#Infinite worlds|Sword Art Online

[infinitexmuses-archive]

@worldly-diversity asked: "You're the strongest person I know." || Kirito to Asuna 404 Meme not Found

"Hyah!" The familiar voice broke out. The noise of a sword and then a creature falling to the ground to its death. The same sound of the beast shattering into an infinite number of pieces as the health bar reached its lowest point screeching into the ears of the two. The last one that was in the area until more spawned in, for the time being, leaving an awkward noise of silence that had rang throughout the area.

With a quiet breath, Asuna found herself moving to sheath her weapon, putting a hand up to her head as she did so. It had been quite a long night, and overall, she found herself moreso exhausted than anything else. Trying to figure out the answer to the puzzle offered to them, unsure of what exactly needed to be done, yet it seemed as if options were running low. There were only a few more things they could try to get something... Anything to happen in this area.

'You're the strongest person I know.'

She found herself blinking when she realized that had been said to her, causing her to turn her head back toward the other with a small huff and smile along with it. "You're one to talk, don't you think? It's like you haven't broken a sweat after all of that." After all, given everything that'd gone through together, she could definitely say the same thing right back to him.

"Come on, let's get to a safe area and log off. I'm sure you need something to eat in the real world after spending so long in the game today."

[infinitexmuses-m]

@worldly-diversity​ asked: "I'm… sorry for not telling you before." || Kirito to Sachi A meme (Too lazy to tag rn)  

“It... It’s okay.” She felt herself go quiet, lips pursing. She knew that there were many things she had never been told, nor did she expect to ever be told them. She wasn’t the strongest, and to be told things would lead to problems in the future for him, she was certain. It still hurt, but...

“Has everything been going well?. . .” She was. . . Genuinely curious.

[mattapparentlystumbltourneys]

BRACKET REVEAL

Alright. At long last, I present to you the bracket...or should I say...*BRACKETS* for the Virtual Character Tournament!

Given the scale, the first round is going to be one bracket per week, 4 a day, with each lasting 24 hours. I know that this is still tight, but given how many contestants there are, along with the necessary inclusions of images and propaganda (oh and I guess also my job), it's what I can do to keep this semi-manageable. There's also no redemption round this time. It's gonna be a single elimination tournament. Be kind to your peers. This is not but a drop in the infinite ocean of the internet.

...oh yeah the brackets themselves. We'll be going in order over the course of 4 weeks. I'll make proper announcements for them as they commence. Given how many there are and what I want to get done beforehand, Bracket 1 will likely begin some time this week. But for the matchups...

Bracket 1:

Hatsune Miku (Vocaloid) vs. Elohim (The Talos Principle)

Flame (Yu-Gi-Oh! VRains) vs. The Supervisor/Mouthless (Tenkuu Shinpan)

XANA (Code Lyoko) vs. MetalMan.EXE (Mega Man Battle Network)

9-Jack-9 (Zot!) vs Poppy Pipopapo (Kamen Rider Ex Aid)

Sage (Sonic Frontiers) vs Mektryllis (Fate/Extra CCC)

Dot Matrix (Reboot) vs V Flower (Vocaloid)

Wizardmon (Digimon) vs Delta (Red Vs. Blue)

Sora (Ever17) vs Kasane Teto (UTAU)

The Doctor/EMH (Star Trek Voyager) vs Crash (Awful Hospital)

Burroughs (Shin Megami Tensei IV) vs Quorra (Tron Legacy)

The Machine (Person of Interest) vs The Rocket Dex (Pokemon)

P03 (Inscription) vs. M.X.E.S (FNAF Security Breach: Ruins)

Hakuno Kishinami (Fate/EXTRA) vs Data Riku (Kingdom Hearts)

Samaritan (Person of Interest) vs ART (The Murderbot Diaries)

Cortana (Halo) vs M-Bot (Skyward)

Mitsuko Miyazumi (Archer) vs Ritsu (Assassination Classroom)

Bracket B:

Ene (Kagerou Project) vs The Thunderhead (Arc of a Scythe)

Amadeus (Steins; Gate 0) vs D.O.M (The Adventure Zone)

AM (I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream) vs Theo (Meta Runner)

Colonel.EXE (Mega Man Battle Network) vs Daia (Kiratto PriChan)

Agumon (Digimon) vs The Bobbiedots (FNAF Fazbear Frights)

Felix the Desktop Cat (Real Life) vs SHODAN (System Shock)

MegaMan.EXE (Mega Man Battle Network) vs Church (Red vs. Blue)

Shepherd (ENA) vs Dr. Coomer (Half Life VR But the AI is Self-Aware)

Sophie/Sophia (Persona 5 Strikers) vs Dizzy (Beyblade)

Miss J/SCP 5094 (SCP) vs Ultraman X (Ultraman X)

SAYU (No Straight Roads) vs Falulu (Pripara)

Incarceron (Incarceron) vs Benry (Half Life VR but the AI is Self-Aware)

Lea (Crosscode) vs Kiracchu (Kiratto PriChan)

Dragon (Prahumans) vs Murder-Bot 2.0 (The Murderbot Diaries)

Ai (Yu-Gi-Oh! VRains) vs Glitch Slime (Slime Rancher)

Eris (Wolf 359) vs Monika (Doki Doki Literature Club)

Bracket III:

Hera (Wolf 359) vs Shin AI (Your Turn to Die)

Alba (Star Twinkle Pretty Cure) vs The Denpa Men (The Denpa Men)

Guy (Free Guy) vs EDI (Mass Effect)

Aetna (Lore Olympus) vs Yui (Sword Art Online)

Nicole the Holo-Lynx (Archie Sonic) vs Gabumon (Digimon)

Jacqueline Box (Pripara) vs Mamechi (Tamagotchi)

Vanellope von Shweetz (Wreck-It Ralph) vs Cleverbot (Real Life)

The Phantom Virus (Scooby-Doo) vs Chiaki Nanami (Danganronpa)

Alter Ego (Danganronpa) vs Digit (Cyberchase)

Simulcast (Reflection TTRPG) vs SARA (Toonami)

Lumina Ichihoshi (Dig Delight Direct Drive DJ) vs The World Machine (OneShot)

Rumble McSkirmish (Gravity Falls) vs Holly (Red Dwarf)

HAL 9000 (2001: A Space Odyssey) vs Samantha (Her)

PAMA (Minecraft Story Mode) vs Noah Kaiba (Yu-Gi-Oh!)

Agent Smith (The Matrix) vs O.R.C.A (Splatoon)

Spunc (Alpha Betas) vs Porygon (Pokemon)

Bracket Delta:

GIFanny (Gravity Falls) vs Coco (Aikatsu Friends)

Vic Fontaine (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) vs Red One (The Last Angel)

Glitchtrap (FNAF Help Wanted) vs Holo (My Holo Love)

Avina (Mass Effect) vs Light Hope (She-Ra)

Motherboard (Cyberchase) vs Aya (Green Lantern: The Animated Series)

Bonzi Buddy (Real Life) vs Tama (AI The Somnium Files)

Dragon (Worm) vs Bip (Runway to the Stars)

Failsafe (Destiny) vs J.A.R.V.I.S (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

Aiba (AI: The Somnium Files) vs CanHaz (DC Comics)

SAYER (SAYER) vs Fey (Welcome to Night Vale)

Buddy (Buddy Simulator 1984) vs Ziggy (Quantum Leap)

Maggy (Hellspark) vs The Squip (Be More Chill)

Lyla (Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse) vs Durandal (Marathon)

Beta Jay 137 (Ninjago) vs Zero III (Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward)

Sergey Ushanka (The Magnus Archines) vs Demetra (Spy Kids 3: GAME OVER)

Alie (The 100) vs Lil' Hal (Homestuck)

As always, thank you for bearing with me during this long and arduous process. Sorry for the hassle, and be prepared, as it is almost upon us.

[weaselandfriends]

The Making Of: Cleveland Quixotic

I. Context

After I finished Chicago in 2019, a powerful and persistent fatigue gripped me: the fabled "burnout." The next two years would be the least productive of my literate life. As one day ebbed into the next, I wondered if I would ever be able to write again. I thought of Andrew Hussie, who, after years of feverish activity on Homestuck, seemed now capable of only short spurts of creation, heavily assisted by amanuenses.

It wasn't an issue of knowing what to write. I had been developing the idea for Cockatiel x Chameleon since 2015. I knew its plot, characters, scenes, themes. But when I tried to manifest it into reality I felt drained. What I managed to scrawl was junk, far below my standards. Goaded by a lurking terror of infinite lassitude, I forced myself to blurt 60,000 words of an initial draft; loathing it, I scrapped it entirely.

That was when I got the idea to write a "fun" story.

My vision for Cockatiel x Chameleon was technically complex and emotionally demanding. Maybe something simpler, a straightforward adventure, would be a stepping stone to recovery. I thought back to Fargo, which I had written (unlike most of my works) with relative ease and minimal forethought. How could I emulate that experience? What made Fargo so easy compared to Chicago and Cockatiel x Chameleon?

After reflection, I concluded that Fargo was, at its core, a revenge story. Revenge stories are older than dinosaur dirt. They are fundamental to human experience, easily understood, all structure inherent in their premise. The hero, wronged, seeks revenge on the villain. From that sentence alone you understand the protagonist's motivation and the plot's direction: trending inexorably toward final confrontation. With such a powerful core, it'd been easy to add details and complications to Fargo as they popped into my head, without warping the story's innate trajectory.

If I wanted another "easy" writing experience, I decided, I needed a similar type of story. Something with a clear premise that removes the burden of planning. A "template plot," where beginning/middle/end is fundamentally present and the writer merely adds their own spin. It took little time to think of such a story type. After all, it had been ubiquitous in Japanese media for the past decade. Not only was it popular with readers, it was appealing to amateur authors; many of its biggest examples originated as web fiction.

I decided I would write an isekai.

II. The Isekai Genre

A person from the real world is transported to a fantasy world.

Not quite as old as the revenge story. Nonetheless, this narrative concept has existed for over 100 years. The premise immediately informs the challenges the protagonist will encounter. They will adapt to a world they know little about, introduce knowledge from modern Earth society, and rise in power and prominence. Toss in a Demon King hellbent on world domination and you get a clear narrative climax. The details can be changed nearly any way without issue.

(Or so I thought.)

In retrospect, I myself was being transported to a new world. If we ignore The Chronicles of Narnia or The Pagemaster or Digimon Adventure and focus solely on the contemporary isekai genre (say 2012 on), which is what I intended to emulate, my experience extended to only the following titles:

1. Sword Art Online

2. Log Horizon

3. No Game No Life

4. The Saga of Tanya the Evil (or Youjo Senki)

5. KonoSuba

This is not only a pitiful sample size, but a specifically poor representation of the genre. Sword Art Online and Log Horizon exist in their own subgenre—trapped in a video game—and have many oddities unseen in more traditional isekai. No Game No Life and Tanya the Evil are "real" isekais, but both have unique worlds that eschew most traditional fantasy elements (especially in Tanya's case). And KonoSuba is a parody.

Nonetheless, I felt that, via cultural osmosis, I "understood" the isekai genre. Based on a few video essays I once watched that roasted dreck like Trapped in Another World with a Smartphone, and reverse engineering KonoSuba's parody, I conceived an impression of isekai as wish fulfillment: A loser gets another chance at life, often with some boon to ensure they don't muck it up this time. They become the hero, triumph with their strength and modern intelligence, and meet lots of attractive women.

I smirked. Heh, I thought. What if I made an isekai... that wasn't wish fulfillment! Truly novel. Let us take the premise of KonoSuba—a benevolent god gives a loser a second chance in a fantasy world—and turn it on its head. Instead of a benevolent god, what if the main character was sent by... a devil? The loser protagonist makes a Faustian bargain to become a hero. They get exactly what they wish for, except they're still a loser at heart, and inevitably bungle everything due to their own social incompetence.

That was the flashpoint. Ideas came together quickly, exactly as I hoped. Soon I had a narrative. It went like this:

III. The Original Idea

Our protagonist is a bumbling failure who lives with his mother. One day he sees an advertisement for a devil's wish-granting service. Being a fan of isekai anime, he goes to the devil and wishes to be sent to another world, one where he'll be the most powerful person. The devil, a sleek and professional businesswoman, agrees to the unusual wish, but pushes the work of actually creating the world to an overstressed, chain-smoking intern. The intern cobbles the world together in a matter of hours and our protagonist embarks on his journey.

He arrives to find the human kingdom besieged by the Demon King's army. The humans are outnumbered; total defeat is imminent. Just as he wished, though, the protagonist possesses incredible power. He charges into the fray, destroys the demon army singlehandedly in instants, and slays the Demon King himself soon after. The protagonist enters the human kingdom hailed as a hero.

Soon, the Human King emerges from his castle to express his immense gratitude. He offers the hero anything, including his daughter's hand in marriage. The hero takes one look at the princess―named either Mayfair or Viviendre, I wasn't sure which―sees she is exceedingly beautiful, and eagerly agrees. He's gotten exactly what he always wanted!

Unbeknownst to him, the king is a schemer. Advised by two strange beings—the rotund fairy Tetzel and the living plant Tintoretto—the king believes the hero is too popular; the people would side with him if he sought the throne. The king offers his daughter not in goodwill but to tie the hero to his side. His ultimate goal is to control the hero's power to imperialistically expand his kingdom.

Meanwhile, the princess has her own schemes. She's a lesbian and has zero intention of sleeping with the hero. In a comic scene, she gives the hero excuse after excuse why they can't sleep in the same bed despite being married; the hero naively buys it. Eventually he catches on, but while he's upset by the situation, he's too morally upstanding to do anything but accept it. (This would be a recurring theme: The hero could use his strength to force people to do what he wanted, but constantly shirks from doing so because he refuses to act in a way unbecoming of a hero. His morality and desires exist in a constant state of push and pull.)

Eventually, the hero and his wife compete for the affections of various female characters, with the wife always winning. Temporary the elf was part of this subplot: A dimwitted ambassador to be competitively wooed. To keep the hero sated, his wife buys him a female slave to use "as he likes." The hero, possessed of modern anti-slavery sensibilities, is appalled. He instantly frees the slave girl and enters a crusade to abolish slavery in the kingdom. Unfortunately, because he is not particularly smart, when he debates the slaveowners over the evils of slavery they routinely trounce him (using many arguments real-world slaveowners once used). Again, he could use his incredible power to kill the slaveowners, but they're law-abiding members of society. Murdering them would be "immoral" in the hero's eyes despite his staunch belief in the immorality of their actions.

Around this time, the hero finally uses his power for something good and sends gold back home to his financially poor mother. Unfortunately, this charitable act also goes awry when his sister, an IRS agent, thinks his disappearance is a ploy to evade taxes. She gathers a posse: her coworker boyfriend, his two friends (I called them Aaron Van Zandt and Allen Van Langevelde, envisioning an American Psycho vibe), and a private detective. Using security camera footage they track the protagonist's last known movements to a dingy apartment building, where they find the overworked devil intern who created the world and force him to send them there too.

They roll out in a huge SUV: Five people plus the hapless intern, armed with guns and equipment. The king, not wishing to lose the hero, decides he must intercept them before the hero learns of their existence. In a big setpiece-style scene reminiscent of Children of Men, a horde of knights ambush the SUV on a forest road. Arrows fly through the front windshield, killing the boyfriend (passenger seat) with an arrow to the neck and wounding Aaron Van Zandt (driver). The SUV crashes into a tree and the sister flees on foot, followed by Allen Van Langevelde, who has barely spoken before then but who now reveals themselves to be a badass marksman as they dispatch knight after knight with efficient hunting rifle shots. The private detective is wounded in the leg and forced to remain behind, while the devil intern cowers in the backseat. Aaron Van Zandt limps out of the driver's seat and attempts to follow Van Langevelde, but a knight on horseback rushes past him and knocks him down a steep incline, where he smashes his head on a rock and seemingly dies.

The knights surround the vehicle. The private detective fights back, but is overwhelmed and killed. The devil intern is captured to be burned at the stake later. The sister and Van Langevelde escape on foot, but without the intern, they can't leave the world. They need to rescue him before he is executed. Meanwhile, Van Zandt, clinging to life, is discovered by fairies and brought to their court.

And then...

IV. The Problem

And then I got stuck.

First, it should be clear by now that I did not actually have a plot. I had a series of incidents, loosely organized. Vaguely I knew the main character would work to overcome his social ineptitude and ultimately truly succeed, accomplishing the character growth his get-rich-quick Faustian bargain could never provide. But nothing came together in a coherent structure. Despite my intention to stick to a template plot, I instantly destroyed the template by killing the Demon King in the first chapter. I still had character conflicts and ideas to pursue, but no actual story.

Plus, the main character being a loser made him—well, a loser. Even if he eventually grew, he still ate shit again and again before vanishing entirely from the big action setpiece.

So my original idea of quickly and easily constructing an isekai plot hit a roadblock. Luckily, it was now 2021. After two idle years my fatigue seeped slowly out of me. Finally I regained my energy; I no longer needed to write a "fun" story. I decided to shelve the isekai, potentially permanently, and worked on Cockatiel x Chameleon in earnest.

This time, the draft of Cockatiel x Chameleon―which would be the final draft―progressed acceptably. It consumed my entire focus and I might not have thought about the isekai at all if not for two hiccups. First, though I now had the mental willpower to technically execute my ideas, the emotionally intense material of Cockatiel x Chameleon still left me sometimes wistfully longing for a story not quite so bleak and harrowing. Second, I revisited the isekai genre.

V. The Isekai Genre, Part 2

The anime analysis YouTuber Ygg Studio (formerly known as Digibro) posted a video called Is Mushoku Tensei The Most Influential Isekai? (History of Isekai) that outlined the isekai genre's chronology in Japanese pop media. Watching the video, I discovered some surprising origins to the "contemporary" isekai genre. Though there were many isekai stories―even popular ones―before, the current isekai craze seemingly began in 2012 on a Japanese webfic site called syosetsu.com, where several popular isekai were written in close temporal proximity to one another.

The main titles of note were Re:Zero and Mushoku Tensei—followed by KonoSuba, which was specifically a parody of Mushoku Tensei, instead of (as I once believed) a general cultural conception of isekai. In fact, it was these three works that created the current cultural conception, establishing many now obligatory tropes.

So, I decided to watch Re:Zero and Mushoku Tensei.

I was shocked! As it turned out, my clever and subversive idea―treating the hero as the loser he was instead of as a wish fulfillment badass―had not only already been done, it was foundational to the genre! Both works feature loser protagonists whose social ineptitude constantly causes problems for them despite their cheat mode powers. Both protagonists are forced to develop as people rather than rely on their advantages, and the development of their relationships with the other characters is a crucial consideration of both works.

As it turned out, Trapped in Another World with a Smartphone (which I also haven't seen) wasn't the beginning and end of the genre. I had underestimated isekai. In retrospect, the languid existence of my 2019 and 2020 led to me ironically attempting the same cheap wish fulfillment of my imagined isekai protagonist. I wanted a "fun," "quick," "easy" story and intended to use isekai for that purpose, the same way an isekai protagonist assumes being sent to another world is an easy way to becoming a hero.

It was time to return to the planning stage. This time, I wouldn't take things for granted.

VI. The Original Idea, Part 2

First, I revisited my protagonist. Originally an afterthought: a punching bag who failed whenever he exhibited any agency. I decided on another direction. My hero wouldn't be a loser by incompetence, but by choice. He would be clever and intelligent, but unwilling to apply himself. He wanted a new world because the original didn't seem worth it; too rigid, too structured, too immune to change. His journey would be discovering it wasn't the world holding him back, but himself. Believing nothing could be changed, he stopped himself from changing. Thus, Jay Waringcrane came into existence.

Earlier ideas were remixed around this new protagonist. I merged the devil boss lady and the devil intern into a single character, a semi-hapless sort for Jay to outwit. That was Perfidia Bal Berith. The hero's sister, whose subplot originally lacked any connection to him, now became a foil to his ideology. She exhibited utter faith in the "real world"—its mechanisms, its processes—and applied herself diligently to maintenance of its status quo. That was Shannon Waringcrane.

Still needed a plot. Since my hero was no longer a social bumbler, I discarded the original beginning where he annihilates the Demon King's army and toyed with a new idea. The human kingdom, besieged by the Demon King's army, becomes aware via prophecy that a hero is about to appear in their world. The king sends a party led by the gallant prince to find the hero and bring him safely to the kingdom. When Jay arrives, he meets the prince and his crew, but they are immediately beset by demons, who kill most of the party and grievously wound the prince. Jay, the dying prince, and the sole other survivor―a taciturn, dark-skinned mage named Viviendre who is secretly the prince's lover―barely escape. The prince succumbs to his wounds shortly afterward, leading to an emotionally-charged moment in which Viviendre laments his death and blames Jay for causing it. Leading to an adversarial relationship between Jay and Viviendre that, after much character development, would eventually turn into romance.

Then Jay would lead the kingdom against the Demon King, constituting the main plot.

This idea improved on the previous in several ways: exciting start, high drama, and a long-term goal. However, as I became more engrossed in this project, I came to dislike the "default fantasy world" I'd used as my setting thus far. When my goal was "quick and easy," the Dragon Quest-inspired medieval fantasy tropes sufficed. Now, they struck me as banal. In particular, a generic "Demon King" villain disinterested me (which was why I summarily disposed of them in the idea's first iteration), so even if it outlined a clear direction, it wasn't a direction that enthralled. I realized that to continue, I needed to do some worldbuilding.

VII. Worldbuilding

I dislike worldbuilding.

I prefer the real world―or the real world distorted by urban fantasy and surrealism―to an entirely fictitious fantasy world. In writing an isekai, I had wanted to maintain the connection between the real world and fantasy world (hence why one of my earliest ideas was for Shannon and her cadre to follow Jay in a modern vehicle with modern weapons). But by relying on stock fantasy tropes, I only exacerbated the core issue. I decided to think deeply about my setting and design it to both stand out and clearly relate to our world.

To determine a deeper connection between fantasy and related, I pondered the historical development of the fantasy genre, from chivalric romance to Tolkien. (I collected my thoughts into this essay.) Tracing this lineage, I considered writing a fantasy world modeled on Arthurian and Carolingian romance. Then I took the idea deeper. Much of the early modern fantasy genre, up to and even to an extent including Tolkien, was rooted in nostalgia for an imagined and idealized past. Many pre-Tolkien fantasy works were born out of Victorian fascination with medieval Europe, as evidenced by the Waverley novels by Sir Walter Scott, the Arthurian poems of Lord Tennyson, and the paintings of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. The original isekai, Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, parodied this idealized medievalism (Twain blaming Walter Scott specifically for the genteel Southern culture that propagated slavery and rendered the Civil War inevitable).

Then I realized that, 200 years before this nineteenth-century craze, there was another major literary work that parodied excessive love of chivalric romance: Don Quixote.

As soon as I made that connection, everything clicked. Rather than Perfidia whipping up a new fantasy world on demand, she would reuse one she created in the 1600s for a Don Quixote-esque figure. Rather than Spanish, my Don Quixote would be British, a royalist in the English Civil War seeking escapism in face of the collapse of monarchy. Pursuing standard chivalric romance activities, he would overthrow a corrupt Catholic church analog, slay a few dragons, and war against a Pagan nation that he later converted to Christianity.

What happened to this world 400 years after Don Quixote used it as his playground? I imagined the ex-Pagan nation a vassal to the Christian nation, while secretly plotting an uprising. Don Quixote's descendants, legitimate or illegitimate, grasping to maintain control in face of their weakening bloodline. Dragons hunted to extinction. A stasis that prevented sweeping change without the intercession of a true human, yet gripped by slow decay. Prayers cast for a new hero to save them from this stupor.

I also wondered how the Christians of this world reckoned with a Christianity whose foundational text is clearly meant for a different world entirely. While Don Quixote's scion, still ruler, promoted the religion uncritically to maintain their grip on the culture, underground grew a nihilist cult that believed nobody in their world was saved, that Christ died on Earth and thus only cleansed Earth's sins. All of this intermixed with the same historical devolutionary forces that ended feudalism and gave rise to mercantile oligarchy.

That was the world Jay Waringcrane entered. A world rife with thematic potential. Finally, a plot was forming.

VIII. Starting the Story

This last stretch of planning happened quickly. (Evidenced by traces of the earlier idea remaining in Cockatiel x Chameleon, specifically in the brief descriptions of the in-universe isekai from which Temporary the elf hails.) Rather than fight a Demon King, Jay's mission would be more chivalric in nature; he would rescue a princess from the evil wizard who led the heretical cult. Liking my earlier idea about the princess who first seemed like an ordinary damsel but turned out to ulterior motives, I decided for an end-of-arc twist where the princess secretly worked with the cult all along. Thus, Princess Mayfair came into existence. For the evil wizard, I reused one of the original king's advisors, the living plant.

The gallant prince and his secret lover from the second iteration returned as Jay's companions, although I changed the lover from a mage to a ranger. Shannon would still pursue Jay, but I merged Van Zandt and Van Langevelde into a single character named Wendell Noh and cut the private detective entirely, giving the sleuthing job to Shannon's boyfriend, Dalt Swaino. I rearranged the big action setpiece where Shannon's group meets disaster: Instead of fighting knights, they would fight a dragon, and this time, Jay would be involved.

After that, keeping with the chivalric romance aesthetic, I threw some faeries into the mix (I love faeries): the obnoxious Olliebollen, who would play off the more sullen Jay, and Flanz-le-Flore, a mid-arc complication. I also decided to make the cult members monstrous demi-humans with magic powers; the Christian anathema against magic must necessarily make it actively corrupting in this world run on Christian precepts.

On top of these plans, several long-term ideas already bubbled: The eventual introduction of the devil world, Sansaime's pregnancy, Viviendre, a battle with elves, Mayfair uniting the two worlds. The ideas flowed one after another now that I established a solid base. Sketchy outlines of the full story stood limned in the distance. I was ready to write.

I decided the work would be published serially at a one-chapter-per-week pace, identical to Fargo and Chicago. That decision was baked directly into my original desire to write a "fun" story. With a serial work, there is less burden of technical execution; the focus is on a fluid pace with regular updates instead of unimpeachable prose. Furthermore, serial writing lends itself to story speculation as readers comment every week, turning the work into a collaborative experience. Some readers of Chicago have told me that the reviews on fanfiction.net are an integral part of the experience, for instance.

When I post serial works, I first build up a "backlog." Essentially, that means I write several chapters ahead of what I'm posting online. The backlog ensures I can regularly post chapters even if one chapter takes longer to write than usual. (I can generally write a 6,000- to 7,000-word chapter in one week.) For this work, I decided to complete four chapters before posting the first. This generous backlog allowed me to post the entire first arc weekly, without a break prior to the climactic chapter that took two weeks to write.

When establishing the backlog, I also gave myself more time than usual to edit, which allowed me to polish the beginning for a better first impression. I meticulously pruned the first chapter to make the dialogue between Perfidia and Jay as snappy as possible while also minimizing exposition. (Originally, Perfidia explained the Seven Princes and their increased quotas in an internal monologue, since I knew they would become important much later in the story, but I cut it for streamlining purposes.) Additionally, I spent a long time deciding when Chapter 2 would end and Chapter 3 would begin; originally, the scene at the beginning of Chapter 3 was at the end of Chapter 2, but I moved it because it better matched the tone and scope of the third chapter. Olliebollen was originally far more in-your-face obnoxious; I toned them down. Lastly, I added the part in Chapter 4 where Jay remembers being beat up by Shannon's past boyfriend, which not only hinted at a soon-to-be-introduced major character, but gave Jay a reasonable chip on his shoulder to cause friction between him and Makepeace.

With four chapters completed, I was ready to post. Almost. I still needed a title. The entire time I operated only thinking of the story as "my isekai story." Thinking long and hard, I came up with titles such as American Isekai, The Waringcranes, 144k Angels, and—my personal favorite—Hellbrowned, the last of which I was strongly advised not to use by every single person I know.

(Side note: Setting the story in Cleveland had been an easy decision. It's such a funny city, taking Detroit's tragic Rust Belt decay and removing all grandeur. The Jon Bois video The Browns Live in Hell and the famous Hastily Made Cleveland Tourism Video sum it up neatly. Setting the story in 2017, the same year the Browns infamously went winless, was also a snap decision.)

Finally, I thought back to Don Quixote, the impetus for much of the worldbuilding, and the title revealed itself.

IX. Writing the Story

Because of my fast-paced schedule, I lacked the luxury to make major changes to my plans as I wrote. I started with a plan for the first arc and scattered ideas for the future. As I wrote the first arc, I planned the second, and as I wrote the second, I planned the third.

Room remained for tweaks, though. Each time I write a story, I try to do at least one thing outside my technical repertoire. This time, I wanted more flexibility in my characters. I usually only introduce the bare minimum necessary, and aggressively cut or merge characters to reduce the total number. In Cockatiel x Chameleon, however, some commentators criticized how the Consortium's limited number of characters gave the impression it was as dead and empty as Harper's real life. While that impression doesn't necessarily conflict with the story, it did expose limitations to my economical approach.

I dislike having limitations. (Unfortunately I have many.) Thus, I decided to write more characters whose storylines were not plotted from the onset, characters I would develop spontaneously as the story progressed.

An example is Lalum. I introduced Lalum in Chapter 5 as an enemy with a unique power for Jay to fight. Zero subsequent intent for her at the time. Then I realized her power would interact well with Flanz-le-Flore's, so I kept her around for that fight as well. When Lalum is attacked in the Flanz-le-Flore fight, I was 50/50 on whether she would live or die. However, a friend reading the story really liked her and wanted her to live, and I realized it might streamline the plot if someone was around to point Shannon and her crew in Jay's direction.

Having spared Lalum from death twice, and also conceptualizing more concretely the second arc—including Viviendre's role in it—I decided I had a use for Lalum after all. I conceived of Viviendre and Lalum being foils, envisioning their eventual confrontation in the last arc. Thus, Lalum went from monster-of-the-week to major character. To a lesser extent, characters like Theovora were introduced offhandedly, and while they did not become major characters, I found small uses for them later.

Speaking of Viviendre, that was another challenge for myself. With her, I wrote something I wouldn't normally: A romance. Cockatiel x Chameleon, believe it or not, was originally intended to be a straightforward romance, but I found myself incapable of writing one and pivoted to its current direction. Nestled within the sprawling undertaking of Cleveland Quixotic, the romance between Viviendre and Jay was my attempt to write two people who genuinely liked each other. Their three-chapter mini-arc in the middle of the story moves at a more lax pace than usual, but allowed me to develop a relationship I otherwise wouldn't have been able to.

In general, Cleveland Quixotic is larger than my other works. More characters, more plot threads, more locations, more everything. Though Fargo and Chicago are also large, they operate in a more enclosed and linear space. My thought process with Cleveland Quixotic was to open up and express that feeling of world-spanning storytelling the fantasy genre is so known for. It pushed my limits, but I accomplished that goal more than in any previous work.

The real challenge is, once you go big, how do you reel it back? So many of the isekai I mentioned remain ongoing, proceeding through arc after arc without end in sight. Today's most notable ongoing fantasy literature, George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, is likewise mired in endless expansion the author seems incapable of curtailing. On RoyalRoad, it's easy to find million-word works with early reviews uniformly positive, but recent reviews expressing a new sentiment: "Dropped after nothing happened for the past 200 chapters."

Above all else, I wanted to avoid that trap. My solution resided in the second arc's climax, which I developed midway into writing the first arc. Uniting the two worlds made it natural for all the distinct groups of characters to join up for the finale, tying every plot thread together. As such, I cultivated multiple storylines in the long and less immediately plot-focused second arc, secure in my knowledge of how it all eventually connected.

Even so, at times it grew overwhelming herding so many characters. Many characters wound up less prominent than I initially intended, sacrificed for the good of the overall pacing. Fortunately, few characters wound up utterly vestigial, and those that did were minor. (There's no worse feeling than a character given loads of screentime and dialogue only for them to end up inconsequential when the curtains finally close. Homestuck reeks of it.)

A few miscellaneous changes that occurred while writing:

I intended for Viviendre's brother, the "mad king" of California, to appear in the final arc, wielding ten relics for an epic duel with Jay. Given the large amount of characters already prominent in the story, I cut him.

I intended for Sansaime to die at the end of the second arc and for Avery to live. This was mainly because I wanted Jay and Shannon to have a cathartic moment with Avery in the final arc (Avery still would have died afterward). I realized that, using Pandaemonium, I could have that cathartic moment anyway, and Avery wound up saving Sansaime's life both outside and inside the story.

On the flip side, I originally intended for Mallory to die at the end of the second arc, but decided I wanted her and Mayfair to have a climactic conflict, which could only be done if Mallory were still alive.

I intended to kill off the minor character Gonzago of Meretryce the entire story, probably by having him jump in front of Shannon to take some attack or another. I never found a way to work it in, and I feel like the actual use I got out of him in the climactic fight, though minor, was far more unique. I likewise considered killing Mademerry by having her take an attack for Mayfair, but I prefer her current ending. I did not intend to kill Pythette, but found at the last moment it would be more convenient if she died.

Beyond that, I wrote the story generally according to plan. Leaving aspects of my plans malleable meant I could write quickly without needing absolute certainty in the precision of every line and action. Only in Chapter 45, the climactic chapter with Beelzebub and Moloch, did I sit down and carefully outline what each character would do at each moment in the chapter. (The chapter's seven-minute time limit made such meticulousness essential.) Otherwise, even in other climactic fights, I relied only on general ideas about what should happen and when.

Ultimately, I successfully completed the longest story, with the largest number of characters, I'd ever written. It pushed my limits, but in a way that didn't leave me gasping for air. Instead, I feel ready and eager for my next story. What'll it be? I have an idea and I've already begun research. I hope to start writing it by the end of the year, and publish it by mid-2024. I'll let you know more as things become more concrete.

X. Names

Before I end this post, a few name origins.

Perfidia Bal Berith: As mentioned in the story itself, "Bal Berith" (or Balberith, Baalberith, et cetera) is a false idol mentioned in the Bible. It is also a demon of the Ars Goetia. My familiarity with the name primarily comes from a weapon used in Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn.

Olliebollen is based on oliebollen, a Dutch pastry.

Mayfair is the name of a character in Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya, the first video game I ever played. Her middle name, Lyonesse, is a character from Arthurian legend.

Makepeace came from an attempt to make a name that would pair well with Mayfair. My primary knowledge of the name comes from British author William Makepeace Thackeray. His middle name, Gaheris, is an Arthurian knight.

John Coke's name was modeled on the character Wicks Cherrycoke in Thomas Pynchon's Mason & Dixon. I only found out after I posted the first chapter that John Coke was the actual name of a person involved in the English Civil War notable enough for a Wikipedia page. I was more than happy to pretend this incredible serendipity was actually my plan all along.

Sansaime's name was modeled on the characters Sansloi ("without law"), Sansfoi ("without faith"), and Sansjoi ("without joy") in Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene, which was the primary inspiration for the romance elements of Whitecrosse. "Without love" is also a notable phrase in the visual novel Umineko When They Cry.

Whitecrosse's name also comes from The Faerie Queene, being modeled on the Redcrosse Knight, an allegorical representation of England (with its red cross flag).

Many names in Cleveland Quixotic have an "allegorical" sense, being words that suggest a clear, often moral meaning. Charm, Charisma, Mayfair, Makepeace, Mademerry, Theovora ("god eater"), Condemnation, Obedience, Tricia (short for "patrician"), Meretryce ("meretricious"), Mordac ("mordacious"), Malleus ("malleable"), Astrophicus ("space plant"), Viviendre ("life ender"), Perfidia ("perfidy"), and so forth. These allegorical names are a play on The Faerie Queene being an allegory, although many of the names in Cleveland Quixotic are not an accurate representation of their character, indicating the breakdown of allegory and thus clear moral meaning.

California is the name of a location in Amadís de Gaula, Don Quixote's favorite romance.

Dalton Swaino is the real name of a semi-pro League of Legends player.

Wendell Noh's surname comes from a professional League of Legends player. His given name is the name of a character in Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light.

Kedeshah is a Hebrew word that possibly refers to sacred or temple prostitutes.

Ubiquitous is an ordinary word with a clear meaning, but its abbreviation, Ubik, is a Philip K. Dick novel that was also the name of one of the demons in Berserk.

The Seven Princes, rather than refer to the traditional Ars Goetia representations of the Seven Deadly Sins, are pulled from John Milton's Paradise Lost, which was the primary inspiration for most devil theology.

Flanz-le-Flore is a corruption of Blanchefleur, a name that appears in a few romance legends.

Lalum is an alternate translation of Larum, a character in Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade.

Pluxie is a feminization of a semi-pro League of Legends player's screen name.

Tintzel is a corruption of the character's original name, mentioned earlier, which was taken from historical corrupt priest Johann Tetzel.

Jreige is the surname of a semi-pro League of Legends player.

Justin "Just" Vance is a play on J.D. Vance, an Ohio politician.

Temporary, one of the earliest names that persisted into the final form of the story, is modeled on the elves in No Game No Life, who have names like "Think" and "Feel."

The other names in the story do not have any particular meaning or genesis.

XI. Conclusion

I believe that covers the generation of Cleveland Quixotic from beginning to end. If I missed anything, or if there's anything you want to know more about, please send me an ask and I'll be certain to answer. Thank you again for reading and stay tuned for my next work!

[metanarrates]

sword art online making its main character a boring overpowered level grinder sucks ass. why not take advantage of the game world setting by making him a glitch hunter who uses stupid tricks to get infinite weapons

[kinghijinx22]

So I recently finished Halo Infinite and I loved it, my thoughts on peak modern Halo

So I just finished Halo Infinite and it was fucking amazing. My favorite of the 3 Halo games I played recently, and one of my favorites overall I think, especially narratively. A genuinely moving experience that takes some of the best aspects of 343's previous games in Halo 4 and Wars 2 and even pretty much corrects the story fuck ups with Cortana in 5 and manages to even turn them into something positive. From Halo Wars 2 it takes the amazing new antagonists in the Banished, the classic Halo inspired art direction, and the fun that I felt from Wars 2 with our new AI and Pilot friends being super endearing and even bringing more personality out of Master Chief then I think he's ever shown maybe next to Halo 4.

And speaking of Halo 4, what Halo Infinite takes from that game is the more personal and emotional writing, with this game also acting as a very effective introspection into good ol John Halo, Cortana and even our new AI and pilot friends. And when I say that this game actually managed to take Halo 5's trash story and do something positive with it, they actually run back the complete villainizing of her motives of… wanting world peace and her own autonomy, even if they try to explain that she killed a bunch of people but I honestly still think that anyone opposing her was probably the type of violently fascist asshole she was calling out anyway. But they do actually express a lot more empathy for her perspective in Halo Infinite, throughout the story they explore John's grief over loosing Cortana beautifully and you eventually find out that she had sacrificed herself to make things right and destroyed a part of the Halo ring to stop the Banished from using it as a weapon. In the end, she leaves some last messages to John, telling him how happy he made her and that she wished for him and his new AI friend to not make the same mistakes she did before saying goodbye one final time which just made me break down in tears.

In the end we also find out the name of our pilot, Fernando Esparza, and he asks our AI friend for her name. So earlier in the game it's said that she was created to help catch Cortana, she comes to the realization that it's because she is a copy of Cortana, made from the same original programming but the thing is, she still very much develops into her own person with her personality and identity and just like Cortana, at the very end of the game gets to choose her own name WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED FOR THE END OF HER ARK but then they DONT TELL YOU WHAT SHE CHOSE WHAT THE FUCK!?!?! That part was disappointing and I'm hoping so hard it's not Cortana because that would just completely ruin both the idea of her being her own person and John moving on. I've read people online mentioning that Cortana was named after some historic sword, and so were suggesting Joyeuse for our new AI friend which is also a historic sword and it can be shortened to Joy which would just be perfect for her more optimistic and fun personality. In fact I love Joy as her name so much that I will use that for convenience until she is officially given a name.

So before I talk about Chief and Joy more, I just have to mention that I also really love the ark for Fernando as well, who early on is a contrast to Joy's YEYEYE over Chief's wild plans by being the NONONO person, which you find out later might be because he's not actually a pilot but or solider at all and was actually just doing volunteer work on that human ship from the start and stole a Pelican when the Banished attacked. He stole it and ran which is why he's developed this intense imposter syndrome and feels so bad that after one of the levels, when you return to him he breaks down and explains everything, saying that Chief should just leave him with the garbage of the ship graveyard. But Chief in this moment shows a lot of empathy, telling him that everybody makes mistakes but that he has to keep going, and reassuring him that everything will be ok and, I just really love the Master Chief being this super inspiring figure that everyone can turn to. I mean that's always been the case but, seeing more intimate moments like this is just really sweet.

So Joy and Fernando both get great arks, but something else I really appreciated about this game is what it does for Master Chief as a character. Much like Halo 4 he gets a bit of analysis into who he is a person, but this game arguably does it even better and is able to give John a happier ending. Even if it doesn't necessarily offer solutions to everything he's got going on, it does at least shine a light on certain things. Something I was critical of John for in Halo 5 was his inability to see past his narrow view of the world, labeling anything he can't quickly understand as "dangerous" which is a very direct pipeline to deranged bigotry and refusal to understand other people because it's easier to be negative and Halo 5 never really called him out on this, unlike Halo Infinite. Infinite actually addresses this, with Joy calling out how pessimistic and close minded he is. Later on Fernando questions why John is so often able to kill things and risk his life which he bluntly just responds with that "it's all I know." Even later I think Joy brings up something similar to which John replies that "maybe that's my programming." Which is actually a perfect way of putting it, indoctrination and conditioning is literally a human equivalent of "programming" and John was abducted into the military at a young age and has literally been conditioned to be a killing machine who always follows orders and never asks questions. And it's what the fascists of the right wing are still trying to do children, passing on their irrational hate of minorities and woman while burning any learning resources to help understand and empathize with those people. They are grooming children into being hateful bigots like they are, essentially trying to create another generation of little nazis and maintain their cishet white man supremicist agenda. So exploring that sort of topic with Master Chief, about human programming, having a narrow view of the world and learning to have an open mind to new things and unlearn the harmful things, it's very topical and much appreciated. And Joy and Fernando are able to get Master Chief to open up and self reflect, especially his new AI bestie Joy and it has a noticeably positive effect on him. They also bring more personality out of Chief than I think he's ever had.

Halo Infinte has some of the most emotional storytelling and best character work in the series, and while the villains don't get the same amount of depth, The Banished are still great antagonists for this story. Something I have to mention though is that in my previous post, I mentioned that I couldn't believe Atriox was dead because they set him up perfectly as a villain for Chief to overcome and killing him off screen would have been ridiculous. Well the good news is that he doesn't die which they reveal at the last minute in a post credits scene, the bad news is that he obviously doesn't really show up again in this game. The Banished think he died and this new Jiralhanae Esscharum takes over who is pretty cool as well although I'm excited for Artiox to come back. Esscharum though, he's well built up throughout this game and this is where I have to talk about the last few levels leading up to his boss fight. The Road gives you a final tank in a fittingly epic final vehicle battle in a big ass hallway, and then the House of Reckoning is such a cool idea that's reminiscent of… I guess Lucas from Resident Evil 7 is a good example? The "putting you through a bunch of deadly trials while I talk shit" type of section, and I really like idea of these trials taking place in an obstacle course where the Banished were trained to kill humans. Which is then followed up by a fight with one of the coolest characters and best boss fights in the game, the right hand Sanghelli of Esscharum Jega 'Rdomnai. An unapologetically edgy Sanghelli with black armor, a red energy sword in one hand and a red wrist blade on the other and I love him so much. He stealths around a lot with his active camo, popping in and out and he's got some sick moves, very cool. Then after that you finally get your boss fight with Esscharum who is much more up front, big and carrying a portable turret that he swaps out for a special red energy gravity hammer in his final phase. That's right, it's a multi phase fight where in his second phase he gets an energy shield that you have to disrupt up shooting these wires that are giving it to him and then he busts out his hammer, it's a very fun multi layered fight. I forgot to mention but Esscharum had captured Fernando before this, so you rescue him and then get a nice moment of Chief showing some empathy for his enemy, explaining that even he despite being on the opposing side was fighting for something he thought was right which again is just more humanity then Chief often shows.

For the final level Chief, Joy and Fernando go after our final boss, main antagonist and brand new character for this series or at least for the games because I'm not familiar with the books, Xalanyn or as she is better known the Harbinger. So before I mentioned that this game adds a lot of it's own interesting aspects on top of the best stuff from 343's previous games and Xalanyn is one of them. She is said to be from an ancient race that seems to be mostly gone except for her, and they seem to have an old rivalry with the other ancient race of the Forunners and so she's not really a fan of a lot of what they built including the Halo super weapons. I believe she teamed up with the Banished to help them wipe out the humans and make this Halo ring their new home if they also help her revive the rest of her people, who I believe have only been known as The Endless. So the Harbinger is a pretty cool new antagonist for this game, and the fight with her is pretty great as well. Her and another boss I'm going to mention in a bit were the only completely unique bosses in the game, and she's a lot of fun to fight with her cool moveset of fireballs, teleports and melee, fighting other enemies in between round while you shut off the various things, genuinely tough fight that took me a few attempts and was fun.

Which leads me to talking about a few of the other cool new things in this game, one of them being the boss fights in general. Which I mentioned in my previous post, but now that I've finished the game I can say that they were consistently good throughout. I mean, none of them are the best in the video games but I mean good for first person shooters and especially for Halo. Another boss and character that I haven't had the opportunity to mention before now is the Oracle in this game, or specifically the second of 2 Oracles. The first Oracle you don't get to have much time with before she is killed by Xalanyn, but the second is friendly at first but becomes hostile once he learns that Chief is going to stop him from rebuilding the ring and you end up having to fight this robot twice. He is the other unique boss fight in this game and is also pretty fun, much more fun then fighting Guity Spark in Halo 3. Instead of just being a little ball, he becomes a park of this bigger robot that has a bunch of guns and shields on it with the red glowing guns being the weak points and you end up having to fight him twice. Super fun boss, and as a character he contributes a lot to the themes of this game as well, about what we choose and what is inherent, what has been programmed into use and choosing our own identity. This Oracle is clearly just following his programming of protecting the Halo ring the entire time and much like Guilty Spark, I feel sympathy for him because this wasn't something he chose, these feelings aren't his but were given to him by someone else and he clearly hasn't developed his own personality and opinions like Cortana for example was able to do.

Other new things were stuff that I also mentioned in my previous post, but the grapple hook really is the coolest thing added to Halo since ever that adds a lot of new layers to the combat. The thing is thought that you get new stuff replaces the grapple hook later one, and while you do carry them all and swap between them, swapping between them takes too long for my liking and nothing else is as universally helpful or cool as the grapple hook and I literally never used anything else. Another interesting new addition is the open world, which pretty much took the second and fourth levels of Halo 1 and made it into the whole game. Which is a cool idea, the large environments and open ended environments with a bunch of side missions are an interesting change of pace and in the middle of the game you do get some main missions that involve going around to various place to blow up big guns or activate these beacons which you can do in any order which is cool. BUT this is where my biggest complain of this game comes in and it's the only big one I have, but the lack of environmental diversity. It's nothing but grass and mountains outside and grey Forunner rooms inside which is easily the least amount of environment diversity in the series and towards the end of the game, I'll admit that I was getting sick of looking at this game and wanted it to end. While the core gameplay is a lot of fun, this game gets very repetitive by the second half and the samey environments do not help that. I think having at least a snow biome would have helped a lot, maybe a spooky swamp like in the sixth level of Halo 1 or a desert like in the 6th level Halo 3.

All around though I really enjoyed my time with Halo Infinite, a really fun game with a genuinely moving story that that some very compelling things with both familiar and new characters. Seriously Chief, Joy and Fernando are a great best friend trio. One of the better Halo games in my opinion and overall the best 343 game. A big step in the right direction and in the future I would like to see more narrative and character complexity like Infinite, 2 and 4, maybe not bring back the open world but if they do PLEASE have more environmental diversity, and I honestly think 343 has mastered the core gameplay so just have more weapons and vehicles and enemies to fight. Also PLEASE do something with Atriox, let Master Chief finally get his rematch.

[animesavior]

“Intruding on one soul is something I won't allow. This trespassing of yours shall not stand!”

-          Tanjiro Kamado, Demon Slayer: Mugen Train (Ep. 04)

The Toonami Trending Rundown for November 2023. After two years of being stuck in “Crunchyroll Jail”, Demon Slayer has finally returned to the better cartoon show to premiere the highly acclaimed Mugen Train arc. And it’s not alone, as Dr. Stone has also returned to resume the second half of the 3rd season, the New World, while IGPX returns to the lineup for the first time in 10 years, as Discotek releases an HD Remaster of Toonami’s first original series.

November 4-5 was a post-Halloween marathon night, as Toonami re-aired Part 1 of Attack on Titan: The Final Chapters, in addition to the first two episodes of IGPX due to the extra hour the block got due to the end of Daylight Savings. In terms of trending, both shows trended in the USA, although the former got some assistance as Part 2 was just released in Japan and on simulcasting. For the night of November 11-12, the premiere night of Demon Slayer and Dr. Stone, #Toonami trended in the USA alongside Demon Slayer and Dr. Stone. #Toonami also trended on Tumblr alongside Demon Slayer and One Piece. On November 18-19, #Toonami trended in the USA on Twitter and on Tumblr, while Demon Slayer and Dr. Stone both trended in the US. And on November 25-26, #Toonami trended in the USA alongside Dr. Stone and IGPX.

The feature for November 11 was a new ID bump made by The Foreign Correspondents' Club. You can check it out below.

The feature for November 18 was a game review of Sea of Stars, a role-playing video game by Sabotage Studio that is available on modern platforms. TOM and SARA have called it a modern-day rendition of the classic Chrono Trigger video game.

And for November 25, Toonami aired another new ID bump featuring TOM and SARA trying out an explosive new weapon, this time from MoreFrames AnimationCo.

With Demon Slayer finally back on the lineup, Toonami has plenty of Demon Slayer to catch up on. Demon Slayer’s Mugen Train arc is only 7 episodes long, given it’s a TV version of the hit Mugen Train film. But there is also the Entertainment District Arc, which will be an addition 11 episodes in length to complete season 2. Followed by the 11-episode Swordsmith Village Arc that makes up season 3. During the Aniplex panel on Saturday morning at Anime NYC, it was announced that the Entertainment District Arc will also be making its way to Toonami on January 13, following the completion of Mugen Train.

Demon Slayer fans will have plenty more to celebrate in the future, as the official Kimetsu no Yaiba Japanese website has already confirmed that a fourth season is in production, to cover the Hashira Training arc. Additional details are to be revealed on December 10.

When it rains, it pours, and with Toonami rekindling relationships with Aniplex (and potentially all of Sony-Crunchyroll LLC), Aniplex USA has announced on Friday at Anime NYC this weekend that a second show is also on the way for the better cartoon show. Lycoris Recoil, an original anime series directed by Shingo Adachi, the character designer and chief animation director of Sword Art Online, will be joining the Toonami lineup on January 20, as the first new acquisition in the 2024 calendar year.

Luffy from One Piece made his debut on the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade this year, as he had his own float parading down the streets of New York City for the very first time. Anime was well represented, as he was joined by a Goku float from Dragon Ball Super, as well as a Christmas themed Pikachu and Eevee float from Pokémon. Unfortunately, Luffy’s hat would deflate after it got snagged by a tree branch due to strong winds in the area. The float was still able to fly and would later be showcased on the NBC broadcast, albeit with Luffy’s straw-hat looking like a bucket hat as a result of the tear and partial deflation.

Finally, Toonami has announced marathon nights for Christmas and New Year’s as the block winds down with the year coming to a close. For Christmas week on December 23, Toonami will air all 7 episodes of Dr. Stone: New World Part 2 it has aired to that point from Midnight to 3:30 a.m. EST. While for New Year’s week on December 30, Toonami will air all 7 episodes of Demon Slayer’s Mugen Train arc from midnight to 3:30 a.m.

Until next time, we hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving, congrats to the Texas Rangers for winning the World Series, and see you again next week as always.

Legend: The shows listed are ordered based on their appearance on the schedule. Show trends are listed in bold. The number next to the listed trend represents the highest it trended on the list (not counting the promoted trend), judging only by the images placed in the rundown. For the Twitter tweet counts, the listed number of tweets are also sorely based on the highest number shown based on the images on the rundown.

November 4-5, 2023 Trends

United States Trends:

#Toonami [Trended with #IGPX]

#AttackOnTitan [#1]

Eren (From Attack on Titan) [#6]

Armin (From Attack on Titan) [Trended with Eren]

Mikasa (From Attack on Titan) [Trended with Eren]

#IGPX [#12]

Tweet Counts:

#AttackOnTitan [213k tweets]

November 11-12, 2023 Trends

United States Trends:

#Toonami [#12]

#DemonSlayer [Trended with #Toonami]

#DrStone [#20]

Tweet Counts:

#Toonami [3,522 tweets]

#DrStone [3,469 tweets]

Tumblr Trends:

#Toonami [#5]

#DemonSlayer [#4]

#OnePiece [#2]

November 18-19, 2023 Trends

United States Trends:

#Toonami [Trended with #DrStone]

#DemonSlayer [Trended with #DrStone]

#DrStone [#15]

Tweet Counts:

#DemonSlayer [3,669 tweets]

Tumblr Trends:

#Toonami [#3]

November 25-26, 2023 Trends

United States Trends:

#Toonami [#9]

#DrStone [Trended with #Toonami]

#IGPX [#13]

Tweet Counts:

#Toonami [3,394 tweets]

If you wish to send me a tip for the work on the trending rundown, donations can be sent to PayPal.Me/DanielLimjoco. All proceeds will be used to help pay for my cable bill and other materials that make this trending rundown possible.

Only Toonami on [adult swim] on Cartoon Network.

[ben-talks-art]

Why I like Nanahoshi

As I go through my list of favorite fictional characters I keep finding myself surprised by what it is about each of them that makes me like them so much.

I was surprised that the reason I liked Xanatos was due to his cheerfulness, or that I like Bill Cipher from the way they take advantage that he is an animated fictional villain, by Catra being a combination of various things I like merged into one, or even Rachel's simple but really intriguing motivation.

The reason to like a character honestly can be anything. You may like them because of the way they talk, or their design, their goals and ambitions, their backstory, and so on.

When it comes to Nanahoshi, I find that I really like her due to what an interesting twist on the concept of Isekais she represents.

(Warning! This will be a long one... I kinda go on a rant.)

For those who are unaware, "Isekai" is a term that is related to stories about a character going from one world to another, usually a magical world, where the fun is in seeing how someone from planet Earth manages to finally live the dream of most kids, that being, entering a fantasy adventure like the ones we used to watch in cartoons, play in games, or read on books.

Stuff like Owl House, Amphibia, Konosuba, Reincarnated as a Slime, Sword Art Online, Alice in Wonderland, and of course, Jobless Reincarnation. The idea is usually some form of escapism that allows you to get out of your boring daily life and enter an environment where all the skills and knowledge that were until now basically useless are now incredibly relevant and turn you into some sort of superhero or at least give you some form of advantage over the new place you're going to go.

I have a love/hate relationship with Isekais. I really like the idea of basically entering a fantasy story while knowing all I know about fantasy story tropes and seeing how things turn out... But I have gained a really big personal problem with this concept over the years, and it can basically be summed up in this line:

"He should be rewarded for his bad life..."

Over the years Isekai stories have basically turned into power fantasies where the idea isn't to explore a new world, it's to allow someone who never did anything special to suddenly become special.

There are so many stories where the premise is basically "You're in a new world with infinite magic! Or infinite ammo! Or infinite strength! Or infinite money! Infinite whatever, and now, every attractive person wants to marry you, every evil person is jealous of you, and every nice person wants to spoil you!"

Isekais have basically turned into "It's your turn now to be happy!" stories, where the goal is to convince the audience that the main character deserves to be praised by giving out the most bare bones of reasons. maybe their parents died, or maybe they never had a girlfriend, or maybe they sacrificed themselves to save someone from being hit by a car.

The overall goal is to make you believe they earn all the praise they're receiving... And I... freaking hate that mentality.

If you read a few of my posts from my list, you should know I just adore seeing a character's relationship with different forms of struggle. I love, love, love watching people being challenged and put to the test to see how they will overcome their hardships so that when they finally do it I can shout "You son of a b*tch! You did it!!"

I like seeing people earn their victories, and I like learning how they do it so that it can inspire me to do the same with my personal challenges... Which is why it annoys me to no end that so many Isekai stories are about just handing over victories on a silver platter.

They have basically turned into entitlement stories. "You've been a good boy in your old life, so now you're entitled to a new life of luxury!" it's the message I get from them most of the time. No struggle, no challenges, here is your reward because we gave some bullsh*t reason to justify that you earned it.

You're basically taking away one of the most vital components of storytelling, the goddamn conflict!

If there is no wall to overcome, the victory of the main character ends up feeling hollow.

But whatever… What the heck does any of that has to do with Nanahoshi?

To put it simply, she was the one that taught me all that.

Her story is basically a very clever twist on the trope of Isekai power fantasy.

For starters, she doesn't get superpowers after going to a new world. She actually becomes the only person unable to use any form of magic, which means her life has turned into a never-ending minefield where anyone can just destroy her if she ever gets careless.

There is also the fact that she doesn't like this new world. She actually had a boyfriend and a family that she lost because of the transfer and now all she can think about is how to get back.

And to top it all off, she finds out that she's dying as her body doesn't have the means to handle the atmosphere of this new world like the rest of its residents, and hardly anyone knows how to help her out because it's a problem they never had before.

But it doesn't even stop there, because while has to deal with all that, one of her best friends, another human from Earth that also came to this new world, did get a body that can handle magic, much more magic than the common citizen no less, so he ended up becoming a very famous figure known for defeating many monsters and saving dozens of lives, basically regarded as a genius.

Nanahoshi is so tragic because, aside from all these hardships, she still has to constantly look at what she could have been, an invincible hero in a fantasy world. But instead, she ended up as someone that everyone has to take care of at all times due to how fragile she is.

It's such an interesting setup. You go to another world, but instead of living the dream, everything just becomes worse. It gets to a point where just simply eating a nice meal becomes the highlight of her day because everything else is just so miserable.

All this girl wants is to go home and stay safe and yet she's constantly going through so much.

There is a chapter in particular in the novel that just destroyed me where she breaks down crying about all the things she had been enduring since she arrived, all the things she misses from her world, and just how jealous she is of her friend for having the most perfect life one could ask while she doesn't even know if she will make it to the next day.

I love Nanahoshi because she taught me the value of struggles in storytelling. Struggles are a great way to get you invested and to get you to relate with a character, after all, who doesn't have struggles in life?

Her story is so interesting, and to me, so inspiring that it even got me to make my own novel, where the premise is focused on a girl trying to get home from a fantasy world and all the hardships she faces and the psychological pressure she endures.

The actual novel of "Jobless Reincarnation" itself I have some very mixed feelings on... But the character of Nanahoshi is someone that means a lot to me.

I love her journey trying to deal with the challenges of this world and getting back home, I love her premise of being a twist on the concept of a power fantasy isekai, I love what she represents with the idea of never giving up even when things seem at their worst, I love what she teaches not only to me as a writer for the importance of struggle in a story but as a person for learning to respect the hardships of others...

I just love her! Nanahoshi is awesome!

Favorite character list>>

[hydralisk98]

Writing my way up to H.G. Wells + J.R.R. Tolkien-tier and beyond

I mean, I would like to get a few short stories / poems / animation shorts / short films / "software toys" going and by far. So may as well pitch a few of my current narrative draft ideas for initial practice...

I guess I will make it clear that I feel a powerful need to write down immersive / cohesive yet oxymoron Axis victory set of stories. Most likely with some cultural & technological nuances (not about making Nazism, Fascism and others legitimate but definitely challenging some assumptions we societally made from the world wars) & conflicted characters as far as emulating dystopia-writing with a humane / relatable touch.

These are not the only narratives I would like to convey, far from it. I got a couple more related to historical "mysteries", my constructed world(s?) slice-of-life-s and overall making optimistic meta-narratives. Like some about my hometown, a couple around specific tools / challenges / design contraints, much about far far away alternate futures and a few drop-in "clef" replacements for some existing works with strong satirist-ic commentary & nuanced intrigue politics...

Here are a couple of such media I hope to express some opinions onto through these "clef" keys.

(Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, Twilight, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Warriors, Chronicles of Narnia, A Song of Ice and Fire, Silmarillion, Bible, standalone X-Men movies, Naruto / Boruto, Tarzan, Conan The Barbarian, John Carter of Mars, Terminator, Predator, Alien, Degrassi, Star Wars, Star Trek, Half-Life, Stargate SG1, How To Train Your Dragon, Frozen, Pirates of the Caribbean, Matrix, Rio, Jurassic Park, James Bond, Homestuck, Spirit Stallion of the Cimarron, Sinbad Legend of the Seven Seas, The Prince of Egypt, The Road to El Dorado, Helluva Boss / Hazbin Hotel, Ruby Gillman Teenage Kraken, Shrek, Coco, The Book of Life, Ice Age, Mulan, Lord of the Rings, Megamind, Treasure Planet, Atlantis, Lilo and Stitch, Pokemon, Sonic The Hedgehog, Cyberpunk RED + 2077, Halo, Destiny, Pathfinder, Outlander, Genship Impact, Starcraft, Grand Theft Auto, Bioshock Infinite + Burial at Sea, Animal Crossing, Fable 2, Earthbound, Metroid, Splatoon, Bionicle, Chronotrigger, Dishonored, XCOM, Turning Red, Luca, 300, The Time Machine, Brontë, Ethan Frome, Death in Venice, The Hired Girl, Tintin, Watchmen, Jour J, Hellboy, V for Vendetta, Ghost Rider, Asterix, Lackadaisy, Zoophobia, Danny Phantom, Avatar The Last Airbender, Legend of Korra, Code Lyoko, Kim Possible, Powerpuff Girls, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Animaniacs, Boondocks, Totally Spies, Futurama, 6teen, Stoked, Wakfu, Hot Wheels, Discworld, Forgotten Realms, Quake, Coran, Tanak, mythologies, historical fiction, ancestries, Hypnospace Outlaw / Sword Art Online, Zachtronics ('TIS-100' & 'Shenzhen I/O'), Ace Combat, Overlord, Bloody Good Time, Resistance Fall of Man, Perfect Dark, Zelda, God of War, Kaisha...)

Not exhaustive by any margin but yk, the first few up to Alien are definitely deserving some strong reworks...

But yeah, that's kinda my type of creative bar setting (I still am casual but yk I shall outshine Tolkien with all the tools available nowadays), aka making bronze age literature lineage-ing type of timeless works.

Don't mind me if I get started some onto the promised Jucika-derived comic strips and get the ball rolling on my open source workflow (first onto Kate + LibreOffice and eventually in the terminal with Tmux/Fish/Vim and all the other creative writing goodies...)

Be not afraid...

[gear-project]

. . .

KOF Voice Actors.... a THREAD:

Benimaru is secretly Senryo Kyoshiro

Terry is secretly Dr. Faust/Potemkin/Samson/Carmine/Infinite (Sonic Forces)

Iori is secretly Jack Atlas

King is secretly Charlotte/Nakoruru

Mai is secretly Zooey (Granblue Fantasy)/Ryuko (Kill la Kill)/Yukiko (Persona 4)

Robert is secretly Kusaregedo (SS)/Gauche (YGO)

Leona is secretly a Reliable Leader (Soul Calibur V) and the protagonist female (Code Vein)

K' is secretly Chipp Zanuff

Blue Mary is secretly Seraphina (Disgaea)

King of Dinosaurs is secretly Deusolbert Synthesis Seven (Sword Art Online)

Athena is secretly Jessica de Alkirk (Lunar)

Kukri is secretly Ryu (SF6)/Katsuya Jonouchi (Joey/YGO)

Heidern is secretly Lucky Glauber

Dolores is secretly Hildegarde von Krone (Soul Calibur)/Marida Cruz (Gundam Unicorn)/Laura Croft/Dixie Clemets (Rumble Roses)

Whip is secretly Amitie (Puyo Puyo Tetris 2)/Kunimitsu/Jun Kazama (Tekken 2)

Krohnen is secretly Jaden Yuki/Patroklos (Soul Calibur V)

Maxima is secretly Phoenix Ikki (Saint Seiya)/Captain Ginyu (DBZ)/Kenshiro

Kula is secretly Yuffie (FFVII)/Mikoto (SS Warrior's Rage)

Elisabeth is secretly Luviagelita (Fate Unlimited Codes)

Rock is secretly Copen (Gunvolt)/Red Bomberman

B. Jenet is secretly Pink Bomberman/Linkle/Susamaru

Geese is secretly Genjuro/Duck King

Billy Kane is secretly Kazuki Kazama

Rugal is secretly Guy (Street Fighter/Final Fight)/Nightwing/Rasetsumaru (SS)/Ryuji Yamazaki

Kyo is secretly Luke (Street Fighter 6)

Chizuru is secretly Livia sas Junius (FFXIV)/Beatrice (Umineko)/Griselda (Odin Sphere)/Lucil (FFX)

Joe is secretly Gunther Schultz (Attack on Titan)

Kim is secretly Wyald (Berserk)

Chang is secretly Zankuro Minazuki

Mature is secretly Princess Zelda/Blake Belladonna (RWBY)/Cidney Aurum(FFXV)/Annie Leonhart

Yuri is secretly Catwoman (SinoAlice)

Goro Daimon is secretly Pippin (Berserk)

Shingo is secretly Zato=ONE/Dio/Uncle from Another World/Zeke Jaeger/Red Magnus/Zechs Merquise

Kasumi Todoh is secretly Blair (FEXL)

Krizalid is secretly Gaston (Berserk)/Alvin (Alvin and the Chipmunks)/Donatello (TMNT/Power Rangers in Space)

Hinako Shijo is secretly Saber/Kokoro (DoA5)/Silmeria Valkyrie (VP2)/Yoko (Ehrgeiz)

Mukai is secretly M.Bison (SFV)/Gilles de Raise (Caster)

Female Yashiro is secretly Ramlethal Valentine/Slayer's Wife Sharon/Majorita (Disgaea)

Original Zero is secretly Nagoriyuki/Nail/Rude/Ganondorf/Zunde (VP2)

Igniz is secretly Goldlewis Dickinson

Nameless (Zhe Prime) is secretly Jotaro Kujo/Silver the Hedgehog/El Fuerte/Beowulf (Skullgirls)/Battler Ushiromiya/Casshern

Jhun Hoon is secretly Asura/Yuda (SS Warrior's Rage)

Haohmaru is secretly Great Might Gaine

Amakusa is secretly Freeman (Garou)/Tachibana Ukyo/Gen-An Shiranui

Kaya (KOFAS) is secretly Linne (UNIB)

Ein (KOFAS) is secretly Orie (UNIB)/Ruby (RWBY)/Mai (BlazBlue)/Kunimitsu 2 (Tekken 7)/Kirika (Blade Arcus)/LeiLei (Darkstalkers)

I hope this list made your brains melt!

[someawesomeamvs]

Warning: Violence, flashing lights, spoilers

Title: Game Over

Editor: Jasi AMVs

Song: GAME OVER

Artist: Vo Williams X Burnboy

Anime: Akame ga Kill, Baki Hanma, Black Rock Shooter, Boku no Hero Academia, Clannad, Darling in the FranXX, Death Parade, Digimon Tri, Dragon Ball Z - Plan to Eradicate the SUPER Saiyans (OVA), Dragon Ball Super, Dragon Ball Super Broly, Dumbbell Nan Kilo Moteru, Evangelion 3.0+1.01: Thrice Upon a Time, Fate/Apocrypha, Fate/Grand Order Zettai Majuu Sensen Babylonia, Fate/Zero, Fire Force, Gakkou Gurashi, Gangsta, Gekijouban Fate/Stay Night: Heaven's Feel (film trilogy), God Eater, Haikyuu!!, Hibike! Euphonium, Honkai Impact, IS Infinite Stratos, Jujutsu Kaisen, Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress, Kakegurui, Kantai Collection, Kill la Kill, Kimetsu no Yaiba, Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon S, Kyoukai no Kanata, Magi, Mieruko-chan, Miru Tights, Mob Psycho 100, Musaigen no Phantom World, Nanatsu no Taizai, Nomad Megalo Box, One Piece, One Punch Man, Overlord, Pokemon Twilight Wings, Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso, Shingeki no Kyojin, Soul Eater, Sword Art Online: Alicization, Takt Op. Destiny, The God of High School, Tsukihime Remake

Category: Action

[remnantoforario]

Light Novels I Am Reading in 2020

So last year I made a “Light Novels I am Reading in 2019″ List, pretty much the gist was a list of LNs that I was reading the previous year (pretty self explanatory). This is the same, though there are some carry over from last year since I didn’t finish all of those. 

Just like before, the goal is one a week. 

Sound Euphonium

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online Vol. 1

Magical Girl Raising Project (Restart) Vol. 2

Last Round Arthurs: Scum Arthur & Heretic Merlin Vol. 1

Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki Vol. 1

Is it Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?: On the Side: Sword Oratoria Vol. 5

Combatants Will Be Dispatched Vol. 1

Goblin Slayer: Side Story: Year One Vol. 2

Goblin Slayer Vol. 4

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Vol. 14

The World’s Strongest Rearguard: Labyrinth Country’s Novice Seeker Vol. 1

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?: On the Side: Sword Oratoria Vol. 6

Defeating the Demon Lord is a Cinch: If You’ve Got a Ringer Vol. 2

Infinite Dendrogram Vol. 1

Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina Vol. 1

Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki Vol. 2

Sexiled: My Sexist Party Leader Kicked Me Out, So I Teamed Up With A Mythical Sorceress! Vol. 1

Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation Vol. 1

Bottom Tier Character Tomozaki-kun Vol. 3

Defeating the Demon Lord is a Cinch: If You’ve Got a Ringer Vol. 3

Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest Vol. 2

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls In a Dungeon?: On the Side: Sword Oratoria Vol. 7

Last Round Arthurs: Scum Arthur & Heretic Merlin Vol. 2

Magical Girl Raising Project (Restart) Vol. 3

Sword Art Online Progressive Vol. 2

Our Last Crusade Or The Rise of a New World Vol. 1

86 - Eighty-Six Vol. 2

Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation Vol. 2

Bottom Tier Character Tomozaki Vol. 4

Goblin Slayer Vol. 5

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls In a Dungeon?: On the Side: Sword Oratoria Vol. 8

High School DxD Vol. 1

Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest Vol. 3

Roll Over and Die: I Will Fight for an Ordinary Life with My Love and Cursed Sword Vol. 1

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls In a Dungeon?: Familia Chronicle: Episode Freya

Sexiled: My Sexist Party Leader Kicked Me Out, So I Teamed Up With A Mythical Sorceress! Vol. 2

The Alchemist Who Survived Now Dreams of a Quiet City Life Vol. 1  

[leithianxx]

when i was much younger i became so obsessively online that it became really unhealthy. I totally retreated from the real world, i deleted MSN and didn’t have any irl friends for years, and made an anonymous email and used a different name to hang out exclusively on Livejournal and AIM bc that’s what all my online american friends used. It was an important time of my life but it was also extremely dark and i had to just quit it all eventually. After i left high school things got infinitely easier for me socially and since then i really have never had an online community or participated in any fandoms. i’d post my shit art and poetry sometimes for no one to look at on tumblr but thats it. i still have a ton of mega-nerd interests but i kinda keep them secret?

Then this god damn stupid pirate show came along and i’m back on tumblr and on a giant discord with strangers and i’ve made a second twitter account to tweet nerd shit and it honestly feels really nice to finally talk to people about my more “embarrassing” special interests. I love my friends they’re beautiful and cool as hell but i cant really talk to them about more niche stuff and now i’m staying up late to yelling with people about absurdly stretched symbolism of Ed still wearing Stede’s cravats and how it relates to18th century epic poetry, and making jokes about how izzy hands is a 16 year old boy wonder and crying over gifs If you’re afraid of turning 30, don’t be. You feel so much lighter and liberated. Back when i was young i felt so much shame for spending all my time online and with my head in fiction all day and drawing fan art and buying swords, but i truly do not give a fuck about almost anything anymore at this age. So fuck it why not regress a little, as a treat? does regressing have to be a bad thing? i think this might be healing my inner teen.  

[neo-crimson-palace]

New Muses

Alright y’all, here’s the new muses that will be updated to the list. Hope y’all like what you see. 

DanganRonpa 1 & 2: Makoto Neagi, Hajime Hinata, Chihiro Fujisaki (He’s a huge Dick Dom, Cept with Makoto, then he’s his cute sub.) And all the DR1/DR2 Girls

Ace Attorney: Phoenix Wright & All of the Girls from the Series

Sonic the Hedgehog: Sonic, Shadow, Infinite, Femboy!Tails, and all the girls from the Game Series.

RWBY: All the Girls, Qrow, Sun, and Oscar

My Hero Academia: Deku, All Might & All the Girls

Super Smash Bros: Mega Man, Sonic, Pit, Bowser, Ridley, Ganondorf, and all the girls.

Megaman Series: Classic, X, Zero, Geo, Lan/EXE, Grey, and all the girls from their respective games.

Naruto: Naruto and all the Girls from Naruto Series.

Bleach: Ichigo & all the Girls from the Series

One Piece: Luffy & All the Girls from One Piece

Fairy Tail: Natsu, Gajeel, & All the Girls from Fairy Tail

Kingdom Hearts: Sora, Ven, & all the KH Girls.

Dragon Ball Z/Supers: Goku (Along with GT), Super!Broly, Gogeta, Vegito, And all the girls from Z/Super, and FighterZ

Shield Hero: Naofumi and all the women in the series. (Note: Bitchy gets rough asks only.)

Goblin Slayer: Orcbolg, High-Elf Archer, Priestess, Cow Girl, Sword Maiden, Guild Girl, Apprentice Cleric, Hero, Witch, Fighter, Wizard

Code Geass: Lelouch, C.C, Kallen, Milly, Shirley, Euphemia, Anya, Cornelia

BlazBlue: Ragna, and all the girls from the series.

Pokemon: Ash, & All the Girls, Poke Anthros throughout the series. (Pokemon asks are aloud as well.)

Fire Emblem Awakening/Fates/Heroes: M!Robin, M!Corrin, Male Summoner, And all the girls from Awakening, Fates, & Heroes

Persona 3, 4, 5: Minato, Yu, Akira, and all the P3, P4, P5 Girls

Accel World: Haruyuki Arita, Kuroyukihime, Chiyuri Kurashima, Fuuko Kurasaki, Yuniko Kozuki, Mihaya Kakei, Megumi Wakamiya

That Time I got Reincarnated as a Slime: Rimuru, and all the girls from the series.

The Magic at Irregular High: Shiba Tatsuya, and all the girls from the series. AKA Tatsuya’s Harem

Date A Live: Shidou Itsuka, and all the girls.

Akame Ga Kill: Tatsumi, and all the girls from the Series.

Kill La Kill: Ryuko Matoi(Futa), Satsuki Kiryuin, Nonon Jakuzure, Nui Harime, Mako Mankanshoku, Ira Gamagoori (Mako asks Only)

Undertale: Frisk, Fem!Chara, Undyne, Toriel, Alphys

MonMusu: Kimihito, Kuroko, And all the Monster Girls.

Kid Icarus: Pit, Palutena, Viridi, Phosphora, Pandora, Medusa

Totally Spies: Sam, Clover, Alex, Brittany, Mindy, Mandy,

Yu-Gi-Oh Series: The Chad!Yusei, Jaden/Supreme King, Yuma, Yugi, Jack, Joey, And the Girls from the Series

Helltaker: Helltaker, Subject 67, Loremaster, All the Demon Girls

Attack on Titan: Eren, Armin (Normal/Femboy/Girl), All the Girls

Fate: Ritsuki, Young!Gil, Astolfo, All the Female Servants

Sword Art Online: Chad!Yui & her Harem of Girls. NO KIRITO!!!

Ben 10: Ben (OG ONLY), Gwen, Charmcaster, Eunice, Julie

FF7 Remake: Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, Jessie, Red XIII

Disney Girls: Helen Parr, Violett Parr, Mirage, Mulan, Elsa, Anna, Moana, Rapunzel, Princess Jasmine, Jane (Tarzan), Meg (Hercules)

Demon Slayer: Tanjiro, Inosuke, Nezuko, Kanroji, Shinobu, Kanae, Kanao, Tamayo, Fem!Muzan

Komi-san: Tadano, Komi, Manbagi, Osana Najimi

Kobayashi Dragon Maid: Kobayashi, Tohru, Lucoa, Iruru, Kanna (Physically of Age)

One-Punch Man: Saitama, Tatsumaki, Fubuki, Psykos, Mizuki

Gravity Falls: Dipper, Mabel, Wendy, Pacifica

Nier: 2B, 95, A2

Highschool DxD: Rias, Akeno, Asia, Koneko, Xenovia, Irina, Rossweisse, Grayfia, Ravel, Sona (No Issei)

Rosario + Vampire: Moka/Inner Moka, Kurumu, Mizore, Yukari, Ruby Tojo (No Tsukune)

Danny Phantom: Danny, Sam, Valerie, Jazz, Maddie, Dani, Pauline, Star, Desiree, Ember, Kitty

Avatar: Aang, Zuko, Katara, Toph, Suki, Ty Lee, Mai, Azula, Jin, June, Princess Yue, Korra, Asami

Scooby-Doo: Shaggy, Velma, Daphne

Senran Kagura: Almost All Female Muses

Panty & Stocking: Panty, Stocking, Scanty, Kneesocks.

Crash Bandicoot: Crash, Tawna, Coco, Alt!Tawna, Isabella, Liz, Megumi

Legend of Zelda: Link, Toon!Link, Zelda, Tetra, Linkle, Lana, Cia, Shiek, Midna, Romani, Cremia, Malon,

Misc: Jessica Rabbit, Queen Tyr'ahnee, Callie Briggs, Felina Feral, Lola Bunny, Starfire, Blackfire, Raven, Terra, Supergirl, Batgirl Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel, Spider-Gwen, Nomu

[outcast-thingz]

ANIME WATCHED LIST

U-Ultra Maniac (wco)?

C= complete

Favorites

C= complete; I= incomplete; D= dub; S= sub; N= not started

R=romance; S=school; SL=Slice of Life; H=Horror; A=Action; AD=Adventure; D=Drama; SU=Supernatural; SP=Superpowers; SF=Science fiction; CM=Comedy; DC= Dark Comedy; F=Fantasy; DF=Dark Fantasy; T=Thriller; P=Psychological; M=mystery; SI=Science; SIF=Science Fantasy; RCM=Romantic comedy; MA=Martial Arts; HA=Harem; AP=Apocalyptic

No- Q, U

Suggestions open, I might look into these.. I will update with new suggestions

Q-Quintessential Quintuplets or Queen's Blade?

U-Ultra Maniac?

A3! C/D N/S SL/D Citron and Misumi Ikagura

A Silent Voice C R/D/S no favorite

Assassination Classroom C/D I/S SF/A/C Nagisa and Karma

Attack On Titan I/D N/S A/DF No favorite

Avatar C AD/C Toph, Suki, and Ty Lee

B the beginning I/D N/S no favorite

Back Street Girls: Gokudolls C/D N/S no favorite

Balance Unlimited I/D I/C Haru Katō

Beastars I/C ...no favorite

Berserk I/D N/S no favorite

Black Clover I/D N/S Finral, Zora, and Lucky

Black Butler C?/D I/S Finny

Bleach I/D I/S No Favorite

Blue Exorcist C?/D I/S Rin and Amaimon

Bofuri: I Don't Want To Get Hurt So I'll Max Out My Defense C/D I/S Maple

Boku no Hero Academia I/D I/S Tsuyu, Bakugou, Tamaki, and Hawks

Buddy Daddies N/D I/S ALL OF THEM

Bungou Stray Dogs I/D N/S Kenji and Chūya

Cowboy Beebop C Ed

Danganronpa:Hope arc I Chihiro

Date A Live I/D N/S Kotoro if I remember right

Death Note I/D N/S no favorite

Demon Slayer I/D I/S Nezuko so far

Devilman Crybaby N/D I/S ...no favorite

Diabolik Lovers C/D C/S FUCK THAT (subaru..)

Dr.Stone I/S Senku so far

Eden's Zero I/D N/S Shiki

Fairy Tail I/D I/S Natsu, Levy, and Mirajane

Fire Force I/D N/S Shinra, Maki, Licht, and Benimaru

Food Wars I/D N/S ...no favorite

Fruits Basket I/D N/S Kyo, Tohru, MOMIJI

Fullmetal Alchemist C/D I/S Edward, Winry, Maes Hughes, Izumi

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood I/D I/S fairly sure its the same as the other version

Future Diary I/D N/S no favorite

Ghost in the Shell C no favorite

God of Highschool I/D N/S Jin mori, and Yu Mira

Haikyuu!! I/D I/S Kentaro, Saeko, Sugawara, Nishinoya, tendou, and Yaku

Hellsing Abridged C/D Alucard, and Seras

HoriMiya N/D I/S Miyamura

Hotarubi no Mori e C no favorite

Howl’s Moving Castle C Calcifer

Hunter X Hunter I/D I/S Kurapika, and Killua

Infinite Dendrogram I/D N/S FLAMINGO

Inuyasha I/D I/S Inuyasha, Shippo, and Kirara

Iwa Kakeru!: Sport Climbing Girls I/D N/S no favorite

JoJo’s Bizarre adventure I/D N/S no favorite

Jujutsu Kaisen C/D N/S Maki, Inumaki, Nanami, and... Gojo

Komi Can’t Communicate N/D I/S no favorite

K-On C/D N/S All of them

Kakegurui C/D N/S no favorite

Kiki’s Delivery Service C Jiji

Life Lessons with Uramichi Oniisan I/D N/S Uramichi

Lu Over The Wall C no favorite

Mary and the Witch’s Flower C no favorite

Mirai C no favorite

Moriarty the Patriot N/D I/S no favorite

My Neighbor Totoro C no favorite

Naruto I/D N/S no favorite yet

Neon Genesis: Evangelion I/D N/S no favorite

Nanbaka I/D N/S no favorite

Noragami I/D I/S Yato, and Ebisu if I remember right

Okko’s Inn C no favorite

One Piece I/D N/S Ace, Sanji, and Robin so far

One Punch Man I/D N/S no favorite

Ouran Highschool Host Club C/D C/S The twins, and Ryouji

Plastic Memories N/D I/S no favorites yet

Ponyo C no favorite

Princess Mononoke C no favorite

Promised Neverland I/D N/S no favorite

Puella Magi Madoka Magica C/D N/S no favorite

Rosario + Vampire C/D I/S ..no favorites

RWBY I Ruby, Nora, Jaune and Neo

Saiki-K C?/D I/S Saki

Sailor Moon I/D N/S no favorite

Saiyuki: Reload C/D C?/S Goku

Seven Deadly Sins I/D N/S King

SK8 Infinity N/D I/S no favorites

Skip Beat C/D N/S Kyoko

Somali and the Forest Spirit I?/D N?/S no favorite

Soul Eater C/D N/S Soul, Kid, Crona, Excalibur, and Justin

Soul Eater Not I/D N/S no favorite

Spirited Away C Kamaji and Zeniba

Sword Art Online I/D I/S Kirito, Lisbeth, Andrew Mils

The Iceblade Sorcerer Shall Rule the World I/D I/S Ray, Clarisse, and Evi

The Wallflower C/D I/S Sunako, Yukinojoh, and Hiroshi

Those Who Hunt Elves C/D N/S Airi, and Mihke

Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun I/D I/S Hanako and Teru

Toradora I/D N/S Taiga

Vampire Knight I/D N/S ...no favorite

Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop C no favorite

X I/D N/S no favorite

Yuri On Ice C/D N/S no favorite

Yu Yu Hakusho I/D N/S no favorite yet