#also other stuff

[theriverbeyond]

agonies <- butch who has to move 3 times in the next 6 months

[greatwyrmgold]

When you watched/read Oshi no Ko, did you wonder what would happen if Abiko Samejima got isekai'd into a mid movie she loved as a kid? Well, Zenshu doesn't exactly answer that question, but it's as close as you're gonna get.

Which I didn't expect going in, because I saw that the main character was an animator and immediately stuck it on my to-watch list.

So. Things I like. Saying "production values" sounds dismissive, but the basics are solid. Animation and sound design and voice acting and stuff. And it's hard to analyze the story after one episode, but I like the characters.

The protagonist, Hirose Natsuko, is enjoyable. I don't like her as much as Abiko Samejima, but if we spent enough time in the real world to see her properly clash with others and retreat back into her shell and go into a creative fugue like we did with Samejima, I might. Especially since, despite my comparison, she's honestly not that much like her? She doesn't have that tension between aggressive defensiveness and people-pleasing, but she does have a lot of fun interactions with the characters and plot of the movie she gets isekai'd into. She's clearly spent much of her life thinking about this story.

Also, I fucking LOVE Natsuko's design. Abiko Samejima looks fine, but look at Natsuko!

Her face is hidden by her hoodie and overgrown mane, but there's enough color that she's not completely invisible. And since this is anime and not manga, the hair can flow or shift to indicate expressions that would otherwise be lost. Like when she's eating Oyster-kun, who had to sub in for Truck-kun, and you can see her chewing by how the hair moves? Great stuff! Too bad I haven't figured out how to do gifs.

Anyways, all of that makes it all the more impactful when, nineteen minutes into the episode, we see her face.

This bit reminds me a little of Wonder Egg Priority, for some reason. In a good way, except the part where I got sad remembering how WEP absolutely failed to stick the landing.

Not a fan of how long it takes Natsuko to figure out what happened to her. She's not even in denial, she just doesn't consider the possibility that the people who look like characters from her favorite movie and fought a monster exactly like in the movie ("shot for shot") and rode away on said movie's flying unicorn might not be cosplayers until she wanders through the desert and sits through another whole movie scene and notices an iconic bit of architecture.

Also, from how she describes the movie's reception, isekaitis (or at least an isekai-themed dream) is probably more plausible than finding a whole group of A Tale of Perishing cosplayers.

Swinging back to compliments, I like Natsuko's interactions with the twice-fictional characters. She's not quite treating them as full people, which they notice but mistake for her just being mundanely rude (and also weird). I get the sense that Natsuko's developed some headcanons that overshadowed the actual text of the film, or at least that she flanderized some of the less pleasing or consistent actions of its heroes out of her memory. And she really doesn't like the unicorn, mostly because he's annoying.

And now for some more insults. I wish Natsuko had more hair in her face after the animation crisis resolved; she's got some hair in her face in a couple shots, but it feels like she's mostly going to wear her hair like a normal person in the future. Look at the ED.

Normal-ass long hair on a normal-ass anime lady. It's not even all messy and scrungly. And her clothes are just, normal clothes. Extra-with-a-name energy. Boring.

More significantly, we don't get any kind of animation action. Natsuko's talking ruler turns into a magic animation desk, and she starts drawing, and there's a bunch of production values (derogatory this time), and a sketchy monster shows up to kersplode the Void army. Eizouken, this ain't.

I'll keep watching, but unless there's either a really compelling character arc or more focus on the animation side of things, I'll probably drop it before the end of the season.

[lezarus]

mantra: the absence of eddie is also its presence

[xxbunnyboy]

Am I sad and depressed or did I sit infront of screens for too long yesterday and that's why I want to cry. The world may never know.

[killing-machine]

havent been able to draw much of anything lately. just been kinda kicking around with my health, working in roblox studio and playing web fishing

[thetisming]

comfort playlist

[xxgalacticambitionsxx]

i know it's been. like. idk 13 fucking days but my birthday was may 23. i forgot to tell y'all but yeah i'm older now

[greatwyrmgold]

Seconded. If you own a laptop for more than a few years, you discover a lot of situations where it's actually more convenient to use the keyboard.

Things that work in fiction but not real life

torture getting reliable information out of people

knocking someone out to harmlessly incapacitate them for like an hour

jumping into water from staggering heights and surviving the fall completely intact

calling the police to deescalate a situation

rafting your way off a desert island

correctly profiling total strangers based on vibes

effectively operating every computer by typing and nothing else

ripping an IV out of your arm without consequences

heterosexual cowboy

[wardensantoineandevka]

is that piece of media actually bad, or is it just not following the blueprint you projected onto it? is that work actually not good, or are you just demanding something from it that is absolutely antithetical to its themes, genre, tone, and narrative goal? is that story actually poorly written, or do you just dislike that it is not the specific things you wanted from it that it never set out to be, never was, and never is going to become? is it actually bad, or is it actually well-executed and you just dislike the story it chose to be because it isn't catering to your specific desires and expectations?

[egophiliac]

missed the mark by (looks at calendar) uhhh. hm. but I really wanted to do something for the 5th anniversary! happy five years to these idiots 🎉

[landscaping-your-mind]

[ID: TikTok comments.

The first is from Laura Malaurakey and reads, "I have a weird crush on him and I think its because I could overpower him physically but he could outwit me. Don't worry, I'm in therapy."

The second is from bk and reads, "i would give anything to give him a silent and unyielding stare and watch him desperately try to fill the silence with weird faces and noises"

The third is from Aaron's Art Room and reads, "he's just got that animal magnetism. no explaining it. it just is"

The fourth is from maddie and reads, "unhinged freak. we kiss on the lips"

The fifth is from Meg and reads, "He's like a pair of good shoes — even better when broken in a lil and scuffed up"

The sixth is from H☆NEY and reads, "doesn't feel right seeing him clean"

collecting these like funky little bugs..................

[greatwyrmgold]

Thoughts about Oshi no Ko chapter 142:

Yay! Abiko Samejima came back!

Oh yeah. The incest bait. Or whatever that is. Not a fan.

I don't think Abiko realizes that the "lovey-dovey scene" is going to be acted by Aqua and his sister, though, and she definitely doesn't know about the other incest bait Ruby's been mired in. So I can continue to stan her in comfort.

If the incest bait is going somewhere, it had better GET THERE so we can STOP DWELLING ON IT. At this point I'd almost be fine with Aqua and Ruby officially hooking up just so we'd know Akasaka's intentions for sure. Almost.

...

Hooray! Abiko Samejima!

I hope she shows up again.

[kimabutch]

One of my favourite questions for figuring out a character’s motivations is which qualities they most fear being assigned to them. Are they afraid (consciously or unconsciously) of being seen as stupid? Ungrateful? Weak? Incompetent? Lazy? Cowardly? Intimidating? Like they actually care? etc.

It’s such a fun way to explore into who they are, why they do what they do, what they don’t do out of fear, and how they might be affected by the events of the story. And I love when characters have negative motivations—trying to avoid something (in this case, being seen a particular way) as much as they’re trying to achieve a goal.

[mrtequilasunset]

Listen man, you guys can't be like "you guys need to be normal about asexuality" and then turn around and get weirdly judgemental when you find out someone doesn't have sex by choice. Like that's weird that some of you do that.

[consumedbynerd]

This is how it feels to be overwhelmed with an obsession and no one to talk to