#I enjoyed this! it’s quite..narratively simple I guess. but there’s some interesting things for sure | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ryoceann · 3 years

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Hi. Itk here. Believe me, don't, doesn't matter. Thought I'd drop (after you summoned ha) by given the chaos and try to enlighten the ones who choose to believe me, as much as I'm capable of.

The first thing I wanna say is: stop trying to figure out their relationship. You most likely never will. Fans are stuck on both extremes, when the actuality of it is far more in the middle (perhaps even up or down and all around ha). It's complex and strange and not at all "normal" (as normal as they could be, anyways).

It's not as simple as "oh they're just a closeted couple who engage in bearding and have kids and behind closed doors they're just a regular, old married couple and a big, happy rainbow family".

Doesn't sound like itk info, believe me, I get that but observing the fandom I'd say it almost is because most fans simply hang on extreme simplistic ideas of what their relationship is.

Second thing I'd like to say and unfortunately seems like it's not at all obvious but: do not believe anything they share publicly. Not saying they're lying compulsively, but they are public figures and they have a lot at stake to just casually drop the actual truth of any given situation.

Just don't. The same salt you have regarding itks, have towards them. It'd do you some good...Believe me. Unless you are involved in the entertainment or political life, you cannot even begin to fathom what it's really like, the level of manipulation, falsehood and well, overall deviation of it. It's quite disturbing tbh. So just always take whatever's said and shown with a good amount of salt. With public people hardly anything is accidental or casual.

I think the most prominent question now is...Why? Why would they do something like that? Regardless if you have the ingenuity to believe the little scene they made or not...Still, the question lingers.

With my level of "in the knowness" I cannot for sure say the real reason, yet from the pieces I've collected so far, seems to be a multiple gain scheme. It was a high risk, they were well aware, and it paid out in the way they were expecting, minus small bumps here and there. But overall it seemed to have worked in their favor. How in the hell, one would ask?

Believe me, I used my best sneaky capabilities to find out exactly why but they were smart enough to keep this one locked tight, minus a few loose lips. And from those all I've heard was that "whatever the purpose was, it worked out".

As weird as it may sound to the innocent mind, it's actually not at all, given that even leaked nudes are not at all leaked or accidental, and those tend to (at least in the past) get immense amount of backlash. It's not the first time famous folks fake a fight, surely won't be the last.

A lot goes into public image, it's not black and white as "well but it looked bad on Jensen", "it looked bad on the prequel", etc. You'd be surprised as how little this truly matters given the level of manipulation they are able to pull on the public. And well, even with them...It happens all the time. Both made mistakes far worse than just "not telling my bestie about my new project" and fans would eventually let that go and put them back on the pedestal.

So just remember, always: not in the industry? then don't judge anything because you simply do not understand how it works.

Another piece of itk information I can give besides "this was planned and it worked" is: they are fine. From what I've heard they are not fighting over it or going through anything more dramatic than what they usually have been going through ever since they met haha.

So just sit back and chill out. Breathe, read fanfiction and remember that we will never truly get answers, because even what comes out of their mouths are most of the time carefully thought out and directed to have a specific meaning and effect (why do you think Jared mumbles and rambles so much?).

Another interesting piece of itk: you know how they always say they never fight? Even though that sounds insanely hard to believe even if they were just friends because who knows someone for that long and is constantly together and never fights? Unlikely, right? Yes, as obvious as that was. But unfortunately a lot of you seem to believe that, given the level of shock you had for this little twitter feud (as fake as it was). Yeah. They fight. A lot.

They fight as much as individuals in their situation would. Like I said, not at all what most people absentmindedly seem to think it is. They go through a lot. Way more than anyone who isn't in a similar situation would understand. It's messy, although they try their best to make it simpler in the ways they can.

On top of being in a very complex situation, they both have strong personalities and one of them is quite hard to "pin down". So altercations happen a lot, but they know how to deal, and they are exceptionally good at making sure that doesn't interfere in their work (oh well, at least not any work that doesn't benefit from intense emotional exchanges, anyways 😉...chemistry isn't something random, you know? haha).

I find it quite...interesting (to put it nicely) that a lot of hats easily believe they are a couple that lies constantly about almost every aspect of their lives, yet, they cannot believe they would fake a social media narrative. It makes no sense whatsoever.

It'd do you all good to be a little less tendentious and look at them as, you know...Humans? They are not what they seem to be, just as you guys also take in different versions of yourselves in different situations, they do too. And don't be so hopelessly naive to actually believe they see fans as "hashtag family". This is their work. And as grateful as they are for supporters, they certainly do not consider them family. To the point of never lying and trusting you with their life.

I'm sure they love their fans, but come on, saying they would never lie because that's mean to fans is just beyond naive. They've been doing it all along and oh, another interesting info? They don't think they're doing anything wrong.

Yeah, sounds weird, you'd think they'd feel guilty. But again, unless you were media trained, you'd never get it.

From years now if there's one consistent info I've gotten was this: they don't feel obligated to tell you anything. They believe they are doing "what they are supposed to do, the right thing for everyone involved".

So. Yeah. And hell, they are right about not being obligated to say anything about anything, I guess.

Well, I hope that was helpful or at least entertaining. It's hard to share info without accidentally making it obvious who I am for the lurkers (sure you guys were well aware that they lurk around the fandom). But it's safe because as long as I don't provide evidence, I'm fine. Just walking a thin line between sharing and not sharing something too specific that would be easy fir them to know who has that info and although they can't do anything against itks, they can manage to cut us off somehow and I enjoy having access lol, so that'd be a bummer.

Anyways, take itks and J2 themselves with a ton of salt haha! You are lovely, btw, you seem very kind and I enjoy your blog very much! much love!

itk anon everything you said was <333 and i agree with like almost all of it. very nice analysis and ask thank you ! i don't always believe everything j2 put out but the whole stunt being a false narrative just seems wrong so idk what to make of it. regardless i myself can sometimes get carried away in my star-struck love of j2. and i am a tinhat so well :) and now they look to be really good and taking a break from here was well worth it <3

''You are lovely, btw, you seem very kind and I enjoy your blog very much! much love!'' i love u so much hope u have a great day !

#anon ask #this was long jfc #ily anon <3 #j2 tinhat #prequel gate

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takerfoxx · 2 years

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Magia Record, Season 3, Episode 1, "We Failed," First Impressions!

Well, this came the fuck out of nowhere!

Seriously, was there even an announcement that this was dropping? Because it took me completely by surprise.

Well, anyway, Magia Record has had quite a…challenging development cycle thus far. I mean, going in they were faced with somehow adapting the plot of a gacha game into a coherent screen narrative, one that was supposed to somehow stand on its own despite the shadow of the original series still looming large and the fanbase still wondering when they’re getting their damned Rebellion Story sequel.

The first season more-or-less succeeded. Sure, there was the expected pacing hiccups that comes from trying to adapt a game story, but overall they turned in a solid effort, weaving a fairly compelling narrative with interesting and likeable characters, made fairly decent use of the OG cast when they decided to pop in, and leaned in HARD into the surrealism that has become associated with the franchise, which I dig.

Second season was…Okay, we all know of the nightmare that was the production. The pandemic was going down, everything was thrown off, anime production is horrible even under normal conditions, and SHAFT is pretty notorious at this point for their turbulent problems behind the scenes. And as some other comparable shows that started off promising but ended up dropping the ball at the end due to massive production problems proved (Wonder Egg Priority, COUGH!), they really need to overhaul how they’re treating their poor creative and animation staffs. So as a result, while the episodes were good in concept, the animation was blatantly unfinished in places, some parts didn’t have dialogue recorded, and the subtitles were just plain not there half the time in one episode. I mean, there was still obviously a lot of effort, and I still enjoyed them, but man were the seams easy to see. Plus, it was weirdly much shorter than season one for some reason?

Now we got season three, which is…only four episodes? And they all get dropped at once? Huh?

Okay, I don’t have any proof of this, but what I think happened is that these four episodes were actually supposed to be part of season two, but they realized that there was no way they could get them out in time, so they decided to chop the finale off into its own thing, take the time to finish them properly, and drop them all at the same time to conclude the project. Again, I’m only theorizing here, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that is what happened.

But hey, here it is, the continuation of the story. So how does our first episode of the story’s climax pan out?

…dear God.

This is the mysteries revealed episode, the whole-episode flashback that walks us through the story’s main mystery and fully explains what’s going on and why. So, basically the equivalent of the tenth episode of the original series. Only maybe not quite as emotionally harrowing, but then, what is?

Well, there’s episode nine, I guess, which actually fucked me up the most. Still not over it, actually.

Anyway! Our biggest mystery is the case of Iroha’s missing sister Ui, whom nobody seems to remember, including herself! She’s met Ui’s supposed friends Touka and Neru, whom are heading up the Wings of Magius, a pseudo-fascist Magical Girl cult looking to save Magical Girls from their grisly fates, and who could blame them?

Shame about all the Magical Girl supremacy and sacrificing innocent civilians to do it.

But okay, all we knew before is that Ui, Touka, and Nemu were kids at the hospital together, and Iroha befriended them all while visiting her sister. And then she lost all memories of her sister even existing, to the point where I was starting to question if Ui had ever existed at all, or if there were false memories at play intended to manipulate her for some reason.

The truth is far more simple, and yet far more devastating.

As we find out, Iroha had it right. Ui did, in fact, exist. She was sick, she made friends with Touka and Nemu who shared a hospital room with her, and Iroha also became close with them while visiting her sister. Perfectly normal.

Unfortunately, Ui’s illness took a turn for the worse, and Kyubey being the manipulative fuck that he is, took that opportunity to recruit her into his grindhouse machine, turning her into a Magical Girl.

Again, perfectly normal, at least within the rules of that world. He’s done it a ton of times.

However, her new duties are weighing on her, and the three kids have noticed that something was wrong. So when she has to run off one day to stop a witch, they decide to follow her, and witness her in full uniform fighting a terrible monster, along with some kind of catbunny trying to make a contract with minors.

And hey, credit for staging the fight in a morgue. Creepy AF, I love it.

Again, so far, nothing out of the ordinary for this world. It’s what Kyubey does all the time: recruit a girl, and use her to go after other girls in her life.

But much like the Kyubey from the OG show didn’t see Homura’s timeloops changing Madoka’s destiny coming, this Kyubey wasn’t prepared to reckon with these girls. And here’s what I love. These kids are smart! They of course wanted to help Iroha, but they immediately smelled that something was off, so they made a point to sit down and interrogate Kyubey all day long, asking him question after question. And despite him claiming that he doesn’t lie, you can see how he deliberately hides the truth, never giving the full answer to their questions.

However, they know this, and they correctly intuit what witches are and where they come from, and wish to spare Iroha and all other Magical Girls of that fate. So after putting together a full story, they come up with an absolutely brilliant plan.

Kyubey holds all the cards in his abusive system, huh? Well, what happens if they wish for his power?

They straight up usurp his abilities in such a way to offset the harm that he’s causing, with one of them gaining the ability to absorb all the negative energy clouding soul gems, one being about to transform it into cleansing energy, and one being able to redistribute it back into soul gems. They single-handedly stopped the Magical Girl system in its tracks! Kudos, girls. That was smart.

Except for one itsy-bitsy problem: they vastly underestimated just how much negative energy Ui would be taking in all at once, and it swiftly overwhelms her, starting the process to turn her into a massive witch. And in desperation, all Touka and Nemu can do is sever her soul gem from her body before it’s lost.

But it’s now unstable and falling apart. It needs a new vessel where it’ll be safe until a solution is found.

Well, there’s the dry husk of the Kyubey they had basically overthrown.

So, that’s what the mini-Kyubey is. It’s Ui herself. It’s her soul gem, her very essence, combined with a Kyubey corpse. Dear God in Heaven.

But in doing so, they also severed Ui from reality, totally wiping her from everyone’s minds, including themselves, save for Nemu who was the one who did the deed. And in erasing Ui, Touka loses sight in why they’re working to accomplish what they are, and instead is just left with the mission. And the body of the witch Ui was going to become, which turns out to be the larval form of the goddamned Embryo Eve.

Furthermore, our old friend Alina Grey, who had been poking around the hospital for some reason while the girls were brainstorming, overheard the part about what witches truly are and confronted Kyubey about it. So she wants in as well, because she doesn’t want to become a witch. But now both she and Touka have kind of gone off the deep end, and only Nemu actually remembers their original purpose and that Ui existed at all.

I honestly love this explanation. Yeah, some parts are kinda bullshit, but let's face it: the whole Incubator system is bullshit, and nobody cares. And honestly, this makes a lot of sense given what's gone on so far, and it really makes me excited to see how it all pans out.

Please don’t screw this up…

#puella magi madoka magica #pmmm #magia record #ui tamaki #touka satomi #nemu hiiragi #iroha tamaki #alina grey #kyubey #wings of magius #embryo eve #reaction

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toadwarts · 3 years

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Safe At Last

Two humans in love manage to escape from an abusive home and right into the twisted world of Mother Miranda's village. After fleeing from mutated monsters, they meet with The Duke, who offers them board and food in exchange for their work. It is their first night in his caravan, and they discover that they may have another person to add to their romance...

Fluffy and flirtatious, this is a self indulgent and simple fic about The Duke and polyamory. It is written first person, but made so you can also insert yourself into the narrative if you so please.

Read on A03 or Fanfiction! Or you can read here, below the Read More!

I stared down at my empty bowl, reveling in the warm feeling of a full stomach. The Duke’s cooking was more than high quality--it was incredible. It had been a long, long time since either I or my partner had a meal with high quality ingredients, and not something wilted, slightly green and fuzzy at the edges, or simply scraps from someone else’s meal.

I looked over at my partner, a calm feeling unfolding in my chest. They looked right at home here in the back of The Duke’s caravan, surrounded by the wealthy man’s various wares. A content, dazed expression was fitted on their hard features, and when they met your eyes their own lit up.

“Did you like your meal?” They asked, smiling as they nodded to my bowl. It was clearly a tease, since I had all but licked it clean.

“I don’t know, did you?” I laughed, playfully knocking into their shoulder with my own.

“Yeah, I think I could eat this food forever!” They said, patting their stomach and leaning back on the elegant couch we were sitting on. “Plus, it doesn’t seem like the vampires or lycans come anywhere near here.” Their gaze flitted up to the garlic hanging overhead, then back to me. “Do you feel safe here?”

I paused. Before we had run away to find the village, my partner and I...had not had the best of lives. Trapped beneath my mother’s thumb for years into adulthood, we lived in a less than sterile and a more than hostile environment. It felt as if the trauma was as much a part of me as the bones beneath my skin.

Then of course, the village...was not as dream-like as we had hoped. We had narrowly escaped a group of lycan like creatures before stumbling upon the Duke’s caravan. He had offered us a place to stay and some food to eat in the back of his wagon in exchange for work--seeking out wares, cleaning, and just a little bit of heavy lifting. It was our first evening here and so far… It seemed too good to be true.

“I do feel safe.” I finally said, swallowing down the hard lump in my throat. “But that’s what scares me.”

They leaned back, sighing heavily. “I know how you feel. It makes me wary, but...what choice do we have?”

“He does seem nice.” I nodded in agreement. “Even if he is very interested in his stock.”

My partner laughed, their hand encircling mine as they pulled me close. “It’ll be okay. Maybe this is what we’ve been looking for! He did say he travels...so who knows where we might end up?”

“I don’t mind as long as it’s far, far away from there.” I whispered, suddenly choked up. I couldn’t believe we were really gone. That we were in this immaculate, clean and beautiful oversized wagon, with an immaculate, clean and...admittedly, beautiful oversized man. A kind man. We would never have to go back to that evil place ever again.

“Never again.” They whispered, pulling me close and planting a kiss upon my forehead. “I love you, dearest.”

“And I love you.” I returned, nuzzling into the crook between their neck and shoulder.

The back of the caravan swung open then, letting the fading light of dusk in. “Well, well, how are we doing back here, little ones?” The Duke stood before us, leaning on an ornate cane to support his heft. He was a massive man, both in height and girth, immaculately groomed and dressed to the nines. He was the finest gentleman either of us had ever seen for sure, and we felt lucky to have been found by him.

“We’re okay,” I said shyly, standing up. “The meal was absolutely perfect. Thank you so much!”

“Of course, of course!” The Duke smiled broadly. “I quite enjoy cooking, so if there’s anything in particular you have a craving for, just let me know. All I’ll need is assistance procuring ingredients, but that should be no trouble at all.” He heaved himself up the steps to the caravan, ducking through the doorway and coming inside. He had quite the mighty presence indeed, radiating a quiet elegance and strength despite his jovial tone and quaint attitude.

“Is there anything you need us to do tonight?” I asked as my partner took our bowls. My feet ached terribly from running so much , and I shifted a little from side to side. Like The Duke, I was also fat, and unaccustomed to the sort of travel and fleeing we had been facing in the days prior. I yearned to sit back down, but my politeness won me over.

“No dear, not tonight.” The Duke said. “You two just rest after everything you’ve been through. Tomorrow is an early day though, so do be prepared!” He walked over to the couch, settling down with a sigh. “I have some stock for Castle Dimitrescu, so we will be heading there.”

“Castle Dimitrescu?” My partner said, dubious. “I heard...less than good things about that place. I’ve already dealt with enough vampire hags!”

The Duke laughed heartily, as if my dear one had said quite the funny joke. “No need to fret! I have a truce with all of Castle Dimitrescu, as well as the other Lords you have heard about, so there is nothing to fear since you are now being employed by me. You simply have to look pretty and do a good job of peddling my wares.” He winked, leaning back.

My partner blushed, and so did I. The Duke was also a rather straightforward man.

I kept shifting from foot to foot, feeling uncomfortable but doing my best to not to show weakness. Before, weakness had gotten me beatings and beratings. Though The Duke seemed benevolent, I had no desire to discover if he had a dark side.

“Are you alright, little one?” He asked, eying me up and down. “Feet hurting? After a long day, I certainly know how that feels. But you’ve had many long days, yes?”

I grimaced. “Ah… Yes. They are, a bit.” I flushed with embarrassment.

The Duke leaned forward. “Why not have a seat, my dear?” His face crinkled with concern. “No reason to cause further harm to yourself. Rest easy now.”

I began to lower myself to the floor, but jumped back up when the large man’s jarring laugh rang throughout the back of the wagon. “W-What?” I said, flustered. My partner was then protectively at my side, their hand at the small of my back.

“You don’t need to sit on the floor! While it is certainly a nice one, that will only hurt your back.” The Duke said.

“But...there’s no where else to sit.” I looked around. Duke took up the couch we had been sitting on, and there was really nowhere else to go but the floor now, unless we went to The Duke’s bed further in the caravan. The thought made me flush.

“You can sit right here, I don’t mind.” The Duke patted his sides. His ample belly and the arms of the couch made for a makeshift seat for sure. “And you too,” He said, pointing to my partner. “I know you, the strong type--never wanting to rest, always pushing yourself for everyone else. Come, be comfortable, and let’s chat.”

I looked up at my partner, face red as a bushel of roses. I was delighted to see that they were too. It was rare that I saw my partner this flustered, and it made butterflies dance in my stomach.

“Are you comfortable with that?” They asked me, squeezing my hand, a knowing look in his eyes. We had talked about this sort of thing before, but nothing had ever come to reality.

I nodded, feeling like a storm of wasps was zooming around in my guts. The Duke really was incredibly straightforward, but it didn’t seem as if he had any ulterior motives. He just wanted to offer comfort and good company to both of us--and I guess it was obvious that both my partner and I thought he was pretty cute.

My partner glided forward, hand still in mine. We stood before The Duke, who had a calm and knowing smile on his face. He offered his hands to each of us, which we shyly but gladly took. We climbed up on either side of him, settling down and reveling in the softness of his sides. We sat there stiffly for a moment, feeling completely out of our leagues.

The Duke chuckled gently, his strong arms coming ‘round to encircle us. I felt myself go stiff when his hand brushed against my back, the cool metal of his rings soothing as he placed his hand there. “Is this alright?” He asked both of us coolly, looking from my partner to me. I nodded, locking eyes with my partner as he nodded too.

My partner was long and thin, a wonderful contrast when sidled up next to the massive Duke. I was short and fat, but even I felt swallowed up by The Duke’s own plush body. He felt like the world’s comfiest...well, not human exactly, but something.

“Good, good. Last thing I want is to make my newest proteges uncomfortable.” The Duke nodded firmly before beginning to rub soft circles into my back. “Now, try to relax. The two of you deserve it. “

I let myself lean into The Duke, resting my head atop his pillowy chest. I relaxed into his side with a soft sigh, relinquishing myself to his soothing touch.

“Protege?” My partner asked, their tone light. “Since when were we your proteges rather than just employees?”

“I don’t let just anyone handle my wares!” The Duke announced with a chuckle. “I could tell there was something special about the two of you. I’ve heard of the sensation of le coup de foudre.”

“Love at first sight.” My partner said coyly. “You don’t play around, do you?” They slid an arm over The Duke’s soft belly, reaching for my hand. Tenderly, I reached my own arm forward, taking their hand in mine in an embrace that came as easy as breathing to me. The feeling of my partner’s fingers squeezing mine atop the pillowy expanse of Duke’s midsection was heaven.

“Oh no, not when there’s sales to be made!” The Duke laughed brightly. “And new friends to make. Perhaps more?”

I reveled in The Duke’s scent--rich cologne intermingled with the faint touch of expensive cigar smoke. I looked into my partner’s eyes, bright as the sun itself. I let myself relax even more, cuddling up to The Duke and relinquishing myself to comfort. I was finally free, ready to face the world with the love of my life, and we had both run right into the arms of someone else with plenty of love to give. The future was surely ripe with possibilities.

Both of them smiled down at me, and I felt...safe.

Safe at last.

#resident evil #resident evil 8 #the duke re8 #the duke #duke x reader #the duke x reader #resident evil village #my writing #writing #fanfiction

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centrally-unplanned · 3 years

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Allocating Your Aesthetic Budget: Sailor Moon Edition

Sailor Moon is a show that undoubtedly built a powerhouse of a visual brand. Should I even bother posting a screenshot of the sailor scouts, given that I am 100% confident anyone reading this can recall them instantly? I guess it won’t hurt:

Anime is often really good at creating iconic designs like this, through repetition of the visuals. It is awkward in live action shows if characters just wear the same outfit every scene (what, they only own one outfit? Are they homeless/work in the tech industry?), but animation gives us enough aesthetic “distance”, an awareness that this isn’t accurate to real life, that you can buy into the conceit. By wearing the same outfit every time, it just becomes the character. Not to mention a studio can really save quite a few bucks by streamlining production with neat tricks like having only one character design to animate - when you are on a shoe-string budget, like pretty much every anime in the 90’s was, every cut corner counts.

What is interesting about Sailor Moon is that most of the time it doesn’t really use this conceit at all.

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Episode 15 of Sailor Moon’s first season has, in its opening act, this shot of all of the Senshi (at the time) talking to the plot-of-the-day character, who clearly trains rock Pokemon in 16-bit caves in his off hours:

If you knew nothing about these three characters, you could probably infer about 80% of their personality just from their outfits. Usagi (the blond one in the middle, if that's necessary) is wearing:

Light pastel colours, with pink on top of that: girly, feminine, bubbly and breezy

Short-but-not-too-short of a skirt, and red heels: cares about fashion, wants to project an image of being a woman with a romantic hint to it

Long-twin tails w/ buns: Contrasting the shoes, she is still immature and childish. It also means she is the protagonist of an anime

Rei (far right) rocks a very different look:

T-shirt and jean shorts, shoes over heels: sensible, practical, a bit sporty

Very short shorts, long black hair: Confident, a bit aggressive, and suggestive of a more overt sexuality

Ami (far left) settles into a more restrained vibe with:

Full, long, but sleeveless dress, bob-cut hair: Chaste, more conservative, but not to the point of prudishness; particularly with the length (and the hand posture, shielding her body) probably a bit shy

Monochrome blue colour in outfit & hair: reserved, serene, possessing a calm demeanor

I know I have seen the show already, but really none of these details are a stretch - this is just the language of fashion. And all of these outfits are outfits that the characters have never (or rarely) worn before up until this point. The cast of Sailor Moon, far from that animation conceit of “standard outfits”, change clothes all…

the….

time.

I just randomly clicked on episodes to find these, it requires no hunting

And while it isn’t always as spot on as the top picture, they all in some way embody the language of visual design to speak to the personality of the characters. If you want to see more, check out one of the multiple tumblrs dedicated to the everyday clothing the Sailor Senshi wear, because of course those exist.

If this was a 2010’s Kyoto Animation show, pointing this out would be the end of it - every one of their shows has this level of impeccable detail. Sailor Moon is notable in that it is not at all that kind of show; the animation and designs in Sailor Moon take perpetual shortcuts to get the job done. I don’t think the transformation sequences need to be belabored - the way they permitted the team to recycle identical animation sequences, multiple times per episode, was surely a godsend to the production schedule. Yet not all of the budget limitations are so prettily masked:

I’m sure they finished the background art in the...VHS release?

The show is filled with dirty animation, unfinished backgrounds, backgrounds that are a simple color gradient for no clear reason, and so on. It is clear that the Sailor Moon team did not have the resources for every detail - which is why the decision of what details they did choose to prioritize is so interesting.

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What is the point of Sailor Moon? I do believe that shows have “points”; and by that I don’t mean a message or theme but a core appeal to an audience, something specific that they will get out of the show. Almost every show appeals along multiple axes, and Sailor Moon is no exception, but I want to focus on one: aesthetic identification.

If you learn someone is a Sailor Moon fan, there is the obvious follow-up question you have to ask, namely “which Sailor Senshi are you?” It’s the which-Harry-Potter-house-are-you question of anime, a horoscope where you can choose your sign (in this case literally). The premise of this concept is not hard for media to execute on - it is just personality traits and aesthetics grouped together under a label, a basic building block of media and clickbait internet quizzes. Harry Potter, ironically, raised up its memetic question almost by accident, as its focus is so squarely on House Gryffindor that the others are almost forgotten; it was just so mind-bogglingly popular that it didn’t matter.

Sailor Moon, however, takes this concept and allocates so much of its aesthetic budget into making it a centerpiece of the show. Sailor Moon herself is a klutzy, lazy romantic, Sailor Mercury is a shy, earnest bookworm, and so on, with none of them ever really becoming very complex characters. However, the show devotes itself to making you *feel* these archetypes as strongly and intricately as possible. All of those outfit changes are chosen because not only do real girls care about their outfits and can therefore identify more strongly with characters who do the same, but so they can constantly emulate their archetype in diverse, different ways. The show doesn't have the budget for intense action scenes, so after Sailor Moon engages in her hyper-serious transformation sequences, she proceeds to, nearly every time, bumble through the combat scenes like this:

Oh sure, the scenes are done this way because it is funny (and good comedy can be done on any budget - these shots are frequently still frames with motion lines!), but it is also done this way because Sailor Moon is a total screw-up, and if you identify with that it is validating to see someone “just like you” able to pull off wins despite it all. The transformation sequences are not only beautiful animation that showcases aspirational power, but are also crafted to highlight the personalities of the Senshi in question - unless you think aggressive, combative Rei got fire powers by coincidence. Half of the run-time of every episode is spent, not on the plot du-jour, but on light-hearted personal squabbles between the cast because those scenes are not just funny, but also allow for far more moments of character expression.

All of that work pays off in building with the audience, not a connection with a character who reflects their identity in total, but a connection that reflects one aspect of their identity in an extremely deep (dare I say multifaceted?) way. I think if you were to describe Sailor Moon as a “shallow” show, you would actually be right to say so, in a sense. These characters will never have the true depth of personality, themes and so on of a more ‘adult’ show. But those adult shows have to spend their effort somewhere - for all that the themes of say Evangelion or Paranoia Agent are pristinely detailed and impactful, you aren’t ever going to be memorizing the moves of their transformation sequences. The way Sailor Moon committed so strongly to fleshing out the archetypes the Senshi stood for is, I think, one of the keys to how this cast of five became so iconic.

Not even their school uniforms match! They had to spend time in-universe *justifying* this!

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A Final Note:

At least, everything I’ve said here applies to Sailor Moon at its peaks. The show, however, is not one without its stumbles, even in Season 1. This section doesn’t flow into the core essay too well, but I wanted to note it because if you were to watch Sailor Moon today, you might struggle to feel the dynamic outlined above. The biggest culprit here is the length - Season 1 is 46 episodes long, and sections of it most certainly drag. They also take a startlingly long time to introduce the cast - this choice builds tension around their arrival, but it also means the later Senshi get a lot less time to establish themselves. Sailor Venus in particular gets hamstrung by this - she is introduced and then immediately arc plot elements sweep the narrative, and so she is left as a hollow shell for some time. The pacing of the show is undoubtedly flawed.

I think Sailor Moon is a show that you do have to keep its time and place in mind for - namely, middle schoolers and anime nerds watching it on broadcast TV in the 90’s. As an adult you “get” the point of the show pretty quickly, and get satiated on it almost as fast. Watching it all in a few sittings only heightens this problem. For a younger audience, and one that is waiting for a week between episodes with no internet for plot reminders, all that extra time is needed to jog memories and build connections. And younger audiences just have that limitless commitment to the things they love! If you think no one could actually enjoy seeing the same transformation sequence for the 30th time, watch it with someone who would have died for this show when they were 10 and you will be disabused of that notion *very* quickly.

Still, we can’t travel back in time - Sailor Moon is a show of its era. There are “filler-reduced” guides out there, though I caution that the plot of Sailor Moon is absolutely not the point of the show in comparison to the character dynamics, and so sometimes the filler is the best part (Cat-Rhett Butler is the best character in the show YOU KNOW I’M RIGHT). Certainly, however, some method must be used to cut down on its length. If you are going to be a first time viewer in adulthood, that reality should be kept in mind, and if you do accept it for what it is you can really appreciate its core appeal - and don’t forget to finish it off with a 1990′s era internet personality quiz to really wrap it up!

#essay #anime analysis #sailor moon

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alexsfictionaddiction · 2 years

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Review: The Visa by Lizzie O’Hagan

I don’t think I need to reiterate my love for a good, character-driven romance. So of course, I said yes when I was asked by the lovely Emily at Headline to join the blog tour for The Visa.

Jack is a New Zealander who has just lost his job and his UK visa is about to expire. Maya has just inherited a beautiful flat from a father who was never interested in her and she doesn’t know what to do with it. When their flatmates enter a whirlwind romance and move in together, Jack and Maya meet and Maya comes up with a simple solution. They should get married! Jack will have the right to stay in the country and she knows that marriage is just a piece of paper that can easily be cancelled. What could possibly go wrong?

I found Maya’s attitude to marriage and long-term love really refreshing. Some readers may find it quite sad and cynical but I loved the fact that a young, romantic heroine was so focused on herself that love didn’t really enter her head. Of course, she is perhaps a bit too dismissive of it but I knew that true love would strike her eventually.

Jack is a tortured soul and I really enjoyed the mystery of finding out what really happened within his family. It is drawn out over most of the narrative, so I kept turning the pages to find out the truth. I just wanted him to confront his demons and admit that he was in love with Maya, which I felt sure he would in time.

Of course, this is a romance novel and the law goes that as soon as characters say that they simply must not fall in love, they are bound to. It’s a very slow burn romance and there were several times, even very close to the end, when I wondered if it actually wasn’t going to happen. I loved it because it meant that I had time to really invest in them as individuals and realise how well suited they were. It made the romance very easy to root for and therefore, I was very satisfied with the ending.

There are some really lovely observations about what real love is and anyone who has experienced it will be able to instantly relate. Jack and Maya both grow a lot over the course of the book and realise that it really is about choosing your person over anyone else. True love is a constant choice not an act of giving yourself up. In fact, both partners should maintain their individuality and grow together.

The Visa is a heartwarming story with some lovely wit, friendship and the most wonderful slow-building romance. Jack and Maya are very easy to ship and I wanted nothing but good things for them. I guess in the end, realising that you’re very much in love with the person you married is the best thing you can ever do for yourself and your future!

The Visa by Lizzie O’Hagan is available now in eBook and audiobook format. It will be published in paperback by Headline on 3rd March 2022.

#the visa #lizzie o'hagan #blog tour #romance #contemporary fiction #book review #review #books #bookworm

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anidealiveson · 4 years

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Thanksvember Master Post

Day 1 - Like Coming Home - It has a super rare “wholesome plot twist”! Without spoiling anything too huge, I really like that @julesherondalex took the time to talk about how important it is to take care of yourself first. You can’t love someone else properly, the way they deserve, if you don’t have that same love for yourself. I wasn’t expecting the heartbreaking scene, but the beautiful way in which that topic was was approached neither took away from the story or the joy.

Day 2 - Must Love Dogs - An incredibly fluffy (literally) fic that I loved reading. @rosehallshadowsinger did a really great job weaving Azriel and Elain’s canon personalities into this adorable AU scenario. It is obvious @rosehallshadowsinger took care to create believable personalities for two characters that didn’t get POVs in the books.

Day 3 - Striking Matches - I have to say that I wasn’t at all attracted to an AU fic about firefighters. I was also not a big Rowaelin fan before that, but I was work procrastinating so I gave it a try. Wellll, 30 parts later, I found myself delighted at the writing and sad it was over. I couldn’t believe how well @shyvioletcat cat was able to entirely re-characterize these two into such a different setting, yet still retaining what made them popular in the books. Aelin was perfect in her role as a snarky schoolteacher irritating the stoic firefighter Rowan. And the descriptions of the kids lining up at the firehouse demonstration and Jake’s adorable prodding was icing on the cake.

Day 4 - Close Quarters - I really loved the way @lady-therion wrote Nesta in this modern AU. I particularly like how she equates Nesta’s sometimes standoffish attitude as a very relatable personality trait. She has trouble reading people and gauging situations. It’s well written and the dialogue is unique for a plot that is common in ff!

Day 5 - Like A Lonely House - It’s got a colossal I love Lucy level misunderstanding mixed in with a lot of tension and angst. This Nesta that is full of sacrifice and duty and fire is how I imagine the Nesta who feels that she has a stake in the Fae world would be like. @featherymalignancy wove such a captivating new world in Macar, that it felt a lot like being introduced to the 8th court in the ACOTAR world.

Day 6 - Death Dance - There are several takes out there that touch on Nesta in the Ilyrian camps, but I love how @thewayshedreamed interpreted Nesta’s skills on the battlefield as a calculated dance. Nesta has always been a raging storm, but I love how @thewayshedreamed took care to show us a Nesta that channeled that storm into discipline. If SJM never intended to release a Nessian focused book, I would have considered this a satisfying end to their story.

Day 7 - One Night Standards - I love the way @sassyhobbits writes Aelin with her typical extremely sassy exterior, but also made sure to saddle her with a vulnerable side that runs deep. I normally don’t care for slow burns, but I like the pace of her relationship with Rowan here, and that they had to work hard at it. I also like the plot lines that involved their PR stunts and how the public grew to love them as well.

Day 8 - Goose Chasing - Its the most absurd plot of any fanfic I’ve read! The title is not figurative. Its really does involve chasing a goose. @rhysismydaddy did a fantastic job encapsulating the spirit of silly Cassian and grumpy Nesta in a situation they’d likely never find themselves in, yet making it entirely believable.

Day 9 - Manon Chooses The Worst Babysitter Possible - It’s such a casual and fluffy and hilarious read. It was fun to read about a softer and more delicate Manon. Through this absurd mistake, @sarah-bae-maas did an excellent job really humanizing Manon and postulating a fun in-world domestic scenario.

Day 10 - My Hunger Knows No Bounds - @perseusannabeth manages to take a simple concept and weave a sweet narrative. I particularly love how @perseusannabeth incorporated her personal details into it and took the time to share her lovely culture with us.

Day 11 - Knowing me, Knowing you - We never got to actually see Aelin rule Terrasen (well we got a tinyyy bit) in the books. Though this was modern day, @nalgenewhore tells a fun story of what that could have been like.

Day 12 - Forever (is a long time) - @noodlecatposts takes Elide and Lorcan’s completely polar opposite personalities and spins an interesting (and frankly quite adorable) story. All the rules crack me up. My favorite Lorcan is the one that reminds me of Luke Danes from Gilmore Girls. Currently, he is in the middle of grumpily fixing up her flooded room, so I am sure that my favorite parts are yet to come.

Day 13 - Go Your Own Way - I appreciate @tomtenadia for putting to words a scene that I desperately wanted in ACOWAR or even ACOFAS. A lovely parallel to an equally lovely Fleetwood mac song.

Day 14 - In Which She Makes A Friend - It is no surprise that the fandom wants Nesta to find her place in the Illyrian mountains and even bring about some social change with the female warriors. But the way @bookstantrash got there was such a wonderful and endearing journey. Big fan of the callbacks to how Kaelin was treated and the similarities to a certain Illyrian warrior was when he was younger. We got to see a sweet Nesta, who I’d like to think was attempting to make up for some of her regrets through taking care of Kaelin.

Day 15 - The Ranch - As a huge fan of Sweet Home Alabama, its should be no surprise that I loved this fic by @tacmc . I enjoyed the slow change that we saw in a stubborn Nesta as she opened up to this new way of life and reconnected with her sisters and found a home with Cassian.

Day 16 - Felons - Such a unique interpretation of Nesta and Cassian. I really like the self-sacrificing Nesta angle and @rhysismydaddy did a great job weaving intrigue into the unraveling of what we knew to be a her innocence. I never read The Witness, but this really made me want to.

Day 17 - Of Books and Timber - Cassian offers to build a shelf for Nesta. The way @duskandstarlight goes through the entire range of emotions through Nesta is brilliant. She starts out with cold indifference, but by the end, we get from her a sweet and tender gesture of gratitude. Showing that meeting each other halfway with small gestures is all they ever needed.

Day 18 - You Should Sleep In My Bed More Often - I absolutely loved this quick exchange between Nesta and Cassian after she accidentally injures him. I can’t believe how much I laughed out loud when Cassian said “I need you to protect me closer”. @charincharge perfectly captured the teasing childish essence of Cassian and Nesta’s hilarious victim-blaming was so on the nose that I might have thought this was taken right out of ACOSAF.

Day 19 - The Right Swipe - I really enjoyed this take on the inner circle mixed with the super modern online dating plot. I especially love that @redisriding created genuinely realistic characters (body issues, social anxiety etc). Great read!

Day 20 - Goldfish Prompt - What a fun read. I love how frantic and much personality Feyre had here. I love how dedicated to her fish she was, and how that made her super endearing. Cute read from @azrielsiphons

Day 21 - The One With The Snowstorm - What I really like is that Cassian actually says that he is sorry for his part in Nesta’s exile. I am not bitter about it, but it was an interesting turn. They need to meet halfway here and I rarely see it so well written as @joysbell has done here!

Day 22 - Prompt - A lovely and cute and sweet prompt written by @crowsvalentine! I love the ramp up of suspense just to get to the hilarious payoff. Its adorable and worth the quick read.

Day 23 - Fix It - is one by @thewayshedreamed that I love in its simplicity. It’s a small little argument Cassian and Nesta get into, but its still compelling. It’s sweet and super endearing the way the two of them are written and the subtle way they work through it. Great read!

Day 24 - I Do Bad Things To You - The mob angle may have been done before, but I don’t think with as much care and regard that @tswaney17 has been giving it. I how the canon personalities of the characters translate so well into this modern AU. Its very obvious that @tswaney17 has done her research. I especially love all the details around Elain as a surgeon. The story is compelling and well written and every chapter has me wanting more.

Day 25 - Love Her Like She should Be Loved - This is an excellent fic that I really loved. @julemmaes did such a great job translating some of the canon tension from ACOFAS into a modern world. It’s ripe with emotion, drama and quite a bit of heart. I love how earnestly Cassian comes to Nesta’s defense even in the face of going against his entire family. I like the reference to some very real psychological struggles. I think a lot of people can relate to it.

Day 26 - Literally In Love - I really enjoy the subtle mystery that follows this entire journey. I enjoy that @julesherondalex keeps us guessing, while simultaneously weaving a sweet and tender story about two shy teachers and just a slew of mishaps worthy of a Shakespearian drama.

Day 27 - The Shadow Bond - I love Azriel, and this is such a wonderful fic by @radientwings focusing on how his shadows might work. His shadows are the one thing that I am most curious about him in the series, so it was lovely to read such a well written interpretation of them.

Day 28 - Exes and Oh’s - Just a shout out to @highqueenofelfhame for this lovely story about rekindling past love. I like that even though the plot was uncomplicated, the emotions were not. I love that Aelin didn’t have a perfect reason for what she did, but sometimes that is just how things are. This is a story about taking a second chance, whether it’s deserved or not.

Day 29 - Fever - I really love this fic called Fever. I enjoyed how @lady-therion portrayed Nesta. She hit the entire gammut of characteristics (snarky, worried, vulnerable, caring, short-tempered, flirty, you name it!) but it really worked here. I found this nurse Nesta to be endearing and relatable and the dynamic between her and Cassian was very sweet. Just go read the damned thing.

Day 30 - Baby Steps - I really really love this fic. @runesandfaes did such a great job in just so few words to show a really sweet moment between Chaol, Yrene and their daughter learning to walk. I love the parallel back to when Chaol was learning to walk and the cameo of the golden couch. So sweet.

#thanksvember #fanfics #fanfiction

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rawsanma · 3 years

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In Memoriam of "Shin Evangelion: Curse"

*The following article contains a full spoiler for "Evangelion 3.0+1.0".*

I sat together with a person who was not in birth when EOE was released, and after watching the film we talked a bit and thought about the people who passed away without ever seeing this. I understand that fans from the old series and those who came from the new series may have very different perceptions of Shin-Eva. So I'd like to first correct a few things I said in my first impressions.

It may be somewhere between an honorable movie and a mediocre movie in general, but as Evangelion, it's garbage.

After about halfway through the two hours and thirty-five minutes, I started to look at my watch again and again. The double ending, which is both a personal novel and a product, was a fleeting fantasy, and the two songs "One Last Kiss" and "beautiful world (da capo ver.)" were not used effectively in relation to the story, only being played in the staff roll.

When I saw the first 10 minutes of the movie that was released last year, I thought that perhaps Paris was chosen as the setting for the story of "humanity fighting together in the face of destruction" or "the expansion of the Eva world (not G Gundam, but G Eva!)", but that was not the case at all. He just wanted to depict the battle using the Eiffel Tower as a FATALITY,　I realized that he hadn't made a single millimeter of progress since when he asked Hayao Miyazaki if I could film only this action scene of Her Highness Kushana in the re-animation of Nausicaa, he was scolded, "That's why you're no good!"

At the beginning of the film, they try to carefully describe the things behind the scenes that were not told in Eva Q. The third Ayanami like the TV version is the main character, and they go on and on about living in the countryside, copying "My Neighbor Totoro". The large family of our parent's home that we go back to during the summer vacation is presented as an image of happiness in life and a decent human being. It is also connected to Gendou's narrative during the Human Instrumentality Project but isn't it too Showa-era and too simple a solution? I am interested in how the young fans who are children of nuclear families who left their large families in the countryside and moved to the city saw the too sudden depiction of "life in the countryside". It was almost a gag to see Ayanami walking around in a plug suit which is a sexual orientation that has manifested itself after Space Battleship Yamato, in the images of pre and post-war farming villages depicted by recent NHK morning dramas. The director, influenced by his wife, must have been immersed in the LOHAS and vegan lifestyle as a fashion statement, which is only possible because he is an urbanite with too much stuff and too much money. As for this theme, it has already been presented in the watermelon field scene in the second film, and it is merely a re-presentation of the same theme in a diluted form.

I've pointed out before that Eva Q is "a crack in reality because of the loss of reality to rely on. "It's rude not to eat what you're served!", Shinji was scolded by Touji's father, who looked like a subversion of Hayao Miyazaki's work (Gedo Senki!). I have a simple question, how can the interior of a house become so old and wretched after only 14 years? How can a community of people of all ages be formed in just 14 years?　There was a line that implied that Touji had killed someone for the village, and it is possible that the director had extremely beautified the "Showa era" as a sanctuary where people who are hurt and regret their committing murder during the war as a soldier live nearby, and when he opened the last drawer after using up all the materials, he found the image of the original landscape of his childhood.

Misato and Kaji's child, which is only described for a few minutes, is also abrupt, and I don't feel that it is more than a plot device for the purpose of staging the reconciliation with Shinji later on. Some people seem to be moved by the fact that "behind Misato's cold attitude towards Shinji in Q, there was such a conflict in her mind," but it's the opposite. All the answers are just excuses after wasting nine years of work. Even if the wounds healed and treated with a gentle "I'm sorry," after being beaten severely by a raging DV husband, the fact of the beating would not disappear, and the wife would feel nothing but fear at the sudden change in her husband. To a situation that he had set to minus 100, he spent 2 hours and 35 minutes gradually pouring water drawn from other places and past works to bring it back to zero...I've never seen such a horrible match pump. Well, now that I'm writing this, I'm thinking that I've seen this before.

The relationship between Eva Q and Shin Eva is very similar to the relationship between "The Last Jedi" and "The rise of Skywalker" in Star Wars. In a self-absorbed rampage of conjecture that did not listen to the opinions of others, the historical stage of the series that had been built up was turned into a mess, and then the destroyed story was carefully built up again from the ground using unnecessary length, and only the shape of the story was created to end it without being disgraceful, and every scene that tries to make things more exciting is a copy of past work. As for Star Wars, since 8 and 9 were directed by different directors, I was able to settle my feelings of resentment towards Ryan and gratitude towards Abrams, respectively, but as for Evangelion, the director looks like a child who has been proud to clean up his own mess and have his female cronies praise and pat him on the head. Moreover, what kind of sympathy do you expect when you are told to "I'll make amends" for the mere act of wiping your ass after defecating, in a cool, Showa-era chivalrous tone?

In this film, as a recovery from Q and a summary of new Eva, there are elements throughout the story that critics can easily relate to the old Eva. “Oh, I can talk about this in connection with that!” This is what gives them a good impression and it has nothing to do with how the old fans perceive it. The director seems to have a dedicated person in charge of communicating and negotiating with the outside, but now he wants the critics to communicate with the fans about Shin-Eva. As long as he doesn't speak for himself, he can correct their interpretations later based on the "misunderstandings" of the people in between himself and his fans. This is a very Japanese-style system of surmising feelings, a system of authority that is formed when only a limited number of cronies are informed of the true intentions of the president. If I talk about it in too much detail, right-winged Yakuza will show up very soon, so to make it short, it is an indigenous control structure unique to Japan that originated from the "Mikado behind the bamboo blind". This time the director was very conscious of that, and I was able to see that Eva, who was a challenger, has become an authority that does not tolerate any criticism.

And what fan from the past could enjoy watching the endless battle scenes after Shinji returns to Wunder in the middle of the film? One after another, the sister ships of Wunder appear--there's almost no difference in appearance, but Ritsuko is able to guess their names the moment they appear. Right after the line "I'm pretty sure there's a fourth ship," the fourth ship comes crashing upon them from underneath, with no intention other than to make us laugh, right? As well as the repeated tenseless bombardment fight with no description of damage no matter how many artillery shells are hit, and it's quite painful being poured Asuka and Mari's Me-Strong Battles which are already enough by the time of Q, continuously down my throat like a goose with a funnel in its mouth. There's no way to synchronize my feelings with the screen, and it just creates an atmosphere as if the story is going on with the unattractive super-robot action that I pointed out in Q. It's no use pointing out, but the repair and supply problems of Wille side in a world where the industry has been destroyed were shown in the farming village part, though it was inadequate. But those of NERV side, an organization of only a man and an old man, was completely thrown away.

The last part of the story about the Human Instrumentality Project is like a fanzine where Gendou, Asuka, Kaworu, and Rei are lined up in a row and complemented in turn and then dismissed, whereas EOE was a total complement through Shinji. The director has tried to upgrade his framework by borrowing them from EOE and has failed miserably. Someone who has created works by putting his emotion and flair into a copy has dabbled in copying his own work. As a result, he had to confront his own sensibilities from when he was young and had to compare the old and the new by his old audience. Frankly speaking, only the techniques have been traced, the sound and the screen have become gorgeous, but the emotion and the sense have deteriorated. The face of the giant Ayanami that was replaced with a live-action one -- probably based on the face acting of Shinji's voice actor, and the "untested ordeal" of her tweet means this -- appears in the background like a gold folding screen in the high sand at a Japanese wedding reception. You're getting tired of all this, and you're not making it seriously, are you? The battle between Eva Unit01 and Eva Unit13 in Tokyo-III, which I expressed my anxiety about before the film's release, is a scene where the company's CG team can't produce what the director expects and he is so frustrated that he has the same mindset as in the final two episodes of the TV version, "I'd rather get a minus than a red", and after that, it became like a gag scene, including Eva fights in Misato's apartment and Shinji's school classroom, as if he was staged them in desperation. The side-shooting screenshot of the little Wunder charging at the head of the giant Ayanami is a picture of ”Cho Aniki (Japanese STG)” itself, and it's also meant to be funny, right? It's a series of loose, sloppy, and tenseless scenes that can't be compared to EOE.

What the hell have the CG team been doing for the past nine years, getting paid with no progress and making Eva look like an outdated piece of crap? Didn't anyone have the chivalrous spirit of the Showa era like "Don't embarrass our boss!"? Don't be so relieved when you get the green light! The director has just given up on you! There were a few scenes where the person at the top of the editing and collage, who has been making the coolest pictures, was not given as much good material as he used to be and seemed to make desperate staging in a way that he would never have given the green light in the past. It's been more than 10 years since Xapa was established, but I guess they don't have enough talent to meet the director's vision. Perhaps because of this, the conclusion of the film is exactly the same as the old one, that the director has no choice but to use his personal feelings to finish Eva, but the film ends up being a self-imitation of "Sincerely Yours". It is sad to see a person who "surpasses the original by putting his heart and soul into the copy" start to copy his own past works on the big screen of the theater, because he has become a big name in the animation world after reaching the age of 60, and there are no others left to be copied. However, right after "Komm, süsser Tod" started playing in the old movie, the scene where the titles of each episode and the reverse side of Cels were played in succession was projected on the wall of the studio using a projector -- the title of the new movie was added. It made me mad and thought, "Don't touch my EOE with the dirty hands of the merchant. I'll kill you."

The last things that the man who "transfers his own life onto films" presented in his costly self-published private novel were a naked confession of his own mental history up to the point where he met his wife, which he temporarily entrusted to Gendou, and the words "I think I loved you" and "I loved you" exchanged between himself and the former lover who could not be together and themselves who had separate spouses, just a reckoning of the muddled love affair that existed behind the scenes of EOE. I half-jokingly said that the distance between the director and Asuka's voice actor was important for the end of Eva, but it turned out to be true in a different way. During the recording session, Asuka's voice actor was told by the director, "I'm glad Miyamura is Asuka," which sent chills down my spine as it conveyed the horror of a creator who doesn't hide everything about his life and relationships and uses them to create his works.

In the scene where Shinji says "I liked you too" to the adult Asuka, who is wearing a tight latex suit and drawn in a more realistic character design (making us aware of the cosplay by Asuka's voice actor), while she is lying on the EOE beach, I thought "You guys should do this in a coffee shop or something between recording sessions! Don't make us watch middle-aged man and woman having unpleasant conversations on the big screen of the theater!", I almost screamed out. I think that's the scary part, the director's one-sided love for Asuka's voice actor is falsified by having the character say that she liked him, as if it was a mutual love. The director's statement at the beginning of the pamphlet says that he started working on the sequel right after Evangelion 2.0 without hesitation, using the worldview of "Q". I'm not trying to quote the line "You can change the reality you don't like by getting on Eva.", but it's not as if he's trying to cover up the fact, but he really believes that using his strong imagery, and it made me feel a bit chilly that there was no one around to correct his misconceptions.

At the end of Human Instrumentality Project, I wondered if the fact that a senior member of the movie industry had praised the shooting of EOE by flipping Cels over as a "tremendous deconstruction" was still fresh in his mind. This time, too, it was postponed after postponement, and even though the makings have been done in time, he showed the other side of the production with line drawings and roughs. The reason it was so innovative was that it was the first time anyone had tried it then, and now, 25 years later, it's just a rut. It's disgusting that everyone is praising the master's strange drawing habit and saying, "Oh yeah, that's it, that's it." As I've said before, it's like "defecating in a sixty-nine," which was successful because the first partner happened to be a scatologist. The expression of EOE was sharp and ”Rock’n’‐roll”, but Shin-Eva's "fun of anime images" has gone into the realm of traditional art, like slow "Gagaku".

The director hadn't decided who Mari Makinami was for a long time -- he was so indifferent to her that he threw the actor's acting plan to a sub-director -- but with Shin-Eva, he's changed her into an equal to Moyoco Anno, his wife. In other words, the flashy battle in the middle of the film, which is unimportant to many viewers, is revealed to have been a very pleasant pretend play for the director, in which he has his former love and his current wife fight on his favorite robots. Once again, we are shown the director's so-what-attitude, which has not progressed even a millimeter since "I'm an asshole," and which he can complete his work only by masturbation. So it's no wonder that they couldn't depict the extremely simple catharsis of Shinji's great success with Eva Unit01, which is what most of the old fans want. Because a robot with a pathetic old man on board can't get an erection due to impotence, let alone masturbation!　Oops, excuse me, sir.

And as I said before, it's time to realize that the English language has become so popular in Japan that it's become lame. You use Infinity, Another, Additional, Advanced, Commodity, and Imaginary, just because it sounds cool to you, right?　Everyone criticized the naming "Final Impact", but I never thought I'd see the time when I'd faint from the lack of taste and coolness in Evangelion, such as Another Impact, Additional Impact.

And the ending, with the wedding report in a live-action aerial shot of the director's hometown, newbie fans are screaming that it is like, "They're doing a very positive version of the old "Return to Reality!". But I felt it was too empty and cynical because it was intended to be read that way by the director. It depicts only the elation of marriage, and the pain of getting along with a partner and his or her family with different values is cut off (well, maybe Q was expressing the hardship of married life......). But isn't the emotional weight of a marriage report much higher when you meet your partner's parents?　The fact that he ended the movie by showing his own hometown instead of his wife's hometown leaves me with the impression that he's definitively an egotistical geek through and through. "You may have graduated from a good university and are making good money in the city, but if you're not married and don't have children, aren't you somehow humanly flawed?" After 25 years, Evangelion, which was such a forward-thinking Sci-Fi, is now completely in sync with the earthly ethics of Showa-era's farmers and farm horses. "I got married and it saved my life. I don't know about you, but why don't you try?" You can think what you want, but if you want to convey it as a message of salvation, you have to express it in the content of your work, not in your own talk.

I've been married for 20 years, I have two children, both of whom are about to reach the age of adulthood, I've paid off the mortgage on my home, and I'm finally at the end of raising my children, but all of that is just an outer shell of a social skin that has nothing to do with my true nature or where my soul is! There's no connection between what kind of life an individual lives in the real world and the Sci-Fi sense of wonder, in fact, there shouldn't be any connection! If you're a science fiction fan, take a page from the great Arthur C. Clarke! I was a nerd with a negative value of 100, but when I got married, I gradually poured the "common-sense values" of the Showa era into myself, and now I'm a true man with no negative value? Don't write such pathetic fiction proudly! Listen, what you presented to the audience at the end was the same thing that someone would say to you, "You seedless stallion!" It's the same kind of unethical and vulgar message that you shouldn't be giving! The old Eva became a classic of Japanimation, and no one was able to properly scold you, or you keep away those who tried, and the result of this is directly reflected in the ending of Shin Eva!　You've reached your 60th birthday and you only have such poor social common sense, damn it!

I'm sorry, I was so excited that I lost my control a little bit, just a little bit. I think the director is relying a little too much on his wife, who is ultimately a stranger on, to be his laison d'etre (lol). If they were to break up in the future, it would certainly be the soil for the next Eva, the content and development of which is completely predictable, but that is no longer my concern. I wonder if his wife doesn't like the fact that he's mentally dependent on her like this, and that it's being shown on screens all over the country. If it were me, I'd be furious, but since she's a creator, I guess she understands how he feels. Ignoring the other person's feelings and continuing to force what he believes to be love on her, thinking that it will make her happy, seems to me that there has been no progress at all since the way he treated his girlfriend 25 years ago. The person I want to hear from the most right now is not the self-proclaimed Eva fans who are looking at each other from the side and giving positive feedback in celebration of the final episode, but his wife. If the director had a child, he would not have been able to distinguish between his own ego and that of the child, and would have doted on his child, making a documentary film about his or her growth, but would most likely have turned into a controlling and poisonous parent in his or her adolescence. And he animated his feelings for his child who was rebelling against him, without the child's permission, considering it as a one-sided redemption for the child, and the child who was exposed to the whole country about their home life would have distanced from his father more and more.

In the end, Evangelion did not become a product like Gundam, but rather a robot animation that was the director's weird personal novel. The repeated use of the word "job" in the film has stuck in my mind, but in order for the studio to survive, it had to make Evangelion a product in this new series, and I'm sure that was the initial motivation behind the production of these new films. Your real "job" was to make Evangelion the same as Gundam, to protect the people who came to you because they loved Evangelion. Years from now, I can see a future where Xapa will be like Ghibli, behead the staff and continue as a copyright management company. The director, who didn't want to be embarrassed as a creator by a new challenge adopted the safe way -- I can't believe that I have to use the word "safe" for Evangelion -- to end the new series that relied on EOE only for himself, not for the future of the people who came to admire him. That's what Shin Evangelion is all about.

The good part? The fact that he didn't bring Shin Ultraman trailer at the end of the film makes me think he has grown up a bit. If you're declaring "Farewell, All Evangelions" with the intention of hurting, disappointing, and disinterested old fans like me, then your malice is unfathomable, and that's quite a feat. Brilliantly, your intentions have permanently killed a part of me that used to be an Eva fan.

As horrifying as it is to imagine, it must have crossed the director's mind to reschedule the film and set a new release date for March 11. The only reason he didn't do so is not that he has grown up to be a sensible adult, but rather because the idea of linking Evangelion 3.0 with the Great East Japan Earthquake was a fact that is too painful for him to make it public.

Ten years ago today, many lives were lost and Evangelion was destroyed.

This fact will never disappear, no matter how much the director denies and covers up with the "true" history. If there is any mission left for me as a fan, it is to continue to pass on this fact to future generations as a storyteller. It is a huge loss for Japanese fiction that the end of the great Evangelion has become a self-recovery work of the great failure of the reboot affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake, and that the potential of the great Evangelion has been consumed by the self-defense of someone who cannot admit his own mistakes, and I sincerely regret it. Shin Evangelion will be forever cursed by the dead, who yearn to see the sequel of Evangelion 2.0, and the living, who yearn to see the sequel of Evangelion 2.0.

This curse will be completed when it spreads, arrives, and is burned by the powers that be as a false history. I pray that my thoughts will reach him!

#evangelion 3.0+1.0

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onelastbreath-writes · 3 years

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I’ll Meet You There (Part 3)

Pairing: Marcus Moreno/ Wife!Reader (AFAB, no y/n)

Word Count: 2.6K

Warnings: Talks about loss of spouse, loss of child, medical conditions/inaccuracies, grief/mourning, manipulation/brainwashing (subtext/implied, but we’ll get into it later *winkwink*)

Tags: Hurt/No comfort (for now), ANGST, eventual happy ending, one really sad man for whom I just keep making things worse, #sorrynotsorry, and now I’m just making stuff up as I go along

Summary(lite): You are Marcus’s wife, and you’re definitely not dead. No one is having a great time right now, but like hell if there's a force on this earth that’ll keep you apart forever. This is not a goodbye, its just a see you later. And the interim is going to be everyone else’s problem, you’ll make sure of it.

A/N: Hello dears, welcome back to my twisted mind story,,, guess who showed up like 2 weeks late with a smoothie! So things about this new chapter: I am a criminal with italics and someone needs to stop me, hello switching scenes and perspectives because I just want to fast forward to the good stuff but y’all don’t live in my head and don’t know all the stuff that happens to get us there so here we are taking the slow lane, and I keep brainstorming new and horrible things for my characters because I am A Lot, All The Time, and will not be stopped. Also hey, Marcus the Simp is here for you, so much. I hope this is acceptable to be a reader fic still, because I am giving you some serious personality traits... ehh, it is what it is. Tell me if you spot any of my various references, there’s a lot of ‘em. Thanks to everyone who has liked/reblogged/commented, y’all are gorgeous and I’m so grateful for the love <3 Drop me a message/ask if you want a secret about one of the characters (specify which one), I need an outlet for my endless b.t.s. plotting >;) Please enjoy p3!

AO3|Masterlist

[Previous Part]

---

There were more casseroles in his fridge that Marcus knew what to do with, and more sympathy and “thinking of you” cards stacked in piles around the house than he could count. He appreciated everyone’s gestures, but he could recognize the difference between people who were kind in the interest of helping others, and those who were kind only to help themselves. It was quite obvious which type were flooding his mailbox.

Hell, most of the people sending him cards, his fans, didn’t even know his wife, never spoke to her, didn’t feel the empty Her-shaped-space in their very souls. They just wanted the clout, the prestige, of being ‘involved’ and sympathetic to a grieving superhero. It was exhausting, but no one seemed to empathize with him on that.

The Heroics upper management, and the director specifically after his press conference and the publicity the attack had brought the organization, had insisted on Marcus taking an undetermined amount of leave from the team so he could “process and mourn his loss in the comfort of his own home.” Like he didn’t look around and see every piece of himself and his wife over the years; the Home they built for their family, filled with all the hopes and dreams of two starry eyed lovers ready to take on the world together. Like her absence wasn’t slowly killing him.

And it wasn’t like she was gone gone.

Dead.

She wasn’t dead.

No way in Hell.

Whether it was because she worked with superpowered people, her experience as a medical professional, or if she was just more paranoid than most, his wife was a planner, and she was prepared for this. “In the event of my death...," like she just knew it would be necessary.

Truthfully, she had schemes and contingencies and all manner of reactionary plans prepared for if (and when) the worst happened; terrified to be blindsided or caught unaware, unable to help those she would have been able to, if only if she had the time to think. Unpreparedness costs lives in both of their careers, and she refused to leave anything up to chance if possible. And so, she’d plan, and he’d listen.

All throughout their relationship, from before they’d even gotten serious enough to discuss marriage, to when they heard their unborn child’s heartbeat for the first time, and just on random weekday afternoons when they would take Missy for walks around the neighbourhood to show her the beauty in their lives, his wife would paint her theories and ideas like artwork. She’d tell him a story, full of action and mystery, humour and theatrics, tragic romance and harrowing adventure; she could spin a tale like she had a silver tongue, but she never lost herself in her own narratives. In the end, they were messages, lessons, for him to remember when everything was going wrong.

“It’s all about momentum, babe. Bleeding off energy and taking a bad hit instead of a fatal hit. You can’t just full stop; you’d absorb all the kinetic energy, and the resulting trauma will turn all your squishy internals into, like, body soup, which is just super unpleasant. And of course, head is always number one priority. Bracing for impact works better at giving you fewer serious injuries, especially for your neck and head. Muscles should absorb as much of the energy as possible, instead of letting it fall to your ligaments, discs, and nerves to take the force. So, tense up and roll in the case of a low air evacuation.”

Low air evac... she was concerned he was going to have to jump from an aircraft without a parachute at some point in his life. Which was probably accurate he’d admit, but still, he wasn’t hoping to actually need that plan.

Thankfully, it wasn’t always fire and brimstone with her, and she had many strange and terrible schemes to keep the common, everyday superhero family on their toes. Always carry at least two lip balms... never tell someone you don’t have plans for the evening... don’t smile in your mugshot... no clowns. Ever.

She was so weird, a total nerd, and so completely the girl of his dreams.

He loved teasing her about her unending train of thought, the brain that never sleeps, how she’d go on tangents while on tangents but always circle back around; even nicknamed her (quite cheekily, and because it made them both laugh) Doctor Batman, which was usually saved for when she was being particularly dramatic and gloomy. Turn the supercomputer off for a second, Bats, come see what Missy’s doing!

He was her anchor, always ready to pull her back to earth when she started drifting off too far from them, but he never asked and never wanted her to change. He adored her, silly or serious, or when she woke him up in the middle of the night to make him promise that he’d never get their kid(s) a pet owl (because they’re “scary”, and “our kids would be too powerful, Marcus. Promise me!”), or that in the event of them inviting a third to their bed, it would “absolutely never, ever, ever be Miracle. No way!”

He thought it was quite entertaining most of the time, listening to her plan for zombies and old gods and what to do if everyone just started hating cheese one day, but if it was all so important to her: having him remember this or agree to that, he’d accede to her requests in a heartbeat. Most of it was cute, harmless stuff he didn’t think would even happen, but sometimes she would hit him with serious stuff. Entirely out of left field, she’d go for his heart, and ask him for things that would hurt him, destroy him inside, if he ever had to follow through with it.

“Marcus, if it’s a choice between my safety- my life, and Missy’s? I’m always going to choose her. Kids come first, okay?”

She wasn’t superpowered, didn’t have a shred of anything other than pure, normal human in her, but she was easily the strongest person he knew. Fearless and brave, kinder than this world deserved, she’d do anything for the people she cared about. And she’d promised him, maybe as a way to repay him for all the things he’d agreed to over the years, that she’d move heavens and the earth to return to their family. That nothing in this world, or beyond, could keep her away. “Eventually,” she’d stared into his eyes, glossy with tears from how forcefully she believed, “I will find my way back to you. I swear it, so keep a weather eye on the horizon.” See? A whole-ass nerd, and he couldn’t have loved her more.

So, she wasn’t dead. Pure and simple. She was somewhere, somehow, and he was going to find her again.

---

“Marcus, the grieving process is different for everyone, but it is always unpredictable and painful. You will have days where you will feel like you haven’t made any progress, or even lost the progress you’ve previously made, but please know that this is natural; it's something everyone experiences, and that it doesn’t mean you’ve failed in your objective. Healing takes time, and a major part of recovery is learning to forgive yourself when you slip up. No one expects you to be back to normal tomorrow, or next week, or next month. Healing from grief is not a race, so we will go at your own pace, and we will work together to accomplish your recovery goals. You aren’t alone in this journey, and you don’t need to handle everything by yourself.”

The grief specialist he was seeing was someone he would describe as an “old soul”. She exuded the patience and peace of someone who had watched empires rise and fall, seen the turning of the wheel of time and drifted along with the current. Her voice was deep, rich in emotion and empathy for those who needed guidance, calming and intriguing with a soft lilt on her vowels. Timeless and ancient all in one, and even if he wasn’t actually mourning the death of his wife, he did find himself deeply grieving being without her. They were two halves of a whole, and though his soul was at a loss without its partner here, he still had their greatest creation, their pride and joy, their baby girl to raise.

He would do whatever he had to do to be the best parent he could for Missy. And so, if meeting with a physiatrist every week was something that would help, then he would be here, every week. He'd learn to live with his grief, his sadness and loneliness, with just the memory of his Everything, and he’d help their kid with all hers too.

It’s what he promised to do, after all.

“If anything ever happens to me, you’ll just have to love her enough for the both of us.”

---

There was nothing they could recover of the people closest to centre of the explosion. No remains, no blood, nothing. Like they hadn’t been there at all.

Suspicious.

Upper Management had brought in a team of private investigators to handle the case, people who would keep the details quiet and the public appeased with what little information they’d choose to release.

Marcus was a superhero, and sure, his job was to hit things until they weren’t a problem anymore, but he couldn’t understand why all the highly trained professionals didn’t question the sheer amount of evidence that just wasn’t adding up.

He tried to bring up the inconsistencies once with the lead investigator, but they had just given the distraught, widowed husband, so lost in his own denial and grasping at straws, a sad smile and told him they would do everything they could to find the truth for him and the rest of the victims’ families.

Typical.

After being brushed off without a second thought, he decided to keep his ideas quiet, and since they’d proven their unwillingness to listen, he’d just have to solve the mass disappearance himself.

“Have you ever thought about how to commit the perfect murder, mi amor? I have. First: If there’s no body, they can’t prove the person is dead. No evidence of death? No murder. Simple. But of course, completely vanishing a full human would be a challenge. Short of having the superpowers necessary to, like, erase someone from reality in their entirety, there would be a lot of chances to leave evidence. Ordering suspicious chemicals leaves a trail, driving out to a pig farm in the middle of the night is shady as hell and all neighbors are professional narcs, and fires? Hah! Do you have any idea how hot the fire needs to be to cremate human remains, and how long they would need to grill for? Huh, maybe the perfect murder isn’t a murder at all...

Hey babe...

Always doubt a body, but always doubt no body, more.”

---

You tended to lose time when there was no one else in your room. It was hard to tell when your eyes were open because you started dreaming about the only things you could see since you first woke up: drop-ceiling tiles, white walls, and pale blue curtain dividers. And it was easier that way, in the end. Your heart didn’t hurt when you only dreamt of the room. You couldn’t mourn the things and people only your soul could remember if you thought of the room. Drifting in and out of consciousness was how you were coping.

---

You had been here, left in this room alone, for ages. You had agreed to help the man who had saved you from the explosion that killed your family, but apparently you couldn’t help him until you had recovered enough. You’d read your charts, grilled your nurses and doctors more and more the longer you were kept here. What were they all waiting for? There was nothing wrong with you except the mild post traumatic amnesia, and the whole not-remembering-much-(or anything, really)-about-your-personal-life-and-family-of-the-recent-few-years thing you had going on. It was nothing compared to when you first awoke and could remember nothing. It killed you to be without the memories of your husband and child, to know only of them instead of actually knowing them, but there was nothing you or the doctors here could do. The brain was a tricky thing, and you had to accept that your memory loss might be permanent.

That just meant that you had to put all that you could remember to good use. You could help people here, and work towards getting justice for your family. Years and years of school, practical experience and training, you had gained it all back; re-read textbooks and studies, wrote papers on your re-emerging knowledge and jogged your memory about long nights and early mornings, surgeries and follow ups... it was all still in your head. It had returned to you easily, like diving into a cool pool on a hot summer day. It was like coming home and taking off your shoes; it felt good, freeing, as-it-should-be.

But still they weren’t letting you leave. So: what were they waiting for?

“Ah, Doctor, it’s lovely to see you, as always. How are we feeling today?” Okay, so the guy who “saved” you (read: paid the people who actually saved your life) gave you the heebie-jeebies. He looked like a classic pompous asshole bigwig, like, oil tycoon or something. And he definitely had some sort of thing for you. Gross.

“I’m doing as well as can be expected, trapped in a room with nothing to do, you know, brain rotting, et cetera. Thanks for asking.” The sass was a choice, probably not a great choice, but your choice none-the-less. You really hadn’t had many opportunities to choose anything for yourself in a while.

Well...

You were bored, and that was going to be everyone else’s problem.

“Ah, well, good news then! You have been cleared from observation and you’ll be able to be discharged soon. Isn’t that just delightful!” Mister Craig (“Please, just Greg is fine”), was some sort of horrible group hallucination, you were convinced. No one was that cheery, that animated, unless they were on something, or you were on something. “I’ll have someone bring you your personal effects shortly, and then I can show you to your new apartment. The complex isn’t in the best neighbourhood unfortunately, but it's got some real charm, very vintage! You’ll love it!”

“I’ll look forward to seeing it then; sounds like it’ll be a real interesting place to stay. You can also explain what it is I’m going to be doing with your organization. Because you haven’t specified yet. And I expect a proper contract and wage agreement. Legally binding preferably, for your sake, of course, Mr. Craig.” Even if you weren’t the most physically intimidating person around, you knew how, and more so, when, to assert your dominance in a conversation. Especially with men like him. He was the type of guy who would pinch a nurse’s ass and then accuse them of not being able to take a joke.

“You wound me, Doctor, I am a man of integrity! I promised you an opportunity to make a difference! To get justice for the loved ones so cruelly torn from you! You have nothing to worry about!”

Sounds legit. Totally above board. Can’t wait.

---

Taglist (omg!! thanks love): @killtherandomness

Drop me a line if you want to be added <3

#we can be heroes #we can be heroes fanfiction #marcus moreno #marcus moreno x reader #Marcus Moreno x you #reader x marcus moreno #reader insert #Pedro Pascal #hurt/comfort #eventual happy ending #say hello to doctor batman lol. theres a whole thing i created just for that nickname to happen. ask me about it if you want XD #also you're a sassy BAMF. oops

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beyond-far-horizons · 4 years

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Katara’s potential in LOK and importance of older female role-models in life and fiction

This was not meant to turn into a meta and yet has done! Just a disclaimer I’m still working my way through The Legend of Korra but have mostly been spoiled by reading some great analysis on here. So this isn’t meant to be a comprehensive take and also isn’t meant to disrespect the people who like Legend of Korra or this particular aspect of it. It’s just a subject very close to my heart and my work as a creative practitioner, student of psychology and media analyst, so I really wanted to discuss it.

Contains some spoilers esp for Season 1.

So I’m biting the bullet and getting into LoK despite reservations. I overall really loved Avatar the Last Airbender and Katara is one of my favourite characters. I admit one of my biggest issues with starting LoK was hearing how her character and agency were drastically reduced compared to the original series.

Now I know LoK gets a lot of flak for a variety of reasons and it was always going to be hard following such a beloved series as A:TLA and trying to do something different. However I’m actually enjoying certain aspects including Korra herself, despite the fact she can be bratty and immature at times (which squares with her age and upbringing). I also find the premise of the Equalists and especially their mysterious, terrifying leader Amon really interesting and I just wish the creators had done more with that plot line. (I forever seem to be going on about missed potential in the stories I consume!)

However the more I continue the more I’m annoyed because I realised we were robbed of Badass Grandma!Katara and also more matrilineal mentoring/bonding between her and Korra.

Spoilers but I wanted to see Katara go toe to toe with the villains esp give her being intimately connected to their history. I wanted to see her deal with the shadows of the past, the history of trauma associated with bloodbending and the Fire Nation and also the very intriguing points Season 1 was trying to make about the role of bender vs non-bender and the Avatar themselves. All things Katara was deeply involved with as someone who experienced inequality firsthand, fought relentlessly to abolish it and was the previous Avatar’s finder, teacher and later his wife.

Katara being Aang’s first mentor and implied to be Korra’s waterbendering tutor adds yet another dimension and potential to explore. That whole relationship must be strange for everyone involved but I’m always a sucker for female bonds, found family and intergenerational friendships.

I know LoK is about the new cast taking over - Tenzin fills the role of Korra’s mentor figure onscreen and is loved by many. There are lots of ways to tell a story and the creators focused on Korra’s issues with airbending to contrast her personality and development with Aang’s, as well as to flesh out Aang’s family and the rebuilding of the Air Nomads.

Yet I miss the potential of seeing wise fierce mentor!Katara on screen. We fans love callbacks, so seeing Katara in action as she used to be would be a joy, and older more powerful characters need not overshadow younger ones. For example Uncle Iroh was beloved and integral in A:TLA despite the fact we saw very little of his backstory. He didn’t take over Zuko’s journey, he aided and complemented it. Plus Toph gets her chance to shine.

There was so much to play with, especially in Season 1 (and would have been a nice reference to Aang meeting Katara first and then Zuko and Toph later). So much contrast between Katara’s experience with Hama, her thoughts about her mother, Gran Gran and the reintroduction of South Water Style. The trauma of bad parental/mentor relationships vs the good examples one can use to alchemise negative patterns that A:TLA was known for (see Iroh, Zuko and Ozai for reference). I don’t want to get too far into spoiler territory but all of this links back to Katara, Hama and Water Tribe and I would have loved to see a further exploration of that and a contrast between her loving bond and fear for Korra vs the villains’ and their education. This would have created more depth between Korra and Amon and co (and wow do I wish that dynamic was explored further - does she even know what happens to him??), and between Katara and Korra and their respective journeys to shoulder their burdens and mature as people and women.

Just think about all those juicy, angsty callbacks we could have done to Hama’s haunting episode! How Katara could have decided to be a better mentor than Hama was to her. (Katara was always a good mentor but if there was any issues in her relationship with Korra re Aang etc this could have been a good place for dramatic tension and resolution.) Of course for all we know this did happen but we don’t see it because we don’t get to see Katara’s training with Korra or much of Katara at all in LoK apart from her failing to heal Korra.

Plus I adore badass ladies and badass grandmas, I have loads in my original fiction. I love people defying stereotypes and sadly there is still a lack of stories not only depicting a range of female role-models but female mentoring and matrilineal bonding.

Read the incredible bestseller Women Who Run with the Wolves by Jungian analyst Clarissa Pinkola Estés if you want to learn more about the power of storytelling, myth and female hero journeys and initiation. A key part of that book is how women have been historically and psychologically undervalued and harmed by the prevailing culture for centuries. Also how it has broken matrilineal lines of wisdom and support and distorted cultural values of how girls and women (not to mention boys and men) view the Feminine. This leaks down into our modern day stories via inherited psychological conditioning and unexamined tropes.

For example - how many ‘wise old men’ figures can you think of in pop culture, myth, fairytale, religion? Quite a few I’d imagine. Now contrast that with the ‘wise old woman’ archetype...I guessing not as many. I’m sure you’ll find a few but I bet more often the words that come to mind are ‘witch’, ‘sorceress’, ‘crone’ etc.

The Fairy Godmother (I gave you that one for free;) ) is an exception but she is a watered down version of the powerful, ambivalent figures of folklore such as Baba Yaga. Trust me if the Yaga was your mentor, as she was to Vasalisa in the fairytale Vasalisa the Wise/the Beautiful, you ain’t coming out of that encounter with a crystal slipper, you’re coming out it with a burning skull that incinerates your enemies and I’d like to see that tale popularised!

As mentioned Katara did feature in Korra’s life as a support, a vague mentor figure and a healer - in fact she is the one that initiates Korra’s heroine journey by supporting her decision to leave the stifling confines of her compound, go to Republic City alone and learn airbending. She also offers emotional and medical support during Korra’s traumatic recovery later on in the series. But mostly Katara’s involvement is at the peripheries of The Legend of Korra except when she was failing to heal her.

This isn’t to say that comfort and softness in female relationships are lesser than battle prowess or mental fortitude. Or that failure always bad, it is human and can be a powerful narrative tool for character development. I’m not interested in the infallible ‘Strong Female Character’ stereotype and neither is Estés. Her book illustrates that the Feminine encapsulates all of these qualities and many more and looking at the original Katara she was a perfect example of that. She was empathetic, intelligent, powerful, fierce, devoted, flawed, playful, angry.

I guess what I’m saying is that I miss that Katara and I miss the opportunity of seeing Korra interact with and learn from that Katara, especially as they have so much in common in terms of shared history, powers, culture and even looks. I’m also missing the opportunity of seeing that Katara battle Amon and all the drama and backstory that could have ensued from those encounters! After all Katara took on her mother’s killer, Hama and the Fire Nation (including one angsty honour-obsessed Fire Prince and his powerful sister), you’re telling me she would have just let Korra, her family and friends be in grave danger in the name of ‘leaving it to the kids’ ESPECIALLY since her own history turned out to be so deeply connected to all of this? Nah...

It’s important for girls* to see a range of wholesome female characters and dynamics play out in their media from an early age, especially to rework and combat the historic negative tropes that our culture is still steeped in. It’s also important to address the devaluing of the elderly, in particular elderly women. The Legend of Korra does in fact build on this from Avatar the Last Airbender by having an even greater range of capable women and girls across ages and morality spectrum. Korra herself (who I’m liking a lot more than I thought I would), is a real stereotype breaker. Toph I’ve heard fulfils the ‘wise old (crotchy) woman’ archetype later in the series. I just wish, given how much I adore A:TLA’s Katara, that we could have seen her shine in an elder role too.

(*I use terms like ‘girls’, ‘woman/women’ and ‘feminine’. I mean these to also include a broad interpretation of the Feminine than just the hetero/cis-normative one, but sometimes it helps when critiquing something to narrow things down esp something so already psychologically complex in a simple meta.)

#katara #legend of korra #lok #atla #pro katara #my meta #meta #my writing #jungian psychology #korra #amon #feminism #storytelling #avatar the last airbender #I just wanna see Katara fight Amon damn it I don't care who wins as long as it's a MASSIVE fight #also want to see either Katara save Korra or Korra save Katara #and some proper bonding and badass tuition #and then dunno waterbenders both hero and villain learn and grow and rebuild the Tribe

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millennialdemon · 3 years

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Coming off of true trainwrecks the likes of Mars of Destruction and Skelter Heaven, I actually came out of Dark Cat with a sense of respect and gratitude for its competence.

For the uninitiated, Dark Cat is a notoriously bad OVA from 1991 that you will see listed in many Worst Anime Ever countdowns. It follows 2 brothers, “dark cats” Hyoi and Rui, who investigate supernatural happenings and purify evil with their somewhat undefined powers of shapeshifting and increased strength/agility. The majority of the story in the OVA is about a school girl named Aimi, who is pining after her childhood friend Koizumi, who since the rejection and sudden death of his crush, has been suffering a depressive episode and ignoring her. Hyoi and Rui sense dark forces are manifesting at the school, and they keep an eye on Aimi while fighting off the increasingly brazen appearances of demonic enemies.

A monstrous ex-dark cat named Jukokubo is revealed to be manipulating Aimi with his dark powers, and Hyoi and Rui fight him, but not before Aimi succumbs to the evil magic -- as well as her own violent jealousy and overprotectiveness of Koizumi -- and transforms into a horrific tentacle monster that kills seemingly everyone in the school.

In the end, Koizumi realizes that Aimi was in love with him the entire time, and doesn’t fight her when she engulfs him completely. Apparently this act of selfless love was enough to purify them both, and although they do indeed die, their souls are “light” and able to ascend. This throws a wrench in Jukokubo’s plan to prove that humans are The Worst, so he turns tail and leaves his boss fight against Hyoi, threatening to return again. In the epilogue, Hyoi and Rui reflect on the mission and wax poetic about the nature of humanity while crossing a busy street.

… Ehm… happy ending, yes?

Now then: there are actually quite a few things I enjoyed about Dark Cat, and they are all very simple things that I had come to miss after days of watching other entries from the Bottom of the Barrel.

It had a narrative, and was -- mostly -- comprehensible in its storytelling, as rushed as it may have been. There was an undeniable presence of an art director, something I’m not convinced was present in a few of the other similarly rated titles I have seen. Some of the shots were noticeably well composed and even clever, and required an artistic vision and some decent effort to create. The animation wasn’t awful, the designs ranged from serviceable to genuinely charming (I like the subtlety of Hyoi and Rui’s cat-like features!), and I liked that the characters actually emoted. It wasn’t as generic as I expected and took some risks, even if they didn’t pay off and left it with a reputation of being “too grotesque to be enjoyable”.

I can understand the common criticisms of the gore and body horror being poorly animated, but I won’t decry it for existing and “being ugly”... of course it’s ugly, it’s body horror reminiscent of The Thing from The Thing. (Now would be a good time to warn people not to look this OVA up, unless they are sure they are okay with body horror and gore of this calibre. Tentacles with teeth and spines rip out of people’s skin from the inside and deform their hosts, it is quite awful! I would also include a warning for trypophobia -- there are shots where the mutations form clusters of holes on the skin.) The body horror in Dark Cat being disgusting and making my skin crawl isn’t a fault -- I think it’s the intended purpose. Though I will concede that:

The phallic imagery of the horrific flesh mutations, particularly that of the teacher who attacked Rui, was… bizarre, considering that otherwise the OVA isn’t particularly dark in tone or otherwise sexually graphic.

Perhaps having grotesque body horror is completely unexpected in a story about two bishounen teens (?) who can turn into cats and fight ghosts.

Yes, Dark Cat, the OVA put on Worst Anime Ever lists for being a grotesque spectacle, is just as commonly placed on those lists for being a dumb anime about guys that can transform into house cats and who fight supernatural entities with not so amazing powers. This is a gripe I’ve seen in a few popular reviews, but there was no point during my watching experience that I thought, “Man, these teens are pansies, they don’t even turn into big scary lions or anything! What’s the point, it’s practically a power-down! cinemasins ding” because I don’t go into anime expecting every single male character I see to be Big & Strong & Cool, because I uh… don’t have brain worms I guess? I don’t know what to say about this criticism really, other than people who watch a lot of shounen have very strange hang ups about super powers.

Otherwise, it seems the biggest reason Dark Cat is lauded as One of the Worst -- perhaps even ahead of the silly concept and nauseating gore -- is actually because of the abysmal english dub. It’s my honour to say that I didn’t watch the dub, so it doesn’t factor in at all into my impressions!

So in the end, perhaps my only true gripes with Dark Cat are:

Despite having no particular issue with body horror and gore existing, the extent of destruction and graphic death gave the OVA a bit of a snuff film vibe.

The conclusion to the story was quite bad.

It could be surmised by the brief plot outline I wrote earlier that Dark Cat isn’t a very complicated story. Demons and ghosts exist and wreak havoc on emotionally vulnerable humans, and supernatural soldiers try to mediate between the realms by purifying tortured ghosts and saving those dragged into darkness by evil entities. These beats are common in the supernatural genre of anime, but Dark Cat’s handling of its tragic morality tale left me more confused than anything.

Koizumi didn’t do anything wrong -- he shouldn’t have had to die for the sin of not reciprocating Aimi’s feelings, nor for developing depression after the rejection and death of his classmate and crush. Aimi… did things wrong, but was nevertheless the most compelling character in the OVA. Throughout Aimi was kind, patient, and forgiving when it came to being treated badly by Koizumi. In the finale however, it is revealed that Aimi was the one responsible for Koizumi’s crush’s death, assumedly having murdered her out of jealousy or out of revenge on Koizumi’s behalf for hurting his feelings. Prior to this, the first students to be killed by the tentacle monsters just happened to be the ones that had bullied Koizumi in class earlier that day -- implying that Aimi was getting revenge on them, as well.

It was with these revelations that I started to wonder: Why not just let the flesh monster manifest as a direct result of Aimi’s negative feelings? Aimi confessed to murdering Koizumi’s crush before the events of the OVA -- would she have done so if she wasn’t being influenced by the malignant force set on her by Jukokubo? I feel that her arc would have been much more interesting without the introduction of a non-compelling and badly designed villain like Jukokubo, because then we would know it was all her. Even if she was influenced by forces exacerbating her pre-existing jealousy and rage, that is a more satisfying option than having a big dumb green cat of a villain to trace everything back to so neatly.

And really, what did Jukokubo do in the story beyond take the spotlight, and the blame, from Aimi? He had some previous relation to Hyoi and Rui, but it’s not developed at all, and his ideological rivalry with Hyoi was trivial. Hyoi could have come to the same conclusions about holding out hope for humanity without Jukokubo there to insist he be a guest to debate on his political podcast.

The lack of accountability regarding Aimi is a part of why the resolution to her conflict with Koizumi feels so wrong -- he succumbs to her feelings because he realizes the evil was born from her suffering, and he feels that he has to sacrifice himself to make up for unknowingly hurting her so much that she turned into a monster from hell. In the end she is absolved via being purified and getting to die with her spirit entwined with Koizumi’s, and he apologizes for having not recognized how he was hurting her.

Aimi kills his crush, kills his bullies, and ends up -- inadvertently, at least -- killing almost all of their classmates, because she was tilted about her childhood friend not realizing she had romantic feelings for him. And when Koizumi learns all of this, he apologizes and dies with her, and this is proof of humanity’s goodness? The dark clouds part and the rain stops and Aimi and Koizumi ascend in a heavenly ray of light, because he decided, while she was devouring him, that he was wrong to ignore his murderous best friend’s love for him?

I guess it’s fine -- it was probably mostly Jukokubo’s fault anyway, and everyone was just an unfortunate victim of his meddling… 😒

Other than the bad writing, the string of deaths that happen in the finale when the monster lets loose in the school are quite uncomfortable to behold. Deformed student bodies are splayed and strewn around classrooms, and the bullies are rendered into unrecognizable mounds of pulsating flesh in their homes. The violence of a fight against a monster like this, I can handle, but the graphic images of helpless death were difficult to stomach. And in this OVA, there is no miraculous reversal of the demon’s damage once it is purified -- there is no implication whatsoever that everyone who died isn’t still just as dead as Aimi and Koizumi in the end.

The main thing I was actually worried about when I watched Dark Cat was that there would be sexual assault, thanks to reviewers griping it for “generic hentai tentacles”. I am relieved to say that there is none, at least not insofar as deserving a comparison to actual porn. There is sexual content scattered throughout the horror scenes: The occasionally phallic appearance of the tentacles, shots of the tentacles coming down from under skirts, and there is one shot of nudity when Aimi’s shirt is ripped open as she transforms, though I would say it’s too horrific and ugly to be sexualized or otherwise considered “fanservice”.

What is the point of the hits of sex imagery in Dark Cat? I have no idea. This isn’t Alien, it isn’t about the horror of sexual assault or the violence of creation -- though the main horror of the scene where Rui is ambushed by the teacher seems to be that she uses magic to seduce him, only to reveal a very phallic tentacle from her mouth that she means to kill (or infect…?) him with, which can have multiple, potentially offensive readings… it is a one off, however -- and there doesn’t seem to be any moral posturing about it as is often seen in slashers. I couldn’t parse any sort of consistent STI allegory regarding the plague of tentacles upon the student body, despite how many summaries I have read that describe the tentacles as that, a “plague”.

… I realize I am probably the only person on earth to give any aspect of Dark Cat’s production this much thought. To sum up: It seems to just exist for the shock value. Considering the extent of disgusting imagery already present a la The Gore and Deformation of Human Bodies, I don’t think this OVA benefitted from featuring some explicit looking tendrils, beyond cementing its abhorrent reputation.

Is this all to say that I think Dark Cat is a good OVA? No, of course not. It’s tone deaf, and tasteless, and has awkward pacing and bad writing. But compared to the utterly soulless and artistically devoid works the likes of Skelter Heaven and Mars of Destruction, I would say the fact I was able to write this much about Dark Cat is testament to that fact that it at the very least, contains content -- and some of that content was like, decent! Skelter+Heaven was such a mess it was all I could do to understand the sequence of events, and Mars of Destruction was so bland I literally have no posts about it on the blog despite watching it more than once. Psychic Wars was a snoozefest I barely finished that similarly has no mention on the blog, and Hanoka’s production gimmick couldn’t save it from being a totally forgettable romance story.

Therefore, Dark Cat is the best worst title I have seen thus far, by virtue of being executed with an average amount of competency for an OVA from the early 90s, and for having a balance of good and bad elements that gave me something to hold onto and mull over after viewing.

3/10.

Oh, and I loved the bad 80s insert songs.

#:Dark Cat #dark cat #2138 words later the verdict is. It was ok

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miracalicethebookgirl · 4 years

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The Phony and the Famous Pt. 5

AO3

Pt 1. Pt 2. Pt 3. Pt 4.

Summary: Lila spreads lies about being famous with worldwide connections to increase her local popularity. She’s confident that Marinette will never be able to prove otherwise. What she, and even Marinette herself, don’t realize is that Marinette won’t have to do any of that to come out on top. - A story in which everything Lila lies about, Marinette turns into reality for herself, usually unknowingly (our girl is quite the lucky one, after all).

A brief explanation: The last chapter was a bit confusing as to how Mister Bug appeared. When people turned into animals, all their clothing and accessories were left behind. When Marinette turned into a hamster her earrings fell off, so Tikki took them to Chat. Adrien switched out his Miraculous since it’s still unknown if something happens by wearing both the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous (not sure if Gamer 2.0 counts). After the fight he switched back and Tikki returned the earrings to Marinette.

…

“I'm good friends with the best manga publisher in Japan, you know. I can talk to them about your comic book project if you like.”

Season 3, “Ladybug”

…

“Name?”

“Oh! Uh, Astruc, Thomas.”

The girl hummed thoughtfully as she shuffled through the festival passes on the table. “That name sounds familiar. Did you work on a recent film or something?”

“Yes, actually! I was the director of The Adventures of Lady—”

“Here it is!” the girl exclaimed, pulling out the lanyard pass from the stack and adding some pamphlets to her hand. “Keep your pass on you at all times. The first pamphlet will provide you with a general map of the Champs-Élysées. The area is split up by genre and your second pamphlet will tell you which film categories will be playing on which day. If you have any questions just ask a volunteer. Welcome to the Young Artists Film Festival!”

With that, Thomas Astruc was ushered along to allow the next person to check in.

He was a little put out that he was yet again dismissed despite his role in the production of a movie that was widely popular in France. But what could he do besides shake his head and accept it? He could brag all he wanted about it but unless he made as big a name as Steven Basielberg, people would simply continue to shrug and dismiss him.

Rather than spoil his mood with such thoughts, Thomas figured he’d keep a low profile and just enjoy the festivities. It always intrigued him to see what new edgy or comedic or introspective pieces the young minds of France could create. So he spent an hour watching several animated shorts created by students and noted interesting stylistic choices and the most popular narratives. He debated going to see one of the feature length films that were highlighted for the day when he heard someone excitedly call out his name.

“Oh my gosh, Monsieur Astruc! Monsieur Astruc!”

He turned and saw a pigtailed teenage girl wave and run up to him, followed by—he blinked owlishly—Adrien Agreste, who had another girl latched to his arm. He looked back at the girl who called to him.

“You look a bit familiar to me. Have we met before?”

The girl didn’t seem bothered by his question. “It was only briefly, but we met at the Ladybug and Chat Noir movie premiere a few months back. I was the person you gave up your seat to. I’m still so thankful that you did that for me! Aside from the akuma—no offense—and a couple other people…the premiere was actually kind of fun.”

The other two teens finally reached them. The girl on Adrien’s arm gave a small gasp.

“Oh, Marinette, you were at the Ladybug movie premiere? I heard you went as one of the waitresses. I would have been there too, but I told the movie director that I had another movie project lined up. You see, being Ladybug’s best friend, I had a big say in how the heroes in the movie were portrayed so they could be as accurate as possible.”

The other three stood silent for a moment. One in confusion and the other two in exasperation.

“Who did you say you were again?” Thomas asked, wondering if he really did forget such a person.

“Oh, silly me,” the girl tittered, “where are my manners? I’m Lila Rossi, sort of an expert in all things Ladybug. And in case you also didn’t know,” she pulled Adrien closer to herself, “this is Adrien Agreste. He voiced Chat Noir in the movie but he’s also a model for Gabriel. We actually model together.”

Adrien brought a fist to his mouth and gave a small cough.

Is he covering a smile? Thomas thought to himself. Well, he couldn’t blame the boy. This girl obviously didn’t know whose company she was in. Thomas would have also laughed if the thought didn’t make him feel so dejected.

“Um, Lila,” Adrien politely began, “let me introduce you to Thomas Astruc. Monsieur Astruc is the artistic director of The Adventures of Ladybug and Chat Noir.” He paused. “The Movie.”

As they all watched the emotions play across Lila’s face, it was the other girl, Marinette’s, turn to try and smother a giggle. She wasn’t as successful as Adrien but at the fury that passed across Lila’s face, she quickly brought the conversation elsewhere.

“Sir, I never did get to introduce myself to you, which I guess was a little rude at the time. My name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng. I admit, I was a little skeptical when I first watched the trailer because Ladybug and Chat Noir didn’t sound anything like the real heroes. But once I watched the movie, it was actually really good!”

Thomas laughed good-naturedly. “That’s quite alright. I knew some people would be disappointed that the movie wasn’t an account of true events. That was the point of the disclaimer ‘based on Ladybug and Chat Noir.’” He took a moment to discreetly eye Lila. “The script writers and I didn’t want to confine ourselves to real life. We took our artistic license and ran with it, if you will. Especially since we don’t know everything there is to know about the Miraculous or the identities of the main players. Can you imagine Ladybug being scared of cats? Or if Hawkmoth were actually Chat Noir’s dad?”

Marinette laughed with him at those hypotheticals. Adrien chuckled along a bit more nervously, though Thomas figured the young man was just trying to imagine Gabriel Agreste as a supervillain, considering Adrien voiced the aforementioned hero. Lila had taken on a stoic face, and he guiltily hoped she learned some humility from her embarrassment.

Then something from earlier clicked in his mind.

“Did you say your name was Marinette Dupain-Cheng?”

Marinette stopped laughing and looked at him questioningly. “Yeah, I did.”

Thomas’s eyes lit up. “So you’re the Marinette Dupain-Cheng whose designs are sought after by several celebrities and whose talents caught the attention of one of the biggest film studios in Europe?!”

Face turning red at the acknowledgement, Marinette nodded timidly. Adrien reached out and put a hand on her shoulder as he smiled proudly. “And those are only some of her accomplishments. I bet she’ll go even further in whatever she does.” His eyes twitched a little when Lila gave a small noise of derision.

Thomas agreed with the boy. Miss Dupain-Cheng may be a relatively new name running in Parisian circles, especially with the crocodile debacle and zoo fundraiser, but she was proving to be more than just a flash in the pan. If anything, she was gaining more momentum in her fame as time passed, due in part by the recently confirmed rumors of her association with Graham Films. Thomas thought hard.

The animation studio he previously worked with for the Ladybug movie was offering him a contract for a new animated film. The studio anticipated that the project wouldn’t receive as much attention as the Ladybug movie did, but Thomas acknowledged that it was a given. However, if he could attach some big names to the film, that might be even better promotion than the simple “from the producers of the hit film Ladybug!” tagline could provide. Bringing Marinette on board would be a more than stellar start.

“What is the project that you and Graham Films working on right now?” he questioned, genuinely curious. “And when is post-production? If you don’t have any other film projects lined up, I happen to be gathering a team right now for an original animated film and we would love to work with someone of your talents!”

Thomas was disappointed to see her shake her head apologetically.

“I’m sorry, Monsieur Astruc. The movie with Graham Films is a one-time thing since I’m hoping for more fashion-centered work.” Her tone then turned thoughtful. “What kind of movie is yours going to be?”

“It’ll be a new superhero movie. I’m considering integrating it into the same universe as the Ladybug and Chat Noir movie.”

Adrien’s eyes lit up. “That sounds really cool! I hope you’ll let me voice Chat Noir again if he and Ladybug make a cameo or maybe even have a sequel!”

Thomas laughed, appreciative of the boy’s eagerness. The cameo bit wasn’t a bad idea at all.

“Monsieur Astruc,” Marinette began tentatively, “would you be opposed to taking on other young talent since I won’t be able to?”

He blinked. “Unless they have an exceptional portfolio and prior experience, I don’t think it would be very likely that they’d be hired. But,” he added when he saw the girl slump, “I’m very open to bringing some interns to the team.”

Thomas noticed Adrien perk up, looking like he knew exactly what his friend was leading up to. Lila merely turned her head away, seeming to be ignoring the rest of the conversation.

“I know some people who would love that!” Marinette exclaimed. “And I can speak for their talent in both writing and drawing about superheroes.”

Intrigued, he figured it wouldn’t hurt to hear her out.

…

A week later at the studio, Thomas and his production team stood up from their chairs to shake hands with the young men who they would be taking under their wings as interns.

“I look forward to working with you two gentlemen,” he said to them. “Your ideas are great and hopefully this internship and stories of my own journey from character doodling to filmmaking can help you get your own comics off the ground.”

Marc Anciel blushed. Nathaniel Kurtzberg beamed and replied, “I can’t wait to tell Marinette about this. I can’t believe she thought of us when you originally wanted her. I heard she couldn’t accept anyway, but still!”

“Marinette is always looking out for her friends,” Marc added softly.

When Thomas formally met Marinette, he recognized her for her fame and her talents. Since then, he began to realize just what a remarkable person she was. And so young too… He briefly pondered how old Ladybug and Chat Noir were. Surely not as young as his movie made them?

“People like that are hard to find but they do exist. Hold on tight to friendships like this. And remember that even though Marinette might seem amazing all on her own, being her friend means helping her out too.”

The boys seemed oddly sad (ashamed, in Nathaniel’s case?) for a moment, but Thomas only had a second to wonder about it before they smiled and nodded in agreement.

#ml fic #miraculous ladybug #marinette dupain-cheng #adrien agreste #lila rossi #thomas astruc the character #minor appearances of #nathaniel kurtzberg #marc anciel

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animebw · 4 years

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Fantastic Children: Series Reflection

I suspect my feelings on Fantastic Children are going to remain conflicted for a long time to come. It threw me for a loop from its very first episode, and it’s only continued to befuddle and challenge me through the rest of its run. Every time I think I’m starting to get a handle on it, things go sideways and I start to wonder how genuine my opinion really is. Is this series amazing? Awful? Unique but messy? Expertly crafted but overly safe? Somewhere in the middle? No matter how hard I think, I just can’t pin my thoughts down. But as I mentioned in my final post, it’s probably telling that I can’t really muster up the energy to try. I’ve watched plenty of shows that have filled me with conflicted feelings, but I’ve sill been invested in trying to piece those feelings together (Penguindrum comes to mind). In Fantastic Children’s case, I just don’t care enough about it to put in the effort necessary for forming a more concrete opinion. Whatever this show was doing right and wrong, it clearly wasn’t enough for me.

In all fairness, there is a lot I like about this show. The environmental design is top-notch, and the overall aesthetic does a good job making all its disparate elements- cluttered island towns, Victorian gothic horror, regal sci-fi kingdoms- feel like part of the same world. The soundtrack especially is full of excellent orchestrations that enhance the feeling of mysticism. I also appreciate how good this show is at show-don’t-tell, wordlessly introducing us to many of its wilder concepts like the memory-preying Enma demons and hyper-advanced robotic sentinels (which makes it all the more jarring when the show does fuck up its exposition, but whatever). And while the characters can be painfully simple, the central themes of reincarnation and what it means to live in the present are fascinating all the way through. At its best, this is a pretty memorable adventure yarn that takes big chances and goes in some really unique directions. So why does all that fail to leave any sort of lasting impression?

Honestly, I’m not really sure. But if I had to guess, my issue would be that the whole affair just feels lacking. It’s lacking something, anything, to give it a spark of life beyond its component parts. It lacks characters strong enough to wrap you in an emotionally gripping narrative. It lacks atmosphere strong enough to sweep you away through sensory beauty alone. It lacks a plot strong enough to justify all the convoluted, head-spinning twists and turns it takes. It lacks themes strong enough to keep you invested through the vast stretches of time it takes getting to the point. It comes up just a little too short in every area, and the collective impact of all that “almost, but not quite” sucks this show of the joy of watching it. For as interesting as some of its ideas are, and as good as some of its moments are, I just wasn’t having fun watching Fantastic Children. I wasn’t feeling motivated to keep watching, it was hard to work up the energy to do so, and I overall just wanted it to be over so I could move on to something more interesting. And all its bright moments were only a brief flash of enjoyment before we went back to slogging through the mud once more.

Perhaps I’m being too harsh. Clearly, this show was no hack production or amateur effort. The creators of Fantastic Children had a story they really wanted to tell, and they put their all into telling it. If nothing else, I can respect it for that. But otherwise, this is simply one more grim reminder of what a miserable year 2004 was for anime as a whole. And I give it a score of:

5/10

Woof, that’s a shame. Oh well, at least we’re done. Thanks for joining me on this ride, and I’m sorry I couldn’t give this show a better analysis! If you’ve enjoyed yourself regardless and want more of me, be sure to ask for an invite to my Discord where you can hang out and chat about the shows I’m watching with me and fellow anime fans. And I hope you’ll stick around for the anime that will take its place:

Grand Blue Dreaming

I know this show was directed by the director of Gintama, so I’m excited to see what it has in store. See you next time for the start of a new adventure!

#anime #the anime binge-watcher #tabw #fantastic children

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marvel-ousnesss · 5 years

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The pirate and the witch (part two)

Word count: 2568 Pairing: Harry Hook x daughter of Narissa!reader

Summary: Y/N, an orphan vk who was taken to Auradon at a young age, returns to her old home by request of the crown prince. However, things tend to go south at the Isle of the Lost.

Warning: Mild cursing

A:/N: Okay people, here's the second part! I'm really enjoying writing this and already working on part three. Feel free to ask if you wanna be tagged and to point out any mistakes or typos that you see. Enjoy 😬

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE DISNEY DESCENDANTS CHARACTERS NOR THE SANDERSON SISTERS. All credit goes to the creators, writers, and producers. Same with the HP charms, credit goes to J.K Rowling.

Part one Mobile masterlist Part three Part four

— So, how was it? — Asks Ben, who's currently sitting on the couch of his and Chad’s dorm, with the brightest grin plastered on his sweaty face. His tourney gear discarded on the floor next to him, I can tell he took it out in a rush right before he called me.

I chuckle at his excitement; kind of resembles a golden retriever puppy. Sitting cross-legged on the simple bed, I stare at the screen of a tablet with the royal crest of Maldonia on its green case. Just parted ways with Harry and, even if it’s hardly four pm, I’m utterly exhausted; but Ben won’t stop calling me until I tell him everything.

— Where to start, where to start,— I pretend to think, scratching my chin with my index finger and frowning my brows. — Being chased by bandits, being kidnapped by wicked witches, who, by the way, may have found a way to practice magic, or having a VIP ticket for Uma’s pirate ship?

— That does sound like quite an adventure, but let’s cover the basics first. How’s the place?

I sigh, setting jokes aside. — Miserable, Ben, whatever you discussed with your father will seem like a children’s tale.

—Something needs to be done about it — he states, — but I’m gonna need your help in convincing my father.

—I’m sure it will be fine, he’s all about second chances, right?

I don’t even know if I completely believe what I’m telling Ben. I remember standing outside of the Royal Courtroom, fidgeting, uncertain of what those who I thought were meant to be good and forgiving would decide for me. The funny thing is that Auradon’s oh so great and just king was the most reluctant to let me be part of his kingdom, claiming that I had an intrinsically wicked nature.

However, I manage to spit my words between gritted teeth— See? You’ll do great.

— I really hope so.

— Look, for now, just sit tight and behold my wonderful narrative skills. We’ll plan our scheme later, — I wink.

— Okay, go on.

So, I tell him everything, no detail spared. Even if it is supposed to be a prison island, it is atrocious to have people living in such conditions. From the poorly constructed infrastructure to the lack of resources that has resulted in people fighting like animals over things such as a rotten apple or half a loaf of bread.

— I’m glad you saw it all first hand, and with all of this, I really believe that we can convince my father to do something about it.

— What I’m most worried about is the embargo that he placed, many goblins are out of jobs because of it, and the malnutrition and sickness here have drastically raised since.— I frown my brows.

— We’ll need statistics to show that, and maybe he’ll abolish the limitations on resources and re-establish the goblins’ jobs.

— Keep talking Mr. crown prince, I only yawn when I’m utterly fascinated.— I roll my eyes and smile when I hear the familiar voice of my second favorite prince.

— Manners, Charming, the grownups are talking,— I fake scold as Chad pops on the screen behind Ben.

— Wow Y/N! Really looking like the evil witch you are— he snarls.

I don’t give it any thought ‘cause a) it’s Chad who’s talking and b) I am dressed in a purple leather jacket and a navy blue top, not to mention my smokey eye makeup. So, I brush him off.

— I miss you too, Chaddy. But, I'd love you to shut up before I go and make you.

—I guess it is true, ‘once a villain, always a villain’.

— Guess it is true, Prince Chad charming, of Cinderellasburg, is even more delicate than his mother’s set of porcelain.

— Seriously, though, don’t let the Isle get to you too much.

— Are you, gods forbid, worried about me?

— Nah, just don’t want real VKs living among us, do we? — when he says this, he playfully punches Ben on his shoulder.

…

—And so, I ended up flirting with none other than Harry Hook in the flesh.

When I utter the word flirting, Chad’s nose scrunch makes both me and Ben burst into laughter.

—Yes, Chad, we flirted, and, dare I say, I enjoyed it. Anyway, after we escaped the cage, we walked together and he ended up inviting me to ‘keep the heid’ back at Uma’s ship,

— I think that may be good for getting to know them, — suggests the crown prince. — You know, figuring out which of them are in worst scenarios.

— Sorry to break it to you, Ben, but it wouldn’t be safe for Y/N to go hang with a bunch of pirates.

Even if our relationship is playful and full of bickering, Chad can get super protective sometimes. It is something that I appreciate, really, but when he smells possible danger, he tends to get worse than my mom.

— I did decline his offer but, seeing that not going would mean agreeing with dearest Chad, — I shrug — I’m gonna go. Right now.

Much to Chad’s dismay, we say a brief goodbye.

— Be careful,

— Don’t let them infect you!

I chuckle at them and hang up. Then, I put the tablet under the bed, grab my cloak, and head out the door.

…

Now closer to the docks, my ears are flooded with the stomping of dancing feet and the cheers of shanties, accompanied by what sounds like a piano and guitar duo. I arrive and cannot help but smile at the sight. Before my eyes, I find some of the most dangerous and vile people of the Isle dancing and singing around a fire that’s set on a barrel in the middle of the ship.

I approach the crowd and, when I catch the first mate’s eye, he stops playing and laughs.

— I knew you’d come. Couldn’t resist m’charms.

I smirk, — just came for a good time, Hook. Don’t you ruin it already.

— Aren’t you gonna introduce me to your new toy? — asks the sea witch, emerging from the crew of pirates, who are now quizzically looking at our interaction.

— I’m Y/N.

— Ooh, the witch, — she inquires. — Harry hasn’t shut up about your little encounter earlier today.

— Hasn’t he? — I quirk a brow at him but don’t even get him to blush.

— Gonzo, — intervenes Harry. — Take over would ya? I’ve business.

The music continues to play and the pirates continue to sing and dance. A blond guy, Gil, I believe, offers me a pint of beer, but I politely refuse. He doesn’t seem to mind, as he drowns the whole thing in one gulp and I quietly chuckle. I proceed to take off my cloak and leave it in the rack, embracing the cold wind. Then, I approach Harry.

— So, are you gonna teach me how to dance this thing, or did you invite me to stand in the corner of the deck all night?

— Are you trying to flirt with me, lassie? — he asks.

— Do I look like someone who’s interested in you? — He’s about to respond but I cut him off, — you know what? Don’t answer.

I grab his hands and pull him to the designated dance floor with me. I’m genuinely curious about this type of music, back home we don’t have anything similar. Next thing I know, he hooks his arm through mine and we’re jumping, spinning and cheering around the dance floor, avoiding a collision with the rest of the crew members.

After a few songs, I suggest we take a break and grab something to drink, so we make our way to the barrel located at the end of the deck.

— Ain’t gaunnie tell me that was yer first time dancing shanties, ‘cause I ain’t taking mince.

He speaks as he fills the first glass with beer and hands it to me, then he scratches the back of his neck with one hand and places the other on his belt buckle.

— Well, believe it or not, it was — I defend myself, fixing my simple hairdo.

— then let me tell ya, yer a natural.

— thanks, — I smile.

He looks at me with curiosity.

— err... I mean, of course I am.

After he fills his own glass, we sit on the front edge of the Lost Revenge’s plank and let our feet hang above the water.

— Why haven’t I seen you 'round, — he takes a gulp of his drink.

I try to do the same but encounter an unpleasant sensation, so I take a small sip and place my glass on the floor, next to me. — I already told you, lone wolf.

—Bullshit. I know the lone wolves, —he claims — easy prey for the crew. Besides, ain’t seen you at school either.

— I don’t go too Serpent prep.

—Oh… you attend the Witch school?

— Not exactly, — I release a breath, not wanting to get further into the topic — but, let’s just say I don’t like having attention on me. How bout you, Mr. first mate, aside from the badass handsome pirate act?

Truly, not to my surprise, he avoids my twist to the conversation. —Ooh, so ya think I’m badass and handsome too…

— Don’t let it get to your head, sailor, no one likes a cocky pirate. — My words come together with a playful side push.

— Aww lass, yer just lying to me in me face, — he whines, — you seem to drool over this cocky, badass, handsome pirate.

A bit frustrated, I exclaim, — Such a dickhead!!! How do they put up with you?

Then, our eyes land on the figure who had just stopped behind me.

— We just do this… — Uma tries to push her first mate off the ship, but he holds onto the railing.

— Funny, captain, — grumbles my date (if one could call it like that) — ya know the crew’s all at my feet.

Uma rolls her eyes, — Yeah, right. The only one ‘at your feet’ is little hellcat here.

At this, he scoots closer and smirks, attempting to place an arm around me, but I slip away. — Don’t get your hopes up, Pirate, haven’t hooked me yet.

Once again, the captain’s voice captivates our attention. — Hey Harry, why don’t you bring me and your new conquest some more beer?

I glance at my half-full glass, — I’m good.

— Nonsense, I insist.— Uma’s gritted teeth hint that she’s not asking out of politeness. In fact, she’s not asking at all.

— Aye aye captain.

As soon as we are left alone, Uma takes the spot that was previously occupied by her first mate, — Don’t know you, so don't trust you. Straight to the point, why would a random wannabe witch like you pop out from nowhere and come to my ship?

My answer is simple and blunt, — If you haven’t noticed, I’m here with Hook.

—That’s not what I’m asking so don’t play dumb with me —, she does her best to stay calm. — Just wondering… haven’t seen you around and, when I do, you have the biggest flirt of the Isle suddenly interested in you, there’s gotta be more to your tale; power, dominance, what d’you want?

My feet swing as I think of a quick response. — Nothing, really. As for Harry, guess I’m that irresistible.

Uma chuckles at my words, but her smile disappears faster than it came.

—Take this as a warning, don’t you dare try anything stupid. Have that in mind and you’re welcome whenever you want. — she mocks, with an overly excited grin. — Any toy of Harry is a friend of mine.

Before I can reply, the shanties stop playing and low, menacing growls are emitted by Bonny and Jonas. We turn around and notice that the two female members of the squad that rules the Isle are now on deck with us.

Mal glides into view, with leather boots hitting the wooden floor. — Awww shrimpy… you threw a party? It kind of hurts that you didn’t invite us.

Uma huffs before standing up and then faces Mal with a demeanor that gives me the creeps. Both Harry and Gil stand at her sides, with a hand on their swords; everyone else takes no time in mimicking their stance. As for me, I stand in the middle of the crowd and begin channeling my powers, just in case.

—You know snooty little witch, you’re sounding just like your mother; a cheaper and less intimidating copy, though.

She did kind of paraphrase Maleficent.

Raging, Mal growls and her eyes emit a bright green glow.

— See? My point exactly.

Now, with more tension in the scene, Harry steps in. — And what a cute little lap dog, — he laughs, approaching Evie. When he gets to her, he deadpans — sit.

The evil queen's daughter refuses to let herself be affected, so she limits her reaction to an eye roll. — Charming, Harry.

— Okay, as much as we’d love to stay and chat, we have an Isle to run. Not that you’d understand, anyway.

On cue, they both laugh and walk away.

— Now, boys.— Mal’s voice is heard through the length of The Lost Revenge, and Jay and Carlos, who must have managed to sneak inside while the crew focused on the girls, kick and spill casks full of water and rotten shrimps all over the ship.

However, their smirks turn into frowns when Carlos’ barrel rolls over and knocks the bonfire down, making the flames take grasp of the wooden floor.

Both intruders and some crew members jump to the water as the fire grows, but I approach it and firmly say ‘aquamenty’. The water shot from my hands extinguishes the fire.

Pirates gasp and Uma approaches me with an expression of simultaneous anger, relieve and, dare I say, gratefulness. — Not such a wannabe, after all.

Harry stands next to her, smirking at me, yet his expression changes when his eyes dart to the damaged deck.

—Still, — he sighs, — the damage is pretty bad. Can you do something about it, doll?

I hesitate — I mean, I could try. But I haven’t perfected that spell yet.

I place a hand over the burnt wood of the deck and whisper — reparo.

Immediately, the floor of the deck restores itself and the broken barrel that previously contained the blaze stands back up. Satisfied, Uma goes to check on her crew.

Mental note: ask about the gang war.

Harry, however, gets a step closer to me and helps me up,— you’d be useful ‘round here, I could get Uma to let you in.

— As captivating as that sounds, I'm not really a team player.

I turn around but, before I can part, he captures my wrist, —yer breaking me heart, dollface.

— We already had this conversation, handsome, you don’t have one of those.

Tags: @aspitefullittlebeing @treestarrrrrrrr

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eryiss · 4 years

Text

Event: LGBTQA+ Month hosted by @ft-wwtdp

Ship: Gajeed ( Freed Justine x Gajeel Redfox )

Prompts: Adventure, Lies, Ghosts, Blossoms, Truth

Verse: Canon Compliant

Alternate Places To Read: Fanfiction, Archive of our Own. Event master list here.

Here’s my second group of one shots for the LGBTQA+ month. You can read the first five in the master list linked above. Also, the one shot for ‘Blossoms’ features descriptions of a panic attack, so be cautious. Hope you enjoy.

Day Six – Adventure (Through Improvisation)

"Hey, erm, I had fun last night. D'you think we could do it again?"

Freed looked up from his beer at the rough, mumbled statement aimed at him. Standing awkwardly beside him was Gajeel Redfox, who was refusing to maintain eye contact with the rune mage. Freed wanted to chuckle at the clear discomfort that Gajeel was showing, but decided against it. He didn't want to make the man feel any more uncomfortable than he already was.

"I'd like that," Freed smiled. "Take a seat."

Although he was tempted to, Freed didn't help Gajeel. The man was injured heavily after a mission went wrong, leaving him with a broken leg, sprained shoulder, bruised ribs and many other injuries. He half the mobility he usually had, relied on crutches, and was covered by bandages in various places. Freed didn't know the man tremendously well, but knew that he was prideful and wouldn't be best pleased if he was offered help in getting into a barstool. It was a little painful to watch, however.

Eventually he settled, and Mirajane brought him a drink over before leaving them alone. Freed, having expected that Gajeel might want to continue what they had done the night prior, pulled out a pen and a small notebook.

"Would you like to continue where we started?" Freed asked. "Or begin again."

"Continue I guess," Gajeel mumbled under his breath.

The two had been playing a game, of sorts. Gajeel's injuries meant he hadn't been able to do any missions for two weeks, and it would be a while longer before Makarov would even consider letting him start again. The dragon slayer had gotten drunk and confessed how he needed to do something, go on an adventure of some kind. He needed something to keep his mind active; of course he hadn't said it quite as eloquently, but the meaning was the same.

That was where Freed had interrupted, saying that Gajeel should try reading. Gajeel had clearly seen this as a challenge of some kind, as he retorted by saying he wanted something to give him a challenge, not just to read some 'predictable fancy bullshit.'

So, Freed suggested they improve a story between the two of them.

The idea came from the chose your own adventure stories that Freed had read as a child, wherein you chose pathways of a book to follow and dealt with the consequences. They were fairly linear and aimed at children, and Freed wouldn't have been surprised if Gajeel threw his beer over him if Freed suggested a book for kids. But improvising a narrative, directing Gajeel through a story and allowing him to make whatever decision he wanted seemed like a good enough way to spend the evening. He had nothing else to do.

And, if he was being honest, he was interested in Gajeel. The man was a powerful mage, a little rough around the edges, but good-hearted. He maintained some kind of presence when he entered a room; he wouldn't adapt to a situation; the situation would adapt to him. Freed wondered what that would be like to experience first-hand.

Thus, a game began. Freed made a story and Gajeel played as the protagonist.

Freed had expected it to be a one time thing, where Gajeel's drunkenness had allowed him to do something his sober mind wouldn't. But Freed too had enjoyed himself; improving a story was fun, and Gajeel was good company. And if Gajeel wanted to continue playing – even if he was incredibly awkward about asking – then Freed would gladly do so. He... perhaps had planned out a few things that could happen next as he fell asleep the night prior.

So they played. Sitting side by side at the bar, Gajeel slowly became engrossed in the story while sober, and became just as loud and boisterous as he had before. Within half an hour, the two men were wrapped up in the narrative Freed was weaving, and the choices Gajeel was making.

By the end of the week, the two had become a mainstay at the bar.

As time went on and Gajeel got slightly healthier, they discovered things about each other. Gajeel was a lot more creative that Freed gave him credit for – both with his approach to problem solving and with the character he was playing. He also showed a dislike for unfair leadership, if his character punching a villainous prince was telling of his own ideals. Freed had smirked at that, they shared an opinion that leadership is something earned.

What was most interesting was Gajeel's reaction to one character in particular. A simple knight who defended Gajeel's character against the villainous prince. Gajeel latched onto the man, his character insisting the knight travel with him. Freed almost thought it was… not platonic.

So, he experimented.

The knight, after a while, began to flirt with Gajeel's character. Nothing obvious at first, just enough for Freed to gauge Gajeel's reaction to having his character be the subject of a man's interest. When the character's flirtation became more obvious, it seemed Gajeel had noticed. His reaction made Freed feel strangely warm.

He smirked, looked directly at Freed, and let out a small 'Gihi.'

Freed hadn't been sure how to react, so did his best to continue the story.

Weeks went by, and Gajeel healed further. He no longer relied on his crutches thanks to some healing magic, and although he was still yet to go on a mission, it was clear that it would be possible soon. As he walked into the guild, he had no bandages covering him and looked almost completely uninjured. He walked to Freed, patting him on the shoulder to get his attention rather than sitting beside him.

"Evening Scribe," Gajeel greeted, using the nickname he had given to Freed. "I was thinking, maybe we could, y'know, not do the improv thing tonight?"

"Oh," Freed stated. He was disappointed, he wasn't ashamed to admit that, but had expected this to happen eventually. "Of course, that's fine."

"Wait, I didn't- shit," Gajeel's face looked troubled. "I meant- what I wanted to say was. Maybe we could do something else. Get a meal or somethin'. I dunno. I just, I'm feeling better now, and I'd've been pretty pissed off if I didn't have anything to do for weeks. And you're good company."

"That…" Freed paused, a little taken aback. "That sounds good. I'd enjoy that."

"Great," Gajeel grinned; Freed had also noticed he wore his emotions on his sleeve. "You wanna go now?"

"I'd like that," Freed nodded.

The two men left the guildhall a moment later, side by side, and Freed smiled a little when he caught sight of the grin on Gajeel's face. He took a step closer to the dragon slayer as they walked, and the other man absently brushed their knuckles against each other.

"Y'know this is a date, right?" Gajeel suddenly asked.

"I do," Freed chuckled.

"Just wanted to make sure," Gajeel shrugged, wrapping an arm around Freed's shoulder as they walked. It was a rather nice feeling. "Because you ain't the smartest guy when it comes to picking up on when someone's flirtin' with ya."

"Who's been flirting with me that I haven't noticed, might I ask?"

"Me, dumbass," Gajeel laughed. "Well, my character, if you wanna be clear. But we both know the flirtin' and seducing shit was between us. Least I did."

"When exactly did you flirt back?" Freed frowned, thinking back.

After the knights initial flirting and the reaction he got, Freed assumed that Gajeel had forgotten it had happened. After that, any appearance of flirtation between them both was conscience. Or perhaps wishful thinking.

"You really didn't notice, did ya," Gajeel cackled. "This is gonna be fun, Gihi."

~~~

Day Seven – Lies (That Shouldn't be Revealed)

"He's going again."

Evergreen narrowed her eyes as she followed Freed's retreating form out of the guild's main entrance. This had been the fourth time that week where he had left early in the evening, not giving any real reason as to why he wouldn't be spending the rest of the night with the Raijinshuu. It was unlike him, and it was bothering his teammates.

Bickslow also watched him leave, frowning. He looked to Evergreen with an expression of mischief plastered onto his features. Where Evergreen saw a problem, Bickslow saw an opportunity. Both to find out why Freed was acting weird, and to have some fun.

"Why don't we follow him," He suggested with a laugh. "Bust him in the act."

"I suppose we could," Evergreen agreed, tapping her fingers on the table as she too smiled. "He might be doing something dangerous, and need our help."

"Imagine how we'd feel if he got in trouble and we weren't there to help him," Bickslow nodded. "We'd never get over it."

"It would be awful."

That was all the justification the two needed, and a moment later they snuck out of the guildhall. It took them only a few moments to locate their teammate, and they began to follow him as best they could without attracting attention to themselves. It was a relatively successful task, as both of them knew how to be stealthy during their missions and had perfected the art of blending in even despite their standout appearances.

As they followed him, they went to a part of Magnolia unfamiliar to them. It was a little more run down than what they were used to, with buildings packed tightly together and lacking the decorative flair that the tourist based parts of the city did.

"Where the hell is he going?" Bickslow whispered as Freed turned another corner.

"Maybe he really is doing something dangerous," Evergreen murmured, looking at her captain with a small frown. "He said he was going home, which is clearly a lie. And now he's come here, it's not like him."

Bickslow shook his head, genuine concern filling him now. He went to creep forward so they could continue to keep track of their team captain, but a strong hand landed on his shoulder and stopped him where he stood. He slowly turned his head to look at who had touched him, to see Laxus standing above them both, a clearly unimpressed look on his face. Bickslow could only smile a guilty smile as he looked at his friend.

Laxus silently dragged them both by the shoulder away from the alleyway that Freed had walked down, not saying anything until they reached a nearby canal. He released their shoulders, crossed his arms and glared at them both.

"What do the two of you think you're doing?"

"Freed's been sneaking off every day this week," Evergreen started, looking back to where they had just walked from.

"And he's been lying about it, too. So we followed him because we wanted to make sure he's alright," Bickslow continued, though Laxus' expression didn't change.

"Freed can look after himself, and if he got himself into something he couldn't handle then he's sensible enough to come to us and ask for help," Laxus said, voice annoying disapproving. "And I'm sure the biggest threat he's under right now is being stalked by two fucking idiots."

"What if he's getting hurt," Bickslow said back. "Or being blackmailed or something."

"Then he'd maim the people doing it and make sure it didn't happen again," Laxus sighed. "Look, he's allowed his own life without you two interfering. Just let it go, I'm sure he'll tell you when he's ready."

"Do you know what he's doing?" Evergreen crossed her own arms now, and a small amount of disbelief entered her voice. "Did he tell you and not us?"

"He didn't tell me anything," Laxus grunted.

It wasn't technically a lie. Freed hadn't told him where he was going, what he was doing or why he was doing it, but Laxus did know. He too had been a little worried about Freed's unusual behaviour, but rather than deciding to follow him, he's kept a closer eye on the rune mage over the last few days and had realised just what was happening.

Freed was dating someone. Gajeel Redfox, to be precise.

Laxus hasn't believed it at first, thinking that the occasional glances shared between them that he had noticed were nothing of importance. But there was other things; the slight smell of iron on Freed's clothing, the occasional reddening of Gajeel's cheeks when Laxus caught him looking, the fact that they coincidentally were getting drinks at the bar at the same time multiple times a night. It was all a bit too coincidental.

His suspicions were confirmed when – due to the top floor of the guildhall was being renovated and Laxus sitting on closer to the bar than normal – he heard a hushed conversation between them both. They laughed, joked, and were clearly comfortable around each other in a way that Freed often wasn't with his acquaintances. They had promised to see each other later in the night, and that was all the confirmation that Laxus needed.

He was happy for his friend. The two men weren't an obvious match exactly, but if the iron-head made Freed happy then Laxus had nothing against it.

It was good to see him like that, actually.

The blonde didn't know exactly why they were keeping their relationship a secret. Maybe it was because they didn't want interference, maybe it was because they were both private people. Either way, it didn't matter to Laxus. He happened to know about their relationship by accident, and he would do what he could to keep it a secret until the time came where Freed and Gajeel were comfortable in telling everyone themselves.

And if that meant following the scent of Bickslow and Evergreen as they followed Freed to Gajeel's apartment, then he would do that too. Because the small glimpse into their relationship had told Laxus that, right now, his friend was happy and in love. And he wanted to make sure that remained true.

"Come on," Laxus grunted to his two friends. "You both owe me a drink for dragging me out here."

He started to walk back to the guild, and his teammates followed him. They continually asked him what he knew, so his lie hadn't worked out, but he didn't care. He remained silent, being Freed's wingman without his friend even knowing.

~~~

Day Eight – Ghosts (And Existential Fears)

Out of all the ways the day could have ended, this was the worst.

When Gajeel had decided to go on a mission with his boyfriend, he had been excited. A landlord had brought an old manor house that had long since been abandoned with the intention to refurbish it and sell it off. Apparently she had been hearing crashes and seeing shadows in the corners of the house that only appeared at night. She had assumed it was a creature of some kind and wanted it gone, and the two men had taken the job.

Freed and Gajeel had spent the day trying to figure out what the animal may be. They'd looked for potential places where the creature could be in the day, looked into the local wildlife, and assessed possible ways to deal with whatever it could be. Freed had set up traps with his runes, and Gajeel had crafted some cages if the animals weren't hostile.

But, as day turned to night, they had found nothing of use.

What was worse, however, was how different the house seemed at night. The run-down building was fine during the day, if not a little structurally questionable, but at night it was just different. The lack of light, the broken glass and rotten wood, and the creaking floorboards all worked together to make it seem… haunted.

"Are you okay?" Freed asked in a hushed voice.

They were both sitting in the houses lounge, as this was where most of the creatures had been seen. The room was illuminated by flickering candles, which only added further to the gothic haunted aesthetic that Gajeel wasn't enjoying.

"Fine," Gajeel said, unconvincingly.

"Are you sure?" Freed said again, moving from the chair he was sitting on to the sofa with Gajeel. "You look pale."

Gajeel sighed a little. "This ain't exactly… I don't really like places like this."

"Why not?" Freed asked, placing a hand comfortingly on Gajeel's thigh. Even though he saw his boyfriend move to do it, Gajeel flinched a little at the contact. Freed frowned further. "You can leave, if you want."

"No. No it ain't that bad," Gajeel shook his head a little. "I'll get over it."

"If you don't mind me asking," Freed continued. "What do you need to get over?"

Gajeel sighed. He and Freed hadn't been dating for that long – this was their first mission together as a couple, actually – and their relationship had been pretty easy going. They were close, and knew many of each other's secrets, but there were still things they didn't know about the other. One such thing was Gajeel's irrational fear, something he was ashamed of and didn't want the supposedly fearless rune mage know.

But they were dating, and they needed to be honest with each other. And, as embarrassing as it was for a mage who got into fights for a living to be scared of something impossible, Gajeel felt Freed needed to know.

"I-I," Gajeel winced at the stupid stutter in his voice. "I'm kinda- I've got a fear of ghosts. And, well, this is the kinda place that you'd see a ghost."

Freed looked at his boyfriend, frowning a little. Gajeel didn't meet his eye. He had always thought that his fear of ghosts was somewhat pathetic and telling the man he loved about it was something almost humiliating. Freed was always a rational and calm man, who probably didn't believe in ghosts. Hell; not even Gajeel believe in ghosts really, but the possibility of them being was enough to sustain his fear.

"I mean, I know it's fucking stupid," Gajeel continued. He wanted to retain some dignity. "I get that they ain't real. I know there's not gonna be some kinda pissed off dead guy slamming doors and breaking vases and stuff. But it's just… If there's even a chance they exist, it fucks with my head. What could I do against that?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, what if I had to fight a ghost, for whatever reason. I mean, I don't have magic like yours. Mine ain't… magical, I guess," Gajeel shrugged. "I can hit things pretty hard, and I have physical spells, but if I can't touch something then I can't do anything. And having to fight something I can't touch; it just scares me."

Gajeel was practically squirming now. This was something hardly anyone knew. He kept it hidden because of how damn stupid it was. And as much as he trusted Freed, he wouldn't hold it against Freed if he judged him for it. A man like Gajeel being scared of something children were scared off was stupid.

"I can understand that," Freed said softly. "It's about power, and I can understand that well."

"You can?" Gajeel looked up, frowning.

"Of course. As mages we rely on our power and our abilities to keep ourselves safe. It's perfectly natural that being in a situation where this power is taken away from us would scare us," Freed leant against Gajeel's side in a comforting way. "It's part of the reason I sometimes get scared of getting older."

"Gettin' older?" Gajeel echoed, brows furrowing.

"My magic relies on my mind. Sometimes, as people get older they lose their mental prowess," Freed said, frowning a little. "When I think of getting older, I wonder what would happen if my mind started to deteriorate and I lost who I am. I'd lose my personality, my independence, and even my magic. These are the things that I have relied on throughout my life, and the prospect of losing them is terrifying to me."

"Oh," Was the only thing Gajeel could say. "If it's any consolation, you're probably too spiteful to lose your independence."

"Thank you," Freed said with a laugh. "And, similarly, if a ghost did see you they'd probably scared off by your piercings."

"Hey!" Gajeel exclaimed, feigning offense. "Thought you liked 'em."

"I do, but I'm not an uptight old-fashioned ghost."

"Nah, you're just an uptight old-fashioned living guy," Gajeel taunted back, knocking Freed's knee with his own. "Thanks, though. I don't really talk about that much. Always thought people would think I'm some sort of freak. So, thanks for not thinking that, I guess."

"It's perfectly fine," Freed smiled. "And I promise, if we ever do come face to face with a ghost, they will not harm you if I have anything to do with the situation."

"Yer sweet," Gajeel grinned. "And I promise that I'll do whatever it takes to keep that mind of yours sharp for as long I know you. Even if I have to challenge your smug ass every damn day."

"I'd expect nothing less of you, Iron-Slayer," Freed grinned, leaning over and resting his head against Gajeel's shoulder. It was a comforting gesture, and Gajeel rested his own head against Freed's.

When Gajeel looked over to Freed to see the soft smile on his boyfriend's face, he felt so damn loved that it hurt. It was a feeling that Gajeel had no intention of losing, and he doubted that anything could get in the way of it. Certainly not some damn ghost.

~~~

Day Nine – Blossoms (Of A Calming Garden)

Sometime Gajeel got overwhelmed. Most of the time, Fairy Tail's loud and relentless loudness didn't affect him, other than minor irritation. But every few months, something much worse would happen. Everything would get far too much, his enhanced senses would feel like they were burning, his vision would blur, and it felt as though he was being smothered by everything and everyone around him. He was nauseous and scared and vulnerable all at the same time.

It had always been something that happened to him, as much as he hated it. He'd gained a few coping mechanisms – mainly leaving the situation as quickly as possible, but also breathing techniques and other such tricks – but he'd never fully understood what they were.

Until he started to date Freed.

The man had noticed how different he was behaving during one of his 'moods', as Gajeel had referred to them at the time. Rather than questioning what was happening, Freed had placed a hand on his back, spoken softly to him and started to walk him out of the guildhall. He'd given him time to recover, not saying anything and not moving his hand, and simply sat by him. Gajeel had cried; the comforting gesture of his lover's hand against his back had seemed to anchor him in place, and the sensation was so grounding that Gajeel couldn't deal with it any other way.

After Gajeel had recovered, Freed explained he had a panic attack. That it was natural, more so with the advancements of his senses, and that many people underwent them when under stress. Although it didn't make Gajeel feel anymore nauseous or hesitant to return to the guildhall in the following days, it did help a little.

It also helped to have someone there to help him through everything.

"Gajeel," Freed said, early in the morning as the dragon-slayer drunk his coffee. "I have something for you."

The iron mage frowned a little, looking up from his drink. His boyfriend had been acting a little strange over the last few weeks, and he had been wondering what the other man had been doing, and perhaps this gift would be an explanation. He hadn't asked of course; he trusted his boyfriend to look after himself and didn't want to be the kind of man who needed to know what his lover was doing every moment of every day.

"It's outside," Freed explained, before turning around.

Gajeel followed him into the garden. He had spent the night at Freed's house, a nice building at the edge of Magnolia. It was the direct opposite of his own apartment, with large amounts of space, a view of the river nearest the city, and boasting an overall peaceful feeling. Gajeel liked his apartment well enough, but Freed's house was objectively better.

"You said that you didn't want to become reliant on me during your panic attacks," Freed began again, looking over his shoulder. "I believe I might have a solution that could help you."

As they walked, Gajeel frowned a little. It was true he refused to allow himself to depend on Freed to help him with panic attacks. Freed wasn't always going to be there, and it wasn't fair to put this burden on the other man. What Freed's garden had to do with it, Gajeel didn't know.

When they turned the corner to the garden, Gajeel saw an obvious new addition to the land. Large plant boxes filled only with soil bordered the expense of grass, along with a small group of plants that remained in the plastic pots they had been brought in placed beside the boxes. Freed walked towards them, and Gajeel followed while sipping the coffee he had kept with him.

"From what you said, once you had gotten over the initial panicking, you still feel an underlying sense of dread, which you've claimed is what I help with," Freed explained. "So I've made these for you."

"You made plant boxes?" Gajeel questioned, frowning.

"It'll give you something to do while you're coming down from the sensation," Freed said, kneeling down. "I know you're more artistic than you like to admit, and you'll want them to look nice. That'll occupy your mind, at least somewhat."

"Suppose," Gajeel said, nodding a little.

"And, importantly, gardening is rather tactile," Freed said, running his hand through the dirt. "You'll feel the dirt under your nails, the metal of the tools against your hands, the softness of petals against your skin. These will all bring you down, even if just a little."

Gajeel looked down at the array of plants, and the boxes of soil that Freed had constructed. He ran a finger over a soft pink petal, feeling the gentle tickling sensation on his callus hands, and he smiled. All of Freed's justification for his gifts made sense, and although neither knew if it would work as well as they hoped, it was definitely something they could try. And even the gesture of it was incredibly thoughtful, and the dragon-slayer couldn't fight off the emotion.

"I've also got you this," Freed continued, offering a small item to Gajeel. It was a little stone, with a runic pattern on it. "It's imbued with a teleportation spell. Push your finger hard enough against it, and it'll take you here if you need it urgently."

That was when Gajeel felt tears form in his eyes.

He moved quickly to pull Freed into a hug, burying his face into his boyfriend's shoulder and hiding his face. He held him firmly, and felt Freed do the same back to him. He kept his sobs to himself, and Freed didn't say anything. Just allowed him to hold him for however long he wanted.

"Thank you," He mumbled into Freed's shoulder, smiling as he pulled back. "Its… this is so good of ya."

"You needn't thank me," Freed smiled, leaning down and resting their foreheads together. "Just make sure you use it whenever you need it."

"Promise," Gajeel said with a small grin.

"Good," Freed nodded. "I'll leave you alone for a little while; give you some time to get used to it."

Freed stood up, and pressed his lips against the top of Gajeel's head in a slight kiss. He walked away, leaving Gajeel to look over the array of plants that he had been gifted. He removed one from the pot, running his rough fingers across the blossoming flower. At the sensation, he looked back to his boyfriend and didn't fight off the smile that formed.

It was nice, being loved.

~~~

Day Ten – Truth (And Teasing)

It hadn't been a lie from the start. Technically.

Freed's sword had been damaged, and he did need his boyfriend's expertise in metalwork to fix it. When he originally asked the man for his help, it had been an innocent request rooted in his need for a weapon. The slight lie came when Freed requested to watch Gajeel work on the weapon. He had claimed that he wanted to make sure it wasn't damaged further due to the sentimentality of the blade.

That was a lie, he wanted to watch Gajeel work.

He had known that Gajeel was good with metal, and not just in a magical sense. He was well versed in blacksmith work as a hobby, and had converted the small outside garage into a workshop to maintain this. Despite this, Freed had never seen him work, and he had been curious.

When Gajeel allowed him to watch him work, Freed found himself entranced by the work. Freed's mind was well versed in the practicality of the world, but mainly in relation to magic. He often focused on how magic can be applied to the world, and he sometimes disregarded the effect of labour and non-magic skills. But watching as Gajeel hammered burning metal into a weapon was incredible, and instantaneous nature of it all made it hard to look away. With every strike, Gajeel improved the sword.

So, once the sword was back to being functional again, Freed decided that he wanted to see him working more. So he requested that Gajeel recreate the hilt design, as it had become scuffed over time and needed refurbishment. Gajeel had done so and allowed Freed to watch.

Once that was done, he rediscovered a selection of fighting knives he wished to use, and that needed to be sharpened. Again, Gajeel had complied with the request and Freed had watched him work with curiosity.

So technically it wasn't lying. Just an expansion of the truth.

And it wasn't as if Gajeel was doing something he didn't enjoy. Hell, once the daggers had been sharpened he had offered Freed his iron-working services without prompting. Apparently he wanted to test out his intricate carving abilities and wished to do so by adding a pattern to the blade of Freed's weapon, promising that it would be just as effective as it had been before. He had invited Freed to watch him work, claiming that he liked the company.

With this in mind, Freed hadn't done anything mistrustful. Which was why it was quite annoying that he felt the need to tell the truth to his boyfriend about why he was requesting so much metal work all of a sudden.

"Gajeel," Freed began as the iron-slayer brushed metal filing off the sword. "I should admit something to you."

"Yeah?" Gajeel frowned, looking up.

"You've probably realised that, quite suddenly, I've been requiring your services often," Freed said, cheeks reddening a little. He hoped he could explain it away with the hotness of the room. "I don't actually need them, as such. Moreover, I wanted to see you work, and thought this would be the best way to do so."

"Really?" Gajeel said, crossing his arms, grinning and speaking in a tone very smug. "Well that is a surprise."

The way he spoke made his meaning clear. He knew. He had always known.

"When did you realise?" Freed sighed, even redder now.

"The daggers," Gajeel laughed, placing the sword on a workbench and walking over to where Freed was sitting. "You know, you ain't nearly as mysterious as you think you are. Kinda wanted to see how far you'd go to keep it up. Wondered if you'd suddenly realise you need knew knives and forks and wanted me to make them, as well."

Gajeel all but cackled at the embarrassed glare that Freed gave him. He grabbed his boyfriend's hand and pulled him from his seat, wrapping his arms around the man's waist and pushing their lips together in a soft kiss. He was grinning and felt Freed melt against him slightly.

"You're intolerable," Freed sighed after pulling away from the kiss.

"And yer a liar," Gajeel countered. "So, you like watching me work huh? Or is it just seein' me get sweaty?"

"Well, admittedly watching you put these muscles to good work is rather delightful," Freed laughed, running a hand over Gajeel's arms. "I do genuinely find metalwork to be enchanting to watch, though. I can't explain why, but seeing you take something rough and callus and turning it into something beautiful with your own hands, it's intoxicating."

Gajeel's face betrayed his emotions, and a small amount of glee split onto his features. He would have been happy if Freed just wanted to watch him work because he enjoyed seeing his muscles flex under the effort – teasing his boyfriends more primal side was a favourite pastime of Gajeel's – but this was better. Because his boyfriend had taken an interest in his craft, and appreciated it in the same way he did.

People often wondered why Gajeel enjoyed working with metal in this way. His magic allowed him to make anything out of iron without difficulty. The reason he did it was because, above all else, he enjoyed making something out of ore. Making something impressive and, often, beautiful.

Freed got that!

He leant down and pressed their lips together, the teasing nature of their previous kiss replaced with a genuine love. He nuzzled their noses together as they pulled apart, grinning wide at his boyfriend as he pulled apart.

"Y'know," He started. "I could teach you some of the basics, if you want. You're pretty good with yer hands, you'd pick it up fast."

"I'd like that," Freed smiled.

Gajeel nodded, walked them both to his workbench. He would start off from the very beginning and teach him everything. And if it took him longer than needed, that was fine.

Freed had done the same to him, after all.

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