#I have been just reading tomie most of the time

[galaxynajma]

Oh my god I’m at page 529 of the tomie Deluxe Edition

IM ALMOST DONE

There’s like over 200 pages left BUT THATS STILL A WIN

[freya-fallen]

Little Dove 5/?

You're Pro Hero Hawks' little sister. Dabi finds out and everything devolves from there.

HawksxReaderxDabi

TW: none for this chapter, but future parts may include, but are not limited to, noncon, dubcon, drugging, forced incest, yandere hawks, yandere dabi, coercion, lying, manipulation, grooming (of an 18 year old character), obsession, gaslighting...

Part 1 Part 6

Keigo is still home when you wake up, a rare occurrence given his hours. You stare down at your phone to read through a few texts from Dabi and look up when you hear an abrupt sound. Your brother is making scrambled eggs wearing your frilly apron and a pair of boxers. You can’t help but giggle at the sight of him whistling a little flourish while he flips the spatula through the air.

“‘Morning, Dove. Sleep well?”

You blush, remembering that you fell asleep while Keigo was preening your wings. You’d woken, tangled in sheets and diagonal across the mattress. “Did I steal the covers last night?”

He grins that heartbreaking grin of his that comes so naturally when he’s around you. “Only a little. I kept plenty warm, considering you were half on top of me.

“I’m sorry.”

He bats away the apology. “If it bothered me, we’d have separate beds. You’ve always been clingy in your sleep.”

To be fair, so is he. It’s a remnant of your childhood, when you were each other’s only real family. You still are, but now you have a stable life to go along with your relationship.

There was a time Keigo left. It was sometime after your father was finally arrested, when your memories become a blur for a while. You know you were hungry and cold and sad. Your mother was annoyed at your complaints, but there was nothing she could do about them. She yelled at Keigo, called him useless, and he took off.

You think you saw him once after that, then nothing. 

For a little while, you stayed alone with your mother. She rarely helped you with clothes or food or anything, really, so you quickly became a mess of a child. By the time the HPSC dropped in to pluck you from Tomie’s grasp, you were in such deplorable state that Keigo became furious when you saw him.

It was in the penthouse, your now-home. He’d fought with the commission to get a place for you, and a separate one for your mother. When you asked why, he always shrugged and muttered something about everyone being happier this way.

Keigo had run across the bare floor and dropped to his knees to look at you. “Did mom hurt you?” His hands were warm on your shoulders, his eyes boring into your own. You shook your head. “Did she feed you?” he asked next, to which you shrugged. Keigo sighed, glanced up at an adult and said, “Go get her something to eat.”

It was the first time you ever heard Keigo give a command. 

Your brother guides you to the table, snapping you from your memories. He has a full plate and orange juice all laid out. 

“Thank you, Keigo.”

 He beams. “You’re welcome.” He has made himself a plate with more food than yours. He spends all day most days out on patrol and apparently flying takes a lot of energy, so he keeps fueled. You’ve always marveled at how much he can scarf down per meal.

Your phone buzzes and he frowns at it. “Just a friend from school,” you explain, though you have the phone upside down, so it’s not like you can see the screen. He hums in response.

“Do you have the day off?” Hope lays thick in your voice. You’d promised to see Dabi later, but he’d understand that Keigo is home.

He shakes his head. “No, I just had a little time this morning. Sorry, Dove. I know I owe you some one-on-one time, but things are hectic at work right now.”

You know what that’s code for. “The commission has you on a special mission, huh?” You hate when this happens. They suck the life out of your brother, promising him the moon for one more little favor. It never ends; you know they’ve sent him to do things he shouldn’t, things he won’t talk about to anyone, but especially you. He could never ruin your image of him; it would break him.

You tell him you’ll love him anyway, but he just shakes his and smiles sadly.

“Yeah. It’s a really important one, though. It might stop a war.”

“Does it have to do with that guy who fought All Might?” you ask. He’s behind bars, but maybe he has some sort of team who can take over his evil plans. 

Keigo bites his lip. “You know I can’t tell you anything about it.”

“Yeah, yeah, secret squirrel stuff.” You raise a hand in defeat. “I know.”

“The secretest.” He puts your plates in the dishwasher after you’ve both cleared them, then pulls you into his arms for a hug. “I told them I’m taking a break after this one. I need it. We’ve all been working our asses off since All Might retired, but the flame man and I most of all.”

His heart is a steady beat against your ear. You wrap your arms around your brother and take in how much stronger he is than you. Even without him feathers, he could throw you over his shoulder. He takes his work seriously, despite his carefree appearance. You squeeze him, aware of how strong some villains are and how small your brother is compared to some. “You promise?”

Keigo rubs your back. “I promise. They won’t get anything outta me for at least a month.”

“A month?” The idea thrills you; you’ve never gotten to spend that much time free with him.

“Yep, just you and me. We can do anything, go anywhere.”

You grin up at him. “I can’t wait.”

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[pickles4nickles]

So I’ve been watching playthroughs of Yakuza games for a while now, but when I saw that the newest game takes place in Hawai’i, the place where I was born, raised, and have lived in for nearly 30 years now, I knew that this was something I had to have first-hand experience with and not let some guy tell me how to feel about it, to put it bluntly.

I went on a month and a half long journey to finish this game, so I sat around for a bit like

Jesus Christ I should write a review on it.

So if you’d like to read about 5k words on what I thought about The Video Game™, here you go.

Overall, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is a really really good game. However, as Hawai’i local it was kind of hard for me to turn my brain off to some of the cultural inaccuracies and as someone who tends to play smaller indie games, I clocked in about 110 hours on this and I burned out a little towards the end.

GAMEPLAY

Let’s get into Gameplay first because I think I have the most positive thoughts about it. If you haven’t heard my thoughts about Pokemon lately, it mostly boils down to “It’s the only RPG I’ve really been playing in recent years and the gameplay has been very watered down and I yearn for a decent PvE experience.” This game definitely scratched that itch in more ways than one.

Infinite Wealth’s turn-based combat system revolves around positioning. Some moves have an AoE of either a straight line or a circle. Positioning a character next to an ally will proc a combo move with them and positioning them near items will proc an item attack where you can beat a guy to death with a traffic cone or something.

The job system is robust. Every character starts off with a default class- Ichiban’s is Hero, an all-rounder that can pretty much do anything; characters like Nanba and Eric (I know the game calls him Tomi or Tomizawa, but I’m not the game and “Fuckin’ Eric” sounds way better than “Fuckin’ Tomi”) are magic-oriented, so they’re basically wizards by default. You can change their class to other jobs (Desperado is my favorite because it’s basically gun mage), which unlocks new skills as you level them up. You can also change jobs as much as you want and skills carry over between them, so there’s a bit of moveset mixing and matching that makes my brain feel good.

Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, (the Yakuza devs, which we’re just gonna abbreviate to RGG from here on out) have always been REALLY good at asset reuse (again, I cast a dirty look to Game Freak). They’ll make a whole-ass map of a region and reuse that same map for several games down the line. Not only do you spend a significant time in Ijincho again and not only do you go to Kamurocho for little bit… AGAIN, but there are two… what I can only call “macro” games that have the best asset reuse I’ve seen in, like, maybe anything ever.

DONDOKO ISLAND

Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth comes with a whole-ass Animal Crossing clone that’s also kind of The Sims called Dondoko Island. In this, you rehab an island that’s being used as a dump for some trash pirates (no, seriously, they’re actually pirates, yar har and everything) back into a five star resort. There’s a whole-ass crafting system where you go around the island, harvesting resources, to build furniture and facilities, which include whole-ass buildings which have appeared in past Yakuza games. The crafting system is GREATLY improved over Animal Crossing: New Horizon in that you can skip the goddamn animation and craft multiple of the same items at once. You don’t even have to have all the materials in your inventory, it’ll take it from your storage. Placing items in the world is also in an overhead view and the only grievance I have with the system is that placing paths is really weird and you can only place a limited number of them. But overall, Nintendo, was it really that hard to put into the video game. Why did you make AC:NH disrespect my time in that way?

Once the island has been cleaned up enough, you can start inviting guests over, which all have their own set of preferences for the vibe of your island (rustic, pop, sleazy, etc), their lodging quality, and how much of the island’s flora and fauna (and minerals, I guess??) you’ve discovered.

I really really liked Dondoko Island because who am I to say no to a management mini/macro game with decoration elements. I mostly really appreciate that it doesn’t waste your time. I wanna say I finished it in like less than 20 hours… which is not short for a game within a game (actually, that’s insane for a game within a game), but for a game of this genre, it’s pretty short.

There’s also an entire separate mini-island that further helps you with efficiently running your island by passively collecting resources over time and just being a general stockpile of bugs and fish to catch. But I can’t talk about this part without talking about…

SUJIMON

A returning character voiced by Keith Silverstein in the English dub – yes, that Keith Silverstein, who voices Masayoshi Shido of Persona 5 and Zhongli of The Genshin Impact™ is a professor who documents the behavior of weird and often hostile middle aged men, called Sujimon. When Ichiban goes to Hawai’i, he asks him to also document the native Sujimon there as there’s a prominent Sujimon scene there. Mans wasn’t kidding as there is an underground, more or less ilicit Sujimon fight club called The Sujimon League with its own Elite Four called The Discrete Four.

In the previous game, Sujimon was just your bestiary (literally called the Sujidex), but now it’s a whole-ass game, which I can mostly only describe as simplified Yokai Watch, but a glorified card game. Just so we’re not here for forever talking about middle-aged men cockfights… because I can talk about the mechanics and inner workings of middle-aged men cockfights for a hot minute, Sujimon League basically operates on a 3v3, with an additional bench of 3, rock-paper-scissors kind of system. You’ll need strong Sujimon to get through this macro game and you’ll recruit new guys through four ways- through random fights on the map, through literal Pokemon GO raids, through a gacha system, and through combining Sujimon of the same type into stronger Sujimon (don’t think too hard about that one). I had a LOT of fun with this and, again, it scratched an itch I’ve had for a while. Almost all of the Sujimon are just guys you’ll fight in-game, so, again, an excellent use of asset reuse.

Sujimon smoothly integrates into Dondoko Island in a way that makes Palworld look even more balls-less than it already is. You know that little island I was talking about a few paragraphs back? That’s Dondoko Farm. You can put your Sujimon to work on it! As you’re running around on Dondoko Island, letting it consume your life, your Sujimon will grow crops, scrounge around for resources, and earn some cash for you. The island also has some resources to help with Sujimon League by leveling them up with a small investment of some dondoko bucks and your time, but also a Pokemon-Amie type mini-mini game that helps strengthen the friendship of your current Sujimon team.

Yes.

This game lets you pet-

The sweaty, weirdo middle-aged men.

Don’t think about it too hard.

Especially don’t think about it too hard when you have a Sujimon on your team that uses Xander Mobus’ voice clips.

Anyway, there’s also another minigame called Sicko Snap, which is basically Pokemon Snap with Sujimon. It’s a good one, too.

STORY

I guess… the best way I’d explain my feelings on Infinite Wealth’s story is

Objectively, this is an okay story. Like, it’s par for the course for a Yakuza game. I have a lot of personal grievances with this plot which I’ll fully unsheathe my blade for in the next section, but for now I’ll just say… this game is basically Hawaii Five-O crammed into a Yakuza game and that was an emotional rollercoaster ride that I’m not sure I enjoyed.

Like a Dragon’s main theme is “Even if you hit rock bottom, it’s never too late to get back up again” and that’s something I hold near and dear to my heart.

They have used this theme to my benefit and to my dismay as this also apparently means it’s never too late for ~*Romance*~ which, sure, yeah, okay, true, but did it have to be Ichiban and Saeko?

I’m trying to give the game the benefit of the doubt because… to me, it’s mostly one-sided (as in, like, Saeko’s willing to give him a chance, but isn’t as crazy for Ichiban as he is for her) and, like, dude is allowed to have a crush. But from what I have seen… because I never got around to finishing her Drink Link (I was gonna but I’m like really burned out on the game), they kinda strap C4 to the Bechdel Test and raze a village to the ground with it when it comes to Saeko’s character arc because most of her dialogue and interactions are about The Incident with Ichiban, which sucks because she had more character than just a romance interest for the protagonist in the previous game. If you’re also REALLY not into this plot point like I am, the story DOES NOT let you forget that this indeed happened as it seems to be a plot thread that might continue into the next game as well.

Needless to say, I don’t ship it, and I don’t get to block tags and just walk away from this one.

The game also kinda keeps nudging at, “Hehe, Chitose’s pretty cute too, right?” to which I say

Yes I understand she’s of legal age but she’s only like 21 AT MOST and Ichiban’s like 40-something you stop with that.

It doesn’t feel like Ichiban really had a character arc in this… unless you count “proposing on the first date” to “saying I love you on a redo and then being weird about it again” as character growth. He went to Hawai’i, had some shenanigans, found mom, got backstabbed again, fought the cult (which I’ll be really salty about in the next section), went back home to help Eiji’s character arc. This isn’t a bad thing, it’s just… Ichiban went on another adventure. And it was ok. I think maybe the game was sizing him up to, again, take Kiryu’s place and be The Hero, but… we already did that already? And I’m not even sure if the game was able to complete that message by the end of the game.

Kiryu probably got the most character development out of this game and talking this over with my friend Andrew, he brought up that it kinda wasn’t fair that this is supposed to be Ichiban’s game, but he had to share half of it with Kiryu. And I agree. His sections were also really hard to get into if you haven’t been a longtime fan. Again, I have a decent amount of Yakuza knowledge, but with Kiryu’s memories, a LOT of it went over my head.  It seems like RGG’s been trying to retire him as a protagonist for like three games now and MAYBE this time they’ll actually do it after this victory lap they’ve given him. But he did learn that “my friends are my power” and “never ever give up, you still have time to do better.” And you know what, that’s rad.

As far as the villains go, just, I dunno, they’re fine? Ebina and Eiji are very “okay bitch, stay mad, then,” and it’s. Fine? My only complaint is that Ebina’s arc felt like it was under-seasoned before they put it in the oven to cook and they could’ve peppered it on a little earlier in the game or something. Bryce’s entire deal I may have taken a little too personally, but that’s for later. Dwight was literally just Danny Trejo doing a villain role and I have absolutely no qualms with it. He was fun to watch.

The supporting cast was fun as always. Eric I hated at first, but he grew on me in the same way that, like, I’d bully a friend. Chitose I also kinda hated at first, was very sus of, but then she had a character arc that was pretty good. The Yokohama gang didn’t really have character arcs to them, but they were still fun to hang out with nonetheless. We got to learn a little bit more about Seonhee and she’s really fun. Both her and Zhao, who is my favorite for several reasons, are really really fun characters as they are both crime bosses (former, in Zhao’s case) who are BIG FUCKING WEIRDOS and I love them for it.

Joongi Han becomes a party member WAY too late in my opinion that, in a way, he’s technically an optional party member, or at least like getting a Dratini right before the Pokemon League in Gold/Silver/Crystal. He had some fun character moments, but felt kinda like an afterthought.

But also, ain’t no way he got his Hawai’i clothes at Hilo Hattie. There’s no way.

To wrap up my thoughts on the main story, I’d just like to say: the plot point that they sailed to Japan on a little tugboat in a handful of hours as opposed to WEEKS is peak Hawaii Five-O vibes and it infuriates me, but everyone kept telling me “it’s okay, the coast guard picked them up, like, halfway” and I will sit down and not start a fistfight over it. And just. That was the vibe of the game for me. Just… alternating between a J-Drama and Hawaii Five-O.

I don’t really have much to say about the substories except that they’re either almost Oscar-worthy material or they’re a snoozefest that I just tabbed through. I can really only think of three substories off the top of my head that were EXCELLENT, though - Nancy and Olivia, the artificial snow quest (THIS ONE IS EMOTIONAL WHIPLASH), and the traveling aquarium one. The rest I mostly just tabbed through because they were just……. Eh. But I think I’m okay with that since we have Sujimon and Dondoko to make up for it.

THE CULTURAL GRIEVANCES

So as I type this section out, I run my hands over my face to remind myself and say

This is a game that takes place in Hawai’i from a Japanese perspective, written primarily for a Japanese audience and I assume that certain things may come from a place of ignorance, but not maliciousness.

Hey Tumblr.

I want you to read that first bolded sentence again.

Because I know how you guys are with reading comprehension.

But that being said, as a Hawai’i-born Chinese person, there’s quite a lot about the Hawai’i cultural aspects of this game that I have problems with. If you wanna see me roast this game, you can stick around, but if not… Here is your chance to bail.

I’ve tried my best to write this in a way where I look at the thing that pissed me off and ask myself,  “Am I taking this too seriously or do I actually have a problem with it?” and write more or less objectively, but some of it might still come off as overly caustic. Just. I tried.

And after a deep breath,

Ho brah,

We go.

WHAT IS HAWAIIAN CULTURE, ANYWAY?

To start off, I’m not sure if RGG knows the difference between being a Hawai’i local and actually being of Hawaiian blood…? The game mentions at the very beginning that Akane is half-Japanese… and half-Hawaiian, which makes Ichiban one-fourth Hawaiian, which makes ME kinda… squint. Like, we’d need to know more about Akane’s backstory, but if you know anything about indigenous cultures, finding someone who’s half native is HARD nowadays. Akane also looks pretty light skinned for someone who’s allegedly half-Japanese, half-Hawaiian but that’s just my tiny nitpick?

I’m also… not sure what kinda research RGG did on Hawaiian last names because some of the ones I see on random enemies are kinda… 

Who is that

What is that

I have never seen anyone named that in my entire life

Sure, my worldview is a little shut in, but, no, what IS that?

Mililani is not a last name, that’s a neighborhood, why’s she Lani Mililani?

WHAT IS THAT?

The pidgin in the game is also there, but… small kine hit or miss. For those of you who don’t know, pidgin is Hawai’i’s creole, which came from a bunch of cultures who don’t speak the same language eventually falling into a kitbashed language system that works for everyone. Looking at the VA listing in the credits, they did hire some local people (they have Hawaiian names) and some of the VO performances work really well like Obispo in the restaurant side story and the cab driver dialogue that ONLY comes up in the Japanese audio version of the game for some reason. Others… are… hm (I don’t know what’s going on with Jeff the taco truck guy). I feel like the voice director got the intonation on the line reads down pretty well, but on the localization side, the syntax and grammar are a little off. Pidgin tends to come off as “broken english,” but it’s technically not since it’s its own language system with its own rules. So you have a lot of line reads that are in the right inflection, but the way it’s written is wrong for pidgin dialogue.

And it just doesn’t sound 100% right to me.

There’s also some… small pronunciation nitpicks that I have. Ukulele is pronounced the white way - it’s not Yooka-Laylee like the Chameleon and Bat, it’s ook-oo-leh-leh like Tapu Lele, the Pokemon. Some characters pronounce Hawai’i as huh-why and not ha-wuh-ee, which is more right (it’s SUPPOSED to be ha-vai-ee but I’m not native Hawaiian and this is kind of an axolotl situation so, y’know).

But shout-outs to the “Whatchu lookin’ at?” line guy.

Because that one is just, no notes, perfect.

NOTHING CAN BE NORMAL, I GUESS

Something that rubbed me the wrong way in this game is the mystification of a culture that’s foreign to you, that is, taking a culture that’s not yours and describing or representing it in such a way that it sounds so deviant and hard to comprehend compared to the one you’re used to. Think of that one tweet where someone describes hamburgers like a white person would describe asian fruit.

There's the lei substory where the girl needs to make a lei with blue plumerias (which does not exist by the way) because there’s an urban legend that if you give a blue plumeria lei to someone, it’s a way of confessing your true love. Lei are just… things you give as, like, a “congrats!” kind of a thing. Or if you wanna be touristy about it, a “welcome!” kind of gift. There’s nothing mystical about it, most grocery stores stock a few that you can just pick up, grab and go style. 

The entire game mechanic of “shaka to make friends” was so?? Like maybe after 8 hours into the Hawai’i map, I was like, okay, I’ll just… fine. I’ll accept it. But my god did I not appreciate it when Kson came up to me and was like “what’s a motherfucker gotta do around here to make some friends” and told me how FRIENDLY the Hawaiian people were and how you can just throw a shaka to make friends; while me, probably the saltiest, introverted Hawai’i local that throws stink-eye at tourists who can’t watch where they’re going, playing the video game on that day was like, “We don’t fucking do that, hello??” I don’t even know why we shaka?? Most people you ask that question will just be like “idk it’s the local thing, they do it at the end of the 5pm news on KHON2.”

There’s a substory in this game with a character named Nathan, but we were all calling him racist Alpharad because he kinda looks like him (ALPHARAD HIMSELF IS NOT RACIST OR IN THIS GAME I WANNA CLARIFY THAT) and he’s basically, like… a weeb. He’s recording what seems like a PBS special on Japanese tourists in Hawai’i, but he’s kind of a shitter about it. He makes Ichiban choose between local foods and cold-ass rice and becomes upset when he chooses kalua pork over the rice since it wasn’t The Japanese Option. It escalates to making Ichiban play darts with shuriken and when he loses, he tells him to “live up to his dishonor,” slides him a knife and board, and asks him if he wants to take a finger or hara-kiri. To which Ichiban goes “dude, I get you like Japanese culture, but you can’t treat people this way”

To which I look back at the game like

You clearly understand how this feels, so why are you doing this to Hawaiian culture?

Again, I understand that a lot of this game was written with maybe just ignorance, and not malice, and this isn’t really a call-out post to RGG or anything, but BOY…

Okay.

Now we get to my biggest gripe with this game.

PALEKANA CAN SUCK MY NUTS

I’m kinda disappointed in their choice to use a Hawaiian cult as a plot point. It’s not quite a native savages kind of a vibe, but… In the year of our lord 2024, I thought we would know better than to portray an indigenous religion as a bloodthirsty cult? I also don’t like how they’re conflating the Hawaiian religion with what’s more like a Christian/Catholic cult in this.

Palekana is portrayed as “cultists who worship a goddess who lives in a mystical land, forbidden only to her chosen and maybe one day we’ll be worthy of her blessings.” Hawaiian religion is… not… like that at all? They did get the part about “giving back to the community” correct as a part of Hawaiian culture is mālama ‘aina, meaning, you need to care for the land you live on, which is… reasonable? I guess the other basic idea of Hawaiian religion is that certain places, things, and times that are important, and you shouldn’t touch it unless you wanna fuck around and find out. But the game just kinda wildly overboils this.

Like, I don’t claim to be an expert, I’ve only scraped the basics from what I learned in school (a year’s worth of Hawaiiana lessons in middle school, a semester’s worth in college; went to a private Catholic school, took two world religion classes in college), but Palekana has a very Catholic European religion kind vibe instead of a Hawaiian one. And I really, really don’t like that the game conflates the two. The Palekana cultists wear hoods, which is a distinctly European thing (it’s too hot for hoods here!). The beaded necklaces also seem more like rosaries, which, again, very Catholic. The idea that a god-figure will save you is also a VERY Catholic idea. I’m also assuming the goddess Nele that they use in the game is an expy for Pele, which… okay, like, you can do that with locations. Ala Moana Shopping Center represented as Anaconda Mall in the game hurts me a lot, but… to change up the name of the most prominent deity in Hawaiian religion is like

Dude, I’m not Hawaiian, but I know better than to shit on Pele?

Maybe I’m taking this a little too seriously, but it comes off as a little(??) disrespectful.

To give them the benefit of the doubt, maybe RGG wrote this plot point in this way to be like, well, they’re the villains, so we’ll write them so hyperbolically evil and wrong so people won’t mistake that for the actual culture? But my gut reaction is that they’re only writing from what they’ve seen in the movies and they wanted to make a story like that.

This was my least favorite part of the plot because not only does the cult aspect feel like it’s in bad taste, but it’s SO MUCH of the story and you REALLY can’t get away from it.

Alright. So now that I’ve aired that out of my system, I’m finally capping off this section with the part of the game that hit the closest to me and that is

CHINESE IN HAWAI’I

Listen. Again.

This is a story about Hawai’i, written by a Japanese team, for a Japanese audience.

Yakuza is a series that often talks about the racial conflict between the Japanese, Chinese, and Koreans. And I don’t expect them to portray any of these groups in anything more than a neutral light in this game about Gang Crime.

But ohhhhh my gooooood did they get the Chinatown section so wroooooooong.

Right off the bat, the big glaring problem I have with this game is. All the guys speak Mandarin. I think they might just be reusing voice clips from Yakuza 7, which, sure, fine, I understand that video games are hard to make and expensive.

In Hawai’i, like, real-world Hawai’i, not the bizzaro Hawai’i this game takes place in, we’re definitely starting to see more Mandarin-speaking immigrants show up, but most of the town speaks Cantonese.

Most of the people here a generation or two above me come from Guangdong or Hong Kong, which are Cantonese-speaking areas. It’s an entirely different dialect that’s really only been represented in small bits in media I’m familiar with, like in Jackie Chan Adventures (the uncle’s chant is basically “no more ghosts, get out of here” in Cantonese) and Digimon Tamers (“Moumentai” is “it’s okay/don’t worry about it” in Cantonese), and it seems really hard to get VAs that speak it, so I’m not… really that mad about it.

BUT. Then there’s Wong Tou.

Wong is the Cantonese pronunciation of 黄 , Huang or Hwang in Mandarin.

So like… clearly they knew?? But?? Decided not to go all in on it??

(And then Daniel Dae Kim is his face model and I just??? Bro’s Korean, hello?????)

And then there’s the name of Wong Tou’s gang. The Ganzhe.

Which is a stupid name.

The Chinese dictionary gives me 甘蔗 which translates to sugarcane, which. I get it. The plantation times. The Chinese and the Japanese and the Filipinos and the Portuguese and whatever all used to work on the cane plantations.

…But you’re out here calling your BIG KNIFE GANG “Sugarcane??”

My guy, you could start a reggae band with that name instead.

SPEAKING OF REGGAE-

No one knows how to pronounce Ganzhe properly besides Eric’s VA apparently? All the other VAs pronounce the gan closer to “van” when it’s supposed to be more like a “gone.”

Yes. That’s right.

Ganzhe is pronounced more like ganja.

You know.

The Marajuanas™

I’m a Hawai’i-born Chinese, first-generation local on my mom’s side and third-gen local on my dad’s. I grew up in Chinatown, so this was a section of the game that was near and dear to my heart. So I THINK and HOPE you’d understand my frustration to see that work needed to be done on the representation of my culture in this game. It was definitely a little fun to see my hometown modeled in this game- they got Maunakea Marketplace and Keikaulike Mall down pretty accurately and some of the motifs on the buildings made me do a double take because they were so familiar to me. BUT, man, this cultural aspect of the game needed A LOT of work.

SO TO FINALLY CLOSE THIS OUT

Japanese people love Hawai'i a lot.

I think Japanese people love Hawai'i more than Hawai'i locals do.

But as for portraying it accurately, I understand that no one can do it as well as a local islander can. Did I personally think they did the best they could?

………………ehh

Like, if you turn your brain off, it's fine??

If you turn your brain off and not let Palekana get to you, this game is fine.

It can be a little campy.

It can be a little Hollywood.

It can be a little Disneyland.

And despite my four pages of bitching about it, at the end of the day. It is fine.

So with that, I’ve hit like ten full pages on this Google Doc. Despite half of this review being me complaining about what they got wrong about Hawai’i culture in this game, I liked it a lot! When the game didn't have me strapped down for an episode of a J-drama or Hawaii Five-O, I liked running around town, fighting guys, making other guys fight other guys, and managing a resort island. If anything, this game actually motivated me a little to make more local-themed stuff, because as I notice people getting older, there’s less and less people to correctly preserve highly specific culture stuff like this. So a lot of that responsibility falls on me, y’know?

Thank you for making it to the end of this review! I know it was a lot. I don’t know what happened. I do recommend this game, but I ask that you do NOT finish the game with the takeaway that you have learned everything there is to know about Hawai’i.

I’ll fight you with a lawn chair (in Minecraft, for the FBI agent reading this) if you do that.

Other than that, I think you’ll have a lot of fun but also take your time because this game is, like, a 100 hour commitment. Not Persona 5 Royal long, but a commitment nonetheless.

[lady-villain-imagines]

Tell Me I’m The Best

Tomie x wlw!Reader Drabble

I just want her y’know. Y’know?

TW for probably unhealthy relationship dynamics, possessiveness and jealousy. NSFW implied

You were sprawled in a stupidly large, comfortable bed, fluffy comforters almost devouring you. Music played softly over a radio placed on a dresser across the room, along with the soft hum of the bedrooms overhead fan slowly whirling in steady circles. The room was a mess, clothing and makeup haphazardly laying around. Several juicy gossip column magazines had been thrown around here and there. You had one such magazine in your hands, lazily reading the salacious dramatized versions of the latest love lives of the rich and famous.

You were in the room of your… well. It was hard to describe what you were. Girlfriend didn’t sound right, and lover sounded stupid. Situationship, maybe? Friends with benefits except you don’t see anyone else? There wasn’t a name for being gal pals with a creature who regularly twisted men to her will, driving them mad with desire and in turn often getting herself maimed in horrific ways.

She was a monster, countless murders were because of her. What she even was was never spoken about. You weren’t sure if even Tomie knew. You knew there were… others of her. She had been very displeased in disclosing that, as if you would run off to find another Tomie. Of course there wasn’t a chance you would ever do something stupid like that. For whatever reason she decided you would be who she let hold her at night when she was so sought after, you counted yourself as the luckiest son of a bitch in the world. Not saying she didn’t have her ‘quirks’.

“You’re really reading that when I’m standing right here?” A shrill voice broke the lull, sharp and commanding. Lowering the magazine to look at the source, the most beautiful woman you’ve ever seen was standing at the end of the bed with her hands on her hips. There she was… Tomie. The girl of everyone’s dreams. And boy, did she look pissed.

Her perfect face scrunched up as she glared down at you. You just stared at her for a moment before using your quick thinking to deduce why she was mad (this time). Ah, of course…you hadn’t watched her the second she came back into the room and dared to look elsewhere.

“Oh, sorry. Didn’t realize I wasn’t allowed to read now.” You responded sarcastically, clearly not phased by her attitude. You were used to it.

“You should be sorry. I’m standing here before you, and you don’t even look up? You’d rather have your nose buried in a stupid magazine?” She responded with a huff and a roll of her eyes. You bit back telling her it was her stupid magazine in the first place, “What could be so interesting, huh?”

After that, you were jostled as she flopped into the blankets next to you. You laughed as she had to shimmy & roll a bit to get over to you. She was wearing comfortable clothes, a simple tank top and shorts that showed off her pristine skin. It was always a wonder to you how she had no scars despite the wounds you had seen her with. She has no obvious marks on her skin besides the beauty mark near her eye. God, you loved that beauty mark. You loved all of her.

Tomie looked disdainfully at the trashy magazine before snaking her way into your arms, head on your chest as she got into a position so she could read with you as you held the magazine out for the both of you. She was cold, her hand resting on your stomach where your shirt had ridden up. You didn’t know if she did it on purpose, but she gently let the tips of her fingers slide under your shirt, just enough to rest her whole palm over your lower stomach. It gave you butterflies.

The two of you read through the magazines pages, laughing and gasping appropriately at the drama. You would both make comments (hers far crueler than yours) about people’s outfits. When it came to a page of particularly beautiful women in a fashion show, you feel Tomie’s eyes slide to you. This was definitely a test and you passed by quickly turning the page. Regardless, Tomie was tired of sharing your attention with the pictured women and she took the magazine out of your hands, propping herself up on her elbow besides you. She tossed it to join all of the other discarded items on the floor.

“Enough of those cheap girls. You don’t need to look at them when I’m here.” She was right. You looked over at her, opening up your arms a bit more to invite her further into your space. She leaned forwards, lips brushing yours. Her lipgloss smelled like cherries, her silky hair spilling towards you. Everything about her was intoxicating.

Your lips pressed into hers and she immediately sprung her trap. Sitting up, she pressed her palms against your shoulders to pin you to the mattress as she pulled away from the all too short kiss. Slinging her leg over your body, she sat on your stomach. It was a little uncomfortable but you were certainly not going to complain. After she was in position, she looked down at you triumphantly. If she was a spider, you were a willing fly walking into her web.

“There we go. Now you’re looking at me, as you should be.” Her manicured nails gently caressed your face as you were looking up at her in clear admiration. “Well? Are you going to say something or just stare at me?”

“What can I say besides what you already know?” That was a rhetorical question. You knew damn well she wanted to - needed to - hear you shower her in compliments. “That you’re gorgeous? More stunning than any of those girls in that magazine.. no, in any magazine.”

In response, Tomie hummed on top of you, her nails now grazing down your throat to run over your collar bone. It was also not missed how she lowered herself more onto you, giving a slight grind against you. That was encouragement if you’d ever had any.

“I’m so lucky to be here with you. You make my life as beautiful as you are.” You gently placed your hands on the sides of her thighs lovingly. Her lip twitched, her expression shifting minutely. She struggled hearing actual romantic sentiments. Being treated like a person and not an object of someone’s crazed obsession was a new experience she was trying to cope with. You tried to continue the sincere sweet talking,

“I mean it…I’ve never been with a girl like you-“

At the mention of other girls you had dated she snapped her hands down next to your head and got close to your face with her eyes hysterical. It had been blindingly fast, and the face she wore was chilling in an uncanny way, like it was something trying to be human but let it slip for a minute. It was small reminders like this that wouldn’t let you forget she was not human, not in the slightest.

“Tell me I’m the best you’ve ever had.” Her eyes were practically pinpricks as she bore them into yours. You shivered at the intensity of it, knowing the dangers of the woman pinning you down.

“You’re the best I’ve ever had.”

After your breathless response, she dove onto you in an aggressive kiss. Her hands had practically morphed to claws as she grasped the sides of your face, sliding up to your hair as she caught your lip in her teeth, looking you in the eyes with that same crazed gaze. You winced as blood broke the surface of your soft lip, her blunt teeth breaking the skin with ease. She slid her tongue over your lip, unabashedly tasting your blood. Letting out a soft groan, her hands tightened again before she was forcing your mouth open with her possessive tongue now rolling around yours. Grinding down onto your hips, she was much stronger than she looked. You were both getting worked up, your hands clutching her soft thighs now. Tomie unlatched herself from your face, still keeping pressure on your hips.

“Good girl. Of course I am.” She smiled proudly, smugness rolling off of her. The iron taste in your mouth of your own blood lingered as she swiped a finger over your ripped open bottom lip. She collected your blood on it & had the gall to look down at you with disgust like it was your fault. “Gross. Bleeding everywhere like that.” Despite that, she licked it off her finger anyways.

Even with her weight leaning on you, and you clearly trying to grind against her as well, she just sat there for a moment looking down at you. Her hair was perfect still, not a strand out of place.

“You’re the best I’ve had, too.” Tomie admitted. It was a rare genuine moment from her. Without letting you process that one (AKA say more sappy shit that made her feel something) she leaned forwards again to lock her intense eyes with you. She smiled and it was off, a little too smooth, too wide, to be normal. It morphed into a wolfish grin as her breath brushed against your mouth.

“And I don’t plan on letting you go any time soon.”

[bonesandthebees]

random anon throwing in my two cents (all that’s in my wallet actually) but while i don’t mind in the context of Hanging Rose if wilbur becomes willum since tommy is already tomys, in general i am very leery of name changes. because it’s you, I’d probably still give anything you read a chance since you’re epic, but i usually don’t even touch a fic when a name gets changed. for some very fanon-relevant characters (which sbi definitely are. I’ve read so many versions of who they are /pos), names are often one of the few consistent, binding things, so I feel like if you take that away it’s suddenly just some other guy. a different character. “what’s in a name” and all that. to me, c!wilbur is very different from somebody with all the same characteristics and looks but named walter or smth (there’s a walter white joke to be had in here somewhere. pretend I made it and that it rlly landed good and normal). ive seen similar things occur in different fandoms where the most oc’ified characters get their name changed constantly (hadrian black…….) and it just fails to rlly feel like the same character, superficial though a name may first seem. im attached to the characters, and a lot of a character is defined by name in fics. but when it comes down to it obviously just do what you want and live your best writing life in whatever way is most comfortable for you!

this is a very good point and one I pretty much agree with. in the past I've very much been against the oc-ification of characters in fandom spaces solely because like what you said, I'm attached to the character and it fails to feel the same. this is just... an unusual situation I'm struggling to find the right way to deal with. like, yeah, I think I've done a lot more character work on c!wilbur than cc!wilbur ever did. but I am attached to the character from canon itself.

I do want to emphasize for all that I've been saying the character is mine now, I have always been very focused on writing c!wilbur in a way that feels in line with the character and that's not going to change if I do end up finishing rose. the only reason I've considered using willum as a name is because in the fic itself, rose!wilbur's name is already willum. like, that's his full name and wilbur is a nickname. if I switched the text to call him willum solely, nothing about him as a character would change. I would still be writing c!wilbur. I wouldn't be trying to change him to turn him into my oc. the only purpose the name change would serve would be to help readers have an easier time feeling the separation of c!wilbur and cc!wilbur

also, the main reason I feel like this could work is because an anon helpfully pointed out earlier that, like, 75% of glass divine never called him wilbur. it only called him the pythia. and the readers seemed to have no issue with that so I feel like switching to willum would be more akin to that rather than me trying to oc-ify c!wilbur

I hope that makes sense!

[anakinspraisekink]

An Obikin Fic Rec List!

This has been a long time coming, but I've curated a list of some of my favorite obikin fics. I tried to pick ones that are relatively less "well known" than ones usually recommended, but are no less amazing, so have fun finding some new gems or rediscovering some old ones :)

I also chose only one fic from each author, otherwise this would be impossibly long, so check out everything else from each author too because they're all amazing!

I've organized them into sections based on setting, but they're otherwise in no particular order.

GFFA post-prequels/everything is good:

🌺 dreams of summer by @elysian-prince

→ “On the night of the lunar eclipse, if you place seven different flowers under your pillow, you’ll dream of the other half of your soul—the person you’re meant to spend your life with.”

The thought of finding out his true soulmate through a Force vision of some sort sent a thrill through his heart. Anakin was enamored by the very concept of lovers as two halves of the same soul, fitting together perfectly in almost every way imaginable as if they were made for one another. And while Anakin wanted almost more than anything else to know who that person was, he couldn’t fathom it being anyone but Obi-Wan.

→ rated E, soulmate au, after the war, sexual content, ≈34.2k

→ I might be a bit partial to this because it was gifted to me, but this is one you absolutely must read!! It's got all the sweet moments I adore, all the mushy pining and yearning, and the loveliest way of getting together. It's a fic that makes you want to curl up all cozy and slowly enjoy it, and it makes me so unbelievably happy. Caitlynn is always amazing at writing obikin in a way that feels so sweet and adoring and authentic.

🌟 The strongest stars… by @tomicaleto

→ ...have hearts of kyber

Anakin and Obi-Wan successfully rescued the Chancellor from Grievous and Dooku. Anakin fought against the Sith Lord and won, taking his life at the Chancellor's order.

Now, weeks after being assigned at the Council and asked to spy on the Chancellor, he struggles with his duties as a Jedi while Obi-Wan is gone pursuing Grievous.

The war's end seems to be close, with everyone looking forward to it. And when Anakin is doubting himself the most, an unexpected visit arrives at the Temple.

→ rated E, canon divergence, fix-it, sexual content, ≈7.4k

→ this is the most wonderful RotS fix-it!! It's so creative with the divergence and the added characters (including the QUEEN, Beru), and I absolutely love to see such a good happy AU where obikin work out and Palpatine's plans don't. Tomi is always so great at writing the sweetest and most tender smut that's still so hot as well, and this fic is no exception!!

🌷 Amaranthine by @silverxsakura

→ “I missed you,” Anakin tells the side of his cheek. “Force, I missed you so much.”

Obi-Wan chuckles and coaxes him far enough over to give a proper hello kiss. “I’ve missed you too.”

→ rated G, fluff, Palpatine is dead and everything is good, soft and tender, ≈6.2k

→ this is absolutely the sweetest thing imaginable. The writing is stunning and the story is so comforting and heart-wrenching in the best of ways. Perfect for when you need a healthy dose of pure fluff!!

⛰️ Your One, Your Two by @kyberkenobi

→ Ever since the war ended, the seemingly insurmountable space between Anakin and his Master had been growing smaller.

But not in the way Anakin really wants it to.

→ rated E, Anakin doesn't turn to the dark side, not actually unrequited love, getting together, sexual content, ≈6.9k

→ this is so sweet and lovely and yet so hot too, just like most of this author's fics!! Madison's smut is always revolutionary and top-tier, but the emotions and feels are so so good as well. This is one I love to reread and makes me very happy 💖

GFFA during the prequels:

🥀 ambrosia by @inferior-fairy

→ Obi-Wan didn't realize that he was in love with Anakin Skywalker for several months. It was a slow fall- perhaps it had started after Anakin was knighted and Obi-Wan realized he wasn't the young boy he had first met anymore. Perhaps it was when Anakin and him fought side by side on the battlefield, trusting each other completely. Perhaps it was one morning when, in the soft light of dawn, Obi-Wan realized that everything he was was irrevocably tied to Anakin. However it started, Obi-Wan knew that he was in deep.

Anakin Skywalker hadn't ever known a time when he didn't love Obi-Wan Kenobi in some way, shape, or form. It had developed from adoration for the man who trained him to be a Jedi into infatuation when he realized how talented and beautiful his master was, and then into a quiet sort of devotion. He couldn't picture a life without Obi-Wan by his side, and he would have to content himself with whatever love Obi-Wan was willing to give him.

-

Ambrosia: associated with immortality and used to symbolize reciprocated love between two people; devotion, love returned, will you return my love?

→ rated E, getting together, sexual content, ≈23.7k

→ this is perfect to read if you need some fluff and lovely domestic moments between the boys! It has everything you need: yearning, flower crowns, massages, bathing together, playing with younglings, sparring, and feelings realizations. And some smut too, which Rynae is always fantastic at writing.

💆🏼‍♂️ Intertwined by @obikinn

→ Soon enough, Obi-Wan's hand migrated upwards to Anakin’s head, resting on top as a calming weight, but almost absent-mindedly beginning to pet Anakin’s hair. Anakin melted into the touch, barely noticing when the Nautolan scoffed and walked away, giving up on tearing Anakin away from Obi-Wan.

“I had the situation under control, you know,” Anakin muttered while trying to savor and memorize the feeling of Obi-Wan’s hands in his hair. He breathed in Obi-Wan and tried to block the rest of the club out, shrinking the world down to only that divine physical contact and the shine of Obi-Wan’s eyes.

Or, 5 times Obi-Wan played with Anakin's hair, and 1 time he realized just how much Anakin enjoyed it.

→ rated E, 5+1, sexual content, hair-pulling, ≈6k

→ my obikin secret santa gift fic from 2020, which is gorgeous and so adorable!! It's everything I could want and I adore Anakin loving when Obi-Wan touches his hair. Each scene always makes me smile so much whenever I reread, and the smut is absolutely delicious too. Poke is great at writing obikin at their best (and sometimes at their most cursed as well).

🌱 climb like peas and beans by @theseptemberist

→ Anakin Skywalker is different in a way that he can't quite name, until he can. Obi-Wan Kenobi never fails to see his apprentice for who he is. And everything changes.

"I may not always be able to remain at your wing, but I won't be far off, and I'll always have your back."

"Obi-Wan, you don't know how many times you've already rescued me."

- Labyrinth of Evil, by James Luceno

→ rated T, pre-relationship, trans Anakin Skywalker, gender dysphoria, incomplete, ≈4.9k

→ okay so technically this isn't obikin (at least as of the first chapter), but this is still such a great look into Obi-Wan and Anakin's relationship, in whatever shape or form. This is one of those fics where I always have to keep physically clutching my chest while reading because it makes me feel SO much. Cal is always incredible at showing exactly how Anakin is feeling in a way that is relatable and so very real, with his jumbled mess of confusing emotions and the way Obi-Wan can help him through them.

🍑 Snap, Crackle, Pop by @intermundia

→ Several months into the Clones Wars, Anakin disobeys Obi-Wan's orders during the Battle of Muunilinst and puts himself in grave danger. Returning to his Master, he finds him at his wits end. Obi-Wan asks if Anakin can think of any consequences that would actually work in teaching him a lesson, and is surprised by the answer.

→ rated E, light Dom/sub, spanking, Padawan Anakin, ≈5.2k

→ smut with Padawan Anakin is always some of my favorite to read, and when he's a brat and it involves spanking, it is ✨perfection.✨ This fic has all of that and more, and it's a perfect glimpse into their relationship, the good and the bad and how they're trying to navigate it!! Will is always amazing at creating a dynamic between them that feels very much like a push and pull, until sometimes Obi-Wan gets all dominant and perhaps loses some control in the best way hehe

🥂 Master Kenobi Goes To the Cantina by AuroraExecution, w3djyt

→ Or: 5 Times Anakin Tries to Help His Master Out, and 1 Time It Works

"Obi-Wan does, in fact, go to a cantina periodically, and that time period might average out to every few months, or it did when he actually had the time. However, Obi-Wan would very much prefer not to be reminded of these things by his former Padawan."

→ rated E, 5+1, past anidala, first time, sexual content, ≈5.2k

→ this is so funny while also being so hot!! This is definitely one that I've read over and over again and has influenced the way I write obikin too. A classic!

💫 turn softness to rage, then tears to rain by starwarsyndrome (I_write_fanfiction_sometimes)

→ Anakin Skywalker is the force made flesh, and sometimes that tears him apart at the seams. Obi-Wan has always been able to hold him together. How he does it changes as the years do

→ rated E, the Force as eldritch horror, light Dom/sub, sexual content, ≈5k

→ this is 'fuck the noise of Anakin Skywalker's head' at its finest. So hot but so tender too, and the writing is beautiful ❤️

✂️ when we cut our hair by @shatouto

→ Anakin has never seen her Master cut her hair.

→ rated T, female obikin, character study, post Rako Hardeen, ≈3.7k

→ this is absolutely the most gorgeous, heart-wrenching thing and I love it so so so much. I adore wlw obikin and this is a perfect glimpse into obikin as a whole, and it's so achingly tender and powerful. Shatou's writing is always the most loveliest thing and being able to read it is a treat.

🫂 Stimulation Needed by @gay-cheerios

→ Anakin feels physically deflated. The only noises he can hear is a voice speaking, and the buzzing of some sort of lighting. There’s nothing for him to truly focus on. He feels a lack of something. Something is missing, and it’s absolutely killing him.

→ rated G, neurodivergent Anakin, hurt/comfort, ≈1.5k

→ as you may know, I love ND Anakin and have written him myself, so I absolutely love this fic and it made me so happy. This is the sweetest thing and great to read if you need some comfort yourself, and is exactly what Anakin needs!! ❤️ Blake has other really good ND Anakin fics too!

🎊 Fierce Desire, Desperate Relief by @sopherfly

→ Obi-Wan had been so careful to maintain boundaries between them, for Anakin’s sake as well as his own. He’d guarded his heart so tightly. He’d kept his love, his affection, his attachment so well concealed that sometimes he’d convinced himself that they didn’t exist.

But last night, Anakin had kissed him, and Obi-Wan had kissed him back. Enthusiastically. Maybe even desperately.

All because of the karking mistletoe.

→ rated E, drunken shenanigans, getting together, sexual content with lots of feelings, ≈8.3k

→ this makes my heart ache in the best way!! Soph does an amazing job of blending both the sexy and the vulnerable, of their sweet possession and their tenderness, along with a little bit of awkwardness to add to the realism. It just feels so true to them!

📖 terror of the dune sea by @maragny

→ Absently, Anakin reaches out and steals Ahsoka’s lightsabre, sliding open the casing and beginning to check its components for the cause of the slight wobble he’d noticed earlier. “Where did we leave off?”

“The sarlacc wants to see more of the galaxy and get away from Tatooine, so she leaves her den and makes her way to the palace in Bestine. She’s young and she wants to explore before settling down to den in a desert. On the way, she runs into travellers and overhears them talking about attending a party in the city for some visiting Core-worlders. Then, she eats them and steals their invitation.”

After their mission to Tatooine, Anakin tells Ahsoka a story from his home. Obi-Wan is thoroughly unimpressed.

→ rated T, established relationship, domesticity and fluff, ≈2.3k

→ the pure JOY this fic brings me is insurmountable. I want to print out copies and hand them to people in the street, I love it so much. Mara shows Ahsoka and Anakin's relationship in such a lovely, feel-good way, and the obikin moments are absolutely perfect and make me feel all the feels!!

💘 like the earth, i'm steady (i won't lose it) by oceaniads

→ Anakin doesn't like the scars he has gained in battle. Obi-Wan disagrees.

[for kinktober 2021, day 3: body worship]

→ rated E, porn with feelings, body worship, sexual content, ≈2.1k

→ Maya's writing is always so beautiful and showcases Obi-Wan and Anakin's relationship perfectly. This fic in particular is so lovely and tender and I absolutely adore it!!

GFFA but things are different:

🐉 Here There Be Dragons by @twilightofthe

→ Anakin's not afraid of the unknown. He's not. There are two things in his life that he cannot do, and he knows exactly why he can't do them.

Anakin knows why he can't shift into his animal form like every other Jedi. It's because he doesn't want to, it's because he's had a vision of what he would become, and he doesn't want it.

Anakin knows why he can't tell Obi Wan how he feels. It's because he doesn't need a vision to know how that would turn out— even if he may want to do it more than anything…

→ rated T, shapeshifting, injuries, getting together, ≈10.1k

→ Clary's fics always make me smile so, so much. This one is super clever and entertaining and just absolutely delightful, and the shapeshifting works really well here!! There's always so much wonderful humor intertwined through Clary's writing, but so much realistic emotion and heart as well.

📜 devoted by @jasontoddiefor

→ In a world where the Force splits into aspects of itself, deities for all sentients of the galaxy to worship, people cling to their silent gods, wishing they could be just as powerful.

And here is Anakin, who just wants to be human a little longer.

→ rated M, gods & goddesses, angst with a happy ending, canon divergence, ≈34.3k

→ the world building in this fic is superb and the writing is just absolutely gorgeous. This idea is incredible and was executed perfectly, just like every unique idea Eli has. Eli is always amazing at portraying the Jedi in whatever AU they're in, with a deep understanding of the GFFA and the stories within it. This fic is truly special!!

♟️Tristitia by @jswander

→ An alternate timeline where Palpatine focuses his attentions on Obi-Wan Kenobi instead of Anakin Skywalker after the attack on Naboo.

→ rated E, Sith Obi-Wan, Jedi Anakin, sexual content, ≈5k

→ this is a perfect Sith Obi-Wan AU, where Obi-Wan's fall to the dark side feels so natural and inevitable because of the intense possession he feels for Anakin, and that doesn't stop when he and Anakin are apart. Obi-Wan is willing to let the galaxy burn to be with Anakin and it's always so interesting to see that side of him, to see the potential of what he could have been. And Jo's smut is always so decadent and hot as hell, and the passion between them is so vivid.

Modern AU:

🌆 A Place Where We Are Both Named Love by @binaryeclipse

→ After a long, trying week, Anakin asks for what he needs.

→ rated E, modern au, BDSM, caning, subspace, ≈7.8k

→ this is absolutely therapeutic to read. It's such a gorgeous look into Obi-Wan and Anakin's dynamic and seeing how their canon Master/Padawan dynamic translates to a D/s one. This is intense, but also so full of love and domesticity and is exactly what I love to see. Izzy's writing is always so lush and delicious and the description of subspace here is perfection!!

🎙️Talk to me by @obi-wkenobi

→ Recording an audiobook can be horribly dull, but Anakin finds that he doesn't mind when he gets to ogle Obi-Wan Kenobi.

→ rated E, modern setting, audio engineer Anakin + voice actor Obi-Wan, sexual content, ≈4.2k

→ the premise of this is so clever, and it has such a cute and hot ending! It's such a fun read and I love it so much. This author is incredible at writing smut scenes that are so delicious and vivid but also have so much emotion as well, and I can never get enough!!

👨‍👨‍👧‍👦 I'm the Satellite and You're the Sky by @rexismycopilot, @aegir-emblem

→ Ahsoka finds she is not quite as well-suited for an elective college course as she thought and hires a tutor to help her through it. Anakin quickly falls head over heels for him.

→ rated E, modern setting, past anidala, Luke and Leia are toddlers, sexual content, ≈39.3k

→ this is the absolute sweetest thing and is such a treasure to read. I love the exploration of their relationship combined with the twins and the domesticity of it, and the continuations are also well worth the read!! Rex is always so good at showing their relationship in a healthy, loving way, no matter the situation or dynamic!

🍷 True Facts of Truth by @secretsolarsystem

→ Anakin’s upset, at first, when Padmé wakes him up with a call at three in the morning. But when it’s to pick up his drunk husband, well, he doesn’t mind so much.

But then said drunk husband says nothing but utter nonsense during the whole ordeal, and Anakin can’t tell if he loves it or if he’s losing his mind.

(He loves it.) (And he’s losing his mind.)

→ rated T, modern AU, drunken shenanigans, married obikin, fluff and crack, ≈5.1k

→ this is cute domestic married obikin at its finest!! 🥺 Obi-Wan is hilarious in this and all the interactions are just such a joy to read. This feels like obikin that's been "lived in" so to speak, and I absolutely adore it.

🎮 Art Imitates Life by @ragnarlothcat

→ Anakin loves video games but his roommate, Obi-Wan, is hopeless at them. So when Anakin goes out of town he sets Obi-Wan up with the easiest game he knows. How much damage could Obi-Wan even do with a life simulator?

→ rated E, modern AU, getting together, sexual content, ≈11.2k

→ this was the first fic I read of this author's, and I've been hooked on her writing ever since!! This is such a fun premise and it's done so, so well, and it makes me absolutely giddy. I love rereading this because it's guaranteed to make me grin, and she is always amazing at writing Anakin and Obi-Wan's banter and showing their dynamic in an interesting and unique way that's still true to the characters. The smut is always so very good as well!!

🍦snow shack snack attack: what to do when 6 feet of hot man comes by your work every day, a guide by obi-wan kenobi by @gignikinszz

→ "Obi-Wan worked in a tiny shack that sold, in his opinion, far too many shitty, sugary foods and that had no air conditioning. Which was annoying. He was constantly rushing around, he was constantly sweaty, he was constantly in a state of eternal suffering; and it was all at the hands of the Snow Shack! of horror.

Enter: the hottest man he’d ever seen."

Obi-Wan works at a horrible little snow cone shack, and Anakin is a very regular customer who has a lot to say about the horrors of the beach. Romance ensues.

→ rated T, modern AU, summer vacation, ≈5.3k

→ the first time I read this I was surrounded by people and it was SO hard to not burst out laughing every other minute. This author always has the most creative and hilarious AUs, and this particular one is such a joy to read and makes me smile so much!!

🖥️ yesterday's jam by @rhymenoceros

→ “IT, Anakin speaking -”

“It’s Obi-Wan, I’m terribly sorry but the printer seems to have disconnected, I tried doing what you told me -”

Ahsoka picks up the small whiteboard on her desk and writes 0 days since last Kenobi visit as Anakin smiles and says, “Be there in five!”

→ rated T, modern AU, fluff and humor, ≈6.6k

→ this is such a fun and clever AU (like many of this author's fics!!), and this one brings me such joy! I absolutely love how all the characters are portrayed and the premise is the best.

🔧 fixer-upper by @tennessoui

→ Obi-Wan has a broken stove. Anakin is the handyman.

Alright. That's a lie.

Obi-Wan is determined to break his stove, no matter what stands in his way.

Anakin is still the handyman.

→ rated E, modern AU, antagonistic kitchen appliance, sexual content, ≈8.4k

→ Kit's fics are always SUCH a delight to read, and the himbo energy of both Obi-Wan and Anakin is at its peak in her writing. This is so adorable and funny and it works so well!!

📚 put your hands on my cashmere sweater by @artemisthehuntress, @disast3rtransp0rt

→ The librarian hears a quiet smack and the shelf to his left shakes a bit; then Anakin comes around the corner with one hand rubbing at his forehead. He tries to play it cool by answering, “Just looking for something to read in my free time. I don’t really do much after work and video games can’t be all that enriching after you’ve played them eighteen times.”

“Hmm, this is true. And you thought you would find something enriching enough for a mechanical engineering prodigy in the children’s section, did you?”

OR

Obi-Wan is a librarian, Ahsoka is in charge here, Anakin has too much money for his own good, and Qui-Gon is tired of watching his best friend be lonely. Chaos ensues at the annual Coruscant Public Library Staff Halloween Party.

→ rated E, modern AU, librarian Obi-Wan, Halloween, getting together, sexual content, ≈8.5k

→ this is so, SO fun to read. It has everything I adore and I absolutely love the premise, and this Anakin and Obi-Wan are just perfect. Plus, reciting poetry during sex?? Yes please!!

❄️ Didn't Know I Was Lost by @nixie-deangel

→ No, no, he thinks and shakes his head before pinching himself harshly on his cheek. “Ouch,” he muttered to himself, opening his eyes as he ignored the sting. Swallowing, around the lump once again forming in his throat, he simply stares.

Because Obi-wan was still there. Still wrapped up in a perfectly tailored suit and his long beige coat, sitting with no bag in front of his front door.

Or both Obi-wan and Anakin both try to make a grand gesture, but only one of them succeeds at it. Also feelings are discussed.

→ rated T, modern AU, post-break up, getting back together, ≈6k

→ post-break up fics aren't usually ones I gravitate towards, but this one is so so good. Nixie includes so much raw emotion and heart into this, and it feels quite cathartic to read. Their relationship isn't perfect, but they're still willing to try again because they believe in their love, and it's beautiful <3

[transhawks]

So, uh, just reread "chapter"all it takes is one bad day" and does Twice have pure white pupils and irises like AFO supposedly does? Like, I haven't seen any clear official art of his eyes, but in the one back cover of him they look like they're pure white?

At this point I'm just going to have to make an entire essay on how we should be reading Japanese media with an understanding of cultural and class markers. No, Jin does not have the same eyes or similar eyes to AFO. Yes, there's connections with Jin and AFO but that's another topic. 1. AFO's eye color hasn't been really confirmed aside from that one WSJ cover that implies they can be clear and white. 2. That's not what the "something about my eyes rubs people the wrong way" means. This is what I mean about the cultural context being missing from most of us Western-readers and how we just don't get reading the manga with no guide to explain small details to us. I also wish Jin was just popular so I don't feel like I'm the only one in the fandom yammering about the ridiculous amount of depth he has as a character and in his storyline. First off, Jin's eyes are sunken in, his features abnormally "chiseled" and rough for an anime character. By the time we meet him he looks like he's had a hard life but we also find out in flashbacks he always kind of looked like that.

He's unkempt - stubbled, has the sunken eyes and dark eyebags the villains are generally drawn with. He smokes, drinks, wears a wife beater, has no eyebrows, and used to ride a motorcycle. All these things are a red flag. This is where "you really need to be familiar with Japanese media before you read BNHA" comes in, Jin, while drawing from several different Western comic characters (John Constantine, Deadpool, Rorschach), is also neatly fitting into the yanki and bosuzoku (sorta) trope. Or Japanese delinquents. What throws people "off" is the lack of eyebrows. Yanki are traditionally portrayed with no eyebrows. This link here explains that at sight a delinquent can be identified with shaved eyebrows. This is why so many villainous or rough characters are eyebrowless. It's like the Japanese equivalent of giving villains twirly mustaches and goatees - something about the imagery of that already implies villain in our minds, whereas the lack of eyebrows implies delinquent/criminal in the Japanese cultural imagination (in modern day settings. Heian-era eyebrow-lessness is a different story/class marker).

He's also blonde, or "chapatsu" which is also another "Delinquent" trope in Japan - many delinquents in the 70s-90s bleached their hair to this yellow or orange color (hence "cha" which obviously means tea/chai). Japanese schools are infamously awful at allowing for self-expression to the point where naturally brown-haired students can be forced to dye their hair, and chapatsu hair was a marker of a rebellious/delinquent student. Twice isn't the only one who Horikoshi uses this trope for. Tomura, for example, really had the "up to no good" look early on even if I think he's more of a homebody.

You know who else?

Huh, interesting, given Takami's a murderous professional career thief alcoholic. Wait a minute, wasn't Jin was one of the greatest Japanese thieves until his accident, I wonder exactly what Horikoshi meant by making Thief Takami have a similarly unkempt appearance, rough rugged facial features, and barely any brows? Wait -

Something to understand is that we've gotten information from Yoco Akiyama in TUM about how the main manga's design process works and apparently the facial feature consistency is really important for the artists. Thus the fact Keigo's parents were designed with: 1. Rough, sunken features (Thief & Jin) 2. Unkempt facial fair (Thief & JIn) 3. Deep eyebags (Jin & Tomie) 4. Similarly disordered filthy homes (Takami fam & Jin) 5. Beer Bottles lying around everywhere (Takami fam & Jin) 6. Small, beady eyes with little pupils (Takami Fam & Jin) 7. Grey-Blue Eyes (Tomie & Jin) 8. Clear mental instability (Tomie & Jin) Was absolutely intentional. For all that we see Keigo's parents, Horikoshi knowingly designed them to resemble Jin. Again, Jin was Keigo's villain to save. Keigo was Jin's hero. Keigo failed because we needed a character to fail to save "their villain". Both Keigo and Jin have clear working-class background and criminal class markers. These things tie them together, these marginalized identifications make their relationship something that should have worked. If we want an in-universe reason for Keigo's focus on Jin, it's absolutely true he likely (subconciously) saw his parents superficially reflected in Jin, and decided to "save" him because he was unable to save his parents. Of course, that was not only presumptuous, it was also wrong because Jin is not a stand-in for Keigo's parents (and unlike them is a decent person). Anyway, yeah, no Jin's design/looks made him look like a "thug" to people in his community. That's why he had issues and that's what his comment meant. People's biases about people who look like Twice made him just get...away less. If someone "looks like a thug" you will try to make connections that justify that bias. That's why things like his motorcycle accident hurt him so much. He was uneducated, likely a middle-school dropout, fired from a job, had a record and had "bad vibes". Who'd hire him? Can you understand why Jin was doomed into having to survive as a criminal? Society decided he was meant to fail years before he did fail. So much of BNHA is about people falling into traps of pre-determined outcomes. Jin's tragically so.

[penwrythe]

I have thoughts around the discussion of mature writing for adult media.

My project World of Relics is for adults, so it's good to see how this discussion goes since I really don't want to struggle writing WOR as an adult webcomic (Rise of Relics) and anthology (The Mundane Realm) series. I think the reason why Hazbin and TADC feels immature that they have the nostalgia of edgy kids and teens media with occasional mature themes being the inspiration, but not really fully embracing those themes from an adult's point of view. It would explain in part why they feel immature for something that suppose to be for adults.

Note: this is an underdeveloped thought, still processing it so critique is welcomed and good thank you.

This is not to say you cannot take inspiration from kids/teens media, this is more to say how does it effect how you perceive/write/create adult media. Is adult media "shocking fact that the characters are stuck somewhere unusual", "randoms s*e*x joke the 5th time in an episode", and "it's mature because shocking thing you don't see in kids media"?

Or is adult media about recognizing both the mundane and extremes of adulthood, with no escapism from certain extremes, understanding the moments of joy, pain, sorrow, etc has more to them than brief moments but instead history and context behind all of that in an adult's life.

Taking a moment to review what I been viewing and reading so that I can understand how to write World of Relics:

--Animated Series--

JJBA - Stone Ocean*

Arcane*

Primal*

Carol and the End of the World*

Blue Eye Samurai*

Blood of Zeus*

Dungeon Meshi/Delicious in Dungeon*

ONE

--Books (both YA and Adult/New Adult)--

The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter*

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin*

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

Legendborn Series by Tracy Deonn (YA, but still handles mature themes well)

Oathblood by Mercedes Lackey*

The asterisk is for media I'm not just reading for enjoyment but learning how to handle the form of storytelling it presents. Without making this post too long, I feel gravitated to these media not for ~what shocking situation the character is in~ but the familiarity of their experiences to mine or to other people's life experiences they faced. Some more extreme than others (especially Blue Eye Samurai, Blood of Zeus, The Rage of Dragons, and The Fifth Season), the extremes of trauma, strife, hardship, discrimination, and destruction in these stories have an weight to them beyond the shock of violence or death, or the existential crisis. Like, there's no cry laughing, but there is quiet moments of grief and pain, the yearning of better days, desires of vengeance and justice. There's a substance to them that feels more thought out than what I feel from TADC Hazbin.

Note 2: I'm sorry if I'm being harsh, I love TADC. Yes, there's only two episodes out right now, but like I want more than what it presents.

Note 3: Yeah, I'm comparing apples to grand pianos, but I believe there's no harm in asking for more. I believe adult indie animation can do better, for now we have stepping stones that will help build the foundation for the next generation of adult animation. ~looking at Lackadaisy here since I'm a reader of their comic, that will most certainly be the next step if you know how it goes.

In addition to this, I will admit with my project WOR, I have concerns it might not be taken seriously as adult media, not because shocking edginess (there's a sprinkling of that here and there), but ...my characters are mostly talking object people set in a fantasy world. I have decided on certain things about them: despite them having human souls, sexuality is nearly vestigial in their species so all attraction is romantically driven -they are an asexually reproducing species, and almost all cursing/swearing will sound mostly mundane to us humans -no one says M*therf*cker but will using Blazing Hell, Broken Blades, Rusted Hell, Dirty Rags, etc (similar swears to how The Fifth Season does swearing in relation to earth and fire, WOR handles swearing to the material makeup of Objectkind - as well how biases of Hardy objects have of Fragile objects), and other things.

But, I knew, after awhile of reading and watching, what kind of story I wanted and how it appears to other people. If you like, person reading this very long post, I welcome you to read the following:

// Mild Spoilers for Rise of Relics and a little for the Mundane Realm

Note 4: The characters in Rise of Relics were gods turned to their relics after their realm was destroyed by the Inversion Event. So, if you are familiar with my story, its all baleful polymorph, almost everyone gets turned. If you are uncomfortable with that trope (due to certain past depictions in media), I suggest not reading anything World of Relics please. ~also, I'm Black soooooo, its alright! Everyone's dead lol. I equalized it!

Note 5: Also in the old draft of Chp 3 sample (its updated rn, just look at the Worldofrelics tag), Nicodemus is a crystal ball, Nikey is a trident. The flashback was before the Inversion Event. Just want to put this there in case confusion.

Do these examples of my WOR project:

Feel mature?

Feel as though, despite maybe a shocking thing or too, there's more to what's presented?

What of the characters? How do you feel about them in the situation? What about the implications of the situation they are in?

Does the voice (narration of Altostratus or how the characters in RFR Chp 3 speak and behave) feel like they are adult characters, or characters in general regardless of age, exist in a mature adult setting?

How do you empathize with them in their situation? Do you expect them to just react constantly to the events in the story in one type of way? Or do you expect as they develop over time, they adapt, struggle, and grow beyond just where they started?

If you imagine these characters in real life, would they be like what the story presents them as (in both examples, characters are above the age of 18 - from 32 to thousands of years old (read late 60s -early 100s in human years in relation to this question)?

Does it feel like at any point this could appeal to children (not because talking objects, but other reasons)? How do I improve upon that to appeal to Adults (by not adding swearing or se*xual stuff, but mature themes without making light of whatever topic I'm trying to handle)?

Giant Robot Monster Hot or Dear god, this old girl Flammin went through so much I hope they are happy with their trident wife? (they won't be, lol, oh they won't be)

Do you interpret Nikey as an angsty teen/20s or someone in their early 30s just trying to make sense of the world that died around her? (Okay, not obvious in chp 3, but give me your thoughts anyway)

Sexy Tumblr Old Man or This old man was a criminal and may have hurt people deeply and wrestling with that fact, knowing that one day he will face someone who was hurt by his actions? (still writing out Gwenny's lore, just hinting at this point tho)

Okay, I ran my fingers on this too long lmao. But yeag, tell me what you think. May the discourse begin.

[one-vivid-judgment]

what's your personal ship with kiryu (outside of majima because rgg don't let my man's heart's desires catch a BREAK) if i may ask? cause i love date but kiryu needs a Best Bro (also i'm such a sucker for date/adachi) and date is the BEST of the best. i love the idea that of course he was down bad for tachibana, but because of their lack of just being able to Have Time Together among all the chaos, it just became an unrequited scar upon his piles of piles of self-loathing.

Tbh Kiryu is not my favorite character by a long shot. I don’t hate him by any means! I just find other characters more interesting and like their personalities more. 0 and 8 are peak Kiryu for me, and I think it has a lot to do with the amount of character interactions: he is still learning the ropes in 0 and relies on and interacts more with other people (Nishiki, Tachibana, Oda, even his interactions with Kuze I found pretty cool). In Infinite Wealth, just the fact that he has an actual party to interact with elevated him to me—that dynamic intro where he and Ichiban tag team Wong Tou, or the little moment where he, Chitose and Tomi are filming the video and just... hanging out and being chill for a change, for example. Those little moments made me like him much more when I used to be pretty indifferent aside from like, his interactions with Haruka which I found the cutest thing ever.

Since I was indifferent for the longest time, I never thought much about which ship of his I like most. I really dig him and Kaoru though, but I’m not sure how popular that is 😭 Also, Nishiki, of course! I’m not too picky though, I think I’ve read fics of pretty every Kiryu ship just cause I thought they looked interesting and were well-written. My favorite AO3 author has written Kiryu with Majima, Nishiki, Saejima, Ryuji, even Someya, and I eat up all their fics like nobody’s business.

Man, it’s been a while since I thought about Adachi x Date though 😭😭 I’m more into Adachiwagi, but what little I’ve read of him and Date has been very good so like, potential new OT3 here 👀 Adachi not getting any luck with women but being a hit with old men is such a funny concept to me. They just love this bear of a man, and who wouldn’t?

[rinwellisathing]

You're Awful, I Love You: Part 21

Enver Gortash/Trans Male Tiefling Durge

“Don't look so disappointed, my Dread Executioner. This plan will provide you all the bloodshed you crave, I promise.” Gortash led him to sit down at one of the work benches. “You see, when you showed me your tyrant statue, particularly the crown you designed, it made me think of an artifact I heard about when I was growing up. The man I was...apprenticed...to was obsessed with it. I'll explain it in more detail later, but rest assured, as you told me I am your muse, you've quickly become mine as well.”

Sentry looked up curiously. He wasn't sure he'd ever inspired anything, well, other than fear and silly rumors with his yet unsolved years long murder spree. It felt good, he felt powerful, like he had influence, and more than that, influence over a chosen of Bane. Like puppeting a puppeteer. A smile formed, growing into a toothy grin. “And you say this plan will provide me with plenty of victims...parts...materials?”

“More than you could utilize in a life time.” Gortash sat beside him, reaching for a pen and ink. “Now...shall we?”

Sentry began to fish around in his satchel for the book he'd referenced only to find that Enver had already placed a well read copy on the work table next to the spare parchment. “Hey, you said you only read that in passing.”

“Did I?” He smiled teasingly. “Perhaps compared to some of the other ones, but I must admit, these copper dreadfuls were a comfort while I was growing up.”

Sentry nodded. “Yeah, I know what you mean. Did you read the one about the artificer who creates life from a corpse? I think that one would really speak to you.”

“I did, and you're not wrong.” He nodded, opening the well worn book and beginning to thumb through the pages.

The two sat deep in discussion about what they could learn from the code the killer in the book used and how best to adapt it to their own uses. Hours passed as the discussion shifted between business and their favorite copper dreadful plots. Sentry barely noticed his tail flicking back and forth like an excited dog as the enthusiastic discussion continued well into the early hours of the morning.

Yawning and stretching, The Executioner realized he should probably head home and make sure Fel had properly reanimated as well as deal with the earful he was sure to get from Gabraela for sending him back in the first place (Though really, he had been very clear on the topic of breeding and his thoughts on it.)

“You're sure you won't rest here? You could sleep in my bed while I work.” Gortash offered as he and Sentry climbed the stairs back to the locked room together.

“What, work? You need to sleep too. There is no way you got any kind of rest yesterday before I got here. You're human, your body needs sleep.” The tiefling folded his arms across his chest.

“I do quite well without it most days.” The Tyrant replied dismissively.

Sentry rolled his eyes. “Oh yes, I can tell. You look so well rested all the time.” the sarcasm dripped from his voice.

“At any rate, there should be a gift for you waiting at your temple. The messenger I sent claimed to know the way. Just a little token of affection.” Enver changed the subject as the two reached the window.

Sentry grinned. “Well, I do enjoy gifts. Great change of subject, really.” And he leaned in for a kiss, nipping at his partner's lips affectionately for just a little taste before turning to begin his climb down.

When Sentry arrived home, he found the path to the temple splattered with more blood than usual. Three corpses wearing armor with a serpent emblem were strewn about the path in varying degrees of having been chewed and eaten. A smile crossed his lips, this was certainly a good start to a thoughtful courtship gift.

His expression changed to a gleeful smile that lit up his scarred face when he crossed the threshold to see that Tomi was setting plates of meat down before three large healthy looking gnolls at one of the tables in the common area. The creatures' snouts and claws were matted with blood and they chittered and made those delightful giggling sounds as they sniffed at the offering.

“Oh, welcome back brother dear! I heard a commotion outside the temple and found these darling creatures wandering outside. There was a note on one of those Zhentarim courier corpses and it seems these beauties are to be your new friends.” She explained with a knowing smile. “You must teach me your seduction techniques if this is the kind of gift your plaything gives you.”

“Plaything...yeah...” Sentry managed, walking slowly down to the table and looking over the creatures. “Oh hello, aren't you all so beautiful?” The colors of their fur, the spots where it was falling out. The perfect inspiration to add color to his latest work.

[honoringthehorrific]

I watched Junji Ito Maniac: Tales of the macabre and here's what I thought of each episode 2/3

Here's Part 2 to my review on Junji Ito's new netflix anime! As always Spoilers under the cut Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Review

Continuing on with what i thought of each episode...

Episode 5: Long Hair In the attic Cont. Long hair in the attic, I remember this story and it's always felt sorta...Sad to me? From the way the episode starts and we see them interact it's really depressing...She obviously cared about this man but he seems to toss her out like there's no issue at all. One thing I really noticed was how they draw blood in this one, It looks really nice. However I think Chiemi's head isn't as pretty when depicted in the anime as it was in the manga however the scraping sounds are definitely more cringe-worthy when you actually get to hear them. Episode 7: Tomb Town I believe this one is actually based on the new translation from VIZ Media, Which as of writing this isn't out yet. I haven't read an online scantlation of it but I was fairly excited to see what it was about going in! The story is actually really interesting to me? I thought it would be sort of boring but...It was really enthralling. The twist was wild to me! The use of 3D for the corpse was actually more interesting to me than the use of it for scenery like cars!

Episode 8: Layers of Fear; The Thing That Drifted Ashore A story I've not read. Surprised yet? I'm not. One thing I thought was neat was seeing the iconic layered image in the doctors office! I've seen images of this manga online. I think the concept of someone having skin line a tree or an onion is kinda cool! The image of the peel was sort of cool but at the same time the thought is painful. I remember i had skin on my foot one time that peeled up but it was so deep...It made me think of that time and it made me cringe. the image of her dragging the blade down her skin...This whole scene was vile and made my skin crawl and my stomach turn I think this was one of the best moments of the series so far. Again with the thing that drifted ashore i felt i had read this one before? However that may have just been the feeling of gyo. Another interesting thing is Tadashi is the name of the protagonist from gyo. Nothing else interested me much aside from the idea of human beings potentially being like parasites.

Episode 9: Tomie: Photo I was most ecstatic for this episode! Tomie is a special interest of mine. My wife loves Tsukiko's character so we were both highly critical coming into this episode. They were worried about Tsukiko's voice as they had seen Demon Slayer and heard her voice actress play Nezuko but we were both surprised by the deeper voice acting the actress did for the character as it was always the sort of manner we imagined the character would speak in. Another thing I'm happy about is how this series seems to be taking Tomie almost in order (Skipping the chapter Basement)! First Tomie, then Morita hospital and now we get chapter 4 Photograph! I can't help but hope for another part or even Tomie to get its own anime but for now I was thrilled with this chapter of Tomie's animated story given both My wife and I had qualms with Tsukiko's strange redesign? Her grown out buzz/pixie cut is swapped with a side swept one? As well as her eyebrows being much thicker than remembered initially... I was also mildly off put by how Tomie's voice changed between series? It's still Monica Rial but she's changed how she speaks for the character. It's deeper for some reason? Which while not a bad change still a strange one to me. One of the most disappointing changes in my wife's opinion was the lack of a willy wonka shirt. (RIP tsukiko's willy wonka t-shirt) I also kind of hated that they seemed to cut certain parts or lines? I know that they have to mind time but they miss the scuffle at the door when tsukiko goes to join her mother. They also miss getting to see tsukiko's mother's face as well as learning her father is in the military and at his post. Small details that feel..Like they just flesh out tomie's universe more. While the episode is very nearly shot for shot there's a lot that changed (To someone like me who is...a little obsessed <3) There's almost too many changes to over look.

Part 1 / Part 3 / Review

[semper-legens]

193. The Changing Man, by Tomi Oyemakinde

Owned: No, library Page count: 382 My summary: Ife is a scholarship student at the prestigious Nithercott Academy - and she's not dealing with the pressure of being one of the few working-class Black kids in school. But something strange is afoot at the school. Kids are disappearing, and either they come back...different, or they don't come back at all. With outcast Bee and brother of one of the missing Ben at her side, can Ife solve the mystery of the Changing Man? My rating: 3.5/5 My commentary:

I was expecting this one to be a bit more...horror, than it was. That's not a criticism, it was just a surprise. Urban legends and cryptids are an interest of mine, so this story about the 'Changing Man', a being that supposedly lurks around Nithercott and takes lonely kids, is right up my alley. I found it to be really fun, honestly, if a little weird at times. But I'd prefer weird and fun to polished and boring. It was a good read!

Ife, our protagonist, is one of those classic heroines of this sort of story. She's struggling under pressure from both her parents, who expect great things from her, and the school, which might expel her if her grades are poor. She also feels disconnected from her home and friends - an attempt to smuggle herself out to see her best friend fails, and she's increasingly isolated as one of the only Black kids in a sea of white posh kids. If you've ever been a lonely teenager (which, let's be real, most of us have) you will relate to Ife. She's isolated, awkward, and troubled even before the Changing Man nonsense happened. And I find her to be a really credible protagonist. She's in over her head, and has a lot of moments where she's overwhelmed or breaking down over everything she's seen and done. She makes mistakes and further alienates herself from the kids that would naturally be her allies. But she keeps going, she keeps fighting, she doesn't back down, because she sees an injustice and she can't give it up. I loved her a lot, even if her narration was a little selfconsciously teenagery at times, the narrative leaning on a few teen cliches to characterise her in the earlier parts.

I also really liked her friends. Ben is the brother of missing kid Leon who bears a lot of guilt over Leon's disappearance. He's a weird kid, a bit of a delinquent but not a bad person, and adds a sort of quirky charm to the proceedings. Bee, meanwhile, is an awkward ambiguously-autistic nerd who finds herself alone because other people often find her offputting, and she latches onto other social outcasts to befriend out of a sense of desperation. They're both credible teens, and despite how I'm describing them here, they don't really fall into any of the classic Teen Story stereotypes. Sure, Bee is an awkward nerd, but her love of the school's history and self-awareness about Ife being cold to her at first elevate her. Ben is also complicated by his love for his brother and his big heart. They make a really cute trio!

Finally, let's talk about the Changing Man. Not the alien cryptid creature that forms the centre of this story, but the idea of change as a whole. Ife is worried that, being at the Academy and separated from her old friends, they will change without her and grow to not like her. She's also worried that she will change, and be left behind. The kids who disappear come back as pod people who act exactly as they are supposed to, a change that is clearly unnatural. Change is a huge theme, and the shapeshifters preying on the kids just underscore the point. Change is inevitable, and not necessarily to be feared, but too much change too quickly can be a red flag. The messaging is obvious, but not so on the nose that it gets in the way of the story, which I liked. Overall, it was a good story! I'm glad I picked it up.

Next, the pharmacist in a bunker beneath the world is facing a moral dilemma.

[classicschronicles]

Hi lovelies,

‘Carmen et Error’- A Poem and a Mistake (aka my Instagram bio). Anyways this quote just makes me laugh every time I think about it because, of course, it belongs to no other than Ovid. I know he says some questionable things, but he writes it so nicely and I like to think that he was just in a silly goofy mood. Anyways, if you hadn’t guessed yet, todays post is all about the Roman poet Ovid. This post is also for @morallyunethicalintellectualtax because it’s her birthday and she is Ovid’s biggest fan, the ultimate Ovid apologist if you will.

Publius Ovidus Naso (also known as Ovid) was a Roman poet born in 43 BC and is most famously known for his works Ars Amatoria and Metamorphoses. He was born to an old and wealthy family in a small town about 90 miles away from Rome. His family must’ve been pretty well to do as his father was able to send both Ovid and his brother to Rome to be educated. Like almost every other poet ever, Ovid had daddy issues, and despite his fathers disapproval, he neglected his studies in favour of writing poetry. Relatable king.

As a member of the Roman gentry (above the plebeians but not quite at the rank of the senate) Ovid was marked out for an official career and even held some minor judicial posts. He soon decided, however, that he was not suited to this position and abandoned his official career to pursue poetry full time. Literally everyone was kind of confused by this decision because he really did have the makings of a great politician. Indeed, when Augustus became the emperor he tried to recruit Ovid as a politician, but Ovid turned the offer down so he could write his poetry instead.

The first work that he published was the Amores (The Loves), which was met with immediate success, and was very shortly followed by the Heriodes (Epistles of the Heroines). Fun fact, it’s because of the Heriodes that a lot of people consider Ovid a proto-feminist and therefore take a feminist reading to works such as Book 3 of the Ars Amatoria, saying that the book is meant to be seen ironically. All of his works seemed to reflect the pleasure seeking company that came with his position as a well established poet. Details of his life can be found in his autobiographical poem Tristia (Sorrows).

With his position amongst the poets secured, Ovid began to move on to more ambitious works like the Metamorphoses and Fasti. The Metamorphoses was almost complete when his life took a complete 180 and he was exiled, by Augustus, to Tomi (near Constanta, Romania). The exact reason for his exile is still unknown, but Ovid states that it was because of a ‘poem and a mistake’. It is widely accepted that the ‘poem’ was the Ars Amatoria (The Art of Love), which was a controversial set of three didactic poems, instructing on the art of affairs. Given Ovid’s popularity, this was detrimental to Augusts’ programme of moral reform (the Lex Julia) which outlawed infidelity and encouraged childbirth. The ‘mistake’, however, is less agreed upon. Ovid insists that what he did was worse than a crime but that it was a mistake made by an error of his judgment. Some suggest that his exile was due to his affair with the granddaughter of Augustus- Julia (for whom the Lex Julia were named)- as she was also exiled at the same time. I just want to say that if his exile was because he was sleeping with the emperors granddaughter after whom the laws were named, it is the ultimate ultimate slay, and also biggest fuck you. I love it. However, his exile was the milder form (called relegation) and it did not include the confiscation of property or loss of his citizenship. His wife, who was also born to a rich family, remained in Rome to safeguard his interests and to intercede for him.

Despite Augustus banning all of Ovid’s work from public libraries, the immense popularity that Ovid enjoyed during his lifetime continued after his death. From around 1100 onward, Ovid’s fame (which had eclipsed slightly during the Early Middle Ages) began to rival, and on occasion, overtake Virgil. The apparent ‘Age of Ovid’ began in the 12th and 13th centuries, where his work were seen not only as entertaining, but as educating, and his works were taught in schools. His popularity grew during in the Renaissance, particularly amongst humanists who wanted to recreate the classical approached to thought and feeling. The appeal of his writing to the renaissance audience was because it offered an accessible look into Greek mythology and also because of the humanity of his writing. Literally, read the Metamorphoses, it’s sympathetic and heartbreaking and sensual and just amazing.

Anyways. There you have it. A quick fire introduction to Ovid. I think it’s pretty hard to do any justice to his works without just telling you to read it, so yeah everyone go read some Ovid. Happy birthday @morallyunethicalintellectualtax and I hope you all have a lovely rest of your weekend <3

~Z

[bonesandthebees]

Wilbur!s narration mentions that Niki’s tone is off through the entire thing. This could be because she’s distrustful of Wilbur since the war room or in general. He has lied to her. It could be because they had a meeting without him. It could be because she knows about the plan. It could be because she gave her okay to it. Or it could be because she’s genuinely worried and stressed about Phil’s opinion and doesn’t know if she can believe what Wilbur says or not. Because she knows that Wilbur will always choose his father first.

Anyway, time for Quackity. What’s this man doing sneaking around? Similar to Niki, he messed up during the war room. He might feel like he messed up worse, because his plan was bad. Same as Niki might feel she messed up the most because she stood her ground against Phil. So if either of them did something, it’s driven by the anger or fear as a reaction to the war room. It’s impulsive if it was either of them.

Quackity runs into Wilbur at night. He’s sneaking around somewhere. There are 3 options and I don’t know which one it is because I don’t know the palace layout. Either 1. He’s going to or coming from Schlatt. 2. He was going to see Wilbur since he runs into his on the path between Niki’s and Wilbur’s room. 3. He was going to Niki’s room based on the same pathing reasoning.

These aren’t mutually exclusive. He could have come from Schlatt and been on his way to someone else. He could have just heard about the plan or learned Wilbur was going to be there and wanted to be see Niki to figure out what they were going to do. Or he could have been looking for Wilbur to warn him all this time.

Our man is panicked running into someone, she he’s hiding something. Unlike Niki, who seemed surprised, Quackity already knows about Wilbur leaving with Tomys. We saw in their last meeting that Quackity got the same info Wilbur gave Niki from Schlatt. Thus Niki can only get that type of info from Wilbur, giving Quackity the advantage if he doesn’t. He might have just gotten it faster (that or Niki was surprised Wilbur told her, but she already knew. Though that makes little sense).

Anyway, [Quackity then paused, brows furrowing like he was debating the next thing he wanted to say. “But… be careful on those mountain roads.”] this man knows he so knows, which does not mean he was behind it or agrees with it, but he KNOWS. And I think that, if Niki did know too, the fact that she didn’t try to warn Wilbur or stop him (as obviously as Quackity, because you can count to comment about accepting and such as trying) then Quackity just got a slight advantage by ‘warning him’ but he does also reveal he was aware in the process, something Niki could continue to hide.

Then we get what I will call, an intimate moment, aka the boys are being kinda gay again with the head touching. Almost like Quackity is letting himself do this because he’s afraid Wilbur will get hurt. And Quackity does warn him again.

Still, I don’t think either of them is behind this. Not on their own. It feels more like something Schlatt came up with because he knew about the trip before they did and dragged them into. Or something they mentioned but did not mean and Schlatt then jumped on. Or something they did decide together high on emotions after the test and without knowing Wilbur would be there, but that’s a given for all of it. Maybe even because Phil kept it a secret and Schlatt didn’t know (though he can’t stand Wilbur).

(4/4)

-🌲

god it is so difficult not to say anything when you guys are theorizing you have such good thoughts and point out so many details but I can't answer anything without giving something away

I am grinning reading these though I love seeing you sort through the potential evidence and give the reasons for and against both niki and quackity

[suginami-division]

Maki’s Thoughts on Aoyama Division

Tomi Chōten

“I’m not one who gets along with people who consider themselves to be in the upper class. I’ve done a lot to really rouse the ire of those people, mostly in the education and political field. The topic of using their money for something that doesn’t directly benefit themselves seems to spark a rage within them. Not that I really care about how they feel about it, I simply wish for them to use their money for good rather than their own greedy wants.”

“However, this Chōten-san seems to live blissfully aware of the world around him, surrounded only by the material objects he takes for granted. So really, I don’t think I could or would ever cross paths with him. I think for both of our sakes it would be best too, if our favorite pastimes is starting arguments between others. His mother is someone of interest to me however, but that’s more of a personal and political interest of mine.”

Karada Kessaku

“For a person to dedicate their time to improving their own bodies and helping others strengthen their bodies is admirable for sure. With age, your physical health becomes something important yet oh so difficult to maintain. I know that I could probably use more exercise, but I prefer to use my free time with books and shogi.”

“Needless to say, Kessaku-san has an obvious bias for training subjects which seems… A bit unsavory for a business. Exclusively training women and charging exorbitant amounts of money for a short time? If that doesn’t sound like a form of scamming, I’m not sure what is.”

Luis Kōkyū

“Of the three, this man looks to be the most pleasant of the group. His business seems honest and having a love for your family and friends are wonderful qualities in a person. I’m not sure why he tries to front such a horrible personality in front of others, but I’m not the person to question it.”

“I think this is the first person to tower over me though. As strange as it might be for Kōkyū-san to read this, his height is my top reason to meet him… I’ve never had to look up to another person when standing, so I’m curious to know what most other people feel like when talking to me for once. It should be interesting to experience that, I think.”

Jet Set Trio

“A team of narcissists sounds like a nightmare for Ryuko. He has never been the kind of person to tolerate people who are unabashedly proud and confident in themselves. And… I’m somewhat the same. It’s hard for me to understand how someone could be so confident in themselves, but that’s just my lack in self-confidence.”

“But for a team to be supported solely by their egos should make for an easy opponent. One hit to their weakness and their confidence should fly right out the window. So really, I don’t have any worries about this team. Unlike how I may think about myself, I’m confident our team can topple these nobles down.”

[senju-sekhmet]

Irenic. (Ch. 23, Tobirama x OC)

Sometimes life is decided in a mere second. A decision Akiko Uchiha, younger sister of Madara Uchiha, believes in with all her heart - and yet one that seemingly cost her everything. But for as long as she could remember, she had one dream: peace. And for this dream, she is forced to give up everything indeed. Yet sometimes the brightest things are born of the deepest tragedies and thus, when Akiko Uchiha took up her arms and ran, she had no idea what fortune had in store for her. Warnings: Grapic violence, (canon) character death, canon violence, enemies to friends to lovers, slow burn, hurt/comfort Length (this chapter): 5,8k. Chapter twenty-three of Akiko’s story. Tobirama's and Akiko's project hits some expected - and unexpected - bumps on the road. While the former may ponder procedural things more, Akiko finds herself under pressure for different reasons - on top of her new assigned duty. After all, she has been acquainted with quite a few Senju now, not just for favourable reasons. Another scene in this chapter I’ve sat on for about a year, heh. It feels so good to finally post it. Still not quite up to the speed I used to be, but I’m trying. We’ll see. As always, bestest and kindest and maniest of thanks go out to my beta-reader: @kuramakakashi​, ilysm 💖💖💖

Read here on AO3! Excerpt below:

All were wearing the standard green Senju armor and the dark shirt and pants underneath, as well these fishnet garments they seemed to like - Akiko stood out like a sore thumb.

For a moment, she wondered what'd happen if she had donned her tattered Uchiha garment and removed the patch on the clan's kamon.

Sato cleared his throat. "An introduction for our new member isn't necessary, you all know her and probably have an opinion I don't care to hear," he announced surprisingly firmly, which Akiko appreciated. He waved at each of the others individually. "Shigeru," the tall blonde, "Reiji," the stocky man, "Chiyaki," the dark blonde woman, "and I believe you two are acquainted."

Tomi's wide gaze was set on her.

Akiko folded her hands behind her back slowly. "Nice to meet you again, Tomi. You're well," she commented suavely, not a trace of disdain. As much as she wanted to roll her eyes, really.

Tomi didn't reply. Shigeru's gaze narrowed in a telling way, but Chiyaki giggled a little. As much as Akiko was intrigued by meeting who she had thought to be Touka's lackey again, figuring the dynamics of the group out seemed more important.

Sato's lips drew up in his usual lazy smirk again. "I trust this isn't going to be a problem."

Akiko's black stare fixated Tomi still, who tried to hold it bravely. She didn't fool her though - her lower lip quivered and her fists were bunched. Akiko smiled slowly. "Not at all, I have not tried to pin arson on anyone to get them exiled or executed," she explained icily.

Tomi inhaled sharply and her gaze dropped to the floor. The captain had a dry laugh left for Akiko's sharp explanation, and Chiyaki joined in, quietly. "Yes, we all witnessed Tomi's impressive subterfuge tactics, I'll say. Next time, Tomi, don’t buckle under scrutiny, hm?" Sato's smirk had a sharp edge.

Akiko flashed him an incredulous gaze - the nonchalance with which the captain delivered the admittedly common knowledge was stark still. 

Tomi had become more pale by the second. "I'm- it was- just the moment-"

The captain waved her off, pointedly unimpressed. "Yeah, yeah, obviously. If you'd actually schemed cleverly by a long shot and used some brain, you might’ve succeeded and Akiko'd be with most of her family, whatever."

No, I wouldn't be. But Sato didn't know about how  good  she could be at scrutinising. Her indignation at his statement was quelled by the ridiculous way Tomi struggled to answer-

"Thats- I didn't mean-"

Shigeru seemed quite unimpressed by the antics of the team. And Reiji next to him was as stone-faced. 

Akiko's eyebrow rose slowly. It would appear the allegiances were obvious. Question was who out of these two was the gutsy one.