT!!! They're both very good bois i swear!! I'm so sure Kai wears cleaning bandana 1 ep, which is why I made the comparison, but you can't make me try & find it, despite knowing that series back to front😅😅

[sumayyou]

Could someone who is more knowledgeable on this topic pls give me a thoughtful response about the Noah family's skin colour?? I've been into DGM for a long time, and it's always smth that's bothered me, but I've never seen anyone discuss it?? :// (I say thoughtful incase someone attack me or brush it off, I'm genuinely seriously asking!! >_<)

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good morning cnovel readers you are not immune to anti northern/central asian racism

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I wanted to ask, since I've been reading through your ask replies n such, do you still like tgcf? Iirc you mentioned reading it 4 times or smth and I'm wondering if you still like it, are part of the fandom, or if all the harmfulness of the banyue arc (which I dislike for so many fucking reasons) and everything has ruined it? And I still like the novels, tgcf n mdzs (but mdzs less, I like The Untamed more), and I think that I can recognize harmful portrayals and some people think that even if you see them and know that they're bad that still means you can't like the media that it's from? How do you feel about that? Also no pressure to answer ❤️

that’s a rly good question! i absolutely, wholeheartedly agree with you on the consumption of harmful content. i do like tgcf still, despite its problems. i believe that it has legitimate literary value as a story, and beyond that, it is an entertaining book that has a close place in my heart. i enjoy the book, the characters, the plot, and the world itself. as i have been very clear about advertising, it has problematic content that is harmful to marginalised groups when not consumed critically. however, when processed, discussed, and evaluated, these harmful stereotypes are defanged. when both individuals and the greater community are aware and open about it, then these stereotypes are not internalised and spread. in fact, it’s often much better for people to read problematic content than to drop it entirely- without understanding and seeing the racism, homophobia, sexism, and other issues play out in front of them, you cannot understand how to avoid and combat them. critical consumption does not mean “avoid all problematic material!”, it means look at this content, absorb it, research it, and most of all, understand how these issues impact your interactions with others in real life. as much as many people don’t want to acknowledge it, fiction impacts reality. it is a direct facet and manifestation of reality. no issue exists in a vacuum, and fictional racism absolutely further ingrains real racism, which is why it is so important to confront it head on. it gives you the ability to grasp and change the way that this racism makes you think and act. literature is about experiencing, growing, learning, changing, and understanding. it does a disservice to the concept of literature as a whole to think that we can just drop certain works and disengage with racist behaviours. we cannot. people that condemn others for consuming problematic content frustrate me because of that; our duty as readers is to read, understand, and change. do not ignore racism. look at it directly, examine it, and discuss how to fix the issue. if you do not look these things dead in the eye, then they will fester in the corner and spread throughout communities as they have been doing for generations. the only way we can combat it is to bring it in the light for everyone to see. the only way we will be able to change it is if we understand it

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Wait, I thought when ppl talked about starember fetishizing Arab culture/Orientalism it was specifically in reference to that one fanart she drew? With the belly dancer outfit, the half-moon etc... Although I guess, considering how ignorant ppl are on China and it's cultures/minorities, there are probably plenty misunderstanding the Banyue src reference.

Sorry, I don't mean to come off as annoying! I've been enjoying your posts a lot! I wish more cnovel fans - especially Chinese ones, but not only them! - were open to actually discuss and criticise the issues that are obviously there in the novel and manhua instead of brushing it off as, "That's just how it is here!" (maybe they are and we just see the stubborn ones everywhere?) - Then, maybe, it should change...

it's okay, you're not annoying at all! i appreciate that you're looking for clarity instead of drawing your own assumptions. i can understand the confusion with arab culture specifically in that drawing better, but again, it isn't arab culture at all. it is a very direct fetishization of central asian cultures. the reason people saw it as an arab cultural reference was because of the fetishized outfit, the mosque, and the half moon. as arab culture is very visible in global society, it makes sense that it would be the first thing that people thing of! however, all these symbols are equally present and important in central asian society. as i mentioned before, the vast majority of central asians have converted to islam. due to the nature of our conversion, our native animistic and totemistic practices merged heavily with islam, creating a syncretic belief that is unique in each region. to us, the crescent moon that is so important in islam also has an additional meaning: the meeting of life and death, the celebration of our elders, and the light that guides us in the darkest times. in my tribe in northern kyrgyzstan, we practice a syncretic combination of tengriism and islam, so one of the principle figures we worship is actually the crescent moon, who we believe to be the grandfather of our people! however, i greatly doubt that mxtx and starember are aware of our cultural practices, so i believe that they saw our national and religious symbol being the crescent moon and associated that with us without understanding why. for the mosque in the background of the drawing, again, we are a region predominated by islam. mosques are incredibly common sights, with one of the most important mosques in the world actually being located in xinjiang (ھېيتگاھ مەسچىتى) (for those who don't know, the uyghur language is written in perso-arabic script, along with many other central asian languages, like kyrgyz)! for the belly dancer outfit, that is also another common central asian stereotype. our traditional usage of elaborate, winding fabrics and layered, long jewelry has been corrupted and bastardized by han culture to become a fetishized, sexual thing. central asian women are often depicted as wearing scanty, ""exotic"", overtly sexual clothing. we are valued for our attractiveness as these strange, foreign sexual objects with "sensual dancing" and "exotic allure" while we are just existing in our traditional culture. this is an extremely common phenomenon that, if you pay attention, you will see over and over again in any form of cmedia that has casian characters

[sumayyou]

some people on twitter have started talking out m*t* and shitember's racism, which is good, but they're calling it fetishization of arabic culture. I just wanted to ask if it's accurate, or if it should be called something else?

this is a great question! the answer is no, starember and mxtx are not fetishizing arab culture. they are directly fetishizing central asian cultures. this is a very important point that i need to stress to everyone engaging with tgcf, cnovels, and related Han media.

to introduce myself again, i am a MENA-casian. if you're unfamiliar with those terms, i'll break them down for you. it means that half of my family is from the middle east/north africa (MENA) while the other half is from central/inner asia (casia). all of this is to say that i am very familiar with middle eastern and arab cultures, and i am even more familiar with the distinction between arab cultures and casian cultures. because of this, i feel confident saying that in no way was the depiction of central asians in any of mxtx's novels influenced by modern arab culture. the misinformation being spread saying it is directly harms the central asian groups working to gain recognition and equality in our own countries. we exist, we are here, and we deserve for our struggles to be recognized as our own.

so, why do people think that racism against casians is actually against arab people? it's because very few people know what casians look like. i don't know a singular person that isn't casian themselves that could describe traditional casian features and clothing. despite me having extremely and loudly central asian facial features, people have seen me and confused me for an indigenous american, a turk, an arab, an east asian, a pacific islander, a south american, an italian; you name it, i've been called it. so, i can understand why people see the poorly construed representations of casians and immediately think of another, much more visible culture. there is also quite a bit of casian traditional clothing that lets me understand the confusion a bit! to one unfamiliar with casian or arab cultures, these might cause someone to mix them up

these were all obtained from a quick google search of the names of some traditional casian (mostly kyrgyz) headdresses, so if you're interested in seeing more, they're very easy to find. i'll add an image description once i get back from work, but if someone wants to do it in the meantime, that would be greatly appreciated!

looking at these images, you can see many casian cultures use elaborate fabric wraps around our heads, similar to some arab cultures. like most arab cultures, casia has also been incredibly influenced by islam, with the countries now being a majority islamic rather than our historical majority of native totemistic religions. however, the similarity ends there. the islam practiced in arab cultures and the islam practiced here are two entirely different religions that do each other a disservice to compare them as similar. we are not arab, and the arab people are not central asian. the last time our cultures directly influenced each other is most likely around 4th century AD. so, really not a lot of overlap there, given the fact that it's been thousands of years since then

to sum it up, the racism and fetishization in starember's work, mxtx's works, and cmedia as a whole are not directed against arab cultures. they are a direct attack on central asian cultures, and saying otherwise takes away the exceedingly limited societal presence we have, so i would greatly appreciate it if those interested in helping casian visibility were all clear on this! barely anyone knows we exist, and those that have heard of us often don't even know what casia is. it is incredibly harmful to have the first big break we have in media discussing racist stereotypes against us be immediately attributed to any unrelated culture

[sumayyou]

my wife...(he does not know that😔)

[sumayyou]

Something you gotta understand about me is that I am utterly reliant on my Beverages