#Maybe because there's less drama or high stakes?

[dinitride-art]

Au fics that i think are neat and that i want to compile into a list because im trying to figure out how to comment on a chapter of a fic but i need time to sort out my thoughts (usually for fic recs i try to rec fics with less kudos/engagement because reasons but im just gonna throw everything in this list. probably multiple fics by the same author in the same universe because thats the one im trying to sort out my thoughts on.)

the strawberries are dying by eggowlss - historical fiction and very interesting character relationships and also character exploration within the time period. I really like this one because the pacing and tone are very gentle. There’s a srt of ebb and flow to the story that makes both the time period and the characters really fit into it. idk how to describe it i just like it a lot.

in the quiet of the night (acswy ao3 series) - they’re putting those characters in situations. It’s a very good time. 10/10 do recommend. If you haven't heard of this one though, it’s basically a modern au where everyone works at a summer camp and Mike and Will cause problems for themselves, each other, and usually everyone else around them. 

si vis amari, ama by perexcri - demons and angels and heaven and hell and its honestly just one hell of a story. like ive got vivid images in my head of scenes i imagined when reading this. 

you start to kiss (and the record skips) by eclipseadventure - this is a band au with a side of a secret relationship and im a sucker for secret relationships. a bit of drama/high stakes in here too which is always pretty fun. 

End Racism on the OTW! - you and me and the horrible teenaged ghost who keeps eviscerating himself in our apartment makes three by TheWrongKindOfPC - i am also a sucker for buzzfeed unsolved aus. buzzfeed unsolved, hauntings, ghosts, yknow the fun stuff. 

into the daylight by andiwriteordie - THIS IS NOT THE FIRST ONE, it’s just the first one that came up in my bookmarks. anyways, this is the second fic in a fantasy au series. The worldbuilding is really cool and there’s magic and history and politics and i like it a lot. the most recent chapter is spinning around in my mind.

the heartbreak prince by andiwriteordie - THIS IS THE FIRST ONE. 

beneath these boughs, my devotion blooms by perexcri - this is the fic that nearly killed me. i literally cant summarize it because im still recovering from what happened to me when i read it. Did i read it in april? Maybe. Listen, it had me asking questions about things i had never considered before. its 11k but im pretty sure it took me a good few hours to read because it made me think about it so much. again, ive got a bunch of visuals running through my head. its just... so much.

sweetheart, you're so cruel by perexcri - Mike’s in a band, Will’s a music snob, they’re both contemplating their life choices. very fun, very interesting, also made me think about some things. 

keep it hush by wiseatom - theres an amusement park and the horrors of customer service. and some other stuff but basically its pretty bright (the visuals of the fic in my head are bright- like sun glinting off metal- and idk how else to describe it)

the start of an age by delusionaltogether (Whyyyyy) - this ones funny and serious at times and its got Max in it. fantasy au with prince will and knight mike and a secret relationship and a small scheme between three parties that involves a fake (ish) marriage. 

superhero therapy by silverluminoqity - spiderman au with a side of trauma and healing? it’s complicated theres stuff happening, i had a good time reading it. 

you've got this spell on me by andiwriteordie - this one was really fun. basically its a fantasy au theres magic and mike gets himself hit with a spell that makes him fall in love with will and will freaks out about it for a while.

Daydream by disaster_energy - i really really liked this fic. its a fantasy au and its got gods and stuff and will gets chosen by the moon goddess because hes Will and everyone is like... woah.

takes one to know one by andiwriteordie - i also liked this one a lot, its a superhero au and its got ironic (like... dramatic irony- i think is what im talking about? maybe? but like fun irony) secret identities. 

Love goes 'round by evil_ontheinside - conversations in a laundry mat. mikes flopping (as in, flopping around like a fish) around a bit and this was pretty cute. 

my promise could be your fiend (could be the smallest of signs) by s0ld_it - spider man au, theres a bookstore involved and a lot of stuff. ive read this fic twice and greatly enjoyed it both times. 

Tip-toeing on Lily-pads by cherryisgone - very very fun, fantasy au and... mike gets cursed to be a frog. can only be un-cursed with a kiss. 

filling in the blanks as we go by delusionaltogether (Whyyyyy) - bookstore meetcute

there’s more but i spent all day painting my room and i am tired. Ive also got way too many bookmarks to go through and i have decided to stop here. still haven't figured out how to write that comment (but i am working on it because i love the fi(s) and ive been thinking about one specific thing that came up in a new chapter for so long). anyways, i hope someone enjoys this list of au fics from my bookmarks. 

[runabout-river]

Thoughts on JJK chapter 242 (Spoilers)

This chapter is all about silly fun and that's why it appropriately starts with what should be a special grade cursed spirit being isekai-ed to another world by Truck-kun.

Kenjaku was originally a woman confirmed.

While Kenjaku and Takaba go through ridiculous scenarios that, as we learn but had already seen last chapter, force Kenjaku's brain to participate, it's Kenjaku who takes damage as long as this will go on.

Still, Kenjaku is actually having fun and his silly faces this chapter are superb.

Kenjaku then forces the grand finale of the comedy sketch by bringing out Takaba's greatest desire in his comedy carrier: being a duo on stage.

It looks like Kenjaku will bring Takaba's CT to an end before he's too injured to fight more. It will probably end up with Takaba having the time of his life after which his CT stops and Kenjaku goes for the kill.

Takaba is still going to pull out one last trump card though, I'm sure of it, and that will mark the moment were Kenjaku will have his first defeat in the series. He won't die but something will go wrong for him and the Culling Games after which we'll go back to Sukuna.

Maybe we'll even get a flashforward to a dramatic moment from that fight (these fights happen simultaneously) before we'll go back to the start of it. I also wanted to say something about these intermediary chapters because I've seen some people being grumpy about them happening right now.

Putting less exciting and less important chapters between the fights of a lifetime is a simple narrative tool to slow down the story while keeping up the tension. We want to see how good or how bad the Sukuna/Yuji fight is going to go. We want to find out of Gojo's death is permanent and what will happen to Megumi now that Sukuna transformed his body.

But Gege said stop! This is too much! I need a break, you need a break and I need to set up some stuff (and also I want to keep Gojo "dead" for a little longer). It's about alternating high stakes with low stakes and not overwhelming the readers with non-stop drama.

Look at this: we had 13 chapters (4 months!) of nothing but a highly technical and hyped up fight with Gojo and Sukuna. My phone can't even get all of that into one screenshot.

So we need a little balance in our life and some time to cool down 😌 and the Yuji fight isn't going to run away, we'll get it in due time so let's just enjoy some laughs with Takaba and Kenjaku's silly faces.

[best-underrated-anime]

Best Underrated Anime Group H Round 1: #H3 vs #H6

#H3: Two guys time-travel through photos. Depression ensues.

Best friends, roommates, and business partners Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang run a photo studio, developing pictures and the like. But that’s not all they do. The Shiguang Photo Studio has a secret extra service—they can deliver messages you never got to send and find information you never got to learn, so long as you bring a photograph, or maybe several.

Their method? A clap of the hands, and Cheng Xiaoshi dives into the past and into the body of the photographer. Guided by Lu Guang, he has twelve hours to achieve his goal, whether that is finding a secret, saying goodbye, or winning a fight.

Assisted by their friend and landlady Qiao Ling, the duo navigates a gallery of corporate lies, interpersonal drama, old regrets, and crime. The recently released second season continues threads that begin in the first episode of season one, showcasing the same level of brilliant writing and even higher stakes for our beloved characters.

#H6: Cozy slice of life about a high school girl with a camera

In her last year of middle school, Fuu Sawatari had trouble dealing with her emotions following the sudden death of her father. Through the help of her brother and childhood friend, she rediscovered her love for photography, an activity she and her father often did together. In addition, she decided to attend high school in Takehara, her father's hometown and a place they often visited when she was younger.

It has been one month now since Fuu moved to Takehara and became close with her current group of friends: carefree Kaoru Hanawa, excitable Norie Okazaki, and quiet Maon Sakurada. Together with them and several acquaintances around town and abroad, Fuu continues her mission of capturing the joys of everyday life using her father's camera, while also helping her friends discover their own passions.

Titles, propagandas, trailers, and poll under the cut!

#H3: Link Click (Shiguang Dailiren)

Propaganda:

(Admin: Five people submitted different propagandas for this. Instead of posting each of them as they are and making this post even longer, I merged them altogether for coherence and brevity.)

Link Click is a show that is criminally underrated outside of China that it’s become a running meme in the fandom (i.e. Link Click fans to everyone they know: WATCH LINK CLICK!!!). Some people are just so resistant to watching anything Chinese that even others in the Link Click subreddit prefer its Japanese dub—which is sad because they don’t get to hear certain nuances in the original audio. It’s also just really frustrating how xenophobic people can get.

Anyways, the beauty of Link Click lies in its simplicity. For a time-travel show, you’d expect our characters to tackle on tasks that involve the fate of the world or something, but no. In Link Click, it’s all about the ordinary person. All the people Cheng Xiaoshi dived into have been your everyday person—an office woman who gets harassed at work, a restaurant owner who’s grown estranged from her best friend, a man who misses his first love and his old friends, a man who wants to gain the approval of his girlfriend’s family, etc. Even when the stakes go high in season 2, the core of the conflicts still lie in the personal problems that the characters face—which may seem small in the grand scheme of things, but they are not any less important.

And I think that’s beautiful. It’s hard to relate to grand plots of saving the world or facing an apocalypse and whatnot, but it’s easy to relate to the day-to-day struggles that humans face. 

But it’s also depressing, in a way. Link Click is very adamant that the past remain unchanged. Cheng Xiaoshi has to go there, do his mission, and then leave the past as it is—which is difficult when he gets to feel the emotions of the person he’s possessing. Many times he wants to change things for the better, but Lu Guang always pulls him back. 

Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang’s relationship is also really nice. Cheng Xiaoshi is the empathic and reckless type, while Lu Guang is the rational and cold (but inwardly a dork) type. They balance each other out, and when they have conflicts, they face it maturely. They also care for each other so so much that the moment the other is in danger, all their personal philosophies get thrown out the window just to ensure the other person’s safety.

The male characters also cry without getting emasculated. They have mental breakdowns that are done so well and feel like a real reaction instead of just the solitary tear down one’s cheek. 

Link Click… is not a gentle show. It will strongly grab your heartstrings and make you cry several times. It doesn’t pull its punches, and it’s always happy to hit you with the “past or future, just let them be” beam. It is cruel, but we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Lastly, Link Click is really about friends being there for each other in hard times, and knowing that while it’s impossible to take all those painful memories back, it is possible to take them with you in the future and turn them into something beautiful.

On Soundtrack: The soundtrack of this show is just amazing. The s1 opening song may seem all fun and games with the finger-tutting, but after s2, you’ll realize how meaningful the lyrics are. The s1 ending is also iconic for us fans. It starts playing before the episode ends, and the ominous start of the song always sends chills down our spines because it signals that something has gone wrong.

The s2 soundtrack gets even better. The s2 opening’s second chorus is basically just the first chorus played in reverse. The director specifically requested for a song that would sound good even when played in reverse, and it’s amazing how the band managed to pull off something so difficult. The s2 ending, like the s1 ed, continues the Link Click style of playing before the episode actually ends, making the last few moments of the episode even more emotional.

Trigger Warnings:

S1: Flashing lights in the opening, attempted and implied sexual harassment, slight panic attack, death, kidnapping, drugging, suicide, blood. Complete list of TW’s for s1 can be found here (it may be spoilery)

S2: Fast-changing images in the opening, domestic abuse, child abuse, emotional abuse, violence, blood, murder.

#H6: Tamayura: Hitotose

Propaganda:

No stakes, only warmth. Tamayura: Hitotose is the single coziest anime I have ever watched. It is like Moomins or Studio Ghibli (without all the excitement), in that after watching it you feel like the greatest magic the world has ever known is a home-made bowl of soup, a trip to the mountains, a photograph of a memory. Which is all true. Animes like this teach you to live right, and that's why we need them. Also to teach us to be "more aggressivu!" If you ever have a really rough day/week/month/year/decade, let your soul be soothed and watch Tamayura: Hitotose.

Trigger Warnings: Unknown.

If you’re reblogging and adding your own propaganda, please tag me @best-underrated-anime so that I’ll be sure to see it.

[raifuujin]

It's been more than 20 years and for some reason I feel that Gosho hasn't given Kaiao any development, how can more than 20 years pass and Aoko dynamics, relationship and feelings remain the same? At this point I feel like Gosho is just going to make them date because "they already liked each other" they remain in the same status quo

Hey, if we go by DC romance progress, they've been going too fast. We've already had suspicion of identity chapters, and that didn't happen until more than 400 chapters in DC. /j

Since heists have taken over any character development recently, I don't even know if Kaito and Aoko will even get any romantic progress. Maybe the actual identity confrontation will happen down the line, since that's thief drama, but atm, it really wouldn't surprise me if they only ask each other on a real date at the very end of the manga.

Like. I'm sure Gosho would love to make MK a love drama as well, but he writes MK so rarely, and usually as hype for something Kid related in other media. So the MK stories tend to be heavy on drama that can only take place at Kid heists. (To the point that the new chapters just. Use Kid as the plot device to show off a new character. Even Hakuba's never gotten so much 'look at this character being a detective' treatment in MK.)

-sighs- I just feel bad for MK as a series at this point. I like the characters, I like the general story idea, but. It's been going down a very steep hill with Gosho wanting things exciting, but not wanting any real progress in. Anything. But unlike old MK, the new stories aren't even nice standalone setpieces of story, they're... mundane. They could be high stakes, if you purely look at the scenarios on paper, but. We all know nothing's gonna happen to Kid. Nothing even happens to him when the actual bad guys show up, much less one-time antagonists.

We need actual character focus and development, not heist drama. Badly. Not even romance, though that'd be a nice change. Just any character expansion of our limited cast of characters. Gosho wants big, all the time, meaningless big stuff, when small would be so nice.

[silviakundera]

DRAMA REC: So I feel like any real review of Thai drama Moonlight Chicken is hard without heavy spoilers because honestly I don't know how to talk about what makes me passionate about it without discussing all the character relevations that occur over the course of its 8 episodes. I'll try to be generic as much as I can.

The thing about why it's hard to discuss without spoilers is that the characters and their full baggage are revealed slowly episode by episode, because like in real life you often learn about new friends & love interests slowly as intimacy deepens...

But from what I can see online, it's very subjective for viewers - depends on the person if they find these themes and personal challenges compelling or not. This doesn't fit with the typical "BL asian drama" format.

My personal viewing stake: There's an otp that has TAKEN OVER MY BRAIN. I have been searching for this energy ever since finishing Lighter & Princess. Gotta confess that I couldn't care less about the second couple who are teenagers. Apparently MDL and a lot of tumblr only liked the teen couple (valid!), but I just skipped over them mostly because when my brain locks in on Real Adults with Adult Problems I often cease to connect to high school student storylines. But the age gap couple with a 39 year old character who is FEELING his age... Jim & Wen. I've watched all 8 episodes now and they are like cocaine to me.

Ep 1 setup: We're not in Bangkok! (gasp) Jim is almost-40 and runs a late night diner in the less upscale part of town. Wen, about 10 years younger, is drunk at his diner as he's trying to close for the night. They pick up on the unspoken signals, instant electric connection, and end up wandering back to Jim's place and having what looks like fantastic sex together (without exchanging names).

But then after that first night, in the remaining 7 ep of the show you get a slowburn build up from zero as Jim doesn't want a relationship - with anyone. This is truly, sincerely a 'it's not you, it's me" situation. He is mired in baggage and the angst is SO DELICIOUS to me. Angst and soft hand touches and late night conversation. There's YEARNING. SO MUCH YEARNING.

And then my darling Wen! Who brings almost the same energy as the Lighter and Princess FL. @dangermousie I never thought I'd see this irrepressible determination and tender, good humored patience again! He is deeply sure that there is something special here with Jim and is unrelenting about trying to scale Jim's walls. I know that sounds like psychotic SML material lmao but it's all about the tone and context. It's very clear that Jim is allowing Wen in his life and doesn't, deep down, want Wen to give up on him. He's damaged and scared but I always felt he wants Wen to be right - that they are falling in love and can build something real together. He just can't make himself take that step. I mean, in their 2nd meeting he is EQUALLY INSANE to agree that it's v normal and hinged behavior to let his 1 night stand start randomly showing up to work shifts at his diner as 'temp staff' he can't afford to pay because... um. Basically to stalk him? idk I don't think it's stalking when u have a mutual agreement?? 🤔

Wen falling deeper into Jim and KNOWING the feeling is mutual no matter how many times he's (so gently!) pushed back... can be sooooo personal. 😭😭😭 The vibes of this "we're Not Together™" but it's inevitable, I'm just waiting for the timing to be right... reminiscent of the last 10 episodes of Lighter & Princess. This building intimacy and tenderness that stretches on until as a viewer you feel like... They ARE in love, they're together but just without the sex. They just have to stabilize their lives first before committing whole-heartedly. THE BITTERSWEET PINGING. (screams)

One thing I've observed is many people seem to struggle to connect with Jim's character. The closest thing we have to a protagonist (?) Maybe. Anyway, I suspect it might be a generational thing. I found the drama incredibly compelling, but I grew up queer in the 80s and 90s. I'm well into my 40s, a bit older than Jim, but I think the generational queer experience overlaps pretty well considering the sociopolitical differences btw us/thailand.

The screenwriter is an older out gay man, so I presume that's also a factor in how he did a pitch-perfect depiction of Jim's struggles to find home.

Wen has his own baggage that feels very real and raw. I loved his storyline because I could personally relate to it also from my queer relationship experience.

I've blabbered on here before about how I feel like there's something different about queer stories being told to other queers, not targeted to straight viewers primarily - I'm not saying it's better than the big brands and popular international media including lgbt rep. It's just different imo and I do think it's valuable. I want to see stories about the complexities of the experience & about the gay community that can't just be mapped to straight people. Where the story would not feel the same if you flipped the sexualities. That's what Midnight Chicken was to me: the characters of Jim and Wen and their personal development & slow love story together felt very queer and the age gap was a relevant part of this. And that called to me. I could recognize parts of myself in them and my personal experiences as a gay woman.

I was impressed by the writing. Strong acting. The directing of individual scenes is excellent BUT the 1 big flaw is the editing. Very amateur, super abrupt scene changes! Just jarring. But whatever, I've seen some terrible editing in cdramas too. Also note the storytelling tactic is to show a series of meaningful moments & interactions over like 6-8 months of time. Events progress in ways we don't always see and it's not always spelled out to the audience, everything that happened since we last saw them. That may or may not work for the viewer.

[Plus there's a very sweet & wholesome teen love story that also gets a happy ending, if you're into that. One of the teens is deaf and there's no "cure the disability" nonsense, don't worry. I was adult-focused but I did appreciate the complicated family relationship subplot with Jim trying to caretake his nephew and their relationship to the mostly-absent sister.]

ok so now into spoiler territory. Letting the relevations come out organically would be a much better viewing experience BUT...

SPOILERS ON JIM & WEN BACKSTORY

Jim's whole deal is he had a big love in his late 20s-early 30s that fucked him up good. He grew up being told gay love isn't real, leaves his rural farming town with his sister in their teens, disconnected from his family... But even his sister, who loves him, had the perspective that it's Just A Phase. Jim expects to Prove Them Wrong. Then his boyfriend cheats on him.... With a woman. Activate that generation's internalized homophobia and self-doubt. And then before he gets to truly confront his partner, his partner dies in an accident. So he never gets resolution.

And he's stuck under a mountain of debt, on the edge of poverty because he didn't get any of the guy's assets when he died of course. No rights under Thai law. Partner's family takes it all but the old car & the cat. All he has is the small chicken rice shop they had bought and ran together and it's killing him, he both hates and loves it. He's this amazing member of the local community but doesn't see himself and his own worth clearly.

Wen is working through the guilt of falling out of love from his 1st gay relationship that lasted 5 years of his 20s. Broken up but still living together. Trying to stay in each other's lives (I've seen this a lot, because in small gay communities you don't just cut ties with good people you care about). But living together is toxic for both of them, despite the real care that's there.

He also feels disconnected from a community at the start. He has work collegues, all straight friends, and his now-ex boyfriend. But you get the subtle sense that his local ties are all with the boyfriend Alan's family and mutual friends with Alan who don't all know about the breakup yet and he doesn't know how to interface with them anymore now that he and Alan aren't the same. He's the one who fell out of love, so he's "the bad guy" here and the straight friend he tries to talk to about trying to co-habititate with his ex and stay close friends doesn't really get it, because that's just way more typical behavior for older generation queers - it's notable that when the situation is fully explained to Jim, he doesn't seem to find it bizarre at all (as said, I've gone through that myself, and known friends in that situation; found that subplot to be very well done.) (I read that many viewers were disappointed this wasn't a standard infidelity situation where Wen is just regular cheating on Alan, but I have to say that I feel the opposite. The subplot and how it played out felt very relatable to me. I didn't need a cheating angst plotline in this drama that could be transplanted into a straight drama. I wanted more stories that represented my lived experience as an adult lesbian, and Wen's narrative gave me that.)

Wen keeps searching for a home even while living with Alan and having loved him in the past. Which to me was a sign that he'd moved to this smaller city, living in Alan's condo and in Alan's life with Alan's extended family... He started eating beef because Alan did and following along. He doesn't know where HE feels at home, what Wen needs to be comfortable and happy. When he more & more starts to believe he can make this home with Jim, he's determined to make it happen.

[literary-illuminati]

Book Review 37 – The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab

I picked this up for my still-somewhat-theoretical bookclub with some friends, and honestly probably wouldn’t have looked at it otherwise. (The only previous work of Schwab I’d read was Vicious which I was, honestly, not particularly impress by.) So chalk one up for book clubs I suppose, because I’m incredibly happy I gave this a try.

The book follows the eponymous Adeline “Addie” LaRue, a peasant girl in late 17th century southern France who, desperately trying to escape marriage and a life limited to one tiny farming village, and just generally being a peasant, makes a deal with the devil. (Or primordial darkness. Or some ancient pagan god she learned about from the old witch living in the woods that comes standard with every peasant village – it’s somewhat vague, and doesn’t really matter regardless. He goes by Luc.) The deal is for her freedom – she will get to live life untethered and according to her own desires, until she is sick of it, and when she is, her soul will be his.

What this means is that she is a) immortal, and eternally 23 years old, and any change to her body reverts in a matter of moments, but also b) incapable of leaving a mark on the world. People literally forget her the moment she is out of their sight, any letters she writes fade before she finishes a word, she is quite literally incapable of saying her own name out loud and has to pick a pseudonym out of the air with each new interaction, and so on. Reality also conspires against her having more than she can carry on her person – stashes are discovered or accidentally destroyed by what seems like random chance.

The book’s divided more or less in half, with a singular narrative in 2014 New York where Addie has a meet cute with Henry – a 28 year old bohemian bookstore clerk whose made his own (much, much worse) deal with the devil, and as a happy unintended consequence is actually able to remember her – being intercut with flashback chapters telling the wider story of Addie’s three-hundred-year life, how she adapted to her blessing/curse and figured out how to have a life of something other than endlessly freezing and starving in Parisian gutters, and her relationships with Luc.

To lay my cards on the table – Henry is charming, and the book’s New York is fun and appealing, but the historical vignettes really do make the book and elevate it a bit beyond pleasant but forgettable fluff. Partially just because the nature of Addie’s anonymous immortality is so specific, the book has a lot of fun with how she learned to navigate and make the most of it. The utter misery she’d been stuck with and endured also grounds (..maybe not the right word, given the immortality, but you know what I mean) the generally pretty fluffy New York narrative a bit.

Also, given how much I loathe the whole ‘death is what makes life meaningful!’ cliche, I really do appreciate that even after spending however long buried in a snowbank in a Parisian slum perpetually one second away from freezing to death, Addie’s reaction to ‘would you make the same deal again?’ is ‘fuck you, I’m immortal!”.

The plot of the present day New York chapters...exists. If mostly as connective tissue for cute dates and descriptions of bars and art shows; this is really overwhelmingly a character piece, and after that the focus is still more on making specific scenes and vignettes vivid more than any sort of overarching drama. Which isn’t any sort of complaint, to be clear – adding action or high stakes politics or a cosmic battle between good and evil or anything else would have ruined this. The fact that the book keeps its stakes limited to a few specific souls is a huge point in its favour.

The novel’s organized around a romance (I mean, a love triangle, technically), though given the ending I’m not sure it technically qualifies for the weirdly specific criteria for a Romance Novel I’ve been yelled out about in the past. It’s not exactly the sort of love story that’s going to set the world on fire, anyway; though Henry was charming and sympathetic and inoffensive enough to effortlessly vault into my top tier of least annoying romance male love interests.

Luc I think I would have absolutely despised if either Addie had ended up buying into his bullshit or if the narration ever really tried to make you sympathize with him. As is, it’s incredibly to read him as actually sincerely falling sincerely in love with Addie at a certain point, and she basically never stops hating him to the point of going all unreliable narrator and always framing his actions as more Machiavellian and monstrous than they are. It’s great.

It’s not exactly surprising how studiously apolitical the book is, but it did still kind of strike me? Given the span of history involved, I mean – the French Revolution and World War One both intrude on the narrative exclusively as ‘bad news Addie gets out of Paris/Europe to evade’. The only active political stance she’s shown as taking in the entire modern era is returning to France during WW2 to be an anti-nazi spy out of a vague sort of patriotism.

On the one hand oh my god a version of this book that went ‘she’s queer and was alive at the time, so obviously Addie would have been at Stonewall’ would have just been, so so bad lol. But the part of me that loves drama and books that get internet hate campaigns dedicated to them does kind of wish the book had done a bit more with what she (immortal 23-year-old early modern bohemian aesthete runaway peasant girl) actually believes or thinks of the world.

Though the book’s restraint on involving historical events vanishes entirely in the cultural sphere – Beethoven makes an appearance, having sold his soul for artistic genius. I don’t mind this too much, honestly; Addie learning that even if she can’t leave a direct mark she can still inspire people and indirectly shape the world that way is a pretty central theme to the whole book, so it more or less fits. When she justifies why she considers her life worth living, the central element is beauty, she lives for songs and fine meals and paintings and books and films. The occasional intrusion of names I recognize just feels like it fits.

Speaking of: quite possibly my favourite bit of the book is how, at the beginning of each part, there’s a page with a sketch and an auctioneer’s description of a different piece of fine art that Addie had inspired over the course of her long life. Nothing much intelligent to say about them specifically, just that I adored the little touches it added.

Unfortunately, the ending of this was the weakest part of it by leaps and bounds. Just – it would have been damn near perfect, if it just ended two chapters before it did! As is, re contextualizing the entire book as an artifact that exists in universe just makes the entire thing make no sense at all (also, my god, can you imagine being Robbie or Henry’s family and reading how you’re portrayed in his ‘novel’?) But even beyond that, it felt like the book had reached a natural, nicely bittersweet ending, and then spent the last ten pages furiously trying to backtrack and make it as unambiguous and upbeat as possible. A damn shame.

Anyway, not a revelatory read or anything, but with that exception very fun and well-put together.

[jadedbirch]

Born To Fly:

Review, Thinky Thoughts, and Other Nonsense

This is a very good year for Wang Yibo, and by extension for me, because my son's success fills me with much joy. I admit though, I was less than thrilled to go watch a movie about test pilots for him. But love conquers all, and so I went!

Spoiler-free review

Going into this with admittedly low expectations, I must say I was very pleasantly surprised both by how engaging and entertaining the movie was and by how little propaganda there was in it, considering it's essentially a movie about glorifying the Chinese Air Force. Yes, the "enemy combatants" were unintentionally hilarious caricatures, but they were a very tiny part of the plot. The central drama was predominantly internal to Lei Yu (Yibo's character) - at the end of the day it's a film about his personal growth journey. It's also, a surprising amount, about his relationship with his "rival" pilot Deng Fang (played by a very handsome Yosh Yu) and his military daddy, Commander Zhang Ting (played by the delightfully avuncular Hu Jun). There is high drama and high stakes, tears and heart break, and a good amount of homoerotic tension between men in uniform who are forced to train in close quarters. I, for one, will not complain. If anything, the one downside was not enough shirtless scenes in the barracks.

As always, Yibo had fantastic chemistry with his male costars, and like subterranean levels of chemistry (low, very low) with the requisite female love interest (but this isn't about her - she's incredibly unimportant). The Yeekies and the Yose looked spectacular, and we got to see more epidermis than we've seen since he had to take his shirt off for The Untamed. Because he wears a tank top. We live off crumbs, my friends. It is saying a lot that he didn't get upstaged by the cool planes because the flight scenes were pretty fantastic (and also a bit nauseating). There are some stunning cinematic shots in this film and Yibo and the scenery both look great.

Thinky-thoughts

This is just going to be a random list of thoughts that don't belong in a review, but I still wanted to share.

They clearly went out of their way to make Yibo's skin look more "rugged" for this movie, but he's still a babie and also the prettiest 🥺

Spoilery! But for a movie that makes a big deal about how every life is precious, they don't seem to spend very much time and effort to ensure that they reduce loss of life for their test pilots, especially after major (and surely very expensive) mishaps? Still, I guess we have to balance out the verisimilitude with the drama.

I learned that "enemy combatants" might be assholes, but birds are the real enemy. If you know, you know.

Still pretty ticked off that Yibo flipped over in that vehicle while making this movie. Seems like maybe that's something they'd like to avoid in the future because in a country of a billion citizens, he's irreplaceable.

Other Nonsense

Okay, if you know me, you know I can't leave here without talking about the ENEMIES TO LOVERS TROPE! 🥰🥰🥰 Yes, it was a million times more gay in Top Gun, but this is China, and the dudes still manage to have more physical contact than Lei Yu had with the girl "love interest." This is all to say, I expect some hot pilot on pilot fanfics. Looking at all of you, fandom!

[dilirebas]

My review of Story of Kunning Palace / 宁安如梦

I loved the premise of this drama. The wicked empress who meets her downfall but is reborn as her past self, so she gets a chance to redeem herself and change the fates of her loved ones.

They handled the past life very well, showing just enough to keep you on your toes without overloading on flashbacks. We know Jiang Xuening's original ending but not how she got there. So as she makes new choices, we also learn what went wrong in her previous life.

I honestly think the drama peaks near the middle. The effort to save Yan Lin is a great story arc because Jiang Xuening's relationship with him is developed so well and the stakes are so high. Both the writing and acting of Yan Lin were phenomenal. At the same time, we finally learn who Xie Wei really is and what motivates him, and this is some of Zhang Linghe's best acting in the whole drama. We're also finally being introduced to the mysterious figure of Zhang Zhe, the almost-perfect man who was Jiang Xuening's first love.

As the story continued, I would've liked better character development for the protagonists. The drama departs majorly from the source novel halfway through, but the screenwriters' takes on these characters was...just okay. The writing in the second half was also a bit careless and overly convenient, and the resolution of the final conflict just felt incredibly low-effort.

I think some problems in Jiang Xuening's character development stem from Bai Lu's acting choices in the final third. I do think she was up to standard for an idol historical, but I also think she can do better.

For example, Jiang Xuening's relationship with her sister changes significantly, which is clear in the plot but doesn't reflect clearly in her line delivery and tone. Maybe we could've also seen more intermediate stages in her attitude towards Xie Wei (or at least a bit less of the wide-eyed and shocked stage). These things would have made Jiang Xuening a more complex and charismatic figure.

This drama gets bonus points because the pacing was fast enough that I didn't need to watch on 1.5x speed lol

A note on the director, Zhu Ruibin: he gets a lot of criticism from c-netizens for "unflattering" or "weird" shots of actors, but I will always defend him for this. Good actors aren't afraid of looking ugly. Actors are hired to portray a character and tell a story. If a camera angle adds to the viewer's experience of the story, then it's the right call. So many cdrama directors churn out footage on factory default mode. Zhu Ruibin is one of the few who actually puts thought into delivering interesting shots and has his own vision for what dramas should look like.

It's not a perfect drama but I still enjoyed it a lot. I just wish the second half lived up to the first half.

[spymaster-and-socialite]

(ooc: get to know me, turn edition!)

stole this from @cabbxges-and-kings lol :3

Favourite Season: it’s a tie between s2 and s3 for me lol. imo s2 and s3 are the two best seasons in terms of plot, but i can never pick a favorite! i associate s2 with romance and a happier, more upbeat vibe (it’s the season of jpeg and annlett!!) and s3 with high-stakes drama and a tenser, slightly more angsty vibe, and BOTH ARE SO GOOD. 

Least Favourite: oof...... i have to say s4. i have a soft spot for s1 because it’s obviously what got me hooked on the show, and i love rewatching it and getting reintroduced to all the characters. s4 feels a little bit rushed (which, to be fair, is because we were robbed of a s5!!) and andre is gone, which automatically makes me like it less LDFKHJDKS... but i do love the peggy and abigail team-up and abe’s weird redcoat arc is fun, so it gets points for that. 

Favourite character(s): john andre is my little meow meow blorbo and i am his number one fan LDFNJD <3. i have so many others that i love, but apart from andre, i probably relate the most to peggy and anna (though for some reason i struggle to write anna sometimes lol). i could literally talk all day about why i like andre, but i actually did a post about that somewhere else on this blog HAHA. 

Least Favourite Character: ugh it’s GOT to be benedict arnold. sorry to any arnold fans/fans of the real historical figure, but the way he’s portrayed in the show is so gross and seriously gives me the ick lol. nothing is worse to me than a man who plows over other people’s boundaries and thinks he’s entitled to everything ever, which is exactly what arnold is lol. i USED to really not like richard, but tbh i think he’s a really intriguing character who adds a lot to the show (even if much of it is just as an obstacle to abe’s plans LOL, he’s a really interesting representation of a certain brand of loyalist). oh, and i also have an issue with robert rogers for randomly going after andre (why?? >:( ) but he’s funny, so he gets a pass lol. 

Favourite Romantic Relationship: you know i’m the number one jpeg stan. they’re just the best! andre and peggy just check off every single one of my (highly specific, picky af) ship requisites: vaguely austen-esque ballroom meet-cute, witty banter, kinda hate each other at first but only bc they’re the same person, can finally stop performing around each other, GET RANDOMLY QUAKER MARRIED, barbie and ken vibes, Tragic Lovers, the fucking braid...... need i go on? i love them. 

Favourite Friendship: ooh... ben and caleb are great, ofc, but also, peggy and abigail!! and for a slightly more niche one, i love robert townsend and rivington’s dynamic HAHA. (omg and robert and ANDRE... idk if they count as “friends,” but their scenes together in s3 are the funniest thing ever to me.) 

Favourite Episode: objectively, in terms of its impact on me and its cinematographic quality? s3e10. but i bawled when i first watched it, so uhhhh, omg this is TOUGH, but maybe s2e4 or s2e6? s2e4 has the Garden Scene with jpeg that i go insane over (one day i’ll write a full meta post about why) and s2e6 is andre’s stupid flute solo and i just love seeing them happy together lol. BUT ALSO, s3e6 (thanksgiving) is so fucking funny and i also adore that one. 

Least Favourite Episode: ugh sorry washington stans, but valley forge/s2e7 lol. i don’t like how it’s ONLY focused on washington and most of the other characters are absent. i would eat that shit up if they did an andre-centric ep like that, but i just don’t care enough about gwash sodfjhjdks. 

Favourite Iconic Quote: “don’t presume you know what it is to be me,” obviously! 

[ivyblossom]

you okay? haven't seen you around these parts lately?

Hello, anon, how kind of you to notice my absence and ask, that's so sweet of you!

I have been visiting family, and then I was at an in-person professional conference, one that I was in charge for planning, which was a little high-stakes-y and a bit stressful (it went GREAT, all well there), so I was stuck in real world stuff for a while. All good.

But then there's this fannish stuff that has me a bit...well.

I'm treading a little more carefully with my fannish life because of some twitter drama that had nothing to do with me. It wasn't about me in any way whatsoever, and I'm overreacting, but it flashed the possibility of a creator (or creator-adjacent) discussion about how shitty it is that we sillies write fanfiction that they don't like or approve of, and my heart honestly can't take it. I pretend I'm thick-skinned about this stuff, and I wish I were, but I'm really not. Even a hint that things are going in that direction makes me feel sick. So I throw words at it in the hopes that that will protect me. Which probably does the opposite.

Writing fanfiction feels great to me. I love doing it, I love interacting with other fans and getting into deep conversations about characters and voice and emotions and big, moral decision-making and all that stuff, it feels very honest and genuine to me. It feels like we use these stories as tools to communicate about something much bigger, that we're digging into parts of ourselves that are really foundational and otherwise unrevealed. Like, the shared language of stories gives us these amazing tools to talk about things and experience things that it's hard to get at otherwise. It feels like you're suddenly able to communicate with a group of people you didn't know existed before, in a language you didn't know you understood, and those people see you and get you in a way you've never experienced before. It's a cool thing. I always come away from it a different person, and I'd say a better one.

So when people I admire laugh at us in that particular way, you know the one, it really hits me hard.

This is a really vulnerable place to me. I don't know if I've ever fully appreciated how much that's true. Fandom is a pseudonymous trust fall in the oddest way. And hitting the ground is probably the inevitable result, but I keep climbing back up again anyway.

I never considered whether, as a fan, I want some kind of pat on the head from creators. That makes no sense, but maybe I do. What a weird way to go about getting acknowledgement, eh? The things we do to ourselves.

The first time I wrote fanfiction it was a form of criticism. I definitely didn't want a thumbs up from JK Rowling. I couldn't have cared less what she thought of what we were doing. She was always an anti-role model for me rather than someone whose good opinion I wanted. I had no desire for creator approval there.

I wrote Sherlock fics because of the unspoken parts, the parts that lay beneath the words. The first time I wrote a Sherlock fic it was because I was impressed with Sherlock's voice and I thought it would be impossible to use it as a narrator, which of course prompted me to try. I also thought this unemotional character would be so much more appealing to me personally if he had a secret and powerful emotional life, which I could project into unemotional behaviour and could always believe was there even if it never appeared on screen. I wouldn't have said this at the time, but in retrospect I think I did want Steven Moffat in particular to know that I, nameless me, wrote a story out of admiration for the construction of those characters, and that I did a pretty okay job of using that toolset for an amateur. I must have wanted that somehow, even though that's not a reasonable or possible thing to get. Something like, pat pat "You did okay, little fan, well done, keep working at it, you're getting there!" That's pretty silly, isn't it, but I think I probably would have loved a generalized nod like that. Some part of me wanted to be seen, I guess? By people who's work I admired? I guess that's not so weird.

This time, with Our Flag Means Death, I just love the story, I love the characters, I love the writing and the voices, everything, I didn't want to change or add anything at all, I just wanted to write something that's a sort of love letter and a heartfelt squee, because I think this thing is beautiful, and I felt like we were getting a general YAY WE LOVE YOU TOO WE LOVE WHAT YOU CREATE IT'S ALL ABOUT LOVE AND ADMIRATION WE SPEAK THE SAME LANGUAGE I SEE YOU vibe back, and that felt scarily nice. I guess I fear getting what I want, because it's all so vulnerable, and what if I believe it and I feel buoyed by it and I go more vulnerable in my fannish way, and then it turns out to be all a big joke and a lie? Then I feel stupid and really hurt.

I shouldn't let people I don't know, and who don't even know I exist, hurt me. And yet somehow, I keep standing up for this bizarre trust fall. Perhaps I am just a sucker for punishment. Pedestals are bad for everyone. I need to stop putting people on them. I should stop finding ways to hit the ground myself at the feet of them!

You asked how I'm doing, and I guess I could have just said, "Oh, fine," but no, I bought you a pint and sat you down and told you the whole damn story, didn't I. Thanks for listening. Do you need another pint? I certainly owe you one at this point.

[kim-ruzek]

You said that you'd love to see changes made to PD. I always love reading your takes/metas (still have to go back and read some of those but I've got summer break approaching!) Any chance you'd write out your "PD wishlist"?

Thank you, that's so lovely of you to say!! 💖 And I am more than happy to write out my pd wish list. I've been so excited to get to this all day-- probably would've answered sooner but my aunt visited in the time I usually have for my ask answering time.

Firstly: the number one thing I want to see is Kim, Kev and Adam actually becoming detectives. Especially Kim and Kev, not that Adam doesn't equally deserve it, but because he's the one I think everything about his character has said would be more than happy to remain in the officer rank, as long as he's in the unit. (He loves the work they do, so naturally if he had to leave, he'd probably become a detective so he could get a similar position elsewhere).

But that's less of a change and more an overdue plotline 🙃 nevertheless I had to mention it, before going on to the more maybe fundamental changes on my wishlist.

I'd love patrol to return. Getting rid of patrol is the one of the biggest fundamental problems that's happened to the show, and is one of the factors that lead to the unit becoming more insular. With this change, it would reintroduce back easier a plots and b plots and less tunnel vision on one character and would be a good way to introduce new, young characters without having to add young just graduated officers which imo only properly worked with Adam, as much as I liked Rojas and like Torres.

Plus it would mean more substantial Trudy scenes, which is always a plus. My wish for this would probably have the patrol storylines have a lesser focus then they did originally because the show has developed over the years, but even in a lesser degree it is still so very needed. And there's a few different ways they could reintroduce patrol, and how they could do it, which would also help keep the show fresh.

Similarly, I want more unit members, perhaps more than patrol. I would love there to be a new, but established older detective (younger than Voight but a few years older than the rest probably) because the unit really misses that intergenerational mix. And being another parent would be good. Preferably I'd maybe want two new unit members, a more established one and a younger but not just graduated one. (Especially because I think Torres needs someone in his age bracket to bounce off). But I'd settle for just the older one.

Multi episode long cases. Not like a season arc long one, but a case that is the heart of the plot for three episodes. I think that would be really interesting, give new life to the show, and could even be done with character centric episodes still-- which honestly would be a good move, because then it'd feel less parted between the team because they all would have a role. Maybe two of these kinds of stuff per season, one in part A, one in part B.

Low stakes episodes, at least once a season. There's a way to make these low stakes episodes just as entertaining and gripping, but not be in such high drama.

Similarly, a bit more humour again. Especially with the heavy focus on character centric episodes, a bit of levity would help bring it all together and feel less like a chore of an emotional rollercoaster.

I hesitate to say this, because I don't know if necessarily I trust the writers to do it well or in a way I'd like and it's probably one of those things that is better just imagining yourself, but a bit more on the background of characters. I really want to know more about Trudy in her younger years and it would be a great way to utilize her.

I also would love to see more about Kim's background but I have such extensive headcanons and I don't know if I'd trust the writers to actually do her justice. Definitely didn't the last couple of seasons, but maybe with Sigan I might trust the writers more and this would be a more definite thing on my wish list.

More of the team, together. Simply just that. We got a little more this season, but this is a change I'd make to pd. Especially if I added more members and patrol, as they'd be more dynamics to work with.

Kevin getting an actual healthy relationship. Yet again, things have improved slightly as we've gotten to see landlord!kev and Kev rebonding with his father this season and not just being cpd's black poster child.

But I crave him actually having a romance-- outside of work. All romances, especially if they don't add more members/patrol, should be outside of work from now on with Kev and Torres. Tbh my change there romance wise would be having Kev meet a social worker and falling in love but that's just my hc over these past years.

More season long over arching plots. Obviously we got a somewhat return to that this season, with the chief's son and then the Beck's but I definitely still count this a change on my wish list because we haven't gotten to the point I would like. This also goes in a bit with what I was saying about the three episode long cases, because if done well, a season arc could really help make the unit feel like the family they did once feel like and give a consistency within the more character centric episodes, even if I'd get rid of those.

This is less a change and more a want, in a way even more a want and less a change then burzekwater making detective, because there's nothing to say this won't be on the cards. But I'd like to see Burzek getting engaged again, and then having that wedding they've always wanted. I think emotionally and maturity wise they're at that point now, and I'd love to see it.

That's it for now. It's the main things that I'd love to change, and also all I can remember at this point. I know there's some more little changes that's on my wish list but unfortunately I can't remember them exactly right now, but these are really my main points of how I'd change and improve PD for the better. I might add to this if I remember others though.

Thank you for asking!!! 💖 I thoroughly enjoyed answering this and I really appreciate you asking me! It was especially nice to get on the heels of all the negative asks I've been getting lately. So thank you, it was so fun. And thank you again for your lovely compliment on my takes, I love hearing how people enjoy them-- it makes writing them very worth while.

[mabelpodcast]

Sending a tip with this - I'll note myself as Astra there =) Firstly, I am alive, nearly fully and I think that's the best description I have. There have been a lot of highs and lows lately, and the storm has no signs of calming, just changing, but I find I'm better able to navigate it these days than in years past, so I will take that. How are you??

As far as my question, are things going to improve, and if so, how might they? While I can weather the waves with more skill now, I am quite tired if I'm honest

Thank you so very much for the tip, we both appreciate it!

I'm glad to hear, at least, that you are able to move through your life with some increase of ease. I'm well; about to get to work on something new, which is always a good time for me.

Things will improve. You're due for a stroke of luck very soon, so take heart at that, but at the same time don't let it dictate your behaviour too much (sometimes expectation chokes out the current moment, even when that moment isn't perfect). Instead, find improvement in your situation by reaching for the beauty and peace of simplicity. There are simple things in your life, even if they're a little harder to grasp. If everything else is a dramatic operatic aria, enjoy the silence between high Fs. Cultivate an awareness of stillness. Not quite mindfulness, necessarily, but an understanding of balance: even the most erratic pendulum has that moment of pause before it swings up or down again. Claim the peace you need. Close your eyes to everything else, even briefly. You can take this somewhat esoterically (enforce energetic boundaries between yourself and the high-stakes drama around you) and you can take it with brutal pragmatism (carve out an hour to walk around a park by yourself this week and see if that helps your stress levels).

And also, listen. Storms are valuable teachers. Even as they batter you. Even as they hurt. This chaos will not destroy you. You are learning from it. I'm not saying that everything happens for a reason - whether or not I believe that is irrelevant; sometimes life comes at you with a chainsaw and keeps swinging, and it sucks, and it's hard, and it's exhausting. There isn't always wisdom to the violence of storms, but they can teach you to be wise. You know what I mean, don't you? This maybe isn't what you want to hear, but it doesn't make it any less true.

I know it's hard, I can tell. I see you. It won't always be this way, I promise you that. Try to be grateful for this time, even if that sounds absurd. Not only for what it's teaching you, resilience and skillful navigation and temerity and everything else, but because chaos is beautiful, even as it's tiring. It won't last. You might miss some of it. Probably not the majority. But this is a part of your life with distinct edges, with a discrete shape, and there's value in that.

Best of wishes to you. <3

[vethbrenatto]

so after calamity i'm kind of obsessed with brennan and want to watch more stuff that he DMs. i was under the impression that D20 is more comedy and less drama? any recommendations for someone looking to watch more brennan d&d whose only content they've seen of his so far is calamity?

Absolutely, would recommend 100%! Brennan is a fantastic DM and Dimension 20 is such an easy actual play to fall in love with. The seasons are much shorter than Critical Role, so you don't need to invest in the content of an epic, but there's an abundance of seasons to sink yourself into.

So far, here are the D20 seasons that Brennan has DM-ed in chronological order: Fantasy High, Escape from the Bloodkeep, The Unsleeping City, Fantasy High: Sophomore Year, Tiny Heist, A Crown of Candy, Pirates of Leviathan, The Unsleeping City 2, Mice & Murder, The Seven, A Starstruck Odyssey.

The bolded seasons are main seasons and I'd recommend starting there. You'll get to know the main cast and a group dynamic that is very comfortable with each other because of how much they've played together. The side quests are great too and I'd definitely say check those out if eventually if you end up liking D20, there'll be a ton of familiar actual play faces (Matt, Marisha, Aabria).

For starting, I've got two ways you could go:

My usual recommendation would be Fantasy High for starting. It's free on YouTube, you avoid a paywall and you can get a feel for if you enjoy the show before you pay for anything (it's $6/month for Dropout, which has all the Dimension 20 seasons and a bunch of other content). Fantasy High is kind of the flagship series for D20 and was their very first season. It is high comedy, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have some emotional hits in it. The premise is essentially the setting of a John Hughes-esque high school movie + D&D shenanigans.

My other recommendation since you started with Calamity, would be A Crown of Candy. It is, unfortunately, behind the paywall (though I think maybe you can get a week of free trial?), but it is easily the most dramatic and hard hitting season of D20. It is high intense stakes despite the ridiculous premise of "Game of Thrones in Candyland." With the main cast being a bunch of comedians, it still is heavily comedic, but I would say this season leans more towards drama overall.

[robotnik-mun]

I've been thinking more on Ken's Echidna Lore as of late, and I really think that the Knuckles comic might have worked better if Echidnaopolis wasn't as technologically advanced.

I say this for a few reasons. For one I think that Echidnaopolis being not some utopian future world would allow for two things- It gives the Dark Legion more of a motive and it also makes them more of a threat. Think about it. Knuckles finding a whole society of Echidnas who have been sealed away and are now suddenly in the middle of whats now a battleground adds tention and stakes to the plot. Knuckles (and by extention the Chaotix) now have to protect these people from an emposing threat with lots of numbers and weapons.

Which also fixes another issue I took with those stories in how the Dark Legion doesn't really have a motive besides "bad guys". Echidnaopolis already is technologically advanced. If they weren't the DL would actually have an apparent cause.

To conclude with these changes the comic would maybe be less "melodramtic drama with contradicting themes/messages". Have it be about a rag-tag group having to protect a civilization once thought to be lost.

(And thats not getting into characters and how Another easy fix would be to make the Brotherhood be a morally grey third party manipulating things from the shadows, but this is already long enough as it is. )

If you have read this far through my incoherrant ramblings, godspeed.

Yeah, pretty much. It's been observed multiple times that the Guardian-Legion conflict, as presented, comes off as a load of nonsense given that Echidnapolis is a modern city with high technology and all that jazz and as such you'd think the Legion wouldn't really have any reason to keep invading beyond spite at this point. The closet we ever get to the absurdity of it all comes from the observation that Echidnapolis' ruling council decides what pieces of technology can be re-introduced, and the multiple times its been brought up that the Guardians use Forbidden Technologies themselves.

Of course, nothing really comes of any of that, and Penders' emphasis on the idea of this being a war of philosophies just highlights how absurd it all is the longer it goes on. Not because that's the POINT, but because of how sloppy the writing and worldbuilding is. He'd have been better off just leaving it at "They were pissed off at being forced to live in the Twilight Zone and want Revenge."

You're correct that Echidapolis being a less high tech place might've given more incentive to see Knuckles and friends protecting it from harm in a more active way. That said, one approach I've seen with regards to the Legion thing is that it's not Pro-Tech vs Anti-Tech, but more like "Pro-Limitiation vs No-Limitations". Echidnapolis, thanks to the Enerjak incident, now has a very conservative mindset regarding technological progress and how it impacts the Echidna people. The LEgion by contrast would see things as "Progress No Matter What Damn The Consequences"... for them its not a matter of asking "SHOULD we replace our bodies with non-medically neccessary cybernetics" and more a question of "How MUCH of my body can I replace and how soon?", and them basically deciding they're going to force everyone to see how correct they are regardless of what people actually feel about the matter.

Of course, all of that would rely on a degree of insight and nuance that Penders couldn't manage if his life depended on it. Whatever merits his ideas have, they're always going to be hampered by Penders himself.

[cinnamonrollstark]

I feel like some 9-1-1 fans will hate me for this but....

I don't feel like the show has been the same since roughly season 3b, maybe 4a. I think the writing has changed drastically, and the characters no longer to seem to be as realistic as they once were. When they kill characters off, it is usually just a random side character they introduced the episode before or in the episode itself. I find myself not caring as much for these people in emergent situations, even when it is milked to be tragic and dramatic. I don't feel worried for the characters anymore. I don't think the stakes are as high as they were. Because I don't worry for them, I don't care about them as much anymore. Also, I feel like this show used to be relatively more realistic; the characters had real and lasting flaws, they lost people, they dealt with mental issues because of it. Like actual emergency response does. But I think after Covid hit, they really just wanted to lighten the energy and make it more silly, soapy, campy fun. But it frustrates me as a viewer because I want some of the realistic drama it used to have. Some of the stakes it used to have.

Oh, and don't get me started on Buddie. In seasons 2 and 3, Buck and Eddie had an undeniable chemistry. There was a bit of tension between them. But its almost as if the writers caught wind of this and decided to keep them separate. We hardly see them together anymore, at least in season 6. We had a little bit of buddie content in seasons 4 and 5 but MUCH less than we had in 2 and 3. It frustrates me because there was a certain level of queerbaiting involved, whether they want to deny that or not. Its sad, to me, because it took a show and an on screen relationship I enjoyed and felt was special, and are starting to change it so drastically that I find it a little harder to watch, now. I enjoy the actors, but I hardly feel that they are at their best this season, if only because the writing is not on par with what it used to be.

A couple years ago, I started this Ao3 9-1-1 fic but essentially stopped after the first chapter. I'm thinking of trying my hand at it again. I want to create the spark I once saw in this show. Ideas, HCs, OCs, and prompts welcome. I just miss the early years of the show!

[derfisch]

okay, I said I was gonna do it! below the cut:

a brief review of every anime I watched this season (no battle shounens, guaranteed)

there are 11 that I watched! wow!

to start with, I watched some less recent anime:

Fruits Basket (2019)

I can see why this one is a classic. if the original is anything like the new one (I haven't watched that either), this is held together by excellent, deep character writing and a fantastic sense of place that never falters. the main character, whose archetype of "ditzy genki girl" would usually be written as very one-dimensional and fluffy, has loads of interesting facets of her personality, and goes through plenty of character growth along with everyone else around her, all without feeling the need to make her less girly or compromising her agency in any way.

for negatives, the humor fell flat more often than not, and the melodrama felt a little heavy handed, especially toward the end when they need you to know The Stakes Are High. I'm also unsure how I feel about how it decided to portray some really incesty relationships? but as a CCS enjoyer it's not like I can complain too much there, lol

despite those flaws though, I would still absolutely recommend it to anyone looking for a good drama. I found it pretty good for sleepytime watching too, if you need something like that.

My Roommate Is A Cat

while I did like it a lot, there's not a whole lot to say about it. I like all the characters, even though they don't go too deep. it's fun, it's cute, and it's funny. there's a cat. I like the bits where we get to see from the cat's point of view, and they totally misunderstand the situation. it's not the prettiest anime out there, but I'd still give it a watch if you have the time for a short one

Love Stage!!

absolutely gutted by this one. as a BL anime from about a decade ago, there's a genre-required sexual assault scene. I cannot recommend it to anyone on that basis alone. this is not a triggering subject matter for me, and I was made deeply uncomfortable by it

which really, really sucks, because outside of that I'm super into its characters and its scenario. the tonal whiplash between the sexy seme raping the innocent uke and a few episodes later when he's genuinely regretful of it, and they actually have to work through their feelings over what happened, I appreciated it so much. and even outside of that, the relationship between the two is really interesting. the character writing is super strong, and the conclusion is satisfying and somehow feels earned

if you're absolutely sure you can handle the uncomfortable stuff, maybe give it a watch. otherwise, there's much better gay media out there for you that doesn't subject you to uncomfortable shit like that

Oshi no Ko

I literally cannot tell you anything about this other than you have to watch this. even if you don't give a shit about idols. I'm serious. watch the entire first episode (and I mean the whole thing! don't quit halfway through), and you'll probably know if it's for you or not. but it is gorgeous, and the storytelling and characters are phenomenal. there's a reason no one will shut up about it. I am chomping at the bit for season 2, and the only reason I'm not going to read the manga is the anime is so beautiful

A Herbivorous Dragon of 5,000 Years Gets Unfairly Villainized

[kenny lauderdale voice] is chinese animation anime?

I remember my roommate watching the first episode of this with me around when Dragon Goes House Hunting was airing, to compare the two, and he ultimately passed on it. with that no longer fresh in my mind though, I went back and gave it another shot, and I'm glad I did

it's really short, the usual 12 episodes of a season being made up of 15-minute episodes. the characters don't have a lot of room to breathe, and the story doesn't have enough time to build on its premise for the climax to feel justified. but despite that, I loved the characters themselves, and their interactions with each other. The humor was pretty good, and I found the main duo super endearing. It's not much of a time commitment, so you don't have much to lose by giving this one a shot. oh, and watch Dragon Goes House Hunting too when you're done

Cherry Magic! Thirty Years Of Virginity Can Make You A Wizard?!

[kenny lauderdale voice again] is live action drama anime?

I saw this recommended a lot when I went looking into popular BL drama. maybe I expect too much from my media, but I wasn't really into this. the main character has barely any personality beyond "anxious wreck," and his love interest comes across as a bit creepy, but otherwise not very interesting. In fact, it takes a flashback for us to really have any hint of why the love interest likes the main character at all. this is also peak "why do japanese dramas have such ridiculous acting"

I couldn't really bring myself to finish it. I made it about 2/3 through, seeing if it got better, but I just really couldn't go on any longer

What Did You Eat Yesterday?

another drama! this one was much, much better. it starts with the couple already together, and focuses more on how they cohabitate and work on their relationship. the characters in this feel very real, and their scenarios never feel particularly contrived or unnatural. also, it features characters who are properly middle aged, which is pretty rare for Japanese media in general, let alone BL

this was the hardest one to watch though, because it's only available on Netflix and it's blocked in my country! I couldn't find a good site to pirate it either, so I had to use a VPN. I hope it becomes more easily available some day

now, into the newer stuff:

My Happy Marriage

what interested me about this is it billed itself as a "historical drama," which is surprisingly rare for a culture that seems to have no problem commodifying its history. unfortunately, that's only half true. the setting seems to have one foot in meiji-era japan, and the other in a poorly explained fantasy setting with nonsensical magic powers

I could put up with that, except I really can't stand the characters either. the main character is Tradwife Prime, who's incapable of mustering an ounce of agency except to simp for the man she was forced to marry by her very abusive parents. said husband is nice, but bland as they come. she has a sister who is a huge jerk seemingly just to mess with her.

it has two things going for it: there is some catharsis in seeing husband guy treat this poor woman right, and also it's drawn and animated really well.

maybe it gets better after the first half, but I dropped it about halfway through. if you are the straightest, most misogynistic man, who only sees value in media that reinforces your pitiful worldview, and think all women should exist to be subservient to their husbands, maybe watch it. except even they probably shouldn't, or they'll risk feeling inferior to the most boring man on the planet. but maybe watch it if you like pretty pictures, and don't have a functional brain? or just watch it in a language you don't understand, I guess. make up your own story! you'll probably do better than the writers

Yohane the Parahelion

I watched this because, I kinda liked love live when I watched it a while back, and I thought putting the girls in a fantasy setting sounded neat. also, there's a cute dog, and I wanted to see more of the cute dog

unfortunately, the story is too busy expositing about the characters themselves and their nothing personalities to tell us about the setting, which feels underutilized. every few episodes, there's a hint at some spooky magic stuff happening, which is then stopped after a couple minutes to go back to light drama and fluff

and I started out liking the dog, who kinda feels like a big sister character, but that's literally her entire personality, and I got bored with her after a while, and the show itself just as quickly. it feels like a story yohane (the one in the love live world) wrote herself while she was bored, without consulting an editor or anything. can't recommend unless you really like looking at the cute dog

Sweet Reincarnation

this is a bad anime. I can't believe I watched it all the way through

the premise sounds fun. a patissier gets sent to the shadow realm and then gets isekai'd into life as a prince in generic fantasy world (do all these isekais take place on the same world, you think?), and is totally unhinged about turning the world into a sugar utopia under his command

what are the implications of this? the consequences? we'll never find out, because instead he just does really boring political drama shit. also he's like really good at diplomacy and negotiation for some reason? I don't think candy makers normally have to do that

it's kind of a shame because there are brief moments where the anime remembers what its stupid premise is, and those are genuinely fun. dude bankrupts the treasury buying fucking apples or whatever. uses his OP isekai power to invent irrigation and scare the shit out of everyone in the surrounding area. super fun stuff. but it lasts like 3 minutes every episode, and then it goes back to boring shit

also more arranged marriage, and this time it's with 10 year olds! no commentary whatsoever on how fucked up that is either, main character who is mentally about 30 years old at this point, totally stoked about his actual 10 year old wife to be. real normal shit

you already know it's shit though, right? you don't watch isekais to see a good anime anymore, right? you'll watch your garbage anime and you'll enjoy it anyway, right? okay

The Masterful Cat is Depressed Again Today

I love this anime. it follows the lead that Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill took of living life with a gruff, much more capable giant animal domestic partner. but instead of a cool magic wolf, yukichi is the masterful cat in question, and he fills the role of what I can only describe as the perfect house husband, with some sass and kitty antics included. he's also a big soft boy, which naturally gets bonus points from me

the series is pure slice of life. I haven't read the manga, but you can feel where the chapters begin and end within episodes, which makes them feel like short vignettes, rather than full stories. that's all this anime needs to convey its characters though! everyone feels well fleshed out, and their interesting personalities shine through

I do have 2 content warnings though: one, the main character ends up drinking alcohol a lot. you might know this is a trigger for me in certain scenarios, and this did make me uncomfortable. I was able to manage because the scenes in question are so short and tend to avoid portraying it as much more than an annoyance for yukichi, but if you're more sensitive to it than me, you're gonna have a rough time. second, probably less serious, but in an episode, the main character gains a bit of weight (which you would never guess by looking at her, but you'll have to trust the writers lol) and they make a big deal about her having to diet and exercise. might be kind of uncomfortable for some people who are used to having their weight pathologized, so feel free to skip that bit.

aside from those two complaints though, I really recommend this anime! it's super fun and really sweet

I ended up really watching a lot this season! I hope next season has some good ones too