#I’m no different than the 2d man

[rooolt]

Vince describing normal sounds like me talking about him. “Ooh he’s miserable and a doormat” my kinda guy

[ponderingmoonlight]

Chapter 5: Duel of Fates – A Perilous Encounter in the Darkened Hall

Pairing: Gojo x fem!reader

Warnings: reader's death, language

Genre: Isekai, Romance, Fantasy

Synopsis: Your life takes a tragic turn as you perish in a car crash, only to awaken in a whimsical world of fantasy with none other than Jujustu Kaisen characters as its main protagonists. But as if that wasn't enough, you're about to marry the prince version of Gojo Satoru. How will you navigate through this world of history and fantasy? Does your life take the same sudden twist of fate as that of your favorite characters?

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„How did you already catch my name?”, he purrs at you with his sickening low voice.

You can’t deny the fact that you found him pretty hot in the manga and anime. But back then, he wasn’t more than a 2D character. Seeing that death machine standing right in front of you with his piercing appearance and 6’2” lingering over you like an unpromising shadow is completely different.

“Your reputation precedes you”, you press out while freeing your shivering body out of his grasp.

Fuck, you can literally feel your heart dropping to the floor. This is bad, even worse than being next to Gojo’s side. Does that man kill as he pleases in this world as well, is he on his way to end Gojo? Your eyes widen in sheer horror while your thoughts spin around you like a carousel out of control.

“May I ask for your name?”

“My name? What do you want to do with my name?”, you reply in an instant.

He tilts his head to the side, his low laughter forcing your whole body to shiver in nothing but fright.

“You’re acting as if I’m here to kidnap you. I saved you from falling over, is your name too much for ask for?”

“(y/n) Zenin”, you mumble under your breath.

Thank god for those glittery gloves Gojo forced you to wear. Without them, your hands would be covered in cold sweat by now. You need to get a hold on yourself, tame down your screaming heart. Toji won’t attack you at a random ball in a hallway, right?

“A Zenin, huh? I feel sorry for you.”

What? You furrow your eyebrows at him. What the hell is this guy talking about?

Oh.

You’re such an idiot.

“Must be nice that they kicked you out of that cursed family”, you comment dryly before you’re able to stop yourself.

Screw your loose mouth and the urge to always voice your thoughts. This was probably the dumbest move you could have made. In the manga, only a handful of people know about Toji and that he was in fact a part of the Zenin clan until they decided to kick him out because he lacked of cursed energy. Out of all people, you shouldn’t be the one who knows about this, you shouldn’t be the one to meet him in an empty hallway in the first place.

“I should get-“

“You’re not going anywhere, Lady (y/n). Just as I expected when I first saw you here, you aren’t an ordinary girl that chases after the prince. Your father forces you into this, huh? Tells you that he’ll kill you if you don’t marry that guy.”

He grabs your wrist with almost no pressure.

“This has to be a family thing”, you mumble to yourself until his cold glare meets yours.

“I swore to myself to wipe out the entire Zenin family after what they did to me, after what they forced me to do”, he mutters.

All color drains from your face as your glossy eyes stare at him. What are you supposed to do? Scream, run, cry for help? Your body refuses to move a single inch, his orbs keeping you in place.

“I won’t be a Zenin anymore after marrying Prince Gojo”, you breathe out.

“Too bad I can’t stand that brat on the throne either.”

You swallow down the knot that builds up inside of your throat. Don’t panic, you need to focus and choose your words wisely. But…how are you supposed to stay focused when that sickening force of a man grabbed your wrist and pierces through your mind with his stone-cold orbs?

“Too bad indeed. I’m in that game just like you are”, you press out as his grasp tightens.

Oh, you are so dead before your life even began, killed by your own “cousin”. Why did you never even think about the possibility that Toji might show up here as well? If he’s coming for Gojo just like he did in the manga, if he really dares to lay hands on Geto and Gojo…Why wouldn’t he kill an insignificant side character? You weren’t even a part of the Jujutsu Kaisen verse in the first place.

So that’s it? You, dying through the hands of Toji Fushiguro?

"Oh, look who decided to grace us with his presence. How delightful to see you here, lurking in the shadows like a true gentleman. I must say, your timing is impeccable as always. But for now, may I ask you to take your hands off my fiancé, Sir?”

A wave of relief washes over you when you catch a glimpse of those iconic bright blue eyes emerging from the darkness next to you.

“I humbly beg your pardon, but apparently I forgot your name, Sir. You know, I’m not apt at recalling the names of gentlemen these days”, Toji replies with a satisfied grin.

“It’s Prince Satoru for you. Who am I speaking to?”, Gojo replies coldly.

With a swift motion he’s standing right by your side, releasing you from the threatening grip of Toji’s hand around your wrist.

That was a close call. Way too close for your liking. If it wasn’t for Gojo to come around at just the right time, that guy would have folded you immediately.

“Sir Toji, Your Highness. Now excuse me, even though it was a pleasure to meet you, I have to return to my other responsibilities. I hope we meet each other again soon, Lady (y/n).”

You don’t even dare to answer, avoiding his gaze like the plague as he disappears into darkness again. A nauseous flood of fear gets a hold of your heart. Out of instinct, you hold onto Gojo’s sleeves tightly while the hallway gets filled with the haunting sound of your heavy and uneven breathing.

This is it, the closest you’ve been to dying again after getting reincarnated into this world – after no more than maybe 48 hours. Your heart feels like exploding any given minute, ears ringing so violently that you fail to understand a single word Gojo tries to tell you. Is this really how your life will come to an end all over again? After all, everyone in Jujutsu Kaisen seems to die. And you’re nothing but a little side character in this story, someone who wasn’t even meant to exist in the first place.

“Lady (y/n), what has gotten into you?”, Satoru repeats over and over again while grabbing your shoulders in order to keep you from falling.

That naked fright glittering in your orbs he knows oh too well, the haunted expression that is written on your face. What did that man say to you before he arrived here? He should have never let you out of sight in the first place, not when there are so many people around who want to see him dead.

“Find us a private room, Suguru. I need to calm her down before returning.”

“Of course.”

Like in trance, you allow Gojo to pick you up and carry you down the hallway, your fingers intertwined with the fabric of his fine suit in a way that doesn’t allow you to let go ever again.

There’s no doubt in the fact that your life will end if you meet Toji like this again. Who else did you forgot, who else do you need to look out for? Is this really how it has to be now? Living your new-found life in constant fear, surrounded by nothing but people who want to see you dead? Apparently, not even marrying the prince of this goddamn kingdom is enough to find peace.

“(y/n), look at me.”

What if you get poisoned or choked in your sleep?

“(y/n), I need you to focus on me.”

Or worse, what if they torture you in order to gain any information about your soon-to-be-fiancé?

“(y/n), come back to me.”

He grabs your face with both hands and comes so close that you can’t escape his stinging bright blue eyes. Suddenly everything turns silent for a brief moment, leaving only you, Gojo and your racing heart behind.

“I don’t know what or who haunted you like this, but you are alright. You are save with me, do you understand?”

“You’re a fool if you think you can protect me.”

“Who if not me? Isn’t that why you chose me as your fiancé and begged me to take you back?”

“Begging you to take me back!?”

You spring back onto your feet faster than Gojo is able to regret his poor choice of words, orbs shooting pure venom his way.

“I begged in no way for you to take me back. We have a contract, right? We are trading partners”, you clarify sharply.

“Trading partners, right”, Gojo mumbles.

“But still, I’ll watch over you. It’s my responsibility to-“

“You can’t protect me from this world”, you interrupt him, shaking your head vehemently.

“This world is my world and I know it all too well. Give me a little bit of your trust, you won’t regret it.”

“Oh yeah? I can’t even trust you over your vows and all those beautiful disgusting words you’ll say later on, about how much you adore me and that I’m the only one for you”, you bark back at him.

You’re being ridiculous and you know it, nothing but the purest frustration catching up with you.

This is unfair, almost too much to bear. You never asked for any of this, never dreamed about being on this man’s side or getting to wear those pretty dresses, you never wanted to be a princess.

“In this world, you’ll be my only. And I’ll make sure everyone in this way too glamorous room will have no doubt in my deep feelings for you. I’ll make sure that no harm ever reaches you, I promise.”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Prince Gojo”, you bite back.

When he leans closer, your breath gets stuck in your throat all over again. What a mess of feelings and words, what a pile of chaos you maneuvered yourself into. Is this really worth the potential freedom you’ll gain afterwards? There’s no guarantee that your plan works out. What if you get killed before that? What if Gojo changes his mind?

The feeling of his warm hand resting on your shoulder rips you out of your train of thoughts.

“Hands off”, you bark at him while slapping his hand away.

“"I’m not one of your mistresses, and you’ve got more than enough to keep you busy already, don’t you think?"

But instead of having the decency to at least look shocked or caught, Gojo smirks at you the way he always did with his hands raising in mock surrender.

"Come on now, don’t believe everything you hear. Besides, I’ve got high standards—can’t be wasting my time on just anyone," he replies with a wink.

“Prince Satoru, Lady (y/n), guests start to wonder where you went. I’d kindly advise you to return to the ball and end what you started”, Suguru’s voice suddenly bites through the thick tension between both of you.

Fuck, you got way too close. You distract your shaky fingers by hectically straighten your already perfect-sitting dress while avoiding Gojo’s gaze at all cost.

“You are more than right. Let us get this over with”, you mumble before storming out of the room.

Suguru raises an eyebrow as he watches you leave in a hurry, then turns to Gojo with his head tilted to the side.

“What was that about? I have never seen you struggle so hard to keep your hands to yourself, Prince Gojo”

Gojo chuckles, running a hand through his hair with his gaze still glued to the door you stormed through.

“Oh, come on, Suguru. She's not like the others, way more… unpredictable.”

Suguru scoffs, crossing his arms.

“You? Interested in someone who doesn’t throw themselves at you? That’s new.”

Gojo’s grin widens, his gaze still lingering where you disappeared.

“Exactly. Makes it more fun, don’t you think? Now, let me propose to her.”

Tags: @m0k0k0 @lees-chaotic-brain @sanicsmut @risuola @fire-loving-siren

@sunshine7queen @gatitam @kentocalls @hellkaiserinphoenix @skylarlyn823

@livmarauder @nothisispatrick300 @haileycannotcometothephonern @xstom @byakuya61085

@arehzhera @ttysmfwna @miizuzu @erensfavve @rubyninja1

@luvsymai

[melonteee]

I know everyone keeps asking about your thoughts on the LA but I just wanted to know what you think about them completely erasing Hachi?

Like him not being around seriously impacts later arcs and I’m not sure how they’d get around that since they wrote him out. Like a big part of Luffy’s anger towards the Celestial Dragons leading to that punch was because Hachi got hurt, and the heart wrenching moment when even though he’s bleeding out he tries to stop Luffy to protect him. Like how on earth did they think it was a good idea to not keep him in

Hachi was also kinda important in Arlong Park as he wasn’t as extreme as the others on his crew and showed the audience that there was more to the fish man than just the violence displayed by Arlong, buuut no instead of having a character show us through action that there’s a depth to the Arlong pirates, we just have Arlong himself rant about racism and just completely remove and nuance 😒

Hachi isn’t the most important character but he is important to the world of One Piece, I mean Oda wrote a whole cover story about him and he’s played a major roll in every arc involving the dark underbelly of the world. And he’s the one who saved Rayleigh’s life!

Like if the LA guys were so focused on ‘all the little details’, I can’t understand any reason why they would just completely cut a returning character like Hatchi. It makes me really worried but what other characters they may cut just for convenience and shows how they don’t really care about Oda’s world

Hachi was literally a character who showed fishmen are not heartless, and that different fishmen hold different biases and beliefs. Hachi was there to show us Nami WASN'T treated cruelly by ALL of Arlong's crew, and that Nami's 'fear' of fishmen is NOT to ALL fishmen, but to Arlong exclusively. She literally forgives Hachi because she understands Hachi was just a nice guy caught up in the wrong crowd, and we SEE Hachi has a kind heart.

Hachi even treats Zoro with a kindness and respect without even knowing him, and removing Hachi just makes Arlong and Arlong's crew seem so 2D villain. Arlong's crew weren't JUST his crew, they were his friends, and Hachi being part of that showed Arlong had a lot more going on than just being a stereotypical villain.

It's pathetic to remove Hachi imo, because there's 100% a nuance regarding fishman racism and what this pain does to these fishmen. With Arlong and his crew as a WHOLE being a bunch of violent dickheads, what are we meant to think ??? If they ever get to Sabaody, and discuss fishmen's oppression in the world, who is Nami going to talk to?? ARLONG?? Will the audience even CARE about fishmen's oppression due to ONLY seeing these dickhead fishmen due to Hachi's exclusion??

She will NEVER forgive Arlong, but with Hachi, she CAN understand their pain and their struggles. Removing Hachi is such a shallow and stupid thing to do.

[adamwatchesmovies]

The Bad Guys (2022)

The Bad Guys falls just short of being an evergreen, newly-minted animated classic. The visuals are dynamic, the characters memorable, there are plenty of big laughs, the voice acting is terrific and the dialogue is a joy to listen to. It becomes a bit conventional towards the end but that’s hardly a deal-breaker; more of a demonstration of how good the rest of the movie is.

In a world where humans and anthropomorphic animals co-exist, Mr. Wolf (voiced by Sam Rockwell) is the head of "The Bad Guys". With Mr. Snake (Marc Maron), Mr. Shark (Craig Robinson), Mr. Piranha (Anthony Ramos) and Ms. Tarantula (Awkwafina), there’s nothing they can’t steal and no situation they can’t escape from. When their luck finally runs out, Wolf convinces state governor Diane Foxington (Zazie Beetz) and Police Chief Misty Luggins (Alex Borstein) they can change their ways.

From the opening scene, you know this movie will be something special. We begin with Mr. Snake and Mr. Wolf talking in a diner and their dialogue feels like a deleted scene from Pulp Fiction. From there, we meet the delightfully nasty crew. Well, I say nasty, but they’re more mischievous than “bad”. Or maybe it’s just that the characters are so charming you give them all a pass. I’m sure guinea pigs would have a very different opinion of Mr. Snake than me, for example. That brings us to an aspect of this world that’s a lot of fun: the loose “rules”. In films like Zootopia or Cars, the societies have clearly been hammered out by the development team but a part of you still wonders about food, cattle, the world’s history, etc. In The Bad Guys, there are anthropomorphic animals and “real” animals, both Mr. Shark and Mr. Piranha can breathe air and few aspects of day-to-day life are sized for Ms. Tarantula. It's like "Rules? What rules?" but the story is too funny for you to stop and think about any of that. Mr. Shark, for instance, is a master of disguise but he’s clearly terrible at it - being, you know, a big shark walking around on two legs. Somehow, he still manages to fool everyone, despite always choosing the most outlandish disguises and ridiculous characters to portray. It makes no sense, but it makes for all sorts of surprises, each funnier than the last. You can just tell everyone involved in this film had a great time thinking of visual gags and little moments that would flesh out the characters. Some are more developed than others but all of the villains feel integral to their team.

Visually, The Bad Guys has a lot to offer. The animation is sort of a blend between traditional 2D and the more recent, more experimental style we saw in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, with the action scenes being the stand-outs. Mr. Wolf is the leader, the dedicated pickpocket and the getaway driver. There are at least three big chase scenes with so many pieces moving you can hardly keep track of them all. None of the action is actually disorienting; it just distracts you enough for you to be surprised by the punchlines.

Following the Bad Guys as they come up with plans, execute them, improvise on the fly when things don’t go right, show off their charms (you can sense there’s a bit of a something-something about to go on between Mr. Wolf and Diane Foxington), and prove why they’ve never been caught before is so much fun it’s a shame the movie eventually has to follow a more standard plot. I’m not complaining that they eventually get caught, or that they have to pretend to be good to fool Professor Marmalade (Richard Ayoade). All that’s enjoyable, particularly the scenes where the thieves have to fight their animal instincts to make their ruse convincing. My criticism for The Bad Guys, my only criticism, really, is that eventually, we have to have a big, epic conclusion with a bigger, meaner villain than the villains we’ve been following this whole time. I wish the film had taken a few more cues from Ocean’s Eleven and just had them wipe the smug look off of someone’s face than use their very particular set of skills to essentially turn into conventional heroes. It’s a small gripe. Ultimately, this is a delightful picture. Fast-paced, smartly written and most importantly, hilarious.

The Bad Guys is an animated film the whole family can enjoy. Adults, in particular, will laugh hard at the way the film takes inspiration from movies children would normally have no interest in (and shouldn’t watch anyway) and makes them fit in this world of talking animals. Kids will have a blast too. If this gets a sequel (the mid-credit scene hints at more to come) and the writers decide to take a few more chances, I could see myself giving it an even better score than the 4/5 I’m awarding The Bad Guys. (July 25, 2023)

[scarlettriot]

• AUTUMN MORNINGS •

Pairing: Kirishima X f!Reader

Summary: You planned to treat your husband to a lovely breakfast in bed for his birthday, but he has different ideas for how he wants to spend the morning.

Warnings: Smut | Minors & Ageless Blogs DNI, Praise, One Ass Slap, Spit.

Contains: Established relationship, Characters Aged Up, Thick Reader, Reader gets picked up, Unprotected Sex (stay safe, folks), Sub Reader, Could Be Rough Sex Kinda... Nicknames Used: Baby, Babe, Cutie, Sweetheart.

W/C: 2.1K

A/N: I had like no time at all but I really wanted to write something for my 2D husband's bday because he deserves all the damn love. Okay, happy reading!

You rolled over just as soon as you heard the trill of your alarm going off. Hurrying to silence it before it had the chance to wake your husband. You’d already gone to bed by the time Eijiro had gotten home the night before; however, that didn’t stop you from waking up and wishing him a happy birthday as he crawled in beside you once his shower had been taken. You stayed awake so that you could.  

The duvet was pulled back, and you rolled right into that familiar dip that brought you against his side. “Thanks, sweetheart.” You didn’t need him to tell you what a long day it had been. The exhaustion that coated each word was more than enough of an indication. “Sweet dreams. Love you s’much.” 

His snores filled the room minutes later, and before you joined him in slumber, you adjusted the alarm on your phone with the intention of treating him to a big birthday breakfast in bed. Making all his favorites before he even woke up, luring him downstairs with the scent of freshly brewed coffee. Yeah. It sounded like the perfect way to begin his special day.

So, you woke up to the alarm exactly when you were supposed to. Giving you plenty of time to put your plan into action. So much so, that you felt you had at least a little time to spare and savor the quiet of the morning. 

Eijiro was still passed out beside you. One arm tucked behind his head and the one that held you all night long was now resting across his stomach. The man looked like he was made to be in the morning light, especially the soft golden warmth that autumn brought with it. It made his already-tanned skin glow, bringing out the freckles that dusted his cheeks and shoulders, begging you to kiss each and every one of them. Carefully, you tucked glimmering strands of his fiery hair behind his ear, admiring the way the light would ignite them for seconds at a time. 

Your thumb brushed over his jaw gingerly, barely enough to feel the scratch of his stubble, and in his sleep, he smiled just for you. You kissed the corner of his mouth just as gently and then finally slid out of bed. 

The old t-shirt of his you wore as a nightshirt fell far enough down your legs that there was no need for shorts though, you did grab your robe and then moved silently through the house the two of you have shared for over a decade now. 

You knew which step to hop over so it wouldn’t creak under your weight, the way to pull open the pantry door so that way it doesn’t squeak. All the little precautions are taken to ensure Eijiro remained asleep for as long as he needs. You just weren’t counting on him waking up all on his own. 

The bed grew cooler without you beside him. Your body not within arms reach for him to cling onto. 

He huffed to the empty room and reluctantly kicked the covers back, on a mission to figure out where you’ve gotten to this damn early. 

He wandered his way down to the kitchen in nothing but his boxers and found you with a plethora of ingredients covering the counter and your fingers just about to lite a fire under one of the many pans on the stove. 

“Babe!” He surprised you since you thought for sure he’d still be out cold, but no, he was walking right up to you, stooping down so he could toss you right over his shoulder. “Eiji! I’m making you breakfast!” He didn’t seem to care that you were in the middle of something or the fact your ass was on full display. 

Sleep still had ahold of his vocal cords, “Not yet, you’re not.” He made sure to turn off the burner before heading right back for the stairs again, carrying you all the way back to your shared bedroom. He brought you down on the bed with a loving hand bracing your neck. “I just wanna cuddle my pretty little wife on my birthday morning. Can we do that? Please.” You nod up at him. “Good. Now get back under the covers.” 

A laugh escaped you as you crawl your way back to your spot while he’s busy still grumbling. “Can’t believe you snuck outta bed– Didn’t even say nuffin’ to me–” 

“I was just tryin’ to do somethin’ nice for you.” 

He burrowed his face into the crook of your neck and you could feel his stubble scratching your skin just as much as his pouty lower lip. “I know, baby, and that’s sweet. But this is all I want right now. Want you right here with me.” 

You pushed yourself back against him more then, letting him hold you as close as possible, but you most certainly heard the groan he tried to bite back and the stiffness of his cock that was pressed against your ass. 

“Are you sure that’s all you want?” 

His arms tightened around you, one of them dipping under your (his) shirt so he could shamelessly palm your bare breast. 

“Mmm-mmm,” He mumbles, shaking his head, and you grin because when Eijiro was tired was when he was as blunt as he could possibly be. He could even be worse than Katsuki sometimes! So, one of his hands teased your nipple with calloused fingers, and the other wandered lower. Groping the fat of your thigh and moving it back over his own leg so his fingers could dive between your wet folds. “Want you on my cock.” 

You snapped the band of his tight boxers. “Then take these off, and you can have me.” 

There was a grunt, and he lifted your leg enough for him to shimmy his boxers down his thighs. His cock slapped right against your cunt the moment he freed it, and he ate up the way you whined at the contact. “Awe, you want me too, sweetheart?” 

“Always want you.” And you knew damn well that the feeling was mutual. It always had been. 

He kissed your cheek and rutted his hips forward even though his fingers were already stuffed inside you. 

“Baby, just gimme it–!” He curled his fingers so your sentence ended in a moan. The chuckle he let out right beside your temple told you he was pleased with your response, pleased enough to pull his fingers out and give you exactly what you asked for all in one go. 

“Hnng–!” More prep would’ve probably been smart, but neither one of you cared about that right now. Just too desperate to feel the other. He did give you a minute though before he started a gentle rock of his hips. Holding your leg in place so he could move just how he pleased. 

“Always fuckin’ perfect f’me.” 

He set a pace with long, deep strokes for a while, savoring the way your walls squeeze him so tight when he presses into that spongy spot you love so much. He knows when you’re getting desperate for it, the moment when your high is rapidly approaching. “Wanna cum, cutie? Huh?” You just whine, “Oh no, sweetheart, you have to ask for it.” 

“I–It’s your bir–birthday. I’ll c–cum when you say I–I can.” 

“Fuck–” His cock throbbed within you when he heard you stammer through that sentence. His grip tightened on your leg. “My good girl, arentcha?” 

“Mmhm. Always.” 

He pulled himself out with a grunt and rolled on his back, admiring your slick coating every inch he has to offer. “Show me how good you are. C’mere and ride me ‘til you cum.” He helped as you scrambled over, straddling his hips and positioning him back at your dripping entrance. Before you can sink down though, his massive hand cupped your jaw and tilted your head so you’re looking right at him. “And don’t you fuckin’ stop when you do.”

You took his orders so well. When he was completely sheathed inside again, he pulled one arm back behind his head like it’d been when you woke up this morning and the other still held onto your hip. Like, a reminder for you to keep yourself bouncing on his cock even when euphoria overtook you. 

Your walls clenched around him like a vice when you opened your eyes and realized just how ethereal he looked under you like this. In all your years together, seeing him this way still made your breath catch. He might be on his back with your hands clawing into his scared chest, but it’s obvious who’s really in control. Just how powerful he looks bathed in that perfect autumnal glow, transforming his eyes into pools of amber that watch your every move with hunger and adoration. 

The only movement from him is a swift buck of his hips from time to time, when he wanted to watch your eyes roll back in your skull. Or hear that sultry cry of his name falling off your pretty pink tongue that was damn near lulling out of your mouth. 

The taut cord in your belly begins to fray when he goes on and on about how stunning you look. Perfect tits bouncing while you ride his cock, and then he begins teasing. “Gonna cum already, cutie– So soon– Heh, alright then– Make yourself feel good– Just don’t stop fucking yourself.” 

It’s so hard to keep yourself in motion when you do finally let go, but he graciously helps you. His hand on your hip making sure you keep rocking in his lap, prolonging your release until he physically can’t take it anymore.

Faster than he’d moved all morning, you’re lifted off his cock and pressed face down into the mattress, his weight settling right behind you. Strong hands pulled your hips up high in the air, and a fat glob of spit fell from his mouth and onto his cock (like he actually needs the extra lubrication) as he slides back into your heat. Hard. 

Your cunt was still a fluttering mess surrounding him, and your pleas and cries are muffled by the pillows below your face. Gods, he’ll never get sick of watching the way your plush skin puffs in the spaces between his fingers. It takes all his willpower not to bust right then when he spreads you wide to watch you take him so damn well. Like you were created just for him. His perfect present. “That’s my girl–!” One of his hands slaps your ass and smirks at the jiggle before grabbing hold of it again. 

He’s pulling you onto him as much as he’s thrusting in, letting the messy slaps echo off the walls and mingle with his grunts and your moans. 

His hand comes up the back of your head, fingers gripping tight at your roots, and he brings your head up as he leans into your ear. “Gonna cum, baby. Oh fuck–! ‘M gonna fill you so full–!” His fingers flex the quicker he goes until he pushes you back down when that first rope of cum hits deep in your cunt. 

He doesn’t stop moving until he’s positive your walls are thoroughly covered with his seed, continuously rocking more and more until there’s nothing left to give you. 

Only then does he let the two of you fall back on your sides. His cock is still completely buried in you, but he’s starting to go soft while his hand massages your scalp. “You okay, sweetheart?” 

“‘M great, baby.” You cuddle right back up against him, both of you moaning as his cock shifts, but it quickly turns into sleepy laughter. The kind that is your absolute favorite to hear. So genuine that it fills your heart completely over and over again. 

When you look over your shoulder, he’s already right there waiting to press a dozen kisses to your lips, dropping ‘I love yous’ between each one. 

“Happy birthday, Eiji.” The three little words are said against his lips, another kiss shared, and then a thank you leaves his. 

The whole entire day still lay ahead, plans and parties with friends, so, for now, a little extra rest with you sounds perfect. You lay completely content in his arms and Eijiro falls asleep with a smile upon his face thinking he couldn’t have asked for a better birthday morning. There’s nothing or no one better than you.

[whaliiwatching]

How DO you think universe signatures work? I don't think I've seen many theories or discussions on it but I also haven't been looking for them either

HOHOOO UNIVERSE SIGNATURES. ok. as i was rewatching scenes so i could write this, my theories fucking blinked out of existence :) there is as much consistency to universe signatures as there is to the atsv timeline.

alright lets see how incoherent this gets

btw i’m not using the word ‘dimension.’ incorrect scientific terminology in an animated spider man comic movie franchise about the multiverse? couldn’t be me. i already let them keep their holograms*

itsv came out in 2018 and is reported to have taken four years to make. in 2014, we couldn’t have made atsv; the technology hadn’t been developed, because there wasn’t yet a movie to demand it. (usually when the question comes up during production, the team has to invent an answer. like animating violet’s hair in the incredibles in 2004, or water in finding nemo in 2003, or fur for sully in the monsters inc movies, or the entire animation process of 2019’s klaus, or reflections on the cars in cars—) this, combined with itsv being set entirely in miles’s own universe, means that the b team’s (noir, peni, ham) universe signatures changing between universes can be attributed to 1. less worldbuilding than atsv and 2. lack of technological ability in 2014-2018 (no diss to the og animators obviously, itsv is fucking gorgeous)

but that’s a boring doylist analysis. i wonder if we can get watsonian. atsv, which was likely produced from 2017 or so to 2023, explores four more universes, rather than sticking to miles’s. surely it’ll have more answers!

i went through the entire movie to see what changes. not gonna bore y’all with a scene to scene analysis, so i’ll summarize: the only person who substantially differs between dimensions is gwen (abstract in E-65, solid but still pastel in E-1610, slightly more painted in E-50101, abstract again in E-928 during emotional scenes). hobie’s collage changes to match the tone or color palette of the universe around him, but doesn’t take on its signature. other than that, the only effect any universe has on every character is with its light, and the only effect to overpower a universe signature is a portal.

let’s pretend that in an infinite multiverse, such a thing as a standard can be set, and that standard is Comic Style. comparing it to itsv, where peni and ham gained depth from previously 2d-esque universes, it seems as though some things don’t change—general color palette and extreme stylistic divergences from the aforementioned standard, eg when atsv peni is styled in 2d—and some change universally—like universe-specific volumetric light, eg in itsv when E-1610’s halftone-style light gives peni depth and in atsv when E-928’s holographic-style light does the same in a different way.

then portals. they distort the space around them in their style of origin: organic portals always have miles’s universe’s signature because that’s where they were born; any portal opened with an E-928 watch has miguel’s orange holographic hexagon, no matter who uses them or where they open to; portals opened with hobie’s homemade watch are always collage, though they take on the color palette of the universe they’re opened in. that means portals have to be watch-specific, prolly based on the materials’ universe of origin, but in that case, hobie’s would look a lot like miguel’s since he harvested most if not all of the parts from E-928. so it has to be specific to either the person who made it or the universe it was made in.

but neither of those make sense! the degree of separation from universe/person that apparently applies to the watches doesn’t apply to items left in other universes. E-1610’s rubik’s cube retains its color and volume in noir’s universe, but the sweater gwen leaves on miles’s bed isn’t abstract, and the shoes she nicked from E-138 aren’t scrappy. even hobie’s watch is rendered in strangely crisp 3d, brightly colored and noticeably not collage.

and of course, both universe-specific light theory and portals-overpower-all theory aren’t totally consistent. hobie’s only properly illuminated when he’s in his base colors. but maybe that’s a quirk of atsv? he doesn’t glitch like paper in the radius of a portal—renaissance vulture didn’t glitch like paper either, maybe that’s just how glitching works! maybe it’s always that tv-signal-bright blocky mess! maybe there is one concrete rule in all this!!!!!

noir’s universe (during his intro scene, at least) comprises of three solid colors: black, light gray, and white, and volume/shadow is communicated through the intensity of halftone used. in itsv and in atsv he’s always in black and white, no matter the color of the light around him. he’s also the ONLY CHARACTER who glitches differently. noir breaks down in black and white!! when the team is lit up by gwen’s portal in atsv’s final scene he’s the only one not distorting in color!!!!! what the fuck man!!!!!!!!!

there isn’t one cohesive multiversal rule for how universe signatures act and interact with different universes, much as i’d love to have one. it raises too many questions and doesn’t give quite enough evidence to study. the closest i can theorize is color/style generally sticks and lighting/spatial physics generally doesn’t, and since that’s relatively simple, i’ll use it. gwen gets her photo-booth-app watercolors and peni/pav/ham/noir get just a little more rendered.

theories i have seen floating around that i also enjoy

gwen’s universe requires people to be in tune with it, to reflect their emotions—implying that the floaty abstract art during her scene with her father is diagetic. so when she’s not in her universe, she’s not like her universe.

hobie’s universe signature necessitates that he doesn’t conform to any other style

on that note, so would ham’s, because cartoon logic defeats reality logic

hope you enjoyed!! or at least were amused by my suffering <3

*do not get me started on holograms

[my-time-at-brainrot]

im very normal for these characters, so normal i have 4 planned saves cause breaking digital hearts makes me the big sad

below cut is immense oc rambling lol

ok first thing i have. actual screenies of the lads in game to base drawings off of but man. man oh man. the game’s style is simply much more chibi than my own so i treat the ingame models like they’re more collectible dolls than refs

sonia, builder

juno, civil corps + local nuisance

lily, another builder

aaaand armarose. angst machine. there they are

but for real:

actually drawing out Sonia’s cat eyes makes her a lot scarier than originally intended but tbh? me like me like lmao, something something cat and bird idk i’ll write it later 

also. fang hard to draw. don’t know why, because out of all the Actual characters here i have most experience with him so lmao??

logan is. very hard to draw. i struggled pretty hard but at least i could cheat most of the face cause Mask but. man the character designers kinda snapped with the bandit boy 

is the thing under juno’s eyes blood? paint? tattooed? who knows. i sure don’t. i know it makes him look whacky tho. also the color similarities between logan and juno are a lot less pronounced than i thought they would be so... win??

I finally settled on a design for Lily! Unfortunately the character customization has a lot to be desired for any hair that is not straight texture, so I’m kinda cheating with the poofy buns for now but lowkey hoping there will be a style in the full release that’s closer to her style than... what’s there rn 

mi-an goggles are really rough to draw when you don’t feel like drawing actual shapes 

i have a really thirsty doodle of owen in a dress somewhere that i did the last time brainrot kicked in, if i find it i’ll post it. anyway owen’s facial design is really “trust the process” territory because it never looks quite right in sketch (also the in game model and 2d art feel like COMPLETELY different ages but that’s besides the point)

what can i say about armarose. they’re the type of character i usually end up with oc wise in every fandom i participate in (ex. self indulgent angst)

clip studio crashed once making this and lmao me too king

[layingatyourfeet]

love is yellow

hizashi yamada x reader

cw: idiots in love, brief mention of rehab, fem reader, fingering (f receiving), piv sex, me being way too emotional for this 2d man

on the first day of spring Hizashi picks you up from rehab. he’s giving you a bouquet of sunflowers that’s just ridiculously huge and bright for this grey day. and the moment he sees your smile for the first time in 4 months he believes the sun is out and it’s the brightest day of his life.

the ride home is silent. just some song you’ve never heard before, his gentle humming and you hissing at the cup of tea that’s just too hot.

and you want to believe everything is going to be fine now. and it truly is, you’re wearing his shirt, staying in his apartment you’ve spent countless nights in, smelling the shampoo you’ve missed so much.

except nothing is fine. you wake up in the middle of the night to get a glass of water and you hear him talking to himself. how it should’ve been him who should’ve died instead shikarumo. how he would rather trade places with him so two of you could be happy. to start a family and have kids.

he doesn’t expect you to slide under the blanket, wrapping your arms around his torso. to hear you whisper that he’s an idiot for thinking that and losing him would hurt just as much, because loving your friends is not that different from love to your partner.

“i guess it’s nice to be loved as a friend” he whispers back.

he doesn’t know why are you two whispering, after all it’s just two of you in the apartment.

when he hears you say “i love you more than a friend though” he thinks his hearing is fucked up. or he’s having one of those weird dreams. but then you say “you don’t have to say it back, i’m sorry for making you uncomfortable” he audibly gulps. he’s lost for words and all he can do is cup your cheek with large palm and press a chaste kiss to your forehead. another one to your nose. to your cupid’s bow and finally your lips. they’re so soft, unsure and featherlike you have to chase him for another. to take his palm and press a kiss to the knuckle of the hand that saved you, that was saving you all the time since you met. to every freckle, beauty mark, line, like you’re trying to atone for years of torture and neglect.

and when your drag his hand to your sleeping shorts all he can do is breathe out “are you sure?” just for you to reply “feel for yourself”.

and when he drags his fingers through your wet folds he truly believes. his touch is unsure, like he’s trying to pet a wild animal that can run away any second. slow tight circles to your clit and finger grazing your opening and all you can do is let out a shaky moan and roll your hips into his touch. there’s no need for words. it’s just you, faint sound of the rain, car alarm going off somewhere in the distance and the sound of his fingers gently pumping in and out of you.

you blindly rummage through his nightstand to pull out a condom, to open it with shaky fingers, pull hizashi’s dick out of his briefs and to roll a condom on. to guide him into you and slowly roll your hips again. and that’s when he loses it. he’s starring at your collarbone, contemplating the meaning of life. he only snaps back to reality when you brush a strand of his hair from has face and trace the outline of his jaw. and he’s done for. he leaves feverish kisses all over your neck, whispering “i’m yours, i’m all yours, i’d do anything for you, i’m your slave”, every thrust punctuated with firm “i love you”. with all this praise ringing in your ears your orgasm is crushing over you like a tidal wave. all you can do is to cling to hizashi and whine, your walls milking his cock dry. he collapses on top of you, lips pressing soft kisses to the bites he left earlier, gently licking the marks you’ll see tomorrow.

breathing heavily, almost like you’re drowning, there’s nothing you can do but whisper “i’m yours too” back.

[jacksope-lives]

If ur still doing kiss prompts maybe 30 or 31 for 2russ?

Your wish is my command!

31. ...as comfort

Life had settled down, at least for the time being. There’d been a plan concocted by Murdoc to get the band out of LA for a while using some fake passports, but when that had fallen through the Gorillaz found themselves, as they often did, waiting for the other shoe to drop. In the meantime at least the group decided to get more into some hobbies. Russel had returned to his taxidermy work, but he’d also decided to get really good at card games. His reasoning was simple: back when he’d worked with his uncle, he could never beat him. 

Now that Russel was much older and those days were long gone, he figured he didn’t have much to do but bide his time, and what a better way to bide said time than to pick up the pass time. Of course, that meant Russel would have to practice his skills, and considering Noodle refused to play with him, and he didn’t want to play with 2D for…other reasons, he was stuck battling against Murdoc. He was doing really well, which was actually a bad thing, considering how big of a sore loser the man was.

“You’re a bloody cheater!” Murdoc yelled as he threw his cards down on the table, seemingly quitting. Russel resented that accusation heavily, considering who it was coming from. “And Noodle’s probably fudging the score,” he added, gesturing to Noodle, who’d been observing the game and tallying wins. So far it was fifty-four for Russel and one for Murdoc.

“Come on, man, I’ve been watching you shove cards down your pants this entire game. Not mention leaning over to look at mine,” Russel explained and Murdoc simply grumbled that it was different and, short of flipping the table, simply walked off in a huff. “You sure you don’t want to play with me?” Russel asked Noodle, and she simply shook her head as she erased the board she’d been tallying on.

“Part of life is avoiding the battles you can’t win,” she assessed, and Russel took it as a compliment of his playing. At that, moment, 2D walked in the room, and suddenly Russel felt the urge to shut down the entire game. 2D, his sweet, silly, absolutely adorable boyfriend, was horrible at card games. And moreover, Russel just couldn’t bear to see him upset after a loss, even if he did his best to conceal it. Unfortunately, his plan failed, and 2D asked what he’d been dreading.

“Are you playing card games? Can I play?” he asked with an excited tone in his voice. He remembered he’d once compared 2D to a golden retriever, and he felt that comparison was apt. His soft, fluffy blue hair and wide white eyes always gave Russel the urge to ruffle his hair, and made it impossible to say no to him. So, Russel nodded, giving 2D a head pat before the other man sat down across from him. Noodle began keeping score and the game began. It went about as predictably as possible.

2D took a long time to decide what he wanted to play, and when he did, it was always something easily counter by Russel. And whenever he lost, he’d get this little frustrated look in his eyes before insisting that they play again. Eventually, Russel couldn’t take that sad frustration in his face anymore and started losing on purpose. Once that game concluded and Noodle read out the results, Russel expected 2D to be happy. Instead, he was just as upset as before.

“You shouldn’t let me win on purpose,” he assessed, and Russel quickly stuttered out a response, hoping that 2D hadn’t noticed.

“I-I didn’t-” he started before seeing that look on 2D’s face again and relenting. “I’m sorry D, I just thought it would make you feel better,” he offered and 2D shook his head, leaning across the table to plant a gentle kiss on Russel’s lips before giving him that same sweet gap-toothed grin he always did. Russel averted his eyes, embarrassed at having to be placated.

“There, now I feel much better,” 2D assessed as he touched Russel’s face, refocusing his eyes towards him. “And from the looks of it I’d say so do you,” he added, and Russel couldn’t help but chuckle at how bad he had it for his fellow bandmate. Next to them, Noodle seemed to be writing something on the board and when Russel looked, he saw that she’d erased the score and written something else.

“I think this game goes to 2D,” she concluded before getting up and leaving the two alone to kiss some more.

[yorgilord]

XENOBLADE Chronicles 3: One Year LATER

Or: one man’s unhinged ramblings on a game that may be one of their favorites of all time.

A few disclaimers before reading this:

1: this is an enormous wall of text. This is 11849 words long and by far the longest I’ve ever written, just as a heads up.

2: This will contain spoilers for the entirety of the Xenoblade series, not counting other Xeno games because I’m from Europe and I am someone who loves having physical copies, so it’s going to take a while before I get the chance to play those.

3: there will be minor to major grammatical issues and faulty sentence structures because I’ve started writing this on this on the 26th and I suck at grammar and don’t have the time to proofread the entirety. So, uh no beta we die like Hackt.

4: This is going to be mildly unhinged, filled with swearing and is highly subjective you’re allowed to have your own opinion nothing I say is a fact as I’m just as much a fan as you hopefully are.

5: if there is anything that I say in this text that may or may not be considered to be offensive please tell me and I’ll try to fix it.

As of today, it has been about a year since Xenoblade chronicles 3 first hit store shelves, and for many of us our home. Although it would be wrong to say that this game hasn’t been without its controversy the overall reception towards the game has been relatively positive. With people praising the characters, the music, the revamped combat system, etc. To me this is the first game in the series that came out with me being fully caught up in the hype cycle (I got introduced around 2016-17 through Chuggaaconroy his lp of XC1, the date may be off but I remember watching the lp either during or just after my burnout and that was about the time of my burnout, but wasn’t as of yet fully converted, that only came after playing the first game for myself on the new 2ds I bought specifically to play it, despite owning a Wii meaning it would be cheaper for me to buy a used Wii copy as I’m from the Netherlands and we actually had Wii copies of the game and they weren’t too expensive on the local version of e-bay, which is called Marktplaats (lit market place) but tbf I also really wanted to play that new fire emblem Musou game so yeah choices were made, I don’t know if they were great ones but they certainly were choices. Despite taking a bit to warm up to the game when watching the lp it was eventually love at first sight. Eventually I bought a switch in 2018 got xc2 and loved it, (not sure if in or despite of) its differences, managed to snag myself a collectors edition of DE where I played up until after the metal face fight on day 01. I really enjoyed my time with every game in the series, even picking up a Wii-u specifically for X late last year and despite the difficulties in adapting to its take on the game also loving it. So, you can probably guesstimate my reaction to the game being announced on the of February 2022. The hype cycle was amazing, watching every Luxin vid that came out learning more details about the game salivating over the first trailer, giving myself the habit to regularly check my mail multiple times a day in order to see if the pre-orders for the Collectors Edition were up yet (I still haven’t kicked it), fantasizing about the potential of the game and just in general good vibes. I did have some doubts about the game, wasn’t really feeling the clock theming and really hoped that the gameplay was more akin 1 than 2 (to put emphasis on this the last few times I played 1/de I played the entirety of the ether mine as Sharla and I enjoyed it, needless to say I really like the first game) What I really didn’t expect was for this game to become one of my fav games of the year and most likely of all time, up there with the golden cow that is XC 1 and joined by titles such as dark souls 3 (after I played it earlier this year), Shin Megami Tensei V, DMC V and Halo: Reach. To put it briefly, I love this game. Now to finally get to the point of this introductory piece: a few months ago after reading on reddit someone claiming that to fully get the game you should play it a few times I came to a realization, there were some things that I wasn’t too sure about, so you know what I decided I’m going to replay the game. And I’m going to write a piece about it, and you are reading that piece right now. So, without further ado these are my lightly structured and sorted thoughts and feelings on this beautiful game.

Ok so now before I get to praising the game for the way too many things it gets right, I do have a few gripes with the game itself. Gripe number 1: now this is more of a petty complaint but why can’t you level down before beating Z that’s a weird choice imo and makes it kind of annoying to return to older areas if you’re over leveled.  Gripe number 2: while I am glad that the game kind of returns to a more rigid style a-la xc1 when it comes to arts and such, I am kind of miffed by how they are implemented. I prefer my RPGS with characters that have rigidly defined roles and while I think that versatile parties can be fun to play around with, i.e. I love the challenge of putting together a party to specifically counter bosses in Megami Tensei games, I still in a sense prefer the games that force you to be creative in the constraints you’re given. And if I’m going to be real here this game plays, at least to me, a bit too fast and lose with those constraints, which annoys me but only mildly and not enough to detract from the joy of playing this piece of perfection. Gripe number 3 whose idea was it to not put location names on the map? I want to talk with them not hurt them, just talk. Gripe 4: the tutorials are way too overbearing. Gripe 5: I would prefer if there were more quests to be found on the world map instead of through idea bubbles, i.e., give me more X less the worst segments of persona 4. Gripe number 6: I dislike how relatively speaking the Agnian trio has less focus put on them in comparison to the Kevesi trio, at least when it comes to the main story. I have more but those will come up when I feel its necessary. Those are just however gripes and not anything major just minor annoyances, ok some are not so minor, but they don’t ruin the game.

Chapter 1: Ouroboros

“Fighting to live and living to fight” Those were the first words we heard in the first teaser trailer on that fateful day and those are also some of the first words we hear used in the game. And they describe the vibes that Aionios gives at first glance pretty well. The first chapter of the game is a bloody violent introduction to the world of Aionios it tells us in plain simple language hey, you there, welcome to hell. It introduces us to the colony system, to the flame clock and how it enforces a constant need for bloodshed, and it showcases how this affects the soldiers. A neat thing about this chapter is in how it directly showcases the power the flame clock has over its victims through integrating the flame clock as a mechanic that the player has to deal with. The opening of the game swiftly introduces us to the sheer brutality of this world by showcasing the battle between the Kevesi colony 9 (not that one) and the Agnian colony Sigma (male) which is shown in brutal bloody detail. What I love about this opening is the sheer sense of scale that is seen in this battle, which has, to my imperfect knowledge, only been seen in e.g., the battle of sword valley, the defense of NLA and the assault on / defense of the life hold core. The aftermath of this battle also showcases the mundane evil that the war makes the soldiers commit, i.e., the Kevesi soldiers casually trampling over the Agnian husks. This is also the first showcase of the sheer level of dehumanization that both sides employ on their enemies, which will come up later.

The section in colony 9 is also a good showcase of how despite the ever-present war and the constant violence a simulacrum of normal life is still possible and ongoing. Which in a profoundly fucked up sense is beautiful if you ask me. That despite the horrid dehumanization of the soldiers, the abuse that the consuls lash out, the ever-present threat of death. Life is still ongoing, no matter how shallow or how much of a simulacrum it is. I like this. In a sense it’s the idea of the indomitable human will when faced with the horrid oppressive cards that they are dealt. Which makes the position of Off-seer a small mercy granted to the soldiers, a sense of comfort to the warriors, a sense of peace not permitted to those who die on the slaughter fields of Aionios. And I love this section, the sense of atmosphere it has is unparalleled in my opinion and only rivaled, at least to me, by the Li Garte Prison Camp section. Also, as an aside I really fucking love the highly distinct uniforms that the Kevesi and Agnian forces have. Each uniform just looks so good. The black colors, almost skintight suits and visors found in the Kevesi army. The borderline Wuxia white robes, kabuto helmets and Japanese inspired aesthetic of the Agnian army. God, I just love those designs.

The introduction of Moebius D&J, although its mainly Dirk in control for this part as a misdirection, is masterfully done. Give the player what looks like a standard assignment, make it become more shifty by introducing the first hints of the lost numbers, through the automatons and later Guernica, and then pull the rug completely by revealing a monster which just doesn’t fit in with the local fauna and flora, which as an aside I have to say I really like, and by that I mean REALLY LIKE, the character designs of the Moebius and Ouroboros, (I guess I should thank CHOCO for this one huh), that are found in this game. They just feel so wrong, so unnatural, so borderline mechanical, like they saw the idea of the uncanny valley and decided to hike right into it. Their designs are, at least to me, perfect, which makes the fact that every single moebius, not counting FR, has a unique design personality and powerset especially amazing. And I really like how they sell the difficulty to beat and sheer power of the Moebius.

The introduction of the ouroboros into the story is also beautiful and one of the more wonderful scenes that is found in the game. And I really like the speech that D gives when the transformation takes place is amazing.

(Credits to the Xenoseries wiki for the script.)

“Noah: What...? This hand...

Noah & Mio: Is it...mine?

Noah & Mio: Huh? H-how are you inside me?!

Noah & Mio: Inside...? Hold on... Are we...?!

Moebius: (chuckling)      Well, you sure catch on quick. So you got yourselves an Interlink going, eh? Guess I've gotta give the old fool credit where it's due.

Noah & Mio: Interlink?

Moebius: Well, whatever. That form you just merged into? It's called "Ouroboros". Sear that into yer skulls.

Noah: Ouroboros?

Moebius: Oh, and... Me, I'm Moebius. We look a bit alike, don't we? When Keves and Agnus come together in unity, you're practically one step away from being on the same level as us.

Noah: So we're...

Mio: one being...?

Moebius: Ehh, to put it bluntly, you're failures. Fact is, the two of us are mortal enemies.

Noah & Mio: Enemies?

Moebius: You got the picture? No further questions? Then let's get back on the dance floor!”

The fact that the ouroboros team are not immediately friendly with each other and there’s still some minor hostility among them is Imo pretty good. I really like that. Because their lives as of that point have been spent fighting each other and it is only through this incident that they become friends and teammates. Which at least to me feels somewhat realistic, only joining forces after being forced to abandon their own colonies due to the influence of Moebius and their weird mind control censor powers. Also I am mildly annoyed by the fact that it is jingoistic Gigantus instead of Rotbart, I mean I know that bombastic Rotbart jr is a thin but still. I’d really just prefer it if it was Rotbart.

So that was chapter one of the game, and I’m going to end it with a bit of a hot-take. I feel like this first chapter is one of the best introductions in the entire series. It has the atmosphere, it has the vibes, it has the beautiful music, it has a very engaging hook, and in general I really like this. I mean yes, the battle of sword valley, Mechon assault on colony 9 and Shulk’s vow for revenge from 1, destruction of earth and waking up on Mira from X, and the awakening of Pyra from 2 are fucking iconic, not counting any dlc here just the full games. But yes, I really do think that the introduction to this game is the best one in the series. This is however only an introduction, the real fun is just about to begin in.

Chapter 2: Moebius

This chapter of the game is when the story really gets going as it details the journey to the Aetia region, through the Eagus wilderness and leads to the confrontation with Colony 4, the resolution of that conflict and their departure for the Ribbi Flats. You know I really like the chapter transition screen which are formatted like entries from Mio’s diary which I feel like is a nice touch. This chapter also introduces us to one of the most important characters to the story Ethel. And I really like Ethel. The presence of Ethel in the story is used for some fun stuff.

One of the first scenes in this chapter shows us the beginnings of the friendship between Lanz and Sena and I really like this. Sena and Lanz are just best muscle buddies, can be interpreted as both romantic and platonic could go either way. But yeah, I really like how despite Lanz being the one most adverse to the team-up, next to Taion, he’s also the first one to actually befriend his Agnian counterpart. Also, since I haven’t mentioned this anywhere, I’ll mention this here. CHARACTER DESIGNS ARE FUCKING PEAK. THANK YOU, MAGATSU SAITO-SAMA, FOR GIVING US THESE CHARACTER DESIGNS AND OUTFITS. But yeah, I really like those designs and their characters, just heads up but Eunie best girl I will not elaborate. But yeah, the first section of this chapter is pretty good. What follows is the “water” and the Eagus wilderness, one of my favorite regions in this game when it comes to the aesthetic, Maktha is the best I will elaborate on this later, also as an aside but think that Mio’s entire bit with having difficulties with heat is a reference to the Japanese concept of “ 猫舌” which roughly translate to cat’s tongue, or rather to quote Wiktionary “(idiomatic) being incapable of drinking or eating anything hot (high temperature) due to having an overly sensitive tongue” This makes the fact that someone from Gormotti descent such as Mio, assuming that Nia has passed the Gormotti genetics she acquired from eating the flesh of her sister down, a bit hilarious and most likely highly intentional. The introduction to Chain attacks is logical and it is interesting to see how they come upon the idea of working together to kill that one really hard to kill Aspar. What makes that one Aspar so difficult to kill? But that gets us to the battle with colony 4.

I really like the conflict that the battle with colony 4 imposes upon the members of Ouroboros, and it is a great expansion upon the ideas shown in chapter 1 with the mind control abilities that moebius has, and the power of Moebius in general. Speaking of which, I love how Moebius are fully introduced in this chapter, and specifically the hierarchy, of Moebius, or rather lack of hierarchy among Moebius. In a sense the ranks of Moebius are egalitarian, each of the Moebius are only loyal to Z and the freedom that is granted to them by Z. It also introduces us to the apparent true nature and behavior of the members of Moebius. And it does this through the presence of K. The moebius are in this game childlike to say the least. They are constantly pursuing the joy and ecstasy of the highest order. They do this through the pursual of their twisted desires, whether this is through slowly orchestrating the demise of their own colony, taking to the seas as a man of the sea, acting like the director of a stage play, being a wannabe tactician or in the case of K just the childlike pleasure of killing your foes. I also think that K has a few of the best one liners in the game.

“Hahahahaha! My dear boy... Your vaunted intuition... is shit!!!” or “It's the big bad boss. Boo!”

K also leads us to the first true battle with a Moebius and the first use of the second Moebius battle theme. And hoo boy this fight is truly a banger like for real I love each and every single moebius battle and the music that accompanies it. I thought about doing a ranking of my favorite battle themes from the game, but I’m going to be frank here EVERY. SINGLE. VARIATION. OF. THE. MOEBIUS. THEME. WOULD. WIN. I really like bombastic faux opera ok, God Shattering Star is one of my favorite boss themes sue me all right.

It also features the full awakening of the Kevesi Ouroboros and I have to say I really like each and every first transformation, the mindscape the foreshadowing through shards of fragmented memories and the unity of Keves and Agnus in what I now realize is foreshadowing of what happens when they combine for too long as the animation is pretty similar to the annihilation event we are shown in the first scene of the game. And now we move on to the next part.

Chapter 3: Saffronias

This chapter, at least to my opinion, is peak Taion. Like this is his chapter.

The aftermath of the battle is also pretty interesting in how it shows the difficulties of overcoming the programming and hatred of the soldiers and how they try to adapt to life outside of the flame clock system, while also showing through that one asshole Homs that some are not so willing to overcome their prejudices. And then we get the first hero quest and the introduction to the class system. I have my gripes with the class system like mentioned earlier but overall, I like how it is presented in the game and I also like how the full customization of the heroes is locked behind beating the game, due to the aforementioned reasons.

This is also the point where the game really begins opening up to the player and granting them the choice to begin on the abundant, to put it extremely lightly, side content of the game. And hoo boy is it meaty. We first get multiple colonies to liberate and heroes to recruit with every colony also having quest lines of varying length associated with them and every colony questline delving from a differing perspective into the question of “What now?” and I do love how this varies for each colony depending on their situation. 9 has issues with acquiring food and therefore eventually turns to the farming of spongy spuds, while also reorienting the entirety of Zeon’s character around them. Gamma goes on with Teach upholding his role as a mentor to his soldiers, 30 is finally free to pursue the special interests of its commander and goes full ham on the construction of Levnises. Etcetera etcetera. Another point I really like is how the presence of gray gives hints to the involvement of the city in the larger politics of Aionios, which the player might pick up upon, but could also easily miss. I’m going to talk about each hero when they first become available, skipping ethel due to her being locked off for a large part of the game.

So first off, we have Valdi I like the goober. Like some may have picked up from the earlier word choice I choose to interpret him as being at least somewhere on the spectrum and having a fascination with Levnises. But I like him and specifically how he grows to detest the use of Levnises as weapons of war, eventually becoming more pacifistic. The fact that gruff Lanz is also acting like a brother to him is extra fun and cute. His class is reasonably useful in the early game but sadly becomes overshadowed the further it goes.

Zeon. I like how he has difficulties with reconciling the fact that ouroboros abandoned the colony and how he tries to somehow accept their help. I also really like how his entire arc is about attempting to wrangle his colony unto the path forward, I remember the colony 9 storyline being one of the darker ones and really showing the difficulties of life without the support from the castles. It’s a shame then that I only really used his class to get topple on some characters due to it being the only source of master arts that make one able to topple until you get Cammuravi.

Teach his quest is fun in how it in a sense is the complete opposite of Zeon’s quest. Where the ouroboros were welcomed with hostility in 9, Gamma opens them with wide arms and Teach at first seems friendly. And then we get his maelstrom of power speech which I find truly fascinating, I like teach. He’s cool. And I especially like how he chose to be a teacher when granted the choice by G. Also, his class is extremely useful due to his ability to both remove debuffs and grant atk up to party members in the area.

As I am also discussing the available dlc, not Future Redeemed cause I haven’t got the time to do so even if I wanted to, I’m also going to talk about Ino. She’s really interesting in how she basically acts upon xc2 rules with her being an artificial blade and like Poppi a Nopon in a humanoid body, although she acts more like a stereotypical Nopon than Poppi ever did. But yeah, I like Ino I do however agree that her voice is a bit difficult to get used to and can be a bit grating the first time. But overall, I like her character and gimmick of having to collect ether to level her. Which is fun at least to me as it gives you a long-term goal to work towards. Her class is also really good in chain attacks to increase the damage.

Gray. I like him, he’s mysterious. I like his fatherlike bond with Eunie. I like the gameplay of his class, especially the positioning pro skill which oh god yes that is so fucking good, especially when combined with unsheathing lucky 7 because it shortens the rotation to get that to cooldown. But yeah, I like gray and how he leaves a bit of a mystery to the story while also hinting at the presence of lost numbers even more than Guernica and co. Also, he’s basically fucking Kakashi but with guns.  His quest is also interesting and is the first hint at the larger significance of the mysterious items we later learn to be origin shards.

Seeing as this is where she first becomes available, I’m also going to talk about Alexandria. Mythrakid suspect number two here is interesting. I like how you can fight her early but have to wait until chapter 5 to truly have a fair chance to beat her hero quest. But yeah, hers is in a sense the most traditional liberation of a colony due to the fact that you actually have to fight your way to Iota and have to beat both dame Alex and E before actually talking with Alexandria and liberating the colony from the clock.

Whew that was a detour now back to the plot. The conversation at the foot of the Saffronia tree is the first insight we as players get into the mindset of Taion and the trauma he endured, besides from the fragmented memories shown in his fusion with Eunie. And I have to say that I really didn’t expect much from him when the game first released, he seemed to be the calm aloof tactical guy whose aloofness would be used for comedy more than would be interesting. But he really surprised me, especially the scene with him recognizing the fears that Eunie has and thinking of a way he is able to help her. And thus, leading to the beautiful tea scene and one of my favorite deep bonding conversations while beautiful music plays™ that are found all over the game.

Riku and Manana’s hero quest is interesting as it takes up almost the entirety of the Urayan caverns which I have to say are just kind of sad to look at, recognizing the ruins of a once great society now crumbled to nothing, due to years of war and thousands of years without maintenance. But going back to Riku and manana I like them. They’re both “common variety Nopon” although manana is way more common variety Nopon than Riku I feel like. But yeah, I like both of them. Especially the fact that they provide a different type of humor from the main Nopon of the past few games. And I admire how in certain parts manana tries to keep spirits high despite the circumstances. But yeah, they are good. I also really like the fact that they contextualize the food bonuses and gem crafting found in this game, xc1 gems are better sue me these are just worse aux cores, and their hero quest is wholesome goodness, with minor angst about R&M being unable to fight, nothing more to add.

The section of being pursued by the forces of lambda has an amazing atmosphere and I love the effect of the smoke appearing on the floor. I mean I get why we couldn’t have something like the poisoned sections from ps4 Spiderman, but this is still pretty good for the limitations. I also really fucking love the effect of the red moebius eyes cutting through the fog. Then we get to the battle with Lambda, and I have to say hats off to mister Ian Bouillion he’s pretty good and it is amazing that he plays both the seething hatred of the mud clone and the calm gentleness of the normal Isurd. But yeah, this battle is one of the larger spectacles in the game with you actually fighting the Ferronis itself which is if I’m correct only beaten by the battle with Zu Pharg in X in regards to the scale of a fight in this series. And yeah, this entire part rocks and the culmination with the awakening of the Agnian ouroboros is amazing. Seeing Taion & Eunie lift up from the water and cloning themselves, Sena taking the lead and Lanz & Sena tipping the entire colony and the Mio & Noah dodging all those attacks. I also love the aesthetics of these ouroboros and feel like I actually prefer their general aesthetic over that of the Kevesi ouroboros, to add to this Sena & Lanz is my favorite ouroboros design.

The J reveal is one of the more impactful reveals in the game and one that some maybe saw coming from a mile away. But I was fully taken by surprise by this reveal. It is, however, a great reveal. And adds a lot of drama to the mix with Joran’s death being the catalyst for Lanz’s growth he now has to face a version of Joran completely unlike whom he remembered. And just wow Despite this being mainly Taion’s chapter, and thus mainly Olivier Huband his time to shine, Jack Bardoe absolutely kills it as Lanz iirc.

And then we get to the ending scene of the chapter Noah and Mio sending off the mud husks that were killed by J. and I feel like many moments with the weight of life playing that it is a profound moment of just wonder and sadness.

Overall whereas chapters 1 and 2 are more introductory I feel like chapter 3 really gets the ball rolling with the main conflict and themes, but that’s just an opinion. So next up is.

Chapter 4: Life

This chapter is amazing and may just be my favorite chapter in the game, yes, I know end of 5 and beginning of 6 is amazing but I feel like I prefer chapter 4’s content as a package.

However, I must interrupt the journey deeper into the Pentelas region with a minor distraction to talk about Isurd. Isurd as a character is one of the less remarkable Heroes, I think he’s cool with his tactical behavior and his skills are just amazing to use. But his class is mostly a mainstay in large parts of my playthrough, I do however feel that he’s a at some times a bit unremarkable, I do however like his grown interest / obsession with hot springs in his ascension quest.

So, we begin with the jolly walk from the falls into Maktha with the conspicuously placed Umber Drague. I don’t know why it’s there, I have no explanation for why it’s there it’s just there to give the characters a convenient excuse to experience the time limit of their interlink, as an aside if you’re really desperate for an explanation but can also enjoy some comedy I’m just going to leave this https://archiveofourown.org/works/45594703 here cause its hilarious and y’all should read it.

Afterwards we move past the falls and into my favorite (aesthetically) area of the game, the Maktha Wildwood. In order to explain why I’m going to give an example using the last of us. There are two types of people who play the last of us. Those who enjoyed the series and want to try the game, those who like / dislike the game, and then there’s me who plays it to enjoy the overgrown modern city aesthetic. And that is why I love Maktha. This beautiful fusion paradoxical of the Bionis region with the highest density of plant growth animal wildlife and overall jungle vibes, mixed together with the lifeless desolated hellscape that is Morytha. I love this place from an aesthetic point of view. However, from a level design point of view, from the perspective of this layperson who has never touched level editing software and whose opinion is therefore factually wrong, it sucks and is too confusing. I prefer the level design found in the Fornis region over this entire region. Pentelas has just a few too many bottomless pits for my taste, same for the Keves castle region and upper Aetia.

The they/them person of royalty and holy they/them agnussy themselves Juniper is fucking based. I like their character a lot and think that it is interesting how their colony lived a low sustenance lifestyle and had some sort of survival of the fittest mentality. What makes it more interesting to me is how this all apparently planned out by U, which makes me feel like U may or may not have known Juniper in their original life and that U has somehow done this more often. I do like colony Tau though. It is a pretty cool colony, the Ferronis makes me think of Nopon. But yeah, I like it. It is cool, it’s a shame though that I almost never play as Juni or their class because it is slow, and I do not understand it due to my brain being a bit too smooth and preferring arts spammy builds. (/s)

The flute scene is one of the more beautiful scenes in the game and I feel like this entire chapter has loads of introspective conversation and speeches about you know life the meaning of it the value of it. The flute exchange scene is just one of many that I feel are extremely profound.

This is followed up by the duel with Cammuravi and Ethel while the fight in itself is one of the best this game has to offer, I feel like the story revolving it is even worthier of being one of the coolest and best character driven parts of the game.  The fact that Cammuravi and ethel have this realization that they can make their own choices, that Cammuravi rips out his own eyeball in order to remain in control of his own actions. And then their shared murder suicide is just wow, it is a beautiful scene, being one of the most profound scenes in the game imo, being a beautiful scene that showcases the themes of the game pretty fucking well. And fuck dude. It’s just beautiful.

The following action scene with O&P is also pretty amazing. Mio’s sheer rage over the behavior of O&P, the following part wherein every member basically joins Mio in solidarity and the 6 of them all give O&P a piece of their thoughts and really just fucking go off on them. I love this scene. The action scene following this is also a beautifully choreographed scene where I really love the beautiful choreography. Especially that first uninterrupted scene, with the female ouroboros constantly assaulting O&P with the first notes of weight of life playing in the background is just so beautiful. The sheer power that exudes from O&P just seconds before the annihilation effect starts, and then Noah and Mio REMOVING A PIECE OF LAND USING LUCKY 7, just to get them away from the annihilation event. This revelation also sort of allows me to think a bit deeper about the nature of the ouroboros time limit. Cause I feel like this time limit can be explained simply by thinking through the effects of an annihilation event. So, like an annihilation event is simply a reaction similar to the idea of annihilation we can see in quantum mechanics. Matter and antimatter collide and vanish. So, like ouroboros and moebius grow from their core. So, I feel like their core is the fused state of the interlink. So, Noah and Mio, Eunie and Taion, Lanz and Sena, D&J etc. This core is an overlap between Agnian and Kevesi matter and sustains a construct, the sustaining of this construct takes energy, energy which would be needed to keep the core stable and an annihilation event at bay. But then it gets too much. The energy is expended, and then it gets too much. Which leads to it drawing in the fog and an annihilation event taking place. Or at least that’s how it feels like. I mean I do not know quantum mechanics, but I feel like this is a possible explanation for the time limit that I have thought way too much about.

The seeing off of Cammuravi and ethel is also beautiful which is great imo just another beautiful way of life performance.

Kevesi castle region is cool, I like the castle, too many bottomless pits, but yeah, I like it. Also, it contains my favorite hero in the game Ashera. I love her colony and her story. Hell in the one piece of fanfiction I’ve written as of today in this fandom is partially about Ashera, or at least contains her as a perspective, and I really like her character. Especially how her entire persona is a bit of a façade for the truly damaged soul that lives behind it, especially her fear of dying at her homecoming.   Which wow, I’m also going to be frank she’s the main hero I’ve used throughout the game. Cause you know I am a sucker for the big damage numbers that she brings. But yeah, Ashera is one of my favorite characters and I really like her relationship with Eunie, I am not sure if I consider them a friend or relationship, but I just really like their relationship in general whether it be romantic or platonic. Also, like said earlier, I really just like her character and the references she makes to imo the best character from XC1. I really do hope that she’s a good sister to panacea outside of Aionios.

The castle infiltration is imo pretty cool, especially the getting in, the fighting through the soldiers and then. A second encounter with DJ. I like the second DJ fight, it feels cool. And I love how Eunie tries to overcome her own trauma and fears, or more specifically how she utilizes her trauma and fear and behavior that D expects from her as a weapon to make DJ underestimate her and how she eventually manages to overtake him. I really like this fight ok. Also, Mythrakid suspect number one is just a villain I love to hate.

I love the bait and switch of the annihilator seeming to be the climax of the chapter, but then pulling the rug from underneath you and then throwing you into a battle with the Kevesi Queen, best girl of the first game MELIA motherfucking ANTIQUA. And wow, just wow. I remembered being panicked and having a feeling of holy shit we’re fighting her now. Last year when I first played the game, keeping in mind that I expected there to be 10 chapters instead of 7, but now I can recognize it as the midpoint of the game and in that sense, I love the battle. And the music the fucking music. I remembered reading around release that people compared it to the music from souls and now having played the games and defeated gale in 5 attempts, I do have to say that yeah it fits. False queens are one of the most foreboding and intense battle themes in the game.  This combined with the first in many revelations about the true nature of the cycle of life in Aionios is just wow. I love this game. But that’s it for this chapter and just like the ouroboros escaped the Castle I will now be escaping to.

Chapter 5: Eclipse

This chapter contains some of the most iconic moments that are found in this game imo. First off, we get the reveal of the city and the reactions that the party has to the “true nature of the world” or something like that. And wow the scene with the baby is just so moving it’s so cute and adorable, I love how Taion just fucking melts, and I like the comedy that comes from A Eunie’s afterward seeming obsession with babies and B knowing that Riku most likely got a bit lost in character during that scene, or he has never seen a Homs birth and Nopon births are even weirder than we can possibly imagine.

The city also can be a bit shadier I feel like than it at first seems to be. Cause I really feel like that’s important to take in mind. This is a society in which the fact of life is that procreation is expected and necessary, cause Shania’s whole deal is definitely an example of the shit that the city would likely put people through, or at least the people who live there put others through. Cause I feel like you know the city is but one place, and less populous than it was in its first incarnation. And as can be taken from the fact that everyone looks like a baseline human / homs implies that a lot of “breeding” has taken place to make everyone so homogenized. Especially because of the diversity that can be seen at the liberator base in FR.

Speaking of FR, we due to that have also the confirmation that the lady Masha, the second dlc hero, is descendent of the one and only ZEKE VON GENBU BRINGER OF CHAOS WIELDER OF THE PURPLE LIGHTNING DREAM SMASHER GRANTED TO HIM BY HIS BELOVED LIFE PARTNER AND COMPANION PANDORIA AND THEIR PET TURTERS. So yes, we can therefore sort of confirm that being a theater kid may or may not be genetically hereditary, in spite of how serious and borderline dour Linka can be, I haven’t completed every quest in FR yet shame on me indeed. But yeah, I like the gameplay and behavior of Masha she’s a very fun borderline ojousama archetype, which is one of my fav archetypes, who’s also skilled in her craft. Also, I really like using her class, and her model is just amazing just wow. Also, it hits a few of the archetypes that I like. But yeah, I enjoy her character a lot. And like said earlier I love playing her class because it can be a lot of broken fun, I mean not as broken as an l7 based flash fencer build, I used it I do not apologize. But still very fun.

Another hero I gained access to at this point was Monica, she gave me one of the final keys necessary to fully break the game. Smash as an art. Usable in chain attacks. After this I just managed to break the game.

But yeah, the Cadensia region it’s pretty cool, lots of water so yeah there’s that. We need a boat. Like stated earlier, I dislike the boat controls, but I do love the overhaul that this game has made to water based combat by actually allowing the player to fight while submerged in water. But yeah, the Cadensia region, being one of the largest single maps in the entire game is fucking enormous and imma be real I like it. It feels nicely balanced between the marshes of the great sword base and the large open Erythia sea with its many islands. Only real issue I have is that some islands are a pain to navigate, e.g., Daedal Isle. But overall Cadensia cool, also I like the upgraded ship theme, but the original ship theme is better.

I do enjoy the steps involved in getting to the Li Garte Prison Camp and I like that it is not as easy as 1 2 3 boom completed. Such as infiltrating the radar base and having to attain some more geological data.

While drifting, maybe at night and while being carried by the waves, one may encounter an island where one can see the mighty colony 15 stride across. I like the pirate theming of colony 15 it feels different from the other colonies, although this has to do with the dementia grandpa that’s T(riton). I like how this quest shows the playful and childlike nature of Moebius from the perspective of the one good consul who is so old that he has grown past his murderous and childlike glee and is now just looking for equals. And I really like how T chooses to aid Ouroboros despite them being natural enemies. I’m even more confused as to why Z allows him to still use his powers, although that’s likely explained by him making that so because it amuses him. Anyways I like t and I prefer his create your own op class mechanic over the complicated tiger tiger addiction inducing mess that is Poppi qtπ, even though I do have my own minor gripes with the skill upgrading system, more specifically the borderline ludicrous requirements to fully level every art and skill. I also, however, love the fact that Eunie has to ask permission to punch him and the fact that Noah grants it.

The other colony with an unusual moebius would be colony Mu, I do love the minor mystery revolving round the identity of the consul and where the flame clock is placed. Also, I love mu’s Ferronis design and how it harkens to Raijin, I think? But yeah, I like mu and Fiona’s class is also broken as fuck. Also, mu contains the best NPC Nico, who is the girl that I am referring to in this sentence yup that is her Nico, she’s cute. Or well one of the cuter characters in the game. Just like Fiona. I like how her entire story is revolved around both: oh god Irma’s the consul and oh god how will I deal with the fact that Irma is dead. Also, if I’ve read it right there are also some self worth issues involved? I’m going to be frank I don’t have a really good grasp on her character, I like her dynamic with Lanz however it Is very cute, just like her nicknames.

Also this is where the first side stories and ascension quests really start opening up, I think at least with the ascension quests, which I am going to cover, not going to deal with the ascension quests, because I only completed like 4 of them and I can quickly summarize my views on them I think.

Ethel: see Cammuravi.

Valdi: I remember thinking it was fun but am also somewhat confused as to why they didn’t make the completion ­of Dorin the ascension.

Zeon: Spongy spuds. That is all.

Teach: I like the reveal of his past as Oleg and it recontextualizes his speech about maelstroms of power.

Riku & Manana: Manana gets a better pot, I mainly remember it because you need to complete it for the 7 legendary Smithpon.

Gray: like how this quest shows more examples of dissent in the city, the role that gray plays in keeping the peace and his bond with his wife Rozana.

Alexandria: I like how this entire quest is about the secrets that Dame Alex has while also adding some complexity to the mix.

Ino: This quest Is just sheer Nopon hilarity, and I love the Xenoblade 2 callback, also as an aside I am highly disappointed that it wasn’t a red pollen orb. I was actively saddened by this, and this impacted my day very negatively.

Isurd: I like his quest also I feel it is interesting how the entire quest is basically Karōshi prevention. Dude needs some hot springs.

Juniper: I like how this quest deals with the manipulation of the consul of the colony. Also, I like Juniper. Hope Kite at least has the chance with them.

Ashera: Depression hidden behind a layer of suicidal aggression. One of the beset side quests for one of the best heroes imo.

Monica: That one dude is a Milf hunter, and I appreciate his dedication.

Masha: I like how this gives more insight into the somewhat more depressing lives of the lost numbers and their desire to be remembered or leave memories behind.

Fiona: This one deals with the secrets of Irma and how Fiona struggles to reconcile with them I like it.

Triton: dementia grandpa has dementia, it is not funny, it actually is kind of funny, but also just somewhat sad. However also “…Just one.”

Ghondor: this one’s ok, not much to it. I do like the Tirkins, I actually really like how this game tries to humanize the Tirkins way more.

Miyabi: cooking. It is fun. Nothing to add really. Oh yeah finding the ingredients is a pain if I remembered it correctly.

Cammuravi: this is not a quest, this is 4-5 cutscenes stitched together.

Segiri: I don’t remember too much from this one, but I am sad that you have to kill her sister.

But leaving those behind we get to the first side stories.

Eunie is an interesting inspection of the system of colony ranks and gives more insight into how much the system is rigged to kill the soldiers in Aionios and allow the Moebius to harvest their life. I also like how the game uses this quest to follow up on Eunie finding her own husk on the ruins of that battlefield, and also explains as to why that happened. But yeah, this one’s cool and I also like that it gives a part of the spotlight to Brolearis.  What I don’t get however is why the spark is this required to fight X in origin. Like seriously why? That does not make any goddamn sense. Monolithsoft, I love the games that you develop but its choices like this which keep me up at night.

Lanz his side story is also excellent in that it allows him to deal with the demons of his past while also foreshadowing the clock fuckery that Y commits later I the game. I also feel like it is an excellent showcase of his character growth up until this point, with him realizing that there’s more to life than just fighting.

The Li Garte Prison Camp section and Ghondor. I do like this section and feel that it is interesting in how it uses frustrating and repetitive quests to keep the player in a constant state of numbness and boredom in order to simulate the experience of being imprisoned there. As for Ghondor I wonder could you call the quests surrounding the camp her hero quest by technicality because you get her after completing the quests. Idfk. But back to the topic I do like Ghondor. Yes, she’s a foul mouthed midget who could punch my lights out for saying that, but I do like her softer moments such as the fondness she has for her mother’s cooking and her friendship with sena and the way in which she forgives Shania. Yeah, she’s a little bastard, but I feel that her heart’s in the right place. Her class is ok, I don’t mind playing it, but I don’t agree with the talent art, due to me preferring spammy builds. 

When it comes to the escape portion of the chapter, I do not think that I have words enough to describe just how perfect this entire piece is. The constant tension regarding M & N the mystery they present, the beautifully executed foreshadowing, the beautiful and amazing M remixes of the moebius themes, the beautiful choreography in one of the most impressive long takes I’ve seen in a game, and the sheer despair of the prison. The fact that the vocal song is used to display the sheer hopelessness of the situation and how almost everything Mio says takes on a double meaning when you realize that it is M speaking. The excruciatingly tearjerkingly beautiful tones of a life sent on blaring as M is coming home and the amazing voice acting from Harry McEntire. I cannot put into words just the sheer excellence of this sequence which once again brought tears to my eyes and left me distraught in ways I seldom experience. I have no funny jokes or quips here, just hats off to the sheer excellence of this section.

Chapter 6: Choices

I’ve also got nothing but praise for the beginning part of this chapter. The reveal of n’s past the fact that he destroyed the city to revive Mio, Future Redeemed makes it more complicated but sticking to the main game here, the turning of the tables, n’s breakdown, the battle against N, the unsheathing of lucky 7 leading to even more brokenness, the battle against the Agnian queen, the bait and switch with he city, Shania’s suicide, hopes rest the destruction of hope’s rest. Just wow I have so much good things to say about this part that I feel like I can’t even put it into words, so I’ll leave it to holy fuck this is impressive.

Captocorn peaks are ok in comparison to the peak of the other snow areas, Valak, Tantal, the black mountains Captocorn is ok, not excellent but ok. What I do like however is the hero quests that are found in this region. So, let’s talk about them.

First off let’s get going with Mio’s side story / the Miyabi fun hour. This infodumps the information that we could glance from the first Kevesi and Agnian ouroboros fusions, A Miyabi was once Mio’s friend, B Miyabi is dead. I also like the presence of Y in this quest and how the thing that beats him is the flutes. BECAUSE FLUTES RULE BABY, in this case at least. A thing that however confuses me is the fact that only at this point do they introduce the burst mechanic through a tutorial which is weird seeing as the player could have used burst way earlier in the game if they got Teach. But anyway, that’s besides the point, I also however like that this is another point I can add to the reincarnation cycle is imperfect agenda.

Cammuravi’s hero quest is somewhat interesting in how it is somewhat about the revival of Cammuravi and showcases the consequences of his resurrection. Also, him remembering Ethel, having his left eye damaged and still hurting from the self inflicted harm. Also, I really like his mantra and how he calms himself using it. Also, his fear of heights is extremely relatable.

But with those done I can now deal with the most complicated to access hero quest in the game which is of course Segiri’s inhumanity.  While I do have to say that I love the fact that it is payoff from something that happened most likely 25 hours ago. But I do feel like however that the fact that it is so confusing to access is annoying, and dislike how it is so easy to miss this quest. Because of that This is the only, non postgame exclusive, hero quest I did in the postgame the first time around.

The entire Cloudkeep section is pretty good. I got emotional when drifting soul started playing, I was surprised by the fact that they actually had the balls to kill Nia so soon after she was reintroduced, I liked the final brawl with DJ, the first time we get to fight D and J separated, the conclusion to Joran’s tale and Lanz’s arc, the reveal / reminder that Nia’s a Flesh Eater blade and therefore unkillable except if her core’s damaged. While I do agree that the later parts of Xenoblade 3 are weaker than the earlier ones I still feel that this is as good as the earlier parts.

Chapter 7: Time Moves Again

The same can be said for chapter 7, except when it comes to the fetch quest, I fully agree that almost every part of the fetch quest is just not that great. Except, for the final part. Noah’s side story is an interesting look into Noah and Crys. What makes this side story so interesting is at least to me very interesting in how it approaches the fact that Crys became a moebius. What I find the most fascinating however is his disconnect from Moebius as a whole. Whereas most did it to venge on those who harmed them or to simply enjoy their new lease on life to the fullest, Crys choose to reincarnate because he wanted to meet Noah once again. And I love how in a sense Crys is just testing Noah to see if he’s right in his points. Or at least to hear his song once more. And I feel that that is interesting, especially with the implications that he’s so miserable in the cycle that he chooses to commit suicide either through self harm or by cop. Which is just wow. This is pretty interesting stuff.

And now the other side stories which I completed around this point of time. Taion’s side story is pretty good in how it follows up to the earlier mentions of Isurd wanting Taion to bury the watch of Nimue there. I also like how this shows how like colony Tau there can be nontraditional colonies even though this one’s only nontraditional due to the defunct flame clock. I also like how he uses his tactics to beat the moebius and I think that his choice not to reveal Nimue that he knew her at this point. Overall, a great side story.

And now we get to side story Sena Ghondor, sorry that was not a funny joke. But yeah, Sena’s side story is one of the shorter ones and one of the darkest I feel like in how it fully deals with the character of Shania her becoming S and the trauma that led to her becoming S. I think that Shania’s character truly is intriguing. Especially in how the emotional abuse committed by her mother leads to her breaking down and eventually betraying the city. I think that Shania truly is a fascinating character and I’m sad for her that she never really had anything that gave her even the remote possibility of a good upbringing, with a mother who’s like the nightmare tiger mom, Ghondor not having the best tact in trying to encourage her, and the fact that she gets brought back as a Moebius. This last part is truly depressing to me. The fact that Shania who joined the side of Moebius in order to have a chance to enter the eternal now as a soldier, to be able to have multiple shots at life, to be free from the shackles of expectation, becomes a creature imprisoned by even stricter constraints than her old life. I lowkey feel like her choice to assault the city was not one made to appease her new master Z, but one made because she knew that it would fail. What I’m implying here is then is that like multiple other characters in the story I feel like this is Shania attempting suicide by cop. And she succeeds. It also adds another point to my “the city is actually not such a great place” agenda which I will discuss later. Ultimately every single one of the side stories is interesting and fun in how it further explores the messed-up corners of the hellscape that calls itself Aionios.

The assault on Origin feels like, at least to me, a way better worked out version of what the assault on the life hold could have been, except in this case it is to destroy a place instead of defending it. But yeah, Origin is in a sense an even more over the top version of the Lifehold core. The aesthetic of the area the length, making it feel like a true journey to reach the core, and THE MUSIC. All combine to make origin at least to me the best final dungeon in this entire series. I will not elaborate on this further because I feel like I’ve already made my point as to why I feel this way.

The showdown with N in the prison of eternity is amazing. The removal of his Moebius title, the fact that one of the most beautiful battle themes is playing during this fight, the sheer beauty of Harry McEntire’s voice acting here and just wow. I fucking love this fight so much. The sheer beauty of it is just amazing. Really a shame that the chain attack theme interrupts it. Really wish we would’ve gotten that toggle, oh well.

The battles with X and Y are just there, I find it weird how you can just walk away from their dissolving corpses. They should’ve at least had a cutscene commemorating their defeat and death, or were they too inconsequential to receive one despite this being their final outing? I do not get it, these are the choices that befuddle me Monolith soft.

And now at the end I’m going to give some of my thoughts on Z and moebius. Maybe a hot take but Z is a great antagonist and the fact that they lack any depth and are uninteresting and shallow with their motivation and how they interact feels at least to me like a stroke of genius. Because they are not human, they do not have any motivations, they are just a blob of emotion, and what destroys them is not killing them but rather two moebius, two of his victims, creatures that are made as the fear of the unknown future manifest, choose to accept the unknown future and the unpredictability that it brings. And to be frank I love this. And just moebius in general what others may see as complaints I feel like are choices that have been made intentionally to showcase the sole facts of their existence. They are cruel, they only want to have fun, and they enjoy the fleeting pleasure of pursuing their ephemeral fun.  Not planning for what comes ahead, just eternally living in the moment, unsustainably pursuing the pleasure of ending lives and the joy that comes with snuffing out flames. And that makes them, at least to me, just terrifying, at least when you think about it a bit. They are a group of man children who have been given near omnipotent powers by their demiurge leader, and all they do with it is torture and play with those they once may have considered as friends. Or to put it shortly “Absolute power corrupts Absolutely.” Also, as an aside I think that thematically they are a better demiurge than Zanza, might elaborate on this later down the line if I ever feel like it.

And now we get to the final battle. And in my opinion one of the most spectacular final bosses that this entire series has seen up until now. While yes alpha has an amazing fight, Lao Chimera is a brilliant horrifying design, Zanza, is iconic and the final duel with Malos at the end of Torna is just amazing with how it recontextualizes the chain attack mechanic. I do have to say that I prefer the showdown with Z. Their entire presence in the game Is just exquisite and amazing and I love how they don’t go down like a chump. Their fight is comparable to the final boss of p3 and like that boss I love it for how long it is. Because it makes achieving victory feel like a true test of both your skills and endurance while it also makes the fight more memorable. I love that when they are beaten in the first phase, they just become this abstract face and mess of emotions because that is cool and an interesting way to showcase their personification of fear, how they change their face to reflect facets of the protagonists, I love this fight. I, however, do agree that it is complete bullshit and that it is annoying that they can just one-shot you at certain times. Due to time constraints related to me writing this piece I eventually just used the bonus Exp I had accrued to boost myself by 10 levels and just gank them just to get done on time. It wasn’t that easy, but it still really alleviated the stress of the fight.

But that was Z the Omega to Alpha’s, uhm well Alpha. The end to this trilogy. And wow. I’m going to be frank here when I rewatched this entire ending section for the first time in a year just a few days ago I was just shocked at rewatching this beautiful piece. I love how Noah throws away lucky 7 figuratively declaring his intentions to never fight again, I love the reveal of that one picture, I cried when I saw Poppi emerge from the ether furnace, I feel like that was an ether furnace, and the beauty of where we belong. Which like many other things in this game is I feel like the best version in the entire series, in this case being the ending credits songs. Its just so hauntingly sad while also being so fucking heartwarming so filled with hope and so filled with sadness. I don’t have any words to fully describe the beauty of this ending. I just love it. God, I love this game.

And then the post credits scene comes along. Which is a great return to, and continuation of, the first cutscene and then the first hint that all will be alright. Which FR will eventually confirm. But that is not something we will discuss today. However now we will continue to.

Chapter EX: assorted thoughts.

As I’ve hopefully already made clear in this piece, I really fucking love this game. I have a few issues, but I still feel like it is one of the best experiences I’ve ever had while playing a game. I do also have a final headcanon and some small insights to make which I here now wish to share.

First off you may have noticed that I have avoided saying certain things relating to Z namely I feel like Z has no gender, which is due to a certain hypothesis I have let me explain. First off X Y and Z feel like mirrors to the trinity processor units. The idea here is that because Z was the first, they based themselves on data they could find and what was the architecture of origin based around: The Ontos core. Ontos was meant as the balance between Pneuma and Logos, therefore Ontos has no gender, thus I feel like if Z did indeed base themselves on Ontos that they would also not have any possible gender. Then in that same sense X and Y could be based on the idea that Ontos was meant as a mediator between Pneuma and Logos and thus they created X and Y two moebius that while not acting as the balance to, do feel like polar opposites, one seeming to be a young girl who enjoys fighting, the other being an older man who talks in almost Miltonian cadence and style. There’s also what the TV tropes page puts on their page which could, at least in my opinion, strengthen these parallels between the trinity processor and the true moebius, which I will quote here.

“Suspiciously Similar Substitute: The original three Moebius, being born from Origin itself, share similarities to the three Cores forming the Trinity Processor that powers the Conduit:

X is one to Pneuma, a.k.a. Mythra. The two of them have the personalities of Bratty Teenage Daughters, serve as a foil towards whoever they're working alongside, be it Rex or Shania, and of their trios, the two perform the most direct work in the frontlines, whereas the rest of their trio take more of a backseat.

Y is one to Logos, a.k.a. Malos. Both are incredibly hammy villains, rely on technology to get their jobs done for them, and cause the most direct damage to their respective worlds of Alrest and Aionios, especially when compared to the people they directly work for.

Z is one to Ontos, a.k.a. Alvis. Although Z isn't actually a god like Alvis is, they were both the central Cores of the devices that created them, have absolute control over their worlds without anyone but their closest subordinates realizing it, and often get people to work for them simply by having conversations with them.”

And now for some overall points about the game.

This game has some of the best combat in the series, only being surpassed by Future Redeemed which is also amazing but I also feel like simplifies the combat too much, I do prefer the bond points system to the soul points or level based unlocks of the main game.

This game’s Ost is just amazing. I have many songs I really enjoy but I feel like every song with the moebius leitmotif, not counting the moebius battle themes because those are on another level entirely, almost automatically becomes one of my favorites due to how creatively and just great each variation is. If I had to rank my 5* (*way more than 5) favorite songs they would prolly be 1: moebius battle (all variations) 2: all songs containing the Moebius leitmotif, 3: carrying the weight of life, 4: the false queens, and 5: Kevesi battle.

The eclipse homecoming is one of the most well executed scenes of pure fucking despair I’ve ever seen in a game.

The art style and world are just amazing, and it truly feels large, in a sense even larger than X at least to me, that game feels kind of small after obtaining a Skell.

The challenge mode is ok and while I haven’t played too much of the gauntlet mode, I do feel like it could be pretty fun.

Also, as a final aside I like the detail of filth and grime buildup on clothes which can both be erased through washing your clothes and through swimming in water, but I also like that certain regions have higher buildup of dust and resin and such. This is way too detailed for a game like this and I love it, I mean by this that this is an amount of detail that you normally don’t see in JRPGs.

And I feel like that’s all there is to say about Xenoblade 3, within the constraints of having written this in 3 days due to my own issues with managing my time and having to compromise on my original vision in which I would have attempted a 100% playthrough. But yeah, I hope that if you did read this entire almost 12000 words long piece you at least enjoyed it. This is the first time I’ve actually written such a piece, and also the longest piece I’ve ever written, and the first time I’m posting something on this platform. But I hope that you’ve enjoyed reading this. Also, if I’m allowed a minor bit of shameless self promotion, I’ve also uploaded a fanfic today to celebrate the 1 year anniversary of the game which you can find here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/48958873. You don’t have to read it, but you could. Anyways thank you for reading and have a wonderful day.

[le-trash-prince]

I appreciate the vision behind this scene, but the execution is not doing it for me, personally.

I think a big part of it is just the sound mixing (that noticeable difference in volume between the characters voices was pretty jarring) and maybe my own audio processing issues because a lot of the voiceovers in this ep kind of confused me. I couldn’t always tell it was a voiceover rather than a character speaking from offscreen—I might not be calibrated to the sound of these actors voices enough to distinguish between their voices? That can take a while to happen for me (The same goes for faces GOD I spent so much brain power this episode trying to learn everyone’s faces and names its no wonder I just ended up staring at the throw pillows). But maybe there’s a standard voiceover cue that’s missing here.

Anyways I recognize that part of this might be a Me problem, but also the bad Japanese 😭😭😭 I was reeling the whole time AHDJGKFSH I have to wonder if the assumption is that the target audience would have a basic enough familiarity with hentai to get what was happening with the language switch, since there weren’t any subtitles at all. And since it’s a voiceover with no lip movement I have to wonder if Deaf/HOH viewers even realized there was dialogue happening to begin with?

Still, I respect the vision. I feel like Zouey is trying to process having sex through a lens that he’s comfortable with. I just didn’t particularly enjoy it. Regardless, this is a scene I will never forget.

It’s interesting because, sexually speaking, I think I’m a lot like Zouey? I don’t want to be touched, and I’d rather look at 2D and have more detached fantasies. And yet I don’t find myself very attached to him as a character at all. There’s no “he’s just like me fr” click. Mostly I’m just glad I didn’t have friends who tried to pressure me into having sex because oh my god just let the man jack off to his hentai.

I will probably give episode two a try, just to see if I need time to warm up to these characters, but I’m not holding out on this being a series that I stick with, since I don’t really have anything to latch onto right now.

[constantvariations]

V9C7

I am postponing writing a very delicious scene so y’all better appreciate this ;P

Post Ep: these last 3 eps are going to be carrying so much weight but at least we might be working towards Ruby’s decaying arc

Okay, totally random thought while I was watching the OP (I always watch OPs unless they’re particularly awful. It’s a compulsion idk) but I think it’d be hella cool if the blacksmith was Alyx. Whether the real Alyx isn’t the one who made it out or she came back for whatever reason (not dying ever is appealing to some, I hear), it’d be a neat twist

I’m not into 3d animation, so I can’t say a whole lot, but are the textures supposed to be this... weird? Last episode I said Jaune’s house looked like a ps2 game and it just keeps going

“I’m late! I’m late!” Okay, that’s a decent Alice in Wonderland nod. Not overdone or wink wonked, which can be annoying to those who don’t know the joke (man, I should watch Shrek again. The first two movies are masterpieces)

Wait, was that a dammit? Jaune canonically swears now. Huh

“Right on time.” It’s obviously not a time loop so what does this mean? Did the time fruit do more than just send him back in time but gave him even more of a spotlight in Wonderland? He’s a rusted knight, he’s the white rabbit, he’s murbling like he’s the mad hatter; what next, is he gonna be Jesus?

“Hurry! People are counting on us.” Uhhh people counted on you to fight the jabberwock and y’all bailed like frightened horses. I wouldn’t count on you with my fingers, much less my life

PAPER TOWNS MY BELOATHED

Okay, so we’re being hit yet again with the “what are you” question, which wouldn’t be weird if it wasn’t just our protags being bombarded with it. Surely there are some critters who venture over into new areas? Or perhaps new life occurs every now and again? The repetition has been annoying for a while, but it’s venturing into just plain silly “-so that we may serve you.” What. Why. Kill me

While I do like the designs of the paper stars, I’m really not digging the vibes. Sorry stars, you will never be the plupples from the Hot Daga

“Paper pleasers” I hate that I actually like that pun

Why is the team reacting so negatively to the stars being named after them? That’s genuinely fucking sad. Yet another instance of the show zooming by actual trauma for a cheap gag

Dude has spent who know how many years without a genuine personal connection, has been spending that time exploring the area and gaining its people’s trust, AND has shared his home with these people, yet when they talk to him about anything Wonderland related, they act like he’s saying he’s going to make them into shoes or something while having the audacity to be disappointed that he doesn’t have a solid lead on getting out. These girls are deplorable

Why are RWBY so lackluster about doing literal life-saving tasks while Jaune follows a hunch? You’re Hunters, that’s your job. Quit acting like life in Wonderland is beneath you because you don’t understand it jfc

I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many different visual styles in a single show before. There’s the standard 3d, the color silhouettes (solid and textured), some microsoft paint scribbles, a few 2d stills, and now this children’s book style. Feels like an identity crisis

I understand Jaune’s perception of the tree, but I really don’t like how he overrides the autonomy of the villagers. If they’re literally willing to self-mutilate in order to leave, that’s probably a sign that you should let them go

Love how Weiss’s interest in Jaune disappears the moment he shows signs of mental illness. Gives me the warm and fuzzies *smash cut to me barfing in a dumpster*

“Because I can actually protect these people!” That is definitely a response to trauma that fits well with this narrative. Let’s see how MKEK fuck it up!

Jaune kills 2 jabbers in like 0.0003 seconds. Why in the everloving fuck did y’all have to run before?

I’m just realizing this is the first fight I’ve actually paid attention to. No idea why, but every fight previous my eyes have just glazed over. But I gotta say, I think the camera is way too close to the action. There’s definitely some interesting choreography going on but it’s hard to get a grasp on where everyone is at any point, and the bland environment isn’t helping. Go watch John Wick for some pointers

Unsure as to why Ruby is a) the only one apparently traumatized to the point of nearly 180-ing her character and b) why it’s specifically Crescent Rose/combat that triggers her. MKEK know how to throw bones but they can’t dish out any real substance

Someone please give that creature a cough drop or something because I cannot understand a word this fucker says

I thought Neo’s semblance was illusions? Pretty sure it’s called Imagination, which definitely implies it’s not a physical shifting ability. So, if the jabber-Neo had taken a bite of Ruby, would that mean Neo is chomping down? Would Ruby get stabbed with semblance glass? Or did the writers forget their own rules again?

ONCE A FUCKING GAIN WE ARE INTERRUPTED LITERALLY IN THE MIDDLE OF SOMEONE ASKING IF RUBY IS OKAY. WE ARE SEVEN EPISODES INTO A TEN EPISODE SEASON GET THE FUCK ON WITH IT

This “don’t ask me because I’m a leader” bit is really strange coming right off the several minute conversation about finding leads to getting home where not one person even looked at Ruby. Like, this was a request for supporting a platitude not a demand for a plan

“Why do I have to be the one to always pick people up?” First of all, no one asked you to, so jot that down. Second of all, bitch you have never been the sole sally sunshine, nor were you the only one helping others with emotions. Yang picked up Blake in V2, Jaune reassured YOU back in V4, Weiss talked to Yang in V5, Qrow comforted YOU in V7 and his main source of kindness was Clover (rip good boy). You’ve had your moments but don’t act like you’re the only one pulling emotional weight

Also, this voice acting is making me laugh I cannot take this seriously whatsoever

Why in the hickory dickory fuck is Blake hiding behind Yang and YANG WHY ARE YOU ACTING LIKE YOUR SISTER IS A FUCKING THREAT

In this scenario, it does make sense why Jaune’s the one who snaps, but holy cannoli batman I cannot stop thinking about how much better Yang would’ve been in this position, especially after the group split in V8. Sure, that conflict was contrite to begin with and its resolution unmemorable (did it even resolve? I’m not subjecting myself to V8 again), but it’d be so much spicier if the family divide grew in absence

Skipping right past Ruby’s breakdown to focus on Jaune’s. Huzzah. At least his is more interesting and grounded than hers

Genuinely impressed with Luna’s voice here. Dude should go bananas more often

I am once again asking if the team knows about Penny or if Jaune’s been keeping that juicy bit to himself. The way the camera focused on his mouth made it seem like he was about to confess, but it was a tease. I got narrative blue balls over here man, get on with it

Wasn’t it usually Yang who tried for positivity in dark times? Or did that get left at Beacon too? Blake’s supposed to be the realist, which maybe that’s what she was trying to do here but considering her track record I doubt it

And R leaves WBY behind! Please let this mean we can FINALLY focus on her shit and not cut away from it? And they better bring the cat back or Else

[miles-edgewords]

ABOUT ME

AKA Actual Introduction Post Because It Just Came To My Attention That I Never Actually Made One

art/writing account: @pebblepoet

original (non-repost) post tag: #milesrambles

i’m an adult; i don’t post anything over PG-13 on this blog but i know some people prefer to be aware. <3

Fandoms

(Except they get increasingly more… not)

- Gravity Falls

- Hades

- Carmen Sandiego

- Ace Attorney

- Trigun Stampede

- Over the Garden Wall

- Dimension 20: Fantasy High

- Promare

- MCD (i currently have the tag blocked tho bc i haven’t finished it yet)

- Undertale (I got into it very late 😔)

- Sally Face

- Lackadaisy

- Nimona

- Minecraft Story Mode (cringe is dead fight me)

- Dan and Phil (again cringe is dead but also please respect people’s boundaries, if you’re publicly posting creepy/invasive stuff I will block you. This isn’t directed at anyone specifically but I feel like I need to say it upfront because uh. some of y’all scare me)

- Markiplier (i wasn’t there for unus annus so i’m making up for it by binging all of his videos /hj)

- Cinema Therapy (do they have a fandom? I hope so)

- Danganronpa V1 and V2 but less plot and more “i stole these characters they’re mine now”

- Groundhog Day (the musical specifically)

- Sneakers (remember that nerd movie from 1992? no? well too bad I’m telling you about it anyway)

- Wargames (you know how the people who made the previously-mentioned nerd movie made a different movie 10 years earlier called wargames which ultimately inspired the creators to take an interest in whitehat hackers which eventually resulted in the creation of sneakers? no? well too bad, you know the drill)

- The True Meaning of Smekday (THE ANIMATED MOVIE DOES NOT DO IT JUSTICE I WILL PERISH ON THIS HILL)

- The Lifeline Games but specifically the Taylor ones

- Brennan Lee Mulligan (just. In general)

- Whatever it’s called when you have not consumed a single piece of media from a fandom but you know more about it than some of the fans because you have a friend who’s really into it and you like listening to their opinions/theories. (ie. I have watched playthroughs of Poppy Playtime and FNAF and I have enjoyed them by proxy)

Theatre

Roles I’ve played & other stuff I’ve done in theatre (not counting anything I did in school because there would be way too many well-technically’s):

- Karnak / SABM art lead (Ride the Cyclone, Stone Soup Theatre Co.)

- Hanz* / Sailor (Cabaret, Stone Soup Theatre Co.)

- Lead puppet designer / puppet constructor / Pig 1 / Milky White Titty Committee** (Into the Woods, Stone Soup Theatre Co.

- Part of Christmas Future / Man 1 / Marley’s makeup, hair, and OHGODTHESECHAINSARE70POUNDSIMACTUALLYGONNADIEFORREAL manager (A Christmas Carol, Center Theatre Co.)

- Shakespeare’s Valet (Something Rotten! Stone Soup Theatre Co.)

*This was one of my favorite roles to play and I still don’t know if it’s meant to be spelled with a “z” or if our director just made a typo. Hans? Hanz? Hanzsz?

**Milky White’s udders kept falling off. It was a Whole Thing.

Hobbies

As an aspiring jack of all trades, I have a running list of hobbies which range from “I’m really bad at this but I have tried it and am familiar with it” to “I am Really Good at this Thing”. Here are all of those, in no particular order (to avoid personal bias, I will not be ranking which of these I’m best at. Feel free to guess though! I’m also happy to elaborate on any of them— I just don’t generally know how skilled I am in a broad sense.)

- Poetry

- Fanfiction

- Novel-writing

- Other writing-related activities

- Digital art

- 2D & 3D animation

- Traditional art (I like markers and pens a lot)

- D&D

- Painting D&D miniatures

- Violin

- Piano

- Singing

- Acting

- Guitar (and related instruments)

- Pennywhistle

- Origami

- Cross-stitch

- Comic writing/illustration

- Journaling

- Gaming

- Listening to Every Genre of Music Ever

- Attempting to take care of houseplants

- Space/astronomy

TO REITERATE, BECAUSE IT TOOK ME FOREVER TO GET THIS THROUGH MY HEAD. I AM NOT “GOOD” AT ALL OF THESE THINGS THEY ARE JUST THINGS I DO AND THAT IS NORMAL AND OKAY. HOBBIES DO NOT HAVE TO BE MONETIZABLE IN ORDER TO BE HOBBIES. IN FACT THAT’S LIKE THE SELLING POINT OF HOBBIES. I’M SORRY I DID NOT MEAN TO YELL THIS MUCH.

So uh

Yeah that’s me

Thank you for reading I will be updating this probably more often than I should

[daisyachain]

When consuming works in translation or even cross-cultural works in the same language, your standard midwestern white US reader (and more broadly your standard anglophone) is going to bring their own cultural structures and impose them externally on the work no matter what. This is the weeb blog so we all know what I’m talking about.

One specific example of this is the way that white/anglophone/US cultural consumers treat male ‘femininity’. In US culture, it’s a truth universally known (by girls) that girls like a girly guy or at least that the male figure most attractive to female consumers (who make up the majority of the audience for fiction in the US whether or not they’re considered as such by marketing teams) is a figure that they can relate to. The floppy boy band member, the middle aged man with cooking skills, whatever. US/Anglo standards of masculinity are also bizarrely tilted towards performance. SoCal-type standard US culture is as misogynist as any other culture (ie it’s misogynist), it’s just that this misogyny has its own flavour of expressing itself. Everywhere does.

In the broad anglo milieu, any hint of personal grooming, self-awareness, shyness, emotivity, or non-ripped physique is interpreted as feminine. The skinny boy band member, the jeans-wearing metrosexual, the vegetarian, the fat kid who hangs out with the girls in gym class because that’s the path that is least likely to end in physical assault. These are all sissies. The merest lack of sufficient beer-n-bacon posturing is taken for wearing a pride flag. By US standards, a non-muscled man who wears even slightly fashionable clothes is [twelve year old boy voice] gayyyyyy. The standard homophobic gay stereotype is a finger-fluttering peacock who can’t stand to chip a nail.

Go over to eg Japanese culture (most commonly consumed works in translation in the US), the stereotype is completely different. The archetypical male heterosexual romantic lead isn’t a sleeve-busting hunk, it’s a skinny, floppy, long-haired guy with delicate fingers and sparkling eyes. The homophobic stereotype is a muscle-bound thick-jawed mascara-wearer. This doesn’t mean that the bishounen/ikemen archetype is necessarily considered feminine. On the contrary, it’s another masculine ideal. No one in the US could possibly (in the public imagination) aspire to be a patterned-tie fashionista unless he’s gay or foreign. But, overseas, the reserved and cutting-edge fashion-conscious man is revered as an object of female desire.

Well it’s not quite as clean cut as all that but you get what I’m saying. You can see it in the translation of ‘ikemen’ to ‘pretty boy’. The original just means ‘a hot guy’ the other is a homophobic insult 90% of the time, but English really doesn’t have an equivalent term. Also why 00s weebs just referred to ‘bishies’, it’s because there’s no English term for it that isn’t in some way homophobic. I’ve seen ‘hottie’ used as a translation as well, but that’s got its own baggage as it’s exclusively a term associated with women’s speech, so it doesn’t make sense to have male characters refer to it without coming off as overtly gay.

So that brings us to: it’s a common misinterpretation for the bishounen/ikemen characters or presentations to be read as ‘gay’ by a US audience. Viz. BTS fandom and haters, shippers, etc. This is because there’s no real equivalent to this concept in the US without homophobic overtones. The closest you might possibly get is ‘boy band member’, but that also has oodles of homophobia as all of us who were there for the Bieber era remember. Rather than ice-cold idols of female worship, the US interpretation of a bishounen is of a girly guy.

Except, we’ve gotten to the point where US consumption and regurgitation of foreign cultural tropes has is on its third or fourth cycle. People are now instantly imitating their favourite art as it comes out with the help of the internet. LoTR shows up in JJK. RWBY gets a mediocre 2D anime. And League, famous for being the midpoint of US cultural context and East Asian cultural influence, puts up promotional material for the character Hwei. Who seems to be made to fit into the line of bishounen characters that have been coming out of the League design factory (Aphelios, Viego, Sett, some Ezreal skins) but who doesn’t belong there at all and instead comes out as a startlingly straightforward (hah) design for a femme gay character

[oh-katsuki]

yk it probably isn’t fair of me to compare the two studios in the first place... since they’re both REALLY good in their own right and their accomplishments can overlap without affecting that... but i just am REALLY interested in the distinct visual styles between studios. 

like this is kind of off topic but take the difference in jigokuraku and chainsaw man (two series animated by mappa). chainsaw man falls into an animation style category that mappa does REALLY well (similar to what jujutsu kaisen looks like aside from a few differences in art style from the mangaka). it’s really REALLY obvious that that style is what mappa’s animators are most suited towards.. ambient lighting (usually not harsh or over-stylized) with thin line work that gives the impression of weight and depth (the author of blue flag uses a similar style). jigokuraku, however, plays up on a more animated style and though it looks good (and im thoroughly enjoying the show), it’s clearly not the style mappa is most geared towards creating. 

now i say all of this, but the truth is it could just be budget issues or schedule issues (things that mappa struggles with because of the volume of it’s shows and the size of it’s studio). still, the studio’s visual style is incredibly obvious and you can tell when it’s animating in one that it excels at and you can tell at a glance which studio animated those shows simply based on the animation and lighting style.

demon slayer, however, borrows more of it’s style from the mangaka than i’d say chainsaw man or jujutsu kaisen does (jigokuraku excluded). ufotable uses thick lines that actually accentuates the two dimensionality of it’s characters, without sacrificing the illusion of depth and weight. then, to make it more believable, it puts it’s characters into some 3D animated spaces, which suddenly transforms a very 2D character into something that moves through the space of it’s dimension. in season three of demon slayer, ufotable does this INCREDIBLY well. mappa rarely plays up on the actual 2D quality of it’s characters. 

all of this to say that they’re both two great studios (though mappa has some issues with it’s scheduling and work load that i think is obvious just from tracking the way they announce and put out work) with two different strengths. ufotable (from what i’ve seen) plays up on the two dimensionality of it’s series without losing believability or animation quality, whereas mappa tends to want to make you believe what’s happening through certain semi-realistic design choices (it’s lighting probably being the most obvious). 

i’m not really sure what im getting at here, but it’s something i like to notice when i’m watching multiple shows by the same studio. 

[itsavgbltpta]

Should You Watch Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury?

(Japanese title: Kidou Senshi Gundam: Suisei no Majo)

A Brief Summary

Humanity made it to space and set up colonies, leaving earth a bit worse off and struggling for resources.  The colonies are run by companies (3 large ones making up most of the power) all under the umbrella of one man.  One man with a daughter -Miorine Rembran - that is tired of being used as a political tool and wants to run away to earth.

Instead she’s stuck at a school where students learn to pilot and service mobile suits.  At the school, Miorine is used as a prize where the top duelist is assigned as her fiancé - which would lead to a lot of political power after a marriage goes through.  Everything gets turned upside down when a pilot from Mercury - Suletta Mercury - takes the crown at the academy.  Suletta’s “mobile suit” looks a little different from everyone else’s.  It looks a lot like a forbidden Gundam.  This leads to a lot of corporate warfare that affects all of the colonies and Earth.

So, should you watch the anime?

Yes, especially if you enjoy mecha anime or Gundam in general.

Seeing 2D mecha in anime is always a nice treat.  3D can be fun, but I’m an older fan, and I will always appreciate 2D work more.  The mobile suit and Gundam designs in Witch from Mercury are interesting, but none of them really struck my fancy.  I blame this on Gundam Wing being my gateway Gundam - those designs were fire.  I can only really remember what Suletta’s Gundam looks like when trying to picture the different designs in Witch from Mercury, but your mileage may vary on that depending on what kind of mobile suit designs you enjoy.

The plot-line/story likes to hint at bigger picture issues, with the adults playing at power grabs on a corporate level while the students play for power via the duel system at the school.  This would be fine, but then, through the power of plot, the students at the school become a corporation that greatly affects the adult world.  The fact they let kids handle such power is both admirable (let the kids learn how to work in the real world), but also dumb as hell (let the kids wreck the economy just because).  I might have been happier if the kids stuck to the duels only, or if the duels were used more often in the corporate struggles.  But it still kind of worked and was more coherent than some previous Gundam plots.

The Gundam franchise is going through a weird period where they are releasing very classic Gundam shows for the older hardcore fans (Unicorn/Hathaway), toyetic shows for the kids to buy merch (Build Divers), and some more experimental shows to try and get a new generation of audience into Gundam (IBO, and now Witch from Mercury).  

It’s interesting that the newest shows in that final category both play with non-typical Gundam relationship dynamics.  IBO had a focus on mostly male characters and even featured some (marginally) healthy polyamory.  Witch from Mercury went the Utena route and decided on duels and a main female couple (even if the company won’t actually admit the canonicity of said couple).  Good on Gundam for trying to widen their horizons for audience appeal.

Unfortunately for me, I didn’t like either of the main female characters.  I will freely admit it’s my own personal taste, as others really enjoyed them (or so the internet would lead me to believe).  But Suletta was a little too dumb, and Miorine was a little too tsundere for me to actually gel with them and care about their character arcs.  The one exception to this is the final episode of the first arc (episode 12) - which I will not spoil - but sadly nothing cool came out of Suletta’s slight change of character after that moment.

On the plus side, there are other characters in the show - including:

A classic self-absorbed asshole who thinks he’s the best at first, but after a lot of hardship ends up becoming a changed and better man —and who also happens to be my favorite character in the entire show (Guel Jeterk).

A plot-spoiler-if-I-say-too-much student who sometimes acts cold and cruel, other times acts like a suave playboy, and all the times seems to get attached to the wrong women (Elan Ceres).

The “it’s Gundam so we need a character in a mask” mother of Suletta that is a little too smug and always seems to have the right answer…to help herself (Prospera Mercury).

A downtrodden Earther who is a genius mechanic, but somewhat of a doormat who has trouble standing up for herself (Nika Nanaura).

A young Earther with a few screws loose who goes from wanting to be Suletta’s cute little sister to wanting to kill people at the drop of a hat (Sophie Pulone).

A mercenary lady who has her fingers in a lot of information pies but seems willing to help Miorine out when she needs it (Jun Feng).

A childhood friend of Miorine who puts out a princely air and always seems to have a plan, which leads him to being generally calm and collected even when things don’t go his way (Shaddiq Zenelli).

Plus a whole heap more supporting characters that are tied to one house/faction or another.  So even if you’re like me and don’t enjoy the main characters, there will be someone to like in Gundam: Witch from Mercury.

Where does it rate on my personal scale?

S: I will buy it at full price (unless it’s released by Aniplex USA, because fuck their pricing).

A: I will buy it on sale sometime down the line.

->B: I had fun watching it, but don’t need to own it.

C: It’s not my cup of tea, but wasn’t awful.

D: Dropped it.

X: Finished it out of spite, but did not enjoy it.

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury ends up at a solid B.  It wasn’t a show I eagerly looked forward to each week, but episodes did not fail to entertain me for 24 minutes at a time.  I hear gunpla sales of the Mercury crew have been selling like hotcakes, so it looks like Gundam is hopefully back on track for a new generation of fans to keep watching and buying.  I’ll keep sticking around too, though I don’t really feel the need to add G-Witch to my physical collection.