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dazais-guardian-angel · 1 year

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Okay, a good amount of time has passed, and after having seen this post by @weretiger-be-my-horse , I've been turning it over and over in my brain going absolutely feral over this concept. I need to expand upon my thoughts on this idea and all the evidence there is pointing towards it, whether that be actual tangible things, or purely strong vibes I have.

First of all, full disclaimer: I did not like the season 5 finale, and how it wrapped up the DoA arc. To say that I "disliked" it is putting it extremely lightly, in fact -- I absolutely hated it, and I am still, to a degree, in disbelief that I actually even watched those 24 minutes with my own two eyes, and that it somehow wasn't a complete fever dream. While I'm not going to go in long-winded detail into all the ways that I feel like the finale almost completely bastardized all of its featured characters and destroyed any and all buildup we've had going on in this arc for 50 some chapters now, because that's not the main point of this post, I will not make any attempt to hide the fact that the theory-crafting I'm about to pose here is partly influenced and prompted by how much I hated the finale, and how much I desperately hope that it will not end up being manga canon. Therefore, if you enjoyed the finale — and that's fine! — and don't want to read any negativity about it, then I would not recommend reading any further (I mean, you've probably already left by this point, which is fair lol), While obviously it's important that I be as objective and unbiased as possible when explaining my thoughts, some of my negative feelings about the writing will be a part of this analysis, even if this isn't going to be a full-blown rant. Just know that if you proceed.

With that out of the way, let me continue.

So. In the aforementioned post, the theory presented is that the anime may be operating on an alternate timeline, and that this will become evident once we read the upcoming October chapter, wherein things will go completely differently post-chapter 110 than they do in the final episode — probably for the worse, with the s5 finale intending to lull us into a false sense of security and make us assume that everything in the manga arc finale will wrap up as smoothly and consequence-freely(? lol) as it did in the anime one. It also suggests that the Fukuchi we see at the very end that sskk are fighting came from the manga timeline, where he won, and that he used the Book to jump to a timeline where he lost, the anime one, proven by the fact that this Fukuchi is wearing a mask with the same design on it as the mask Fukuchi is wearing on the chapter 110 DoA color spread/title page.

First of all, I want to note the fact that it's not just the mask design that's the same: the entire outfit is roughly more or less the same as well. It's not completely 1-to-1, because the anime can never fully match the intricacies of Harukawa's beautiful outfit designs, and the Fukuchi in this scene has the kimono half-off because of the... super saiyan mode he's in, but most all of the main pieces of clothing are there. Any small inaccuracies could also be attributed to the fact that Harukawa probably didn't have this finalized art ready back when this episode was being made, so the animators wouldn't have had the complete design to work off of. But in general, because it's all so similar, I think we can quite confidently say that the ending episode Fukuchi is meant to be the one from this manga art.

Also, people have pointed this out, but it's worth mentioning that the mask Asagiri wore at Anime Expo in July was referencing this Fukuchi. It's not a crucial detail, but it just proves more that Asagiri is a gigantic fucking troll, and that he clearly wanted to draw attention to this Fukuchi design. It's important. He describes the mask here as made in the motif of an ellipses inside a speech bubble... could that perhaps be referencing meta aspects, like the Book?

Next, I want to talk about the even bigger elephant in the room, which to me is the most damning and undeniable piece of evidence there is of the anime operating on a completely separate timeline from the manga:

This Fucking Hand™️

As we all know, in the anime, Fyodor injures his hand when the password input device blows up, and as we all know, this does not happen in the manga. In the last episode, Dazai claims that the final nail in the coffin of his impromptu plan to kill Fyodor relied on this hand injury: because Fyodor couldn't pilot his escape helicopter himself, he would ask one of his Meursault vampires to do it for him, unaware that Bram and thus this vampire was now on the ADA's side, and said vampire could kill him while his guard was down.

Ignoring how utterly stupid and contrived this plan is when you stop and think about it for more than two seconds, the fact of the matter is that something that initially seemed like nothing more than an odd but inconsequential anime original addition ended up snowballing into being the entire reason one of the big bads was brought down. If Fyodor hadn't hurt his hand, he wouldn't have needed another pilot, and so the traitor vampire wouldn't have had an opportunity to get near him and kill him without him expecting it even though said vampire was presumably with him as they were leaving Meursault, and was probably already a traitor by then, so there was plenty opportunity for him to still die. not to mention by Chuuya's hands at literally any time he wanted to, because Chuuya was coherent the whole time. Also there's absolutely no way Dazai could have known exactly what Ranpo would do, no matter how smart he is and how much he trusts him. idk it's fucking dumb, just roll with it. Therefore, putting aside all other variables for now, we can conclude that, on the most basic level, this signifies that no hand wound = no death.

And let me tell you, this hand wound bothers me. It really, really does. Because they focus on it a LOT — they go out of their way to draw attention to it MULTIPLE TIMES, from the moment it first happens to the end of the season. Fyodor even talks about it to himself, about Dazai being able to cause him tangible, visible, bodily harm, (something that, again, as far as we've seen, has never happened in the manga). Hell, even after Fyodor's death, they're still drawing attention to it, because his right arm is all of him that survives, and Dazai picks it up and gives it to Nikolai to do his hilarious sad little gay fondling of it played completely straight even though there's nothing straight going on here at all! It's like it's a big red flashing sign at all times going "you see this injured hand? This is important. Are you picking up that it's important? Are you taking note of it?" Why is that? Obviously, it serves to give us the lore crumbs about Fyodor and "that man", but that's hardly the main, much more glaring reason, as I've already mentioned.

Fyodor doesn't hurt his hand in the manga. Fyodor won't die here in the manga. I am so dead serious by this point about this, and it's not just simply the fact that this was absolutely not at all the time for him to die, or the fact that his hand is the reason for his death in the anime in and of itself, but how much EMPHASIS they place on this, and on the hand in general. What would be the point of adding something like this, if it's not meant to alert us to the fact that it has a major impact on how the story plays out? We all know Bones: they struggle to get right and include everything that's already there in the source material; they would never go out of their way to add something this noteworthy if there wasn't a very good reason for it, if it wasn't absolutely necessary. I've seen a few people bring up the fact that Fyodor gets shot in the shoulder by Sigma and that that could lead to the same outcome in the manga, but I disagree: although he has blood on his shoulder in the manga, it seems like the bullet just grazed the top of it, because his arm and hand appears completely functional afterwards (not hanging limp by his side or anything). But that doesn't even matter, because this isn't even about the semantics/logistics of how the hand wound caused Fyodor's death because again, it's a stupid outcome, or what could serve as a substitute in the manga — thematically, this is a textbook example of the butterfly effect. Countless parallel universes exist within this series, ones where even the most minute differences lead to a majorly different outcome: this just happens to be one of them. There's no reason to think it isn't, and there's no reason to not think that the anime wants us to clue into the fact that things only went as smoothly as they did on the Meursault side because of this wound; in other words, that things will go very differently in the manga thanks to the absence of said wound. They wouldn't have added it in the first place and put such clearly deliberate emphasis on it otherwise.

Things are going to happen very differently in the manga, at least when it comes to the Meursault crew (but then, if you assume that, you then naturally assume it all will be very different). This is the only conclusion one can come to with the presentation of this anime-only wound, combined with the fact that parallel universes are a very real thing in BSD.

I'm going to go on a bit of a tangent, so bear with me. I play a lot of visual novels, and although such concepts aren't really as original now as they were a while ago, some of my favorite and some of the very best VNs out there are the ones that break the fourth wall and make the visual novel branching route format directly intertwined with the story: you know, the ones where the characters go "if only I had done things differently, maybe everything would have turned out better...!" in a wink wink nudge nudge moment, and the ones where the characters are aware of the different timelines, even, or even have the ability to gain information from their selves in said alternate timelines to influence events in their current one (I'm intentionally not naming the games I'm thinking of for the sake of spoilers, but if you know, you know lmao). It gets very meta in this regard, and this is how I started viewing BSD through the lens of ever since I first learned about Beast: like a visual novel with many branching routes, and only a few routes that feel entirely "right".

When I first read Dazai's Entrance Exam, I was struck by how unnerving the ending sequence in the abandoned hospital felt. Obviously, Kunikida's internal struggle over Sasaki's actions and motives is him still desperately clinging to his ideal world that does not exist, but the specific type of phrases he uses — "who is wrong?" "[who is] the cause of all this?" "there has to be an ideal world" "there has to be something, I'm sure of it" "There must have been something we could have done!" — and the framing of the scene in general, is eerily reminiscent of a bad ending in a visual novel, to me. There's a haunting, looming, bleak sense that a different outcome could have been achieved, if different decisions had been made, or if things outside of anyone's control had been different... and we know that this is true, because in Beast alone, Kunikida never goes through the Azure Messenger incident, because Dazai doesn't have his entrance exam. Hell, you could even consider the anime's version of the Azure Messenger arc an alternate timeline in of itself, if you really wanted to, long before we even arrive at season 5.

When it comes to Beast, this timeline has almost the opposite feeling of what I described above, that I've also encountered in visual novels: the idea of a "good route" or "good ending" that still doesn't feel quite earned, or as perfect as one would expect. Beast is presented as the "ideal" timeline purely for one sole reason: Oda is alive. It is the only timeline where he's alive, and keeping Oda alive is the ultimate goal Dazai wants to achieve, the only reason this timeline exists; therefore, disregarding all else, Beast should be the best timeline, because Oda's death is the greatest devastation in the series to date. We all want him to live, so why wouldn't the timeline where he does be the best one? And yet... of course, it isn't. Dazai is alone, and steeped in darkness and loneliness without Oda, and dies by the end of the story for Oda's continued living. Atsushi has Kyouka still, but he's suffering and more traumatized, and unable to heal while stuck in the mafia, and neither can Kyouka. Akutagawa is living a much better life in the ADA... but without his sister, and without what he has from his bond with Atsushi in canon, that isn't replicated in Beast. And Oda... Oda is alive, and he has his children and his novel, but there is a feeling that he is aimless, that something in his life is missing. He has everything he ever wanted, but all that means nothing without what he truly needs: Dazai, and his time with Dazai and Ango at the bar. In this way, things going well and us getting what we want — in this case, Oda living — goes against how it's supposed to be, the natural order, which is why it feels so hollow. In the specific visual novel I'm thinking of here as a comparison (again, shoutout if you know), there's an alternate ending that involves you inputting information you gain at the end of the game very early on in the game, wherein the protagonist now has memories of the future and is able to bypass and prevent all of the events that take place normally. This means that people who die or are hurt somehow in general are saved from that fate, and nothing bad ever occurs; everything wraps up neatly and nicely... but again, there's an undeniable, unsettling feeling of emptiness, of a victory that rings hollow, because what's the point if everything is simply handed to you easily, where's the sense of accomplishment, without any struggles to achieve said victories, or any growth along the way? How can it feel earned if one doesn't have to, in Dazai's words, "scream within the storm of uncertainty, and run with flowing blood"?

You can probably already see where I'm going with this.

This finale feels weird. Really, really weird. It feels too cheap, too simple, too unsatisfying. So much so, in fact, that for almost the entire runtime, as I was bombarded with resolution upon resolution one after another, I kept thinking "There's no way this can be real. Where's the catch? When is the "gotcha!" moment gonna happen? The "it was all a dream" reveal?". And this isn't just because I hated the writing, and that it really did feel like a fever dream watching fanfic levels of bad (actually, that's an insult to fanfic writers, tbh; they could do better) — no, it genuinely feels so incredibly fake. Even upon rewatching it and already knowing what happens, my brain still naturally keeps expecting some kinda of "sike, you THOUGHT!" moment to suddenly appear. It just.... feels "too good to be true". Dazai and Chuuya come out unscathed, and it's revealed that they were never in any real danger to begin with. Fyodor, one of our biggest threats, is dealt with supposedly for good (I say "supposedly" only because of the Jesus line, but if anything imo, I think that's just a hint that this won't be the canon ending in the manga, so in a sense he's going to "come back to life"), and Nikolai seems somewhat at peace with his death. The other biggest threat, Fukuchi, is also dealt with, and he and Fukuzawa get their final moment together of closure. Yes, Sigma is left in Meursault don't even get me started on how angry this alone makes me, and Fukuzawa loses Fukuchi, but overall, everything is portrayed in a positive light, and any negatives or losses are quickly glossed over. Everything is tied up nicely, neatly, and smoothly. ...And that is exactly what makes it feel so wrong, and hard to trust in.

I'm not sure if this will make sense, but to me, the finale is so incredibly poorly written that it almost feels.... intentional. It's so bad to the point of feeling self-aware in how bad it is, how unrealistically happy and convenient an ending it is. It had to end this neatly in order to rush to wrap up this arc for the season finale and not leave the last episode on a cliffhanger — which imo is chiefly the main reason it turned out this way, and, if this whole theory is true, Asagiri just used it to his advantage — and I'm not saying this was probably an effect Bones had in mind intentionally, I'm sure they just threw shit at the wall and went with whatever stuck, maaaaybe with some suggestions/approval from Asagiri, but the result is that you have a conclusion that contradicts so much of what was set up before and goes against so many character arcs, making some characters so out of character and even regressing in their development Dazai. I'm talking about Dazai abandoning Sigma, because he would never; hashtag #NOTMYDAZAI. Also Nikolai, Nikolai for most of that is so ooc I can't even begin to describe it oh my god. Everyone is OOC to a degree though lmao, and opens so many plot holes, to the point that it's impossible not to watch all that and get the feeling that it is subtly saying to you "did you really think it could be this easy? It feels wrong, doesn't it? It doesn't feel satisfying. It feels unearned." I find it incredibly interesting and suspicious in particular that they confirmed multiple theories people had about soukoku in Meursault: that Chuuya slowed the elevator's fall so that Dazai wouldn't die from it, that Chuuya slowed down the bullet so that it only penetrated Dazai's skin and not his skull, and that the both of them used Fyodor's camera angle to their advantage because they knew he wouldn't be able to see certain things from his view. I'm not saying that Asagiri trawled BSD twitter and tumblr after those chapters dropped for the most popular theories before the final episode was made lmao, there was no time for that (imagine though lol—), but I do think it's highly likely that he already had in mind exactly what theories would be made about these parts (I mean, the evidence for the gun scene was all there), and that Dazai rattling them off in his long monologue to Fyodor at the end is essentially him speaking to the audience and going "yeah, that's what you would predict, right? Those are the clichés, after all", much like him suggesting earlier that he can maybe bring Chuuya back to himself with a few moving words and the power of friendship, and Fyodor using the split personalities trope to fool Sigma. We expect these tropes to be true. Of course we'd fall for them, as Fyodor tells Sigma, especially if the evidence is right there. But Asagiri himself has explicitly said that he likes doing the opposite of what people expect. And so just because people predicted correctly with the three things I mentioned in this timeline... doesn't mean they'll be true in the manga's. Things happened how we wanted and expected it to, and everything turned out happily. So we can relax now, right? Everything will work out just as easily in the manga, right? Or... is the reason most of this finale feels so fake and unsettling and unsatisfying because it's meant to lull us into a false sense of security before all our heroes lose in the manga? Because deep down, we don't want an ending that's this simple, because we'd rather have a conclusion where our characters have struggled more and grown more and come out the better for it, and we know it?

After rewatching the episode a lot, and watching some other videos, and doing a lot of thinking, I am pretty confident in suspecting that the only part of this finale that is actually from manga canon, aside from Aya jumping off the building of course, is Fyodor and Nikolai's exchange after Fyodor leaves Meursault — specifically, them talking about Fyodor leaving Sigma behind, and their "new game" and Nikolai being excited at the prospect of it. This little conversation actually feels in character for them, and it's easy to tell this when contrasting it with everything that happens immediately after, wherein Fyodor is fatally stabbed, and Nikolai, completely at odds with what he was just talking about, just... stands there and watches Fyodor die while Dazai monologues lmao. I'm not sure if the helicopter is still a factor, but I would bet good money on Fyolai getting out of Meursault being manga canon, and that Dazai and Chuuya getting out as well and killing Fyodor + everything with FukuFuku, is part of the anime original ending, in order to wrap up everything positively. It makes much more sense if you think about, in reality (aka in the manga), Dazai and Chuuya still being left behind in Meursault (where they can eventually try to get Sigma), because none of it was an act and things did not go according to plan, and Fukuchi having an entirely different goal that doesn't feel so stupid and contradictory to his character, and Fukuzawa possibly dying — everyone seemingly loses, with Aya still being the last hope, perhaps by awakening her ability like we all speculated.

There's a youtuber I watch who covers BSD in-depth, despite being an anime-only (she reads the respective manga content after each season, though). Going into this finale, she knew about the fact that the anime had overtaken the manga, though she didn't know where the cutoff point was; despite that, however, she made predictions about what was from the manga so far and what was anime original, and it was almost entirely spot-on, based mostly on what she basically described as "anime original dialogue." She talked about how you can always tell when dialogue is veering into the realm of anime-original, because the sentences are very short, choppy, and slightly out of character, but generic enough to not be TOO out of character, and so that anyone can easily write said lines, even if they're not extremely familiar with the character like the original author would be. And when I heard this explanation, everything clicked — because so much of this finale has dialogue like that. The Fyolai scenes just feel peppered with it, around the lines I mentioned earlier, the Dazai dialogue does too, and ESPECIALLY shit at the end like Fukuchi and Fukuzawa exchanging the cliche death lines to end all death lines: "Are you there? I'm a little tired." "Rest up." That just isn't Bungou Stray Dogs. That isn't Asagiri. BSD is cheesy at times, yes, but it isn't like this; it's smarter. The dialogue is smarter, the explanations/plot twists are smarter, Asagiri is smarter, and the aforementioned youtuber I watched agreed. She's a pretty casual fan of the series, so if even she could pick up on these things, I think it speaks volumes.

I mentioned this briefly earlier, but this theory makes sense if you consider that this situation probably came about because of Bones wanting two seasons back-to-back when they did, and this arc being as long as it is. Season 3 aired in 2019, and I imagine Bones would have wanted season 4 in 2020, and might have then been willing to wait a bit longer for season 5 in order for more of this arc's manga chapters to come out — but then covid happened. Because of that, season 4 was delayed to 2023, creating the longest gap we've had between seasons, and I wouldn't at all be surprised if the delay made them want season 5 right together with it, after getting so far "behind", so to speak. S4 was announced in November of 2021, and roughly around that time, Asagiri was finishing up writing the plot of the DoA arc. If Bones came to him sometime in late 2021 and said they wanted two seasons now (so basically, one giant two cour season), Asagiri would know that not only of course would this arc not be finished publishing in the manga for a very long time yet, but that roughly 20ish episodes would not be enough to cover it all to the end, with this arc being longer than any arc the anime has adapted to date. Because of all this, and the arc manga chapters being nowhere near fully drawn to completion, he'd have to make a decision about what to do, and what to give Bones. Without ending season 5 on a massive cliffhanger that wouldn't be resolved for years until an eventual season 6, the only other option would be to rush towards an anime-original ending for the DoA arc.... and for Asagiri to take advantage of that, and integrate it into BSD's lore. Thereby creating a truly unique cross-media experience that utilizes the different mediums to create multiple timelines, that could make both the anime and manga interact with each other and become part of a bigger picture (not that you'd need to see both to get the full experience, mind you, just that it'd provide a little bonus if you did).... and would without a doubt be Asagiri's biggest surprise yet.

...I feel like at this point I'm starting to ramble, and my evidence become more and more incoherent and less substantial lmao, so I should probably end this post. 💀 Thank you if you've read this far, and hopefully it made some semblance of sense, despite not being structured very well; I know I promised at the start to try to be as objective as possible and curb my negative feelings, but I'm not sure how well I succeeded in that regard. If it weren't for the Fukuchi thing and the Fyodor hand thing, I probably wouldn't take how wrong and strange and bad the finale feels to me as serious evidence about it being an alternate timeline, especially since I seem to be one of the only people who actually hates all of it.... but combined with everything else, I am just so convinced of this theory being true. It started off as pure copium, but as more time has gone on, I fully, 100% believe in my bones (ha) that there is no way that finale is the same Bungou Stray Dogs I know and love, for so many reasons. It just isn't. It can't be. I know BSD better than this, I know Asagiri better than this, and I know that it's absolutely in the realm of possibility for him to cook up this whole scheme to completely blindside us with in the upcoming chapters, because that's exactly the kind of shit Mr. "Please Be Surprised!" himself would pull. If I end up being completely wrong, I guess I'm wrong, and you can laugh at me all you want then.... but I just know that ages ago people were teasing the idea of the anime operating on a different timeline from the manga, and I truly do think that only now are we finally seeing that idea come to fruition, as a setup for Asagiri going full-bore insanity with the Book in the upcoming arc(s). if I and the OP of that theory end up right, this will be the wildest time in the BSD fandom's history.

Like. I cannot even emphasize how hard they are trolling us at this point. Something is going on. Something is being cooked over there, the likes of which we've never seen before... and I don't think any of us are ready for it.

Oh yeah, and one last thing of note: both Fyodor and Nikolai here have their right arms hidden from view. Is that alluding to anything? I'm not sure. I also think that since chapter 110 was so short, next chapter will likely be 110.5 instead of 111, and if that's the case, this title spread could still technically be associated with the next chapter... wherein we might see this Fukuchi, who ends up wreaking havoc, right before he jumps to the timeline in the anime, as we see him at the end of the s5 finale.

I guess we'll find out on Tuesday.

#bungou stray dogs #meta #bsd season 5 #bsd s5 spoilers #alternatively titled 'when you copium so hard out of stewing in your denial anger and grief that it becomes reality'#is it still copium if there's strong evidence for it? idk #i DON'T know what i'll do if the stuff in this finale ends up being canon :))) make no mistake about that #but until the very moment the schrödinger's cat box is opened and i am forced to acknowledge it with my own two eyes in chapter 111/110.5 #i am choosing to stay calm and rational and look at things with a sound mind... and acknowledge all the signs that are there #of which there are so many #Asagiri is a troll. he has always been a troll and this is more evident than ever lately #and he would know that everyone who watched the finale would take it at face value #never expecting it to go completely differently in the manga #and he's so much smarter than what was in that finale. he would never write those things. i would stake my life on it.#i don't care how many flaws BSD does have that i do acknowledge; he is a good writer in so many ways and he is so much better than /that/#i could fill an entire BOOK (ha ha) with all of the reasons why this finale does not work. seriously it is a never-ending can of worms #of ooc characterizations and plot holes and abandoned threads and straight up CONTRADICTIONS with what has been stated before in the arc #with fukuchi's motivations and presentation; with things that were happening in meursault; just.... so much illogical shit in general #THE MACHINE HEALED THEIR WOUNDS??? ARE YOU FOR REAL????#*sigh* but i said i wasn't gonna rant alskdjgfkdls #tbh though the only REAL thing i need to know that the finale was anime only was what the youtuber i watch pointed out:#that Bram magically regenerated all his clothes. because if it were Asagiri Bram would be naked from the shoulders down fjdkslsaskd #...anyway. This theory is real and true. I am manifesting it into existence 🙏🙏🙏#Asagiri my man...... you have never let me down yet in all the years I've known your series. Please don't let me down now.#I'm trusting in you more than ever right now...... and your ability to blow all our minds in the best possible way #(guys i'm really really really scared deep down; please hold me hahaha ahahahahaaaa- *cries*)#this would the coolest thing in the history of ever though if it happened though. I am SO EXCITED FOR THE POSSIBILITY!!!!!#ASAGIRI YOU SICK AND TWISTED MF; HOW DARE YOU MAKE ME BEG FOR MY FAVES TO SUFFER JUST SO THAT THIS BAD WRITING DOESN'T BECOME REALITY!!!!!!#he knows exactly what he's doing *SCREAMS* :))))))))

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geekgirles · 2 years

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So we're going the Feligami route, huh?

Disclaimer: I am well aware of the contents of the leaks. However, I will not discuss them in my posts out of respect for my fellow Miraculers that wish not to be spoiled. So, please, if you read this and are aware of the spoilers as well, refrain from discussing them. At the very least don’t do it on the notes. Please and thank you.

Before I say anything else, I want to first make it clear that this is in no way meant as an attack towards Feligami shippers. Just because I don't share your enthusiasm for the ship doesn't mean I'm going to declare war on its supporters. I just...I just need to get this out of my chest. Because I have so many feelings, and thoughts, and opinions regarding these two as a couple and its execution...and not necessarily of the good kind.

You might be thinking my main beef with Kagami and Félix dating may come from the fact that, morals aside, these two are too similar.

Both are intelligent, capable, well-educated kids from rich families who at first glance have a more dignified and serious vibe going on as opposed to Adrien's more laid-back rich kid energy. A perfectly crafted image of elegance and aloofness that underlies strong emotions, a mischievous side, and a warm heart (which in Félix's case sort of contradicts his gremlin child personality from previous seasons, but that's a topic for another day).

However, while that does play a part in my disinterest in the ship, it is actually the least of my concerns.

So please let me explain why I just can't help but roll my eyes at this development:

1. It's rushed and feels forced:

Leaving aside the obvious reality that it is that Félix has only been featured in 7 episodes in the entirety of the show (with his Multiplication appearance being important but minor), there is also the fact that these two have interacted thrice in all that time.

With their first interaction back in Gabriel Agreste being reduced to giving a side-glance to each other. And not even a friendly one.

Truly, they are soulmates...

Now, the irony doesn’t escape me regarding the fact that some of the Love Square issues come precisely from the fact that it’s taken them too long for Adrienette to be canon. One of my personal issues with Feligami happens to be that their relationship came a tad too soon.

Can you please explain to me how do we go from “I begrudgingly acknowledge your existence” to “I can’t stop thinking about you”? I’m sorry, but that is too much of a shoujo manga cliché even for Miraculous.

Mainly because that was basically the kind of dynamic Marinette would have had with Félix had he remained Chat Noir and Astruc, being cognizant of this fact, chose to scrap him because of that.

Because at least Marinette crushing on Adrien after thinking he was a jerk comes from the fact that he went out of his way to apologise to her, make amends, and show he is truly kind at heart. Feligami just comes out of nowhere.

Moreover, their current relationship status also feels forced due to their previous interactions. I’m sorry, but let’s face it, nobody in their right mind would think falling for or even trusting Félix/Argos is a good idea.

If my memory doesn’t fail me, in Multiplication Ladybug and Chat Noir declared Félix as a public enemy due to willingly betraying them and allying himself with Shadow Moth, which directly resulted in him getting the miraculouses and becoming Monarch. (I could be mistaken on this one, though)

And as former miraculous holder, someone who is aware of the fact that the power is granted by sentient beings whose fates are unknown to them, there is just no way Kagami would come to even consider trusting Argos.

And don’t try to bring her friendship with Lila up because at least there she has the excuse of not being aware of the full extent of Lila’s maliciousness and manipulations. In Félix’s case, she is 100% aware of what he’s capable of.

Hell, he literally snapped her loved ones out of existence! And regardless of how terrible Tomoe is, she is still Kagami’s mother and she loves her. Just how she adores Marinette who, to her knowledge, Félix almost killed for real.

And you expect me to believe she would just move past that? Please, don’t insult me like that.

As much as I love my girl Kagami, there really isn’t enough content between these two to justify either of them falling for the other.

Which sort of leads us to my next point...

2. The implications behind the ship:

There are a lot of unfortunate implications between their interactions. The kind that makes this pairing becoming canon very questionable because it just wouldn’t bode well in any long-term relationship, let alone a real one. And this actually comes from both sides.

But let’s start with Félix, okay?

Ah, yes. The ring close-up.

What was originally meant as a “mere” confirmation of the fact that Kagami is most likely a sentimonster as well (a shock in itself if you didn’t buy the Sentimonster Theory), has the unfortunate side effect of implying the main, or even sole, reason Félix ever developed a crush on her is because the two are sentimonsters...and that’s it.

Which is a terrible thing to base an entirely relationship on, because it would mean that Félix isn’t in love with Kagami as her own person. Because, quite frankly, he barely knows her to really come to appreciate her as such. But rather, his interest is born from the fact that the two are one and the same.

It just reads as Félix being desperate for companionship, instead of actively looking for Kagami’s companionship.

And speaking of things that just don’t bode well...Kagami’s side in all of this isn’t much better.

Ever since she was first introduced as Adrien’s potential alternative love interest, or more accurately, ever since Frozer, Kagami has made it a point to let Adrien know she wishes he were more proactive and assertive, which sort of culminated with that harsh phone call from Risk.

And would you look at that!

Aside from his more manipulative side, being more proactive and assertive than Adrien sort of is Félix’s deal! Looks like Kagami finally found her match after all...

Sigh...

All that would be fine and dandy if it weren’t for the fact that all of season 5 so far, and especially Protection, have shown Adrien finally taking measures to try and be more in control of his life. Which good for him! We all know he needed the character development. Unfortunately this also comes with the canon fact that his new personality also reignited the flame of Kagami’s love for him. Which, again, was the main conflict in Protection:

Kagami trying to keep her own growing feelings and jealousy in check now that Adrien and Marinette are an item.

And where does this leave Feligami at?

Well, coupled with the fact that for some weird reason the Fathoms and Agrestes couldn’t be bothered to give their children individual looks, that is to say, that Félix is a carbon copy of Adrien and that Kagami was once again in love with him (Adrien) because he was finally turning into the kind of person she always dreamed he would be...let’s just say it all feels as if Kagami is projecting her feelings for Adrien onto Félix, rather than learning to love him for who he is.

And that is just not fair for either character. Because it feels as if neither Félix or Kagami are being loved for who they truly are, but for what the other wants them to be. Which is the wrong approach to any relationship.

4. Kagami deserves a girlfriend

5. Even though my previous point is (half) meant as a joke, given what’s happened in Pretension it still holds a certain weight. Mainly because what ultimately seems to endear Félix to Kagami is the fact that some of his mannerisms remind her of Marinette.

I'm not making this up. Félix suddenly acting like a mess around Kagami could not be any more of an obvious parallel to Marinette's own bouts of nervousness around Adrien throughout the show.

Let’s that sink in for a minute, okay?

You’re telling me, Kagami for the most part is justifiably and understandibly hostile towards Félix, but the moment he starts acting like Marinette her whole demeanour softens? You say that she cares for Marinette so much that anything that resembles her becomes an immediate soft spot for Kagami?? And I’m supposed to believe she’s falling for Félix instead of getting deadass gayer for Marinette each passing episode????

Now, if that’s not a comphet narrative when I see it...

Which, combined with my previous point about Kagami projecting her feelings for Adrien onto Félix, only gives further credibility to the popular “fanon” idea that Kagami is bi. Now, if you could just let her meet some nice girl from her fencing class and let her explore that side of herself in peace instead of forcing her into a nonsensical relationship, that’d be great.

6. It just reinforces the show’s blatant amatonormativity

Believe it or not, this is actually my main beef with the pairing. This is what makes me grit my teeth and roll my eyes in annoyance.

I get it, I get it.

“Miraculous takes a lot of inspiration from rom-coms”, “it’s a show based on magical girls; of course romance is important!”, “the Love Square is one of its main pillars, what did you expect?”

I know.

However, and I cannot stress this enough, you do not need to be in a romantic relationship to be happy and fulfilled. Not only because of the existence of these wonderful groups of people called aromantics and aroace people, but even the most straight, cisgendered, hopeless romantic can be perfectly content single.

Also, being in a relationship is just not something Kagami and Félix’s characters need. But the writers insist that being romantically involved with someone is the only viable happy ending for anyone.

In Kagami’s case, in my humble opinion, taking control of her life from her controlling and strict mother while working on building stronger platonic relationships with her friends would be a very satisfying way to conclude her character arc. Because as touching as it was to see everyone assuring Kagami that they love her in Perfection, aside from Marinette and Adrien the only person her age she’s been interacting with is Lila.

Not exactly the image of honesty and genuine support one would expect in a friendship, huh?

Maybe it’s just me, but seeing the once lonely and socially awkwad Kagami aurrounded by people she’s actually friends with rather than kids that hang out with her by association (that is to say, they are either Mari or Adrien’s friends too and that day they just happen to be all together) would feel like we’ve come full circle.

From the aloof and lonely girl that is only focused on being the best and making her family proud we met in Riposte...

...to the warm and happy girl who greatly values her social circle she’s slowly been turning into.

And as for Félix...

Well, truth be told, the show hasn’t really given us much to work with. But maybe a happy ending for him would be if aside from finally being free like he wants to be, he rekindles his relationship with Adrien. If the two really were close in the past, then it would be a pity to lose that.

But no.

Instead, the show just has to reinforce the idea that the only way you can possibly be happy is by being in a romantic relationship. Never mind if they have neglected that subplot for so long it just comes completely out of the blue and feels unearned.

I love Miraculous, I love the Love Square, and I am a shipper first and a person second, but this is ridiculous and a huge disservice to all parties involved.

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tyrantisterror · 2 years

Photo

Ok so I bought the first volume of Witch Hat Atelier simply because I’ve seen some images from it here on the tumbles and the artwork looked gorgeous. I had no idea what the story was going to be about, but $10 for a book of pretty art didn’t seem like a bad gamble, and I’m on the record as being a fan of the way manga and anime tends to adapt Medieval European fantasy setting tropes.

I mean, look at the cool take it has on pegasi.

And the first volume gives us a peek at a dragon too!

But now that I’ve read the first volume, I’m happy to say there’s more to it than just pretty art. It’s got a very solid hook, really endearing characters, and that wonderful mix of whimsy and genuine, sometimes terrifying stakes that I think marks really good fantasy fiction.

I also think this needs to be added to people’s consideration when looking to Herbie Porter alternatives. It’s about young witches learning how to do witchcraft, although in a more medieval-esque apprenticeship setting (four students to a teacher, a much more reasonable class size), and it manages to have the wish fulfillment of a seemingly normal kid being whisked off to a world of magic to become a spellcaster - only in this case, it’s not because she was secretly born special, but because she discovers that the idea that you have to be born a witch is actually a lie, supposedly perpetuated to keep people from abusing witchcraft (though even in the first volume I feel there are signs it’s more complicated than that).

It also has a really interesting magic system, emphasizing the “craft” in witchcraft, as spells have to be drawn into existence, with the quality of the drawing affecting how they come out.

And I can’t emphasize enough how endearing the characters are! And diverse too, for that matter. Really can’t recommend it enough! I’m going to try and grab more volumes come my next paycheck.

#Witch Hat Atelier

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animehouse-moe · 1 year

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The Iceberg of Online Manga - A Reading List and Print Wishlist

We get a lot of manga in English, but that's only the tip of the iceberg. We get a hell of a lot of fan translated manga, but even that doesn't cover the whole thing. Separated by language and culture, the "untapped" potential of manga is foreign to a lot of readers, myself included really. But it's because of that deficiency that I decided to start taking a look at interesting fan translated titles to find series to recommend to publishers (and potentially read), so this is a sneak peek into my ever-growing list.

It's also an open request for people to share their favorites from the online manga sphere! As a single person it's impossible to find all the hidden gems, so being able to share titles between one another can really help widen horizons.

Sui and Neri of the Twilight Planet / Tasogare-Boshi No Sui To Neri

In a way, it reminds me of Girls Last Tour, a sunsetting planet that explores the oddity of a du in their life. Not quite as bittersweet or contemplative through what I've seen so far, but still very pretty and detailed. Lots and lots of hand drawn background art, and some really good layouts and paneling.

Poison Poison Forest Forest /Doku Doku Mori Mori

Mushroom on Mushroom violence, with a healthy side of grim visuals. It's got all the punch you could expect, and has a pretty novel approach to what you could consider a revenge story. Still early on so not a mountain of stuff to go off of, but at the very least what there is is good.

Captain Momo's Secret Base / Momo Kanchou No Himitsu Kichi

Tsuruta Kenji, the mastermind behind the art of Emanon (and other series), need I really say more? Regardless, with Tsuruta's art behind a lighthearted and curious series of a woman travelling through space alone with a cat, it's an undeniably enjoyable ride. Though do be warned, there is quite a bit of nudity featured as Momo prefers going commando to wearing clothes.

Every Every Night / Yona Yona Yona

An incredibly strikingly designed robin hood-esque story, Yona and her crew go on nightly missions to try and steal back art that was originally stolen by a corrupt police force. Creative, expressive, fun, and impressively detailed and unique, it's got quite a bit of potential!

The Feared Witch of Tasihou / Taishou Kitan Majo

Mixing the Western practices of Witchcraft with a Taishou-era Japan setting? A cultural combination that I'm truthfully surprised we haven't really seen yet. Add onto that the incredibly unique and sketch-like art style (and the wonderful color pages) and it's just a super easy pickup.

Welcome to Hotel Metsäpeura / Hotel Metsäpeura e Youkoso

A little hard to explain succinctly, but this is the story of a trio, two men and a teenager who they find standing outside their hotel in the Finnish wilderness in the middle of Winter. Characters with... interesting pasts, it's a story about providing not just a house, but a home to this young boy on his own.

The Ends of A Dream / Yume no Hashibashi

This is one that I'm really quite desperate to get in print. It's an emotional story of a pair as they retrace their forbidden romance through the years that have evaded them as they reach the end of their lives. A painfully beautiful concept that I really hope to see licensed someday.

Will You Clean This For Me? / Kirei Ni Shitemoraemasuka

Alright, something a little more light and fun! A story of a laundry (though it's really sorta general cleaning) shop as they go about their daily life, even offering a few tips and tricks to better cleaning things. Simple idea that has some pretty clear care put into it, and is just the right thing to relax with.

Amber Days and Golden Nights / Kohaku no Yume de Yoimashou

Let's keep the good vibes rolling! Another specific interest series, this time about craft beer. Kenzaki Nana's a burnt out employee at a Kyoto advertising firm, but happens to stumble across the Shirokuma bar. With just one night she ends up pulled into the world of craft beer, and our story begins! Very fun and light, and a really cool area to see explored by manga.

The Dragon, The Hero, and The Courier / Ryuu to Yuusha to Haitatsunin

Nothing like some good old comedy at the expense of someone else. Yoshida, a half elf, is a mail carrier for the Imperial City of Idazig that will deliver mail to anyone, anywhere. With the breadth of fantasy and middle-ages history expressed early on, there's a lot of creative potential for humor alongside the really wonderfully scratchy and sharp art.

Deep Sea Aquarium Magmell / Magmell Shinkai Suizokukan

My friend Phantom would kill me if this wasn't on the list. Anyways, it's a series about a deep sea aquarium employee in Tokyo. Very cool, very informal, and incredibly beautiful. I love how much they work with blacks and darkness in the art.

A Coffee Shop in the Unwaking Town / Samenai Machi no Kissaten

I love stories that are incredibly odd and quiet, and this is no exception. Suzume one day finds herself unable to wake up, stuck in the unwaking town Lutetia. It's in this town that she works at the coffee shop known as 'Quatre'. From the moment I laid eyes on it I knew I'd enjoy it, a unique concept paired with standout art, it has such a comfortable feeling to its experience (as well as offering a few recipes).

Living In an Antiquarian Bookstore of The Karakida Family / Karakida-ke no Kosho Gurashi

A simple story about three girls inheriting their grandfather's shop in the heart of the largest collection of used bookstores, Kanda-Jinbouchou. A very calm and borderline mundane story that is supplemented with some truly beautiful art.

And that's all this list has in it for now! Of course I've got more I can chat about, but I thought these to be the most promising in my perusing of the internet. Best of all though? All of these are available (to some degree) on MangaDex! If you want to give them a shot they're there. And really, do feel free to add to this list with your own online finds, I'd love to find all sorts of unique and creative manga that we don't get to hear about in the English sphere!

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fum1ku · 3 months

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Hiii! I really liked your recent matchup requests and I'd love to get in the mix 🥹 (I also love that you're a fan of Daichi bc he's literally my fave and I don't see enough about him ANYWHERE!😭)

Hobbies/interests- I'm a huge sports girl! I played tennis competitively in high school and for a year in college. I started playing pickleball this year due to my shoulder injury (it's easier than tennis >.<). I also go to the gym regularly, play basketball, and dabble in volleyball when I get the chance :3 I LOVE arts and crafts! Something about the precision aspect of cutting things is pure bliss for me 🥹 I make my own thank you cards for people, cut photos, decorate photocard holders, and paint! Another thing I enjoy is reading :3 Although I don't get much time to do so, it's still something that always helps me relax and touch base with myself. I'm currently reading the JJK manga and Haikyuu (post-Dumpster Battle)! But my main genre is psychological thrillers/murder mysteries :3

Details about personality- I consider myself a very honest, compassionate, communicative, and responsible person. I say it how it is but I also consider the person's feelings immensely. I always consider what the person wants or needs during that time. If they want to rant, I'd gladly listen to them and create a safe space to do so. If they want advice, I'd gladly tell it to them straight. I also seek to understand people as much as possible, and as long as they're willing to share. I'm always trying to better myself and I take pride in getting therapy services every year since I'm not afraid to admit when I'm having a hard time in life. I allow therapy to guide me into moving forward in life, maturing, and learning more about how to take care of myself. On a less serious note, I'm also a pretty energetic person who LOVES to laugh and always embarrasses herself in public 🥲 all to the point where I rarely feel embarrassed because it's so normal for me LOL. I DEFINITELY, absolutely, positively see myself joining in with Bokuto when he says "HEY HEY HEEEY!!!" cheering is contagious for me 🥲 and you can definitely see me on the dance floor at celebrations rocking to some good music 😎 I also will be having High School Musical songs play at my future wedding 😌👌🏻

MBTI, zodiac, etc.- My MBTI is ENFJ! My Sun is in Virgo, Moon in Cancer, and Rising in Capricorn hehehe. Honorable mentions: my Venus (planet of love) is in Leo and my Mercury (communication) is in Libra! As for love languages, my main is words of affirmation, then it would be quality time! Gift giving/receiving is a strong third ☺️

Goals/ambitions/plans for the future- My goal is to become a physical therapist! :) I'll be going to grad school soon enough! I've always liked the idea of being a teacher but my heart belongs with being a physical therapist. However, I do plan to look into being a lecturer one day! Outside of school, I actually want to find a really good, solid husband to continue my life with ☺️ I've always pictured myself having a life partner, but ykw, it be slim pickin's out there LOL! 🥲 I've always wanted children, at least 3, but in this economy??? We'll see. 🥲 I appreciate the idea of being a mother someday. I consider adoption or surrogacy as a viable option because I'm afraid of any health problems I may run into if I were to get pregnant (I'm a bit susceptible to health conditions). But I am open to experiencing pregnancy at least once, just so I don't rule out any options ☝🏻 I'm a family girl, I'm a mom to all, what can I say :')

Likes/dislikes- I like bread. A lot. My favorite food is sandwiches because of the versatility :3 I LOVE chips, fave snack hehehe I'm also someone who always likes to try something new! Even if I go to the same place, I'll almost always try something new (unless I'm craving some comfort food hehe). I dabble in cooking :3 I'm trying to get better tho >.< But I thoroughly enjoy it regardless! I love watching movies!!! I even had an AMC movie subscription last summer and watched 32 movies in 3 months!!! My favorite genres are comedies, rom-coms, and horror/thriller! I also really like stickers 🥹 my current obsessions are deco stickers for my photocard holders and super cute anime stickers! I usually go to in-person events so I can support independent artists >.< They're literally the best! As for dislikes, I don't like rude people with a bad attitude. Working in healthcare, it occurs more often than I'd like, but even in the real world it seems like it really kills people to be kind 🥲

Age range- I'm 22 turning on 23 soon hehe I'd love to be matched up with any of the characters post-timeskip!

Physical description of self- Lil Asian girl with mid-length hair, which I mostly have tied up or in a bun >.< I'm 158cm (5'2) with an athletic build (but still got some stomach cushioning :3), toned arms and legs, nice 🍑 (??? my mom calls me JLo 🥲🥹). And I wear athleisure day to day and sophisticated clothing for special events! My long, black slit dress with my 4.5" heels is an outfit that can't be beat 👌🏻😤😌 ya girl got ✨duality✨

Type when it comes to dating/what you look for in a person- I'm looking for someone who WANTS to take care of me. After watching JJK and falling in love with Nanami, I definitely need a man who can take care of a strong woman (this includes Daichi too 😩). I'm completely capable of taking care of myself, I have my whole life, but I'd definitely appreciate someone who WANTS to support me, love me, cook for me, and take care of responsibilities when I'm overwhelmed. This goes both ways. I know I'm able to provide that to anyone I end up loving. Communication is huge for me as well. They need to be good at setting, voicing, and respecting boundaries. Respectful is a must 😌. Gentleman is much appreciated 😌. And someone who can also make me laugh! Bc at the end of the day, we all gotta laugh at something 😂😭 I would also love someone who creates a safe space for me to be myself and vulnerable. I want someone who's not afraid of emotions. I like to voice my concerns and I would hate it if I were with someone dismissive and unable to empathize with me. Someone who takes action- not just saying they will make adjustments but actually shows they're making those changes. Someone who seeks to understand. In turn, I'll do all of those for them to the best of my abilities <3

Anything else to include!- I'm the youngest of 3 girls! I graduated college early, not because I'm super smart but because I work really hard 🫡 A Disney princess I'm most similar to is Tiana! I also go to Disneyland a lot! I even went to Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea this year!!! My favorite movie has GOT TO BE: White Chicks!!! I know too many lines from there hehehehe. Some fun facts: I can say the alphabet backwards in under 4 seconds :3, I was able to solve a rubrik's cube in a minute flat (I average around 1:25), and I can flip a cup with my butt 🍑👀

P.S. Thank you for doing this 🥹🥺 I mean it when I say I really love and appreciate your writing. Never stop with the Daichi content 😭✊🏻 brutha needs more love 🥺👑❤️ AND SO DO YOU!!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️👑

-> LAID-BACKCAMP’S MATCHUP

Hello!! I’m so SO glad you love & appreciate my writing. It means the absolute WORLD to me, so thank you 🤍

I also promise I will never stop writing Daichi content because I he’s one of my absolute favorites & I really believe he deserves more love as a character!

As for your matchup, I felt Daichi just checked off all the boxes. I did have a few others in mind, but he just immediately popped into my head while reading your matchup & it felt too perfect to not be him. I also think your extra fun facts are so funny—they had me laughing on my couch while writing your matchup!! I hope you enjoy and thank you so much for your request <3

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seeingteacupsindragons · 2 years

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A long time ago now, there was a fair amount of kerfuffle on twitter about “Do you have to read in order to be able to write?” I saw a lot of takes that there were other ways to learn craft.

And there are. But I’m still going to argue that you almost have to be exposed to the medium you’re creating in to be good at it (if you don’t want to be good at it, that’s cool, too, have fun!). You have to expose yourself to it, observe it, engage in it. That specific medium. Not others.

There are lots of ways to learn the craft of storytelling. Anime, manga, comic books, webcomics, graphic novels, comic strips, movies, live action TV, cartoons, short films, poetry, screenplays, stage plays (both on the page and on the stage), opera, ballet, music, newsreels, creative nonfiction, podcasts, video games, tabletop gaming, role plays, let’s plays…the list is basically endless, and they all teach various elements of storytelling.

And a lot of them overlap! You can definitely get inspiration for your novel from anime and movies and podcasts. There are still character ideas and worldbuilding concepts and structure you can gather from them.

But if you’re trying to write prose fiction, you need to learn how to express those ideas in prose fiction. And the only way to do that is by…reading and studying prose fiction.

There used to be a Thing in a lot of fanfiction that characters would “sweat-drop.” This was pretty obviously taken from anime and manga, where the little raindrop marker on a character’s head indicates…oh, I would say the closest word is probably usually chagrin. And that works in anime and manga!

It…kind of doesn’t work in prose fiction. It looks weird, only means something to a very limited subset of people, and it’s just kinda awkward. There’s other ways in prose to indicate that emotion, but it’s not described in manga the way it will be in prose, because manga isn’t prose.

If you’re watching a movie and the leitmotif starts playing in a minor key, you start anticipating something tragic will happen. It brings out mournfulness and anticipation and fear, oftentimes. But in a novel, if a character says, “It was as if minor chords started playing,” …grief isn’t really the feeling a reader gets. In prose, that same concept reads as cheeky and genre-aware and leaning on the fourth wall. It’s amusing, and even if it tells readers to anticipate a certain thing, they aren’t going to be in the same mood as they will be from hearing it. It just doesn’t translate that way.

There are other ways in prose fiction to built mournfulness and fear. And you won’t learn what they are if you don’t read it.

I had some classmates, back when I was taking a screenwriting class, who you could tell were prose fiction writers and not great at adapting to the new format, probably because they were so new to it and hadn’t ever even really read it. So we would get stage directions that would read like, “Tonkan script covers the pillar in the center of the room. The Tonkan people haven’t been seen in a thousand years and their language was lost long ago. They’re mainly known for their weaponry left behind in their ruins…”

And that’s…great, for prose fiction (it’s not because I came up with it in a minute and don’t care about it). But in screenwriting? None of that means anything and it’s a useless dump of info in the screenwriting. In screenwriting, that usually looks more like, “Tonkan script, a lost language made of sharp angles and edges, mostly squares and rectangles, covers the pillar in the center of the room. A camera pans over it. SEAN’s eyes widen at the sight.” Because that actually indicates what’s going to be on screen in the movie. That includes the relevant details to the format. The former? Not so much.

And finding time for reading can be really hard. I get that. I don’t read as much as I’d like to, either.

But it’s critical, to learn a craft, to actually engage with that craft. It has its own unique methods and techniques and secrets that you have to know to produce it well.

Maybe it’s frustrating. But creating well is hard sometimes! It’s a still that takes a lot of time and effort! It should be appreciated.

#writing

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bluebunnyears-08 · 2 years

Note

“Man, you just keep on having good ideas! We need to have more interactions between Rusty and Nine.” < -- Hello! It’s me again, the really descriptive prompter who keeps asking you to post stuff on “An Archive Of Our Own.” (You could probably call me “Mr. Archive Guy,” if you want!)

First, I want to say you did an outstanding job with “The Fox And The Robot.” I loved all your descriptions of Rusty, and the deeper insight into Nine’s head as he was listening to her try and convince him to help her! Very well done, a truly great read!

Second: I’ve come up with another one. In contrast to all my earlier prompts, which delved into some fairly dark territory, I mean for this next one to be much more lighthearted, with some heartwarming bits mixed in.

I call this one “A Mangey Tale”

So here’s the setup: it’s Episode 6. Nine has just gotten Sonic into his trans-dimensional spaceship, pulling him away from the battle currently underway between the evil Doctors and the Rebels in New Yoke City. The ship is flying through Shatterspace, heading towards the Grim. Nine turns around in midflight, and asks Sonic where he’s been this whole time.

Now it’s ‘canon’ that in the process of Sonic detailing his adventures in the Boscage Maze, Nine was told about Mangey. But then I got to thinking: what must that have been *LIKE* for Nine? To learn all about a ‘variant’ of himself that’s almost completely feral?

++++++++

So for starters: as soon as Nine gets Sonic to start talking about the Boscage Maze, he becomes TOTALLY invested in telling the story instead of urging Nine to turn the ship around so he can go help the rebels.

Soon enough, Sonic gets to the part where he first meets the Scavengers. He basically says, “I met a primitive, tribal version of Knu… er… Renegade Knucks, a primitive, tribal version of Rebel… there was even a primitive, tribal, version of you, Nine…”

And Nine says, “A primitive version of *me,* huh?”

Then Nine momentarily closes his eyes, and he indulges in the “Imagine Spot” trope. Although it lasts a quick second in real-time, we’re given a peek straight into Nine’s imagination, where he’s now envisioning an idealized (albeit in a primitive jungle setting) version of himself.

Here, he is basically Senki Ishigama from the manga/anime “Dr. Stone.” Which is to say: a super-scientist, who is also the leader of a primitive tribe. “Chief Nine” is able to craft all sorts of amazing wonder technology using just twigs, flint, and some coconuts. And although these lunkheaded primitives he leads are decidedly undeserving of it, ‘Chief Nine” has nonetheless deigned to take pity on these slack-jawed jungle dwellers and guide them with his superior intellect and inventive genius.

In the “real world,” Nine opens his eyes and basically says, “This version of me was the chief of the knuckleheaded tribe, right?”

And Sonic says, “Uh, no. No he was NOT.”

This is where things start to really get silly. Sonic’s story completely goes off-track as Nine asks question after question about Mangey… liking absolutely NONE of the answers that the blue hedgehog gives about his Boscage Maze variant.

He’s appalled to hear that this variant of him walks around on all fours. Disgusted that he barely talks and mostly communicates in doggish growls. Upset that Mangey attacked Sonic right after Sonic saved his life. Hates that his name IS “Mangey.” On and on and on! (You could potentially have a LOT of fun with this, Bluebunnyears!)

With an ever-growing sense of morbid fascination, Nine keeps asking Sonic questions about Mangey, desperate to find some “silver lining” about this jungle-version of him that he can take pride in. In the end, it culminates in Nine crying out:

“At least tell me he was HOUSETRAINED!”

And Sonic shrugs his shoulders. “Well, the Scavengers didn’t exactly HAVE houses in that jungle they lived in…”

Then Sonic asks Nine if he can finally get back to the story he was trying to tell instead of focusing just on Mangey. Nine (now completely disgusted to be even remotely associated with the jungle boy,) grumpily and sullenly mutters “Yes.”

So Sonic does.

When Sonic gets to the part about how he showed Mangey how he was capable of flying, and describes the feral boy’s happy laughter as he helicoptered through the air for the very first time… it deeply touches Nine’s heart. Inwardly, Nine wonders to himself whether Sonic has some kind of genetic predisposition to always do extra-nice things for two-tailed foxes.

Then Sonic interrupts his own story, to comment, (along the lines of,) “You know, as far as Mangey goes, it really is a shame I didn’t have you along with me on this adventure, Nine. You probably could’ve taught Mangey a lot!”

“Me? Teach?” Nine scoffs. “I don’t have the patience to be a teacher for normal people, much less for Mangey the Monkey-Fox-Boy!”

“I think that probably just watching you in action might’ve been enough.”

Sonic reaches forward and pats Nine on the back as he says this.

“Seeing how brave and fearless you are when you fight might’ve inspired Mangey to develop more courage. Seeing how smart you are might’ve encouraged him to learn more. Seeing how helpful you always are to me, how you’ve always got my back… maybe that might’ve gotten him to fight less with his own friends. At least, I’d like to think so.”

Hearing all this puts a very warm, fuzzy feeling in Nine’s heart. He takes a hand off the steering wheel, reaches behind, and pats the hand Sonic’s placed on his shoulder.

“And, hey, I’m really sorry I got separated from you, Nine. Especially for such a long time.”

“Not your fault, Sonic.” Nine looks forward, in the direction of his destination: The Grim. “Soon enough, separation will never be a problem for us again.”

“Huh?”

“I’ll explain in just a little bit. Why don’t you finish your story first, Sonic? You sounded like you were almost done.”

So Sonic does. Our story finishes with Sonic describing his nose touching the green Paradox Shard on Thorn Rose’s hammer.

++++++

What do you think?

Hello Mr. Archive Guy! I absolutely love this prompt! We need some humor!

Sorry, it took so long, I had a lot of stuff I was busy with so it took me a while to answer requests.

Anyway, here you go, I hope this makes up for it <3

================================================

The Shattership blasted at full speed into the vast space of the Shatterverse. The fox pilot listening to his rambling passenger that was a blue hedgehog. He listened as the hedgehog described his adventures in a jungle universe. There were all sorts of overgrown trees and plants, things Nine became curious about how that would've looked, having never even seen a normal tree or flower before.

Then Sonic told him about other variants.

"That's when I met a primitive, more tribal version of Knuckl-uh Knucks, Rou-Rebel, and there was even a tribal of you Nine!"

"A primal version of me, huh?"

"Yep, and let's just say you were rather...."

Whatever Sonic said next was blocked out due to Nine imagining what it must've been like to be in a primitive world. He was probably the only smart one there. He was the chief of the tribe. He made all sorts of weapons and crafts using just tree bark, flint, and coconuts. He can imagine himself leading a tribe of idiots who couldn't even start a fire on their own, however, he chose to take them under his wing out of pity for how pathetic they were.

He was brought out of his thoughts, cutting off Sonic's rambling with a question that dripped with daydream pride.

"So, I'm guessing this other me was the chief of this knuckleheaded tribe?"

Sonic paused and stared at him with wide disbelieving eyes at the question before he smiled in utter amusement.

"Uh...No, no he was NOT. Were you even listening?"

"I was busy thinking how this other me led those dunderheads through surviving with my superior intellect!", Nine's voice had a slight worry.

"Oh...Oh my gosh!", Nine turned when he heard snickers coming from the other, glaring at the chuckling urchin.

"What?"

That's when Sonic, who was trying not to break down in laughter, began to describe how this other him actually was. Nine was both disgusted and horrified as Sonic went on and on about his other variant. This version of him walked on all fours like a wild beast, spoke in doggish growls, and just acted like a wild animal. He was even more upset when he learned that this other him attacked the hedgehog after he saved him! There was more and more, and Nine found himself APPALLED by this other him. Mangey was named because of how mangey his fur was, he cowered in the face of a threat, WHIMPERED, he even ATE BARK.

"At least tell me he was HOUSETRAINED."

Sonic shrugged.

"Well, they didn't even really HAVE houses."

Nine groaned, slightly out of annoyance at this other him and embarrassment out of even knowing what this other him was like. He was disgusted to even be associated with a mangy animal.

"Hey, can I get back to telling you the story?"

"...Fine.", Nine sulked as Sonic began to continue his tale, cringing when the other him was mentioned. That's when Sonic reached the part of the story, where he showed Mangey how to fly, describing with fondness at the mangey fox's laughter. Something that deeply warmed the kitsune's heart at how Sonic was so unfathomably kind to foxes with two tails.

"You know Nine, it's a shame you weren't there with me. You could've taught Mangey a thing or two!"

"Me? Teach? I don't have the patience or the time to be a teacher for anyone, and I'd rather die than be one to Mangey the Monkey-Fox-Boy!"

"Aw, that's a shame, you two could be friends!"

"I highly doubt it. We're too entirely different people, I don't think it would've done anything if we were anyway."

"I think seeing you in battle would've been more than enough."

Nine slightly flinched when he felt warmth on his shoulder, before relaxing when realizing it was Sonic's hand.

"Seeing how brave and fearless you are when you fight could've inspired him, and maybe seeing what you can do with that big brain of yours maybe could've made him want to learn more on his own. Not to mention, you're always there when I need you, maybe that could've made him fight less with his friends. At least that's what I think."

Nine felt his chest become warm and fuzzy at that kind, proud words spoken by his only friend. He hesitated before moving his hand up to softly pat the hand on his shoulder.

"Nine, I-I'm sorry I got separated from you, especially for such a long time."

Sonic's voice was full of genuine regret for something he didn't mean to do. Nine felt a pit form at how unhappy the hedgehog was, and how much he was blaming himself for leaving when he was sucked into the shard without his control.

"Don't apologize, it's not your fault.", his eyes caught the bright purple portal of their soon-to-be home, "Soon enough, separation won't be a problem anymore."

"Huh?"

"I'll explain in a bit, for now, why don't you finish your story."

As the hedgehog concluded his tale, they entered the Grim. Their new home.

#more sonic prime!#sonic prime #nine the fox #tails nine #sonic the hedgehog #humor #hurt/comfort #short and sweet #ask response

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dei2dei · 2 years

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Leaving Comments: Some Ideas

I suck a leaving them! I want to leave more! What do I doooo!?!

A lot of us have this struggle. Leaving comments is as hard—maybe sometimes harder!—than writing a story. You might not know how to word the feels the fic made you have, or be able to identify craft components, or “leave something worthwhile” if you think the story was fantastic. Hint: any comment is worthwhile, even if it’s a heart emoji! ❤️

If you’re struggling, here are ideas for things to comment on. I’ve tried to keep all of this fandom-blind friendly, especially since I know one source of stress is leaving comments for comment/review exchanges.

Are character voices distinct? If you’re not fandom blind, can you identify character voices that are preserved from canon? What about them really says “this is CHARACTER”?

I love your voice for A! It’s a really distinct voice and vocabulary compared to B. / You have a great handle on C’s voice, and it’s like I’m reading a page straight out of the manga.

Can you identify motivations? Do you get invested in the characters? Are you interested in seeing what they do next?

It’s easy to see why X throws himself so completely into this and is trying to hunt down the person who stole his ice cream cone. He seems really hot-tempered so I can’t wait to find out how he interacts with the thief!

How is the language - is it lyrical and flowery, is it succinct and terse? Does that help the story at all?

Your language is just like reading a fairytale, and that makes the story really immersive. Since you’re writing about fairies and the Fae realm, this is PERFECT.

Is there conflict of some kind (big or small) that interests you?

I have no idea why A & B hate each other so much but I can’t wait to find out!

What do you think of the climax/resolution? Is the end satisfying? Do you want more?

What kind of POV did they use, and how did it help you get into the story?

Was the pacing great? Were you breathless and just had to keep clicking to find out what happened next? Was it so slow you were totally immersed in the world and sad when you were finished?

Is the writer great with banter? With sensory details? Are their fight sequences amazeballs? Are the setting descriptions out of this world? TELL THEM THAT!

Make guesses about what happens next!

Call out lines you liked and what they signify or imply to you. Or if they straight-up made you laugh or cry or have other emotional reactions!

Did the author use any new words you’re going to add to your writing/vocabulary?

Was there worldbuilding you loved, or any tiny little details or phrases that you appreciated?

Did you keep reading through (just one more chapter!), did you skip work/stay up late/miss a class to keep reading? The author will keep your secret. ;)

Keyboard smashes and emojis are valid comments!

If this is an author whose work you read regularly and enjoy (even if you’re a first time commenter), you can tell them that.

I’ve read everything in ABC series but I’ve been too nervous to comment before. I really enjoyed this story, thank you for writing and sharing it!

You never have to justify the quantity or quality of your comments to anyone*. You can leave as succinct a comment as a heart or smiley face, or as long and in-depth as you’d like. Sometimes all I have the headspace for is a “this was great, count this as a chapter kudos” comment, and the authors I have left that for have been appreciative!

*unless you’re doing an exchange where you need a minimum wordcount, but hopefully these ideas will help you get there!

You don’t have to feel bad about leaving multiple comments in a row or on an old work. There are authors who are over the moon (like me!) when someone does a deep dive and comments on an old piece, or who binges a series, or leaves comments on every chapter. We love you. Sometimes one comment on an unfinished piece can be the impetus for an author to write more.

For more resources…

The Long Live Feedback Project has a comment builder! You can copy the spreadsheet and use drop-downs to pick choices of varying complexity depending on your spoon level, and then paste it all into the comment box at the end! https://longlivefeedback.tumblr.com/commentbuilder

For AO3 users, there are a few userscripts out there for floating review boxes which allow you to highlight pieces of the story and comment as you go.

https://ravenel.tumblr.com/post/156555172141/i-saw-this-post-by-astropixie-about-how-itd-be [this link includes a how-to for FFN!]

#comments #commenting is hard #fanfiction #fanfic comments #writeblr #fanficbl #maybe some of these ideas will help

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understandableparadox · 2 years

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exploring power fantasy

if we die, where do you want to go? heaven? nirvana? valhalla? that really good taco shop with the brisket and the cashier who doesn't care that you asked for French fries in the burrito instead of the normal fried potato's you have? (its a texture thing you say as i project my burrito preferences onto you)

some may wish to go to another world. that's right you rancid fucking shittertinkers! were gonna talk about the usage of power fantasy within the isekai genra and its possible literature usages, and wither or not there are actually some good versions of the genre.

first lets establish a baseline into what a power fantasy is. power fantasy media is a version of wish fulfillment or escapism in which the character (usually a blank slate in which us the reader can be within) displays an improbable amount of dominance within the story.

the most common one that we can find is thus: black haired skinny dude dies, usually after being hit by a truck or from some form of stress. they then get sent to a new realm, normally something euro fantasy based with all the castles, dragons and wizards and such.

said character will meet the king, they find out that the gods above or whatever entity that be has decided to grant them a seemingly useless skill, lets say piss laser x. the ability to piss at overwhelming velocity. then they find out that not only does this skill allow them to fire an actual dick laser that also bypasses defenses of enemies, they can force other entities to piss at high velocity, thus stunning them and allowing the character to beat the shit out of them.

or in less obtuse terms, a character is given a skill that is objectively strong and overpowered and from that point onwards, their sole task is to live in that world and do whatever they want regardless of any plot or threat that may attempt to effect them.

is this kind of story telling inherently bad? maybe! can it be fun to read if you don't give a shit? yes! is it annoying if it gets way to popular and suddenly a powerscaler decides they want to take permanent residence up your ass about who or what they can beat?

YES

anyways you have more likely then not came across something like this in media given its astoundingly easy to use and also a very populer story format when used in parodies. ill flog myself for bring this up later but consider the show rick and morty. dispite rick not being a blank slate, we can easily call his method of plot progression akin to power fantasy.

but in that comes the variations. where as something like overlord will use the overpowered status of the character to only explore how the character interacts with the outside world, with their powers being nothing more then a method to shape the world and give us scenes of utter carnage brought to us by the sick twisted minds of middle aged Japanese businessmen.

we can see some budding attempt to fuck around with the idea of power fantasy in rick and morty. cool, rick can do anything and everything. what does he do? which immediatly opens it up because if no one can face you, your greatest foe becomes yourself. again, i say its budding given that the show is to scared to give rick a challange in anything other then name alone and even other ricks rarely serve any form of challange. again though, its the attempt that fascinates.

now lets not get it twisted, you dont need to have powers to have a power fantasy. you can also gain it from the idea of going backwards in time with the knowladge of the present. EX: https://mangadex.org/title/a4304d3b-191d-471f-8c78-353d403a35d0/sengoku-komachi-kuroutan-noukou-giga

the manga presents the idea of a school girl with a pencent for craft and war going back in time and joining oda nobunagas army and upgrading it with modern weaponry like compound bows and such. i consider this power fantasy given its creating a character with the ability to rewrite history because they were born with a certain knowledge in a world that lacks it, meaning that while they are easily killed, they are still the most valuable person within that time.

the usage of the story trope is normally to allow an author to explore the full extent of a power idea or to truly lambaste a certain troupe that the author may not like.

for example, the cancelled manga hero killing and a new manga called Cheat Eater are about overpowered main characters going around killing overpowered main characters. don't like a character? toss them in an let your op mc grind through them! don't like magical girls? make them a bunch of evil douchebags and let your overpoward mc kill em!

its mainly a trope of dismissal, as in you are creating a character mainly to dismiss, ignore or actively dislike something.

#manga #isekai #power fantasy #overlord #cheat eater #hero killing #tropes #analysis #discussion #story writing

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beanie-babie-vents · 3 months

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Hi, yall, welcome to my #druittblr account! You can call me Beanie or Star :3

I believe the idea of druittblr was started by @bigbadwolfbutch, so shout out to them!

Now about me :

I'm a 27 year old enby/nonbinary person who is typically very femme, but will sometimes dress or feel more masc or androgynous.

I love anime and manga, and comics and cartoons. I am an illustration major. I was on break from school since January as I had a very, very bad case of burn out. Lasted for like, three months, and I'm still trying to get back into drawing. Writing has been easier lately. I recently restarted my semester at the end of August.

I want to live my life HOW I WANT TO, but due to my family's control and religious background, I am currently unable to do so. I hope to move out ASAP so I can start to truly live.

---

I'm in a relationship!! My bf is very sweet and cute uwu I'm also polyam, and yes my bf knows bc why tf wouldn't I tell him that, we ain't about that toxic polyamory life.

As for my full orientation, I consider myself neptunic demi-biromantic, nonbinary genderflux, and polyamorous. I've learned recently that l'm not really sexually attracted to those with masc bodies, moreso aesthetically and romantically attracted.

---

I have been learning more about spirituality and witchcraft, and would love to truly practice my craft, but I either forget to do so, or feel too paranoid/nervous about my family realizing what I'm doing.

Currently, I'm prooooobably agnostic? Maybe? Thinking there could be a god, but if there is? They probably don't fully care about what humans are doing? So long as we aren't hurting others...They certainly don't need us to abide by everything the Bible says. Maybe at one point, the Bible reflected their views, but maybe they grew, changed, along with the world and it's people. Idk. I've read about God being transcendent. I think that if I do believe in God, I'd prefer a transcendent God who's will is my path than one who has already predetermined my fate.

---

I am SO DAMN NEURODIVERGENT, yall don't even know -

I'm diagnosed with ADHD, Dyscalculia, Autism, General Anxiety, Major Depression, OCD, and.......some schizo type disorder otherwise specified? Idk I forget -

As for chronic illnesses -

Was born with a heart disease - that's called having Congenital Heart Disease. Don't have a full on diagnosis yet, but am quite certain I have prosopagnosia (face blindness). And there's def something up with my reproductive system. Endo maybe?? I still need to see a gynecologist. And apparently I TECHNICALLY have POTS, but I don't have tachycardia cause I had a procedure to stop the palpitations. So I'm diagnosed with Orthostatic Hypotension. Other than that, I have GERD and IBS/possibly IBD. Due to medical mishaps I didn't get a colonoscopy when I was supposed to, but was told that I probably have IBD. So yeah. Fun...

Also wouldn't be surprised if I had Sjogren's. Had blood work to see, but never had other tests to confirm. So who knows, man.

Also at this point I think I could have a connective tissue disorder??? My body's fucked, that's for sure!

---

Current special interest : Hazbin Hotel

Current hyperfixations : Helluva Boss, Sonic the Hedgehog, Vocaloid/Utau/Synth V + other vocal synth music, my own OCs and story/comic ideas, Undertale/Deltarune + Undertale AUs, Camp Camp, The Amazing Digital Circus

Other interests : Anime/Manga (current faves/interests are My Dress Up Darling, Osomatsu San, Free! series, Nichijou, The Promised Neverland) Cartoons (MLP FIM, Phineas and Ferb, Gravity Falls, SVTFOE) Webcomics (Ghost Eyes + other MCPverse comics, My Impossible Soulmate, Shen comics, Pixie and Brutus, Bugtopia, Monsters and Girls, Ennui Go) Music, art + drawing, writing/reading, cosplay, J fashion (Lolita fashion, Menhera/Yami Kawaii, Fairy Kei, Pastel Goth, Decora), video games (Animal Crossing NH, Mario, Spiritfarer, Kirby, Sonic, Smash Bros, horror rpgs, and numerous visual novels)

#Beanie Speaks #druittblr #vent account #vent app

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alexanicholsauthor · 5 months

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I’m a writing beast! Except when I’m not…

I learned a long time ago that the thing you love most can kill you if you let it. Back when I first started writing, I didn’t take it very seriously: I just sat down and repeatedly slapped the keyboard, letting my kinky imagination have free reign with little regard to plot, character development, or plot twists. You can tell this from books like No, Daddy! I’m Not Mommy!, Cramming Sis!, and Please Don’t Get Me Pregnant!. They were the first books I wrote, and you can tell by reading them how few fucks I had to give. I wasn’t taking my writing career seriously, which showed in my work. Sure, they were fun to write, but they had about as much substance as a handful of lettuce.

They sold. Well. This prompted me to try and elevate my craft, to try and write kinkier, more elaborate stories. I became obsessed with being the best writer I could, so I scoured the internet eagerly looking for any and all advice I could find. I attempted to follow everything I found, even going so far as to snag a copy of Stephen King’s On Writing, which is a fantastic book, and devouring everything I found with a hunger usually reserved for cheese fries at Snuffer’s.

Somewhere along the way, however, I quit having fun. Writing became more of a job than a fun little distraction, and I was taking things so seriously that I repeatedly started burning out. So, I decided the best thing to do was step away from writing for a bit. After a while I would return reinvigorated, only to feel the urge to break quickly returning. I began immersing myself in other hobbies, such as watching anime, reading manga, and playing video games. When I decided to write, it felt forced, like working out sometimes feels when you’re just not feeling it.

Maybe I wasn’t meant to be a writer. I wondered to myself. I mean, my command of the English language isn’t exactly on par with other famous authors. I have a conversational writing style, and I actively try to avoid writing over someone’s head… whereas some authors I read have me pulling out a dictionary every few pages. It almost seems like they’re trying to impress readers with their vocabulary knowledge. Should that really be your goal when you write, however? Shouldn’t the story matter most? You know, trying to coax the reader to immerse themselves in your carefully crafted world?

Back on track.

Even though I took a bit of a sabbatical from writing, I continuously found myself jotting down story ideas. Instead of deep, immersive plots and plot twists, they were more fun and quick little ditties that made me remember the tales I wove when I first started writing. When I found myself actually writing them and tearing myself away because I started feeling guilty that I wasn’t working on my more serious works, I knew something was wrong with the writing habits I had adopted.

I took a long, hard look at my authoring and then decided to just relax. I set goals, yes, but tackle the actual creative writing only when I feel inspired to. Don’t treat it as a job, but instead as a passion.

Damn, did that paradigm shift ultimately change who I am as an author!

I now proudly consider myself a writing beast. I’ve filled all my releases until 2027 and still have extra stories coming out exclusively for Subscribestar members. Life is good. However, I know there are many lessons I need to learn and many ways I still need to improve as an author.

I look forward to the road ahead…

#amwriting #amediting #authorlife #authorconfession #authorshare #life #indieauthor #authorproblems #author #amliving

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synnifexgaunt · 1 year

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🤲💖💞

🤲 Would you please share a snippet of a wip?

Been playing around with post-canon Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines things lately:

Betrayal. Jennifer feels it absolutely, the ultimate form, the kind it is only ever possible to feel once, and is now more utterly alone than she ever dreamed possible. No one can save her, no one will be coming for her, the only ones that know of this watery grave are her enemies. And thought she doesn't want to believe, she is unable to refute her internal whispers telling her that - while the eldritch manacles on her limbs will keep her from dying - nothing will preserve her from an even deeper madness. Already she craves blood; the want, the need, the Thirst a twisting burn in her throat, and no more will be ever be coming to her. The future is only darkness, and hunger. Jennifer screams with lungs full of water, again and again and again, raging against fate and her own foolishness as the sarcophagus settles onto the bay floor. This is the end. Her end. Betrayal has flooded her. She drowns in it.

💖 What made you start writing?

That is in one way very hard, and in another way, very easy to answer.

I began creating fiction long before I acknowledged it consciously; the first glimmers of something significantly beyond simple imagination showing up while I browsed a forum for the game Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura as a youth. There, people would write short little bits about characters and do roleplay in the universe, and that inspired me to try and create my own expansion module for the game - though I knew precisely nothing about game development at this time. Nevertheless, I started plotting things out; coming up with characters, struggling through dialog, and shaping a world in the crude level editor to the best of my amateur ability, but had really no awareness I had begun writing. I had always thought through the fiction I took in, and had done so for as long as I could remember, though priorly I'd mostly put my thoughts into pictures, or left them ephemeral.

This repeated for other things as the years passed, all while I kept reading books and playing games; thinking about alternative endings, tellings, or crossovers between everything I was pouring into my cerebellum. I identified as a "reader" before anything else, and wasn't it just natural to take some notes or put a scene down after you've read something? So I left a lengthy trail of paragraphs, concepts, pages, and OCs (mostly thinly veiled SIs in retrospect - what a phase) littered behind me in .doc and .txt files on various storage media as I moved through other people's stories. I was just trying to prolong my connection with whatever fiction I was experiencing. I still didn't think I was writing. It was just what anyone would do, right?

Eventually I went to college, and made some dear friends who introduced me to FF.NET and AO3, as well the fact that they'd written things themselves - they, my compatriots in humanity, could just choose to engage in this activity that was called "writing". And I finally realized there was more to what I was already doing than just saying "oh hey, I thought of something cool". So, my eyes were finally opened. And while I started recording my fiction more diligently afterwards, finally put a few of the more developed ideas online for others to see (le gasp!), and added "occasional writer" to my self-identifiers, writing was something that had snuck into my existence long previously without my realizing it.

What made me start? If anything can be pointed to, it's the simple fact that others had written before, their work was inspiring, and I couldn't separate experiencing their works from crafting my own out of them. My defining moment for writing was less about something making me start, and more a realization that I should continue writing. It just took about a decade to arrive.

💞 Who's your comfort character?

Kyoko Mogami from the Skip Beat! manga series.

She's a young woman who becomes a successful talento in show business, starting from nothing more than a grudge and a goal of outshining the boy who crushed her heart and childhood dreams. What I really like about her is how, despite numerous setbacks and failures, she always stands back up and improves where she's fallen short. She begins the story in place of extreme bitterness and hatred, more willpower and fury than anything else. Over the course of the series, she starts reclaiming her better aspects, building a deeper self-understanding, and taking pride in her work for its own sake rather than using it as a weapon or stepping-stone. Through it all she really shines at being creative under pressure and helping others out despite herself.

Kyoko's inner voices and reactions during moments of crisis are also super relatable.

#writing #ask 'me'mes #i am a fast thinker #and glacial publisher #such is life

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faerieismm · 2 years

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HI :} today i have for youuuu🥁🥁🥁 a make out with levi oneshot >:)) didn’t see alot of these so i decided that meant i must make my own(☝︎ ՞ਊ ՞)☝︎chile anygays, ENJOY

“practice”

tw: none

genre: fluff ish? lil spice

the play. lucifer made it out as the most important thing in the devildom right now. much to everyones (but especially satan’s) annoyance, but the demons seemed to do their best anyway.

the roles were divided and you and levi starred as the main characters, with you playing the part of henry.

practice had been going on for about two weeks now, and to say things were not going smoothly was an understatement…

mammon constantly forgot his lines, lucifer and satan got mad at each little thing, belphie slept through almost every practice and levi was so nervous he couldn’t get a single sentence out.

the fact the whole thing was run by simeon was not making it any better either, as his constant criticism was getting to everyones heads, including yours ofcourse.

when you finally had a day off, you were still practicing for the play, and even tho you were getting used to it, it wasn’t that fun at all. you valued your free time, often being spend with levi.

you loved those days. trying ridiculous games, reading manga or watching new anime. sometimes you would craft random things together too, or go out for boba on the rare occasion.

as you were thinking about it, you decided to put your script aside and make your way over to said demon’s room. you didn’t even have to use the password anymore, your friendship having gone far beyond that.

opening the door, you let out your usual sweet and enthusiastic “hi levi~!” and walking over to the demon who was browsing through his phone a bit. he looked up and smiled. “hello m/c”

you slid down to where he sat, embracing him from behind. “not practicing the script?” you teased.

“no - he sighed - it just makes me so nervous!” you hummed and nodded at that. suddenly an idea plopped into your head.

“we can practice together if you want?”

“oh uhm yeah, that could work..” a blush crept to his face. you nodded, let go of him and got the script off of his desk. plopping down next to him again, you opened the script.

“oh great lord of shadows! i have searched for thee everywhere, my friend, my dear friend.” you both laughed at how dramatic you made it.

levi took a deep breath. “henry my friend, you have made it!” at this the script said hug. at this you wrapped your arms around him and pulled him against you tightly. any opportunity you’d get to touch levi, you’d take.

levi made a little surprised noice, but wrapped his arms around you anyways, leaning into your touch. the hug went on much longer than needed, but neither of you minded.

“this is nice, i wish we could stay like this forever.” at this levi snapped back to reality and started to ramble and stutter about how he was sorry for holding on to you for so long. you reassured him you meant what you said and you didn’t mind at which he only got even more flustered.

you two made it through most of the script, with some struggles and pauses sometimes, but you had made some progress anyway. you hadn’t even come this far with the official practice held by simeon. but you were enjoying yourself and kept on going, not really paying mind to if you were doing the new scenes right or not.

“oh henry! thy are so dear to me, i feel like i can’t put into words what i feel!” you laughed, “nice!” you then read the next line, “me.. me neither my lord!” you glanced at the script again, and your eyes widened. at this levi looked at the script aswell.

passionate kiss.

you looked at eachother with uncertain looks, levi’s face beet-red, his mouth slightly agape. “uh-” “you-” you both said at the same moment. you let out a slight chuckle.

“you first.” you insisted. he tried, but the words would not come out of his mouth. you sat there for awhile as levi tried to put his words together.

“you.. don’t have to do this you know? - he stuttered - i mean, i totally get it. i’m just a yucky otaku! who’d want to kiss me?” he rambled on.

“levi.” you tried to break his rambling, gently grabbing his face. “i do want that.” if his face could get any redder, it would’ve. he swallowed and just stared, waiting for you to make to first move.

you had wanted this for so long, and so had he. always making little butterflies flutter in your stomach. he was the sweetest being you’d ever met and you truly loved him. you were so happy he was your best friend, but also sad because, you wanted to be more. but what if that would ruin everything you had?

maybe this kiss would make you even more sad, getting a taste, but never truly going any further. still, you wanted this, and it would happen eventually anyway, thats what you told yourself.

inching your face closer to his, you pulled his head down, as he was quite a bit taller than you. you softly closed your eyes and whispered, “you sure?” you felt him nod, and as he did, you closed the little space between your mouths, giving him a slow, soft, but passionate kiss.

at first levi was frozen. he had no idea what to do, but then he realized this might be his once in a lifetime shot at kissing you! so he just did what he thought felt right, kissing back.

the kiss lingered on for just a little longer, before you broke it. leviathan was speechless.

“that wasn’t really passionate, was it?” you chuckled, looking at him, before lunging yourself at him again, kissing him with much more passion now, less gentle. it took him a second again, but he went with it.

your lips parted again. “something like that.” it was just a whisper, but he caught it. “yeah.” it was safe to say he couldn’t look you in the eyes for the rest of the evening, unable to stop blushing aswell. his brothers looked at him a bit weird but brushed it off eventually.

the next day you tried to act like you normally would again, but you couldn’t help but blush and stutter and laugh after everything you said. levi tried to talk back and all, but it were mostly stuttered incoherent words, resulting in him texting most things if he really wanted to say something important.

as you walked back home from rad, conversation seemed to be a bit easier, especially when you started about one of his interests.

you held the door open for him, and the two of you made your way downstairs, but were stopped by lucifer.

“you two will be practicing, i take it?” his arms crossed.

the two of you shot eachother a quick look, and both stuttered out a sort of “yes” , speed walking to levi’s room.

“so uhh-” “i guess we-” chuckles. you signaled at the script and looked at leviathan with anticipation. he shyly nodded and you both dumped your bags to the ground. you pointed on the line you started at last time.

“from here?” he nodded at that.

“oh great lord of shadows.. i have searched for thee everywhere, my friend, my dear friend.”

“henry my friend, you have made it..” thats how you slowly made your way through the script again, the moment you were so eager for coming closer and closer.

his heart was beating so fast he’d swear you could hear it.

he stuttered his “oh henry! thy are so dear to me, i feel like i can’t put into words what i feel!” and from that point on, he couldn’t really focus anymore, one line away from the kiss he’d want over and over.

gently, you placed your hands on his neck, and pulled him down to your level.

“aah no, this ain’t right.” you mumbled as you let go of his neck, and harshly yanked his head down by grabbing his tie, lips crashing into his.

he was shocked at this, but also thought it was kinda hot, this was what they always did in those animes too!!

he kissed back eagerly, and made a sad look as you broke it off.

you looked around for the script. “uhh..”

levi was holding it tightly in his hands. you sat down next to him as he was now sitting on the edge of his bathtub/bed.

“levi?” he looked at you slowly. you held out your hand. the dumbass then blushed and grabbed your hand, interlacing his vingers with yours.

you laughed. “oh lord you meant the script didn’t you?” you nodded but squeezed his hand and got closer to him. your beaming smile made not only his heart flutter, but reassured him a bit aswell.

with your other hand, you grabbed the script, but levi didn’t let go.

“once more..” he stuttered, “i think that would be.. good, you know!”

nodding, you moved to put your bum on his lap, half straddling him. this time you went for a very soft kiss, as you didn’t really see this as practice anymore, you were too distracted for that.

leviathan couldn’t believe that actually worked. but he tried to focus on the kiss for now. feeling you sliding off his lap, he quickly put a hand on your back and one holding your leg.

“want another one?” you teased as your lips parted. surprisingly he was the one who pressed his lips to yours now.

needless to say, the practice of the script was left at that, and now it was even harder to talk to levi. that night, the two of you just sat in each other’s presence. levi wasn’t even playing a game. at some point you were both getting tired and you decided to stay the night there.

the play was coming somewhat closer, so you and leviathan decided to practice again soon.

the time between it was rather awkward. you felt so bad, he truly was a great friend, your best friend even, and you felt like you messed it up. maybe he was uncomfortable? no, he wouldn’t have kissed you back then right? but maybe he felt forced to..

you tapped levi’s arm, and signaled him to leave the classroom with you. he didn’t look you in the eyes but nodded nevertheless.

as soon as you were out of the classroom, you let out a “i’m so sorry!” and before leviathan could answer, you rambled on. “i shouldn’t have kissed you, things are so weird now and it’s clear you’re uncomfortable-”

“no!” leviathan screamed, shocked on how hard he said it. “no.. - he repeated - i was fine with it, i’m just nervous because i..”

your face was still full of guilt and worry, and leviathan wanted to make it go away so bad, but he just couldn’t get out the fact he liked you.

“i really don’t mind okay?!” he stuttered. you nodded, but you still did not quite believe him.

you were called back to class shortly after that.

you still sat in class together, and walked back home. but you were silent, and levi didn’t like it.

“i meant what i said okay? - he paused - and i wanna practice again today!” you smiled at that. “okay then.”

and so you did.

the usual “oh great lord of shadows.. i have searched for thee everywhere, my friend, my dear friend.” and “oh henry! thy are so dear to me, i feel like i can’t put into words what i feel!” ‘s were spoken, and neither you nor levi was really focused.

you sighed. “lets just get to the good bit shall we?” levi blushed profusely, but nodded, hearts could almost be seen in his eyes.

and that’s how it started. a few soft kisses led to passionate kisses, and passionate kisses led to a pretty intense make out.

you laid on a pile of pillows and blankets, hands tangled in leviathan’s hair. leviathan was surprisingly on top, each hand on either side of you.

the kiss was a bit sloppy, but oh so sweet. levi seemed to pour all of his feelings into it, as did you.

oh how you longed for this. how he longed for this. feelings always hidden away, scared to make any wrong moves. scared to break this sacred friendship you had.

but now all of that was released. and damn did that feel good.

the kiss got softer again and when you broke, leviathan laid down on you chest, panting.

you gave eachother some time to calm down and steady your breathing.

you looked at him, smiling, looking at him lovingly. he returned the favour, but with alot more blush. you whispered a sweet “i love you so much.” as levi’s eyelids slowly fluttered shut.

“i love you too m/c.”

okay this one turned out quite bad in my opinion but i kinda pushed myself because i promised content hahaha, i hope y’all still enjoy it tho!

yours truly,

#obey me x reader #shall we date leviathan #leviathan x reader #obey me levi #leviathan obey me #leviathan avatar of envy #leviathan x mc #obey me levi x reader

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