#also the modern AU was a banger ngl

[wehavekookies]

First of all, how are these five years old already.

[xmycxx]

Abby Anderson as music artists I love (part 2 of 2)

Part one

I have posted a fic about one of G Flip's songs, Be Your Man as an Abby fic. which i gotta tell you, very abby core. First let's just go off of like physical attributes and aesthetics.

i feel like, if this was a modern AU, g flip would be abby post college as like an adult, the aesthetic just slaps. Like even the outfits i feel are very accurate. She'd totally go to a fancy event or something wearing this.

g flip is an australian drummer, and i already kinda feel like abby does sorta give drummer vibes (c'mon like, i can't see her as a guitarist, that's more ellie).

like, the outfits the hair the general aesthetic? OH AND THE FUCKIN SONGS Y'ALL NEED TO LSITEN TO THIS!!

Don't wanna be another page in your bible I am your final, I am your title I am the one who is gonna make you feel it right

Also Morning from this same album is also very abby core, please give the whole album a listen, tis an absolute banGER!! this one in particular i feel she might listen to when you're falling in love still and you're in the friend stage.

I would never lie Now that you are mine I'll never cross the line It's just you and I You and I

I cannot listen to this song without thinking of having an engagement party with abby. Like, she just proposed to you and had this song play after and everytime the lil "love you" comes in she whispers it to you.

just like, abby guys

ngl this was mostly for me but i thought i'd share

[cviperfan]

Okay so partially motivated by how many references there were in SPoP and largely bc it's been in my backlog for years and I remembered the whole thing got uploaded to youtube a while ago, I finally got around to watching Revolutionary Girl Utena for the first time so time for some hot takes

2 clarify I did see the movie about around 2000 which was my introduction to the series, and I did see like 1 episode back in anime club (over a decade ago now tbh) but for the most part I went into this with only a vague sense of the ending and offhand knowledge of a few of the weird comedy episodes so this was mostly a blind watch

Before getting into #spoilers I will say that this ended up being an easy Top 5 and that it's definitely still worth watching (fair warning for the very frequent rape and incest (and sometimes both)), especially if you've somehow also avoided most of the context of this show like me, and it really is one of the rare Nothing Else Like It kind of show (though it has roots in older shoujo like Rose of Versailles and modern stuff like Revue Starlight have picked up its lede)

Okay spoilers from here on

I really only kinda have vague memories of the more knightly take on Utena from the movie so Series!Utena having this powerful Dumb Jock Energy threw me

Like she's out here invoking the Air Bud Rule from minute one

This bit where Akio is going on about some Important Life Lesson thing and she's just fuckin

crab walking im

what a hero i love her

I have always kinda been more partial to shoujo than shounen bc the sense of like emotional urgency and the heightened exaggerated feelings are just more compelling to me narratively and what Utena does spectacularly is really drive that to fucking 11 and it permeates every aspect of the show

Like the melodrama of it all is so shameless and it's so committed to letting its visuals and music drive the mood and emotional intensity of its stakes that they kind of speak for themselves and demand to be taken on their own terms rather than having clear or rigid interpretations

Like it's kind of a situation of "yes most of what you're seeing ties into the show's bigger themes and characterization but also you can just vibe to the spectacle as well" like even when it's not on the Dueling Arena there's a theatricality underlying everything that pairs perfectly with the spirit of shoujo even as it... not necessarily contradicts it, but challenges it in some ways and also wants to coexist with it?

And I think that's the interesting thing how it wants to tackle some of these arch concepts tied into the genre while also being deeply intertwined with it.  Like it really is a Product Of Its Time in so many ways but it also feels somehow timeless and transgressive in others even now?

Like part of me would be interested to see a remake that took into account 23 years of conversation about how much perceptions of gender and sexuality have changed but at the same time would it lose some essential part of itself in that transition?  idk potentially

Also lbr a hypothetical remake wouldn't even attempt to revise anything it would just redo it thus making it pointless

So I know this has been a thing that's been brought up before but seeing it play out dang RGU and NGE really are just companion pieces to each other huh

Subverting the themes and narrative arcs of their respective genres, mysterious quiet girl who's directly the key to everything, the ritual of action setpieces rendered as Actual Ritual in the story, banger OP, comphet ruining everyone's lives

Also they really don't have much in common comparatively but I'm definitely seeing pieces of Utena in Kill la Kill too?  Particularly how Mako's arc feels like a fleshing out and expansion from the archetype divergence Wakaba got in that one ep (I can't believe klk was the utena/wakaba au fanfic)

Speaking of which damn he is a sleazy bastard and a gross predator but ngl Akio can Get It he and Ragyo are basically the same character and I guess this is just my type apparently???? oops

Like I'm recognizing how like really awful he is but also you really can't blame Utena for crushing on him he is super hot and charming

aside i lost it at the audacity of "well even tho i am a man like twice your age (AT LEAST) and took advantage of the situation and also i am clearly not the type to take no for an answer since you didn't reject me you're basically just as bad as me" bruh

The Black Rose Arc is... interesting bc like it borders on superfluous with how it resolves and yet the introduction of a "monster of the week" type power rangers element specifically built to expand on the secondary cast is a pretty inspired choice

again my primary point of introduction to the series was the movie which is basically a remix of the Student Council arc so when I got to 12 I was like wth are they gonna fill the rest of this with? WELP

What I really like about it is that usually this kind of setup-- the 'character is faced with their dark inner thoughts they shy away from and they become a short-term enemy' deal-- ends with the char in question coming to terms with this and overcoming it to become a better person

but here it's just like... they lose and then they just gotta... sit with that, forever.  Like it doesn't really change the status quo of their relationships w/ utena or the others but it does just stick around for them and now the audience knows that about them too.  like sometimes you just can't take that shit back.

Utena's relationship to queerness, having heard about it tangentially for years but seeing it play out now is also interesting bc while in the grand scheme it doesn't feel necessarily any more ahead of its time than something like Cardcaptor Sakura there is a casualness to it that's distinct

Like for the most part it's either kind of the tangential fluff that even then was part of shoujo as a standard but then there's also stuff like the Akio/Touga or Touga/Saionji hinting or Kozue's casual pass at Anthy in addition to the maintext Juri/Shiori push-pull and ofc the subtext-but-maintext Utena/Anthy threads

I wanna take a moment to talk about Juri bc of how kind of in the spirit of the show itself it plays things both with and against the grain with her

Like she's a Tragic Lesbian which is nothing new but usually this character type (and Distinctively Lesbian characters in general) in anime/manga tend to be portrayed as being very predatory, invasive and either played for laughs or to repulse the audience, so the degree of empathy RGU shows her in 97 is rare to see even now.  

Like there is a "safeness" to her bc of how unattainable Shiori is (though their arc ends in a decidedly ambiguious way), but it doesn't really feel like she's getting the short end of the stick over the more straight-leaning characters bc arguably all of the relationships here are defined by an aspect of chasing the unattainable, echoing Utena's own quixotic search for her Prince, and her choosing to remain closeted feels realistic *especially because* of the surrounding context of how heteronormative the world she exists in is.  Like the character is aware of that and is navigating it in a way that feels honest

Speaking of which it's interesting how the reveal of Juri's pining for Shiori in Ep 7 echoes the bigger reveal of Utena/Anthy bc of how it plays up this heterocentric love triangle or at least it seems to be but then the cards are on the table and no that's really not what it is at all, and it feels significant that after spending most of the series naively oblivious to Juri’s feelings and what she wants out of a relationship with Shiori that Utena finally Gets It in Ep 37

Is it a coincidence Juri actually gets to be the one to point it out? No

Speaking of triangles big ups to the Ruka/Juri/Shiori one honestly bc of how hard it commits to the unknown third result of a LT where absolutely no one comes out happy and it actually works even with the handicap of Ruka basically coming out of nowhere just for these two episodes

Like all three of them want the one person who's absolutely never gonna love them back and that's just rough buddy and isn't that kinda the show in a nutshell

So the thing that struck me about Utena/Anthy and how it plays out is how subtle it really is.  And that does make sense bc while f/f teasing/subtext again was part of shoujo before it's quite a different thing for the heroine to ultimately reject her 2 male love interests and choose a life with her female best friend, esp in nineteen ninety seven

Like I think you can argue that Ep 12 feels like The Moment where What Their Relationship Is, Definitely shifts and that possibility is suddenly there, and then it doesn't come back in a big way until the ending but there are tiny glimpses throughout where you can see that working in the background if you’re really paying attention

Small things like Anthy's flashes of unspoken jealousy, Utena fretting over her even when she's in bed with Akio, and part of that is coming from going in with a knowledge of what the endgame is and keeping an eye out for it.  I can hardly imagine being a viewer during the og broadcast and then ep 34 comes and suddenly the intent is made clear and our understanding of the inciting incident gets all flipped turned upside down

And to a modern viewer I can get coming into this for the first time and being frustrated at just how close to the chest it gets played, but that's also kind of the only way it gets to happen at that point in time?  But I think it ultimately is effective and vital to their individual arcs and dovetails nicely with the themes of the show

Like I remember hearing that original manga creator Chiho Saito was pretty against their paired ending, but with a lot of convincing from Ikuhara ultimately came around to it, and it's hard to imagine the anime's ending working any other way and being nearly as impactful

And there is something really beautiful about the bucking against the established idea of yuri relationships being a childish concept that gets left behind in order to 'grow up' actually becoming the impetus of their own journeys into adulthood and eventually back to each other, and it’s hard not to feel a little disappointed that for this Bold Step and declaration for the future that RGU takes that while yuri is more common than ever it largely continues to exist within the realm of schoolgirls and something to be left behind in adolescence like for RGU’s faults and shortcomings it saw this world of possibility in moving forward, while the genre largely elected to stand still

And it really speaks to either the timelessness of the show or how much the queer experience has remained constant that even with a tragic ending, that hope, or rather the promise of their reunion, feels bold and defiant and genuinely uplifting even now

Like the moment where just before they reach out to each other one final time, and their voices as children speak out to each other, as if finally fulfilling a promise they barely remember, I really did just start ugly crying

Lastly some assorted closing thoughts--

-Touga?  Punk.  Guy really takes advantage of Utena's whole prince thing to manipulate her, ends up losing to her in the rematch and then fucks off to mope for like AN ENTIRE SEASON then pops back up "oh yea im in love with her literally nothing else about my behavior has changed tho" like lmao you tried i guess

-Also i know Touga's design is p stock standard bishounen ojou-sama type but god this is all i can think about when I see him

- Green Touga Saionji is a bitch-ass motherfucker but like he at least tried more than anyone else so uh that's something I guess?????

Like the guy clearly has some unresolved feelings about Touga so i'm inclined to be sympathetic bc wow poor choice my dude but also... bitch-ass motherfucker

-Nanami really went through this thing for me where it's like... she's a brat and a shitty person but it's also hard to really dislike her bc she does get what she deserves most of the time and also she gets kinkshamed more than most of the cast despite none of them really having a high ground over her lol

-Miki did nothing wrong (aside from like the implied incest but that's also like... half the relationships in this show uh)

sidenote I can completely see the notable excess of Incest Subtext/Maintext being intended as like... A Thing to comment on how common it is within shoujo and also tying in to like the bigger themes of Growing Up bc the idea that you’re chasing after your own damn siblings betrays some freudian inability to mature or whatever but tbqh it doesn’t always feel like the show knows the line between commenting on this and indulging in it and RGU is very indulgent by its own nature so I really can’t blame people put off by the show as a whole bc this is an area where RGU is largely indistinguishable from its genre peers

-Juri really did nothing wrong tho also props for having the best duels

-FUCK SHIORI THO for eel 

so obviously i have not seen the show up to now but I've been in yuri circles for a long time so I knew about Juri/Shiori and my perception of it had always been "oh it's one of those kinda messy with complicated feelings" kinda ships where the drama is a big part of the appeal and that's true but like

the actual nature of it I did not realize up to now and OH SHIORI'S REALLY THAT BITCH HUH

So not only does she date that one anonymous guy specifically to spite Juri unaware she doesn't actually like him BUT THEN WHEN THEY GET REUNITED SHE'S JUST LIKE LOL IT DIDNT MATTER BUT HEY WE COOL RIGHT *AND THEN* when she finds out about Juri's feelings she's like HELL YEA I CAN HANG THIS OVER HER HEAD FOREVER FUCK HER

***AND THEN*** when she gets some karma after Ruka dumps her ass she airs her dirty laundry out in front of EVERYBODY like Juri hasn't been dealing with this shit like an absolute champ the whole time like?????

Like ok i get that there's the sad longing drama there and usually that's my jam and the show itself seems to end on kind of an ambiguous note and the follow-up manga from this year seems to leave it as kind of a "maybe" but I'm sorry get Juri a better GF 2020 she deserves better

I saw some Juri/Wakaba going through the tumblr tag for the show and honestly that's some big brain shit I'm here for it

Also now knowing exactly how this dynamic operates it really makes that Jasper/Lapis reference pic one of the SU crew drew of them read very.... interestingly???????? (tho Lapis' design reads a lot closer to Kozue and that's probably a closer personality analogue too)

-I love that thing in ep 37 where the whole SC is just very casually like hey utena if the whole revolutionizing the world thing with anthy doesn't work out uhhh call me im free haha just kidding unless...? lmao

-I'm pretty uninclined to try to pin precise sexuality HCs to characters for series this old where the ambiguity is part of how its danced around like partly coming from my own experience I'm inclined to read Utena as bi but that really is just coming from me?

But on the other hand literally every time a guy is like "i love you utena come be happy with me and we can love each other forever" she's like "k" after having left them on read for a day and disconnects from them entirely so lesbian going through comphet is a pretty valid read i think lol

-Lastly I think it’s pretty interesting but validly frustrating how fast and loose the show’s relationship with dream logic and non-traditional storytelling really is like when the shadow girls show up I was like “oh this is a greek chorus thing and it’s meant to reflect on the themes of the episode” (or uh in the case of exactly Ep 29 to break from tradition and explicitly tell us what a characters deal is lmao) but then no actually turns out they’re actually real characters who exist within the show too fuck you

ANYWAY I really did love this show and felt like I got a lot out of it despite it being pretty infamously hard to decipher but the ways it's inscrutable appeal to me specifically so very happy with this I'm gonna be thinking about it for a while

[saltine-kakyoin]

my jojo fic recs

I deleted the actual post because I am an idiot, but I was able to recover most of it! This is all copypasta, but the readmore actually works on this guy :D (hopefully it works on mobile as well...) 

Admittedly, I have only read a handful of jojo fics 💔 I used to read fic all the time, but things started getting Litch Rally Mad at my job around the same time i really got into jojo, so I haven’t had as much time to dedicate to it :(

I have a total of like 3 to recommend, but bro I cannot recommend these 3 enough. ngl I stayed up until like 5am on a workday reading all of these, went to work, and then came home just to finish reading them lol. They are all jotakak, so I do apologize if that’s not your cup of tea! ; J ;/

I tend to ramble so I will put these under a readmore just in case. c:

Nessun Dorma, which I always misspell as Nessum Dorma

bro this is where it all Began. It’s set in a universe all on its own, in which Jotaro is just a Struggling doctorate student. He meets Kakyoin, a nonbinary ballet dansuer, by chance while having a smoke in a back alley. The fic follows the development of their relationship from strangers repeatedly sharing a smoke break in a back alley to something More, as well as Kakyoin’s journey from a corps dancer to more of a lead dancer (I don’t know the term, I apologize! 💔) and Jotaro’s struggles with his thesis. This one is written with such tenderness and care towards the characters and the setting, my heart grows fond just thinking of it. ; J ;

Watch out for an unsavory relationship between Dio and Kakyoin- Dio is a really good choreographer but also a terrible human and he’s no stranger to using his status as choreographer to leverage his will over Kakyoin and get What he Wants, if you catch my drift. This imbalance also occurs while Kakyoin is a minor, but we never get any scenes between minor Kakyoin and Dio. They just vent to Jotaro about it. Additionally, there are many parts where the disordered eating of dancers is described, so please steer clear if you need to. All triggering content is tagged! Overall, this fic is one of the best ones I’ve ever read. The life of any performer trying to make it big is fr fr nitty gritty, and this fic gives that whole issue the gravitas it deserves. Aside from that, though, this fic captures the behind the scenes and backstage process beautifully- as a choir + theater nerd, I am incredibly enamored by that. Beyond that, though, this fic is just Wonderful to the characters. So much of Jotaro and Kakyoin’s dynamic in the SDA was inspired by how they are written in this fic. A real 10/10 banger. (For the love of GOD watch out for yourself bc this fic is addictive and it is not finished and has not updated for some time :( We will all pop bottles when the next chapter comes out)

The Libertine, Destroyed

This one was actually recommended to me (unfortunately I forget by who ; - ;) when I was going through Nessun Dorma withdrawals lmao. This was one of the first fics I encountered when I started reading Jojo fics, but I passed on it bc I wasn’t a fan of Phantom. After I was recommended it, I gave it a shot and holy FUCK thank god i did, it’s very good also!

So, like I said, it’s a Phantom of the Opera AU! Kakyoin takes centerstage as our gorl Christine, Jotaro fills in for Raoul, and Dio is the Phantom. I was SUPER apprehensive of this because Dio POV fics give me the Shivers and Phantom POV fics fill me w intense middle-school dread. This fic, though.. This fic gets it. I am not wholly familiar with the Phantom’s full plot, but I know enough to say that this fic does not follow it 1 for 1. One huge change is that Kakyoin knows Dio behind the mask, but isn’t aware he’s the Phantom, which!! Ahhh it fills me with such dread, but it is very well-written dread! I kind of ?? liveblogged my read-through of this one a month ago and you can Feel the mania in my tags, ahh.

This is another one that’s still in the works and hasn’t updated for a bit, and as such, I haven’t read it in a bit 3 Due to this, I don’t remember if there’s anything outright triggering, but of course anything can be triggering, so please take caution of the tropes synonymous with Phantom before diving in. This fic includes a varied cast of characters from the first three parts, with varying degrees of respect for canon- ie Baron Zeppeli is still Caesar’s grandfather (or father? Uncle?…they are family…), but the first 3 Jojos are all brothers. That normally isn’t my cup of tea, but this fic does it in good taste, and we get a lot of chapters/mini-chapters dedicated to fleshing out their childhood and Kakyoin’s involvement in it!

I’m more partial to Nessun Dorma than this one, but they are both lovely reads! I really like HasturIsMyCopilot’s writing style, and their other Jotakak fics are really nice as well! c: Ode to the October Sky is super fluffy and *chef kiss* Paradidiomi is also a good read about the power imbalance in Dio and Kakyoin’s relationship, but there aren’t too many chapters for it. 

Summer Lovin’

Ahh, this one. This was my first fr fr Jojo read, and god it’s such a fun read. Jotaro and Kakyoin are stupid teenagers, Jotaro is a man of few words, and Avpol is beleaguered by their stupidity. Joseph is Joseph, and Iggy is… evil..

This fic is set in a modern, Dio free universe, which is a1 in my book! Jotaro spends an entire summer trying and overthinking how to confess to Kakyoin, with his friends and family both helping and hindering him. I forget exactly where this fic goes, but I’m 98% certain Kakyoin gets jumped and ends up in the hospital at one point? He recovers well enough, but watch out for that- it’s in the later chapters. Also, watch out (but in a good way!) for the horrific Jotakak kiss!! It made me screech at 1 and bury myself in my blankets, they are just… horrible at romance. which is relatable but ahhhhmy GOD

Overall, a very fun rollercoaster of a fic! Kakyoin beats up Steely Dan at one point! :D It’s a very fun read! ^^

Another Man’s Son

I WAS WRONG! This one came back to me when I was writing about The Libertine, Destroyed. This one is just a chapter, but god it’s so wonderfully written. Dio POV (which.. y’all know how i feel about that lol. but this one!! this one is so good!), in which he encounters Giorno and has Thoughts and Feelings. It’s been a very long time since I’ve read it, so I don’t remember it very well, but I do remember it deeply endeared me to Giorno before I had any idea who he was.

(Also check out this beautiful piece Toffee Arts was inspired to make because of it!! Beware though, it has Saturn Devouring His Son in the bg D:)

Those are all of the ones that come to mind at the moment! I’m really sorry I basically only have Jotakak ones. ; - ; It’s a ship I really enjoy, but I know that not everyone is keen on it. Hopefully I will be able to update this in the future with a more diverse selection! I’d love to read more Avpol fics, and 10000% more fics about Polnareff and Sherry (she’s polnareff too… uh oh spaghettios..)