#AND MY BIAS MIXING RN

[daegall]

lord help me im about to write abothwr jeno demigod au

[fivestar-outlaw]

New Horizons (Park Seonghwa) (Epilogue)

Epilogue

Pairing: Park Seonghwa x Fem!Reader

Words: 7.0k+

Warning(s): Mentions of reader being anxious/having anxiety, some swears, drinking, i think thats it.

SMUT (18+) WARNINGS: Multiple orgasms, oral (F receiving)/ face sitting, slight cockwarming, birthcontrol used, No condom use, PiV penetration, cowgirl yeehaw

A/N: Fucking- Finally finished the epilog. Grad school is slowly but surely killing me rn. I only had time to write this during the undergrad class im taking for credits iubgouoren. I hope yall enjoy.

Reader is implied to be living in the US bc uh TIMEZONES ARE FUCKY and i didnt realize how reliant i was on mine (PST) when looking up KST

English dialogue is italicized, Korean dialogue is not

Summary: Attempting an all-nighter while playing Animal Crossing alongside your bias, you didn't expect your turnip prices to be such a high amount... nor did you expect Park Seonghwa to actually accept your offer to sell his turnips on your island.

Series Masterlist | Navigation

You sat at your desk, phone set up for a video call with Seonghwa. You felt nervous. Tomorrow is your graduation, where you'll finally be done with this aspect of your life and will be moving onto the next step. Despite the distance, you and Seonghwa were as close as ever. You both missed each other dearly but talked as frequently as possible. 

You were a little sad that he and the rest of Ateez couldn't make it to your graduation, but you understood why. You didn't have much hope when you told Hongjoong the date and he told you he'd ask if they could. You tried to tell him not to ask since you knew they would be busy with an upcoming comeback, but he insisted he'd try. He talked to you the next night saying they had a packed schedule for that week and couldn't. You figured as much but it still made you a little sad.

You hear the tone for the video call and you quickly answer it with a smile. You see Hwa sitting there, but not in his room. You couldn't quite figure out where he was. He seemed to be wearing a loose sweater and a pair of glasses frames.

"Hello, jagiya." Seonghwa smiled sweetly, he seemed tired.

"Hello, love." You respond. "How are you? You seem a little tired."

"The week has been busy."

"Aw, I'm sorry. Are you currently at a schedule?" You tilt your head. You see him look off to the side. You can see that he seems to be hiding something, but you figure it was because he couldn't talk about anything specific related to any of the filmed comeback videos.

"Yeah, we are staying at a hotel. We are going to start filming soon." He sighs. "It was a last minute decision since filming took longer than expected yesterday. I wish I could tell you everything that went wrong but I can't."

"I'm sure it'll go better today, love."

 "Thank you, jagiya. But enough about me, jagiya, how are you? Are you excited for tomorrow?"

"A mix of excited and nervous. Excited to have my degree... nervous for whatever comes next. Nervous about walking across that stage to get that empty diploma case and not having a solid next thing waiting for me." You press your lips together and glance over to your cap and gown hanging in your open closet. The whole ordeal almost seems daunting now. "I've applied for jobs in my field but I haven't heard anything back... I doubt any will get back to me when I am fresh out of university."

"I wish I was there with you, (Y/N)." He looked into the camera with a concerned expression. "You'll exceed at whatever you do. I know you will. You are smart and very determined."

"It's probably just all the nerves." You chuckle weakly.

"Just know myself and the others are cheering for you, even if we can't be there. Which, we are still sorry for by the way."

"Don't worry about it. I'll have my family film my walk across the stage and we will take lots of pictures to send to you all."

"We look forward to it." He smiles. You hear a door opening and what you believe to be Hongjoong's voice. You couldn't make out what he said but you saw Seonghwa nod before hearing the door close. "Sorry, (Y/N), I have to go. We need to get ready for filming today."

"Don't apologize, love. You got this. I'm sure you will do great." You smile and you can just tell some of the stress he was feeling dissipate. 

"I love you, jagiya." He says softly.

"I love you too." There is some hesitancy to hang up but you bit the bullet and pressed the little red button on the call. You sigh, but feel lighter. It was like talking to Hwa helped calm your worries.

---

You stood with your family for a moment before you needed to join the rest of the graduating students. You stood with them in your cap and gown and a nice outfit underneath. You couldn't help but wring your hands together. You weren't necessarily nervous, but you did feel a little anxious from the excitement now. You felt you childhood best friend place their hand on your shoulder and they give you a calm smile.

"It's going to be fine, (Y/N)." They gently squeezed your shoulder. "I doubt you'll trip, so don't worry."

"Well I wasn't worried about tripping until now." You groan. "I'm not nervous. I just... can't stay still."

"Oh (Y/N), it's okay to be nervous." Your mother coos, rubbing small circles into your upper back. "Just think about the surprise we have planned for you."

"Surprise?"

"Hun, you weren't suppose to mention that." Your father chuckles. 

"I thought I told you all I needed was just a nice dinner at my favorite restaurant." You say softly. "I hope you didn't spend too much-"

"Don't worry about it. We wanted to get you something for such a big day." Your father grinned. You were going to argue back but heard the call for graduating students to start getting in place for the ceremony.

"Make sure to film my walk please!" You said and they nodded. Your family and your best friend gives you one last hug before you go to where you were supposed to, while they went off to grab seats.

You take a deep breath as you find your spot in line with the rest of your majors getting the same degree level as you and your roommate, who also was graduating alongside you. You smiled at some of your classmates you were friendly with and chatted with them. You were given a slip of paper with your name on it by one of your professors and you were left to wait for the ceremony to start. 

You felt your phone buzz under your gown. You were glad you picked something to wear underneath with pockets. You manage to get your phone out and you smile. All of Ateez were wishing you well and saying their congrats. San even sent a selfie of them all together, which they said was taken after they finished filming. You were glad they messaged you and made sure to tell them to get some rest since it was around 6am for them.

The line you were in started moving so you quickly put your phone away and started walking with your line. You can hear lots of chatter from other graduating students and could hear the chatter from people in the stands. You and the others stood still until you heard one of the deans call you guys to enter. You hear the crowd cheer as the graduating class enters the area. You tried to pinpoint your family and your best friend but had no luck finding them in the sea of people. You take your seat and wait for the rest of the graduate students to also take their seats as the stereotypical graduation march song plays.

The song ended when everyone was finished sitting down. Next were speeches by the college president, a provosts, and a dean whom you never personally interacted with, and then two professors spoke; one is the chair of your major which made you smile. Next were student speeches, neither person you recognized.

You gulp, watching as the rows ahead of you go up one by one as they were instructed by a professor to do so. There was the constant noise of clapping with each name, followed by a few people loudly cheering for whoever just got called. You clapped along as well, watching each person receive their diploma case from the college president and walk to the side to get their picture taken professionally.

Next thing you knew the people in your row started to stand. You quickly got to your feet and follow along to the stage. You wait, taking small steps as person by person hands over their name slip and walk the stage. You were getting closer and closer to the speakers stand.

Then, it's your turn.

You made conscious steps to the speaker, not wanting to trip. You hand them your name card and wait as the person ahead finished crossing the stage. The speaker smiled and read your name into the microphone. You start walking across stage to the president as the crowd clapped.

You hear loud cheers coming from the stand on the other side of the stage, more than what you were expecting from the three people there seeing you graduate. You finally see your parents and your best friend up on their feet, your dad and friend shouting loudly. But in the row in front of them, you see eight figures also on their feet shouting as loud as they can. Immediately you can tell it is Ateez. Even with face masks, different hats, and inconspicuous clothes, you could tell they were your boys. Plus, you can easily tell Wooyoung and Mingi's voices as they were the loudest and most distinct.

A large smile broke out on your face as you kept your tears at bay. You walked the stage with your head held high. You shook hands with the college president and took hold of the diploma case. You walked to the end of the stage and carefully took the steps down. You got your picture taken and you started walking back to your seat.

You look up at the stand when you heard your name shouted repeatedly by Wooyoung, San, and Seonghwa. Each member of Ateez waved as you walked by and you made sure to wave back. You felt pure happiness in the moment.

---

When the ceremony ended and all the graduates exited the way they walked in, you immediately started making your way outside. Your parents texted saying they were waiting for you by the large oak tree. You weave your way through the sea of students and their families as fast as you could. You could see the top of the tree but you knew the trunk was still some distance away from where the ceremony was held. 

You finally breach the crowd and see your parents, your best friend, and Ateez, along with their manager. They spotted you and called your name. You immediately quickened your pace.

Wooyoung held out his arms for a hug but you passed him and immediately clung to Seonghwa. The tears you held back immediately fell as you hugged him.

"Y-You're here! I can't believe you're here! Hongjoong said you guys were busy. You said you-" You rapidly spoke.

"Slow down, jagiya." Seonghwa chuckles. He held you tightly and rubbed your back. 

"Sorry, my love." You sniffle and look to his face. Despite the black mask covering his nose down to his jaw, you can tell he has a big grin on his face. He moves a step back from you, resting his hands on your jaw. The pads of his thumbs swipe away your tears gently. "I'm so happy to see you in person again."

"I'm happy too." He carefully guided you to turn around so he could move back in front of you, his back to the crowd. He pulls down his mask and leans in, his soft lips meet yours in a loving kiss. You couldn't help but smile against his lips as it felt like world around each of you melted away. You both slowly pulled away but kept your faces close. "Congratulations. I am so proud of you, (Y/N)." He whispers and kisses each cheek, making you giggled. 

"Congratulations, (Y/N)!" Wooyoung broke the moment of peace between you both as he pulled you into a big hug. You tilt your head back and laugh, all while there rest of Ateez swarmed you for their own hugs. Your face ached from how much you were smiling.

"Seonghwa contacted us a week after you had us do that video call with him." Your mother started to explain. You remember that day well, feeling nervous for your parents to meet your long distance, idol boyfriend. But they immediately loved him and exchanged contact information; mostly just in case you got in an emergency so they could inform him. Subsequently, of course, your parents met the rest of Ateez. "They wanted to surprise you and here they are."

"Sorry I lied to you, (Y/N)." Hongjoong laughed, his smile telling you he was anything but apologetic. "Yuhno suggested the idea of it being a surprise when I ran into him before I talked it over with our company. So really, blame him."

"Hey, you could of said no, Joong-hyung." Yuhno playfully glared then set his sights on Seonghwa. "Didn't you initiate the call with her parents?"

"Yes, but Sannie and Woo also sat in on the call too." Seonghwa shot back. The group delved into a big, non-serious argument of who is to blame for the lies. You shook your head with a chuckle and went to your parents.

"Thank you for arranging this." You hug them both tightly.

"Of course, (Y/N). We could see how happy you were when we met him and how yourself you were with the rest of the group, so we knew we had to put this together for you somehow." Your father had a big smile on his face, you could see tears in his eyes. "Oh, my child is all grown up..."

"I've been grown up, dad. Don't cry, you're going to make me cry again." You chuckle, feeling that sting of tears again in your eyes. You feel arms wrap around you from behind and you knew immediately it is Seonghwa. "Did you guys settle who's fault it is, love?"

"No, but it seems everyone puts the blame back on Hongjoong." He laughs. He smiles at your parents and gives them a polite bow of his head. The rest of Ateez joined back up with your parents and your best friend. They started discussing dinner plans, you jumping in when needed for translation help.

Your smile doesn't leave your face as you lean back into Seonghwa. You could have just cheap take out with everyone and you'd be happy.

---

You said goodbye to your parents and best friend when everyone arrived back at your apartment after dinner. They wanted to let you have some time alone with Ateez. Your parents managed to reserve a private space at a great restaurant ran by a friend of your mother's. The manager went to buy snacks and drinks for the rest of you guys for tonight at a near by convenience store.

"Wow you have a nice place, (Y/N)." Yeosang compliments as he looks at the various decorations and how you and your roommate placed the minimal furniture.

"Thanks, it was a collaborative effort with my roomie. Which, be as loud as you guys want. She won't be in for a few nights since she'll be staying with her family." You smile and turn go to put leftovers from dinner in the fridge, missing the way everyone looked towards Seonghwa. "How long are you here for?"

"Just the rest of tonight. We fly back early in the morning tomorrow. We may have pulled this off but we still have busy schedules coming up." Jongho answers.

"Sorry we can't stay longer." San sighs with an apologetic smile.

"No worries, I'm happy you guys made it for today." You grin and move to sit next to Hwa on the couch, immediately leaning against him. "So I take it you guys flew in last night? Is that why you were actually in a hotel, love?"

He chuckles and nods, wrapping his arm around your shoulders. His fingers gently traced patterns on your arm. "I'm glad we got to witness this."

"Of course, I'd do the same for you guys."

"Well, if you would..." Mingi smiles as he walks in front of you, holding out several small pieces of paper for you. You gingerly take them, and look at everyone with confusion and curiosity as they surrounded the couch. Wooyoung took his spot next to you and rested his chin on your shoulder, aka, on Seonghwa's hand.

"Oh my God." You gasp as you look at each paper. They chuckled at your shock. There were several plane tickets; one to South Korea, a round trip ticket to Japan and then back to Korea, and then one back home. The next paper was a pass for the waterbomb festival coming up.

"We will email you the actual virtual tickets soon." Wooyoung said with a big grin.

"A graduation present from us and our manager." Seonghwa kissed your temple.

"This had to be so expensive..."

"Don't worry about it at all. We didn't have to pay for the waterbomb ticket and we all chipped in for the flights." Yuhno said softly from behind the couch. You felt his hand pat the top of your head a few times. There was a knock at the door and the tallest went to open the door for their manager,  who came in with two, black plastic bags and one backpack. You quickly got up to your feet and approached him with a smile.

"Thank you for all you have done."

"I should thank you for helping me keep them in line." He chuckles and hands you the plastic bags. He walks over to the couch and sets the backpack at Seonghwa's feet. "Remember, we have a flight back to Korea tomorrow. Don't drink too much. (Y/N), drink all you want."

Some time passed and everyone was lounging around in the living room of your apartment. Mingi, San, and Wooyoung took over the couch. Jongho, Yuhno, Yeosang, and their manager sat in chairs from the small kitchen table. You, Seonghwa, and Hongjoong were sitting on the floor, all while everyone watched a trashy, American reality show. You were sitting between Hwa's legs with your back against his chest while he rested against San's legs.

You felt your phone buzz in your pocket. You fish it out and unlock it, seeing it was an email notification. You tapped the notification, though you didn't read what it was for, figuring it was a promotional thing or something. You looked up at the tv screen for a moment before taking a moment to read over the contents of the email.

Your eyes slowly widened with each line you read. You felt your heart flutter as you sit up straight. You felt Seonghwa's hands on your hips and he had a curious look on his face.

"(Y/N)? What's wrong?" He asks softly, trying not to draw everyones attention. He leans forward and you can feel his chest on your back again, his chin on your shoulder. You raise your phone screen up so he can have an easier time reading the email. You turn your head just enough to see his expression turn to one of shock. You felt him wrap his arms around your waist and hold you tight as a big smile broke out on his face. "Does... Does this mean...?"

"What's happening?" Sannie asked from the couch. He leaned forward as well and you pass him your phone. You can practically feel the excitement oozing from Seonghwa. San suddenly stood up, knocking into the eldest's back. He had a huge grin, his dimple prominent on his face. 

Wooyoung snatched your phone from San and you watched as his eyes scan over the screen. He then looks up at you with a big smile. "No way!"

"Care to share with the rest of us?" Mingi asked while Yeosang muted the channel. 

"Well-" San started to speak but then clasps his own hand over his mouth for a moment. He hands you back your phone and sits back down. He eagerly gestures for you to speak. You feel Hwa's hands gently squeeze your hips.

"A job I applied for contacted me and told me they were looking for fresh faces and say they see potential with my resume, my CV, and from my letters of recommendation." You beamed and everyone looked excited for you. A sea of congratulations soon followed. You kept your beaming expression and you see Hongjoong look at you.

"There is more, isn't there?" He asked, a smile growing on his face.

"The job is located in Seoul. And they are allowing me to start towards the end of the year to give me time to get my legal documents situated and to move." 

There was a moment of silence.

Then, your apartment became chaos with pure excitement. Seonghwa, Wooyoung and San already pledged themselves to help you find a place in your upcoming visit. Mingi and Yuhno express excitement for the prospect of staying over at your new place. Yeosang, Jongho, and Hongjoong already start to make plans for when you start living there. Everyone decides to have one more drink to celebrate, their manager unable to say no to such an occasion.

---

You give each member a hug as they are about to leave for the night, saying your goodbyes. You move to hug Seonghwa but he sidesteps you and moves to stand behind you. You give him a confused look while the others chuckle.

"I'm staying with you tonight, jagiya." He pecked your cheek. The others say goodnight, their manager telling him to be read by 7am, and they all quickly leave. Now, it's just you and Seonghwa. 

"That's why he brought a backpack for you." You laugh and turn to face him. You place your hands on the back of his neck and raise a brow. "You've been nothing but surprises today. I really do appreciate it." 

"Of course. I'd do just about anything for you." He smiles sweetly and leans in to kiss you. Unlike the other kisses you two shared today, this one was longer and more passionate. You can feel his lips move against yours as he swipes his tongue along your bottom lip. You smile against the kiss. Before you could part your lips, he pulls away with a flirtatious look. 

"I love you, love." He smiles at your words. He lifts his hand up and gently traces his fingers down the side of your face, sending shivers down your spine. His arms wrap around your body and he keeps you pressed against him.

"I love you too, jagiya." He brings you into another intense kiss, his tongue invading your mouth this time. You feel his fingers curl in against your back, all while your hands find themselves in his hair. He breaks the kiss once more but rests his forehead against yours. "Would you like to celebrate a little more? We don't have to go further than this-"

"I would love to." You grin. You move from Seonghwa's grasp and take his hand, pulling him to your bedroom.

The second you closed the door, Hwa is already guiding you to your bed. He lays you down on your back while he crawls over you, his lips pressed against yours. His hands grip your hips before he starts to slide them under your shirt. He shifts his leg, placing it between your thighs. His knee is just barely brushes against your core. His hands start to gently kneed your breasts over your bra.

Seonghwa starts to trail tender kisses down from your mouth to your neck. You smile at the affection and you place a kiss of your own on the top of his head. He smirked against your neck as he gently bites your skin. You feel him shift his leg that was between your legs, applying a small amount of pressure against your cunt. You let out a soft noise from the sensation and you can feel yourself growing wetter and wetter.

You move one your hands down to the growing bulge in his pants. Seonghwa chuckled and sat up, taking your hand off him.

"Tonight is all about you, jagiya." He smiled softly. He took hold of both your wrists in his hand and held them above your head. "Let me worship you."

You felt a pleasant shiver down your spine again and you nod. Hwa let go of your hands and began kissing your neck again. This time his kisses and bites to your neck were more intense. You knew for sure you would have a couple of marks there. He released his hold on your wrists but you kept your arms about head. Your body is completely at his mercy and that had you excited.

You felt him press his leg against your aching core again and this time you rolled your hips to seek pleasure, causing yourself to moan.

"Good, jagiya." Seonghwa chuckles as he moves his face by your ear. You feel his lips brush against your ear before he gently nips it. He sat up and helped you up as well.

He hums softly, tracing his nose along your face before he kisses you again. He gently nibbles your bottom lip and stares deeply into your eyes. Hwa licks his lips as he leans down and scans your body with his eyes. You feel his hand take hold of your shirt and slowly lift it up and off your body. His fingers nimbly unclasps your bra and he tosses it off your body. 

Seonghwa's hands caress and gently squeeze your breasts, the pads of his thumbs were on your nipples as he rubbed small circles with them.  He hummed with a smile. "I missed these."

You chuckle softly. "You missed my boobs?"

"Yes." He moves himself so his face his close to them. "I missed all off you, (Y/N). I missed your face, your touch, your taste... I missed seeing your smile in person, I missed hearing your laugh right beside me. I miss you."

"I miss you too Hwa." You give his cheek a tender peck. You bite your bottom lip as his hands still kneaded your breasts and his thumbs applied some pressure. "Luckily I got that job. I'll be a lot closer to you by next year."

"Still feels so far away." He whispers and starts kissing your chest. He bites the skin and sucks, doing this until he reached your nipples. His mouth encompasses the pebbled skin. You bring one of your hands up to his head and combed your fingers through his hair. He sucks and gently nibbles, his tongue rolling over your perked bud. He does this to both nipples for a few moments before pulling away, a line of saliva briefly hangs between his lips and your skin. "I want to try something, jagiya." 

"What do you want to try, love?"

"Would you want to sit on my face and let me pleasure you?" His question makes your face flush with heat. 

"You'd want to do that? Are-Are you sure you want me to sit on your face?" You can feel yourself getting more wet by the second.

"Of course." He smiles sweetly. He sits up straight so he can meet your eyes easily, his hands slide down and gently hold onto your hips. "Like I said, jagiya, I missed your taste and I think you will look breathtaking doing so... Do you want to try this out with me?"

"Then... I would like to." You bite your bottom lip and smile. His face broke out in a grin and he helped you off your lap. He moves to lay down as you slip off your pants and underwear. You move yourself up the bed near his head and carefully placed your leg on the other side of his head. His hands slid up from behind your thighs and your ass to hold your hips. You hovered over his face, looking down at him between your legs. You were a bit hesitant to lower yourself down though. "Are you sure-"

You didn't even get to finish your question when you felt Seonghwa pull you down to his mouth. Immediately his tongue went to work against you clit. You moan, one hand bracing yourself against the wall while you bury the fingers of the other in his dark hair. A vibrator certainly worked wonders, but there is something else about his tongue. He moved his up and down against your clit before moving it in circles clockwise.

"Hwa..." You say, almost sounding breathless. He simply hums and continues his ministrations with his tongue. He nuzzles his faces against your cunt and adjust his mouth so he could lap you up. Seonghwa's tongue briefly pushes against your clit and then you feel his lips wrap around your sensitive bud, gently sucking on it. Instinctively you bite your lip to hold back your moan, making him lightly slap your ass, not enough to hurt but to get a point across. He lifts you just enough to free his mouth so he could speak.

"You said your roommate is gone for the night?" He asks and you give him a quick 'yes.' You felt his lips curl into a smile. "Then don't hold back, jagiya. It's just us."

You feel his tongue move against you again in all the right ways, making you moan again. You didn't hold it back this time and you could tell Hwa is pleased with that. He shifted underneath you and he buries his face into your cunt, he continued to gently suck and swirl his tongue around your clit. His ministrations had you squirming, slowly rocking your hips against him, and you were making all sorts of noises. 

"Seonghwa..." You whimper. You speaking his name in such a manner had him groan in pleasure. You feel him shift yet again, his grip on your hips firm. His tongue is off your clit and you feel his tongue swirl around your entrance. He penetrates you and thrusts with his tongue while his nose brushed against your swollen bud. His mouth is working wonders on your and you can feel yourself getting closer to an orgasm. Hwa doesn't relent, keeping the pleasure going and keeping you relatively still with his hands holding onto your hips. "Fuck... Hwa I'm-!"

Your walls fluttered around his tongue. You feel your thigh muscles tighten and they press against his head. A loud noise of pleasure leaves your lips as you throw your head back. Hwa squeezes and lightly massages your hips as you climax, his tongue slowly slides out from your hole and gently licks your cunt. He waits a few moments before gently guiding you off his face. You lift a leg and sit next to his head, your back against your headboard. 

Seonghwa quickly got up, licking his lips clean of your juices though his chin and nose still shined with your climax. He sits next to you and his hands caress your legs. He smiles at you, a look of satisfaction on his face, while you came down from your orgasm. 

"You have a little something on your face." You giggle and gesture around your own chin and nose. He chuckles and you watch as he swipes his fingers over his skin and then lick them clean.

"Better?" He whispers with a slight smirk. You can tell he was trying to be sexy but he still had some of your cum on him. You giggle softly making him blush and chuckle.

"Here, hold on for a moment." You get up from the bed and head out of your room to your bathroom. You grabbed a clean wash cloth, dampened it with some water, and returned to your bedroom. You hand Seonghwa the cloth and he gives you an appreciative smile, his cheeks and ears dusted with a subtle pink. You sit back down as he cleans off his face. He sets the cloth on your nightstand and looks back at you.

You watch as Seonghwa gets off the bed. His eyes scan your body with a smirk. Slowly, he took off his shirt and slid off his pants and boxers. Both of you were completely nude and you can see just how turned on he is. Hwa gets back onto your bed and gets right up to you, his face mere inches from yours.

"I love you so much, (Y/N)." He whispers. His hand comes up and gently caresses your jaw and neck.

"I love you too, Seonghwa." You smile at him, your tone soft and full of love. He smiles back and presses his lips against yours. His kiss is tender this time around. His hand cradles the back of your head to keep you in place, but you know you don't want to pull away in this moment. Your fingers graze the skin of his bare chest. You slowly brought them up to his collarbones and then his neck.

"Hmm, I want to take this all the way, jagiya." He pauses for a moment as his eyes look down at your body and then back at your face. He smirks. "I want to hear all those lovely noises you make."

"If I get to ride you, my love." You say in a sensual tone. His smirk crumbles to a flustered look at your suggestion, but he still smiles regardless.

"Is that what you want?"

"Yes." You nod and he bites his bottom lip. Seonghwa moves and sits down, his back against the headboard now. You grin, moving to stand on your legs before you throw your leg over his lap, effectively straddling him. His hands are once again on your hips as he pulls your body against his. He has a lustful and excited smile on his face.

"Condoms? I brought some-"

"No, it's fine. I trust you and I'm still taking birth control." You smile.

You reach behind and grab the shaft of Seonghwa's cock. You carefully drag his tip through your wet folds to tease him a little. You line him up to your entrance and look at his face. He gives a small nod for you to continue and you do so. You slowly lower yourself down, languidly taking him inside you. You both let out a soft moans. You sat in his lap, your hands grip his shoulders, while his cock fully inside you and you take a moment to savor the feeling.

"Ah, you feel so good, jagiya." Seonghwa mumbles, his lips barely brush against yours. You can feel his hot breath but you didn't care. His eyes were half-closed as he stared deeply into yours. You can feel his hands caressing your hips, thighs, and ass. His length twitches inside and you can tell he is full of anticipation for you to start moving. Hwa gives you a sweet smile, which contrasts with the current, steamy situation. "Take your time. You have control right now until you want me to take over."

"Thank you, love." You whisper softy and peck his lips. You wait a full two minutes before you started moving. You take a slow and steady pace, your thigh muscles flexing as you raise yourself up and down on his cock. Seonghwa's hands firmly held your hips yet he made no effort to control your movements, he simply assisted you so you wouldn't be doing all the work. 

"This feels nice." Hwa murmurs and leans his head down, his lips pressing against your neck. You feel his teeth graze your skin and he gently nips at your neck.

"Feels s'good." You moan softly. You rock your hips at a pleasurable pace. It is a very sensual moment between you both. It was just you and him, nothing else mattered. He raised his head from your neck and pressed his forehead against yours. He looked at you with pure adoration and love. His hands slide to your lower back and then moved up to your shoulder blades. You feel his arms against your sides as he hugged you close to his chest. You still moved your hips at a slow pace. 

This is a moment of passion and pleasure, but also a moment of love and bliss.

You sunk all the way down on him and gently grind your hips against him, feeling pleasure come from your clit grazing his pubic mound. Seonghwa smiles at you, enjoying how you look getting yourself off on him. He kiss your cheek and his lips linger to you skin for a few moments. You feel his fingertips press into your back and rub small circles on your skin.

You returned to moving yourself up and down on his cock. You increased your speed, sometimes focusing on his tip and then rotating to taking him all the way. Regardless  of what you did, he was moaning and groaning at all your movements. His hands were back on your hips as you leaned away from him with your hands gripping his shoulders. You both wanted to see your faces.

You feel a coil-like sensation in your lower stomach as pleasure builds up again. Your breathing is harsh and deep, and you can feel your legs getting tired... but you wanted to keep going. Seonghwa could see and feel how you your stamina is waning. He smiles sweetly and leans forward to capture your lips in a passionate yet short kiss.

"Relax, jagiya." His voice is smooth and low. He holds your hips and stops your movements. Seonghwa then starts to thrust his hips up at a quick pace. A loud moan escapes your lips as you cling on to him. He leaned forward and nibbles on your neck while you feel one of his hands move from your hip to your pubic mound. Hwa pressed his thumb over your swollen clit and started rubbing circles.

"O-Oh, Hwa..." You whimper out. You feel that heat building up more and more inside you.

"Hng- You're amazing, (Y/N)."He moaned as well, moving his head away from your neck to stare at your face. You can see he was getting close to his own release by the erotic expression on his face. 

"I-I think... I'm going to cum again." You whisper, feeling that all too familiar feeling crawl up your legs. You looked at him with all the love you could muster. The intimacy and intense feelings all added to your impending orgasm. The way the head of his cock hit that sweet spot inside you just right and his thumb swirling and applying the correct amount pressure sent you over the edge. You lean forward with your forehead against his as a loud whine leaves your mouth, your walls fluttering around his cock.

"(Y/N)-!" He groaned, still thrusting into your cunt. He stared intensely into your eyes, chasing his own climax. His breathing grows ragged and his thrusts became off rhythm. A moan tumbles from his lips as he sloppily kisses you, thrusting one last time. You feel his cock twitch inside you as his cum coats your walls. He keeps himself fully sheathed inside you as you both catch your breaths.

"Seonghwa..." You murmur, your body slumping against his, resting your head on his shoulder. His arms wrap around you and his hands gently grip the skin of your back. You feel his warm breath fan over the back of your neck as he leveled out his breathing. Seonghwa made a noise that sounded like a mix of a sigh and a moan as he rests his head against yours.

Neither of you said anything further. Seonghwa keeps his arms tight around you while you equally clinged to him. Nothing really needed to be said in this moment, the high emotions you both shared spoke enough.

Minutes passed when you finally speak up.

"We should probably clean up and get you to bed." You whisper to him, pulling your head back to look over this face.

"I want to stay like this, jagiya." He murmurs, placing his lips on your neck. "I feel so close to you like this... "

"I know, love, but we have to be up early." Hwa groaned at this, which makes you laugh.

"Stop being right."

"Come on... let's take a shower, Hwa." He reluctantly helps you off his lap, his softening length now out of you. You both get off from your bed and you lead him out your room to your bathroom. His hands remained on your waist as you both walked and then waited for the shower water to warm up. He didn't want to let go of you just yet.

After the shower and after drying off, you both go back into your room to change into comfortable clothes to sleep in. He laid down first, slipping under the covers. When you joined him, you laugh when his arms pulled you flush against his body. Seonghwa tucks your head under his chin and he holds you firmly in his arms. You chuckle and hold him just as tightly.

"I don't want to let go of you again... this feels like it's going to be harder than when you when you visited." He says with a sigh.

"I know, Hwa, I know." You mumble, already feel an ache in your chest. "Let's savor the rest of tonight together."

There is a pause.

"I love you, (Y/N)."

"I love you too, Seonghwa."

Morning came too fast your liking. You and Seonghwa awoke with your limbs practically tangled. His warmth despite the temperatures warming outside is comforting in the moment. You both reluctantly got dressed and made Hwa a light breakfast.

A little before 7am, Ateez and their manager came back over to pick Seonghwa up and of course came to say goodbye. You got an earful of teasing when they see the blemishes and marks Hwa left on your neck. You hugged each member and of course your hug lingered on Hwa, with you both gently caressing each other's backs for comfort.

Goodbyes were harder this time around, but you still had that ray of optimism due to your move to South Korea. It will be rough, but with Seonghwa, the rest of Ateez, and even their manager, you knew it would be a feat you'll overcome.

Your new horizon awaits you and your life with Seonghwa seems to be on the right track.

------------

Taglist: @stopeatread @hee0soo @tridkeys @pocketjoong-reads @seonghwaddict @lelaleleb @acciocriativity @h-nji

[brucebocchi]

Winter 2024 anime roundup, Pt. 1: Ongoing/returning shows and the trash heap

hey y'all, this is also up on my ko-fi! it's free to read both here and there, but i'm struggling financially rn so i could appreciate if you'd throw a few bucks my way if you liked it!

I wasn't expecting to watch nearly this much anime in just the past three months, but life completely failed at getting in the way. So here's everything I either watched or tried​ to watch for the Winter 2024 season, and a short review for each.

I'm not going to bother with trying to rank them, so instead they're sorted by category, as follows:

Continuing series from Fall 2023

Returning series

What I dropped

Mixed reactions

On hold

New series that are actually good

With this first entry, I'll be covering the first three, with the back half arriving in another couple of days. As with the 2023 rankings, the OP for each show is linked in the corresponding title.

Here we go.

Ongoing shows:

The Apothecary Diaries

Looking back at my 2023 rankings, I think my placement of The Apothecary Diaries’ first cour at #11 may have belied how much I love this show and believe it to truly be one of last year’s greats. If anything, it was hampered by its status as an ongoing show making it incomplete by nature, and I worried myself over the possibility of recency bias taking over my top ten (Frieren is in the same boat, so its top overall ranking should really highlight how damn good it is). Make no mistake, though: The Apothecary Diaries fucking rocks, and it continues to fucking rock. 

It’s largely more of the same, and that’s what you would want from another cour of this show. At the same time, though, more and more is uncovered about Maomao’s background and Jinshi’s status as the proverbial camera continues to pull back and the mysteries adorning the edges of the frame become clearer. I got a sense at the end of the Fall 2023 cour that the show was moving on from its episodic nature into something more serial and plot-driven, and I was mostly right: While several episodes of the Winter cour still revolve around various mysteries of the week, they all start to converge before you even realize it. It’s the same flywheel-effect approach to plot development that Kaguya-sama did so well: While so many of the events seem like one-off curiosities in the moment, these almost-imperceptible movements eventually barrel forward into an unexpected but perfectly logical momentum. The show teases out several plot threads that may not seem relevant at first, and it trusts you to be patient enough to see them play out.

I’m not at all exaggerating when I say that, along with the next entry on this list, The Apothecary Diaries is one of the best anime of the past five years. I had a feeling that this could end up being the case as 2023 came to a close, but I’m sure of it now. Watch this show.

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End

Last year’s best anime continues apace into 2024 as we get an honest-to-goodness story arc: Frieren, who has been around too long to bother taking any magical governing bodies seriously, needs a certified mage in her party order to continue on the journey north. She decides to take the necessary exam to be certified as a First-Class Mage, a rarefied status in this world, and has Fern tag along to do the same in order to double their chances. 

And it’s still incredible! Great action, brilliant animation, wonderful character moments, and a beautiful score. It is still the top-rated anime ever on MyAnimeList, and by a significant margin. I’m not sure I agree, necessarily, but I can say with all sincerity that this has been a perfect season of television and my Fridays now feel empty without it. 

That’s all I’ve got on this one. What else do you want from me? I’ve already written nearly 2000 words about this show alone since it premiered. You’re asking me for more? I’ll kill you.

Shangri-La Frontier

If the low placement on my 2023 list was any indication, I was pretty fed up with Shangri-La Frontier by the end of its first cour, and the first couple episodes of 2024 being little more than plot set-up had me teetering on the edge of dropping it entirely. But I’ll be damned if it didn’t reel me back in once shit actually started happening and the plot really began to move forward.

Well, for a bit, at least. The height of the series so far has been the Wethermon arc, in which Sunraku teams up with his fellow shit-gamers, Pencilgon and Katzo, as they vie to be the first to take down a notoriously difficult unique boss. As the fight plays out, we get to see the feeling-out process of a tough action-RPG boss, rife with attack pattern memorization, skill timing, and buff stacking as the margin for error grows ever thinner. As always, the animation is on point, the soundtrack rules, and the action sequences are exhilarating.

But my major gripe with the series remains: There’s hardly any actual story here, even after 25 episodes. There are broad gestures towards a larger plot (“the truth of this world,” as the NPCs call it), but they are too vague to even resemble anything enticing. Everything in between the major fights is just set dressing, and there’s a lot of in between. There’s decent stuff in there, to be fair; the adorable rabbit NPCs are always a delight, and I love the commitment to depicting our top-level gamers as smug, preening shitheels. These are long walks for short drinks of water, though, and much of the main cast isn’t likable enough to make the downtime tolerable, to the point where watching the many set-up episodes feels like more of a grind than the actual grinding in the show. Even in the best fight sequences I still had moments where I found myself yelling “STOP TALKING ALREADY” at the screen. Internal monologues are a constant in battle shonen, I know, but if there’s any demographic whose internal monologues I want to hear the least, it’s gamers.

I kept watching this show despite myself, and six months later I’m still not sure how much I actually enjoy it. I haven’t seen any of the lousy VRMMO anime that people favorably compare it to, so at least it isn’t Sword Art Online. Yay, I guess? Yet here I am, still plugging away at a show I can’t strongly recommend to a lot of people. Shangri-La Frontier has turned me into a Steam reviewer.

Undead Unluck

The stakes continue to rise exponentially in one of last year’s more underrated shonen hits (or it would’ve been a hit if Disney gave a fuck about marketing the anime on its own platforms). The Union neutralizes a threat, gains a new Roundtable member, and then shit hits the fan.

The scope of this series goes into absolutely buckwild directions, and all I will say is that “Kimi no Todoke predicting the future” was not a piece of worldbuilding I would have ever expected. But at the same time, it never loses focus on the human element, which only gets more poignant as it goes on. There’s a really beautiful message in the last arc about how people can live on through the memories of others, well past their bodies dying, which hits nice and hard considering this season aired at the same time as Frieren.

This is a show that I tended to watch sporadically (because I just plain forget to open Hulu just to watch one show every week), and I would say that it was the ideal way to watch it, except the pacing issues from the first cour only got worse during a monumentally consequential sequence in the middle of the second. There was an episode that had, I shit you not, 90 seconds of new content in the first seven minutes of runtime, and at the exact point in the series where you’re salivating for something, anything new. In a season where so much goes on in just 24 episodes, I’m baffled that they felt the need to pad the runtime so much.

That’s the worst of it, though, and the momentum fortunately builds up from there and barrels downhill until the end. The story becomes incredibly meta, which was a very ballsy move for a Shonen Jump series that was still relatively early into its run. The gamble pays off, though, and the debut season ends on several incredibly strong episodes, and now I want more. I’ll be hopping on the manga soon.

It also struck me towards the end of the season just how goddamn cute everyone looks. For all of the spraying blood and grim marching towards Armageddon, it says a lot that I still wanna pinch everyone’s fat little cheeks.

Returning shows:

The Dangers in My Heart, season 2

The first season was absent in my 2023 rankings but I decided to pick it up while the second was still airing, and I’m so glad I did: The Dangers in My Heart is an almost-too-precious middle school romance that is endlessly endearing and bluntly honest (if a little exploitative) about what middle schoolers are actually like, warts and all. Insecurities are amplified, they struggle to figure out their identities, and mental and physical development run on different schedules from one kid to the next. And amidst all this raging hormonal nonsense, we have ourselves a lovely little romance story.

Kyotaro has (mostly) kicked his chuuni tendencies and realized that he’s madly in love with the beautiful, cheery Anna. He’s as aware as anyone of what a mismatched couple they’d be, though, and continues to self-sabotage any progress in the name of maintaining her good social standing. To pile onto his loner’s perspective of middle school politics, Kyotaro also gets a front-row seat to Anna’s part-time work as a model-slash-actress and he wonders if an underdeveloped shrimp like him should be seen anywhere near someone so obviously more mature. At the same time, though, he’s a growing boy, and we see lovely moments of progress as Kyotaro takes initiative both for her sake and to achieve what he wants. To both ameliorate and complicate these situations, Anna reciprocates his feelings towards her, and we creep ever closer towards what we want to see, in increasingly awkward and precious fashion.

So much of this anime is just gorgeous. Even setting aside the visuals and music (which are on point at all times), there are really lovely themes in here about insecurity, teenage perceptions of maturity, and self acceptance. On top of all of that, though, this is just a delightful slice-of-life romance story. You can probably guess where we’ve ended up by the end of the second season, but it’s the getting there that makes it all worth it. The manga is still running (and I plan to pick it up), so there’s clearly plenty more of the story to tell, but if this is where the anime ends, it ended perfectly.

Holy shit, though, did the first season really air at the same time as Skip and Loafer and Insomniacs After School? Dentists must have made a mint that season because every single one of these shows is so unrelentingly sweet that my teeth start to itch. Not that I’m complaining.

Mashle: Magic and Muscles, season 2

I honestly think I might’ve been too hard on Mashle in my 2023 rankings. I gave up on it a few episodes in when it’d initially aired, but I eventually came back to finish out the season and ended up having a pretty good time. I’ll cop to having forgotten that latter part when I mapped out those rankings, but that enjoyment quickly came back to me when I picked up season 2... even if the season begins with a ton of table setting.

Plenty of battle shonen take time to find their voice, both in manga and anime, and Mashle really seemed to hit its stride fairly quickly into the second season. Mash Burnedead’s lack of magical quality is no longer a secret, and now magical society has to find a way to deal with it, so the series’ initial stakes are raised and Mash HAS to become a top-level sorcerer lest he lose his life. Also, the bad guys are back. Unfortunately, just as I started to genuinely appreciate the ensemble cast, most of Mash’s friends took a backseat to the larger plot (Lemon is nowhere to be seen almost all season) as the villains raise the stakes with increasingly JoJo-esque magic abilities. There’s still plenty to like, though, and some of the new characters help. Props for having an openly nonbinary character play a major role.

The music is a real highlight here; a surprising amount of hip-hop paints the backdrops during dialogue, and any show with an OP by Creepy Nuts will immediately grab my attention. "Bling-Bang-Bang-Born" actually turned into a bona fide hit single, much like Oshi no Ko's "Idol" and Jujutsu Kaisen's "SPECIALZ," and I'd say it's well earned (seriously, it fucks, please click the link above). The animation has also started to really pick up where it felt like it kept falling short in the first season as well, and I found myself looking forward to action sequences more as the season went on.

And hey, it might’ve taken 21 episodes to get there, but I finally laughed at a cream puff gag!

Urusei Yatsura (2022), season 2

I really don’t have much to say other than it’s more Urusei Yatsura, and that’s just swell. We continue the modern adaptation of the classic gag manga as the OG anime babe and her piece-of-shit “darling” get caught up in yet more bizarre hijinks. Despite the 48-episode run being touted as an “Urusei Yatsura all-stars” cherry-pick from Rumiko Takahashi’s 34-volume opus, not all of the segments hit on the same level, but the stories that last entire or even multiple episodes have been killer. Lum and Ataru, despite their myriad flaws, genuinely do care for one another, and this series is at its best when those feelings get to shine through. Takahashi remains a legend for her expert balancing of comedy and heart, and while this particular adaptation doesn’t have the built-in benefit of 300+ chapters of familiarity, those moments still feel earned.

It’s Urusei Yatsura. It’s a classic for a reason. Watch it.

Dropped:

Gushing Over Magical Girls (dropped after one episode)

For the TL;DR version, consult the image above.

All I’d heard about this show going in was that the manga it’s based on was good and that there would be boobs. I wish I’d known more than that before watching, though, because if I’d known that said boobs would belong to middle schoolers, I wouldn’t have bothered with even the one episode I did end up watching.

I was drawn in by the initial premise, too: The protagonist, the conspicuously-named Utena (who looks enough like Bernadetta from Fire Emblem that I was immediately endeared to her), is an enormous fan of the magical girls who keep her city safe, so when an adorable maho shoujo mascot approaches her with an offer, she immediately takes him up on it. As her sinister-looking (and unnecessarily revealing) costume suggests, though, Utena doesn’t get to live out her magical girl dreams; she actually got roped into—and blackmailed into keeping—a role as a villainess. The magical girl team she idolizes quickly finds her, and to stave off their assault, Utena is forced to summon a monster to bind them. As they continue to struggle and squeal, Utena goes further with it by ripping their clothes and spanking their bare bottoms red, because it turns out that she’s actually into this stuff, sexually. The title, it turns out, is a double entendre.

Credit where it’s due for a clever concept: On paper, this is really goddamn funny! My issue is with the execution: I don’t really care to see someone’s sexual awakening if it involves repeated violations of consent, and much less so if I have to see nudity of ostensible middle schoolers (Japanese middle schools are the equivalent of seventh through ninth grade, meaning these girls are 15 at most). After 100 Girlfriends, I thought I could handle whatever trashy bullshit any anime could throw my way, but the longer I chewed on Gushing’s premiere, the worse it sat with me. I have no intentions of playing morality police here, but I can’t bring myself to watch any more of this than I already have. 

Early teenage sexuality is a very difficult subject matter to handle delicately, especially in a comedy milieu, and I can levy plenty of criticisms on that matter towards series I otherwise enjoyed, like Call of the Night and the aforementioned Dangers in My Heart. And although there appear to be some coming-of-age elements here, Gushing doesn’t seem interested in handling it without being exploitative. Maybe it gets better, but I don’t plan to find out for myself. 

I just feel like it’s a shame that in a season with some actual halfway decent LGBT representation, the breakout yuri hit is about middle schoolers performing dubiously-consensual BDSM on each other. And maybe that speaks to something for some sapphic viewers, and I have no intention of speaking over them, but I do know that this isn’t for me. I would’ve gone fucking feral over this show when I was like 13, but I haven’t been a 13-year-old boy for a long, long time. 

I may not have a leg to stand on here as someone who watches Mushoku Tensei (and frankly, that one’s on strike two with me), but I have to put my foot down somewhere. For me, that “somewhere” is borderline pornography involving 13-15 year olds. I try to meet media where it is, even the squicky stuff, but I cannot put myself at the level Gushing Over Magical Girls sets for itself. 

Sasaki and Peeps (dropped after eight episodes)

This show is frustrating to even process postmortem. After a mildly intriguing hour-long premiere that introduced a whole lot of concurrent concepts, Sasaki and Peeps somehow managed to not only continue heaping new ideas onto the pile, but also fumble every single one of them in a way that wasn’t even entertaining to watch.

Sasaki, a lonely 40-something salaryman of modest means, decides that instead of living vicariously through adorable animal photos on social media, he should pull the trigger and get a pet of his own. He settles on a reasonably-priced and suitably adorable fat little Java sparrow, who as it turns out speaks human language and is actually named Piercarlo the Starsage (Sasaki settles on calling him Pii-chan, or Peeps in English). The bird was reincarnated from another world, where he is able to take Sasaki at will, and the man realizes he can use the other world’s relative dearth of technology to his advantage and sets up an interdimensional trade full time so he can make coin on his own watch and help Peeps try the delicious beef he heard is the best food in Sasaki’s world. To the latter end, he also invests in a restaurant. Peeps also helps teach him magic, which Sasaki is forced to use in a pinch in the real world. He is quickly found out and gets roped into a secret government bureau of psychics, because the agent who caught him using ice magic decides he’d be a perfect complement to her water powers (think Kanne and Lawine from Frieren, but stupider). Sasaki now has to balance these multiple lives, which hardly ever interact with one another, as the stakes rise in Peeps’ world in the form of palace intrigue and in Sasaki’s world in the form of a growing threat of evil psychics or something. Also, there’s magical girls, because why the fuck not at this point.

If you actually managed to process all that and went “wow, that’s a lot, I wonder how they can tie all that together,” it brings me no pleasure to report that Sasaki and Peeps completely fails at that task. This is a work of fiction with entirely too many ideas, to the point where it feels like it has no ideas. There’s a saying in football that a team with two quarterbacks is a team with no quarterback, and Sasaki and Peeps has, like, six on its depth chart. You ever hear a band that managed to cram multiple genres in the same song and you get whiplash every time it switches up? Those are bands with a lot of influences, but no identity or vision to call their own, and that is Sasaki and Peeps to me: It is the Twenty One Pilots of anime. A lot of shit got thrown at the wall, and none of it stuck: This show, conceptually, is shit-stained drywall with a pile of turds adorning the moulding. 

For a show about a 40-year-old man, it gave me serious pause that there was not a single named adult woman in any of the episodes I watched, and I grew even more frustrated waiting for one to show up. Sasaki’s partner, Hoshizaki, seems to be a driven, professional young woman, but it turns out she’s a 16 year old high school student, for some reason. The daughter of the viscount doing business with Sasaki is a young girl who likes to tag along with him, and Sasaki’s neighbor is a latchkey high school girl who may or may not have a yandere-ish fixation on him. The magical girl we meet is also definitely a kid. The female psychics they face off against don’t appear to be older than teenagers, though the one who appears to grow fond of him turns out to be several hundred years old, which especially gave me pause because we all know that unfortunate trope and the type of person who hides behind it. Before progressing any further, I found out that the light novel series upon which this show is based was written by someone with the pen name “Buncololi,” which told me the rest of what I needed to know.

That part made me increasingly uncomfortable, and I became less and less convinced that this show was capable of sticking the landing as it continued to pile on new, contrived ideas. This was a waste of an excellent voice cast, but more than that, a waste of time.

Tales of Wedding Rings (dropped after nine episodes)

I can’t believe how much goddamn isekai I ended up watching this season. That Tales of Wedding Rings wasn’t the worst one (see above) was a minor miracle, because boy howdy was this one a dud.

Satou is just a normal high school boy, blah blah blah, his childhood friend he’s in love with is actually a princess from another world and she has to go back to fulfill a political marriage, he follows her into the portal to pull a Benjamin Braddock. But then, gasp, the palace is under attack, so the princess (her native name is Krystal, but growing up in Japan she was known as Hime, which means… princess) instead decides to marry Satou, bestowing upon him her kingdom’s ring, which gives him powers that he uses to fight back the demons. It turns out that her ring enables him to use one elemental affinity out of five, so of course now Satou has to collect the rings held by the other four kingdoms in order to become the Ring King and save the world, and to do so he has to also marry each corresponding princess.

This is basically Tolkien’s Rings of Power but as a harem isekai with bonus nudity. What I saw of the season was basically a MacGuffin hunt that had waifus of various fantasy races attached. Fine character designs for each, to be fair, but it wasn’t enough to keep me interested.  It’s funny on paper that (to paraphrase Geoff Thew) our protagonist’s power level scales with the size of his harem, but Tales didn’t do enough to make me actually care what was happening. And I wanted to! There were elf titties and I didn’t care. That’s criminal.

What makes Tales especially difficult to watch is that this show is fuck ugly. The color palette is muddy and unappealing, everyone looks uncannily shiny, and there’s a smudgy Vaseline filter over everything. The action sequences are uninspiring, the animation is lousy, and every character looks terribly off-model unless they’re naked. Watch the OP I linked if you don't believe me; that's the best of it. The aural element isn’t much better; ecchi scenes are punctuated by a Cinemax-caliber smooth jazz score that I pray was chosen ironically, and most of the show’s humor consists of “an old guy is screeching.” And if you’re wasting Shigeru Chiba’s talents on that one lousy joke, you’ve fucked up catastrophically.

What completely pushed me out of wanting to see any more of this show, though, was how hard it doubled down on the worst elements of harem anime by having Protag-kun be a wishy-washy little ninny even though he’s openly declared his love for and is literally married to Hime/Krystal. And I wanted to care about her; the narrative made me want to care about her, and her jealousy of the other princesses is warranted, but alas, the harem demands bodies. To his credit, Satou recognizes her mixed emotions and makes extra time for her to make it clear that she’s forever number one in his heart, but every single time their shared romance and emotions actually push them towards consummating their (all caps for emphasis) MARRIAGE, the show goes Rent-a-Girlfriend on us and finds a cheap excuse to ruin the moment. No thanks, I’m out. Nothing else about this show is good enough to make me wade through that shit.

Honestly, the only thing that had me coming back after my Persona 3-induced hiatus was that I wanted to see the dragon girl, and that alone was almost worth it, but there really isn’t much of a draw otherwise. There were better isekai, better romances, better fantasy settings, and even better uncensored harem shenanigans this season. I might pick this back up as the second season approaches, but I’m not in any hurry.

[ad-hawkeye]

addy. addy. can we get a rough summary of the results so far... this is going to make me curious!!!

HI!!!! OF COURSE!!! i've been having such a blast looking over these responses! it'd be selfish not to share some info with you all!!

i posted this survey on reddit as well, so i'm getting a lot of variety in the results! i have about 92 responses so far. if anyone wants to post this on twitter, discord, or any other social media, definitely do!! the bigger the sample size, the more accurate the results!

age seems to be very evenly spread across the 14 - 30+ range, funny enough. this one will be interesting to look into more once i have more responses, could make for some super interesting correlations.

vast majority of responses are from cis females (approximately 70% as of rn), however there have been absolutely zero cis males, meaning the remaining 30% of the respondents are trans, nonbinary, genderfluid, or prefer not to answer :)

majority of respondents are straight, however, there are also a lot of asexuals. like a lot. following that are the bisexuals and then aromantics. this is just from a quick glimpse, but it seems the straight/bisexual respondents trend towards ayn, the aromantic respondents trend towards cael (this one is actually very notable), the asexual respondents trend towards alkaid, and clarence and lars are wildcards and are a good mix of everything.

this is also besides the point but the small number of lesbian respondents are currently evenly split between both alkaid and clarence, haha.

north america, europe, and asia are the most reoccurring continents, so i'm not too surprised there. majority of respondents are white or asian. following these two are black respondents, and then those of hispanic, latino, or spanish origin.

alkaid is doing very well in the general character preferences section, and i regret not adding mc as a character as a few people put her in the "other" section! alkaid is also leading in the bias section, with ayn and cael trailing in second and third respectively. though, it is worth noting this section is evenly spread, with no major stand outs as of rn.

general route preference is heavily biased in favor of clarence's godheim route and alkaid's eden route! it also seems a large chunk of the respondents have not even played the eden routes yet, which makes for alkaid's second place status somewhat impressive.

when i held everyone as gunpoint to pick one (1) favorite route, clarence's godheim route is leading in first, with alkaid's eden route trailing in second. other routes of interest here are ayn's eden route and alkaid's godheim route.

world preferences are very evenly spread, though "whatever the hell is going on with cael's world" is leading by like, two right now HAHA

most people (approx 65%) use japanese voice acting, while the remaining 21% use the chinese voice acting (shout out to my fellow chinese voice acting girlies, the zhao lu pull is Too Strong), and 13% swap between both.

spending seems very split. half of us are free to play and half of us spend only a little on monthly passes or tiny purchases. a very small portion (7% or so) spend more than that.

and to finish this off, here are some of my favorite open ended responses so far. i will be posting official results with screenshots, correlations, and other fun stuff in a week or so hehe

[lafresnaya]

thinking about this rn.

because it's in the middle, i remember it a little less (thanks, primary bias & recency bias) and it merges into the scenes before and after but it's been on my mind for a while;

corridors seem to be a common theme with the spiral, huh? even if it's only in his dreams, real-or-not-real doesn't seem to matter much when it comes to it-is-not-what-it-is.

ever wonder if he came across the distortion? or if the distortion had some hand in this?

it's also got me thinking about what @thermodynamic-comedian said about mike representing the movement aspect of the vast, of something that outpaces you - not because it's trying to show you up or leave you behind, but because you and your little area of space that you occupy are so tiny in comparison to the route it will travel.

'flesh peeling away', 'coursing, buzzing pain' - it just goes to show that he didn't always have the ability to move at such speeds without facing the constraints of the human body, and moving at death-defying paces wasn't always 'that wonderful border between terror & delight'.

and you know? i think that's part of what helped him become an avatar of the vast.

he feared it. he had within him the ability to fear it, but he also loved it; and i think in many ways, like the shape the lichtenberg figure took, he too, belonged to the sky.

for me, it reads like the only fear he ever held for the spiral was mixed with hatred.

[sungtaro]

to my beloved mutuals who contributed to the big birthday project spearheaded by millie i truly can't tell you how special and loved you all made me feel 🥹 it really means so much that all of you would take the time to share such thoughtful and lovely things. now that i have had all day to process and time to sit down to thank all of you ... let's gaaaur 😎

roro! @sunghanbin thank you always for your kind words and for seeing in me what i can only believe is the warmth reflected back from what you put out into the world 💖 i'm glad you've stood by me from my filtering nct era to my full on nctzenization without even batting a lash, even if my bias reveal was unexpected 🤭 #thanks_jaehyun

vianey! @souladies thank you so much for taking the time to wish me well and contribute to this. you are such an integral presence in my tumblr experience, i am always so happy to see your creations in my tag after a long stretch of not being here, and in so many ways it's you who always makes me feel welcome back 🥹

aweks! @awek-s my sweet bean, i hope you know i'm always cheering for you! i wish for a world where everyone can feel seen, heard, and supported by their healthcare team - i know it's far from the reality, but i'll always work hard to be at least be that nurse myself. you are so important to the world and to me, pls don't forget it 💖

rosie! @kimjiwoong I MISS U first of all and thank you so much for adding your love to the mix 💖 i cannot remember the day we first talked but that's probably because it's just felt like you've always been here, and i'm always excited to see you 🥹

lili! @ninqz my little crabby ... thank you for taking the time to contribute to this (and make me a gifset!) when i know it's been a hard and busy semester. thank you for always entertaining my random fun facts and for thinking they're fun in the first place ahbgjha and i hope we'll get to catch up more soon 💖

brina! @aquablues my babieeee and of course my little sibling 4ever (4brina). i'm so proud of you and learn a lot from the way you live so true to yourself. honored to be a virtual big sister and excited to see where life keeps taking u !! my love will be in that cargo pants pocket every step 😎

lulu! @fushigojos as you know i am always so fond of u ! even if we aren't living txt comeback to txt comeback together anymore . i'm glad we both feel the same 'forever-friend' kind of love. i'll always be in your corner !! 💖

sofi! @yeofi thank you for always caring about me and sticking around since the beginning of it all! no matter how busy we may get or how hard both of us are working (sometimes too hard) we always have each other's back 💖

miha! @jaebeomtual i got emotional for real 😭 thank you for being so generous with your love, i'm someone who i think struggles with putting affection into words and you make it look so easy while still feeling so genuine and managing to make me laugh at the same time as i am like my heart is going to burst rn . i'm so grateful to call you loml and hope you know how much positivity and peace and laughter i get from you.

aléks! @possession1981 one day we will hang out irl and it will be the easiest and best time ever. i'm always here for you and so glad that you trust me and that i can be like a big sister to you when you need it 💖 i always admire you and am so grateful for our friendship!

rachel! @gnanii my ate 💖 though we are definitely different, i think that's what makes us strong. i think i've said it before but i always have had a hard time letting people take care of me, and yet you manage to make me feel so taken care of in a way that's easy. thank you for being willing to travel for me, for sharing the pain of teumeism with me, for every jae selfie you make sure i see bc we all know i don't get weverse notifications, for sharing the highs and lows of real life as well as kpop, and for being the amazing friend and person you are. can't wait until we see each other again 🤗

mary! @dongkwan so weird to tag you in a tumblr post when we spend all the time just texting each other lol but i have to give you a shoutout for somehow managing not to tell me that this was being plotted. i'm so glad that i decided to get into kpop, immediately told you about it, and for how much it's continued to bring us together ever since. looking forward to embarrassing myself at omega x with you soon 💖

meg! @hozierbyrne what can i say really ... thank you for everything you did to help make this happen. you are a wizard of making me feel special and listened to all the time but it never ceases to lift me up regardless. i read all the things you think about me as a friend and i'm like no way, that's you! but i think it goes to show that we really are aligned in what we look for in a friendship, which is probably also why it's felt like we've been friends for decades instead of whenever things escalated on tumblr to the point of me being like sure i will get on a plane and share a bed with this person i've never met , . and i'm glad we keep getting on planes and i'm so excited for when you'll get on one to see me here. i promise to have the best, most cancelable powerpoint yet ready to present to you 💖 love u

millie! @berryjaellie clears throat what the heck this was so unbelievably lovely of you i can't believe you even considered for half a second that i wouldn't like it. i loved it !!! thank you for taking so much time to consider all of these Things About Me and talking to people about them and then putting it all together in this incredibly thoughtful, detailed, super cute package that i cannot stop staring at and have shared with my parents + irl friends because of how much it meant to me. and of course for everything you yourself had to share and say. ever since the first time you said something along the lines of 'not just a friend like you, but you as a friend' i really have started thinking more in that way and using that because it really makes a difference and i want you to know that i'm just as glad to have not a friend like you, but you as a friend. i laughed, i cried, i felt so treasured as i looked through this (multiple times) and that's all you and your thoughtfulness. thank you for being the first to wish me a happy birthday in the most powerful, loving way. it, and you, mean so much to me 💖

[beautifulpersonpeach]

I LOVE YOUR POSTS/RESPONSES.

Question (and I think I may know the answer but I’m going to ask anyway because why not?!): can you rank the BTS members visually (face and body) according to your personal preference. Feel free to include past opinions that have now changed.

In my opinion I found Jungkook to be the most good looking…but then I started looking at Jimin and Jesus needs to now come save me. Wahala. I don’t think I will be the same. Okthanksbye.

**

LMAO at "Wahala". Are you West African by any chance? Come say hi if you are! 💜

Hi Anon,

This is the sort of ask I would normally read once, chuckle, read again, then delete. Because what the fuck? Have you seen what they look like?? What kind of question is "rank the BTS members visually"? And then you specified "face and body"? Ma je kin sepe fun ehn o ahn ahn now kilode? Si je te maudis maintenant, je jure sur tout ce qui est saint et sur le prochain album de Beyoncé, que tes arrières petits-enfants ressentiront cette malédiction. Ne me teste pas.

...

But you said "wahala" and I'm feeling sentimental so here's the list for you to tear apart:

7. Kim Taehyung - He's got a nice-looking face. Like the Indian Brad Pitt, but he's Korean, which is somehow even better if you're into k-pop, apparently. I can tell on a cerebral level that he is handsome, but my heart doesn't know it... you know what I mean? His slim build is okay, but even he knows it can be better. I'm very interested in seeing what Taehyung looks like in 2025. I suspect he could go several levels up in my ranking, but we'll see.

6. Jeon Jungkook - The fact I'm ranking Jung Kook sixth should tell people the caliber of visual that is in BTS. All seven of them are mind numbingly hot. No cap. JK is ranked here because despite how hot he is, despite how peculiarly pretty he is, he is still the most baby-faced out of the guys. In my opinion.

5. Kim Seokjin - The shoulders give him several points I'm sorry. I mean, yeah his build is a bit lanky and he could fill out a bit more but still, the shoulders are wide af. I count it towards his overall visual and Jin does have a very Korean handsomeness to him. He's the sort of guy my grandma would want for me... and I know I'm not the only person from my background who has thought so.

4. Kim Namjoon - Joon has the prettiest eyes in BTS. Maybe Jimin ties with him, but Joon's dragon eyes are definitely ranked first in any case. He's worked on his physique too in recent years which has bumped him up my list. I wish he was more coordinated in his motor skills, but he's still pretty decent.

3. Jung Hoseok - Hobi is such a dreamboat. He's lanky but it works for him. The way Tyler Joseph's does for him. But even better than that, J-Hope has stamina. This man is fit. And he is beautiful. Definitively masculine but so delicately pretty. Like y'all don't know what platinum blonde Hobi did to me in 2021. This man is hot and capable and that is a very dangerous combination take it from me.

2. Min Yoongi - Nobody is surprised. I don't even know what to say because I actually bias him. Like I just typed his name out and had to pause to take a breath. I'm keeping it real with y'all rn. I'm that gone. I like that he's a bulldog the whole fandom sees as a cat because that's what he is. I love the music he makes. The way he mixes bass and toplines in all his tracks is incredible. Like, all the lyrics to the chorus of Beyonce's EGO, apply to Yoongi in spades.

...just saying.

Park Jimin - I've said before, he could seem gamine + serpentine + feline + cute all at the same time. It's just fun looking at a face capable of showing so much at once. It's fun looking at Jimin. That's the sort of visual he has. His face is interesting. It is odd in the most benign ways. And by that I mean, most people typically have one definitive facial feature, one that stands out, like a strong browbone, high cheekbones, etc. Really pretty people have maybe two, three tops. For Jimin, his entire face is constructed from distinctive features. I don't want to completely objectify the man by spelling it out for you but Jimin is ridiculously beautiful.

It's just facts.

Jimin has looks. You know what I mean? Jimin has looks where he accentuates certain things. My favourite Jimin looks are some when he looks serpentine, a bit like a snake. Like this:

*

*

*

(The first time I saw this photoshoot I remember I thought, "this is the look of a guy who will go there if there's need to." It's never made sense to underestimate him.)

I'm not sure it needs to be said but I also like his physique the best, whether it's leaner or bigger. Whatever weight he has he carries it well, he moves easily and that certainly adds to his visual. Jungkook too has recently mastered moving through space with ease, I hope what I mean can be communicated, but what I'm trying to say is: a very easy motion with no wasted movements. Anyway, Jimin is best at this, and maybe at a sub-conscious level it adds to his visual for me.

*

Lol, that's the ranking Anon.

[milktian]

a few WuWa thoughts! these are just my opinion, + they'll be under the cut cause it got kind of long.

I'll start with pros:

It's gorgeous like the character models, the landscape etc. It's genuinely so cool to look at. the colours are really calming on the eyes as well, like the muted tones

On that topic: all the character designs i've seen are amazing. love them sm

The enemy design is *chef's kiss* they are literally so cool im gonna cry. it kinda reminds me in a weird way of elden ring?? i refuse to elaborate but my brain is connecting dots.

I love the echo system. It's a little confusing (i'll talk about it later) but having them be an active part of the combat system is really really interesting + anything that lets me turn into a monster is so swag

The music is super calming i wanna listen to it forever. Especially the Jinzhou city theme. eating it rn

A few drawbacks:

It's been kind of buggy. Ik there's been a hotfix by the time of this post, but there were moments were textures wouldn't load, dialogue is mixed up etc etc. Personally, my game crashed twice in one playthrough and that's a bit Eh, y'know?

The music mixing is strange. In some cutscenes the background music is wayyy too loud, even though I set the volume to have the voices being the highest value. The Scar lamb cutscene is a good example cause i could barely hear what he was saying

I love the echo system, but it is very convoluted. From what i can tell (unless i missed something, in which case it's entierly on me), you get echoes from fighting overworld enemies, but the stats are still up to rng which feels Weird. It means that instead of having a set 'here you can farm these types of echoes here' you need to run around trying to find them. for some people this might be fine, but it feels a bit messy to me. EDIT: The Tacet Fields seem to be the 'echo' domain, so I may be stupid? Wouldn't be the first time lmao???

the story isn't the best? Ik it's early game and i have high hopes but for me, as someone who wants to experience a story, it's been kind of lackluster? Similarly, none of the characters i've met are particularly interesting to me? I want to think they'll grow on me.

This one is fully just a personal thing. I'm not saying WuWa needs to catar to me specifically: there is a clear gender bias. From the get-go, almost all the characters i've met in the story have been female. If i picked female rover, Mortefi + Jiyan would have been the only guys in the narrative so far. That's a little insane

60 waveplates for everything so far is Weird. like I feel as though the tacet fields should be 40?? is this just me that is weirded out by this???

I know everyone is saying this + i want to stress that this isn't a 'haha wuwa is a genshin clone genshin could never hahaha' cause like to me this is a two cakes situation. However: WuWa has taken quite a bit of inspiration from genshin and it shows. To me, that isn't a good thing? obviously these types of openworld gacha games have like the same functions but so far the UI - including how the dialogue looks, the main menu, how the PP is set out etc etc - is incredibly reminiscent of genshin/star rail.

i know it seems like there's more cons, but that's mostly cause i felt the need to explain myself jfsdnkj i'm still going to be playing, i'm excited to see what it does + the story.

I've mentioned this above as well but: to me this is a 'holy shit! two cakes!' scenario. I'm not going to drop genshin just cause wuwa is the shiny new thing on the scene. Don't comment on this with genshin hate. all it will do it annoy me

[frosla55]

I was tagged by @inloif thanks hun <3

♡: Who is your favorite KPop group?

STRAY KIDS HOO! 💖

♡: Which member sparked your interest first?

felix,his deep voice mixed with his androgynous look lured me in (universal experience)

♡: Who was your first bias?

felix🐥

♡: Who is your current bias?

💗hyunjin💗

♡: What makes them your current bias?

not only does he have a face carved by angels,he has such a memorizing stage presence,i'm obsessed with the way he moves,his artistic nature,his voice,his love for his craft,his sexy confident aura that contrasts well with his gentle sweet playful personality,his silly lil quirks that he has (eating sadly,dancing randomly at red carpet events etc') he is honestly poetry incarnate,that silly beautiful man means a lot to me ❤️

♡: Who is your bias wrecker?

lee know 🐰💕

♡: Which member (s) are you currently obsessing over that aren’t your bias/bias wrecker?

to be honest i'm obsessing over my bias wrecker rn, minho....that man crawled up into my ear canal & has infested my brain like a parasitic worm

♡: When did you first discover this group?

i only started listening to k pop march last year & my first group was bts but then i decided to branch out into other groups in late april, the first being stray kids,i listened to maniac & case 143 & fell in love instantly although they didn't become my ult group till september 2023

♡: Have you ever been to one of their concerts?

not yet but i desperately want too!! i'm currently saving in case they announce their world tour soon so i'm able to see them!

♡: What are some of your favorite songs by the group?

oh my god there's honestly too many to name so i'll just name a few that come to mind,my no 1 song though is TASTE!!!!!!! also love the tortoise & the hare,love untold,maze of memories,wow,maniac,red lights,the sound,limbo,drive,freeze,double knot,side effects,want so bad (hehe),that's honestly only a few though,i love their entire discography & i find myself obsessed with a different song weekly

i tag @sternburgerpilsner @chcewszystko @written-in-flowers @nanamikentoseyebags :)

[tokkias]

Lucy for the ask thing <3

send me a character . always open

Why I like them because she's my perfect little babygirl?? because she's the kindest, prettiest, softest, most badass woman alive. because she's so full of love and im so full of love for her that my heart is about to explode rn.

Why I don’t my god girl! grow a fucking backbone! stop putting up with the horrible shit people put you through! you don't have to forgive everyone! hold a grudge every once in a while!

Favorite episode/scene all of them. every single one. every time she is on screen i die. dead. killed. deceased. murdered. slaughtered. etc etc. this might be a case of recency bias but i do really love lucy vs. kiria, specifically the gemini x aquarius star dress.

Favorite line again. lots of good ones. i would be hard pressed to pick a single one. but this one makes me laugh. she's so me.

Favorite outfit are you kidding me? that woman has a million different outfits oh my god. i'm going to cheat and give three different answers my favourite "default" outfit is her x791 outfit my favourite stardress is capricorn my favourite other outfit is her gmg team fairy tail a outfit

OTP NALUNALUNALUNALU<33333

Brotp her and levy

Head Canon during her year in crocus she didn't have a lot of work-life balance. she was either working, looking for leads on former fairy tail members or doing nothing. she tried to pick up new hobbies that weren't reading or writing because she was already doing so much of that, but she didn't do much long term. the most significant thing she did was teach herself how to juggle over the course of about a week when she was bored and she got really good at it. no one finds this out about her until years later and natsu and happy are absolutely enthralled by it, they make her show everyone at the guild. she thinks it's silly that they're so excited over it but she's glad she actually gets some use out of it.

Unpopular opinion i like her aquarius x gemini star dress. it's my favourite of the mixes and i like it more than a good chunk of the regular star dresses. i also really like the regular aquarius one too. i literally do not care that they're just bikinis. she's hot. and discourse over if it's oversexualised overlook the fact that it's probably the coolest magic she has????

A wish i want a taurus x aries star dress and i want a big badass moment where she saves everyone and i want a nalu kiss please please please please please.

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen sigh. i don't want her to get aquarius' key back. i think it would undo the progress she's made without her.

[haob1n]

omg thank you 😭 I still have a lot to learn about photoshop tho hehe 😊 my tbz bias is KIM SUNWOO (i hope my blog makes it obvious enough lol) and i dont really have a zb1 bais yet? ill figure it out 😭but its between hao, bin, and gunwook rn

also i dont get tbz and zb1 mixed up but some of the members remind me of each other :') tbz are still the ults tho 😤😤

You're way to humble, your gifs are always so pretty. Hao, hanbin & gunwook? You must be @hanbeanz secret twin. Also, who reminds u of who in tbz and zb1? I say matthew and jacob are kinda similar (both sweet sunshines).

[armandjolras]

9 people you want to get to know better (thanks for tagging me @fitzrove and @wo-der-horizont-beginnt!)

Three Ships:

Recency bias and embarrassing to admit, but lesbian Rudolf/Stephanie. I love the concept of a female Rudolf, and musical Stephanie is one of my fave characters; i want to write more butch/femme fic for them. Sorry historical Rudolf but you’re a lesbian to me now 😭

Mary/Matthew from Downton Abbey

Very rare one, platonic Jesse&Daniel from the Vampire Chronicles. I love the idea of them as bffs bc they have so much in common; i even wrote a fic for them once but never published it 

(Though my fave “ship” is just playing mix and match with random women from Rebecca)

First Ever Ship: Before I knew what ships (or gays tbh) were, Felldoh/Brome from Martin the Warrior 😅. I loved their tragic intense wartime friendship

Last Song: “I’m Here” from the Colour purple musical

Last Movie: Cabaret (1972) rewatch. i like how it captures the mood of the book and imo handles Cliff/Brian’s bisexuality/homoflexibility better, but not how it gives Sally cliche daddy issues

Currently Reading: Monstrous Regiment, but not actively — I’m a bit busy rn and while I do have free time, I like to save reading for when I can actually devote my full attention to it and get wrapped up in the plot. So it’s on hold but I will continue when I can 😭

Currently Watching: nothing 😬 I’m bad about getting into tv shows

Currently Consuming: hot chocolate :)

Currently Craving: Petting a cat, I haven’t in 2.5 years and miss them. Maybe eventually I’ll go to a cat cafe and stay as long as my allergies allow

Tagging (but with no pressure): @sebyecosesimili, @szabadmadar, @astreetcarnamedliv, @webbysmuse, that’s not nine ppl, so anyone else who sees this!

[ironmars]

Literally I just keep watching the mix & max yeonkai dance over and over its SO GOOD. is there a thing as a bias wrecker bias wrecker? because yeonjun is going up in my ranks dude he's going toe to toe with taehyun as my number 2 rn (also no one could ever take hueningie's number 1 spot in my heart he's my ult bias 5ever lol)

[bluebird990]

Hello hello!! I was wondering who your favorite weak hero character is?? And if you don't mind me asking, what are your other favorite mangas/manhwa and or anime? Have a wonderful day !

-💫

Hey anon!! Thanks a lot for the ask and I hope you have a good day/night too!!

Who my favorite weak hero character is? Honestly you've stumped me, all the characters in weak hero are good and so well written 😭

But if I had to choose one, based on my bias, it would be wolf. This guy is f***ing awful and has like zero morals so far but goddamn is he hot!! His face, his attitude its just so attractive. Although if I met a guy like him in real life?? No. Nuh uh. This kind of character looks good in fiction only.

If I had to get critical about my favorite? Then I'd pick....I can't pick one 😅

My top 3, in no specific order, would be Gray, Donald and Jake. Yes I know, very generic, but they are just so well written!!!

I've talked a LOT about Donald in my previous posts. He's like a typical, well written "villain". He does awful things which are absolutely unacceptable but he was driven to the edge by the society and the short stick he pulled by being born in an awful family. We can sympathize with him but then we also gotta question whether his sins can be forgiven or not. It's so conflicting. I love it.

Gray is probably one of best written protagonists I've ever read or watched. He was, from the very beginning, so fun to watch. He isn't like some other protagonists who I just want to choke through the screen because of some stupid decision they made. His growth has been fantastic. His reasons and actions make sense. This is probably the first time that I've had the mc of any media in my top 3.

As for Jake, I love this boy. If I had to bring my bias in this critical analysis, then I'd say my favorite is Jake. 1) So hot. 2) So cute. 3) So well written. He's like, a mix between Donald, Gray and Ben. He does awful things like Donald but he has no other choice because he has a favor to return. He's just so kind. He's doing all this because he had to get a revenge for his brother and didn't want to involve his friends in his issues.

I'm sure at some point, he might've regretted doing what he did. His story is just so similar to Gray's. Gray got lucky that his opponents weren't too difficult to deal with. While in Jake's case, he'd be putting his family, his friends and himself in a lot of trouble if he just barged in and beat a whole gang up alone. This is why I think that Jake and Gray could get along so well, if only they could talk once.

After writing my thoughts down, I can happily conclude that my favorite WH character is Jake 😄 he's just..everything..good and bad..

As for my favorite manhwa and anime? Imma make this short cuz I'm sure you didn't ask for a f***ing essay (why can't I just name my favorites like a normal person...)

Anyway my favorite manhwa rn (excluding WH) would be Omnicient reader or teenage mercenary. Yes, generic, I know, but they're just so good. My favorite aspect of Any story are the characters. ORV has great characters and fantastic world building. TM has amazing characters too. So yeah. Oh and I also love Tower of God.

As for anime? Rn I'm in love with AOT, Black Clover and jjk. So so so mainstream but it is what it is ig 😅

I don't read Mangas but if I did my favorite would probably be black clover or MHA.

[jeonqkooks]

everything you said about jk's solo is exactly how I feel. I'm so happy that he's finally dropped his own music officially and it's something he is proud of. That's all I could ever ask as a fan – that he's still happily working on his music and his style. But since Seven dropped I had mixed feelings that I kept to myself because, yeah, everyone loves it. I feel kind of scared to say or even think about my real opinion on this song (or really the whole direction this first solo album is heading towards given recent news) because I don't want to be perceived as some stuck up, sensitive fan complaining about things that jk is actually happy with. He's my bias and maybe that's why I care that much more about the music he puts out. I would've loved to see jk contribute more to his solo music and I don't want it to be drowned out completely by people who seem to know "best" about the Western market. In saying that, I always knew jk could adapt to any genre and I'm glad he was able to give this one a go. Idk maybe I'm overthinking this too much...

fear not! if you ever have opinions that you feel might make the general public seethe with anger then you can always come to me cuz there's a 97% chance that i'm thinking the same thing lol. i am your local unpopular opinion factory i will give you shelter 😂

if you could read my dm's then you'd know that my reaction to most news is 😑. of course, if he's happy with the music he's making then yes, honestly good for you my dude. but i don't think you should feel guilty about not liking the music he's putting out just bc HE likes it. we're the fans but we don't have to immediately fawn over everything they do. if we don't like smth, then we don't like it. it's not like we don't support them anymore. it's really not that deep. also, we are allowed to have certain expectations for them especially music wise bc we're literally the consumers here. we don't have to be like "YES KING MHMMMM EVERY SONG IS PERFECT GOBBLE GOBBLE".

you don't have to force yourself to like smth just cuz everyone else seems to love it. you're a fan, you're not supposed to be a yes man. a couple months ago i was so excited for jjk1 to come out cuz i was planning to preorder it (it'd be my first ever album purchase) but after i listened to Seven, the first thing i texted my sister was "guess i'm not getting the album" 😕 if he says he likes the music and i don't, then, well, that's not anybody's fault. tastes are subjective

ever since i read the news about the album being in full english (or at least the people involved will be completely english speaking) uggggh i've just been so 😑. of course i understand where you're coming from about feeling guilty about not liking his music. i feel the same way sometimes. whenever he does or releases smth that makes people scream how much they love it, i'm just sitting there talking to myself like yo why r u such a party pooper. and then it's just a little sad and beyond disappointing bc this is the opposite of what i was hoping for lmao

honestly, at the end of the day, it's fine. the fandom experience is supposed to serve us too, to make us feel comforted and happy. if you don't like smth, don't let people bully you into thinking you're alone and weird in having whatever opinions that you have

rn i'm looking forward to kth1 more cuz he's my music taste bestie 😂

[elf-bot]

Hi! 6, 9, 19, 23, 44, 50, 80, 99 for the SuJu ask game 💙

hello! sorry if some of these answers are long lol thanks a lot for doing these questions! ❤️‍🩹

6. Favorite era?

in general i love 'play' era a lot, even if kyuhyun wasn't there i like to pretend he was really there hahaha. he is in some of the songs i think, but yeah. i love the album, the concept, the mv, everything is perfect and i'd give anything for ot9 suju to be on the album, or ot11 because i know there was a chance for kangin and sungmin to be included 🥺

fun fact: 'play' was the first album i heard completely because it caught my attention before 'timeless' which was the era i met them lol

9. First bias?

i don't know if i had a first bias tbh, i consider kyuhyun to be my first bias. the first member who caught my attention was leeteuk and then siwon so maybe i was more on their side until i fell for kyu. :)

19. Favorite vocal or dance moment of your bias?

-kyuhyun's voice in 'mamacita' 😵‍💫😵‍💫

-the 'she wants it' performance from super show 5, not only kyuhyun, i think all of them look hot pls i need another performance like that one guysssss.

-his dance break in 'super clap' 😭

23. Hottest photo or clip?

i'll list every moment i remember, not only my bias lmao

-whole d&e 'take it slow' performance

-whole leeteuk's fancam and that shindong dance break in '2ya2yao' (because '2ya2yao' is my bitch and i love that song)

-ryeowook sexy dance break in super show 8

-eunhyuk eating out a mango 😭

-this kyuhyun in bonamana? YES PLEASE

i can go all day with this but i leave it here for now haha

44. A type of song or concept you’d like to see from SuJu or a specific member/subunit?

praying for a dark concept someday, that's all i ask

50. Favorite live performance?

in love rn with 'opera' and 'heads up' from ss8, also 'ticky tocky' + 'paradox' + 'mystery' from ss9. i don't know who had this idea of mixing these masterpieces together but i would kiss that person.

80. What albums, photocards, or merch do you own?

i have suju bong version 2 only and one 'road keep on going' version, the blue version lol my treasures.

99. If SuJu could do anything you wanted, what would you want them to do? (E.g, perform a song live, bring back a member, etc.)

i'd like to live ot11/ot13 at least someday and a suju-m comeback :( consider old elfs lucky yourselves if you got to live this experience because i had to get to know them through old shows and clips 🥹💔